Suchergebnisse

The effect of European integration on its member states constitutes the new research agenda within the study of European integration. Marked by the "the institutionalist turn" of Anglo-Saxon political sciences, the most dominant theories on europeanisation focus on structural arrangements. Institutional incompatibility between the European and the national level, so the hypothesis, creates pressures for change. Actors are often only considered as mediators of these pressures. Consequentially, few approaches try to explain adaptational change initiated by policy actors in the absence of institutional pressures. Using a political sociology approach, the central concern of this paper is to insist on the political discretion of national actors in translation of European requirements. We believe that understanding not only "adaptation to" but also "usage of" the process of European integration is important to understanding the transformation of European member states. By insisting on usage, we aim at analysing both the strategic interaction of rational actors with the European institutions and the more sociological effect of "usage" - as "daily practice" - on the interest and identities of the actors.

This study examines the dynamics of citizen support for European integration in Poland. Using data from 1995 and 1998 surveys and from a three-wave panel study, we find that, as in Western Europe, both utilitarian calculations of self-interest and political considerations are equally important determinants of support for membership in the European Union. Moreover, between 1995 and 1998 there was considerable polarization of opinion along economic, partisan and ideological lines. We also consider the impact of pro-democratic and pro-capitalist values on support for integration. Our results show that, all things being equal, such values are significant predictors of European Union support. In addition, they have a strong impact on individual-level stability and change in attitudes toward Poland joining the European Union. (European Journal of Political Research / FUB)

This article uses new data from the 1997-2001 British Election Panel Study, the final wave of which was carried out immediately after the 2001 election, to examine the extent to which beliefs about the desirability of EMU & European integration more generally have become important as a source of voters' party preferences, both in absolute terms & relative to the importance of other more typically central concerns facing voters. In doing so, the article tells us something about the extent to which Labour's occupation of the middle ground on many economic & redistributive issues in 1997 & beyond has introduced a new era of British political competition, in which the economy & taxation, for example, are no longer so divisive & in which questions relating to attitudes towards emotive, national identity issues hold center stage. It considers, in other words, whether or not we have seen a potentially lasting realignment of the sort postulated in Evans & Norris's thesis that the 1997 election may have represented a 'critical' change in British politics. 7 Tables, 2 Figures, 1 Appendix, 23 References. Adapted from the source document.

Abstract. The author assesses the relevance and analytical significance of authoritarian liberalism and interprets it as one of the modern conceptual models of ordoliberalism and European integration. The basic concepts of authoritarian liberalism and ordoliberalism emphasise the political and ideological connection between the authoritarianism of the strong state and the economic liberalism of market rationality. As a flexible market-oriented form of authoritarian liberalism, ordoliberalism means a rational strategy for maintaining and promoting the European integration project towards which the market economy and the technocratic elite are moving to contain crises. Due to the presence of the values of political liberalism, pluralism and the rule of law, authoritarianism in this structure is not repressive or monocentric, but subject to democratic criticism in relation to the supranational regulation of European integration.
Keywords: authoritarian liberalism, ordoliberalism, market capitalism, democracy, eurocrisis, European integration

Why and how was the process of Western European integration relaunched in the 1980s and 1990s? This volume suggests a new framework of analysis of the European statebuilding tradition. Based on qualitative research (including more than 30 interviews with protagonists from EU member states), and detailed case studies and policy analyses (the genesis of the Single Market programme and the Single European Act, ESPRIT technology corporatism, biotechnology, EU regional and social policy) the authors show that new forms of cooperation between political and economic actors have developed, both at transnational and supranational level. The book shows how the European Commission, bureaucratic cabinets, national diplomats, transnational companies, pressure groups and representatives of the regions have set in motion a process that is changing statehood in Europe dramatically. This discussion of the origins of this process is a valuable contribution to the debate on the future of Europe in the world system

This article reflects on the experience of European integration in light of the ongoing process of regional integration in the Northeast Asian region. Based on the existing theories, the article summarizes twelve lessons of European integration, highlighting, for example, the importance of identifying a functional area, the convergence of interests (not an identity), the existence of strong leadership and supranational institutions, the significance of "domestic democracy," and the presence of hospitable external circumstances. The history and prominent current projects of regional cooperation in the Northeast Asian region are reviewed, followed by an investigation of the relevance and applicability of the lessons of European integration to Northeast Asia so as to derive a set of practical policy prescriptions for promoting regional integration in the region. (Asian Perspect/DÜI)

This article summarizes and extends the main lines of theorizing on public opinion on European integration. We test theories of economic calculus and communal identity in a multi-level analysis of Eurobarometer data. Both economic calculus and communal identity are influential, but the latter is stronger than the former. We theorize how the political consequences of identity are contested and shaped - that is to say, politically cued - in national contexts. The more national elites are divided, the more citizens are cued to oppose European integration, and this effect is particularly pronounced among citizens who see themselves as exclusively national. A model that synthesizes economic, identity, and cue theory explains around one-quarter of variation at the individual level and the bulk of variation at the national and party levels.

Among Western European countries Switzerland currently has the most restricted, and most insecure, access to the EC Single Market. How can one explain this uncomfortable position? In contrast to the widespread interpretation that focuses on the blocking role of core domestic political institutions, this study provides a more nuanced analysis of the sources of variation in foreign policy making, carefully examining the influence of perceptions on the design of policy lines. Switzerland's stance toward the process of European integration, from the late 1950s to the late 1990s, has been the result of trade-offs between perceived risks and opportunities, with no clearly predetermined outcome from domestic political structures. Misperceptions about the range of feasible options at the external level have often reinforced domestic political difficulties and even at times overshadowed them. Domestic institutional reform is not a prerequisite to marriage with the EC in the near future. But there is an urgent need for a government with a firm steering capacity and willingness. (West European Politics / FUB)

Au lendemain de la guerre, l'intégration européenne a captivé l'imagination des hommes politiques et des citoyens ordinaires. Cette nouvelle Europe était une perspective de futur, en particulier pour les jeunes de la prochaine génération de citoyens européens. Les initiatives en matière d'éducation sont donc devenues une préoccupation majeure. Il semblait que la compréhension entre les jeunes était le moyen de surmonter la dévastation de la dernière guerre. Une analyse des initiatives nationales en matière d'éducation qui encouragent les idées d'intégration européenne illustrera une part de l'esprit de l'idéalisme européen de ces débuts et peut également donner quelques indications supplémentaires sur un soutien élargi à l'intégration européenne. La volonté politique de lui donner une suite populaire constituait pour les dirigeants démocratiques de l'époque la seule base légitime pour une Europe prospère et pacifique. Cet article montrera quelques-unes des idées éducatives les plus intéressantes du processus initial d'intégration en montrant son caractère idéaliste. En élargissant l'analyse politique au-delà des politiques gouvernementales, elle prendra en compte les contributions des députés des parlements nationaux de la France, de l'Allemagne et de la Grande-Bretagne. Cette preuve écartera complètement l'argument d'un « consensus permissif » introduit par Inglehart et discréditera l'argument économique de Milward comme la principale explication de l'intégration européenne.

This article posits that national identity is an important element in explaining attitudes towards the European Union. A model of support for European integration is developed that suggests that feelings of national identity are highly important in an individual's choice to support the EU. The impacts of three alternative conceptualizations of national identity are tested. These relate to national identity as an intensity of feelings towards one's country, the level of attachment to the nation and other territorial entities, and the fear of other identities and cultures encroaching on the dominant national culture. The results of ordered logit analyses confirm that stronger feelings of national identity lead to lower levels of support for the EU.