Suchergebnisse

Taking Barry's (1980a,b) question 'Is it better to be powerful or lucky?' as a starting point, we try to answer the question of how influential the European Parliament is in the European Union (EU) legislative process. We assess the proximity between what the Parliament wants and what it eventually gets and whether this is the result of its own power or the similarity between its position and the positions of other EU actors. The empirical analysis uses different models of legislative decision-making and shows that the European Parliament has been rather influential under co-decision and it has been 'lucky' for most legislation negotiated under the consultation procedure. Differentiating between capabilities and preferences, and therefore between 'power' and 'luck', remains crucial in explaining political outcomes.

"In a European Union increasingly worried about the security of its citizens and its territory, how should the European Parliament make policy decisions on these issues? In the past, its open defence of civil liberties and human rights have sparked recurring conflicts with member states on the European Council. Since 2005, the European Parliament has gained the power to co-decide in most internal security matters and can also give consent to international agreements. Its full participation in decision-making led to the expectation that the emphasis on security would decrease yet these last few years have seen continuity rather than change in this policy area. This study investigates why the formal empowerment of the European Parliament did not lead to a new balance between security and liberty. It argues that, in its new position as a full decision-maker, the European Parliament faced a crucial trade-off: in order to be accepted as a legitimate and effective partner in inter-institutional negotiations, it had to abandon its traditional positions and accept that security would remain the cornerstone of this policy area."--

The European Union (EU) is increasingly relying on regional policy networks to govern climate change outside its borders, both in the areas of climate change adaptation and mitigation. Although the functioning of such policy networks has consequences for climate policy in participating countries, little is known about the role of such networks. This article focuses on the example of climate cooperation with the European Neighbourhood Policy region, conceptualizing the EU as a network manager. Using a novel dataset on climate networks in the European Neighbourhood Policy region for the period 2013–2017, we show that the EU uses climate networks for multiple purposes. The results suggest that the EU uses climate networks not only to mitigate the risks associated with climate change, but also to manage varying contexts in the region.

"The World Trade Organization and the European Union" published on by Oxford University Press.

Focusing on social movement organizations (SMOs) in the Czech Republic, this article explores the level of transnational activism of these actors. Although knowledge exists on domestic interest groups' choice of European Union (EU) venues for lobbying, the influence of EU funding on protest and public campaigning by actors such as SMOs remains under-studied. We show what the level of transnationalization of SMOs is, what types of transnational strategies SMOs employ, and what explains these choices. Specifically, the article examines the effect the EU has had on Czech SMOs. We are interested in whether EU funding contributed to their de-radicalization and co-optation by the political elite, or rather empowered them to engage in transnational protest. The results of our analysis support the empowerment hypothesis.

Research on European legislative decision-making has entered a stage of quantitative analysis. The quantitative approach promises to advance the current dialogue by allowing for the evaluation of competing approaches across multiple policy domains & over time. At the same time, the quantitative study of EU decision-making introduces a number of drawbacks: it is difficult to identify one definitive source for legislative information, & case-level data are not directly accessible in a machine-readable format. In order to identify the most crucial pitfalls & provide a reliable data source, we evaluate the most frequently cited, publicly available EU legislative database, CELEX, & compare it with a less publicized legislative database referred to as PreLex. We find that CELEX documents legislative events, whereas PreLex records inter-institutional activities in the legislative process. Unsurprisingly, each of these databases has particular advantages, & we discuss which of the two might be better suited for the analysis of specific research questions. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright 2006.]

Assuming that the electoral success of niche parties in EP elections is largely due to the vote switching in EP elections, this study seeks to explore the motivations leading mainstream party supporters to switch to niche parties in EP elections ( niche switching voters). From the results of analyses, some important findings could be drawn. First, for niche switching voters, the 'protest voting' motivation is very important motive. In particular, they are strongly driven by their profound distrust in mainstream politics in switching to niche parties. Second, unlike the existing literature, European considerations matter in their voting behavior. Third, vote choice based on the niche issues also has important effect on their voting behavior. This demonstrates clearly that, niche switching voters are different from other switching voters.

To determine how public opinion matters for the politics of European integration, we need to know what Europeans say about Europe. Yet, despite a proliferation of analyses of public support for Europe, fundamental questions remain. First, does aggregate opinion reflect a single preference for Europe? Second, is the content of opinions similar across countries? Third, have opinions about Europe become more structured over time? Finally, what are the long-term dynamics in opinions about Europe? To answer these questions, we construct a new dataset of historical public opinion since 1952 in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Over the long run, aggregate opinion toward Europe reflects one dominant underlying dimension and its content is similar across countries. We examine the trends in support for Europe.

The European Minority Rights Regime investigates the cooperation between the EU, OSCE and Council of Europe on minority rights in Europe. It tracks the formation and transformation of this international regime and questions its effectiveness in securing minority rights. The book demonstrates how the three organizations have formalized their linkages and managed their respective mandates in the context of EU enlargement. At the domestic level, the book focuses on three case studies - Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria ₆ with an examination of the impact of inter-organizational cooperation on the status of their respective national minorities. Although cooperation has delivered largely positive change for accession countries, challenges remain for minorities in Europe and the regime's future operation. This book links two key research areas ₆ international regimes and EU integration ₆ to determine why ethnic politics remain a source of contention for the European project.

We ask how pro-European parties communicate in the face of a Eurosceptic challenge and how this affects the politicization of European Union integration within a country. We draw on a quantitative content analysis of parties' press releases issued in the run-up to the 2014 European Parliament elections in seven countries. Our results show that pro-European parties as such put Europe on the agenda, debate issues similar to those voiced by Eurosceptics and defend their pro-European positions: yet, they do so to varying degrees and with major exceptions. It is pro-European catch-all parties with strong internal dissent that silence Europe and choose blurring or adoption strategies. Consequently, the politicization of European integration varies among countries, thereby high topic visibility is accompanied by low levels of party conflict.

Integration has progressed on 3 fronts: the creation of a common market; the development of common institutions; and the forging of common policies, but they have not proceeded in concert. Asks how and why regional policy has been able to advance to the point that structural funds now account for almost a third of the Union budget. Also asks about the effects of this expansion on political mobilization and the changing roles of the Commission and regional actors in the policy process. (Original abstract-amended)

Few political communication studies deal with the European Parliament during non-election times even though it takes decisions in a wide range of policy areas. This study examines the patterns and external drivers of European Parliament broadsheet coverage by analysing 2155 articles from six European Union countries during a routine period (2005–2007). Generally, it finds that the European Parliament receives regular coverage. However, developments in the domestic context also influence European Parliament news coverage. Public support for the European Union increases the number of reports about the European Parliament. While national elections do not compromise its news coverage, higher levels of party political contestation over the European Union and trust towards the national parliament lead to lower coverage. The implications are discussed with reference to the European Parliament's democratic legitimacy.