Case Study Analysis

This chapter builds upon the QCA-results of the preceding chapter to further investigate two cases with high adoption values of the EU Youth Strategy (EUYS) but remained unexplained by the QCA-model: Germany and Ireland. To investigate both states and their differential EUYS-adoption, an innovative new analysis framework is introduced that sheds light on two dimensions that might play a role in adopting measures of an Open Method of Coordination (OMC): the general openness of a member state to be influenced by such soft EU policies and its motivation to adopt measures of an OMC. For the case of Germany, a rather high motivation can be found that is restricted by a very traditional understanding of youth policy. In the terms of the framework, Germany therefore was a rather pragmatic adopter of OMC-measures: only those measures were adopted in national policies that stood in line with the national agenda. Ireland on the other hand was found to be very open to policies suggested by the EUYS as such modern ideas had been present in the Irish society for a long time. However, due to financial shortcomings and political changes, the implementation of these ideas was stalled. In the Irish case, the EUYS therefore “only” served as a catalyst according to the framework. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the framework.