Opportunities and challenges for mainstreaming the ecosystem services concept in the multi-level policy-making within the EU

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 174-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Schleyer ◽  
Christoph Görg ◽  
Jennifer Hauck ◽  
Klara Johanna Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Eu

2. Theorizing EU Policy-Making

2020 ◽  
pp. 12-42
Author(s):  
Mark A. Pollack
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Judicial Politics ◽  
European Union Policy ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Union Policy ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Eu

This chapter surveys seven decades of theorizing about European Union policy-making and policy processes. It begins with a discussion of theories of European integration, including neo-functionalism, intergovernmentalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, institutionalism, constructivism, and postfunctionalism. It then considers the increasing number of studies that approach the EU through the lenses of comparative politics and comparative public policy, focusing on the federal or quasi-federal aspects of the EU and its legislative, executive, and judicial politics. It finally explores the vertical and horizontal separation of powers in the EU and concludes by looking at the ‘governance approach’ to the EU, with emphasis on multi-level governance and EU policy networks, Europeanization, and the question of the EU’s democratic deficit.

10. Cohesion Policy A New Direction for New Times?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Bache
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Reform ◽  
Regulatory Policy ◽  
Policy Coordination ◽  
Cohesion Policy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Eu Regions ◽  
Cohesion Fund ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the European Union’s cohesion policy, aimed primarily at reducing the social and economic differences between EU regions. Academic analysis of cohesion policy has generated insights that have framed wider debates about the nature of the EU as a whole, particularly through the concept of multi-level governance. Moreover, while cohesion policy has taken up a growing share of the EU’s budget, its purpose, effectiveness, and durability have been increasingly challenged. Before analysing these issues, the chapter provides an overview of the emergence of cohesion policy, taking into account the Cohesion Fund and policy reform in the 1990s, 2006, and 2013. It then considers the implementation of cohesion policy and discusses five variants of the modes through which the policy handles day-to-day policy-making: the classical Community method, the regulatory policy mode, the distributional policy mode, policy coordination, and intensive transgovernmentalism.

scholarly journals Multi-level governance in a ‘Europe with the regions’

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 767-775
Author(s):  
Arjan H Schakel
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Multilevel Governance ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
National Governments ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Scholarly Attention ◽  
The Eu

The concept of multilevel governance was introduced to reveal the impact of regions on European Union (EU) policy making in Brussels. In this contribution, I show that multilevel governance also exposes regional involvement in EU affairs within the member states. In contrast to perspectives that focus on formal decision-making by central governments, multilevel governance uncovers significant sharing of authority between governmental actors within and beyond national states even in cases where the formal right to make a decision lies with national governments or the EU legislator. I argue that the concept of multilevel governance is key for understanding developments within a three-tiered EU polity because it directs scholarly attention to the incentives for regions to be involved in EU affairs and for national governments and EU institutions to share their authority with regions.

Het (Belgisch) middenveld en de Europese beleidsvorming : institutionele factoren binnen een meerlagig systeem

Res Publica ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-246
Author(s):  
Peter Bursens
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Political System ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Sector ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Eu

This article examines the organisation and strategies of Belgian interest groups and their European peak-organisations with respect to the EU policy-making arena. It conceptualises the European Union as a of multi-level governance political system that consists ofmultiple interlocking government levels (sub-national, national and supranational), governed by means of non-hierarchical actor configurations with a blurred boundary between the public and the private sphere. It further argues that the European policy-making can best be studied from a (historical) new-institutionalist perspective which emphasises that the preferences andthe behaviour of political actors are shaped by the institutional context which provides opportunities and constraints. Evidence of the institutionalfactors within a multi-level governance setting is then given from the organisational structure and strategies of Belgian interest groups in general and from the environmental policy sector in particular.

The visual international politics of the European refugee crisis: Tragedy, humanitarianism, borders

2021 ◽  
pp. 001083672198936
Author(s):  
Lene Hansen ◽  
Rebecca Adler-Nissen ◽  
Katrine Emilie Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Border Control ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Visual Content ◽  
Visual Discourse ◽  
News Photography ◽  
European Refugee Crisis ◽  
The Eu

The European refugee crisis has been communicated visually through images such as those of Alan Kurdi lying dead on the beach, by body bags on the harbor front of Lampedusa, by people walking through Europe and by border guards and fences. This article examines the broader visual environment within which EU policy-making took place from October 2013 to October 2015. It identifies ‘tragedy’ as the key term used by the EU to explain its actions and decisions and points out that discourses of humanitarianism and border control were both in place. The article provides a theoretical account of how humanitarianism and border control might be visualized by news photography. Adopting a multi-method design and analyzing a dataset of more than 1000 photos, the article presents a visual discourse analysis of five generic iconic motifs and a quantitative visual content analysis of shifts and continuity across four moments in time. The article connects these visual analyses to the policies and discourses of the EU holding that the ambiguity of the EU’s discourse was mirrored by the wider visual environment.

scholarly journals Incorporating Ecosystem Services in the Assessment of Water Framework Directive Programmes of Measures

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis Souliotis ◽  
Nikolaos Voulvoulis
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
Water Status ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ecological Condition ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Ecological Objectives ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe EU Water Framework Directive requires the development of management responses aimed towards improving water quality as a result of improving ecosystem health (system state). Ecosystems have potential to supply a range of services that are of fundamental importance to human well-being, health, livelihoods and survival, and their capacity to supply these services depends on the ecosystem condition (its structure and processes). According to the WFD, Programmes of Measures should be developed to improve overall water status by reducing anthropogenic catchment pressures to levels compatible with the achievement of the ecological objectives of the directive, and when designed and implemented properly should improve the ecological condition of aquatic ecosystems that the delivery of ecosystem services depends on. Monitoring and evaluation of implemented measures are crucial for assessing their effectiveness and creating the agenda for consecutive planning cycles. Considering the challenges of achieving water status improvements, and the difficulties of communicating these to the wider public, we develop a framework for the evaluation of measures cost-effectiveness that considers ecosystem services as the benefits from the reduction of pressures on water bodies. We demonstrate its application through a case study and discuss its potential to facilitate the economic analysis required by the directive, and that most European water authorities had problems with. Findings demonstrate the potential of the methodology to effectively incorporate ecosystem services in the assessment of costs and benefits of proposed actions, as well as its potential to engage stakeholders.

Deadlock or new opening? Current state and prospects for development of Lithuanian-Belarusian relations

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-141
Author(s):  
Justyna Olędzka
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Future ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Eu

The purpose of this article is to discuss the trajectory of Belarusian-Lithuanian relations with a particular focus on the period after the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, which resulted in a change in international relations in the region. This was the moment that redefined the Lithuanian-Belarusian relations, which until 2020 were satisfactory for both sides (especially in the economic aspect). However, Lithuania began to pursue a reactive policy of promoting the democratisation of Belarus and provided multi-level support to Belarusian opposition forces. The current problems in bilateral relations (e.g., the future of Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant located in Astravyets) have been put on the agenda for discussion at the EU level, while the instruments of a hybrid conflict in the form of an influx of immigrants into Lithuania, controlled by the Belarusian regime, have become a key issue for the future prospects of relations between Belarus and Lithuania.

Regional competence: changing patterns of the Basque regionalism in the EU

2011 ◽  
pp. 239-263
Author(s):  
Karolina BORONSKA-HRYNIEWIECKA
Keyword(s):  
Basque Country ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Active Player ◽  
European Governance ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Pais Vasco ◽  
Supranational Level ◽  
The Eu

LABURPENA: Artikulu honek, Euskadi adibidetzat hartuta, gaur egungo nazioz azpiko erregionalismoaren izaera aldakorra aztertzen du. Eta erakusten du euskal eskualde-estrategien bilakaera, eta nola lehengo jarrera probintziaren aldekoa bazen eta elkarren arteko lehia bultzatzen bazuen, oraingoa, berriz, irekia, kooperatiboa eta berritzailea dela, hobeto moldatzen dena Europako gobernantza-modu berrietara. Gaur egungo eskualde-ikerketek eskaintzen dituzten tresna teorikoak oinarri hartuta, artikulu honek euskal erregionalismotik sortzen den jarrera hibridoa aztertzen du. Horren osagaiak berriak, postmodernoak eta nazioz haraindikoak dira, eta eskualdearen ahalmen ekonomiko, politiko eta soziala indartzeko eta Europako kontuetan jokalari aktibo izateko balio dute. Europar Batasuneko eskualdeestrategien norabideak garrantzi berezia dauka Europan sortu den maila anitzeko gobernantza dela-eta, zeinetan agintea gobernu zentraletatik aldendu baita: gorantz, nazioz gaindiko mailara; beherantz, nazioz azpiko jurisdikzioetara; eta alboetara, estatu ez direnen sare publiko eta pribatuetara, eta horrek aukera berriak eskaini dizkie erregionalistei antzeko helburuak lortzeko. RESUMEN: Este articulo analiza la naturaleza cambiante del regionalismo subnacional contemporaneo a traves del ejemplo del Pais Vasco. Muestra de que maneras las estrategias regionales vascas han evolucionado desde un aspecto provincial y de confrontacion a uno abierto, cooperativo e innovador, que se adapta a las nuevas formas de gobernanza europea. A partir de los instrumentos teoricos ofrecidos por los estudios regionales contemporaneos este articulo explora el tipo hibrido que emerge del regionalismo vasco que consiste en componentes nuevos, postmodernos y transnacionales que sirven para fortalecer la competencia economica, politica y social de la region como un jugador activo en los asuntos europeos. La cuestion de la direccion de las estrategias regionalistas en la Union Europea resulta especialmente sobresaliente a la vista de la gobernanza multinivel europea emergente donde el poder ha sido apartado de los gobiernos centrales: hacia arriba al nivel supranacional, hacia abajo a las jurisdicciones subnacionales y a los costados a las redes publicas y privadas de los actores no estatales que ha dado a los regionalistas nuevas posibilidades de alcanzar similares objetivos. ABSTRACT: This paper analyses the changing nature of the contemporary subnational regionalism through the example of the Basque Country. It shows in what ways the Basque regionalist strategies have evolved from parochial and confrontational to outward looking, cooperative and innovative, adapting to the challenges of European integration and the emergence of new modes of European governance. On the basis of theoretical tools provided by contemporary regional studies this paper explores the emerging hybrid type of Basque regionalism consisting of the new, postmodern and transnational components which serve to strenghten the economic, political and social competence of the region as an active player in European affairs. The question of the direction of regionalist strategies in the EU seems especially salient in the view of the emerging European multi-level governance where power has been dispersed away from central governments; upwards to the supranational level, downwards to subnational jurisdictions and sideways to public and private networks of non-state actors which has given the regionalists new possibilities of achieving similar goals.

Italy and the politics of European defence: playing by the logic of multi-level networks

Modern Italy ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Foradori ◽  
Paolo Rosa
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
European Level ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Common Defence

SummaryThe article looks at the role of Italy in the decision-making arena of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), analysing the initiatives it put in place to address and influence the construction of a common defence. The article aims to explain the ability or inability of Italy to build up a consensus around its proposals. By studying two initiatives in the field of European defence and security, it seeks to determine the factors which resulted in the differing outcomes of Italian actions at the European level.

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