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Most studies of party competition consider the presentation of ambiguous positions a costly strategy. This literature, however, does not study party strategies in multiple issue dimensions. Yet multidimensionality may play an important role in parties' strategic calculus. Although it may be rational for a party to emphasize a certain issue dimension, it may be equally rational to disguise its stance on other dimensions by blurring its position. This article argues that parties employ strategies of issue emphasis and position blurring in various dimensional contexts. Who emphasizes and who blurs thus depends on the actors' relative stakes in different issue dimensions. The paper makes its case by performing cross-sectional analyses of 132 political parties in 14 West European party systems using Comparative Manifesto Project data, the 2006 Chapel Hill expert survey and the 2009 European Election Study.

Recent theoretical studies question the view that the European Commission is a preference outlier. This paper addresses this question by discussing the composition of the European College of Commissioners and by focusing on the appointment process. The analysis is based on a data set that contains biographical information for all Commissioners since 1958. The analysis highlights the importance of Commissioners' party affiliation and their previous political positions. Multivariate regression analysis shows that smaller member states have tended to send more high-ranking politicians to the College of Commissioners than have larger member states. However, party affiliation has not become more important as an appointment criterion. What has changed with time has been not the party link but the calibre of positions held by Commissioners before they are appointed to the College. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright 2007.]

The paper models the consequences of committee report allocation for political representation in the European Parliament (EP). The range of legislators involved in each policy area affects the values, interests and constituencies that the Parliament represents. Thus, representation is defined as an MEP's participation in salient policy areas. The allocation of salient reports follows inter-and intra-party group dynamics. First, party groups compete for salient reports in a context of open voting rules in committee and plenum. Second, group coordinators distribute these reports among their MEPs in an attempt to maximize the cohesion of the group. The model is tested on data from the fifth European Parliament (1999-2002). The results confirm the impact of selective participation on political representation. The EP has evolved into a 'normal' Parliament featuring coalitions and competition along a left-right cleavage across party groups and a hierarchical allocation of legislative spoils within parties.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Tables and Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Acronyms -- 1 Introduction -- Three Dilemmas of European Integration -- Summary -- Notes -- References -- 2 European Social Policy: National or Regional? -- Social Policy -- Social Policy Dilemmas -- A Brief History of EU Social Policy -- The Evidence: Another Look -- Constitutionalization of the Rome Treaty -- The Courts and Social Policy -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 3 Dilemmas of Democracy in the European Union -- The Meaning of Democracy -- Definitions -- Relationship Between Democracy and Markets -- The European Union and the Democratic Deficit -- The EU: Representation, Participation, and Rights -- An Example: Monetary Policy and Democracy -- Conclusion -- References -- 4 Dilemmas of the External Relations of the European Union -- Fortress Europe or Cosmopolitan Force? -- Widening Versus Deepening -- Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) Versus Separate National Interests -- Foreign Policy Challenges -- Summary -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 5 Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index

1. Introduction -- Part I -- 2. Research for Growth: The Ideational Foundations of Research Policy in Postwar Europe -- 3. A Common Research Policy? Launching the Debate -- 4. Euratom: The Troubled Forerunner of Community Research Policy -- Part II -- 5. The Years of Questioning -- 6. COST: Distraction or Progress? -- 7. Contrasting Visions and Continuing Struggle -- Part III -- 8. The Return of the Gap -- 9. Research Policy: A Trailblazer for Institutional Change -- 10. Conclusion and Further Thoughts.

The intensity of asylum flows over the last 20 years represents a significant challenge to national and European policy making. This article studies the dynamic reciprocal effects between asylum applications and recognition rates in 29 European countries over 24 years. Furthermore, it explores the impact of the national economic and political context on these two aspects of asylum policy. Using a wide range of statistical models and approaches, the article reveals that asylum applications exert a negative effect on recognition rates, and recognition rates exert a positive effect on applications. However, despite their statistical significance, the effects are rather small and mostly related to between-country rather than within-country variation, which implies that they are of limited practical significance. Unemployment is only weakly related to recognition rates and not at all to application shares, while government positions favoring immigration and multiculturalism have no effect on asylum application shares and recognition rates.

This article analyses party-voter congruence on European integration matters in the EU member states. Drawing on existing research, we put forward eight hypotheses which are tested with data from the EES2004 survey. We show that parties are closer to their voters on the left/right dimension than on the EU dimension. Parties are also more supportive of European integration than are their voters. Party system characteristics (number of parties, ideological range) did not affect opinion congruence. The responsiveness analysis at the party level shows that government parties were less responsive than opposition parties; party size was related to responsiveness, with opinion congruence higher in smaller parties; and responsiveness was lower among centrist parties. Voters are also better represented on the EU dimension by their parties in the new than in the older EU member states. This difference may result from the EU occupying a more central place on the political agendas of the new member states.

A major challenge for EU enlargement is how to communicate the benefits of membership to electorates. Given the weak penetration of party systems in the Central and East European countries, subnational elites have an important role in shaping voter preferences. Attitudes among subnational elites to EU enlargement are examined in three leading candidate countries in Central and Eastern Europe: Hungary, Slovenia, and Estonia. The results are based on large-scale elite interviews conducted in 1999-2000 in key regional cities. The research demonstrates that subnational elites are disengaged not only structurally from the European integration project, since the negotiations involve the Commission and national governments, but also in their opinions. The subnational elites tend to view EU membership as a national issue and irrelevant for their level, and are poorly informed about EU activities that benefit them. The article suggests that this disengagement of subnational elites constitutes a space for the mobilization of Euroscepticism from below.

"The Politics of the Eurogroup provides an intriguing look inside the euro crisis and the secretive forum of finance ministers that came to dominate it. The history of the European Union is a history of crises and the leaps of integration they triggered. As the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and global power competition are clouding the prospects of the European economies, the member states are looking for solutions. Yet they find their options highly constrained by the economic and political realities created in the decade of the euro crisis. This book fuses a critical political economy perspective on structural relations within the Economic and Monetary Union with a power-based approach to its institutions. It explains why a political project of European austerity emerged from the Eurogroup and side-lined alternative policies, with repercussions still felt today. The author introduces a series of interviews with key decision-makers - ministers, central bankers, EU officials - as well as leaked audio recordings from Eurogroup meetings to give an authentic report of the power struggles between finance ministers. The book retraces how the Eurogroup rose to prominence in the crisis and how a few northern countries - led by the German and Dutch finance ministries - were able to exploit the group's informal processes to shape the Economic and Monetary Union to their advantage. With its interdisciplinary and investigative approach, this book will be of great interest for scholars and students concerned with European integration, international political economy, economics, institutionalism, and governance. It will also be of value for policy makers in the fields of European politics and economic governance"--

Intro -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Chapter 1 Introduction: Explaining Leadership in the Eurozone -- 1.1 The Argument -- 1.2 The Evidence -- 1.3 The Method -- 1.4 The Plan of the Book -- References -- Chapter 2 Conceptualizing Leadership: What It Is and Why It Matters -- 2.1 The Basic Ingredients: Power, Common Goal and Strategies -- Power -- Common Goal -- Strategies -- Innovation -- 2.2 Leadership and Success -- 2.3 Two Conceptions of Leadership -- 2.4 Defining Political Leadership -- References -- Chapter 3 Theorizing Leadership: Emergence and Impact -- 3.1 A Rational Theory of Political Leadership -- Basic Assumptions: Actors and Institutions -- Theoretical Argument -- 3.2 The Emergence of Political Leadership -- 3.3 The Impact of Political Leadership -- Leadership Strategies -- 3.4 Implications for the Empirical Research -- Operationalization -- Data Collection -- References -- Chapter 4 Analysing Leadership I: Germany in the Eurozone Crisis -- 4.1 No Leadership: The First Financial Assistance to Greece -- Case Description: Shaping the Eurozone's First Bailout -- No German Leadership -- Explaining Germany's Lack of Leadership: Leadership Surplus and Status Quo Costs -- Results -- 4.2 Failed Leadership: The Super-Commissioner -- Case Description: Promoting the Super-Commissioner -- Failed Leadership -- Explaining Germany's Leadership Emergence: Leadership Surplus and Status Quo Costs -- Explaining Germany's Leadership Failure: Resources, Preferences and Institutional Constraint -- Results -- 4.3 Successful Leadership: The Fiscal Compact -- Case Description: Shaping the Fiscal Compact -- Successful Leadership -- Explaining Germany's Leadership Emergence: Leadership Surplus and Status Quo Costs.

The intensity of asylum flows over the last 20 years represents a significant challenge to national and European policy making. This article studies the dynamic reciprocal effects between asylum applications and recognition rates in 29 European countries over 24 years. Furthermore, it explores the impact of the national economic and political context on these two aspects of asylum policy. Using a wide range of statistical models and approaches, the article reveals that asylum applications exert a negative effect on recognition rates, and recognition rates exert a positive effect on applications. However, despite their statistical significance, the effects are rather small and mostly related to between-country rather than within-country variation, which implies that they are of limited practical significance. Unemployment is only weakly related to recognition rates and not at all to application shares, while government positions favoring immigration and multiculturalism have no effect on asylum application shares and recognition rates. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright holder.]

"The Politics of the Eurogroup provides an intriguing look inside the euro crisis and the secretive forum of finance ministers that came to dominate it. The history of the European Union is a history of crises and the leaps of integration they triggered. As the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and global power competition are clouding the prospects of the European economies, the member states are looking for solutions. Yet they find their options highly constrained by the economic and political realities created in the decade of the euro crisis. This book fuses a critical political economy perspective on structural relations within the Economic and Monetary Union with a power-based approach to its institutions. It explains why a political project of European austerity emerged from the Eurogroup and side-lined alternative policies, with repercussions still felt today. The author introduces a series of interviews with key decision-makers - ministers, central bankers, EU officials - as well as leaked audio recordings from Eurogroup meetings to give an authentic report of the power struggles between finance ministers. The book retraces how the Eurogroup rose to prominence in the crisis and how a few northern countries - led by the German and Dutch finance ministries - were able to exploit the group's informal processes to shape the Economic and Monetary Union to their advantage. With its interdisciplinary and investigative approach, this book will be of great interest for scholars and students concerned with European integration, international political economy, economics, institutionalism, and governance. It will also be of value for policy makers in the fields of European politics and economic governance"--

In this contribution, we focus on the role of euro-scepticism on radical right-wing voting in national elections in 18 European countries between 2002 and 2008. We do so with multilevel modelling taking advantage of high-quality cross-national European data. First, we focus on social cleavages related to voting, e.g. social class and religiosity. Second, we examine the effects of several contextual characteristics, of which some are classical and others new. Third, we take diverse socio-political attitudes into account. We test whether euro-scepticism affects voting for the radical right, over and beyond other determinants that have previously been proposed to determine radical right-wing voting. We find evidence that euro-scepticism indeed contributes to the explanation of voting for the radical right beyond perceived ethnic threat and political distrust. At the same time euro-scepticism is much less relevant than perceived ethnic threat in explaining why particular social categories, i.e. lower educated people, manual workers, unemployed people and non-churchgoers are more likely to vote for the radical right. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright holder.]