Służba publiczna w instytucjach Unii Europejskiej na tle służby cywilnej wybranych państw członkowskich – zagadnienia teoretyczno-metodologiczne

The article presents theoretical and methodological premises of the doctoral thesis in which the European Union civil service and the civil service in selected member states (France, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and Italy) are analysed. The civil service is formed by the legal and cultural determinants, specific standards, dysfunctions and tools of the civil service. Moreover some researchers maintain that the concept of the civil service can only be used with reference to the state. Presumably the term civil service of the European Union is deliberately avoided because it would raise the negative connotations related to the federalization of the EU. The author intends to verify this term by comparing the public service in the institutions of the EU with the civil service in several European countries. A key approach adopted in the thesis is the new institutionalism which combines the features of institutionalism and behaviourism. First-order methods are the comparative method and the systems method, while the second-order method is the simulation method. The qualitative and quantitative methods will also be applied. Such approaches and methods were selected in order to be mutually complementary as well as useful in verifying the research hypothesis.