scholarly journals Europe in Fragments

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-84
Author(s):  
Jackie Goode

In this autoethnographic response to Brexit, the author tries to make sense of feelings of profound loss following the UK referendum decision to leave the European Union. In exploring questions of what it is that has been lost, who ‘we’ are, and how we might recover, she traces key strands in her family, cultural, and professional life that highlight both points of division and points of connection with others (and with those doing ‘othering’), in our increasingly polarised and fragmented world. Stories she listened to in her professional capacity, told by politicians on the one hand and by those who had long felt excluded and ‘left behind’ on the other, take on a fresh significance in light of the decision to ‘leave’. In these uncertain and insecure times, one thing seems sure: Progress lies in connecting to others, reaching out, crossing borders, holding hands, healing wounds, re-creating community.

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Simon Lufi ◽  
Marsel Nilaj

The Kosovo War in the 1990s was one among a series of wars in the former Yugoslav federation. It was the final war that ended the dissolution which had started with Slovenia from1990 to 1991, Croatia and Bosnia - Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995 and the Kosovo War from 1998 to 1999. However, the Kosovo war happened during a different situation and period. It was at a time and in a position to cause the domino effect in the Balkans and an outbreak of wars in a large part of the Balkans. This fight could include Albania and Macedonia as nations with an ethnic Albanian population. It could also have a religious or cultural impact that threatened to involve other states such as Bosnia and Turkey on the one hand and Greece on the other. The interest of major countries in Europe, as well as the world, was focused on this war. A country among them was the UK. As one of the founding states of the European Union, United Nations, and NATO, the UK was quite involved in this war. The UK and the US were two countries that became the political and military leadership in this struggle since its beginning, while reaching a peak in 1999. This situation involved talks in the British Parliament in the UK, especially the House of Lords where the decision-making aspect of parliamentary politics is achieved. The war was also a major concern for the parliament. On the one hand, it was important to resolve the situation in Kosovo without worsening it with other massacres. On the other hand, this situation required caution in dealing with the Serbian people. The destiny of Kosovo refugees was important to them. However, the future of the Serbian people in Kosovo had to be guaranteed. The most important thing was to obtain full autonomy for Kosovo, but also to achieve a bilateral cooperation from both countries. The House of Lords and the interest of some lords in this war made the British policy, as a whole, a lot more responsible for accomplishing what it had started since diplomacy regarding weapons and the military intervention used to manage the situation of refugees in Kosovo had a huge impact in Europe. The British parliamentary sessions were very crucial in leading to an international level this whole historical phase for Kosovo.


1996 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Hix ◽  
Christopher Lord

THE SINGLE EUROPEAN ACT AND THE MAASTRICHT TREATY attempted to balance two principles of representation in their redesign of the institutional structures of the European Union: the one, based on the indirect representation of publics through nationally elected governments in the European Council and Council of Ministers; the other, based on the direct representation of publics through a more powerful European Parliament. There is much to be said for this balance, for neither of the two principles can, on its own, be an adequate solution at this stage in the development of the EU. The Council suffers from a non-transparent style of decision-making and is, in the view of many, closer to oligarchic than to democratic politics. On the other hand, the claims of the European Parliament to represent public sentiments on European integration are limited by low voter participation, the second-order nature of European elections and the still Protean nature of what we might call a transnational European demos. The EU lacks a single public arena of political debate, communications and shared meanings; of partisan aggregation and political entrepreneurship; and of high and even acceptance, across issues and member states, that it is European and not national majority views which should count in collective rule-making.


2021 ◽  
pp. 001573252110122
Author(s):  
Rupa Chanda ◽  
Neha Vinod Betai

In June 2016, the United Kingdom took the world by surprise with the results of its referendum on whether to remain in the European Union (EU). With a 52% majority, the country decided to leave the bloc in which it had been a member since 1973. With this outcome began the long process of Brexit negotiations between UK and the EU. The UK officially ceased to be an EU member on 31 January 2020, with a transition period up to the end of 2020. The decision to leave the EU came on the back of rising bitterness among people. Membership in the EU was seen as expensive and not beneficial to the country. One of the major campaigning points of the leave camp was the issue of immigration. Given that free movement of people is an important part of being in the EU, the party argued that leaving the EU would help the country take back control of its borders. Immigration in the UK has been on the rise since the early 2000s. It shot up further with the accession of the eight East European economies into the EU. Figure 1 shows how, leading up to Brexit, immigration from the EU to the UK was constantly increasing. JEL Codes: F00, F30, F22, F23


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-86
Author(s):  
Dragan Trailovic

The article explores the European Union's approach to human rights issues in China through the processes of bilateral and multilateral dialogue on human rights between the EU and the People's Republic of China, on the one hand. On the other hand, the paper deals with the analysis of the EU's human rights policy in the specific case of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, which is examined through normative and political activities of the EU, its institutions and individual member states. Besides, the paper examines China's response to the European Union's human rights approaches, in general, but also when it comes to the specific case of UAR Xinjiang. ?his is done through a review of China's discourse and behaviour within the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue framework, but also at the UN level and within the framework of bilateral relations with individual member states. The paper aims to show whether and how the characteristics of the EU's general approach to human rights in China are reflected in the individual case of Xinjiang. Particular attention shall be given to the differentiation of member states in terms of their approach to human rights issues in China, which is conditioned by the discrepancy between their political values, normative interests and ideational factors, on the one hand, and material factors and economic interests, on the other. Also, the paper aims to show the important features of the different views of the European Union and the Chinese state on the very role of Human Rights Dialogue, as well as their different understandings of the concept of human rights itself. The study concluded that the characteristics of the Union's general approach to human rights in China, as well as the different perceptions of human rights issues between China and the EU, were manifested in the same way in the case of UAR Xinjiang.


2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-57
Author(s):  
Marek Menkiszak

In the face of a new serious crisis in Europe caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Russia has taken an ambiguous position. On the one hand, it was spreading fake news and, on the other hand, it was providing Italy with symbolic support. Russia’s immediate goal was to persuade the European Union (EU) to reduce or lift sanctions. The new situation provides a new argument to those participants of the European debate who are in favour of normalisation and even reset of relations with Russia. Among them, the voice of France is particularly clear since its President Emanuel Macron has taken up the initiative to build the ‘architecture of trust and security’ with Russia. These proposals, which are now quite vague, are based on questionable  assumptions and deepen divisions in Europe and the crisis in transatlantic relations. By rising Moscow’s hopes for some form of (geo)political bargain, they in fact encourage Russia to continue its aggressive policy towards its European neighbours. An alternative approach based on several principles is needed in the debate on EU policy towards Russia: developing all five Mogherini’s points; maintaining sanctions against Russia until the reasons for their introduction cease to exist; symmetry of commitments and benefits related to limited cooperation with Russia; inviolability of key interests, security and sovereignty of EU and NATO member and partner states; and balancing the dialogue with the Russian authorities by supporting Russian civil society. Europe can survive without Russia but Russia cannot survive without Europe, which is why European policy needs consistency and strategic patience.


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 315-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Harrington

This paper develops a rhetorical critique of recent cases on migration and access to health care in Britain. It argues that the national territory, once a taken-for-granted starting point for reasoning in medical law, has lost its common-sense status as a result of neoliberal globalisation. This is evident in recent decisions involving on the one hand HIV-positive asylum seekers coming to the UK and on the other hand British ‘health tourists’ seeking funding for treatment elsewhere in the European Union. Courts are aware that many of these cases are likely to call forth the sympathy of audiences for the individual concerned, further undermining their privileging of the national scale. In curbing this ‘politics of pity’ they adopt a range of persuasive strategies.


Legal Studies ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-339
Author(s):  
Karen Yeung

This paper interrogates the predisposition in favour of informal, low-intervention control styles of enforcement advocated by the ‘better regulation’ movement, and which resonates throughout the Hampton Report recommendations which are currently being implemented in the UK. It focuses on three practices that reflect the trend towards diverting regulatory enforcement action away from the courts in favour of reliance on formal administrative sanctioning powers ranging from ‘hard’ to ‘soft’: the use of negotiated penalty settlements, the acceptance of administrative undertakings (‘enforcement undertakings’) and the provision of firm-specific compliance advice by regulators. Each practice is explored through various analytical lenses which enable the underlying constitutional tensions to be identified and interrogated. In so doing, it demonstrates how the emphasis on bargaining, negotiation and discussions between regulators and those they are responsible for regulating advocated by the UK better regulation movement may antagonise several constitutional values, including transparency, accountability, due process and participation, as well as several values associated with formal conceptions of the rule of law. On the other hand, resort to negotiation and discussion in regulatory enforcement can generate important benefits, largely in facilitating the timely, creative and cost-effective resolution of enforcement disputes while avoiding the formality, delay and hostility associated with formal court adjudication. This ‘clash of logics’ can be traced to inherent differences between bargaining, on the one hand, and adjudication on the other. Bargaining and adjudication represent two quite different and distinct forms of ordering through which disputes can be resolved, and it is these differences that lie at the foundation of their respective virtues and shortcomings when employed to resolve disputes concerning regulatory violations.


Author(s):  
Volker Woltersdorff aka Lore Logorrhöe

This article addresses a lack in both queer and anti-neoliberal political critique: on the one hand, queer theoretical approaches neglect questions of production and class, on the other hand economical analyses all too often ignore the question of sexuality. The author argues that this blank is symptomatic for the current regime that reins the construction of sexual identities and he asks why it is so difficult to do otherwise. While religious fundamentalists, nationalist and racists unanimously reject both homosexuality and neoliberalism, official neoliberal discourse in the European Union includes tolerance of homosexuality within its list of allegedly European values. In Germany and in the Netherlands, right wing liberal policies thus give anti-homophobic struggles a nationalist and racist stance, constraining them to co-opt neoliberalism, consumerism, nationalism and racism. Finally the article discusses whether the notion of precariousness could help to link economic and sexual concerns such a way that the dialectics of individuality and risk taking in neoliberalism are illustrated.


Author(s):  
Maria Luisa Pérez Cabaní ◽  
Josep Juandó Bosch

The European Higher Education Area, created to contribute to the development of quality education and encourage cooperation between Member States of the European Union, has created an opportunity for reflection on teaching methods in universities. These circumstances provide momentum for the use of learning strategies. Along these lines, this chapter presents work done on concept mapping, one of the methods that could significantly help prepare both students and teachers for the new roles expected of them. The results of two lines of study are presented: on the one hand, research that analyses the influence of the differential use of concept maps on the quality of learning; and on the other, an innovation in the use of concept maps in a course developed in the area of initial teacher training. Both initiatives serve to highlight increased interest in concept mapping in the field of learning and especially in collaborative learning.


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