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81. A Bleak Future for the European Project

Author:
Sebastian Rosato
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
The European project seems to have run aground of late. Observers want to know how likely it is that the Europeans will recommit themselves to establishing a political and military union, and what the future holds for the single market and single currency.
Topic:
Security, Economics, Political Economy, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

82. The Western Balkans and the EU: 'the hour of Europe'

Author:
Jacques Rupnik (ed)
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
Today, more than fifteen years after the end of the wars of Yugoslavia's dissolution, the 'Balkan question' remains more than ever a 'European question'. In the eyes of many Europeans in the 1990s, Bosnia was the symbol of a collective failure, while Kosovo later became a catalyst for an emerging Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). In the last decade, with the completion of the process of redrawing the map of the region, the overall thrust of the EU's Balkans policy has moved from an agenda dominated by security issues related to the war and its legacies to an agenda focused on the perspective of the Western Balkan states' accession to the European Union, to which there has been a formal political commitment on the part of all EU Member States since the Thessaloniki Summit in June 2003. The framework was set, the political elites in the region were – at least verbally – committed to making Europe a priority and everyone was supposedly familiar with the policy tools thanks to the previous wave of Eastern enlargement. With the region's most contentious issues apparently having been defused, the EU could move from stability through containment towards European integration.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Ethnic Conflict, Political Economy, Sectarian violence, and Self Determination
Political Geography:
Europe, Bosnia, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, and Balkans

83. European Perspectives for Moldova: Challenges and Obstacles

Author:
Anna Maria Dyner and Anita Emőke Sobják
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Moldova appeared for the first time on the horizon of EU foreign policy in the second half of the '90s, but a comprehensive policy towards that country only started to be contoured with the launching of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) in 2009. The Warsaw Declaration of the second EaP summit acknowledged “the European aspirations and the European choice” of Moldova, and as such, the EaP initiative might be treated as a preaccession stage. Issues currently on the negotiation table are visa regime liberalization, signing the Association Agreement (which is to replace the PCA) and the establishment of an EU–Moldova free-trade area by a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance, Political Economy, Regional Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe

84. Marché, bureaucratie, formes de la domination politique: Une économie politique weberienne

Author:
François Bafoil
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI)
Abstract:
From a broad perspective, political economy analyses economic and political exchanges proper to some social groups, embedded in particular historical periods. The great innovation of Max Weber's analysis is to highlight the intersubjective orientations that support these exchanges and characterize a particular period of history. This study firstly compares different features between free market economy and the soviet-type economy. Secondly, it measures their difference in accordance to the "ideal type" of "market", bureaucracy" and "forms of domination". Finally, it insists on the particular "hybrid" figures of "charisma" and "patrimonial bureaucracy".
Topic:
Economics, Markets, Political Economy, and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Russia and Europe

85. Broken Promises, Postponed Commitments

Author:
Rui Graça Feijó
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
Abstract:
The First Republic was a short period in Portuguese History which, nevertheless, left deep marks on the social and political tissue of the country. It was marred by instability. The political elite of the time recanted on their defense of "universal suffrage" and thus deprived the regime of a much needed popular base of support. The Second Republic that emerged from the Carnation Revolution instituted a democratic regime based on universal suffrage, and enshrined in its Constitution provisions for popular participation in a much wider scale than it has effectively offered up to the present. This manifests itself in the absence of an effective Regional level of power as well as in poorly endowed municipalities, and is reflected in the lowering of popular confidence in Portuguese Democracy shown in consecutive surveys. The capacity of the Second Republic to develop the principles of democratic participation granted in the Constitution is a test to the present decade, failing what a Third Republic may be looming in the horizon.
Topic:
Economics, Political Economy, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe, Dominican Republic, and Portugal

86. Redistribution and the Political Economy of Education: An Analysis of Individual Preferences in OECD Countries

Author:
Marius R. Busemeyer
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
The issue of skill formation features prominently in the literature on the political economy of redistribution. But surprisingly, the study of the micro foundations of education policy preferences has largely been ignored so far. This paper provides a first step in this direction, relying on survey data for a large number of OCED countries. Challenging the assumptions of established political economy models of the formation of education preferences, it is shown that the individual position on the income scale is not a strong predictor of support for increasing public spending on education. The reason for this non-finding is that the association between income and preferences varies across countries and institutional contexts. The core hypothesis of the paper is that levels of economic inequality and the degree of stratification of the education system strongly affect and shape the redistributive political economy of education on the micro level. The empirical part of the paper employs a two-stage hierarchical model specification to provide evidence for this claim.
Topic:
Education, Political Economy, Poverty, and Social Stratification
Political Geography:
Europe

87. The Historical Turn in Democratization Studies: A New Research Agenda for Europe and Beyond

Author:
Giovanni Capoccia and Daniel Ziblatt
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
The paper lays the theoretical and methodological foundations of a new historically-minded approach to the comparative study of democratization, centered on the analysis of the creation, development and interaction of democratic institutions. Historically, democracy did not emerge as a singular coherent whole but rather as a set of different institutions, which resulted from conflicts across multiple lines of social and political cleavage that took place at different moments in time. The theoretical advantage of this approach is illustrated by highlighting the range of new variables that come into focus in explaining democracy's emergence. Rather than class being the single variable that explains how and why democracy came about, we can see how religious conflict, ethnic cleavages, and the diffusion of ideas played a much greater role in Europe's democratization than has typically been appreciated. Above all, we argue that political parties were decisive players in how and why democracy emerged in Europe and should be at the center of future analyses.
Topic:
Democratization, Political Economy, and History
Political Geography:
Europe

88. Did Reagan Rule In Vain? A Closer Look at True Expenditure Levels in the United States and Europe

Author:
Jacob Funk Kirkegaard
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
It is generally believed that the United States is a country of low taxes and small government, at least when compared with countries in Europe (and until the financial crisis so greatly expanded the role of the federal government in the United States in late 2008). Fully accounting for the role, size, and effect of the government in an economy is a complex endeavor, however, and it is hardly accomplished by repeatedly restating differences in top marginal tax rates, overall tax burdens, or gross sizes of governments in GDP terms.
Topic:
Economics, Government, Political Economy, and Privatization
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

89. 4-a-week: Changing food consumption in the UK to benefit people and planet

Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Food shopping may seem an innocent, even mundane, chore. But the food we buy every week can have huge impacts on people and environments seemingly worlds away from our regular dash round the shops. The futures of some of the world's poorest people and of the global environment are intimately linked to the contents of our shopping baskets.
Topic:
Environment, Political Economy, and Food
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

90. Insurance Regulation in the United States and the European Union: A Comparison

Author:
Martin Eling, Robert W. Klein, and Joan T. Schmit
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Independent Institute
Abstract:
In this paper we compare insurance regulatory frameworks in the United States (US) and European Union (EU), focusing primarily on solvency, but also considering product and price regulation, as well as other elements of consumer protection. This comparison highlights the use of more fluid and principles-based approaches in the EU as it is developing under Solvency II, while the US continues to focus essentially on static, rules-based regulation. The discussion further notes evidence suggesting that the EU approach is more successful in promoting a financially solid insurance sector.
Topic:
Government and Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States and Europe