Suchergebnisse

The present article aims to advance a reflexion on the construction of the European Union citizenship/identity and identify the main challenges behind the consolidation of the citizenship bond and the difficulties in making EU citizens becoming more involved in the integration process and in bringing European institutions closer to normal citizens.

The nation-state systems that seem to dominate the global landscape are not necessarily the pinnacle of evolution. A conglomeration of interacting factors spelled doom for the traditional colonialism of previous centuries while providing an ideal environment for multinational firms operating above the level of nation-states to play an important role in the generation of a new politico-socio-economic system better described by network models than by ordinary political models. Previously existing units and subunits, in the course of adjustment and adaptation to changing circumstances, change their relations with one another and are, sometimes, newly integrated in a novel manner such that new units or subunits are recognizable. It is puzzling that most scholars still see these changes as merely quantitative growth rather than as a qualitatively new system at a supranational level of integration. Because human beings start from concepts we already know, one really has to be strongly motivated to try to go beyond the cognitive concepts one uses regularly to attempt to conceive of something different. In the perspective of millions of years of evolution both states and business firms are relatively recent emergents out of the processes of adaptation that generate all social formations. Both business firms and nation states are kinds of corporations, and it is a mistake to deal separately with the international network of states when it seems perfectly obvious that the supranational system includes interacting states and corporations in a single complex network. Most countries are not "natural" nation-states, but are corporations whose control over some territory is recognized by some other states. States and companies should be treated similarly in analysis of the supranational system and the best model for studying the supranational system is a network model that begins with defining units and their relationships. In that mode, applying various mathematical algorithms, one can find clusters and equivalence sets representing different levels of organization in the network. At the same time as states are influencing firms, firms are busily influencing states.

THE AUTHORS ARGUE THAT EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IS PROVOKED AND SUSTAINED BY THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAUSAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THREE FACTORS: TRANSNATIONAL EXCHANGE, SUPRANATIONAL ORGANIZATION, AND EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (EC) RULE-MAKING. THEY EXPLAIN THE TRANSITION, IN ANY GIVEN POLICY SECTOR, FROM NATIONAL TO INTERGOVERNMENTAL TO SUPRANATIONAL GOVERNANCE, IN TWO WAYS. FIRST CROSS-BORDER TRANSACTIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS GENERATE A SOCIAL DEMAND FOR EC RULES AND REGULATIONS, WHICH SUPRANATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS WORK TO SUPPLY. THEY THUS EXPECT THAT COMMUNITY COMPETENCES WILL BE UNEVENLY CONSTRUCTED, BOTH ACROSS POLICY SECTORS AND OVER TIME, AS A FUNCTION OF THE INTENSITY OF THESE DEMANDS. SECOND, ONCE EC RULES ARE IN PLACE, A PROCESS OF INSTITUTIONALIZATION ENSUES, AND THIS PROCESS PROVOKES FURTHER INTEGRATION. ALTHOUGH THEY RECOGNIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL BARGAINING IN EC POLITICS, THEIR THEORY IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH EXISTING INTERGOVERNMENTAL THEORIZING.

Anlässlich des binationalen Projektes der SES skizziert der Autor einen regelungskonzeptionellen Rahmen für eine echte supranationale Rechtsform, die KMU den Zugang zum europäischen Binnenmarkt erleichtern soll. Dabei analysiert der Autor den möglichen Mehrwert einer solchen Rechtsform und leitet aus diesem Konsequenzen für die konkrete Ausgestaltung ab. Die so gewonnen Erkenntnisse werden schließlich dem kürzlich veröffentlichten Entwurf zur Schaffung eines SES-Statuts gegenübergestellt.

Der Autor gibt eine Einführung in den vorliegenden Sammelband, der die Legitimität der supranationalen Institutionen in der EU-Debatte in den neuen und alten Mitgliedstaaten zum Thema hat. Die Forschungsarbeiten wurden auf einer Tagung in Prag präsentiert, an der Experten sowohl aus den neuen als auch aus den alten Mitgliedstaaten sowie aus Norwegen und der Schweiz teilgenommen haben. Die Vielfalt ihrer Erfahrungen und Schwerpunkte sowie der vertretenen Ansichten spiegelt nicht nur verschiedene Aspekte dieser öffentlichen Debatte wider, sondern unterwirft sie auch einer reflexiven Untersuchung. Der Autor erläutert die theoretischen Vorarbeiten zur Tagung und stellt einzelne Forschungsergebnisse kurz vor. Er bezieht sich dabei auf den Vergleich der Ansichten der alten und neuen Mitgliedstaaten über die Legitimität der Europäischen Union sowie auf das Problem von Anerkennung und Interaktion in der reflexiven Analyse. (ICI2)