scholarly journals Party competition over EU integration: asymmetrical impacts of external shocks across regions?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Twan Huijsmans ◽  
André Krouwel
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
The Other ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
Economic Migration ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Using Voting Advice Application (VAA) data from the EU Profiler/euandi Trend File, we studied how parties’ positions towards European integration relate to their positions on other important issues, and how this varies across EP elections, and between European regions. We hypothesized that the association between parties’ EU-integration positions and their positions on other issues was affected by the three major crises that hit the European Union (EU) between 2009 and 2019: the economic, migration, and climate crises. Additionally, we hypothesized that the economic and migration crises asymmetrically affected the association between cultural and economic issues on the one hand and the EU dimension on the other across the EU’s three macro regions (NWE, SE, and CEE). Our results show that neither the economic crisis nor the migration crisis or the climate crisis had an EU-wide impact on how European integration relates to other issue dimensions. As we hypothesized, economic issues were particularly strongly linked to EU-integration positions in SE in 2014, but our results additionally indicated that the longstanding interpretation of EU integration as a mainly economic issue in SE diminished after the start of the migration crisis. Finally, EU integration became related to immigration issues in CEE while this is not the case in the other regions. The main takeaway is that EU integration is interpreted differently by parties across the EU, which is important to recognize for parties that seek to work together in transnational party groups, and for scholars that aim to understand EU policy making.

Party Politics Triumph over Substantive Scrutiny and Principled Policy: Examining Czech MPs’ Voting Behaviour in Regard to EU Affairs

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-125
Author(s):  
Martin Kuta
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Party System ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Voting Behaviour ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Parliaments ◽  
European Dimension ◽  
The Eu

The paper deals with the European dimension of the competition and contention between Czech political parties and argues that domestic party interests undermine the formal oversight of EU politics by the Czech national parliament. Within the current institutional arrangements, national political parties assume stances – which are expressed through voting – towards the European Union (and European integration as such) as they act in the arena of national parliaments that are supposed to make the EU more accountable in its activities. Based on an analysis of roll-calls, the paper focuses on the ways the political parties assume their stances towards the EU and how the parties check this act by voting on EU affairs. The paper examines factors that should shape parties’ behaviour (programmes, positions in the party system, and public importance of EU/European integration issues). It also focuses on party expertise in EU/European issues and asserts that EU/European integration issues are of greater importance in extra-parliamentary party competition than inside the parliament, suggesting a democratic disconnect between voters and parliamentary behaviour. The study's empirical analysis of the voting behaviour of Czech MPs also shows that the parliamentary scrutiny introduced by the Lisbon Treaty is undermined by party interests within the system.

scholarly journals EU Refugee Crisis: A Stumbling Block to the Process of European Integration?

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dionysios Stivas
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Eu

Currently, the European Union (EU) is dealing with an unprecedented refugee crisis which has been blamed for bringing the process of the EU integration to an impasse. By applying theories of European (dis)integration, this paper assesses the extent to which the current refugee crisis constitutes an impediment to the future of the European Union. This paper’s analysis is constructed around two hypotheses: (1) the refugee crisis triggered Brexit and the failure of the EU’s relocation scheme, symptoms of the EU’s disintegration; (2) the refugee crisis has a dual potential: to simultaneously promote the deeper integration and the disintegration of the EU. To test these hypotheses, this paper examines if and how the refugee crisis is related to Brexit and whether the rebellious reaction of certain EU member states to the implementation of the EU relocation scheme is a sign of reversal in the process of EU integration.

scholarly journals Network Power Europe and Competition at the UN Human Rights Council

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-82
Author(s):  
Anatoly Boyashov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Complex Networks ◽  
European Integration ◽  
The Other ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Structural Position ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
The Eu

The chapter's argument anchors the debates on what type of a competitor the European Union is. On a larger scale, it addresses the question about the nature of competition within the United Nations. A large share of European integration literature suggests that the EU competes as a Þ-U+201C-Þnormative power EuropeÞ-U+201D-Þ thus identifying competition as a struggle for prestige and status. The proponents of the other perspective pinpoint the EU identity as a Þ-U+201C-Þmarket power EuropeÞ-U+201D-Þ-to gain advantages, the EU hence seeks to guide competition with its wealth. This chapter argues the augmenting complexity of international organizations pushes the EU to act as Þ-U+201C-Þnetwork power EuropeÞ-U+201D-Þ and compete for the structural position a Þ-U+201C-ÞbridgeÞ-U+201D-Þ in complex networks.

scholarly journals Introduction: Integration Through Crises

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie D'Erman ◽  
Amy Verdun
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Current Events ◽  
Crisis Scenarios ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Future Direction ◽  
The Eu

The introductory paper to this Special Issue discusses the idea of crisis in relation to European integration from a historical perspective in order to contextualize four different current events in the European Union (EU) in turn – euro area crisis, migration crisis, Brexit, and the rise of populist responses to EU governance. We turn to the wider scholarly concept of ‘crisis’ and apply it to large-scale events affecting the EU, in order to relate events to broader theoretical discussions about the progression of the EU. Existing literature on the topic highlights different varieties of crisis scenarios: those that undermine the basic integrity of the undertaking; those that threaten certain domains or the activities of certain groups; and those that reflect short-term, but acute dangers that may be overcome without structural damage. This introductory contribution situates each of the four above-mentioned ‘crises’ in the context of these varieties and offers suggestions for how each crisis might influence the future direction of European integration by using illustrations from each of the articles in this special issue.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v12i1.1230

The EU besides Brexit

2020 ◽  
pp. 59-82
Author(s):  
Federico Fabbrini
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Euro Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
The Eu

This chapter assesses the European Union besides Brexit, shedding light on the multiple other crises that the EU has recently faced in addition to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom. In the last decade, the EU has weathered the euro-crisis, the migration crisis, and the rule of law crisis, each of which has continued to sour throughout the Brexit negotiations. In addition to these old crises, the EU has now faced new ones—as shown by the difficulties of dealing with the issue of enlargement, the problem of climate change, and particularly the catastrophic Covid-19 pandemic. All of these crises have exposed the disunity of the EU—a counter-point to the unity that emerged in the Brexit negotiations. The chapter explains the difficulties of the EU27 in successfully tackling once and for all any of these crises, and the growing centripetal pulls at play, owing to the rise of very different visions of European integration—what can be called a ‘polity’, a ‘market’, and an ‘autocracy’ conception of the EU, which are competing with each other.

The EU Migration Crisis: A Crisis Analysis Case Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Slominski
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) migration crisis has been part and parcel of a conglomerate of crises that have affected the EU since the late 2000s, as have the financial and sovereign debt crisis, “Brexit,” the Russia–Ukraine conflict, as well as tensions within transatlantic relations. Scholarship on the EU has devoted much attention in assessing what the migration crisis means for EU integration at large. In particular, EU scholars are interested why the migration crisis has led to political gridlock and a renationalization of border controls rather than a deepening of integration. While they differ in their explanations, these explanations shed light on different aspects of the crisis and are far from mutually exclusive. Scholars who are more interested in the area of EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) largely agree with EU theorists that the field suffers from an incomplete governance design, the dominance of EU member states, and weak supranational capacities. Their analysis also focuses on intra-EU dynamics but offers a more nuanced empirical assessment of relevant EU institutions and decision-making in the course of managing the migration crisis. This growing body of research produces valuable insights and largely confirms existing scholarship, including that on the growing securitization and externalization of EU asylum and migration policy. The EU’s understanding as a norm-based power is particularly challenged by the migratory movements in the wake of the crisis. A small but growing scholarship analyses how the EU is balancing its non-entrée policy with its legal obligation, and what kind of governance arrangements result from that. While this scholarship has enriched our understanding of the EU migration crisis, it has not generated a major refinement of the standard approaches of EU theorists and JHA scholars. To further enrich the literature on the migration crisis, scholars should go beyond studying the dynamics of EU decision-making and the role of EU institutions. Such an approach should engage more systematically with international actors and institutions that have the capacity to influence EU migration policy. At the same time, global phenomena such as war, poverty, or climate change should also be taken into account in assessing the EU’s room for maneuver in handling migratory pressures. Future research on the migration crisis as well as on migration challenges should thus not only connect with other subfields of political science, such as policy analysis or international relations, but also open up to other disciplines such as law, demography, or environmental studies.

scholarly journals Intergovernmentalism: Old, Liberal, and New

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Verdun
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
National Governments ◽  
The Eu

European integration theories help us understand the actors and mechanisms that drive European integration. Traditionally, European integration scholars used grand theories of integration to explain why integration progresses or stands still. Born out of assumptions that are prevalent in realist international relations theories, intergovernmentalism was first developed as a theory in opposition to neofunctionalism. In a nutshell, intergovernmentalism argues that states (i.e., national governments or state leaders), based on national interests, determine the outcome of integration. Intergovernmentalism was seen as a plausible explanatory perspective during the 1970s and 1980s, when the integration process seemed to have stalled. Despite the fact that it could not explain many of the gradual incremental changes or informal politics, intergovernmentalism—as did various other approaches—gained renewed popularity in the 1990s, following the launch of liberal intergovernmentalism. During that decade, the study of European integration was burgeoning, triggered in part by the aim to complete the single market and the signing of the Maastricht Treaty that launched the European Union (EU). Intergovernmentalism also often received considerable pushback from researchers who were unconvinced by its core predictions. Attempts to relaunch intergovernmentalism were made in the 2010s, in response to the observation that EU member states played a prominent role in dealing with the various crises that the EU was confronted with at that time, such as the financial crisis and the migration crisis. Although intergovernmentalism is unable —and is not suited—to explain all aspects of European integration, scholars revert to intergovernmentalism as a theoretical approach in particular when examining the role of member states in European politics. Outside the EU, in the international arena (such as the United Nations), intergovernmentalism is also observed when studying various forums in which member states come together to bargain over particular collective outcomes in an intergovernmental setting.

scholarly journals Introduction: Integration Through Crises

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie D'Erman ◽  
Amy Verdun
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Current Events ◽  
Crisis Scenarios ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Future Direction ◽  
The Eu

The introductory paper to this Special Issue discusses the idea of crisis in relation to European integration from a historical perspective in order to contextualize four different current events in the European Union (EU) in turn – euro area crisis, migration crisis, Brexit, and the rise of populist responses to EU governance. We turn to the wider scholarly concept of ‘crisis’ and apply it to large-scale events affecting the EU, in order to relate events to broader theoretical discussions about the progression of the EU. Existing literature on the topic highlights different varieties of crisis scenarios: those that undermine the basic integrity of the undertaking; those that threaten certain domains or the activities of certain groups; and those that reflect short-term, but acute dangers that may be overcome without structural damage. This introductory contribution situates each of the four above-mentioned ‘crises’ in the context of these varieties and offers suggestions for how each crisis might influence the future direction of European integration by using illustrations from each of the articles in this special issue.

Exit from Joint-decision Problems?

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-27
Author(s):  
Lucas Schramm
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
The Other ◽  
Decision Problems ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eurozone Crisis ◽  
Joint Decision ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
The Eu

Over the last decade, the European Union (EU) has faced a multitude of crises. Importantly, the various crises have led to different outcomes: Whereas the Eurozone crisis, for example, led to more European integration, the Schengen crisis arguably resulted in a partial European disintegration. Applying models of joint-decision problems in the EU, this paper analyses why and how these two crises led to divergent outcomes. It finds that higher levels of functional pressures, higher capacities of supranational agency, and more room for package deals enabled the EU to exit from joint-decision problems in the Eurozone crisis, whereas these and other potential exit mechanisms were widely unavailable in the Schengen crisis. Looking explicitly at the (missing) availability of exit mechanisms from joint-decision problems, this paper goes beyond the application of the usual European integration theories, which struggle to explain the variation in crisis outcomes. Furthermore, the paper makes a contribution to the more recent academic discussions on European integration/ disintegration, on the one hand, and the legitimacy-effectiveness gap, on the other hand.

scholarly journals Managing Migration in the United States and the European Union – Maintaining the Security

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 145-160
Author(s):  
Lehte Roots
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Open World ◽  
Migration Management ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Eu Policies ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Eu

The article reflexes the nexus between security and migration management. Immigration is often seen as threat to national security but in case of refugees they are the victims of the instability and lack of protection of their human rights. The article aims to analyse how the human security concept is discussed in EU policies and how it has been implemented to tackle the migration crisis. The approach of the USA to migration and security will be used for the comparative analysis. The article discusses the historical and legal developments of migration management and the effects and problematics in the open world. Since the EU and the USA are the world big players, they should stay the leaders in promoting human rights and security. The way to do it is to introduce homogeneous policies in terms of migration management.

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