Contemporary European Politics最新文献

{"title":"European Green Industrial Policy at a Crossroads? A Pilot Set of Conjoint Experiments Among Policy Experts","authors":"Francesco Nicoli,&nbsp;Marie-Sophie Lappe","doi":"10.1002/cep4.70022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cep4.70022","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper explores experts' opinions towards EU industrial and climate policy amidst significant geopolitical and economic challenges. Utilizing a twin conjoint experiment, we investigate policy preferences among experts attending the Bruegel Annual Meetings in 2024, focusing on industrial and climate policy trade-offs. The paper addresses critical issues such as fiscal discipline, market competition, the formation of European champions, and supply chain strategies, particularly in the context of competition with the United States and China. We find a mild consensus among experts for a policy mix that includes increased investment in strategic industries, market competition, and a shift toward “friendshoring” supply chains, favoring countries with aligned political interests. Climate policy preferences reveal stronger support for decarbonization, with experts favoring policies that prioritize environmental goals over firm competitiveness and fiscal discipline. The paper's contribution is twofold. First-off, we pilot and demonstrate the feasibility of exploiting professional gatherings to deploy small-scale conjoint experiments. Hence, we contribute in advancing the study of expert preferences, demonstrating the (qualified) feasibility of experimental methods by means of one of the first conjoint experiments conducted among EU policy experts, providing insights into their preferences regarding policy trade-offs. Second, we are able to identify clear expert preferences in both industrial and climate policy, despite the low sample size. While the results indicate preferences for compromise solutions in industrial policy, climate policy preferences appear more coherent and climate-oriented.</p>","PeriodicalId":100329,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary European Politics","volume":"3 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cep4.70022","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145181591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Political Contestation Through Salience? Parliamentary Written Questions on Turkey in the European Parliament (2009–2024)","authors":"Yunus Barış Ertürk","doi":"10.1002/cep4.70021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cep4.70021","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Can the positions of national political parties on the ideological spectrum explain MEPs' efforts, and even contestation, to highlight specific issues through parliamentary written questions (PWQs)? While existing literature extensively explores the representativeness and pluralistic capture of PWQs in the European Parliament, it has yet to operationalize PWQs from the perspective of MEPs' issue preferences. Building on the link between salience theory, which argues that parties compete not only on policy substance but also on shifting issue salience, and the transformation of the structure of contestation in European politics, which posits that sociocultural issues have become more decisive than the traditional left-right spectrum, this study reveals how salience through PWQs is a component of patterns of contestation in the EP. The highly politicized and divisive context of Turkey within the EU makes it an ideal case study for examining contestation over issue salience. As parties understand what Turkey's salience represents to the public, choosing to emphasize or de-emphasize it becomes a political decision aligned with their political stance. This study introduces a novel methodology to analyse contestation over issue salience, examining all PWQs (<i>n</i> = 2484) on Turkey from EP7 to EP9 (2009–2024). The findings challenge the prevailing literature that attributes PWQ patterns solely to cultural or institutional factors, suggesting that ideological influences, particularly the socio-cultural dimension, provide a more accurate explanation for the patterns of contestation on issue salience than the traditional left-right dimension. Meanwhile, national disputes, such as Turkey's disputes with Cyprus and Greece, along with domestic political developments like Brexit, also impact MEPs' salience preferences through PWQs.</p>","PeriodicalId":100329,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary European Politics","volume":"3 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cep4.70021","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145102288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Securitization and Eurocentric Narratives in the European Union's Climate Policy and Diplomacy","authors":"Amlan Mishra","doi":"10.1002/cep4.70019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cep4.70019","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Post the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the EU has increasingly adopted climate and energy policy as a matter of security, developing a paradigm of climate-energy-security nexus in the climate policymaking and diplomacy of the EU. This paper argues that the connotations of such a nexus showcase the increasing securitization and Eurocentrism in the EU's climate action, a significant change from its historical role as a ‘leader-by-example’ in undertaking climate action. Beyond showcasing the theoretical framings of securitization and Eurocentrism, the paper seeks to highlight how the key policies of the ‘internal’ European Green Deal, especially the REPowerEU and CBAM, are increasingly influenced by these ideals. The paper also examines the Eurocentric narratives in the ‘external’ outreach of EU's climate diplomacy, evolving beyond colonial epistemologies to reflect watered down ambitions and promote green mineral extraction under the broader narrative of green transition.</p>","PeriodicalId":100329,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary European Politics","volume":"3 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cep4.70019","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144997897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"European Governance of Artificial Intelligence: Bridging Uncertainty With Evidence-Informed Policy Making","authors":"Richard von Maydell","doi":"10.1002/cep4.70016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cep4.70016","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article explores the current challenges posed by the growing significance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and considers potential regulatory changes to better manage this rapidly developing technology through evidence-informed policy-making. Current key challenges for governance discussed consider the ambiguous definition of AI, the assessment of its multifaceted impacts, the handling of inherent uncertainties, the reconciliation of regulation with innovation, and the pursuit of regulatory harmonization. We propose policy recommendations such as the application of Multi-Criteria Analyses, Sensitivity Analyses, and the implementation of Regulatory Sandboxes. Additionally, the paper highlights Europe's potential leadership role in fostering interoperability and harmonization within AI regulation and emphasizes Europe's contribution to promoting international regulatory harmonization.</p>","PeriodicalId":100329,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary European Politics","volume":"3 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cep4.70016","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144894275","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Softly Does It? Changing Patterns of Opposition to European Integration in Ireland","authors":"Michael Holmes,&nbsp;Kathryn Simpson","doi":"10.1002/cep4.70014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cep4.70014","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article examines the development of party opposition to European integration in Ireland following two major crises in recent years: the eurozone crisis and the Brexit crisis. Ireland's relationship with the European Union (EU) is unusual. In a country which has voted against EU treaties on two occasions in public referendums, there is also very strong political and public opinion support for membership. This article assesses two recent crises that have had important consequences for patterns of EU support and opposition to European integration. The eurozone crisis highlighted the direct intervention of the EU in Irish affairs and Ireland's dependency on support from the EU, and the austerity programme led to extensive protests, suggesting a hardening of party opposition to integration. However, this contrasts with the reaction to Brexit, which led to greater appreciation of the EU and which served to strengthen party support for integration and a soft style of opposition. Overall, we argue that the overall pattern in Ireland shows a spike but then a gradual decline in hard opposition and an increase in soft Euroscepticism.</p>","PeriodicalId":100329,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary European Politics","volume":"3 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cep4.70014","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144869946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Progressive and Far-Right Parties: Between Demands for and Supply of Civic Political Engagement—Qualitative-Comparative Case Study of Poland","authors":"Anna Pacześniak,&nbsp;Maciej Bachryj","doi":"10.1002/cep4.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cep4.70018","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The links between political parties and civil society organisations (CSOs), initiatives and social movements has been transforming. Cross-fertilizing allies in the past, often interpenetrating ideologically and personally, nowadays have become much more alienated from each other. Nonetheless, political parties still seek to form relations with CSOs and initiatives. Parties with low office aspiration, such as far-right and radical left ones, by offering less binding and informal opportunities for political activity, have a potential to meet citizens' demands for more horizontal engagement. On the empirical level, the paper focuses on two Polish political parties: the progressive Left Together (Lewica Razem) and the far-right Confederation Liberty and Independence (Konfederacja Wolność i Niepodległość), to identify how both parties perceive and incorporate participatory demands. Using a qualitative analysis based on individual in-depth interviews with party politicians, this study aims to compare the diagnoses of the demand for civic engagement formulated by parties from opposite sides of the political spectrum, and their supply to nonpartisan political activists.</p>","PeriodicalId":100329,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary European Politics","volume":"3 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cep4.70018","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144832637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Victimhood as a Legitimation Strategy of Populism in Power: The Case of Poland","authors":"Agnieszka K. Cianciara","doi":"10.1002/cep4.70017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cep4.70017","url":null,"abstract":"<p>What legitimation strategy do populists use once they seize power? This article combines insights from literatures on populism in power, populist legitimation strategies, populist foreign policy and populist usages of memory politics to shed light on victimhood as a powerful legitimation strategy of populism in power. The main objective of this study is to understand the role of victims versus perpetrators dynamics as a legitimating strategy of populists in power, while looking at the single case study of Poland under the right-wing populist government led by the Law and Justice party (2015–2023). The empirical analysis traces how populists in power engage in a double game of self-legitimation as both victims and heroes, as well as in a two-level game of de-legitimation of domestic and international actors as perpetrators. It highlights how victimhood-based narratives allow the underdog illusion to be sustained when populists gain power, while copy-pasting the victim-perpetrator relationship from the traumatic past into the present. Finally, the analysis shows how the de-legitimating narrative imposes a principal-agent relationship between foreign and domestic perpetrators.</p>","PeriodicalId":100329,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary European Politics","volume":"3 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cep4.70017","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144666339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The European Parliament: A Critical Space for the Development of Anglo-Irish Relations on Northern Ireland","authors":"Giada Lagana","doi":"10.1002/cep4.70011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cep4.70011","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The European Parliament (EP) serves as the legislative body where elected representatives from EU member states are organised into political groups, rather than by nationality. Initially established as a consultative assembly, the EP's influence in budgetary politics, legislation and oversight has expanded significantly since the first direct elections in 1979 and the passage of the Single European Act (SEA) in 1987. While it has often been argued that the EP's ability to influence national politics is limited, recent studies show that the active involvement of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in EU legislation and other EP activities can foster stronger ties between European representatives and their national parties. These representatives can leverage their involvement to demonstrate influence on supranational policy outcomes and build consensus both at the bilateral and EU levels. This article uses the developing British-Irish relationship on the Northern Ireland conflict to demonstrate this function. It focuses on the early 1980s and the Northern Ireland hunger strikes. Using a novel network approach, the article draws on a qualitative analysis of original archival sources, triangulated with semi-structured elite interviews, to demonstrate that the EP not only supported this relationship but also played a pivotal role in transforming it before the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA) negotiations. In light of Brexit, this analysis highlights how the departure of the UK from the EU may create a deficit in the British-Irish relationship. Furthermore, it provides a foundation for further study of the EP's dynamic role in fostering stronger relationships among EU member states.</p>","PeriodicalId":100329,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary European Politics","volume":"3 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cep4.70011","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144551051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Role of EU Structural Funds in Building Capacity and Promoting Reconciliation: The Example of the Museum Sector in Derry/Londonderry","authors":"Charlotte Barcat","doi":"10.1002/cep4.70013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cep4.70013","url":null,"abstract":"<p>EU Structural Funds have played a major part in the Northern Ireland peace process, with over £2.3 billion pounds being channelled through programmes such as the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) and, from 1995, the successive ‘PEACE’ programmes (Special Support Programmes for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland). The impact has been particularly visible in the city of Derry/Londonderry. This paper proposes to look at the impact of ERDF and PEACE on the museum sector in the city, drawing on articles from the local press as well as interviews with key actors (project managers, current museum staff and former staff members). The first part focuses on the Tower Museum, Derry/Londonderry's civic museum inaugurated in 1992. It shows how the awarding of ERDF funding made it possible for the city to finally set up its first museum since 1945—putting an end to a long-standing anomaly, which had been identified as a priority from at least the 1970s. The new museum was explicitly given a role in favouring reconciliation, through an inclusive approach to the city's history. The second part looks at the Siege Museum, which could be called a ‘sectional’ museum, as it is run by the Apprentice Boys of Derry, the main loyalist organisation in the city. Again, we will see that the absence of a museum to represent the loyalist narrative had long been lamented, but successive plans to create one had always run into difficulties. PEACE III funding led to the museum finally being opened in 2016, again with the aim of fostering cross-community understanding. In the third and final part, we will see that the subsequent programme, PEACE IV, then built upon this foundation, providing funds for projects that combined the two ‘sectional’ museums of the city—the Siege Museum and the Museum of Free Derry. The opening of the Siege Museum opened up opportunities to combine both political traditions, in particular within a project known as the ‘Derry Model’ (officially, the Conflict Transformation and Peace Building project), which uses the two museums as a resource for reconciliation work. Overall, this paper shows how successive grants of EU funds have played a key part in helping the city build a very solid, well-rounded offer in the museum sector, allowing the realization of projects that had long been recognised as necessary, yet had been hindered by the difficulty of finding appropriate funding. This capacity-building then allowed more projects to flourish, which showcase the city's expertise in peacebuilding.</p>","PeriodicalId":100329,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary European Politics","volume":"3 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cep4.70013","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144197534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mobilising on Migration? Linkages of Migration and European Integration in Four Irish EU Referendums","authors":"Kristine Graneng","doi":"10.1002/cep4.70012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cep4.70012","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In a Europe where contestation over migration and European integration has become increasingly connected, Ireland seems to be an outlier. Whereas European integration has been a politicised issue in Ireland, not least in the context of four consecutive referendums on EU treaties in the early 2000s, politicisation of immigration has traditionally been low in Ireland. But while previous studies suggest that this has also been the case during EU referendums, the debates on the Treaty of Nice seem to be an exception. Ireland's status as an outlier in Western Europe and the variation across referendums makes the Irish referendums an ideal case for exploring the relationship between politicisation of migration and European integration. This article examines and explains to what extent and how migration has been discursively linked to European integration in the four Irish EU referendums in the period 2001–2009. Based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of political claims in Irish newspapers, I argue that pre-existing national discourses on migration and European integration, which have been predominantly positive in Ireland, have generally hindered the mobilisation of anti-immigration sentiments against the EU. The Nice II referendum is an exception, highlighting how not even Ireland is immune to such politicisation. My analysis shows how domestic radical right actors played an important part in mobilising such linkages, but also how the responses of other actors contributed to making migration a more salient issue. The article offers novel empirical insights into the politicisation of migration in Ireland, and also advances our general understanding of the dynamics behind the politicisation of migration in relation to European integration.</p>","PeriodicalId":100329,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary European Politics","volume":"3 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cep4.70012","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144085049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}