Turning an idea into reality Bergmann, Julian
Cooperation and conflict,
09/2018, Volume:
53, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
This article explains the creation of the European Institute of Peace (EIP) in May 2014. Combining constructivist insights on policy ideas with a framing approach, it proposes a conceptual framework ...to analyse the dynamics of interaction between state and non-state actors (NSAs) with regard to formulating new policies and creating new institutions. Focusing on the role of frame entrepreneurs, framing strategies and frame resonance, it argues that the creation of the EIP was a result of framing undertaken by an advocacy coalition in which Sweden and Finland, together with specialized NGOs and individual Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), played the role of frame entrepreneurs. This advocacy coalition managed to convince a number of European states there was a certain gap in the EU’s mediation capacities and that a new institution independent of the EU was needed to address it. The limited degree of frame resonance among the majority of EU member states and their reluctance to join the institute explain why the EIP initiative struggled to receive broad political support.
In their recently published JCMS article, Gezim Visoka and John Doyle have proposed the concept of ‘neofunctional peace’ as a means to conceptualize the EU's peacemaking practices in the case of the ...EU‐facilitated Belgrade‐Pristina dialogue. This article challenges the ‘neo‐functional peace’ on conceptual and empirical grounds. We critically discuss Visoka and Doyle's () reading of neofunctionalism and question parts of their empirical evidence given for the existence of a ‘neo‐functional peace’. Going beyond a mere critique of the article by Visoka and Doyle and arguing that the authors may not have fully exploited neofunctionalism's potential for theorizing EU external policy, we stipulate a neofunctionalist logic for explaining integration in the area of EU external policy. Focusing on three spillover dynamics to explain the initiation of the Belgrade‐Pristina dialogue – functional discrepancies, supranational entrepreneurship and external spillover – we illustrate how neofunctionalism can be used to explain the extension of the scope of EU competences and action in the external policy realm.
Previous research suggests that the rise of populist radical right parties (PRRPs) is contributing to the politicization of European domestic and external policies. However, whether this is also the ...case for European development policy is unclear. Building on a new dataset that analyses government positions and coalition agreements across European countries since the 1990s, we investigate whether, and if so how, the strength of PRRPs affects European governments' framing of the relationship between migration and development policy. Research on PRRPs suggests that they influence other parties' positions directly when they are in government, or indirectly by framing topics such as migration differently from other parties, thereby pushing government and opposition parties to modify their own positions. We find (moderate) support for PRRPs' indirect influence on the framing and salience of the migration–development policy nexus, via their vote and seat share. The effect of PRRPs in government on the formulation of development aid policy goals is smaller.
The EU's response to the European 'refugee crisis' has involved parallel efforts to strengthen the EU's capacity for external migration management in the domains of CSDP and AFSJ. To provide a swift ...response to the 'refugee crisis' in 2015, EU member states decided to utilise existing operational CSDP capabilities as a short-term foreign policy tool. Simultaneously, we have seen an impressive strengthening of the mandate and capabilities of ASFJ actors in external migration governance. Although institutional links between civilian CSDP and AFSJ have existed for over two decades, the parallel task expansion has created new demands for inter-institutional coordination between the two policy areas. Combining neofunctionalist theory with insights from research on inter-institutional overlap, this article argues that responses to neofunctionalist spillover pressures may trigger inter-institutional dynamics, which can involve both cooperation as well as conflict. Empirically, we find that these inter-institutional interactions have had important implications for integration in both policy areas, which cannot be fully understood by studying these policy domains in isolation.
We present a direct method to measure fission product yield distributions (FPY) and isomeric yield ratios (IYR) for spontaneous fission (SF) fragments. These physical properties are of utmost ...importance to the understanding of basic nuclear physics, the astrophysical rapid neutron capture process ('r process') of nucleosynthesis, neutron star composition, and nuclear reactor safety. With this method, fission fragments are produced by spontaneous fission from a source that is mounted in a cryogenic stopping cell (CSC), thermalized and stopped within it, and then extracted and transported to a multiple-reflection time-of-flight mass-spectrometer (MR-TOF-MS). We will implement the method at the FRS Ion Catcher (FRS-IC) at GSI (Germany), whose MR-TOF-MS relative mass accuracy (~ 10
-7
) and resolving power (~ 600,000 FWHM) are sufficient to separate all isobars and numerous isomers in the fission fragment realm. The system's essential element independence and its fast simultaneous mass measurement provide a new direct way to measure isotopic FPY distributions, which is complementary to existing methods. It will enable nuclide FPY measurements in the high fission peak, which is hardly accessible by current techniques. The extraction time of the CSC, tens of milliseconds, enables a direct measurement of independent fission yields, and a first study of the temporal dependence of FPY distributions in this duration range. The ability to resolve isomers will further enable direct extraction of numerous IYRs while performing the FPY measurements. The method has been recently demonstrated at the FRS-ICr for SF with a 37 kBq
252
Cf fission source, where about 70 different fission fragments have been identified and counted. In the near future, it will be used for systematic studies of SF with a higher-activity
252
Cf source and a
248
Cm source. The method can be implemented also for neutron induced fission at appropriate facilities.
In the past decade, the EU has significantly stepped up its profile as a security actor in the Sahel. Drawing on historical institutionalism, we conceptualise path-dependencies and lock-in effects as ...elements of a “foreign policy entrapment” spiral to analyse the EU’s policies towards the Sahel. Specifically, we seek to explain the EU’s increasingly widened and deepened engagement in the region. Hence, this article traces the evolution of the EU’s Sahel policy both in discourse and implementation. We identify a predominant security narrative as well as a regionalisation narrative and show that EU action has followed these narratives. Based on this analysis, we argue that the evolution of the EU’s Sahel policy can be understood as a case of “foreign policy entrapment”. Initial decisions on the overall direction of EU foreign policy have created strong pathdependencies and lock-in effects that make it difficult for EU policy-makers to change the policy course.
Abstract
In the past decade, the EU has significantly stepped up its profile as a security actor in the Sahel. Drawing on historical institutionalism, we conceptualise path-dependencies and lock-in ...effects as elements of a "foreign policy entrapment" spiral to analyse the EU's policies towards the Sahel. Specifically, we seek to explain the EU's increasingly widened and deepened engagement in the region. Hence, this article traces the evolution of the EU's Sahel policy both in discourse and implementation. We identify a predominant security narrative as well as a regionalisation narrative and show that EU action has followed these narratives. Based on this analysis, we argue that the evolution of the EU's Sahel policy can be understood as a case of "foreign policy entrapment". Initial decisions on the overall direction of EU foreign policy have created strong path-dependencies and lock-in effects that make it difficult for EU policy-makers to change the policy course.
Die Europäische Union hat seit den 2000er Jahren eine beachtliche Bilanz als Mediatorin in innerstaatlichen Konflikten aufzuweisen Insbesondere in ihrer unmittelbaren Nachbarschaft, den Ländern des ...Westlichen Balkan, hat die EU eine Reihe von Mediationsinitiativen unternommen. Mediation ist dabei ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der Bemühungen der EU, Krisen und gewaltsame Konflikt mit zivilen Mitteln zu verhindern und zu bewältigen. Doch inwiefern ist es der EU bereits gelungen, den eigenen Anspruch im Bereich der zivilen Konfliktbearbeitung einzulösen? Dieser Frage widmet sich der folgende Artikel und geht ihr im Bereich Friedensmediation in zwei Dimensionen nach: erstens hinsichtlich des Anspruchs der Entwicklung und Stärkung der Mediationskapazitäten, und zweitens in Bezug auf die Frage, inwiefern EU-Friedensmediation erfolgreich ist und somit einen positiven Beitrag zur Konfliktbearbeitung leistet. In Bezug auf die erste Dimension zeigt sich, dass die EU tatsächlich ihre Fähigkeiten und institutionellen Strukturen für Friedensmediation deutlich ausgebaut und damit ihren eigenen Anspruch eingelöst hat. Gleichwohl hat dies auch zu einer institutionellen Fragmentierung geführt, die den Koordinationsbedarf zwischen den einzelnen Institutionen deutlich erhöht. Hinsichtlich der zweiten Dimension zeigt die Analyse von zwei Fallbeispielen (Belgrad-Pristina Dialog und die Genfer Gespräche über Georgiens Territorialkonflikte) dass EU-Friedensmediation in den beiden Fällen einen positiven Effekt auf die Konfliktdynamik hat. Trotz einiger Teilerfolge muss jedoch auch konstatiert werden, dass die EU in beiden Konflikten keine vollständige Konfliktbeilegung erreichen konnte. Gerade in Bezug auf zwei Konfliktsituationen in der EU-Nachbarschaft, in der die EU durch die EU-Beitrittsperspektive einen vergleichsweise langen „Hebel“ gegenüber Konfliktparteien besitzt, macht dieser Befund die Grenzen der Einflussmöglichkeiten der EU deutlich.
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