The European Union as a Regional Normative Hegemon: The Case of European Neighbourhood Policy

This article analyses the European Union's European Neighbourhood Policy in the context of the European Union as an actor employing normative power in international politics. The European Neighbourhood Policy can be seen as a substitute for the Union's enlargement that has previously been the main vehicle for the Union's normative power in Europe. By relinquishing enlargement, the EU is in danger of losing its capacity for effectively stabilising its nearest neighbours as well as losing its legitimacy and justification in their eyes. The article discusses whether the European Neighbourhood Policy can be seen as a fruitful way out of the Union's present conundrum. It concludes that at least in its present form the Neighbourhood Policy is far from a panacea. It suffers from a lack of legitimacy as a result of its inability to answer the neighbours' calls for full political and institutional belonging in Europe.     

从欧洲主权债务危机看欧盟发展困境

2010年末爆发的爱尔兰债务危机,让尚未彻底走出次贷危机和希腊债务的欧盟再次陷入危机泥潭。虽然爱尔兰最终获得欧盟救助,但危机暴露出的欧盟发展困境令外界对欧洲的忧虑由主权债务风险,延伸至欧元是否会继续存在,欧盟是否会解体。     

More Rights,Less Power: Labor Standards and Labor Markets in East European Post-communist States

This paper examines changes in labor markets and labor rights for 13 post-communist states of East Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union. It focuses on the simultaneous pressures to increase the flexibility of labor markets and improve labor standards in the years since the collapse of communism. Comparative measures and patterns of both de jure and de facto standards and flexibility are presented, and the roles of key institutional promoters of change are analyzed. I find that a combination of democratic regime type and European Union accession has pulled East European states toward the strengthening of collective labor rights. The effect is strongest on the states that joined the EU in 2004, weaker for those joining in 2007, while the three post-Soviet, non-accession states remain significantly more labor-repressive. Labor market flexibilization has been a more uniform trend in the post-communist region. In the context of this project’s inter-regional comparisons, contemporary Eastern Europe has the strongest labor rights. At the same time, the decline of trade unions and limits of collective bargaining in most post-communist states undermine the effectiveness of transposed EU legislation and bargaining institutions in empowering labor. As shown by the exceptional case of Slovenia, strong unions are necessary to fully enforce rights.     

社会保障--欧洲社会的稳定器

欧洲各国的现代社会保障制度形成于19世纪末20世纪初.第二次世界大战以后,欧洲社会保障制度步入全面建立与发展的重要阶段,相继完成了有关立法工作.20世纪50年代至70年代,是欧洲各国经济发展的黄金时期,亦是其社会保障制度发展的鼎盛时期.在经济繁荣、税收大幅增加的鼓舞下,欧洲各国政府有些昏昏然,盲目乐观,于是便不断增加社会保障开支,增添保障项目,扩大保障范围,提高津贴标准,放宽受惠者条件,结果导致社会保障费用持续大幅度增长,最终使这一制度因70年代以后的经济危机而遭遇严重困难,成为经济发展的严重障碍.80年代至今,欧洲各国经济进入了严重的危机阶段,大批人失业,人口老化,政府财政赤字增加.面临这一新的形势,欧洲各国政府均对此前形成的具有浓厚社会主义色彩的社会保障制度进行改革.     

The European Union as an Alternative to the Nation-State

The article describes the specific character of the European Union??its status as an unfinished federal quasi-state, the EU??s potential as one global actor among others and the motivation behind the ongoing process of integration, especially the EU??s antithetical character concerning nationalism. The article analyses the different theoretical approaches to explain why the Union has become what it is??and why it has not become a different entity. It also discusses the question of different interests promoting or opposing further integration. The basic argument is that the EU provides??in a period of declining state power??the possibility to reconstruct politics and government on a transnational level.     

西欧社会党理论转型的趋向分析

随着二十世纪人类社会的巨大变迁,西欧社会党的理论发生了重要转型.这种理论转型主要表现为政治立场、执政模式、制度改造方式、意识形态以及价值理念等几个方面的变化.     

欧洲现代史中的苏联史

苏联史就是现代史的同义语,只有把苏联包括在内才有可能书写20世纪的世界历史;苏联的存在对20世纪世界历史的事件序列和结构,对国际体系,对文化关系和微观环境(不只局限于苏联),对政治和社会话语,对有关政治、经济、社会理论的形成,都产生了决定性的作用;不能把苏联史错误地理解为苏联疆域内的历史,也不能理解为现代史部门内众多国别史中的一部,因为苏联史同时显示出欧洲和全球的维度,波及西欧和欧洲以外的社会乃至日常生活和生活环境。因此,本文在兼顾欧洲背景的情况下,试图突出苏联史的几个主要线索,如人口损失、暴政、非斯大林化、苏维埃社会国家、合法性基础的改变、社会的转变、帝国的形成等,并探讨了与苏联现代化和工业化有关的理论问题。     

美国核能辩论现状与核能政策前景

美国国内在利用核电问题上一直存在争议,拥核派和反核派的分歧主要是在核电成本、核能安全以及核能是否环保等方面。受今年3月日本核危机影响,美国反核势力上升,核能辩论的重点转向核能安全,具体体现在核电站抵御灾害、核废料储存、新建核电站以及现有核电站延长运营期限等议题上。受此影响,短期内美国核能开发速度会放慢,但奥巴马政府的核能政策不会作出实质性调整。