Suchergebnisse

The Making of EU Foreign Policy argues that there has been a common European Union (EU) foreign policy towards six countries of Eastern Europe - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia - and analyzes why the EU has agreed to the policy. The objective of the EU's policy is to support the transformation of Eastern Europe and thus ensure security and stability. The most important instrument that the EU has used to reach this objective has been the prospect of enlargement.

SMITH ARGUES THAT SOME DEFENSES OF STORYTELLING UNDERSTATE THE DEGREE TO WHICH THE PRACTICE OF POLITICAL STORYTELLING CONSTITUTES A CHALLENGE TO THE IDEAL OF A POLITICS OF RATIONAL DEBATE. THE NATURE OF THIS CHALLENGE COMES INTO FOCUS WHEN ONE EXAMINES THE ACTUAL TRADITION OF POLITICAL STORYTELLING. IN AMERICA, THE CASE FOR STORYTELLING WAS TIED TO A PARTICULAR KIND OF COMPLAINT ABOUT RATIONAL ARGUMENT AND THE INEFFICACY OF REASON. UNDERSTANDING THIS DIAGNOSIS IS CRUCIAL TO UNDERSTANDING WHAT POLITICAL STORYTELLERS ARE UP TO, WHAT CLAIMS THEY MAKE FOR SYMPATHY AS OPPOSED TO REASON, AND WHAT SORT OF CHALLENGE THEY POSE TO DELIBERATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF DEMOCRACY. THE ARTICLE EXAMINES THE CLAIMS AND ARGUMENTS THAT ACCOMPANIED AMERICANS' INITIAL FORAY INTO THE POLITICS OF STORYTELLING.

AbstractPublic health is overtly policy‐orientated and there is widespread support for the notion that health policies should be strongly informed by evidence. Despite this, studies consistently find that public health policies are not evidence‐based. This is often explained by reference to popular theories about research‐policy relations which highlight, amongst other things, the communicative gaps between academics and policymakers, the centrality of values (or politics) to decision‐making and the efforts by external interests to influence policy outcomes. Employing the 'tobacco wars' as a case study, with a particular focus on theUK, this article explores how tobacco control advocates and tobacco industry interests have attempted to influence policy and how, in so doing, each has sought to enrol evidence. Whilst accepting that evidence has played an important role in tobacco policy development, the article challenges claims that the implementation of tobacco control policies can be attributed to evidence. Turning to value‐orientated and network‐based approaches to conceptualizing policy development, the article demonstrates both the importance of values and the complex nature of coalitions. However, it argues that this approach needs to be supplemented by an ideational understanding of policy change, which pays attention to the ways in which arguments and evidence are constructed and framed. The article also suggests there are signs that the two 'coalitions' involved in the 'tobacco wars' may be unravelling. Overall, the 'tobacco wars' serve to highlight the complex relationship between evidence and policy, offering some insights for those interested in studying or improving the use of evidence in policy.