Television and terrorism: Implications for crisis management and policy‐making

Because few of us experience terrorism firsthand, the media play an important role in informing us when major incidents occur. Because of its instantaneity and its ability to reach many audiences at once, the electronic media and particularly television can have a significant impact on the various players who become involved in a particular crisis. This article examines the kinds of effects that television can have on four sets of actors most commonly involved in terrorist crises or major incidents: politicians, police, the public and the print media. While some of these effects can be negative, others can be positive. As a whole, however, television tends to diminish the quality of political discourse, with its emphasis on simplification and dramatization. In time of crisis, this can have serious consequences on decision‐makers who depend upon an informed public to understand the issues at stake and the limits on government action. The article ends by examining briefly how these effects relate to the increasing role of the private sector in public safety and security.     

European security policy for the people? Public opinion and the EU's Common Foreign,Security and Defence policy

The democratic foundations of European integration in the foreign and defence realm are increasingly being debated. This article looks at the question of democratic legitimacy from one particular angle, by examining public opinion as measured in Eurobarometer surveys between 1989 and 2009. Based on reflections about the relation between polling results and wider questions of democracy, it examines three aspects of public opinion: general support for a common foreign and a common defence policy; differences among support rates in EU member states; and what roles Europeans would prefer for European armed forces. It turns out that general support for a common foreign policy is high, whereas the desirability of a common defence policy is much more contested. Moreover, citizens across Europe would prefer European armed forces to take on traditional tasks, as territorial defence. An EU defence policy that goes beyond strict intergovernmentalism and is directed towards protecting international law and universal human rights would thus require a significant communicative effort to become accepted.     

Participation of CSOs/NGOs in Bangladeshi climate change policy formulation: co-operation or co-optation?

The Bangladesh government formulated the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategies and Action Plans (BCCSAP) in 2008 through a participatory process involving several CSOs/NGOs and others. This article discusses the participation of CSOs/NGOs in climate change policy-making, focusing on mapping their level of participation in policy-making. It demonstrates that state laws allow CSOs/NGOs to implement several projects voluntarily, but largely prohibit their participation in political decision-making processes. The state invites a few CSOs/NGOs as a condition to receive aid, but displays arbitrary and co-opting attitudes towards CSOs/NGOs that rarely ensure joint decisions in creating policy.     

Microstate Democracy: Majority or Consensus; Diffusion or Problem-Solving?

While several studies suggest that small country size is conducive to democracy, the understanding of this link between smallness and democracy is still less than complete. By examining the nature and profile of microstate democracy in the year 2005, this article aims at promoting a better understanding. Two research tasks are pursued. First, the article investigates if microstate democracy is predominantly about majority democracy, or alternatively consensus democracy, or a blend of majority and consensus. Second, while testing the validity of diffusion and rationality assumptions for explaining country choices of democratic form, the article aims at drawing forth a better appreciation of the foundations of microstate democracy. The findings indicate that smallness is particularly conducive to majority democracy, and that diffusion goes a long way to explain this small state preference for majority rule. However, the microstates within the majoritarian framework are often inclined to resort to non-majoritarian choices, and elements of rationality are therefore in the picture as well. Small size does not appear to associate systematically with culture to the exclusion of rationality or with rationality to the exclusion of culture.     

EUROSUR: saving lives or building borders?

This article analyses the origins and development of the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) in order to better understand its functioning in view of its stated objectives. Particular attention will be devoted to the European Commission’s recurring claim that one of EUROSUR’s main goals is to save lives at sea. This contribution questions that assertion. It rather considers EUROSUR as representative of the steady, technocratic development of a European system for border management. The reliance on the exchange of information, the reinforcement of FRONTEX, the European Union’s agency for the coordination of operational cooperation between national border guards and the emphasis on cooperation with third countries support this claim.     

The Foreign Policy of Italian Regions: Not Much Ado About Something?

What does regional external power mean? To what extent is it allowed? What are the limits for its exercise? And how is it carried out in today's quasi-federal Italy? Not only is regional foreign policy a litmus test for the legal development of a compound system; it is also extremely telling as far as the political maturity of the actors in a multi-level governmental system is concerned. In the present constitutional and political framework in Italy, there is a cleavage between the rather developed normative framework and the immature practical reality. Regional foreign policy is something very important about which too little ado is made.     

Development agencies: Global or solo players?

This paper questions whether development agencies and their staff, at whatever level (community-based organisations, national or international NGOs) are sufficiently clear about their own values and roles, and seeks to analyse tensions and dilemmas that arise when roles are confused. Clarity about the roles of the people and agencies involved is essential for the development of a valid global citizens' movement that can interconnect local and global problems and actors, and work towards sustainable solutions.     

The European Union Global Strategy: What Kind of Foreign Policy Identity?

Some dismiss the recent EU Global Strategy as a “triumph of hope over experience”, an impracticable and therefore ultimately irrelevant statement; others are enthusiastic about what they see as perseverance and renewed ambition in the face of the present crisis. Although the 2016 Strategy appears more modest than its 2003 predecessor in operational terms, the range of deliberations that fed into it and the quality of the document itself demonstrate a greater maturity of reflection on foreign policy. A critical reading of the document shows that concepts such as normative power and differentiated inclusion of neighbours in the EU’s system of governance have all but disappeared. The emerging EU identity appears to be debilitated by the centrifugal processes of internal contestation and a drastically downsized claim for external power projection. An alternative plan for action will have to deal with the Union’s vulnerabilities and carve out a role that is distinct, yet in line with this new self-understanding.     

Honeymoon or consolidation,or both?: Time dependence of democratic durability

Much research has been done to identify factors that facilitate or prevent democratic breakdown. Little attention, however, has been paid to the question of whether and how the baseline risk level (after controlling for the impacts of relevant factors) changes over time. Using a flexible parametric survival model, I analyse the duration of 149 democratic periods (1946–2008) and demonstrate that the baseline risk has an inverted-U shape, which provides evidence for the honeymoon effect and democratic consolidation. This finding has an important policy implication for democratic assistance programmes.