scholarly journals Piecemeal Integration: Explaining and Understanding 60 Years of European Union Forest Policy-Making

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helga Pülzl ◽  
Doris Wydra ◽  
Karl Hogl
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Forest Policy ◽  
Theoretical Spectrum ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Stabilization Period ◽  
Blind Spots

This article looks at forest policy as empirical case study of European integration. By applying different theoretical lenses of European integration approaches (neo-functionalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, three institutionalist approaches and constructivism), it seeks to explain and understand the integration of forest policy in the European Union during the policy’s emergence (1958 to 1960s), expansion (1970 to late 1990s) and stabilization period (late 1990s to now). The findings clearly show that, to a certain extent, all European integration theories have their merits for the analysis. However, none of the employed integration theories alone can explain all the relevant aspects of the broader developments in EU forest policy. No individual theory can help explain why forest policy developed only incrementally and why it has been weakly institutionalized. This article, therefore, argues to combine them so as to establish a clearer picture of the driving factors and constraints. As each of the grand theories has its weak spots, it is further argued that scholars of European studies should work across a broader theoretical spectrum as only this would allow light to be shed on blind spots in empirical investigation over longer time periods.

1. An Overview

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-12
Author(s):  
Mark A. Pollack ◽  
Christilla Roederer-Rynning ◽  
Alasdair R. Young
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Eu Policies ◽  
Ongoing Experiment

The European Union represents a remarkable, ongoing experiment in the collective governance of a multinational continent of nearly 450 million citizens and 27 member states. The key aim of this volume is to understand the processes that produce EU policies: that is, the decisions (or non-decisions) by EU public authorities facing choices between alternative courses of public action. We do not advance any single theory of EU policy-making, although we do draw extensively on theories of European integration, international cooperation, comparative politics, and contemporary governance; and we identify five ‘policy modes’ operating across the 15 case study chapters in the volume. This chapter introduces the volume by summarizing our collective approach to understanding policy-making in the EU, identifying the significant developments that have impacted EU policy-making since the seventh edition of this volume, and previewing the case studies and their central findings.

1. Theories of European Integration

2014 ◽  
pp. 5-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Bache ◽  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Owen Parker
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Relations ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
The Subject

This chapter examines a number of theories of European integration. It first considers the intellectual predecessors of the first attempts to theorize European integration, focusing in particular on the functionalism of David Mitrany, the federalism of Altiero Spinelli, and the ‘federal-functionalism’ of Jean Monnet. It then discusses neofunctionalism and intergovernmentalism, along with liberal intergovernmentalism and supranational governance. It also explores international relations theories of European integration. The chapter shows that the study of integration was dominated by the competing approaches of neofunctionalism and intergovernmentalism, and that the debate about whether the European Union is characterized by intergovernmentalism or supranationalism still informs much of the academic work on the subject.

European Integration Theory

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Governance ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Emerging Issues

European Integration Theory provides an overview of all the major approaches to European integration, from federalism and neofunctionalism to liberal intergovernmentalism, social constructivism, normative theory, and critical political economy. The three sections of the text examine the topics of ‘Explaining European Integration’, ‘Analysing European Governance’, and ‘Constructing the European Union’. Within these sections, each chapter reflects on the development, achievements and problems of a number of approaches, and discusses historical and current issues of European integration. The concluding chapter then comparatively assesses the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and looks at the emerging issues. This edition includes two new chapters on European integration theory and critical theory.

scholarly journals France’s Military Importance for the European Union

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 180-184
Author(s):  
Marius Pricopi ◽  
Alexandru Ioan Motriuc
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
Founding Member ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Military

Abstract A founding member of the European Union, France is nowadays still considered, alongside Germany, as one of the two „engines” of European integration. And this applies not only for the economic or social sphere, as France has also played a preeminent role in the historical process of European defence integration. Acknowledging the French contributions to the European defence project, in this paper we subject to analysis the military importance of France for the Union. Using the analysis of social documents and the case study method, we argue that this country’s high level of military integration in the European Union is not at all fortuitous, as is not due to impermanent favourable evolutions

The Founding Treaties of the European Union and Their Reform

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Finn Laursen
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Automatic Process ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Single European Act ◽  
Energy Community ◽  
American Political Scientist

Today’s European Union (EU) is based on treaties negotiated and ratified by the member states. They form a kind of “constitution” for the Union. The first three treaties, the Treaty of Paris, creating the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951, and the two Treaties of Rome, creating the European Economic Community (EEC) and European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) in 1957, were the founding treaties. They were subsequently reformed several times by new treaties, including the Treaty of Maastricht, which created the European Union in 1992. The latest major treaty reform was the Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force in 2009. Scholarship concerning these treaties has evolved over time. In the early years, it was mostly lawyers writing about the treaties, but soon historians and political scientists also took an interest in these novel constructions in Europe. Interestingly, American political scientists were the first to develop theories of European integration; foremost among these was Ernst Haas, whose 1958 book The Uniting of Europe developed the theory later referred to as neo-functionalism. The sector on integration of coal and steel would have an expansive logic. There would be a process of “spill-over,” which would lead to more integration.It turned out that integration was less of an automatic process than suggested by Haas and his followers. When integration slowed down in the 1970s, many political scientists lost interest and turned their attention elsewhere. It was only in the 1980s, when the internal market program gave European integration a new momentum that political scientists began studying European integration again from theoretical perspectives. The negotiation and entry into force of the Single European Act (SEA) in the mid-1980s led to many new studies, including by American political scientist Andrew Moravcsik. His study of the SEA included a critique of neo-functionalism that created much debate. Eventually, in an article in the early 1990s, he called his approach “liberal intergovernmentalism.” It took final form in 1998 in the book The Choice for Europe. According to Moravcsik, to understand major historic decisions—including new treaties—we need to focus on national preferences and interstate bargaining.The study of treaty reforms, from the SEA to the Lisbon Treaty, conducted by political scientists—including the treaties of Maastricht, Amsterdam, and Nice—have often contrasted neo-functionalism and liberal intergovernmentalism. But other approaches and theories were developed, including various institutionalist and social constructivist frameworks. No consensus has emerged, so the scholarly debates continue.

4. Liberal Intergovernmentalism

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Moravcsik ◽  
Frank Schimmelfennig
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Empirical Power ◽  
Current State ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
The Status ◽  
State Behaviour

This chapter focuses on liberal intergovernmentalism (LI), which has acquired the status of a ‘baseline theory’ in the study of regional integration: an essential first cut explanation against which other theories are often compared. The chapter argues that LI has achieved this dominant status due to its theoretical soundness, empirical power, and utility as a foundation for synthesis with other explanations. After providing an overview of LI’s main assumptions and propositions, the chapter examines common criticisms levelled against it as well as the scope conditions under which LI is most likely to explain state behaviour(s). It then illustrates LI’s scope and empirical power with two cases: agricultural policy, an ‘easy’ case, and enlargement, a harder case. It also assesses the current state of the European Union and concludes by emphasizing LI’s openness to dialogue and synthesis with other theories and reiterating its status as a baseline theory of European integration.

Determinants and barriers of PV self-consumption in Spain from the perception of the installers for the promotion of distributed energy systems

2020 ◽  
pp. 153-169
Author(s):  
José Ángel Gimeno ◽  
Eva Llera Sastresa ◽  
Sabina Scarpellini
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Distributed Energy ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Transition Scenario

Currently, self-consumption and distributed energy facilities are considered as viable and sustainable solutions in the energy transition scenario within the European Union. In a low carbon society, the exploitation of renewables for self-consumption is closely tied to the energy market at the territorial level, in search of a compromise between competitiveness and the sustainable exploitation of resources. Investments in these facilities are highly sensitive to the existence of favourable conditions at the territorial level, and the energy policies adopted in the European Union have contributed positively to the distributed renewables development and the reduction of their costs in the last decade. However, the number of the installed facilities is uneven in the European Countries and those factors that are more determinant for the investments in self-consumption are still under investigation. In this scenario, this paper presents the main results obtained through the analysis of the determinants in self-consumption investments from a case study in Spain, where the penetration of this type of facilities is being less relevant than in other countries. As a novelty of this study, the main influential drivers and barriers in self-consumption are classified and analysed from the installers' perspective. On the basis of the information obtained from the installers involved in the installation of these facilities, incentives and barriers are analysed within the existing legal framework and the potential specific lines of the promotion for the effective deployment of self-consumption in an energy transition scenario.

Republic of Macedonia – Theoretical and Practical Approach to the European Integration

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 293
Author(s):  
Suzana Mehmedi Ph.D ◽  
Ilir Mehmedi Ph.D
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Functional Adaptation ◽  
Practical Approach ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Integration ◽  
Basic Premise ◽  
Republic Of Macedonia

The problem of research is very current for several reasons. Namely, the dominant approach on the basis of which are based all have developed and established theories of European integration, developing modern theories of international relations is a realistic basis. Neo-functionalism, inter-guvernmentalism, neo-liberalism, institutionalism (in most of its variants) as the most developed branches of the theory of European integration, despite differences in their settings to keep the basic premise that states are rational, unitary actors, whose interest stems from the assessment of their position in the system of states. For our study caused a special interest model of constructivism using Habermas theory of communicative action according to which entities in mutual interaction is open to other arguments and their validity appreciate having regard to the outgoing reasons and norms on which they are based, thereby seeking consensus as a common goal. Apply to the European Union, this approach allows European institutions were perceived as a place of discussion to reach consensus on solving common problems, rather than just the arena for bargaining. Functional adaptation to the numerous petitions which sets the European Union, requires thorough and integrated activities in the economic, institutional, administrative and legislative spheres. This process should be understood as a continuous, painstaking and long process, not a single radical surgery. Republic of Macedonia, as countries aspiring for membership in the European family must meet the political and economic criteria and to adapt political institutions in the country with those of the European Union and their needs and requirements. The aim of this paper is to perceive the key features and trends in the politics of enlargement and to make a comparison between the policy of expansion applied in the process of accession Central and Eastern Europe and the policy of expansion in the process of stabilization and association, with special emphasis on the Republic of Macedonia. Of course, previously been necessary to develop theoretical and practical approach to the concept of policy integration, development and its major elements and modalities.

scholarly journals Protection possibilities of agricultural minor crops in the European Union: a case study of soybean, lupin and camelina

2019 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Matyjaszczyk
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Active Substance ◽  
Plant Protection ◽  
Plant Protection Products ◽  
Agricultural Crops ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Minor Crops ◽  
Chemical Products

Abstract In the central part of the European Union soybean, lupin and camelina are minor agricultural crops. The paper presents analysis of plant protection products availability for those crops in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Data from year 2019 show that availability of products is generally insufficient. For camelina in some countries, there are no chemical products available whatsoever. For lupin and soybean, there are not always products available to control some pest groups. However, the products on the market differ significantly among the member states. The results show that in protection of soybean, lupin and camelina, no single active substance is registered for the same crop in all the analysed member states. In very numerous cases, active substance is registered in one out of eight analysed member states only.

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