Politics of the European Union Research Papers

Wie sieht die Zukunft der politischen Kommunikation in Deutschland aus? Wird es den gläsernen Abgeordneten geben, gewinnt die Europäische Union mehr Macht, können sich die traditionellen Leitmedien behaupten? Welche Chancen haben neue... more

Depuis près de trente ans, les fédérations européennes de partis font partie du paysage politique européen. Les premières élections du Parlement européen au suffrage universel direct (1979) avaient stimulé les recherches sur les... more

Depuis près de trente ans, les fédérations européennes de partis font partie du paysage politique européen. Les premières élections du Parlement européen au suffrage universel direct (1979) avaient stimulé les recherches sur les groupements partisans transnationaux qui s'étaient formés dans cette perspective. Mais l'enthousiasme scientifique céda vite la place à l'oubli et il fallut attendre l'accélération de l'intégration européenne suite à l'Acte unique (1988) et au traité de Maastricht (1993) pour que la science politique s'y intéresse à nouveau. Au terme de la conférence intergouvernementale 2000 révisant l'article 138 A du traité sur l'Union européenne pour lui substituer l'article 191 du traité de Nice, il était nécessaire de faire le point sur la place des fédérations de partis dans l'Union européenne. Les auteurs du présent ouvrage les analysent sur les plans historique, politique et organisationnel. Ils mettent en évidence leur contribution à l'édification d'un système politique supranational en devenir.

La première partie du livre est consacrée aux controverses et aux débats : il y est question, entre autres, des approches théoriques possibles, des contraintes institutionnelles qui pèsent sur le développement des fédérations européennes de partis et des conditions et modalités d'une reconnaissance éventuelle.

Dans la deuxième partie, les auteurs analysent l’organisation des cinq structures partisanes constituées à ce jour : le parti des socialistes européens, le parti populaire européen, le parti européen des libéraux, démocrates et réformateurs, la Fédération européenne des partis verts, le parti démocratique des peuples d'Europe/Alliance libre européenne. Enfin, la dernière partie s'attache à l'influence de ces fédérations sur le processus de décision, sur les facteurs qui la conditionnent, sur la formation du consensus, sur le rôle des partis nationaux et les relations qu'elles entretiennent avec le Conseil européen, le Conseil des ministres, la Commission européenne et les groupes politiques au Parlement européen.

The outcome of the Brexit referendum is the apex of a long history of Euro-British relationships characterised by two opposing but coexisting stereotypes. On the one hand, England appears as the freedom-seeking nation resisting... more

The setbacks of the Visegrad Group on the level of end-game negotiation as well as its absence in EU macro-regional strategy projects show that the mechanism of the “hard power”, such as economic potential or number of votes in the EU... more

The setbacks of the Visegrad Group on the level of end-game negotiation as well as its absence in EU macro-regional strategy projects show that the mechanism of the “hard power”, such as economic potential or number of votes in the EU institutions are not sufficient to enforce the interests of the V4 or its member states on the European level. On the other hand the Visegrad Group and the V4+ format is an attractive and respected negotiation platform both within the EU as well as between the V4 and the “third states”.
Therefore the main hypothesis of the presented publication is that one of the main sources of attractiveness and tools of the influence of the Visegrad Group on the decision making process in the EU, on the Central European EU members, existing or potential EU-candidates and the “third states” is the “soft power” of the Group, i.e. its ability to achieve preferable outcomes in world politics because other states want to follow it or have agreed to a situation that produces such effects” (Nye, 1990, 166). Subsequently the research question is what the content of the Visegrad Group soft power could be and if V4 has remained the “trade mark” of Central European states, the content of which could be a trade mark now in the post-accession period?Authors cover the following aspects of the Visegrad cooperation: cooperation of the V4 states and the presence of the V4 within the framework of EU; cooperation in military and security areas;; opportunities for the transit between the East and West; V4 as the target region for the
immigrants from „third countries“; the level of religiosity and secularization in Central Europe as a part of Visegrad´s soft power; threats and opportunities for V4 within the framework of EU Eastern Partnership Program. According to the authors of the publication Visegrad remains the most viable and most functioning regional initiative in Central Europe and the V4 + format allowed to transform this group to the specific centre of gravity for the wider region of Central and East-Central Europe. The main findings of the presented publications are that the role of the Visegrad Group in Europe is increasing. Its success is conditioned by the awareness of the V4 states of the need for cooperation as well as by their willingness to continue in the process of modernization. We have to correct our initial hypothesis, according to
which the main tool of the strengthening of the V4 position in Europe is the soft power. V4 could play the role of the European security and economic actor; however the main condition of the economic success of the Visegrad sub-region will be investment in education and infrastructure. Nevertheless, the crucial prerequisite of the success of the Visegrad Group and cooperation in the Central European area will be the success of the European Union and its ability to overcome the current economic and financial crisis. The success of European integration will also have a decisive impact on the future development of the domestic and foreign policy of the East European states.

Content

Instead of Introduction - how much is Visegrad Present in Europe? (Juraj Marušiak)
Part I.
Visegrad in the EU and NATO

Chapter 1
The Visegrad Group between the Trade-mark and the Political Organization of the Peripheral Countries (Piotr Bajda)

Chapter 2
“Success” of V4 Countries in European External Action Service (Radoslava Brhlíková)

Chapter 3
Visegrad cooperation in military and security areas (Zbyněk Dubský)

Part II.
Economic, Cultural and Socio-Demographic Challenges to the V4 states

Chapter 4
Visegrad Transit – Information and Transport Region (Jaromír Hladký)

Chapter 5
Modern Migration and Electoral Integration of Immigrants in Central Europe (Iván Halász)

Chapter 6
Policy towards Ethnic Minorities in Slovakia and in the V4 Countries in the Context of the European Union. Three Possible Scenarios of Future Development (Zuzana Poláčková)

Chapter 7
Is a “Christian Center” in Central-Eastern Europe Emerging? Comparison of the Level of Religiosity and Secularization in Central Europe in the European Context (David Reichardt)

Part III.
Visegrad and the New Challenges in the Eastern Europe

Chapter 8
Russian Neo-Imperialism: Ideal Aspiration or New Geopolitical Reality (Pavel Usov)

Chapter 9
Ukraine and the Visegrad Group Countries: Cooperation within the Framework of Eastern Partnership and the Political Realities in Ukraine (Galina Zelenko)

Chapter 10
"The Right for Freedom to Religion and Belief" Road Map for the Promotion of MultiReligious Belarus in the Framework of the European Integrative Projects (Natalia Kutuzova, Iryna Mikheyeva)

Conclusions (Juraj Marušiak)

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- by Juraj Marušiak and +1
  Radoslava Brhlikova
- •
- 68
  Eastern European Studies, European Studies, Russian Studies, European integration

The public affairs and lobbying industry represents an extremely relevant and fascinating field of observation to political analysts and to everyone engaged in the comprehension of complex political and economic environments such as the... more

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- by Claudia Mariotti and +1
  Alberto Bitonti
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- 3
  Public Affairs, Lobbying in the EU, Politics of the European Union

The integration of the countries of eastern and southeastern Europe into global flows of migration has become a major issue not only in migration policy debates , but also in analysing longer term social change in the region. Changes in... more

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- by József Böröcz
- •
- 191
  History, European History, Economic History, Sociology

On many issues in European Union (EU) foreign policy-making, political steering and operational action are provided by an informal, self-selected group of actors. Although this informal division of labour is an important phenomenon, it... more

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- by Tom Delreux and +1
  Stephan Keukeleire
- •
- 9
  European integration, European Foreign Policy, European Politics, European Union

Is there a crisis of state legitimacy in Europe?

« L’Europe, c’est la paix ». Il s’agit là d’une des formules les plus souvent mises en avant par les partisans de la construction européenne. Et pourtant, aussi étonnant que cela puisse paraître, aucune étude approfondie n’a jamais essayé... more

Az International Sociology című folyóiratban megjelent, "What Is the EU?" című tanulmány magyar változata. Hungarian version of a study published, first, in English in the journal International Sociology.

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- by József Böröcz
- •
- 27
  Sociology, Political Sociology, European Studies, Political Economy

The article addresses current trends in European transformation and compares the structure which is being built to ancient and medieval empires. The imperial order appears to be productive for the EU due to it easily embraces the... more

“That’s not the way we do it here” or “That doesn’t work here” are the unnerving comments political consultants dread to hear whenever they fly in to a new place. The European Union (EU) is such a place, and particularly American lobbying... more

“That’s not the way we do it here” or “That doesn’t work here” are the unnerving comments political consultants dread to hear whenever they fly in to a new place. The European Union (EU) is such a place, and particularly American lobbying and advocacy specialists are prone to get an earful whenever they dare to suggest modern-day legislative strategies and hard-nosed pres- sure campaign tactics that have become the staple in the United States both at the federal and state level. Coalition-building? Advocacy campaigns? Grassroots? Grasstops? Lobby days, fly-ins, Capitol steps picketing, orchestrated constituent mail, patch-through phone campaigns, corporate employee “civic action networks,” “voter education” advertising and election-year get-out-the- vote (GOTV) mobilization based on viral marketing and web 2.0 techniques? Until recently, most pan-European strategists would have none of that. It seemed to fit neither the resources nor the culture. The supranational structure of the EU, different languages, and the absence of a common European people or public have made grassroots lobbying, if not unfeasible in the EU, at least not worth the cost in the past.1 Until recently, most returning American political professionals would tell baffled colleagues that Brussels is a place where only elite lobbying counts, parties and elections are irrelevant to the lobbyist’s trade, political money is mainly invested in gourmet cuisine expense accounts, Lobbying Disclosures Act (LDA)-style registration and disclosure is unknown, news media- driven debates and public opinion polls are fringe phenomena for lobbying work, and citizens are far-away abstract entities because constituents have no clue what Brussels does or who their representatives are, anyway. Consensus politics, they would iterate, gives cover to unintelligible policy-making, and the lack of adversarial party competition contributes to the phenomenon of a perfect insider game. The confederated Euro-interest groups do not help at this point either, as they have more incentives to play institutional politics rather than engage their members in polarizing advocacy campaigns; even the lobby sector seems “over-institutionalized.”2 Brussels, the American political traveler would report, is the place where organizing pressure or using anti-big-government rhetoric will quickly turn the perceived aggressor into the village pariah. In Washington, one can make a career being anti-Washington; in Brussels, no one can be anti-Brussels. Therefore, the quintessential Brussels advocate must be anything but a Washington political warrior: the Brussels advocate must be a soft-spoken, multi-cultural, multi-tongued polite diplomat, the servant of consensus and constructive consultation, a friendly policy coordinator and connoisseur of knowledge for the myriad of expert groups and "comitology" system. A person who can serve reliable evidence, legal arguments and scientific data to policy- makers, an unbiased supplier of robust facts. The job description means, always be part of the solution (even if you don’t like it), and never of the problem. No political hellraisers need apply. That’s Brussels. Or it used to be.

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- by Melanie Feakins
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- 139
  European History, Sociology, Economic Sociology, Political Sociology

This chapter examines the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), focusing on its key components and what happens when countries join. EMU has been an integral part of European integration since the early 1970s. Member states agreed that there... more

Announcement of a symposium on THE REFUGEE CRISIS AND THE NEW RIGHT ON THE EUROPEAN PERIPHERY. Organized by George Gasyna and Zsuzsa Gille. European Union Center (Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence) University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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- by József Böröcz
- •
- 16
  Sociology, Political Sociology, European Studies, Refugee Studies

In 2020, in the new EU strategic horizon that is opening at present, the place should matter more than ever when it refers to territories that are envisaged from the Social Innovation paradigm (Moulaert, Mulgan and Morgan). Nevertheless,... more

European Union (EU) institutions, and primarily the European Commission, recurrently pledge for ‘unity’ within the EU. In doing so, the European Commission refers to the fact that the euro is the single currency within the EU. While this... more

Catalonia, after decades of claiming for a change is walking with clumsiness towards alternatives. Independence, it ́s just one of that way out. In a Democracy, Unity comes from diversity not from a totalitarian regime of “applying law”... more

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- by Mar. Introini
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- 7
  Politics, Nationalism, European Union Politics, Spain

In this paper I evaluate the likelihood for conflict or cooperation among member states of the European Community by applying and comparing the theoretical arguments of institutionalism and the new economics of organization (NEO) against... more

Die Europawahl ist eigentlich ein demokratisches Weltereignis - und zugleich Prototyp einer Nebenwahl. Die Wahl spiegelt die Missverständnisse, Mythen und schiefen Wahrnehmungen der EU als politisches Konstrukt. Für die Wahlkampfplaner in... more

When we debate about immigration there is another model of emotional bias: prejudice and fear, however, is it quite a fact that most of the less-skilled jobs are taken by immigrants while the high skilled workers are actively demanded... more

Abstract: Human migration is an eternal phenomenon. Although we may consider various motivations for human migration, it has largely been driven by the human instinct for survival. This motivation is the basic framework through which we... more

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- by Meng-Hsuan Chou
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- 8
  Migration, Human Trafficking, European Union, Schengen Visa policy

Politics of the European Union

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