The European Court of Justice is widely acknowledged to have played a fundamental role in developing the constitutional law of the EU, having been the first to establish such key doctrines as direct ...effect, supremacy and parallelism in external relations. Traditionally, EU scholarship has praised the role of the ECJ, with more critical perspectives being given little voice in mainstream EU studies. From the standpoint of legal reasoning, Gerard Conway offers the first sustained critical assessment of how the ECJ engages in its function and offers a new argument as to how it should engage in legal reasoning. He also explains how different approaches to legal reasoning can fundamentally change the outcome of case law and how the constitutional values of the EU justify a different approach to the dominant method of the ECJ.
This substantial and original book examines how the EU Private International Law (‘PIL’) framework is functioning and considers its impact on the administration of justice in cross-border cases ...within the EU. It grew out of a major project (ie EUPILLAR: European Union Private International Law: Legal Application in Reality) financially supported by the EU Civil Justice Programme. The research was led by the Centre for Private International Law at the University of Aberdeen and involved partners from the Universities of Freiburg, Antwerp, Wroclaw, Leeds, Milan and Madrid (Complutense). The contributors address the specific features of cross-border disputes in the EU by undertaking a comprehensive analysis of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and national case law on the Brussels I, Rome I and II, Brussels IIa and Maintenance Regulations. Part I discusses the development of the EU PIL framework. Part II contains the national reports from 26 EU Member States. Parts III (civil and commercial) and IV (family law) contain the CJEU case law analysis and several cross-cutting chapters. Part V briefly sets the agenda for an institutional reform which is necessary to improve the effectiveness of the EU PIL regime. This comprehensive research-project book will be of interest to researchers, students, legal practitioners, judges and policy-makers who work, or are interested, in the field of private international law. Volume 20 in the series Studies in Private International Law
The European Union is still emerging as a fully fledged foreign policy actor. The vagaries of this process are clearly visible, yet insufficiently explained in the EU policies towards the post-Soviet ...space.
EU Foreign Policy and Post-Soviet Conflicts examines EU intervention and non-intervention in conflict resolution, with a specific focus on the EU’s role in the post-soviet conflicts in the South Caucasus and Moldova: Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Transnistria. It explains how EU foreign policy affected these conflicts, but more importantly what EU intervention in these conflicts reveal about the EU itself. Based on extensive field research, the author argues that the reluctant EU intervention in post-Soviet conflicts results from a dichotomous relationship between EU institutions and some EU member states. Popescu argues this demonstrates that EU institutions use policies of ‘stealth intervention’ where they seek to play a greater role in the post-Soviet space, but they do so through relatively low-profile, uncontroversial and depoliticised actions in order to avoid visible Russian opposition.
Exploring an array of questions related to the EU as a foreign policy actor, this book traces the politics of conflict intervention by EU institutions using original empirical data related to the EU decision making process and will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, conflict resolution, foreign policy and Post-Soviet politics.
1. Introduction 2. EU Foreign Policy and Conflict Management 3. The EU's Piecemeal Involvement in Transnistria 4. The EU's Reluctant Engagment in Abkhazia and South Ossetia 5. The EU's Non-Involvement in Nagorno-Karabakh 6. Conclusions: The EU's Involvement and Reluctance
Nicu Popescu is research fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations in London. He has worked as a senior foreign policy advisor to the Prime-Minister of Moldova, and researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. Nicu holds a doctorate in political science from the Central European University in Budapest.
‘The present book provides the ultimate guide to EU’s performance in conflict management in the post-Soviet space. This is not a book written based on research in a warm office. Nicu Popescu has criss-crossed the conflict regions. The book shows in minutiae detail how much the EU has progressed in becoming a conflict management actor, but also how difficult and contradictory that process still is.’ - Martti Ahtisaari, is Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former President of Finland
‘United Europe is going through a turbulent yet extremely challenging and exciting period, which requires strengthening the role of the Union as a capable player on the international stage, promoting peace, security and stability and protecting the European values and interests. In fulfilling these ambitions, the EU should undoubtedly start from its Neighbourhood, making best use of the new possibilities, offered by the Lisbon Treaty. Nicu Popescu urges for stronger engagement of the EU with persisting security problems, especially in the South Caucasus. I could hardly disagree with the necessity to do more in this region. We should start by an enhanced confidence-building process, implementing specific well-conceived, well-targeted projects. Nicu Popescu's book offers an excellent starting point for this debate.’ - Nikolay Mladenov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria
‘A successful EU foreign policy can only start with successful policies in the neighbourhood. This book shows in detail the successes and failures of EU foreign policy in EU’s Eastern neighbourhood and persuasively argues that the EU can only become a global power if it is able to tackle effectively problems in its immediate vicinity. The post-Soviet conflicts are a key test for EU’s foreign policy ambitions.’ - Ion Sturza, former Prime-Minister of Moldova
‘The 2008 war in Georgia and the sudden loss of impetus to NATO expansion in the region have demonstrated the dangers of a security vacuum in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Nicu Popescu is uniquly well-qualified to examine whether the EU can fill the gap.’ - Andrew Wilson, Reader in Ukrainian Studies, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London
‘The EU declares that it provides security and stability to the whole of Europe. Is this the case in Europe's troubled eastern region? Clearly, not yet. Nicu Popescu's work on the conflicts that afflict this part of Europe shows an EU that is increasingly engaged but not strategic. The EU is there in these conflicts, but not sure why. This unique and original work should be mandatory reading for the new External Action Service.’ - Dov Lynch, Author of 'Engaging Eurasia's Separatist States' and former senior advisor to OSCE Secretary General
This book examines the politics of Banking Union and EMU reform in the EU, and draws lessons for what it means for international politics, both in Europe, and for international relations more ...broadly. It demonstrates that most of the reforms in Europe to break free of the Eurozone and banking crises in which Europe continues to find itself focus on building up the capacities of national authorities rather than European ones. The result is that national authorities remain largely in control of the decisions and funds that are to be deployed to prevent economic disaster if a single EU bank fails. The likely outcome is an accelerated balkanization of the European market for the foreseeable future.
The book also contends that power politics, and realism in particular, is a defining feature of European politics with coercion and enforced national responsibility at the demand of Germany; the dominant form of institution-building that established the responsible sovereignty model, and shut down the possibility of alternatives. In making this case, the book demonstrates that the dominant view in international relations, that power politics best explains the behaviour of states, also apply to the EU.
This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of the Eurozone crisis, EU politics, economic policy, and more broadly to political economy, public policy and international relations.
Conflict prevention and crisis management has become a key activity for the EU since the creation of the Common Security and Defence Policy in 1999. The rapid growth of this policy area, as well as ...the number of missions deployed beyond the EU’s border raise important questions about the nature of the EU’s international role and its contribution to international security.
The Contributions to EU Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management analyze European conflict prevention and crisis management in terms of the EU’s evolving global role, its institutions and its policies. The volume analyzes the EU’s position in relation to the US, the UN and other regional security organizations, and applies three different institutionalist perspectives – historical, rational choice and sociological institutionalism - to explain the increasing institutionalization of EU crisis management. It also critically analyzes the application of EU policies in West Africa, Afghanistan and the Caucasus. Providing a comprehensive analysis of EU crisis management, the volume explores what role EU conflict prevention and crisis management plays in a European and a global context.
Offering a comprehensive and original contribution to the literature on EU foreign and security policy, this volume will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, international relations and security studies.
"A comprehensive, well-structured and original contribution to the literature on the EU’s foreign and security policy." - Nicole Koenig, The International Spectator, Vol. 47, 3, 2012
Eva Gross is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and a visiting lecturer at the University of Kent: Brussels School of International Studies. Research interests include the role of the EU as a global actor, the Europeanization of national foreign and security policy, transatlantic relations and EU conflict prevention and crisis management policies. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and has been a visiting fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels and the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) and CERI Science Po, both in Paris.
Ana E. Juncos is Lecturer in European Politics in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. She holds a PhD in Politics, International Relations and European Studies from Loughborough University, where she is currently a Teaching Fellow. Her doctoral research, partly funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond through the ‘European Foreign and Security Policy Studies Programme’, focused on the coherence and effectiveness of the EU’s Foreign and Security Policy in Bosnia (1991-2006). Previously, she won a scholarship at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and worked as a research assistant at the University of Ottawa (Canada). She holds a degree in Political Science and Public Management (University Complutense of Madrid) and a European Humanities Diploma (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris).
1. Introduction Eva Gross and Ana E. Juncos Part I: Roles 2. The EU’s Role in International Crisis Management: Innovative Model or Emulated Script? Xymena Kurowska and Thomas Seitz 3. European Union Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management and the European Security Architecture Emma J. Stewart Part II: Institutions 4. Introducing Governance Arrangement for EU Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management Operations: A Historical Institutionalist Perspective Petar Petrov 5. Conceptualising the EU as a Civil-Military Crisis Manager: Institutional Actors and their Principals Nadia Klein 6. The Other Side of EU Crisis Management: A Sociological Institutionalist Analysis Ana E. Juncos Part III: Policies 7. The EU in West Africa: From Developmental to Diplomatic Policy? Marie Gibert 8. The EU in Afghanistan: Crisis Management in a Transatlantic Setting Eva Gross 9. The EU in Georgia: Towards a Coherent Crisis Management Strategy? Giselle Bosse 10. Conclusion and Outlook Eva Gross and Ana E. Juncos
Euroclash Fligstein, Neil
2008, 2009, 2008-04-10, 20080101
eBook, Book
A major new interpretation of European integration. Leading scholar, Neil Fligstein, provocatively argues that European integration has produced a truly transnational European society.
In Challenging Parties, Changing Parliaments, Miki Caul Kittilson examines women’s presence in party politics and national legislatures, and the conditions under which their entrance occurs. She ...theorizes that parties are more likely to incorporate women when their strategy takes into account the institutional and political “opportunity structures” of both the party and party system. Kittilson studies how women pressed for greater representation, and how democratic party systems responded to their demands. Research on women’s representation has largely focused at the national level. Yet these studies miss the substantial variations between parties within and across European democracies. This book provides systematic cross-national and case study evidence to show that political parties are the key mechanism for increasing women’s parliamentary representation. Kittilson uncovers party-level mechanisms that explain the growth in women’s parliamentary participation since the 1970s in ten European democracies. The inclusion of new challengers in party politics is often attributed to mounting pressures from activists and public opinion at large. This book contradicts the conventional wisdom by demonstrating that women’s gains within parties flow not only from pressure from party supporters, but also from calculated efforts made by the central party leadership in a top-down fashion under specific circumstances. Certainly women’s efforts are essential, and they can be most effective when they are framed, timed, and targeted toward the most opportune structures within the party hierarchy. Kittilson concludes that specific party institutions encourage women’s ascendance to the top ranks of power within a political party.
Seeks to develop understanding of the notion of multi‐level governance through a critical exploration of its definitions and applications by scholars with very different concerns within the broad ...discipline of Political Studies. Despite the different concerns of different authors, four common strands emerge that provide a parsimonious definition of multi‐level governance that raises clear hypotheses for future research. First, that decision‐making at various territorial levels is characterized by the increased participation of non‐state actors. Second, that the identification of discrete or nested territorial levels of decision‐making is becoming more difficult in the context of complex overlapping networks. Third, that in this changing context, the role of the state is being transformed as state actors develop new strategies of coordination, steering and networking that may protect and, in some cases, enhance state autonomy. Fourth, that in this changing context, the nature of democratic accountability has been challenged and need to be rethought or at least reviewed. The book concludes that future research on multi‐level governance should pay particular attention to the implications for democracy of empirical developments and, related to this, to the design of frameworks of accountability that adopt a positive‐sum gain in relation to the accountability versus efficiency debate.
Why do politicians and civil servants commission research and what use do they make of it in policymaking? The received wisdom is that research contributes to improving government policy. Christina ...Boswell challenges this view, arguing that policymakers are just as likely to value expert knowledge for two alternative reasons: as a way of lending authority to their preferences; or to signal their capacity to make sound decisions. Boswell develops a compelling new theory of the role of knowledge in policy, showing how policymakers use research to establish authority in contentious and risky areas of policy. She illustrates her argument with an analysis of European immigration policies, charting the ways in which expertise becomes a resource for lending credibility to controversial claims, underpinning high-risk decisions or bolstering the credibility of government agencies.