Search

This article examines the utility of a revised postfunctionalist theory in explaining regional (dis)integration dynamics. The case study employed to test the theoretical framework is based on Ukraine's regional integration processes with respect to Eurasian and European regional organizations in the early 2010s. The principal research question posed is: what factors contributed to Ukraine's decision to opt out of deeper integration with Eurasia in the early 2010s and pursue integration with the European Union insead, and how can this case study move the postfunctionalist theory forward? Three assumptions proposed by postfunctionalism, enriched with insights from social constructivism, were applied to the (dis)integration processes: salience, politicization, and collective identity. The analysis suggests that the revised postfunctionalist framework is indeed instrumental in explaining both integration and disintegration, providing insights into the role of collective identity mobilization once public discussion reaches a critical juncture in the politicization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper brings reflexivity into conversation with debates about positionality and live sociology to argue for reflexivity to be reimagined as an enduring practice that is collaborative, responsible, iterative, engaged, agile and creative. We elaborate our argument with reference to examples and contemplations drawn from our experiences researching what Brexit means for Britons living in the EU-27 for the BrExpats research project, which was informed from the outset by reflexive practice. We outline three (of a number of) potential strategies for engaging in reflexive practice: reflexive positioning, reflexive navigating and reflexive interpreting or sense-making. We acknowledge that these are not separate actions in practice but are conceptually distinguishable aspects of an ongoing reflexive practice, informed by our understanding of the cognitive relationship between reflexivity and practice theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research suggests that European Union member states are increasingly able to act in concert in the United Nations General Assembly. Based on several hundred co-ordination meetings per year, the European Union ‘speaks with one voice’ on most of the resolutions voted upon in the United Nations General Assembly. However, little is known about instances where the European Union member states do not vote coherently. Three questions remain unanswered. First, what factors determine deviating voting behaviour of European Union member states? Second, who are the most frequent defectors from the European Union’s majority position? Third, which voting blocs within the European Union can be identified? The article answers these questions in a quantitative design by controlling for domestic factors, issues of resolutions and the position of the United States. The results suggest that domestic factors determine deviating voting behaviour far less than agenda-related issues and the position of the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discuses a 4-year research and development program funded by the European Union (EU) to undertake a number of related studies and develop guidance for managing communication and influencing health behaviors during future pandemics. The research consortium's premise was that it will be necessary to integrate social and behavioral sciences, communication and social marketing to develop effective public health strategies.

This article reports results from a study of e-Infrastructure adoption in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). The authors find that bridging barriers between computer and domain scientists is of key importance. In particular, SSH communities have to be accepted as being distinct and not suited to a ''one size fits all'' strategy of e-Infrastructure diffusion. Sustainability was also a core issue, whereas barriers to resource sharing could mostly be resolved with technological solutions, and skills and training activities are a reflection of the general ''user dilemma.'' The authors' recommendations to European Union (EU) policy makers point the way to promoting e-Infrastructure development and wider application in the SSH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is argued that European cities gain new room for political manoeuvre because the process of Europeanization implies the opening-up of a new political sphere in which cities can play a new multi- level game or traditional structures of domestic policy making can — at least partly — be bypassed. First, we consider whether there are specific points of access for local-level actors to EU institutions. Cities can enter into the European policy-making process by providing EU institutions with knowledge, legitimacy and ways to monitor the implementation of EU policies. Second, we analyse how cities organize their activities to utilize these access points. Based on an investigation of two pan-European cities' organizations, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) and Eurocities, we consider how different organizational models influence their effectiveness as a part of the EU governance system. Eurocities is a network type of organization whose activities are based on the modus of coordination. The CEMR, however, is a classic international umbrella organization consisting of national sections; its activities are based on the modus of cooperation. Finally, we conclude the article with some reflections about the potentials and the constraints which apply to each type of organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to explore the utility of Europeanisation as a concept to grasp the interactions between national and European levels. The article illustrates how the EU impacts on the national level of policy, polity and the politics of Member States and assesses how the role of nation states within the European political system has changed as a result. First, the existing definitions of Europeanisation are critically assessed, contextualised and delimited. Initially developed for communitised policy areas in the first pillar, Europeanisation is defined as an interactive, ongoing and mutually constitutive process of ‘Europeanising’ and ‘Europeanised’ countries, linking national and European levels. Defining Europeanisation as ‘domestic change’, the article then discusses mechanisms, objects and forms, as well as the criteria and conditions of change. The article subsequently seeks to clarify the validity of the Europeanisation concept in capturing the increasing interwovenness of national and European spheres in intergovernmental policy fields situated in the second pillar of the EU, that is, foreign and security policy. Inherent methodological challenges, mainly due to the deficient delimitation of Europeanisation and the intergovernmental character of this policy field are discussed as well as the particularities of its applicability in this unique policy area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses about the strap line of the periodical Human Relations, "Towards the Integration of Social Sciences." At a time of increasing fragmentation and specialization, Human Relations has continued to stand for openness, cross-disciplinarity and communication among different scholars. Striving towards the integration of social sciences was a noble project at the time of the journal's genesis. Integration, as indicated by the current debate surrounding the future of the European Union, suggests increasing homogeneity, loss of individuality and identity, and the gradual abolition of boundaries. The authors feel that this is both unrealistic and unattractive in the social sciences, where legitimate boundaries have emerged across different traditions and where legitimate disciplinary identities with associated communities of practice and thinking have been, sometimes painstakingly, established. Another important development in thinking about boundaries has been the realization that boundaries are themselves far more mobile, transient, fuzzy and permeable than was thought when systems theory was dominant.

The rise of pro-Islamic politics, the eastward expansion of the EU and the invasion of Iraq have increased the Western media's interest in the only Muslim member of Nato: Turkey. Popular discussion, however, has overshadowed a lack of systematic analyses for a proper understanding of major political developments in Turkey. This paper aims to debate Turkey's state of affairs from the perspective of political economy. It will be argued that Turkey's already troubled democracy is under the threat of absolute collapse, triggered by fundamentalist and fascistic tendencies, and that the current policies of the EU nurture such processes despite the EU's pro-democratic claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative tests of predictive accuracy across models are exceptionally rare in political science. The collection of articles in this issue provides a rigorous, systematic evaluation of alternative models for explaining and predicting decision-making within the European Union. I examine how alternative models were evaluated and raise questions about the differences in the extent to which the operational definitions of variables match contending theoretical approaches. I also raise questions regarding the difference between models with regard to whether the issues are part of a repeated game or a single-shot game. Finally, I propose future tests to hone in on some of the puzzles raised by the findings reported here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles, which discussed the findings of a European Union funded study, which explores the changes in education governance and their effects on social integration and exclusion. Countries included in the study; Other issues addressed in the study; Relationship between center and locality; Analysis of issues of interpretation that arise in listening to policy-makers giving an account of their actions; Significance of depoliticization in supporting system redesign.

In France, the parties of the Left have been in power for two thirds of the period since the beginning of the 1980s. Thus the Left has had time to express itself and to show the world its true nature, in its diversity and its internal contradictions. It inherited a serious situation, in which big state and private enterprises were facing difficulties in international markets and a prolonged economic recession which its leaders became aware of only belatedly. Moreover, the economic constraints resulting from globalisation, and the more institutional constraints arising from the European Union, obviously limited possible responses to the situation. However, could the Left not lean for support on the expectations on the 'people of the Left' who had lived through 23 years of domination by the parties of the Right? Was it inevitable that the governments of the Left would continue the liberal economic policy, favourable to capital, while clothing it in an egalitarian veil, and above all masking it with humanist discourse? What effect do these practices have on social affairs, on the workplace, on unemployment issues, on civic life, on the family etc.? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical discussions of community, identity and democracy rarely make explicit reference to the role of place. When place is discussed it is usually characterized as related to particularistic concerns of local community and is described as a mere setting for human actions. This study explores a more complex, relational concept of place and its potential role in theoretical debate about political community. The example of the European Union is used to illustrate the connection between ideal geographies and conceptions of community. Three competing models of EU political community are discussed: the market, the civic and the cultural pluralist. Each has associated with it a differing spatial logic. This example leads to a consideration of a more cosmopolitan conception of place that moves from the concrete and the particular toward the general and the universal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a reply to a commentary made on the article "Immigration to Spain: Implications for a Unified European Union Immigration Policy." Geographies of reference define how we view and analyze political problems. The importance of terminology is highlighted by the commentary and what implications demography itself will have on a unified European Union (EU) immigration policy. If we use immigrant to refer to individuals entering the EU, then EU citizens are no longer immigrants but citizens changing geographic location within the territory adhering to the EU. EU citizens are no longer immigrants whose movement across borders within the EU can be "controlled" by Spanish immigration policy. Nevertheless, everyone who is not a Spanish citizen is still a foreigner in Spain. Perhaps after reading too much Euro-literature, I had come to believe quite unreflectively that Spain is a unit of Europe and that Europeans or EU citizens in Spain are no longer immigrants. This idea is a reflection of a distinction that is not clearly delineated in speech but is in policy practice between immigrants originating within the EU and those originating from beyond the EU. Further distinctions in Spanish policy circles are made between economic immigrants from impoverished countries and immigrants from wealthier non-EU countries. The classification of EU citizens as foreign national and immigrant is ambiguous. In the Spanish census, EU citizens are included as foreign nationals.

The author discusses the presentation of the Vilnius Declaration in Lithuania. The author cites the five benefits of the collaboration among 400 representatives of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) scholar disciplines, organizations, and agencies in the European Union (EU) who presented the Vilnius Declaration. The author also notes the contribution of Scholars in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the benefits of the Horizon 2020 program and Vilnius Declaration.

This article comments on the article "Immigration to Spain: Implications for a Unified European Union Immigration Policy," by Laura Huntoon. I have to start by saying that the article has aroused my interest, and the topic, being of a political nature, has received less attention in the journals devoted to migration or social sciences in Spain. The article is not fundamentally demographic or does not have data as its central focus. And this is fortunate, given the low level of accuracy with which this question has been usually treated. I reckon, as some European documents do, that data on migrations are not at the level of other statistics on population studies. However, this should not be a problem, for there are several sources of data and each of them is adequate for a certain study or topic. In this work, "Dirección General de Migraciones," has been consulted, but not its publications. Data drawn from census data should refer to the institution that publishes the data. If, actually, the data correspond to the "Dirección General de Migraciones,"the data would be different. The author is right when she states that the proportion is low. The author does not demonstrate that return migration has grown since 1986, and that it showed the same or lower levels in the three previous years. The analysis of the workers from outside the European Union differs from that of the active population of foreign origin, of which there also exist available data.