Suchergebnisse

The following dissertation investigates the quality of political representation in the programmes of select political parties in four East-Central European countries in the context of European elections. Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary form the Visegrád Group. Since they joined the European Union in 2004, open manifestations of resistance to (further) European integration, sometimes labelled as Euroscepticism, could be observed within the group. These include the deteriorating rule of law in Poland and Hungary as well as some of the lowest turnout rates at the European Elections in Czechia and Slovakia. At the same time, according to the Eurobarometer surveys, public support for the European Union remains relatively high in these Member States. Against this background, this dissertation sets out to investigate the European policy of sixteen established political parties active across the Visegrád Group and whether the public's preferences for European integration are reflected in the programmes of these parties. In other words, whether political parties consider the public opinion when preparing their European election manifestos and what kind of European Union the citizens and parties of the Visegrád Group advocate. In addition, an analysis of the salience of topics that parties address in their programmes is conducted with the goal of finding out which policies play a prominent role in the programmes at the European level. The investigation was conducted by a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The results revealed severe discrepancies between the public opinion and the European policies that most of the political parties advocate, hinting at deficiencies in the representative democracy in terms of the European level in the Visegrád states.

In a divided world and one in which there is no peace, a nation's military power fixes the extent to which it can hope to influence its own destiny. Only a few years ago, Europe west of the Stettin-Trieste line encompassed four out of seven Great Powers. Today it is militarily and economically prostrate and sapped by political dissent and moral incertitude. The unexampled accumulation of power across the Atlantic and beyond the Iron Curtain turns this weakness into relative impotence. No wonder that many western Europeans have reacted against this striking change in their fortunes by demanding that their several countries recapture jointly what as individual nations they have irretrievably lost.The problem before us is a formidable one but its elements are simple. Many years ago Alexis de Tocqueville foresaw the day when each of the European nations, caught between the mass of Americans and the mass of Russians, would feel itself tragically weak, indeed powerless.

AbstractThis paper applies categories developed in the classic literature on political opposition to the developing European Union. It is clear that the EU has never developed the third great milestone identified by Dahl in his analysis of the path to democratic institutions. That is, we still lack the capacity to organize opposition within the European polity. This failure to allow for opposition within the polity is likely to lead either (a) to the elimination of opposition altogether, or (b) to the mobilization of an opposition of principle against the EU polity. This problem is also beginning to reach down into the domestic sphere, in that the growing weight of the EU, through its indirect impact on national politics, helps to encourage domestic democratic deficits, hence limiting the scope for classical opposition at the national level. Here too, then, we might expect to see either the elimination of opposition or the mobilization of a new – perhaps populist – opposition of principle.

The purpose of the paper is to study the European Union - Turkey customs union (CU) of 1995 covering trade in industrial goods. The customs union decision of 1995 extending to rules and disciplines on various regulatory border and behind-the-border policies covers in particular customs reform, technical barriers to trade, competition policy, intellectual property rights, and administrative procedures. The paper after assessing in each case the status quo at the time of the entry of the CU into force evaluates the commitments undertaken under the CU, and assesses the degree of implementation of the CU requirements as well as the administrative costs of implementation of the CU. Finally, the paper shows how the CU has successfully moved the Turkish economy from a government-controlled regime to a market based one.

AbstractThis article examines the role of the European Union in multilateral diplomacy. By means of synthesizing and summarizing research on seven selected policy fields, the article aims to make more general claims than single policy or single case studies allow. The analysis focuses on five analytical dimensions: governance (that is, how the EU handles multilateral diplomacy in different international institutions); the role of EU domestic politics; negotiation style(s); outreach; and impact. As the seven policy fields comprise some very diverse issue-areas, it would not be wise to expect any uniform approach or general findings. However, the analysis does show that the EU is increasingly engaged in multilateral diplomacy, actually playing a leadership role in some policy fields. Findings do not correspond to traditional expectations concerning the EU's engagement in politico-economic and security issues, as the EU plays a limited role in financial and macro-economic diplomacy and a fairly significant role in non-proliferation and crisis management. The article suggests that an extension to more policy fields and more analytical dimensions would provide the comprehensive understanding of the European Union's role in multilateral diplomacy that the engagement deserves.

The relationship between Turkey and Islam is a hotly debated issue that dominates discussion over the country's bid to join the European Union. The European Union, Turkey and Islam examines here the role of religion in Turkey and the EU and offers arguments on why Turkish Islam will not be an obstacle to Turkey's EU membership. The distinguished contributors analyze Turkish Islam and attempt to determine how significant a factor it is in Turkey's compatibility with the democratic and humanitarian aims of EU member states. Their incisive essays argue that Islamic religious forces will not undermine the autonomy of the secular Turkish state. They also contend that Islam-inspired political parties actually support the secular government. Included in the volume is the thought-provoking study "Searching for the Fault-Line" by E. J. Zürcher and H. van der Linden that examines Turkey's current religious landscape and ultimately dismisses the notion of an inevitable clash between Turkish Islam and European cultures. A valuable study for political scientists, European scholars, and interested observers, The European Union, Turkey and Islam offers a timely and masterfully argued case for why Islam as practiced in Turkey should not be an impediment to the nation's membership in the European Union.

As the West's leading Marxist intellectual, Perry Anderson appears to be having a rather good recession. Anderson was quick to recognize both the triumph and the contradictions of what he terms "the neo-liberal ascendancy." Anderson' s fascinating new book of essays on Europe is framed by the Thatcherite-inspired deregulation of financial markets and the collapse of communism that initiated its ascendancy. If the book—which comprises several long essays—has one central theme, it is the confusions that have befallen the European Union (EU) as its architects wrestle with the contradictions in neoliberal capitalism. It could not be more timely. Reeling under the impact of the Southern European debt crises, the EU might well prove to be the Great Recession's biggest casualty of all.

Malta has bucked the trend of its EU Mediterranean neighbours in many ways. This smallest of EU states barely dipped into recession during the global financial crisis and remains a stable member of the Eurozone whilst also having one of the lowest infringement rates and highest transposition of EU law records amongst the 28 member states. Providing the first comprehensive study of Malta's complex road to EU membership this book looks at the impact of membership on the country's political structures and processes and explains the principal factors that have conditioned the country's Europeanization experience. Reflecting Malta's unique and often contentious road to membership, the book explores the historical context and outlines how Maltese processes and policies have changed since membership and whether a causative link exists between these changes and Malta's membership of the EU. A wide range of primary and secondary sources facilitate the study complemented by a series of interviews with a broad range of Malta's political and social actors as well as individuals from EU institutions. This depth of analysis enables a holistic view of Malta's first decade of EU membership and helps establish the fundamental characteristics of Malta's unique Europeanization experience