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4611. Analyser les modes de représentation des intérêts dans l'Union européenne : construction d'une problématique

Author:
Sabine Saurugger
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI)
Abstract:
This article presents conceptual tools to analyse interest representation in the European Union. On the European level, no formal system of representation can be found, but rather a patchwork of representation modes. These modes are influenced by forms of political exchange specific for each country and each political domain, which interact with opportunity structures at the European level. Analysing interest representation in a system of governance, either national, European or international requires taking into account the relations which link interest groups with political and bureaucratic actors at the national level, acknowledging the changes in these relations and to insert all that in a system of governance where actors must find solutions to problems in the management of public policies and not to forget political power games and hierarchies amongst actors. The first part of the article analyses briefly the development of interest group studies in comparative politics as well as in international relations and presents the attempts to systematize these studies undertaken since the 1990. In the second part, I analyse more specifically the network approach, which allows to overcome the cleavage between pluralism and neocorporatism in the study of the relationships between interest groups and state actors. In presenting a critical analysis of the general ideas of the network approach, I propose specific conceptual instruments helping to structure research on interest groups in the European Union.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, Politics, Regional Cooperation, and European Union
Political Geography:
Europe

4612. International Relations and Comparative Politics: Cooperation or Conflict?

Author:
Jorge Schiavon
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This article concentrates in providing an answer to two deeply related questions: is the study of International Relations (IR) and Comparative Politics (CP), in methodological and theoretical terms, intrinsically different, essentially identical, or complementary?, and thus, should we see IR as an autonomous and isolated field of study, as a sub-field of CP, or are both IR and CP valid and deeply related areas of study of Political Science (PS)? To answer these questions, the article is divided in three sections. The first section concentrates on the validity of IR as a field of study. The second section is devoted to discuss the methodological compatibility (or not) between IR and CP, using one central theoretical issue as a case of study: the sources of origins of state motivations as explanatory variable of state actions (specifically cooperation or conflict. Finally, the third and last section to the article presents some insights on how IR theories can be linked, and to certain degree improved, taking into account CP theories, using the example of state preferences developed in the second section. The article concludes that IR and CP theories are very similar in methodological and theoretical terms, and thus, they can complement and cross-fertilize each other, "cooperating" to construct better explanations of the actions of political actors in the domestic and international systems.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, International Cooperation, and Politics

4613. Structure and Choice in Foreign Policy Analysis

Author:
Peter Trubowitz
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
How do states choose their foreign policies? Most foreign policy analysis relies on structuralist reasoning to answer this question. Realist theory emphasizes a nation's position in the international distribution of power. A second approach focuses on domestic factors and stresses a country's political institutions. Both traditions focus on constraints on state behavior. The future of foreign policy analysis lies in finding ways to incorporate politics and choice into structuralist reasoning. Three main solutions have been proposed: theories that focus on how international pressures affect competing domestic coalitions, rational choices theories that analyze "two level games," and constructivism. This paper proposes an alternative model that views politicians as political entrepreneurs who seek to consolidate domestic power in national arenas that are conditioned by international constraints. The approach is developed and illustrated in a discussion of foreign policy choice in the United States.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States

4614. Globalized and Localized Digital Divides Along the Information Highway: A Fragile Synthesis Across Bridges, Ramps, Cloverleaves, and Ladders.

Author:
Carl Cuneo
Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
Abstract:
There has been a tendency, especially in North America and Europe, and among technology enthusiasts and some educators, to assume that the whole world is connected to the Internet, and surfs the World Wide Web. Why would we use the term, 'World Wide Web', if we were not talking about a global phenomenon? However, Internet statistics show that only about six to eight percent of the world's six billion population is connected to the Internet. Approximately ninety-two percent of the world is NOT connected to, nor uses, the Internet. 1 The erroneous assumption of universal connectivity is not simply a statistical mistake. Governments, corporations, community organizations, and individuals make many incorrect decisions, with sometimes dramatic and far-reaching consequences, on the basis of the assumption that most of the world is connected to the Internet. Not only is the vast majority of the world not connected to the Internet, most people do not even have the computers, skills, experience, interest, or awareness to become connected. The disconnected are not randomly distributed, but have specific demographic, social, economic, racial, ethnic, gender, gerontological, and political characteristics that amount to a systematic bias of exclusion, often referred to as the “digital have-nots”. Similarly, the connected are not randomly distributed, but possess particular demographic, social, economic and political characteristics making up what has become known as the ““Digital Haves””. The separation, chasm, abyss, canyon, gulf, or distance between the ““Digital Haves”” and “digital have-nots” has become known as the “Digital Divide.”
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Globalization, Poverty, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Europe and North America

4615. Work In Progress: The Peace and Governance Programme: At the Interface of Ideas and Policy

Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The mission of the United Nations University is to contribute, through research and capacity building, to efforts to resolve the pressing global problems that are the concern of the United Nations, its Peoples and Member States. The work of the Peace and Governance Programme is a core element of this mission, and one that is complex and demanding. The concept of peace and security is evolving and broadening considerably, both in the worlds of academia and policy. Traditionally, national and international security were mainly defined in military and territorial terms, in an international system characterized by interaction among states. The UN Charter, while ultimately working in the interests of “the peoples,” is predicated on the relationship between unitary states in the maintenance of international peace and security. Within this system, the challenge was traditionally seen as mediating between liberal internationalist and power-political “realist” forces.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, International Organization, and United Nations

4616. From a Recipient of Aid Towards an Independent Actor: The Impacts of EU Integration on Estonia's Civil Society

Author:
Kristi Raik
Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
Abstract:
In recent scholarly and political debates, civil society has often been considered one of the weakest, if not the weakest aspect of democracy in the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). Although the Eastern EU applicant states have been fairly successful in establishing democratic institutions and formal procedures, all of them suffer from political apathy and alienation of the citizens, low public trust in state authorities, and general dissatisfaction with the functioning of democracy – even though democracy is valued in principle. In the face of these problems, activation of a sphere of civic initiative and organisation is seen by many analysts as one important means for improving the quality of democracy. Support to the development of civil society has also been an increasingly important aspect of EU policy aimed at strengthening democracy in the Eastern candidate countries. In addition to supporting civic activity in general, the EU has in recent years started to pay attention to the involvement of civil society in the Eastern enlargement process. It has been underlined that in order to guarantee the legitimacy and effectiveness of integration, citizens and nongovernmental actors should play a stronger role in the candidate countries' preparations for EU accession.
Topic:
Democratization and Development
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, and Estonia

4617. French E-Managers: A Generation in the Making

Author:
Mette Zølner
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
The article examines French cinematographic policy toward Africa within the context of the shift in control from the French Ministry of Cooperation and Development to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Is francophone West Africa losing its privileged position in French cinematographic policy? During the first two years of the new regime for cinema a dual dynamic was evident, with both transition and historical continuity. In the final months of 2001 a clearer message appears in the politics of African cinema at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Central elements of the film policy under the Ministry of Cooperation are compared to current policy and then situated into French film politics in a more general sense.
Topic:
Development
Political Geography:
Africa

4618. Developing and Applying EU Crisis Management. Test Case Macedonia

Author:
Ulrich Schneckener
Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Throughout the 1990s, the notion of conflict prevention had an impressive career. It reappeared on the international scene when UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali coined the term "preventive diplomacy" in this Agenda for Peace (1992). Since then, several international organizations or multilateral institutions, including the UN and its sub-organizations, the OSCE, the OAU, the OECD or the G-8, have published piles of papers and declarations committing themselves to the prevention of violent or armed conflicts, to change their policies accordingly (e.g. in the area of development or financial aid) and to develop new or to reform old tools, ranging from fact-finding or observer missions, special envoys, the use of sanctions, peace-building efforts, institution-building, reconciliation processes to humanitarian aid as well as long-term financial and economic assistance. Until now, however, many celebrated declarations hardly moved from rhetoric to substance, the "culture of prevention", as it has been called by UN Secretary-General Annan, is still to be developed.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and Development
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe and United Nations

4619. The Role of the Interethnic Factor in the Development of the Kaliningrad Region

Author:
Vadim Martynuk
Publication Date:
11-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
On 29-30 November 2002, the City of Kaliningrad hosted an international conference "The Role of the Interethnic Factor in the Development of the Kaliningrad Region" organized by the Regional Strategy Foundation and the regional office of Mediasojuz with the financial support of the Council of Europe, the Institute for Peace Research (Kiel, Germany) and the European Centre for Minority Issues, the principal organizer.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Development, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe

4620. Towards Linguistic Diversity Management in the Baltic States

Author:
Vadim Poleshchuk
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Different foreign rulers have controlled Estonia and Latvia for 700 years. In 1920, both countries attained independence from Bolshevik Russia. However, the period of the countries' first independence was short: Estonia and Latvia were incorporated into the USSR in 1940.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Russia, Eastern Europe, Estonia, and Latvia