Suchergebnisse

Studies regarding analyses of effects of Europeanization on national & regional systems are at the center of the integration science. This contribution illustrates the development by German states of two interest representation strategies within the interactive European system: the increasing participation through the federalist system, & the independent & direct representation of state interest on the European level. During the past years, the states' concepts have changed, & the development of cooperative & interactive policy making is no longer a priority. An attempt for stronger delimitation of tasks & competences of the states within the multilevel system has emerged, called the Sinatra-strategy -- analogous to Sinatra's song "I did it my way." The states' discussion regarding stronger competence delimitation at the European level is linked to reform demands by the states in the sense of competitive federalism. The article questions whether the Sinatra-strategy is able to contribute to the transformation of the German federal system of cooperative federalism toward an autonomy-oriented system change. 53 References. Adapted from the source document.

The European Union exports its model of legitimate democratic governance to third states & serves as an external democratizing force. The EU identifies itself as a community of values, promoting values such as democracy, human rights, justice state, & good governance. The authors of this article ask why there exist fundamental differences in the choice of instruments for democracy promotion & the implementation of the chosen instruments. Why does the EU decide in some cases to employ measures like sanctions, isolation, & cooperation with opposition groups, while in other cases it chooses to engage in political dialogue & remind states of democratic practices? The authors contend there are three reasons: 1) power, security, & economic reasons between certain EU countries & the third country; 2) resource relations between the EU & the third country, & 3) the resonance structure of the third country & its elites. References. A. Kallioinen

The question of the external promotion of democracy by the European Union currently lies at the top of the political agenda. Through foreign policy governance, the EU exports its model of legitimate democratic governance to third countries, where it acts as an external 'democratiser'. With this development, scholarly research has now also begun to turn to the question of the external promotion of democracy. The overwhelming majority of these research efforts is however comprised only of individual case studies of third countries or a given region. In this essay, the promotion of democracy by the EU in non-candidate countries is subjected to a comparative analysis in order to evaluate the conditions of the EU's instrumental & strategic choices in this important policy area. Adapted from the source document.

A conference held 8-9 Apr 2003 in Mannheim, Germany, sought to bring together theoretical approaches that deal with the legitimization of European politics through the development & integration of a European civil society on the one hand & empirical results from interest agencies, NGO researches, & area of European institutional politics on the other. The conference has shown that the conceptual conflicts regarding the term of civil society are a particular challenge for European research. 10 References. E. Sanchez

The European Union is becoming increasingly important for national governance. It especially challenges federal states as we can see in the case of the Federal Republic of Germany. This article will show that the complexity of the European multilevel system can be described as "nested games." We focus on the role of the German "Lander" as generators of ideas in the European reform process -- covering the period from the International Governmental Conference in 2000 to the European Convention. Based on their own empirical surveys, the authors answer the question of how the German "Lander" have been dealing with the objective & subjective limitations to their scope of action as a consequence of increased Europeanization. We assume that the German "Lander" are following the strategy of maximizing their options: In principle, all channels of the European multilevel system are used to represent their own interests -- both at a multilateral or unilateral level & to signal political resistance. The full picture of the empirical "Lander" activities can only be shown by focusing on the European & transnational channels of regional interest representation. 54 References. Adapted from the source document.