PIGS or not? Economic voting in Southern Europe

Economic voting has been little studied in the nations of Southern Europe. Here we examine economic voting in the Southern European countries of Portugal, Italy, Spain, and Greece – the PIGS. Through the analysis of a large, ten European nation survey pool, we establish that economic voting exists in the PIGS, with a strength that significantly exceeds that in non-PIGS of Northern Europe. The explanation for such a difference, we suggest, lies in the generally less complex governing coalitions and the poorer economic performance that characterize these Southern European nations. This relatively greater strength of the economic vote in the PIGS implies their electorates will hold government tightly accountable for management of the ongoing economic crises they face.     

Long- and short-term determinants of party preferences: Inter-generational differences in Western and East Central Europe

In this paper we study differences between generations in the degree to which long-term and short-term factors affect party preferences in established and consolidating European democracies. Scholarly literature has shown that younger cohorts in Western Europe are less likely to be guided by social class, religion and left/right than older cohorts. Little is known, however, about the extent to which such differences exist for the effects of short-term factors. Similarly, inter-generational differences in the effects of long- and short-term factors in post-communist countries have remained largely unexplored. Based on the European Election Study 2009, we show differences between generations that are compatible with de-alignment of younger generations along traditional cleavages. Yet, we also see an increased importance of attitudes towards immigration among the younger generations, which could signal a form of re-alignment.     

Baltic Studies in North America: A Survey of Academic Dissertations 1911–2006

ABSTRACT

The article argues for an extended delineation of increasing Western cultural hegemony in the reconstituted Baltic states. An initial idiom of postcolonial studies is revisited in order to complement their dominant scope in the Baltics, focused primarily on a retrospective cultural study of Baltic/Soviet relationships. The argument elaborates on the urgency of the expanding research agenda regarding the Baltic/European research framework. By pointing out the frequent occurrence of the superiority or inferiority value scale in cross-cultural references sampled from press releases of the Art Museum of Estonia, the article concludes that mainstream cultural self-reflection in Estonia is nowadays subjected to the supremacy of the imagined West European viewpoint.     

European national news

The regular article tracking developments at the national level in key European countries in the area of IT and communications – co-ordinated by Herbert Smith LLP and contributed to by firms across Europe. This column provides a concise alerting service of important national developments in key European countries. Part of its purpose is to compliment the Journal’s feature articles and briefing notes by keeping readers abreast of what is currently happening “on the ground” at a national level in implementing EU level legislation and international conventions and treaties. Where an item of European National News is of particular significance, CLSR may also cover it in more detail in the current or a subsequent edition.     

俄欧经贸关系发展的博弈论解释

俄欧关系是当今重要的国际关系之一，而经贸关系是俄欧关系的重要内容。在俄欧经贸关系的发展过程中由于双方利益诉求的不同，双方关系体现出了更多的博弈思想。     

试析后冷战时代欧洲地缘政治的变化

从地缘政治视角考察,欧洲可划分为两大板块：＂心脏地带＂和＂边缘地带＂,与之相对应的是欧洲还存在两大地缘政治势力,即陆权势力和海权势力。冷战时代欧洲地缘政治格局的主要特征是苏联代表的陆权势力和美国代表的海权势力在两大地缘政治板块上的对立与均势。而后冷战时代的今天,欧洲地缘政治失去了这种战略平衡：陆权势力收缩而海权势力扩张,心脏地带衰落而边缘地带崛起。同时不应忽视,全球化和新科技革命,也都赋予了欧洲传统地缘政治形态以新的特征。     

The Quantitative Analysis of Terrorism and Immigration: An Initial Exploration

This article uses immigration and other biographical data to refute much of the conventional wisdom about the relationship between terrorism and immigration. Using a database created from the biographical data of 373 terrorists, we have established a number of significant findings. Over forty percent of our database is made up of Western Nationals. Second, despite widespread alarms raised over terrorist infiltration from Mexico, we found no terrorist presence in Mexico and no terrorists who entered the U.S. from Mexico. Third, we found a sizeable terrorist presence in Canada and a number of Canadian-based terrorists who have entered the U.S. In addition to illuminating the terrorist networks entrenched in the West, this paper is also an attempt to advance the field of terrorism studies by taking a quantitative approach to data analysis.     

Norbert Elias and Postnational Integration

What is the “Civilising Process” according to Norbert Elias? It is the history of the increase in interdependency links, and in their complexity, between individuals. From this perspective, the evolution of European society since the medieval period has seemed to follow a “determined direction” or a “constant orientation” defined by the passage to more and more globalising domination instances. Nowadays the debates arising from the building up of a political Union on a European scale lend new interest to the works of the German sociologist. Starting from the distinction between “objective” functional interdependence and integration, which suggests the development of a collective identity, Elias attempts to explain the gap between the arrival of a new “survival entity” and the growth of a new “definition of “we””. In the case of contemporary Europe, the persistence of national habitus which run counter political integration portrayed nonetheless as ineluctable have to be explained. In order to evaluate the originality of Elias' approach and its relevance to the present philosophical and political issues at stake, the author's “postnational intuitions” have to be confronted with the most recent theoretical orientations, including Dominique Schnapper's national‐democratic option and the “constitutional patriotism” of Jürgen Habermas.     

Politics and Markets in the Irish 'Celtic Tiger'

Ireland's rate of growth and employment creation during the 1990s far outstripped economic performance in the rest of the OECD. Competing explanations are available in accounting for these outcomes, one stressing the primacy of the market, the other focusing on political choice. A case is made for the importance of politics, particularly the successful strategic adaptation to the challenges and opportunities afforded by the completion of the Single European Market during the 1990s. Ireland, as a small open economy, needs to combine effective external adjustment with appropriate domestic adjustment policies. Two policy areas are chosen for particular attention: industrial development strategy, and social partnership arrangements. This experience has implications beyond the Irish case, as the new central European and Baltic EU member states face similar challenges of policy adaptation.     

政治价值整合:欧洲社会民主党执政实践的重要内容

政治价值整合是政党树立执政权威、扩大社会基础、增强执政能力的重要手段。20世纪末,面对欧洲社会的深刻变化,欧洲一些社会民主党通过其传统价值理念的批判式反思,整合建构新的政治纲领,并通过创新党内民主和社会参与的方式,实现了政治价值的整合,取得并执掌了政权。其执政实践为我们研究执政能力建设提供了很好的借鉴。