The European Union in search of systemic balance. An analysis involving the concept of resilience

2018 ◽  
pp. 10-38
Author(s):  
Anna Wierzchowska
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Theoretical Assumption ◽  
Research Perspective ◽  
Internal Balance ◽  
The Eu

The article deals with the issue of EU political system seen as a set of institutional and legal mechanisms and solutions looking for a way to lead and maintain its internal balance. This problem is included in line with the assumptions of the resilience concept, which is a fundamental theoretical assumption at work. Resilience, or flexibility, the ability to adapt and “bounce off the bottom”, to recuperate, is referred to the EU as a prospect of a research perspective indicating the paths of thinking about the regularity of the development of the EU system in the long term. Recourse to such a framework is implied in the EU by the nature of the integration structure and the political system whose creation was initiated in 1957 with the establishment of the EEC. Analysis carried out in the article leads to conclusion that the EU political system is characterised by resilience- -specific properties, which makes it flexible in responding to emerging difficulties and tensions. At the same time, the solutions and mechanisms implemented on this basis lead to the deepening of differences. Achieving a system balance becomes difficult.

scholarly journals Electoral and Mechanical Causes of Divided Government in the European Union

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (10) ◽  
pp. 1349-1370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Manow ◽  
Holger Döring
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political System ◽  
Mechanical Effect ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Divided Government ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Government Formation ◽  
European Elections ◽  
The Eu

Voters who participate in elections to the European Parliament (EP) apparently use these elections to punish their domestic governing parties. Many students of the EU therefore claim that the party—political composition of the Parliament should systematically differ from that of the EU Council. This study shows that opposed majorities between council and parliament may have other than simply electoral causes. The logic of domestic government formation works against the representation of more extreme and EU-skeptic parties in the Council, whereas voters in EP elections vote more often for these parties. The different locations of Council and Parliament are therefore caused by two effects: a mechanical effect—relevant for the composition of the Council—when national votes are translated into office and an electoral effect in European elections. The article discusses the implications of this finding for our understanding of the political system of the EU and of its democratic legitimacy.

scholarly journals The political system of European Union after European Parliament Election of 2019

2019 ◽  
pp. 15-30
Author(s):  
Andrii Martynov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Political System ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Parliaments ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Eu

The politics of the European Union are different from other organizations and states due to the unique nature of the EU. The common institutions mix the intergovernmental and supranational aspects of the EU. The EU treaties declare the EU to be based on representative democracy and direct elections take place to the European Parliament. The Parliament, together with the European Council, works for the legislative arm of the EU. The Council is composed of national governments thus representing the intergovernmental nature of the European Union. The central theme of this research is the influence of the European Union Political system the Results of May 2019 European Parliament Election. The EU supranational legislature plays an important role as a producer of legal norms in the process of European integration and parliamentary scrutiny of the activities of the EU executive. The European Parliament, as a representative institution of the European Union, helps to overcome the stereotypical notions of a “Brussels bureaucracy” that limits the sovereignty of EU member states. The European Parliament is a political field of interaction between European optimists and European skeptics. The new composition of the European Parliament presents political forces focused on a different vision of the strategy and tactics of the European integration process. European federalists in the “European People’s Party” and “European Socialists and Democrats” consider the strategic prospect of creating a confederate “United States of Europe”. The Brexit withdrawal from the EU could help the federalists win over European skeptics. Critics of the supranational project of European integration do not have a majority in the new composition of the European Parliament. But they are widely represented in many national parliaments of EU Member States. The conflicting interaction between European liberals and far-right populists is the political backdrop for much debate in the European Parliament. The result of this process is the medium term development vector of the European Union.

scholarly journals To leave or not to leave? Understanding the support for the United Kingdom membership in the European Union: Identity, attitudes towards the political system and socio-economic status

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-277
Author(s):  
Nicola Pensiero
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
High Educational Level ◽  
Economic Interest ◽  
The European Union ◽  
British Identity ◽  
Disadvantaged Groups ◽  
The Eu

This article proposes a decision model of the British support for leaving the European Union (EU) that includes both identity aspirations, attitudes towards the political system and economic interest and test it on the Understanding Society 6th, 7th and 8th surveys. Current studies tend to interpret the British Euroscepticism as a combination of attachment to British identity, lack of economic opportunities and dissatisfaction with the political class. Using this approach where factors are additive, it is not possible to account for the substantial portion of socio-economically advantaged individuals which prefer to leave the EU, and for those who, despite their low attachment to their British identity, the relatively high educational level and satisfaction with domestic democracy, prefer to leave the EU. I use a theoretical approach which considers both economic and cultural considerations as rational considerations and conceptualise their interaction in terms of trade off. I use classification tree analysis to evaluate the relative importance of the main explanatory factors and of their interaction. The results show that the negative evaluation of the political system makes certain groups, which otherwise tend to support European integration, lean towards Euroscepticism. It helps to explain the Euroscepticism of those who are less attached to their British identity and of advantaged classes. The results have also showed that anti-establishment attitudes are not associated with disadvantaged socio-economic groups. The dissatisfaction with domestic democracy is relevant mostly for the advantaged classes, and the lack of political efficacy affects equally the attitudes of advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Last, disadvantaged groups’ support for European integration is driven by identity aspirations not by economic interest.

scholarly journals The problem of “democratic deficit” in the European Union

2019 ◽  
pp. 11-13
Author(s):  
Tetiana SHELCHUK
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political System ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
The Political ◽  
European Identity ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Union Policy ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
The Eu

In this article we analyze the causes and effects of the problem of democratic deficit in the European Union (EU). In this article the author determined the essence of problem «democracy deficit» and also it was explored in the activity and functioning of the EU institutions. Issues of pan-European identity were also investigated and the consequences of its absence were analyzed, which is a separate component of the problem under study. The author also analyzes some ways of solving the problem of «democracy deficit» in the EU. Also, the author investigated attitude to this problem that was described in different sources. We determined the attitude of the citizens of the EU to this union. The author made conclusion about that the EU has the problem of «democracy deficit», but we can’t say that the EU is undemocratic union. We also agree that the EU has made some good steps on the way of solving this important problem, but it isn’t enough. The author supports the idea of making some information company for informing the citizens about activities and functioning of the EU. We think that the EU should make a decision about a single electoral system. The author supports the conception of deliberative democracy that means attraction citizens of the EU to the process of discussion and making the decisions. And the author says that the issue of democracy deficit has two main aspects: at first, the problems of the functioning of the political system of the European Union; secondly, the lack of pan-European identity, the problem of bringing the EU closer to citizens and their disinterest in Union policy.

scholarly journals The Fuzzy Set Method in the Studies on the Multilevel Political System of the European Union

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 27-39
Author(s):  
Janusz Ruszkowski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Fuzzy Set ◽  
Political System ◽  
Quantitative Approach ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The Eu

The political system of the European Union is unique and difficult to define. This presents significant problems to researchers attempting to clarify this phenomenon by means of conventional research methods. Thus, it seems necessary to start the search with other tools that will allow the exploration of the nature of this phenomenon. Such an unconventional instrument is the fuzzy set method which has been used in logics, geometry and mathematics and which accumulates both a qualitative and a quantitative approach. When applied in the studies on the multi-level political system of the EU, it reveals phenomena that could not be seen when using conventional methods. One of the most important effects of this method exists in the fuzzy levels of the EU political system situated among the traditional (crisp) levels (regional, national and supranational).

Epilogue: Brexit, the border and nationalism’s bounceback

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paddy Hoey
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Sinn Fein ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Eu

By the end of the 2010s, Sinn Féin was by far the strongest republican voice was rapidly building a stronger base in the Republic of Ireland where it had become the third largest party in the Dáil. But, the structures of the Peace Process and the Stormont Assembly meant that it was no further to significantly challenging of the political status quo in Northern Ireland. The vote for Brexit, based as it was on a binary notion of British sovereignty that had been fudged by the Good Friday Agreement, changed that. The nature of Britain’s exiting of the European Union had massive ramifications of the Irish border. With a majority of people in Northern Ireland voting to remain (with 85% of the nationalist population doing so), the unionist veto over the wishes of the wider population came under deeper scrutiny. For Sinn Féin, which had been a long-term critic of the EU, this provided an opportunity putting the border back on the agenda. For dissidents, they found themselves in the unlikely position of sharing the same political standpoint as Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, and, allegedly, the Queen.

scholarly journals The political system of the European Union and the politological and political determinants of the activity of the EU Council and the European Council

2019 ◽  
pp. 31-42
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Czachór
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
European Council ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
Political Determinants ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

If the relationship between the EU Council and the European Council in the context of the horizontal division of power is based on a system of checks and balances, the emphasis must be on balance rather than on the separation of authorities/entities exercising power. For this reason, the powers and authority of the states and of the European Union are to some extent mixed up in this relational formula, and they overlap. At the same time, each entity has decision-making powers creating a mechanism of political influence. The powers of the EU Council and the European Council are separated in terms of institutions (structures and personnel) but not of functions, because their powers are interrelated. The competition for power here results in its being shared, which is based on the ‘joint exercising’ of power and thus the joint performance of certain systemic functions, tasks and roles. The powers of one authority should not be performed directly or completely by any of the remaining authorities, and none of the authorities should gain a definite advantage over the others. This should be the message for both the presidency of the EU Council and for the President of the European Council.

Proces wzmacniania kompetencji Parlamentu Europejskiego a nowa pozycja parlamentów narodowych w systemie politycznym Unii Europejskiej

2021 ◽  
Vol 5(166) ◽  
pp. 9-33
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Czachór ◽  
Janusz Ruszkowski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political System ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Parliaments ◽  
Current Field ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Eu

The authors attempt to examine two parallel and often treated as incomplete processes of strengthening the competences of the European Parliament and at the same time defining a place of national parliaments of Member States in the political system of the EU. The parallelism of these phenomena may seem paradoxical, since it can be assumed that despite competency competition between the EP and the national parliaments, strengthening the competences of the former does not preclude maximising the competences of the latter. The system of unification and harmonisation present in the European Union does not have to weaken national parliaments. The more so that the parliaments of the Member States try to neutralise the autonomy of EU institutions, which “appropriate” their current field of play. The analysis was made based on a research sample consisting of methods for strengthening the EP and methods for maximising the parliaments of the Member States.

Las funciones del interregionalismo en la relación UE-CAN

Oikos ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (29) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Olga María Cerqueira Torres
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Present Article ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Association Agreement ◽  
Political Rationality ◽  
Article Analysis ◽  
Andean Community ◽  
The Eu

RESUMENEn el presente artículo el análisis se ha centrado en determinar cuáles de las funciones del interregionalismo, sistematizadas en los trabajos de Jürgen Rüland, han sido desarrolladas en la relación Unión Europea-Comunidad Andina de Naciones, ya que ello ha permitido evidenciar si el estado del proceso de integración de la CAN ha condicionado la racionalidad política del comportamiento de la Unión Europea hacia la región andina (civil power o soft imperialism); esto posibilitará establecer la viabilidad de la firma del Acuerdo de Asociación Unión Europea-Comunidad Andina de Naciones.Palabras clave: Unión Europea, Comunidad Andina, interregionalismo, funciones, acuerdo de asociación. Interregionalism functions in the EU-ANDEAN community relationsABSTRACTIn the present article analysis has focused on which functions of interregionalism, systematized by Jürgen Rüland, have been developed in the European Union-Andean Community birregional relation, that allowed demonstrate if the state of the integration process in the Andean Community has conditioned the political rationality of the European Union towards the Andean region (civil power or soft imperialism); with all these elements will be possible to establish the viability of the Association Agreement signature between the European Union and the Andean Community.Keywords: European Union, Andean Community, interregionalism, functions, association agreement.

An Ever Further Apart Union? National and European Attachments in the European Union

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey Raney
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Identities ◽  
Political Identification ◽  
The Eu

This paper is about the ways that citizens perceive their place in the political world around them, through their political identities. Using a combination of comparative and quantitative methodologies, the study traces the pattern of citizens’ political identifications in the European Union and Canada between 1981 and 2003 and explains the mechanisms that shape these political identifications. The results of the paper show that in the EU and Canada identity formation is a process that involves the participation of both individuals and political institutions yet between the two, individuals play a greater role in identity construction than do political institutions. The paper argues that the main agents of political identification in the EU and Canada are citizens themselves: individuals choose their own political identifications, rather than acquiring identities that are pre-determined by historical or cultural precedence. The paper makes the case that this phenomenon is characteristic of a rise of ‘civic’ identities in the EU and Canada. In the European Union, this overarching ‘civic’ identity is in its infancy compared to Canada, yet, both reveal a new form of political identification when compared to the historical and enduring forms of cultural identities firmly entrenched in Europe. The rise of civic identities in both the EU and Canada is attributed to the active role that citizens play in their own identity constructions as they base their identifications on rational assessments of how well political institutions function, and whether their memberships in the community will benefit them, rather than on emotional factors rooted in religion or race. In the absence of strongly held emotional identifications, in the EU and Canada political institutions play a passive role in identity construction by making the community appear more entitative to its citizens. These findings offer new theoretical scope to the concept of civic communities and the political identities that underpin them. The most important finding presented in the paper is that although civic communities and identities are manufactured by institutions and political elites (politicians and bureaucrats), they require thinking citizens, not feeling ones, to be sustained.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v2i4.179

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