Perspectives on European Politics and Society最新文献

{"title":"The Role of NGOs in Promoting Minority Rights in the Enlarged European Union","authors":"Christoph Schnellbach","doi":"10.1080/15705854.2012.731937","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15705854.2012.731937","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In the field of minority protection, several concepts have been utilized to explain domestic change – like policy transfer, norm diffusion and emulation – to name only a few. But how and why have some EU policies been transferred and others not? Why do accession countries introduce antidiscrimination laws but at the same time undermine individual or collective minority rights in the (post-) enlargement process? When looking for variables of successful EU conditionality in the field of minority policy, the role of non-state actors and advocacy group influence is often neglected in the Europeanization literature. Thus, the article examines and compares the impact of NGO advocacy in the EU enlargement process with a focus on Roma policy. EU enlargement shows that compliance with EU norms can be enforced through transnational advocacy networks (TANs), lobbying on behalf of an ethnic minority. While in non-discrimination, a causal relationship between the advocacy of intermediary institutions and policy reform can be detected, NGOs seem to have less influence on special minority rights. Moreover, the emergence of TANs formed around the issue of the Roma demonstrates that advocacy groups appear to substitute other ‘norm entrepreneurs’ like kin states or minority parties.","PeriodicalId":186367,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on European Politics and Society","volume":"99 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115915318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Parliament and Europe: Rhetorical and Conceptual Studies on Their Contemporary Connections","authors":"Rinna Kullaa","doi":"10.1080/15705854.2012.731938","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15705854.2012.731938","url":null,"abstract":"This is a clever short book ideally suited for European studies. ‘Parliament and Europe’ – the first part of the theoretically based full title of the book describes its purpose well. This volume approaches multiple interconnections between the meanings of Europe and parliamentarism in 10 separate chapters from the perspective of several disciplines including political theory, linguistics and history. There are 11 contributors. One may ask: why a book on Europe by Finns, Germans, French, Swedes, Austrians, Italians and Canadians? How is a conceptual history of Europe and parliament best authored by scholars from this variety of backgrounds? The answer to that question is not given, but it needs not to be administered because the book presents an original idea. The premise of this book originates from the element that both parliament and Europe are concepts that are geographically and materially actualized, but are not complete. The European Union like the idea of parliament is a work in progress. Europe, parliament and the EU are initiatives and processes which are meant to be discussed. Their purpose lies within the process of debate – not in completion. These topics cannot be best discussed in chronological order. They are best described through carefully argued and particularly chosen case studies such as this book contributes. These include a narrative on the election manifestoes and campaigns of the Austrian social democrats (SPÖ), the conservatives (ÖVP) and the greens (Die Grünen) for the June 2009 European Parliament elections and the examination of the European Union as ‘sui generis’, an institutional framework where continued change of system is an inherent part of the political practice. Three of the 10 chapters refer to the writings and concepts of the political and legal thinkers Montesquieu, Rousseau and Locke (chapters 5, 7 and 9), who between 1690 and 1762 defined democracy. Two chapters look back even further, citing the political concepts of Aristotle (384 BC) and pointing to political behavior defined by Machiavelli (1469), later modified by Kant (1724) and Nietzsche (1844). The book connects the history of democratic political concepts to the thinking of contemporary fathers of the EU Jean Monnet and Ralf Dahrendorf (chapters 5 and 6). According to Dahrendorf’s ‘Plea for the European Union’, the EU should be perceived as a significant and central institutional experiment of the modern age. This volume is complete with the case studies compiled here. The distinction of this volume indeed lies in its approach that successfully combines chapters analyzing present day topics such as ‘the Role of the European Parliament in the EU’s Political Order’ by Teija Tiilikainen with Kari Palonen’s discussion of obstruction by Irish Parliamentarians in late 1880s Westminster. Tiilikainen examines the incomplete construction of a European executive branch with a view to the Lisbon Treaty. According to the Treaty (TFEU), the EP’s assent is nec","PeriodicalId":186367,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on European Politics and Society","volume":"75 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116364077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Which is the Only Game in Town? Minority Rights Issues in Estonia and Slovakia During and After EU Accession","authors":"Timofey Agarin, Ada-Charlotte Regelmann","doi":"10.1080/15705854.2012.731934","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15705854.2012.731934","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Post-communist transition went hand in hand with the European integration process. Much of the literature on EU accession focuses on the rational decision to implement a set of European norms into domestic legislation pre-accession. It is often concluded that once EU membership is achieved, states succumb their rationality and act on the basis of internalised norms. The paper claims that the past literature overlooks the wider framework within which policy-makers operate before and after the accession, namely domestic sovereignty over policy-making and implementation. Tracing the policy dynamics in the area of minority rights in Estonia and Slovakia, we demonstrate that the European integration ushered greater domestic control over policy implementation on minority issues in two states exposed to a heavy dose of conditionality. As we observe, both states have consolidated their state- and nation-building policies referencing EU conditionality in the course of accession and later EU membership to assert centrality of domestic objectives for policy-making and implementation.","PeriodicalId":186367,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on European Politics and Society","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123666573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"National and European Political Parties and the European Citizens’ Initiative","authors":"Rudolf Hrbek","doi":"10.1080/15705854.2012.702579","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15705854.2012.702579","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract On the assumption that intermediary organisations and forces are important in the context of popular referenda, this article considers the role of national parties and Europarties (‘parties at European level’) in the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). Parties are qualified to play a role on the basis of the functions they perform in the democratic political process, and their resources. The orientation of the ECI is primarily towards strengthening input rather than output legitimacy of the EU by incentivising transnational communication and networking processes. Here, Europarties and their respective foundations may use the ECI for their own development towards genuine party organisations at European level. Smaller and outsider parties at national level – often populist in their performance – may be interested in using the new instrument also.","PeriodicalId":186367,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on European Politics and Society","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125687483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Comparative Approach to the Regulation on the European Citizens’ Initiative","authors":"Víctor Cuesta-López","doi":"10.1080/15705854.2012.702571","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15705854.2012.702571","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is a very unique expression of participatory democracy in a supranational context. Nevertheless, we could better understand its legal design and its political significance by assessing the similarities and divergences with analogous popular initiatives in national constitutions. This article will analyse the procedures and conditions laid down in Regulation 211/2011/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 16 February 2011 on the European Citizens’ Initiative, establishing a comparison with the relevant rules governing national popular initiatives from Member States. A comparative approach to the ECI will help to identify best practices in issues concerning the signatories and the organisers of the citizens' initiatives, the territorial distribution of signatures, the rules regarding the registration and the decision on the admissibility, the collection, verification and certification of the signatures, and the final submission of the citizens' legislative demands.","PeriodicalId":186367,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on European Politics and Society","volume":"183 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116043602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing Participation and Democracy in the EU: The Case of the European Citizens’ Initiative","authors":"Elizabeth Monaghan","doi":"10.1080/15705854.2012.702573","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15705854.2012.702573","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is the latest in a line of institutional innovations that have sought to enhance the participatory nature of EU politics. The extent to which this results in a more democratic EU, however, is questionable because simply having opportunities for participation does not equate to participatory democracy. Participation in the EU has tended to favour the involvement of various ‘civil society’ organisations rather than individual citizens. Moreover it has been justified largely on the grounds that it results in more democratic and efficient institutions and decision-making processes. The notion of participation and its relationship with democracy found in the writings of theorists of participatory democracy is somewhat more radical. Not only does it address individuals in favouring measures that make democracy count in people's everyday lives, it also views participation as leading to human development by enhancing feelings of efficacy, reducing a sense of distance from political authority, stimulating concern for collective problems and solutions, and encouraging citizens to be active and knowledgeable about politics. This paper argues that the ECI sees the EU move a little closer to a more radical view. It finds evidence of this in an acknowledgement that the ECI is to be valued partly because of the ways in which it can benefit individual citizens (as opposed to the EU's decision-making structures) in the arguments for a ‘citizen-friendly’ and usable instrument.","PeriodicalId":186367,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on European Politics and Society","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128782747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Civil Society and Democracy in the EU: The Paradox of the European Citizens’ Initiative","authors":"Julia De Clerck-Sachsse","doi":"10.1080/15705854.2012.702574","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15705854.2012.702574","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is hailed as an important tool for civic involvement in EU policy-making. Paradoxically, the legislative proposal introducing the ECI succeeded not because of large-scale public involvement, but due to strategic lobbying of policy-makers by civil society organisations (CSOs). This paper demonstrates that not all CSOs engaged in EU policy debates strive to foster broad civic participation. We can distinguish between two different models of organisations: issue-specific professionalised organisations that engage directly with decision-makers and broader-based citizen organisations, and social movements that seek to mobilise a wide section of society in order to voice their concerns in a public debate. The story of the ECI's genesis illustrates that structural problems inhibit CSOs in mobilising broad sections of the public in EU policy-making. Since CSOs are likely to be at the core of efforts to mobilise the necessary one million signatures for an ECI, this is likely to have implications for operationalising the ECI.","PeriodicalId":186367,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on European Politics and Society","volume":"87 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125855248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Towards e-ECIs? European Participation by Online Pan-European Mobilization","authors":"Stéphane Carrara","doi":"10.1080/15705854.2012.702578","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15705854.2012.702578","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Using data on 10 pioneer European Citizens' Initiatives (ECIs), this article puts into perspective the traditional obstacles to Euro-mobilization and the potential of e-participation (normalization versus mobilization theses) to shift and/or fade the constraints to the much expected European public sphere (EPS). Taking into account the resources and results of those pan-European ECI campaigns and acknowledging that the internet appears as an indispensable tool to be adopted in the repertoire of action of ECI organizers, the article nevertheless brings critical conclusions about the ability of the internet to significantly modify the traditional constraints met in mobilizing (new) European citizens. By making internet literacy a prerequisite to participation, e-ECIs open up new possibilities but also create new barriers to the EPS and to pan-European participation.","PeriodicalId":186367,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on European Politics and Society","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131504620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New Rules, New Players? The ECI as a Source of Competition and Contention in the European Public Sphere","authors":"Luis Garcia","doi":"10.1080/15705854.2012.702577","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15705854.2012.702577","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article analyses the potential effect of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) on the field of relations between European institutions and civil society organisations (CSOs). The article builds on empirical analysis of data coming from almost a decade of debate about participatory democracy in the EU, and in particular, evidence from the consultation on the Green Paper about the ECI (European Commission, 2009) and 21 signature-collection campaigns that have been launched so far (Fischer & Lichtbau, 2008; Kaufmann, 2010) in order to foresee the attitudes of these organisations towards the initiative. Analysis of the campaigns launched so far suggests the existence of four categories of promoters. The first two are easily expected, that is, EU organisations working closely with members to launch campaigns and large organisations promoting campaigns on visible topics. Additionally, it seems that the ECI may be used in connection to organisations' commercial interests and that political actors (MPs, MEPs and regional and local authorities) may be important drivers. The article finds no evidence of a significant bias of ECIs towards social movements and national organisations but rather towards EU groups able to play the institutional and the protest game. It finds evidence as well that the promoters of ECIs are evenly divided between organisations wanting to protest against the course of European integration and those wanting to influence its course.","PeriodicalId":186367,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on European Politics and Society","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124999162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"the European Citizens’ Initiative and EU Civil Society Organisations","authors":"J. Greenwood","doi":"10.1080/15705854.2012.702576","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15705854.2012.702576","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The procedural demands of the new European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) require the ‘Citizens Committees’ that host them to be backed by professional organisation. One potential source would be civil society organisations (CSOs) organised at EU level. Yet direct participatory democracy measures challenge the status of established Brussels-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) seeking an alternative ‘civil dialogue’ between themselves and EU political institutions. The institutionalised advocacy orientation of these EU NGOs make them ill-suited to developing mass-campaigning activities, although the ECI concept will incentivise such groups to develop more direct links with those they seek to advocate for. By contrast, there is a new community of CSOs newly mobilised into EU politics by the ECI, largely from Germany and Austria, with a more political orientation than traditional EU CSOs. These organisations are progressively becoming EU institutionalised, opening Brussels outreaches and increasingly appearing on the (European) Transparency Register. Either way, the ability of groups to link EU institutions with civil society will be enhanced by the ECI.","PeriodicalId":186367,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on European Politics and Society","volume":"95 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126964592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}