Broadening the Scope

Chapter 6 summarizes and concludes that the main intention of the book was to analyze the enactment and persistence of particular institutional frameworks. Throughout the chapters, the book repeatedly noted that the institutions of a political economy can best be understood in relation to how they have been enacted at different levels. This book stressed the possible transformative capacity of enaction. It focused on the workplace level, examining actors involved in the posting relationship, including posted workers themselves, as opposed to policymakers. The aim was to portray how local affairs both sustain and prompt shifts in the posting regulatory framework. By illuminating the micro level, which is not part of the standard repertoire of EU integration research or of much of today’s institutionalist political economy literature, the book aimed to highlight the importance of this approach for a dynamic research agenda of European integration and the changing nature of employment relations.