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851. How European Protest Transforms Institutions of the Public Sphere: Discourse and Decision-Making in the European Social Forum Process

Author:
Nicole Doerr
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
Abstract:
Against the background of the alleged democratic deficit of EU institutions, this case study explores how politicization and emerging transnational public spaces in European protest movements innovate existing practices of discursive or grassroots deliberative democracy in national social movements. I studied the European Social Forum (ESF) process, a transnational participatory democracy platform created by civil society groups and social movement organizations. I explored discourse and decision-making in the small-scale European Assemblies in which hundreds of activists have met six times a year since 2002 to organize the ESFs, and form campaigns on issues such as global and social justice, peace, climate change, migration, health, or education. Comparing activists' democratic norms and discourse practices in these frequently occurring European Assemblies with social forum assemblies at the national level in Germany, Italy and the UK, I arrived at a surprising result: European Assemblies reflect a higher degree of discursive inclusivity, dialogue and transparency in decision-making and discussion compared to national social forum assemblies. In this paper I discuss structural, strategic and cultural changes that occur in the process of a Europeanization “from below”, that is, when social movement activists work together transnationally across a certain time period. I argue that European protest as a form of contentious Europeanization has developed new social practices and actors that innovate existing practices of participatory democracy at the national level, showing the relevance of social movements to democratize European integration.
Topic:
Democratization
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Europe, Germany, and Italy

852. Neighbourhood Europeanization through ENP: The Case of Ukraine

Author:
Andrea Gawrich, Inna Melnykovska, and Rainer Schweickert
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
Abstract:
We contribute to the literature of European Studies by introducing the approach of Neighbourhood Europeanization. Based on insights from Membership and Enlargement Europeanization, we reveal important inconsistencies of Neighbourhood Europeanization through the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) as well as a lack of robust empirical support for its effectiveness. We also define core dimensions and determinants of Neighbourhood Europeanization and implement this analytical framework for the case of Ukraine. Our analysis clearly demonstrates substantial asymmetries in the ENP for Ukraine across three dimensions we chose – democracy promotion, economic cooperation, and Justice and Home Affairs, which clearly reflect the inconsistency of the ENP concept, that is top-down formulation of EU interests combined with weak conditionality. However, our analysis shows that despite Ukraine's growing frustration because of the lack of a membership perspective, there is a lot of room for keeping up Ukraine's motivation for Europeanization reforms. Especially, widening and strengthening the linkage-mechanisms would allow to overcome ENP inconsistency and to improve the effectiveness of Neighborhood Europeanization.
Topic:
Democratization, Economics, Regional Cooperation, and Law
Political Geography:
Europe and Ukraine

853. EU Administrative Conditionality and Domestic Downloading: The Limits of Europeanization in Challenging Contexts

Author:
Arolda Elbasani
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
Abstract:
How and to what extent have European ideas transformed the political-administrative institutions in the candidate countries in the East? Which conditions work to mitigate and undermine the impact of the European Union (EU) in these contexts? Research on post-communist transformations, by and large, holds EU enlargement as a successful attempt of institutional transfer in the candidate countries. However, while the EU proved to be successful in the first wave of enlargement in the East, we know much less about its effects in 'borderline' cases that lack the will and/or the capacity to pursue required reforms, thus posing a real challenge to EU enlargement strategy. The paper aims to trace the effects of enlargement in challenging domestic environments focusing on public administration reform in post-communist Albania. Differently from the classic Europeanization literature, the bottom-up approach used here, seeks to bring to the fore the crucial role of domestic agency to download and sometimes mitigate European transfers in the national arena. Evidence from the case study shows that governing actors have used EU enlargement as a means to further their strategic goals – they have preferred to talk the talk of reform in order to reap the benefits associated with EU integration and broader external assistance, but also resist implementation of new rules that curtail the political control of the state and the ongoing system of spoils built throughout the post-communist transition. The EU's broad thresholds on administrative reform and the weak association between monitoring of progress and rewards have left ample space for the governing actors to merely pay lip service to the EU prescriptions, while getting full control of a poli-ticized administration.
Topic:
Cold War, Communism, Debt, and Democratization
Political Geography:
Europe

854. Report on the Selection Process for the Members of the Temporary Council on Citizen Participation and Social Control

Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
In mid-December 2008, the Second Vice President of the Legislation and Oversight Commission (CLF) – the contact between the legislative body and international contacts and supporters – invited the Carter Center to serve as one of the international observers to monitor the process of selection, evaluation, appeal and appointment for the members of the temporary Council on Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS).
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, and Governance
Political Geography:
Latin America

855. Final Report: Observing the 2005 Ethiopia Elections

Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
Upon the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, The Carter Center observed the country's May 15, 2005, elections for the national and regional parliaments. The May elections marked an historic event in the country, as Ethiopia witnessed its first genuinely competitive campaign period with multiple parties fielding strong candidates. Unfortunately, what began with a comparatively open period of campaigning and an orderly voting process on election day was followed by flawed counting and tabulation processes in many areas; repeated incidents of serious postelection violence, including the killing of many dozens of people during electoral protests; a significant delay in finalizing election results; and an ineffective complaints review and investigation processes. In spite of the positive pre-election developments, therefore, The Carter Center concludes that the 2005 electoral process did not fulfill Ethiopia's obligations to ensure the exercise of political rights and freedoms necessary for genuinely democratic elections.
Topic:
Political Violence, Democratization, and Governance
Political Geography:
Africa and Ethiopia

856. Final Report: April 9, 2009 Legislative Elections in Indonesia

Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
The April 9, 2009, legislative elections in Indonesia marked the beginning of the third set of national elections since a return to democratic rule following the end of the New Order of former President Soeharto and the first based on an open-list system. This was the world's largest centrally administered, single-day election, with more than 171 million names on the voter register and approximately 519,000 polling stations. Thirty-eight political parties contested nearly 19,000 seats in national, provincial, and district assemblies, while an additional six local parties competed for seats in Aceh province.
Topic:
Civil Society and Democratization
Political Geography:
South Asia, Indonesia, and Asia

857. Revitalizing Democracy Assistance: The Challenge of USAID

Author:
Thomas Carothers
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
President Obama and his foreign policy team are only just starting to confront the challenge of reformulating U.S. democracy promotion policy. Crucial to any such effort will be revitalizing democracy assistance, a domain that has expanded greatly over the past 25 years but risks not adapting adequately to meet the challenges of the new landscape of democratic stagnation in the world. As the largest source of U.S. democracy assistance, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is a natural starting point for such a process of revitalization.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Democratization, International Cooperation, and Reform
Political Geography:
United States

858. Democratization and Social Solidarity Opening

Author:
BILGESAM
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
BILGESAM (Wise Men Center for Strategic Studies)
Abstract:
The discussions initiated by the government about solutions to the ongoing democratic problems have generally created a cautious optimism in the country. However, recent events have damaged and challenged this democratic opening process. In order to shield the process from developments challenging this optimism, officials must take actions with a consideration for social sensitivities and basic principles of law.
Topic:
Democratization, Solidarity, PKK, and Society
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

859. Turkey's Today and Tomorrow

Author:
Ilter Turkmen
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
BILGESAM (Wise Men Center for Strategic Studies)
Abstract:
The geopolitical location of Turkey had created the framework of the policies pursued during the first years of the Republic. Upon the circumstances in the post- WWII period, Turkey unwaveringly preferred to join the Western world. Despite the occasional bottlenecks that have arisen in terms of the compliance with the Western values during and after the Cold War, Turkey irreversibly integrated with the fundamental ideals of the Western civilization such as democracy, multi-party system, rule of law, respect for human rights, and the social market economy. This evolution has been accelerated also by the process of accession to the EU.
Topic:
Democratization, European Union, Geopolitics, and Economy
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

860. “Modernity does not Tolerate Superstition” the Religious and Seculars in the Democratization Process

Author:
Onur Bayramoğlu
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
The claim that change is a one-way process is quite outdated. We have begun to realize that integration across the world does not necessarily require becoming like the West, but rather implies a process of mutual adaptation. This realization enhances efforts to obtain an “insider’s view” of societies’ problems. Turkey is a country that has been modernizing for almost three centuries and attempting to integrate with its surroundings by going through such an adaptation. Major changes have occurred from the economy to judicial, educational and social rights. However, a range of issues from the lack of religious freedom to the Kurdish problem, latent inclination towards violence, and the practice of utilitarian political analysis also shows that with certain issues the traditional public opinion resurfaces without going through any change. Therefore, we have an inevitable question before us: how can it be that, despite all the effort towards modernization and the dynamics of change, we fail to solve some of our problems and continue to live with them? Although one is justified in criticizing the state for its failure to solve these problems, can only the state be held accountable? Or does the society, either consciously or implicitly, support the state’s resistance to problem-solving? These questions led TESEV to conduct a series of studies, which focus on issues such as secularism, religiosity, nationalism, family, the state, and rights. Through these studies TESEV attempted to unveil the mentality and the way in which Turkish people perceive themselves and their surroundings, as well as their references and the value systems implied by these references. We tried to grasp how the mentality change works, what kinds of breakpoints it creates, and how the conflicts created by these breakpoints are rationalized. We hope that the resulting assessments will not only create an effective reference in defining and conceiving the chaotic change dynamics of contemporary Turkey, but also serve to initiate new, more expansive and in-depth studies.
Topic:
Democratization, Religion, State, and Society
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, and Mediterranean