The Role of the European Parliament and the US Congress in Shaping Transatlantic Relations: TTIP, NSA Surveillance, and CIA Renditions

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 896-912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davor Jančić
Keyword(s):  
European Parliament ◽  
Transatlantic Relations ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us

scholarly journals Contemplation and the Suffering Earth: Thomas Merton, Pope Francis, and the Next Generation

Open Theology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 212-227
Author(s):  
Christopher Pramuk
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Formation ◽  
Human Heart ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Technology In Education ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us ◽  
Thomas Merton ◽  
The Impact

Abstract During his address to the US Congress in 2015, Pope Francis lifted up the Trappist monk and famed spiritual writer Thomas Merton as one of four “great” Americans who “offer us a way of seeing and interpreting reality” that is life-giving and brings hope. Drawing from Merton and gesturing to Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, the author explores the epistemological roots of the environmental crisis, arguing that while intellectual conversion to the crisis is crucial, Merton’s witness suggests a deeper kind of transformation is required. Reading Merton schools the imagination in the way of wisdom, or sapientia, a contemplative disposition that senses its kinship with Earth through the eyes of the heart, illuminating what Pope Francis has called “an integral ecology.” The author considers the impact of two major influences on Merton’s thought: the Russian Wisdom school of theology, or sophiology, and French theologian Jacques Ellul, whose 1964 book “The Technological Society” raises prescient questions about the role of technology in education and spiritual formation. Arguing that our present crisis is both technological and spiritual, epistemological and metaphysical, the author foregrounds Merton’s contributions to a sapiential theology and theopoetics while asking how the sciences and humanities might work together more intentionally toward the transformation of the personal and collective human heart.

No Blank Check

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Müller
Keyword(s):  
War On Terror ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Congressional Debates ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us ◽  
Legislative Branch ◽  
Drone Warfare ◽  
Counterterrorism Policy

Much of the academic debate surrounding the War on Terror focuses on presidential power after 9/11. In this context, the role of the US Congress in directing the outcome of national security policies is often overlooked. This book illustrates how Congress played a key role in the War on Terror during Barack Obama’s presidency. Instead of arguing that Congress was a compliant bystander and incapable of making successful counterterrorism policy, the legislative branch did more than hand the president a blank check. In using an innovative data set on congressional debates and policymaking, the book shows that the interaction between congressional entrepreneurs and senior committee/party leaders determined the outcome of controversial policies, including drone warfare, Guantanamo and the NSA’s mass surveillance activities.

scholarly journals Is there a Sheriff anymore? Vietnam’s legacy on US-Nicaraguan relations during the Carter Era, 1977-1981

2011 ◽  
pp. 144-148
Author(s):  
Ivan McLaughlin
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Carter Administration ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us

My project explores the extent to which the Vietnam legacy influenced US-Nicaraguan relations during the transition of power that took place in Nicaragua during James Earl Carter’s presidency. The Vietnam legacy is characterised by the increased influences of the US Congress, press, public and Latin America on US executive decisions. Understanding the role of the Vietnam legacy shows that the Carter administration had not regained the US’s ‘lost confidence.’ The US’s anxiety over Vietnam remained and left a void in the Western Hemisphere when Nicaragua needed guidance and assistance from the US during its political transition. On July 19, 1979, the forty-year old traditionally US backed dictatorship led by Anastasio Somoza Debayle was overthrown in Nicaragua by a coalition of Nicaraguans encompassing the business, academic, religious and working classes. Somoza’s opponents went on to create a new government for Nicaragua. Although they were initially euphoric in the aftermath of Somoza’s ...

Vying for credibility in the US Congress

Focaal ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (46) ◽  
pp. 67-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Ponte
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
The United States ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
Images Of Science

Throughout the debate in the United States Congress over whether vaccines cause autism, legitimizing symbols that index cultural values have played a prominent role in the establishment of credibility. While both sides sanctify the role of science in producing credibility, they draw on different images of what science is and where its legitimacy stems from. Those who favor the vaccine hypothesis frame science as a populist endeavor, the results of which are open to critique by all. Those against the vaccine hypothesis frame science as an elitist endeavor, the results of which may only be critiqued by fellow scientists. While both of these images derive their significance from the cultural history of the United States, they have a markedly different impact on the interpretation of evidence. From within the populist frame, personal experience and direct observation are highly valued. From within the elitist frame, epidemiological evidence trumps personal experience. Due to the incorporation of dueling images of science, the US debate over autism may be viewed as a debate between rival cultural values.

Weltmacht und Demokratie

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Trade Policy ◽  
Transatlantic Relations ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
The Us ◽  
International Role ◽  
Liberal Perspective

This volume addresses the international challenges that the US faces in the post-Trump era. Will President Joe Biden succeed in restoring the traditional leadership role of the US? What are the international and domestic hurdles for Biden in advancing his foreign policy agenda? Drawing on a liberal perspective in international relations, the chapters highlight how domestic and international politics are intertwined. Societal interests, partisan polarisation, and executive–legislative relations shape the hegemon’s international role in various policy areas, such as arms control and climate and trade policy, but also regarding the country’s relationships towards friends and foes. The book brings together the expertise of scholars who specialise in the US and transatlantic relations, in celebration of Jürgen Wilzewski. With contributions by Hakan Akbulut, Johannes Artz, Florian Böller, Gordon Friedrichs, Gerlinde Groitl, Steffen Hagemann, Lukas Herr, Katja Leikert, Marcus Höreth, Gerhard Mangott, Marcus Müller, Ronja Ritthaler-Andree, Peter Rudolf, Oliver Thränert, Söhnke Schreyer, David Sirakov, Georg Wenzelburger and Reinhard Wolf.

scholarly journals Ukraine caucuses in the US Congress

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Nikolaevna Danilova
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Department Of Justice ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
The U.S

The article analyzes the level of influence of Ukraine caucuses in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on the U.S. foreign-policy decision-making in relation to Ukraine in 1997 - 2021. To fully understand the role of caucuses in law making, the author describes their typology used by the Congressional Research Service, and analyzes their structure, purposes and main directions of activity. The research is based on the analysis of legislative documents of the U.S. Congress, based on which the author describes the activity of Ukraine caucuses, and on the systematization of annual financial reports of the U.S. Department of Justice, which help to define the key directions of Ukraine lobbying. The comparative analysis of the work of Ukraine caucuses and lobbyists helps to define their common interests and points of difference. The topicality of the research is determined by the international context after the Revolution of Dignity, and the threats and tensity which regularly appear due to the unstable situation in Ukraine. The author concludes that Ukraine caucuses in the U.S. Congress, especially the Senate Ukraine Caucus, are the U.S. political tool for defending its national interests in Eastern Europe manifesting itself in the promotion of democracy, and basically used for solving military problems. 

scholarly journals Defining Turkey’s Kurdish Question: Discourse in the US Congress, The European Parliament and the Turkish Grand National Assembly, 1990-99

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid Akin Unver
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Framework ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Doctoral Dissertation ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us ◽  
Kurdish Question ◽  
Discursive Constructions

This doctoral dissertation is a study of these discursive constructions and perceptions; more importantly, a study of the reasons and factors behind differing interpretations of the problem. Using the Kurdish conundrum in Turkey as a case, this study also seeks to provide an analytical framework for the analysis of the factors behind domestic and foreign discursive constructions of other intra-state conflicts. From there, this work aims to contribute to the literature on the discourses of intra-state conflict.

scholarly journals Oral Questions in the European Parliament: A Network Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-113
Author(s):  
Sebastian Jäckle ◽  
Thomas Metz
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
Internal Working ◽  
The Us ◽  
Parliamentary Systems ◽  
Demand Information

Abstract Internal working structures within parliaments are notoriously hard to capture. While analyses based on bill co-sponsorship work for the US Congress, this approach is not feasible in many parliamentary systems. Drawing on data from the European Parliament’s legislative term of 2009–2014 this article shows that parliamentary questions can be another option. Members of the European Parliament may demand information from the Council or the Commission through oral questions. We take advantage of the fact that these questions are signed by their authors and construct a social network of members of the Parliament that support each other’s oral questions. This allows investigating how members and their groups and committees cooperate to control both Council and Commission. Our approach helps to map out the internal structure of the party groups and explore which forces shape the global network. We find that cooperation is mostly driven by party group membership with ALDE, Green/EFA, and GUENGL turning out as the most cohesive groups while SD is internally rather loosely connected. The second strongest clustering characteristic is a legislators’ native country.

(Mis)Managing Diversity: Worker Rights and US Trade Policy

2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-127
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Trade Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
International Negotiation ◽  
Worker Rights ◽  
Managing Diversity ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us ◽  
Cooperative Agreements ◽  
Us Trade Policy

AbstractThe metaphor of the two-level game has been used to describe the process whereby political leaders find themselves negotiating simultaneously at the domestic and international tables when trying to reach international cooperative agreements. This article examines the role of domestic politics in the US debate over trade policy in recent years. Specifically, the article analyzes the bargaining between the Clinton administration and the US Congress over the appropriate role for labor (and environmental) issues in trade negotiations in the context of the debate over so-called ``fast-track'' negotiating authority. The article then goes on to analyze how the domestic politics of this issue could affect an international negotiation over worker rights in the World Trade Organization.

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