Organizing international armaments cooperation: institutional design and path dependencies in Europe

Abstract

Few issues are more important to scholars of Europe's emergence as a foreign policy actor than whether the European Union (EU) can forge a common defense-industrial policy out of 27 states' procurement policies and defense industries. Overlooked in most scholarly analyses of European defense-industrial cooperation, the story of Europe's international armaments organizations stretches back more than six decades. In this article, we examine the impact of past institutional outcomes on the defense-industrial field by applying the concepts and analytic tools of historic institutionalism to European armaments organizations. Because past institutional dynamics have channeled the subsequent development of armaments cooperation, what has emerged is a polycentric governance architecture wherein organizations with transatlantic, pan-European and restrictive-European memberships dominate distinct components of the cooperative process. We demonstrate that this maturing institutional pattern will likely limit the opportunities for the EU – and especially its Commission – to shape the future contours of European defense-industrial cooperation.     

National Parliaments and European Integration: What We Know and Agenda for Future Research

The role of national legislatures in European integration first received serious attention in the mid-1990s in connection with debates on the EU's democratic deficit. Since then, both academics and politicians have entered a lively debate on how best to involve national parliaments in EU affairs. The purpose of this article is to examine critically the state of research on the role of national parliaments in European integration and to use that existing knowledge to suggest avenues for further research. The main argument is that through focusing almost exclusively on scrutiny of European affairs, the literature has failed to acknowledge the multiple constraints that impact on legislatures. There is a demand for more theory-driven analyses of actual behaviour that extend beyond describing formal procedures and organisational choices. Future research should also pay more attention to the strategies of political parties and to the incentives of individual MPs to become involved in European affairs.     

Leveson Past,Present and Future: The Politics of Press Regulation

As a result of the phone‐hacking scandal and evidence of other serious journalistic abuses by some newspapers, the government set up the Leveson Inquiry to hear evidence from victims and to make recommendations for a new and effective system of press regulation. Leveson's recommendations for independent self‐regulation overseen by a “recogniser” was seen as a moderate solution which would uphold the principle of an unfettered press while providing appropriate protection from unscrupulous or unethical press behaviour. After historic cross‐party agreement, Parliament passed a resolution accepting a Royal Charter which adopted the great majority of his recommendations. In response, Britain's main national newspapers have pursued a campaign of systematic misinformation and distortion, aimed at discrediting the inquiry, its supporters and the cross‐party Charter, while promoting a different system which would remain almost wholly controlled by the industry and would in practice be little different from the discredited Press Complaints Commission. After decades of ineffectual political response to press abuse and press power, there is now a historic opportunity for Parliament to assert its sovereign power. Over the next 12–18 months, we will see whether we have reached a genuine milestone in British public life or whether the British press will remain the last bastion of unaccountable power.     

European criminal law and European identity

This contribution aims to explain how European Criminal Law can be understood as constitutive of European identity. Instead of starting from European identity as a given, it provides a philosophical analysis of the construction of self-identity in relation to criminal law and legal tradition. The argument will be that the self-identity of those that share jurisdiction depends on and nourishes the legal tradition they adhere to and develop, while criminal jurisdiction is of crucial importance in this process of mutual constitution. This analysis will be complemented with a discussion of the integration of the first and the third pillar as aimed for by the Constitutional Treaty (TE), which would bring criminal law under majority rule and European democratic control. Attention will be paid to two ground breaking judgements of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that seem to boil down to the fact that the Court actually manages to achieve some of the objectives of the CT even if this is not in force. This gives rise to a discussion of how the CT (and related judgements of the ECJ) may transform European criminal law in the Union to EU criminal law of the Union, thus producing an identity of the Union next to the identities prevalent in the Union. The contribution concludes with some normative questions about the kind of European identity we should aim to establish, given the fact that such identity will arise with further integration of criminal law into the first pillar.

和谐世界理念与联合国宪章精神

“和谐世界”理念具有丰富的内涵。本文从对“和谐世界”理念的基本要素和联合国宪章的有关条款的比较中认为,这一理念不仅根植于中国文明的沃土,又与《联合国宪章》的精神有着相通之处,具有很强的普世价值,符合当今国际关系准则发展的大趋势。联合国机制也为“和谐世界”的构建提供了重要支撑“。和谐世界”的构建应与弘扬宪章的精神,推进联合国改革,加强联合国的地位与作用相结合。     

上海合作组织成员国能源合作:趋势与问题

近年来,上海合作组织成员国的能源工业获得了长足发展,成员国间的双边或多边能源合作也逐渐深入,尤其是中国与各国的能源合作取得了突破性的进展。2008年以来的国际金融危机对以能源生产和出口为支柱产业的俄罗斯和中亚国家的影响都较大,成员国间的能源合作出现了各国相互依赖加深、能源供求多元化格局逐步形成等一些新的发展趋势。但同时还存在安全、资金、技术等多方面的问题亟待解决。因此,需要各国携手加强区域经济合作,建立能源合作机制、技术合作等。     

Do all bridges collapse? Possibilities for democracy in the European Union

It is tempting, but wrong, to infer from the failures of the EU draft constitution that all reforms based on increasing citizen participation in the European Union are doomed to fail. Andrew Moravcsik’s trenchant dismissal of the constitutional project commits this error. Moravcsik’s sweeping claims, based on what he calls empirical social science, speak well beyond the evidence on democratic institutional innovations. Participatory measures such as consultative Citizens’ Assemblies may articulate a citizens’ perspective that can help to anchor the democratic legitimacy of the EU. We do not know if such innovations can resolve the problems of the democratic deficit, but we do know that empirical social science has not spoken decisively on the issue. It is worth examining their democratic potential rather than dismissing them outright. This article develops and draws on ideas we first expressed in an online symposium with Andrew Moravcsik and others, hosted by Notre Europe (Culpepper/Fung 2006b).     

政府能源储备的公法初探

能源供给和能源安全已成为人类社会和全球发展的重要话题。中国近年来着手实行的政府能源储备却徘徊在法治边缘,尤其欠缺公法规制。从公法功能主义视角解读政府能源储备行为,应理性地确立包括人大监督、程序正义、监管体制完善、立法过程监督和市场经济保障等一体的公法制度,从而最大程度地实现和维护公共利益。     

欧盟宪治:一种宪政法理学解读

<欧盟宪法条约>在2005年遭遇挫折,原因是多方面的,或许民主的因素不可忽视,当然这还涉及到人们刘欧盟性质、特征以及宪法条约文本的理解.欧盟立宪应当是一个社会互动的过程,包括民众在内的各种社会力量通过谈判达成共识,这样产生的宪法才是一部欧洲人民的宪法,而非仅仅是一部欧洲国家间的宪法,也唯有如此才可能构建新的宪政秩序.而宪政法理学为我们研究欧盟立宪问题提供了概念分析工具.     

《联合国反腐败公约》视野下的受贿罪

受贿罪是我国刑法中的一个重点罪名,也是刑事司法实践中一种多发性的腐败犯罪。本文以受贿罪的犯罪构成为线索,以《联合国反腐败公约》为视角,提出刑法规定应该扩大我国受贿罪犯罪主体的范围,扩大"贿赂"的范围,取消"为他人谋取利益"这一犯罪构成要件。