ElectronicjournalofcomparaTiveLaw,vol.9.1(january2005),<http://www.ejcl.org nearly inevitable in order to hand le the dilemma of uniformity in diversity. The essential function of European legislative acts is to restrict and regulate the realisation of specific rules in the Member States. In other words, convergence is pursued rather than uniformity. It is the ordering of the goods made-to-measure and the central issue is how far we can go in limiting the diversity of rules at a lower level. In different areas of policy, we see that the trad itional legislative instruments of the Community, regulations and directives, are replaced by non bind ing standards and benchmarking, within the framework of so-called new methods of governance. 20 At the end of this article, I wish to raise the question what this conclusion means for the methodology of law research in the field of European law and legislative stud ies. What does it mean that in European governance convergence is pursued rather than uniformity? Van gerven argued that what we need in this field of law research is a paradigmatic shift focus on the historic, cultural, political and legal roots in society and work together i etter ao from a top-down to a bottom-up approach. He stated that focusing on legislation, rule-making and cod ification in the european context is not the right way. According to him, it is research with social scientists. 21 If that is so, we will have to conclude that the lessons to be learned for the European Union from the experiences in Dutch legislative policy on self-regulation are limited Governance of the European Union differs fundamentally from that of a national state. Co regulation within the European Union is not exceptional and alternative, but primary and general starting point in rule-making. Within the European Union the function of rule-makin is to arrive at some uniformity within the diversity of the laws of the member States 20 Cf the paperpresented by Walter van Gerven at the Saro Congress 2004, entitled "Changing as Linda Senden's article"Soft Law, Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation in European Law. Where Do Ther Methodologies under the Influence of Europeanisation and Internationalisation(on file with the author )as we Meet? in this special issue ofEJCL Van Gerven(2004)Electronic Journal of Comparative Law, vol. 9.1 (January 2005), <http://www.ejcl.org/> 8 nearly inevitable in order to handle the dilemma of uniformity in diversity. The essential function of European legislative acts is to restrict and regulate the realisation of specific rules in the Member States. In other words, convergence is pursued rather than uniformity. It is the ordering of the goods made-to-measure and the central issue is how far we can go in limiting the diversity of rules at a lower level. In different areas of policy, we see that the traditional legislative instruments of the Community, regulations and directives, are replaced by non￾binding standards and benchmarking, within the framework of so-called new methods of governance.20 At the end of this article, I wish to raise the question what this conclusion means for the methodology of law research in the field of European law and legislative studies. What does it mean that in European governance convergence is pursued rather than uniformity? Van Gerven argued that what we need in this field of law research is a paradigmatic shift from a top-down to a bottom-up approach. He stated that focusing on legislation, rule-making and codification in the European context is not the right way. According to him, it is better to focus on the historic, cultural, political and legal roots in society and work together in research with social scientists.21 If that is so, we will have to conclude that the lessons to be learned for the European Union from the experiences in Dutch legislative policy on self-regulation are limited. Governance of the European Union differs fundamentally from that of a national state. Co￾regulation within the European Union is not exceptional and alternative, but primary and general starting point in rule-making. Within the European Union the function of rule-making is to arrive at some uniformity within the diversity of the laws of the Member States. 20 Cf. the paper presented by Walter van Gerven at the Saro Congress 2004, entitled ‘Changing Methodologies under the Influence of Europeanisation and Internationalisation’ (on file with the author) as well as Linda Senden’s article ‘Soft Law, Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation in European Law: Where Do They Meet?’ in this special issue of EJCL. 21 Van Gerven (2004)