scholarly journals Introduction: The Then and Now of Political Science Institutionalisation in Europe—A Research Agenda and Its Endeavour

Author(s):  
Gabriella Ilonszki ◽  
Christophe Roux

AbstractThe introductory chapter introduces the research project that the book’s chapters are built upon and identifies key questions that are addressed within the book’s thematic frame. The COST Action ‘ProSEPS’ project (Professionalization and Social Impact of European Political Science) collected updated information about the situation of the political science profession in Europe. Despite the widely acknowledged process of continental integration driven by the European Union (EU), the academic landscape has been and still is characterised by a great variety of traditions, institutions and resources. On this basis, this chapter explains that institutional development has been chosen as the major focus that could possibly introduce as well as explain the sources of this variety. It identifies the empirical, theoretical and comparative issues at stake and introduces the cases covered in the book and its structure.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 123-140
Author(s):  
Ryszard Suduł

Author analyses in the article the problem of functioning of the external borders of the Republic of Poland in the Schengen area. The text frames the analysis in the context of the political science. The author discusses the changes in state system of protection of the state border of the Republic of Poland resulting from the integration of the Republic of Poland with the European Union, in particular with the Schengen area. The basic objective of the article is the analysis of the scope and type of organisational and administrative-logistic undertakings in the field of border protection after Poland’s participation in the Schengen Area. The analysis is started with characterisation of changes in the system of management of the state border and the ways of functioning of border services in connection with the accession to the EU were characterised. EU requirements for strengthening border infrastructure and the system of cooperation between institutions responsible for border security were also analysed. As a result, the accession of the Republic of Poland to the Schengen area entailed a complete change in the strategy of managing the state borders.


10.1068/d274t ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 561-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Walters

In this paper I examine the reorganization of border controls associated with the Schengen process in the European Union and some of its close neighbours. Rather than asking the political science question of why states are committed to Schengen (or not, in the case of the United Kingdom and Ireland), I interpret Schengen as a political moment for genealogical reflection and analysis. The purpose is to contribute to a more historicized understanding of borders. Schengen is analyzed in terms of three trajectories, each of which allows us to denaturalize certain key aspects of the border, such as its identity, function, rationality, and contingency. Schengen is theorized in relation to the geopolitical border, the national border, and the biopolitical border. Other possibilities for genealogies of the border are also canvassed.


Author(s):  
Daniel Mertens ◽  
Matthias Thiemann ◽  
Peter Volberding

This chapter summarizes the key insights of this book’s contributions and links them back to field theory and the power asymmetries in the European integration process. It proceeds to discuss the role of development banks for a renewal of industrial policy in the European Union. The chapter concludes by sketching a critical research agenda on the political economy of development banking, discussing 1) the agency of NDBs and the relationship between the NDB’s principles and the private financial sector; (2) the consequences of these for transformative and distributional politics; (3) the democratic accountability of NDB activity; and (4) the future politics of a fragmented field and the threat of disintegration.


Oikos ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (29) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Olga María Cerqueira Torres

RESUMENEn el presente artículo el análisis se ha centrado en determinar cuáles de las funciones del interregionalismo, sistematizadas en los trabajos de Jürgen Rüland, han sido desarrolladas en la relación Unión Europea-Comunidad Andina de Naciones, ya que ello ha permitido evidenciar si el estado del proceso de integración de la CAN ha condicionado la racionalidad política del comportamiento de la Unión Europea hacia la región andina (civil power o soft imperialism); esto posibilitará establecer la viabilidad de la firma del Acuerdo de Asociación Unión Europea-Comunidad Andina de Naciones.Palabras clave: Unión Europea, Comunidad Andina, interregionalismo, funciones, acuerdo de asociación. Interregionalism functions in the EU-ANDEAN community relationsABSTRACTIn the present article analysis has focused on which functions of interregionalism, systematized by Jürgen Rüland, have been developed in the European Union-Andean Community birregional relation, that allowed demonstrate if the state of the integration process in the Andean Community has conditioned the political rationality of the European Union towards the Andean region (civil power or soft imperialism); with all these elements will be possible to establish the viability of the Association Agreement signature between the European Union and the Andean Community.Keywords: European Union, Andean Community, interregionalism, functions, association agreement.


Author(s):  
Tracey Raney

This paper is about the ways that citizens perceive their place in the political world around them, through their political identities. Using a combination of comparative and quantitative methodologies, the study traces the pattern of citizens’ political identifications in the European Union and Canada between 1981 and 2003 and explains the mechanisms that shape these political identifications. The results of the paper show that in the EU and Canada identity formation is a process that involves the participation of both individuals and political institutions yet between the two, individuals play a greater role in identity construction than do political institutions. The paper argues that the main agents of political identification in the EU and Canada are citizens themselves: individuals choose their own political identifications, rather than acquiring identities that are pre-determined by historical or cultural precedence. The paper makes the case that this phenomenon is characteristic of a rise of ‘civic’ identities in the EU and Canada. In the European Union, this overarching ‘civic’ identity is in its infancy compared to Canada, yet, both reveal a new form of political identification when compared to the historical and enduring forms of cultural identities firmly entrenched in Europe. The rise of civic identities in both the EU and Canada is attributed to the active role that citizens play in their own identity constructions as they base their identifications on rational assessments of how well political institutions function, and whether their memberships in the community will benefit them, rather than on emotional factors rooted in religion or race. In the absence of strongly held emotional identifications, in the EU and Canada political institutions play a passive role in identity construction by making the community appear more entitative to its citizens. These findings offer new theoretical scope to the concept of civic communities and the political identities that underpin them. The most important finding presented in the paper is that although civic communities and identities are manufactured by institutions and political elites (politicians and bureaucrats), they require thinking citizens, not feeling ones, to be sustained.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v2i4.179


Südosteuropa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Christina Griessler

AbstractFor the countries of the Western Balkans, the path to membership in the European Union (EU) has been particularly tortuous. Its slow progress has created frustration among applicant countries. In 2014 Germany, stepping into the political void that had formed, inaugurated what has come to be known as the Berlin Process, an initiative aimed at injecting new energy into the dormant EU enlargement process. The author examines the political activities initiated between 2014 and 2019, analysing the official documentation of the Berlin Process along with publications such as policy papers and media commentaries. She concludes that although meaningful and proactive measures have been taken, such efforts have not been successful in persuading or enabling the Western Balkan states to implement the political and economic reforms required for EU accession.


Author(s):  
Ana-Maria Iulia Şanta

Abstract The European Commission has the initiative to foster the sector of renewable energy and to build an Energy Union, with a common energy market at the level of the European Union, but is this only an utopic vision or is this possible to achieve? The topic of clean energy is very new and of great interest for the European Union, which is shown by the fact that the European Commission recently adopted on the 30th November 2016 the package “Clean Energy for All Europeans”, which contains proposals for the modernization of the energy market at the level of the European Union. But which are the challenges such a project is confronted with? According to the literature, such challenges are related to the process of liberalization of electricity markets. Conflicts between national interest and international actors of the energy market might occur. Due to the oligopolistic structure of the energy market, there are several barriers to the market entry. In order to answer to the research questions, case studies regarding the liberalization of the energy market will be analyzed in a comparative manner, offering an international overview. Furthermore, the legal provisions on which the common energy policy of the European Union relies, will be analyzed, as well as their economic and social impact. The package “Clean Energy for All Europeans” comprises a proposal of the revised Renewable energy Directive, energy efficiency measures and issues related to the Energy Union Governance. It contains as well proposals for the electricity market design, which will be analyzed and the present paper outlines the contribution of this proposal in building a common energy market of the European Union. What role does competition play in implementing the common energy market of the European Union? Which role do competition authorities have in this context? These are interesting aspects to be analyzed in the present paper.


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