scholarly journals The Competitive Solidarity of European Integration

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
European Society ◽  
Critical State ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
European Level ◽  
European Social Policy

The paper outlines the insights we gain by drawing on Michel Foucault’s study of governmentality in the light of the importance of Ordoliberalism as a structuring principle of European integration. It further develops this perspective by interrelating it to a critical state theoretical perspective and sociology of competition with a view to contributing to a better understanding of the role of competition in establishing social bonds. A key concept the paper develops is competitive solidarity. The second part of the paper provides a more empirical analysis of an emerging competitive solidarity at European level, highlighting the interaction between solidarity and competition in the sphere of European social policy. The analysis of this sui generis social policy provides interesting insights into the complexity of the attempt to establish European social bonds, paving the way for a European society.

scholarly journals Being a Small State: Discussion on the Role of Size

2019 ◽  
pp. 73-91
Author(s):  
Justinas Lingevičius
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Small States ◽  
Small State

This paper discusses theoretical debates regarding small states and their foreign policy and also argues that research should include more analysis of small states’ identities and the dominant meanings related to being a small state. Using poststructuralistic theoretical perspective and discourse analysis, two empirical cases – Lithuania and New Zealand – are analysed with attention paid to the meanings of smallness and the ways these meanings are constructed. Empirical analysis follows with suggestions for how future research of small states could be improved.

Is a European “Hidden Investment State” Emerging in Spain? The Role of Instituto de Crédito Oficial

2021 ◽  
pp. 199-223
Author(s):  
Clifton Judith ◽  
Fuentes Daniel Díaz ◽  
Clara García ◽  
Ana Lara Gómez
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Financial Information ◽  
Financial Instruments ◽  
European Level ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Evolving Networks ◽  
Low Levels

In the context of protracted low levels of investment following the 2008 Great Recession and, with the launch of the European Commission’s “Investment Plan for Europe,” scholars have argued a new dimension of European integration may be emerging: a “hidden investment state.” Interlocking institutions through European-level policy making, and increased and innovative loans, are interpreted as a means of setting up a multilevel infrastructure for further investment. This chapter investigates how Spain and its state-owned bank, the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), has navigated—and responded to—this changing scenario. We map evolving networks, portray ICO’s institutional trajectory, compile financial information on borrowing and loans, and categorize the financial instruments deployed, in order to assess whether ICO is becoming part of this investment state. We find that, whilst the ICO reacted vigorously to the Great Recession, since then, its activities have largely returned to pre-crisis normality. We conclude that developments around a hidden investment state in Spain are modest to date.

National Political Parties and European Integration: Mapping Functional Loss

Politics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
Gijs Berends
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Level ◽  
Functional Loss

This article specifically examines the role of national political parties in the light of European integration. It introduces the functions that are normally associated with parties, which allows for a systematic evaluation of the performance of national parties in the European Union. Probing these functions that parties are reputed to implement, it arrives at the conclusion that national parties are fairly unsuccessful in fulfilling their core tasks at the European level.

Partial Harmonisation and European Social Policy: A Case Study on the Acquired Rights Directive

2003 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 173-193
Author(s):  
Amandine Garde
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Tobacco Advertising ◽  
Community Competence ◽  
European Social Policy ◽  
First Time ◽  
Community Directive ◽  
Community Legal Order

The question of Community competence has been one of the most debated issues since the ruling in Tobacco Advertising I, in which the Court annulled, for the first time, a Community Directive for lack of competence. This judgment is significant in terms of assessing the constitutional role of the Court in the Community legal order. The aim of this article is not to comment on the Tobacco Advertising judgment. Rather, it is to consider the question of competence from a different angle: that of partial harmonisation.

scholarly journals On the (De-)Fragmentation of Statehood in Europe: Reflections on Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde's Work on European Integration

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 403-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vlad Perju
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Vertical Integration ◽  
Common Good ◽  
European Level ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Common ◽  
Horizontal Fragmentation ◽  
Post War ◽  
Domestic Level

It has become a standard critique of European integration that the upward transfer of sovereignty in market-related matters leads to the fragmentation of statehood between the supranational, European level and the largely incapacitated nation-states that retain jurisdiction over social and distributive policies. My article takes up this critique in the elaborate version of one of Germany's leading post-war constitutional theorists, Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, whose approach has been influential in how German constitutionalism relates to the project of European unification. In this account, vertical integration uses law to sever economics from democratic politics, fragments the concern for the common good of citizens and undermines the unity of statehood. I contrast this account to instances of horizontal fragmentation of statehood, such as those underway in member-states such as Hungary or Poland where the nation state's constitutional structures are coming undone at the hands of authoritarian populists. The European Union's role of defending the rule of law within its constitutive states seeks to restore their normative integrity and, as such, is best understood as a role of verticalde-fragmentationof political and constitutional transformations at the domestic level. The question if statehood can be established at the European level gains greater urgency and complexity in light of these developments.

Partial Harmonisation and European Social Policy: A Case Study on the Acquired Rights Directive

2003 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 173-193
Author(s):  
Amandine Garde
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Tobacco Advertising ◽  
Community Competence ◽  
European Social Policy ◽  
First Time ◽  
Community Directive ◽  
Community Legal Order

The question of Community competence has been one of the most debated issues since the ruling in Tobacco Advertising I, in which the Court annulled, for the first time, a Community Directive for lack of competence. This judgment is significant in terms of assessing the constitutional role of the Court in the Community legal order.The aim of this article is not to comment on the Tobacco Advertising judgment. Rather, it is to consider the question of competence from a different angle: that of partial harmonisation.

19. The European Union’s Social Dimension

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerda Falkner
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Majority Voting ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Social Regulation ◽  
European Level ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
Qualified Majority ◽  
Social Fund ◽  
European Social Policy ◽  
Gradual Introduction

This chapter examines how European Union social policy has evolved since the late 1950s. It first considers the intergovernmental character of European social policy in the early days before discussing how the gradual introduction of qualified majority voting and the widening scope of the policy allowed European institutions and European-level interest groups a greater say in the social dimension. It then analyses the work of the European Social Fund and the European Globalization Adjustment Fund, along with the arrival of the open method of coordination and social partnership at the European level. The chapter concludes by explaining how social regulation has become more difficult since the accession of a large number of Central and Eastern European states, and because of the effects of the financial and economic crisis.

Introduction: European Social Policy and Society after Brexit: Neoliberalism, Populism, and Social Quality

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-91
Author(s):  
Steve Corbett ◽  
Alan Walker
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
European Society ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
European Social Policy ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Eu

The narrow referendum decision for British exit from the European Union (Brexit), and its explosive political consequences, has become a lens through which decades-long tensions in European society can be viewed. The result, which was expected to be a clear Remain victory, has been interpreted as various combinations of: the unleashing of xenophobic and racist anti-immigrant sentiment; a kick back against disinterested elites by ‘left behind’ people; the fermenting of nationalist populism by political and media actors; a clash of cultural values; a rejection of ‘market is all’ globalisation in favour of national borders; or as a reaction against austerity, inequality and insecurity (Corbett, 2016; Goodwin and Heath, 2016; Hobolt, 2016; Inglehart and Norris, 2016; Kaufmann, 2016; Pettifor, 2016; Room, 2016; Seidler, 2018; Taylor-Gooby, 2017). This British-made shock has parallels in and consequences for wider European society. In the Referendum, the EU became an emblematic representation of the distrusted, remote, technocratic elites, who are said to be responsible for an unbelievably large number of societal ills. Meanwhile across Europe there are varieties of Eurosceptic populism and distrust of elites on both the right and left (Ivaldi et al., 2017).

The Europeanization of the Welfare State

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Leruth
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
European Social Policy ◽  
The Welfare State

Since the ratification of the Treaty of Rome in 1957, the European integration project has been committed to reducing inequalities between member states. However, social inequalities remain high, and public support for the welfare state varies between countries. Some experts have suggested a common European social policy. This chapter analyses recent developments and future prospects at the European Union level. After discussing the initial ambitions of social policy harmonization, it focuses on the role of the EU during the Great Recession by examining the range of policy responses advocated by Brussels in order to fight against a multi-faceted crisis. These are dominated by the tightening of austerity, but include social investment and greater labour market flexibility. The final section reflects on the future of European integration after Brexit. It argues that further common policy development is only likely through agreements restricted to a particular a number of member states in an ‘ever more differentiated Europe’.

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