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432. The access of business interests to European Union institutions: notes towards a theory
- Author:
- Rainer Eising
- Publication Date:
- 11-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Research Papers Archive
- Abstract:
- The unequal access of interest organizations to the EU institutions is often associated with biased European politics. Nonetheless, systematic accounts of interest group access are rare. Rooted in the organizational theory of resource dependencies and drawing on a survey of 800 EU and national business associations, the article presents a broad conception of European political exchange to explain the contact patterns. Ordinal regressions indicate that three dimensions shape these patterns–organizational characteristics, sectoral-economic features, and national modes of interest intermediation. Nonetheless, EU interest intermediation displays only very few general traits–these are the division of labor among EU and national associations, the economic clout, the financial resources and the expertise of interest groups as well as their political mobilization when they face of EU regulation. Else, the interaction patterns vary along the EU institutions and their levels of decision-making underscoring the importance of the institutional opportunity structure.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe
433. It's the Process Stupid! Process Tracing in the Study of European and International Politics
- Author:
- Jeffrey T. Checkel
- Publication Date:
- 10-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Research Papers Archive
- Abstract:
- Process tracing is in, acquiring near buzz-word status in certain circles. Europeanists do it; IR scholars do it – all with the goal of bringing theory closer to what really goes on in the world. This makes our scholarship more policy relevant and increases the reliability of our findings - non-trivial advantages, for sure. Yet, such benefits do not come without costs. In particular, proponents of process tracing should be wary of losing sight of the big picture, be aware of the method's significant data requirements, and recognize certain epistemological traps inherent in its application.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe
434. Turkey's Reform Effort Reconsidered, 1987-2004
- Author:
- Kivanç Ulusoy
- Publication Date:
- 10-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Research Papers Archive
- Abstract:
- This article aims to develop a coherent explanation of the impact of the EU on Turkey's politics between 1987 (the year Turkey applied for EU membership) and 2004, providing a more profound analysis of Turkish political transformation within the framework of its relations with the EU. It integrates Moravcsiks' work on the human rights regime in post-war Europe with Risse's theory on communicative action in world politics to provide an alternative explanatory framework for recent political transformation in Turkey. It will be argued that the main dynamics driving recent democratisation in Turkey were its newfound location within the European human rights regime—a result of having been granted the right to individual petition to the European Court of Human Rights just before its 1987 membership application—and the increasing power of European argument as an alternative way of resolving domestic political conflicts in Turkey.
- Topic:
- Development, Human Rights, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Turkey
435. Unity and diversity - European style
- Author:
- Johan P. Olsen
- Publication Date:
- 09-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Research Papers Archive
- Abstract:
- This paper argues that contemporary European developments provide a window of opportunity for learning about how political community and authority is possible in spite of enduring diversity. The paper explores sources of political unity and how institutions mediate between diversity and unity. The theoretical discussion is then applied to two European puzzles and it is asked whether there is a "European way" to manage unity and diversity and, more generally, what lessons can be drawn from the European case.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Development, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe
436. The political organization of Europe: Differentiation and unification
- Author:
- Johan P. Olsen
- Publication Date:
- 09-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Research Papers Archive
- Abstract:
- Students of political development try to understand how territorial systems of government arise and disintegrate. They ask how political order and unity is fostered, maintained and lost and under what conditions political community, stable boundaries and legitimate institutions are possible among component units (individuals, groups, organizations, states) that are different in many respects.
- Topic:
- Development, International Organization, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe
437. When and Why the Council of Ministers of the EU Votes Explicitly
- Author:
- Helen Wallace, Fiona Hayes-Renshaw, and Wim van Aken
- Publication Date:
- 09-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Research Papers Archive
- Abstract:
- This paper reports newly collected empirical data sets on explicitly contested voting at ministerial level in the Council of Ministers of the European Union. These data sets cover the period 1994-2004, with more detail for the years 1998-2004. They provide us with rather steady patterns of explicitly contested voting across the period in terms of: proportions of decisions taken where contested voting was recorded; the different levels of contestation by country; and the issue areas in which explicit voting occurred more often. The data sets draw on the material available on the Council's own website, but they have been supplemented by hand-collected data, in particular as regards issue areas and types of decision. Once arranged appropriately the data sets will be posted on the web, so that other researchers can have access to the material. The initial analysis of the data is reported in the second edition of Hayes-Renshaw and Wallace, The Council of Ministers, Palgrave, forthcoming, Chapter 10. The data show that explicit voting on agreed decisions at ministerial level is rather rare, that in nearly half the roll calls dissent is expressed only by singleton member states, that nearly half the cases concern 'technical' decisions on agriculture and fisheries, and that Germany more often votes 'no' or abstains than any other member state. The data confirm that ministers generally endorse collective decisions by consensus, even on the 70% or so cases where they could activate qualified majority voting (QMV). To the extent that voting takes place in these latter cases, it occurs implicitly rather than explicitly, operates mostly at the level of officials rather than ministers, and is not recorded systematically in publicly accessible form. These patterns are consistent with earlier accounts based on qualitative interview evidence.
- Topic:
- International Relations, International Cooperation, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe
438. Language Minorities in Europe: Dying species or forerunner of a transnational civil society?
- Author:
- Hans-Jörg Trenz
- Publication Date:
- 08-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Research Papers Archive
- Abstract:
- Language minorities can be found as evidence of unfinished nation-building in relatively closed territorial settlements all over contemporary Europe. From a comparative perspective, different paths of accommodating linguistic diversity can be followed resulting in very dissimilar regimes of legal, political and cultural recognition. In recent years, standardisation of minority protection has taken place, with a new emphasis on the values of linguistic diversity, non-discrimination and tolerance. As will be argued, the expanding rights of language minorities must be understood in relation to a re-structuration of nation-states in Europe and a re-evaluation of difference in the course of European integration. The confrontation with internal diversity and the confrontation with a Europe of deep diversity are closely interlinked setting the conditions for the unfolding of a new politics of recognition towards language minorities. This changing minority-majority relationship and the related processes of Europeanization of opportunity structures for the political and cultural mobilisation of language minorities shall be analysed with reference to specific case studies from Germany, France and Spain.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Development, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe
439. The Limits of Europeanization: Regulatory Reforms in the Spanish and Portuguese Telecommunications and Electricity Sectors
- Author:
- Jacint Jordana, David Levi-Faur, and Imma Puig
- Publication Date:
- 07-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Research Papers Archive
- Abstract:
- The creation of an EU-level regulatory regimes for telecommunications and electricity was a highly successful political initiative of the European Commission. In promoting market liberalization for telecommunications (a key sector in the creation of the 'information economy') and electricity (one of the sectors most resistant to change) the European Commission asserted the political importance of European project. Indeed, the two new regimes are commonly cited as successful cases of 'Europeanization'. However, this paper argues that the causal link between European initiatives and national policy change is weak. Building on an emerging tradition of cross-sector research of these two sectors, and considering two most-similar European countries, the paper examines commonalities and variations in the regulatory reforms of telecommunications and electricity in Spain and Portugal in the last two decades. It applies a series of comparisons, including a stepwise comparative analysis of two countries (one a reluctant liberalizer, the other an enthusiastic one), of two sectors (a pace-setter and a foot-dragger) and of two time periods (before and after the regulatory reforms). We suggest that processes of Europeanization can impinge on the strategic capacities of European member states only to a limited degree. Spain and Portugal were able to shape their sectors according to the preferences of their national policy communities and in a context of a global shift in the way countries both within Europe and outside it defined their interests.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, Politics, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Spain, and Portugal
440. The EU's fledgling society: From deafening silence to critical voice in European constitution making
- Author:
- John Erik Fossum and Hans-Jörg Trenz
- Publication Date:
- 07-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Research Papers Archive
- Abstract:
- The European Union is presently at a major crossroads. The Laeken process which launched the EU onto an explicit constitution-making process, has ground to a halt after the negative referendum results in France and the Netherlands. The European Council at its 16-17 June 2005 meeting decided to postpone the ratification process (by then 10 states had ratified and 2 had rejected) and instead issue a period of reflection. These events represent a significant re-politicization of the European integration process. From a research perspective they underline the need to study the dynamic interrelation between the emerging European polity and its social constituency. In this article we provide an analytical model of EU-constitutionalisation in terms of polity building and constituency building, a model that links institutional performance back to public voice and mobilisation. Our focus on determining the character of the EU's emerging social constituency goes beyond the contentious politics approach because it does not only focus on public voice but also provides a research framework for properly understanding the role of public silence. In empirical terms, this implies looking at the structure of public communication and claims-making in the EU and in the Member States. The European public sphere in relation to constitution making is then our object of analysis. More specifically, we present a research framework that will help us to shed light on the character of the EU's social constituency, as it emerges in dynamic interaction with the process of polity formation.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Politics, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Europe