Collaborative leadership in EMU governance: a matter of cognitive proximity

Abstract

Collaborative leadership has stood at the heart of European politics since its inception. Yet EU scholars have only recently started to examine the concept and mainly from an institutional perspective. This article conceptualises the phenomenon of collaborative leadership from an actor-centered perspective. It explores a central condition for successful collaborative leadership identified in the literature: the existence of shared beliefs among the leaders involved. To do this, the article focuses on four events in the history of European Economic and Monetary Union. Using the method of cognitive mapping, the study establishes the extent of congruence in the beliefs on European integration and fiscal and monetary policy of the four leadership trios overseeing these events. On the basis of a survey of leading experts in the field, the article reveals that the level of cognitive proximity in leaders’ beliefs aligns with the perceived success with which the trios exerted collaborative leadership.     

Leaking,leak prevention,and decoupling in public administrations: the case of the European Commission

Abstract

The European Commission is frequently faced with leaks, much like other public administrations in Western democracies. While executive leaders often criticise the practice of leaking as an unwanted breach of confidentiality and secrecy, leak prevention is usually not taken seriously compared to the scale of the phenomenon. This article discusses leaking and leak prevention more broadly and analyses the efforts of the European Commission to prevent leaks. It finds that leaking and leak prevention were regularly discussed at the highest level of the EU’s executive between 2006 and 2015. However, few Commission officials have been sanctioned for leaking in that period, and mostly for leaks that appear unrelated to the substance of those discussed at the political level. This mismatch is explained by a decoupling of talk and action regarding leak prevention, allowing the European Commission and other public administrations to manage inconsistencies in competing internal and external demands for openness and confidentiality.     

The logic of regulatory impact assessment: From evidence to evidential reasoning

Agencies involved in generating regulatory policies promote evidence-based regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) to improve the predictability of regulation and develop informed policy. Here, we analyze the epistemic foundations of RIAs. We frame RIA as reasoning that connects various types of knowledge to inferences about the future. Drawing on Stephen Toulmin's model of argumentation, we situate deductive and inductive reasoning steps within a schema we call the impact argument. This approach helps us identify inherent uncertainties in RIAs, and their location in different types of reasoning. We illustrate the theoretical section with impact assessments of two recent legislative proposals produced by the European Commission. We argue that the concept of “evidence-based regulatory impact assessment” is misleading and should be based on the notion of “regulatory impact assessment as evidential reasoning,” which better recognizes its processual and argumentative nature.     

Study on the Procedure of the Supervisory Committee in Handling Duty Crime Cases——A Case Study of 768 Judicial Documents

According to the empirical research of 768 judgment documents made by the court since the establishment of the Supervisory Commission, it is found that the defense rate of the entrusted lawyer is high; the duration of detention is relatively long and the arrest rate after the removal of detention is high; the system of leniency of confession and punishment and the application rate of quick decision procedure are low;the illegal evidence is difficult to exclude; the conclusion of the case is based on verbal evidence, and the mutual “confirmation” of the evidence has become a typical mode of handling such cases. Based on this, it is necessary to guarantee the time and litigation rights of defense lawyers to intervene; to improve the applicable standards of retention measures; to clarify the applicable standards of leniency system of confession and punishment in duty crime cases and the procedures of obtaining and presenting synchronous audio-visual materials; to implement the principle of direct words in court trial, to strengthen the examination of evidence, and to establish a mechanism for witnesses, appraisers and investigators to testify in court.     

英国反就业歧视制度及实践研究

英国习惯法并不禁止歧视行为,但随着英国加入各种国际组织及国内平权运动的高涨,在20世纪70年代后,英国对于禁止性别、残疾、年龄等制定了大量的法律。当前英国反就业歧视的法律渊源主要包括:欧盟立法和专门性法律。这些法律中就有关就业歧视的违法行为进行了详尽和周密的规定,包括直接歧视、间接歧视、骚扰和受害等四种歧视形态,禁止在雇佣关系中各个阶段的任何歧视。为了有效地防止就业歧视,英国依据《平等法》成立了人权与平等机会委员会。平等机会委员会在应对英国社会中相对突出的就业歧视问题扮演了重要角色。     

Identifying Miscarriages of Justice: Why Innocence in the UK is Not the Answer

This article examines two contrasting proposals for the reform of criminal appeals: the government's recent proposal that the guilty should no longer have their convictions quashed on 'technicalities'; and calls by campaigners for the Court of Appeal to consider innocence rather than the 'safety of the conviction,' together with their associated attempts to establish Innocence Projects in the UK. Despite the rhetorical power of 'innocence' as a campaigning tool, it is contended that to import such a standard into the legal system would be retrogressive and counter-productive, both as a safeguard against wrongful convictions and in protecting the integrity of the system. In order to be meaningful, due process protections must apply to all. The government's proposals attack this principle directly; innocence campaigners risk unwittingly assisting their endeavours.     

ISFG: Recommendations on biostatistics in paternity testing

The Paternity Testing Commission (PTC) of the International Society for Forensic Genetics has taken up the task of establishing the biostatistical recommendations in accordance with the ISO 17025 standards and a previous set of ISFG recommendations specific to the genetic investigations in paternity cases. In the initial set, the PTC recommended that biostatistical evaluations of paternity are based on a likelihood ratio principle – yielding the paternity index, PI. Here, we have made five supplementary biostatistical recommendations. The first recommendation clarifies and defines basic concepts of genetic hypotheses and calculation concerns needed to produce valid PIs. The second and third recommendations address issues associated with population genetics (allele probabilities, Y-chromosome markers, mtDNA, and population substructuring) and special circumstances (deficiency/reconstruction and immigration cases), respectively. The fourth recommendation considers strategies regarding genetic evidence against paternity. The fifth recommendation covers necessary documentation, reporting details and assumptions underlying calculations. The PTC strongly suggests that these recommendations should be adopted by all laboratories involved in paternity testing as the basis for their biostatistical analysis.     

Why the EHRC Report into Anti‐Semitism in the Labour Party is About so much More than Anti‐Semitism in the Labour Party—A Personal View

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHCR) investigation into anti‐semitism in the Labour Party, the virtual disavowal of the report by Jeremy Corbyn, his subsequent suspension from and then reinstatement to the party and then his exclusion from the Parliamentary Labour Party, raise issues far wider than just the EHRC’s legalistic and limited investigation.     

Meet the critics: Analyzing the EU Commission's Regulatory Scrutiny Board through quantitative text analysis

As part of the “better regulation” agenda, the European Commission created a semi-independent institution, the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, to monitor the preparation of policy proposals. The position of this Board is potentially wide-ranging. A proposal that is not given the green light by it cannot proceed in the Commission's internal decisionmaking process. But so far, the Board has only received scant scholarly attention. We provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board on the Commission's policy preparation. Using machine learning techniques and quantitative text analysis, we study 673 Board opinions and compare almost 100 draft and final policy proposals. Our findings show that the Board is an active watchdog that is taken seriously by the Commission's departments. A full understanding of policy preparation in the EU therefore requires more scholarly attention to the Regulatory Scrutiny Board.     

论欧盟货币市场基金监管新规

2008年全球金融危机以来,欧盟对影子银行的发展深感担忧。货币市场基金作为影子银行的重要组成部分,仍然适用欧盟各个成员国的国内监管规则。随着欧盟内部市场的发展,欧盟货币市场基金的跨境投资与交易数量激增。因此欧盟将货币市场基金的统一监管提上议事日程。应欧洲议会的要求,欧盟分析与研究后,于2013年9月4日正式对外公布了《货币市场基金条例草案》。该条例草案是在金融危机背景下为加强影子银行监管和保护投资者利益而制定,是欧盟为建设金融市场统一监管体系所努力的一部分。《货币市场基金条例草案》在欧盟现有金融监管法律体系的基础上,对欧盟货币市场基金的营业核准、基金内部评级规则、信息披露义务、投资多样性与集中性原则设定了统一的监管标准。此外,《货币市场基金条例草案》首次在欧盟境内引入浮动净资产价值货币市场基金的概念,以及类似准备金制度的净资产价值缓冲机制,提高了传统固定净资产价值货币市场基金的准入门槛。当下的中国,其货币市场基金发展迅速,已成为社会各界的热门话题,因此中国的金融监管机构也正在研究如何完善货币市场基金监管规则。目前,有欧盟的《货币市场基金条例草案》在先,那么中国的金融监管机构可以从欧盟的实践中吸取经验教训,引导中国货币市场基金良性健康发展。