scholarly journals Trade Unions and “Europe”: Are the Members Out of Step?

2010 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Hyman
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Constitutional Treaty ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Alternative Vision ◽  
Single European Act ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Social Europe

In 2005 the “Constitutional Treaty” designed to restructure the governance of the European Union (EU) was rejected in popular referendums in France and the Netherlands. Subsequently only in Ireland was a referendum held on the Lisbon Treaty, which reinstated most elements in the previous version, in June 2008. Again a negative result threw the EU into crisis, though a second Irish vote in October 2009 yielded a different result. The “no” votes reflected a familiar pattern of popular rejection of initiatives on European integration. This article provides an overview of such referendums in western Europe, focusing in particular on the role of national trade unions in popular votes on EU accession and on Treaty revisions. It discusses trade union intervention in a dozen countries which held referendums since the Single European Act in the 1980s (and in the United Kingdom, which did not). It is evident that while mainstream trade unions (or at least their leaders) have usually endorsed the integration process, in most countries where referendums have been held their members have voted otherwise. This has been particularly evident among manual workers. Sometimes popular attitudes have been strongly influenced by narrowly nationalistic arguments, but rejection has often been based on “progressive” rather than “reactionary” grounds. In particular, the justified view that the EU in its current direction is encouraging a neoliberal, pro-capitalist drift in social and economic policy has underlain a left-wing critique of further integration. But having assented to the underlying architecture of actually existing Europeanization, unions have rarely shown the will to mobilize offensively around an alternative vision of social Europe. This has left the field open to right-wing nationalists (and to fringe left-wing parties with only a limited electoral base) to campaign in the “no” camp during referendums. Popular attitudes are malleable, but it requires a major strategic re-orientation if unions are to reconnect with their members in order to build a popular movement for a genuinely social Europe.

25. Public Opinion and the European Union

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Guerra ◽  
Lauren M. McLaren
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Constitutional Treaty ◽  
Single European Act ◽  
Mass Opinion ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines trends in public opinion toward the European Union. Through the mid-1980s, EU member governments and bureaucrats were interested in limited public involvement in the integration process. With the introduction of the Single European Act and later the Constitutional Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty, member states began selling their varying visions of a renewed European project that would contribute to the further economic and political development of the EU integration process. The chapter first considers general perceptions of the EU before assessing the key factors that are believed to account for differences in mass opinion regarding the EU. These include rational utilitarianism, perceptions of the national government, political psychology factors such as cognitive mobilization and concerns about the loss of national identity, and the role of mass media in shaping attitudes towards the EU. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the level of trust towards EU institutions.

Brexit and the Crisis of European Integration

2021 ◽  
pp. 99-125
Author(s):  
Kent Jones
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Regulatory Issues ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Council Of Ministers ◽  
The Eu

This chapter discusses the role Europe’s long history of conflict over geography, religion, and national identity, as well as its aristocratic traditions, on modern European populism. The Brexit referendum gave direct electoral voice to the accumulated resentments of populist forces in the United Kingdom against EU rules administered by what its supporters regarded as an elite bureaucracy in Brussels. Their concerns, mainly over budgetary and regulatory issues, overrode the prospect of losing trade benefits from the EU single market. Elsewhere in the European Union populist parties continue to be active, and many of them are Euroskeptic, based largely on immigration and monetary issues. Many right-wing and left-wing populist parties in particular tend to favor protectionism, but will not be in a position to challenge centralized EU trade policy until they gain power in large EU countries. The UK exit from the European Union will weaken a prominent pro-trade voice in the EU Council of Ministers.

Politycy Partii Pracy na rzecz Leave w referendum 2016 r.

2020 ◽  
pp. 113-130
Author(s):  
Filip Ilkowski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
European Economic Community ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Political Perspective ◽  
The Eu

The article presents the analysis of activities of politicians associated with the Labour Party undertaken in favour of leaving the European Union by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the context of the June 2016 referendum campaign. There are presented the historical roots of the critique of European Communities drawn from this ideological-political perspective (the opposition towards the European Economic Community in 1975 referendum), but above all the argumentation used more than four decades later by the opponents of staying in the EU. On the basis of conducted analysis, the specific elements of the main ideological poles that shape left-wing critique of the EU with regard to the British example have been distinguished.

„Lexit” – pozalaburzystowska, antyunijna lewica brytyjska w referendum 2016 roku

2020 ◽  
pp. 101-118
Author(s):  
Filip Ilkowski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Immigration Control ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Political Milieu ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

The article presents the analysis of activities and ideological motivations of politicians and political formations connected to those parts of non-Labour British left, that appealed during the 2016 referendum to vote for leaving the European Union by the United Kingdom. It points to key ideological pillars of this heterogenic political milieu with its common and divergent elements. The thesis is put forward in the text that, as in the case of Labour politicians, also among the left-wing outside the Labour Party, we can point to two ideological and political poles that decide to opt for leaving the EU by the UK: socialist universalism and national-identity particularism. Their key determinant was the views on immigration control, also affecting their attitude to cooperation with the anti-EU right-wing political milieu.

The Law & Politics of Brexit: Volume II

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Financial Settlement ◽  
The Eu

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the withdrawal agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and the European Union to create the legal framework for Brexit. Building on a prior volume, it overviews the process of Brexit negotiations that took place between the UK and the EU from 2017 to 2019. It also examines the key provisions of the Brexit deal, including the protection of citizens’ rights, the Irish border, and the financial settlement. Moreover, the book assesses the governance provisions on transition, decision-making and adjudication, and the prospects for future EU–UK trade relations. Finally, it reflects on the longer-term challenges that the implementation of the 2016 Brexit referendum poses for the UK territorial system, for British–Irish relations, as well as for the future of the EU beyond Brexit.

scholarly journals Transnational solidarity among political elites: what determines support for financial redistribution within the EU in times of crisis?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Ann-Kathrin Reinl ◽  
Heiko Giebler
Keyword(s):  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Responsibility Attribution ◽  
Public Preferences ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Attitudinal Differences ◽  
Transnational Solidarity ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

As a consequence of the European Economic Crisis, the European Union (EU) has implanted mechanisms to assist fellow member states facing economic difficulties. Despite an increasing academic interest in public preferences for such intra-EU solidarity measures, research has so far largely ignored individual characteristics that could possibly influence politicians’ views. In this paper, we look at politicians’ preferences for transnational solidarity and argue that these preferences depend on attitudes regarding socioeconomic issues as well as attitudes related to the EU. Moreover, we hypothesize that the relationship is moderated by responsibility attribution and the economic situation in a country. Using survey data of about 4000 politicians running for office in nine EU countries, we find that transnational solidarity is more common for socioeconomically left-wing and pro-EU politicians. Yet, attitudinal differences only cease to matter when the beneficiary state is perceived responsible for the crisis and economic problems at home are low.

The Regional Path to Peaceful Change: What the Asian and European Experiences Tell Us

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 535-545
Author(s):  
Mark Beeson
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
International System ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Comparative Historical Analysis ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Eu

AbstractOne of the more striking, surprising, and optimism-inducing features of the contemporary international system has been the decline of interstate war. The key question for students of international relations and comparative politics is how this happy state of affairs came about. In short, was this a universal phenomenon or did some regions play a more important and pioneering role in bringing about peaceful change? As part of the roundtable “International Institutions and Peaceful Change,” this essay suggests that Western Europe generally and the European Union in particular played pivotal roles in transforming the international system and the behavior of policymakers. This helped to create the material and ideational conditions in which other parts of the world could replicate this experience, making war less likely and peaceful change more feasible. This argument is developed by comparing the experiences of the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and their respective institutional offshoots. The essay uses this comparative historical analysis to assess both regions’ capacity to cope with new security challenges, particularly the declining confidence in institutionalized cooperation.

The Making of a President: The European Parliament and the Confirmation of Jacques Santer as President of the Commission

1996 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Hix ◽  
Christopher Lord
Keyword(s):  
European Parliament ◽  
The Other ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Shared Meanings ◽  
Single European Act ◽  
The One ◽  
Council Of Ministers ◽  
The Eu

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.

Remaking Education in Western Europe

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Jones
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Education Systems ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Post War ◽  
Important Objective

This article makes a contribution to discussion on the neo-liberal reshaping of education in Western Europe. It argues for a greater attentiveness on the part of education researchers to collective social actors such as trade unions and social movements. Making use of concepts from Gramsci and from Poulantzas, it suggests that such actors had a formative role in the making of post-war education systems, and that reducing their influence is now an important objective of governments across the European Union. Focusing on educational conflict in England, France and Italy, it explores the extent to which traditions associated with post-war reform continue to possess political vitality.

Implications of Brexit for Skilled Migration from India to the UK

2021 ◽  
pp. 001573252110122
Author(s):  
Rupa Chanda ◽  
Neha Vinod Betai
Keyword(s):  
Transition Period ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
East European ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Take Back ◽  
The Uk ◽  
European Economies ◽  
The Eu

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

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