PERFORMING ARTS MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

The aim of this article is to analyze the impact of EU cultural policies on a EUropean (capitalized "EU" meaning only EU member states) cultural identity. Although EUropean integration began as an economic project, the EU has developed more and more statelike features over time and has brought the question of democratization to the fore. Such questions, in turn, led to questions of what constitutes the EUropean demos and how to conceive of its collective identity. The EUropean identity has developed in addition and as a complement to the national identities of the member states. The article argues for EU cultural policies that foster plural, multiple, and dynamic identities instead of a unified EUropean identity. The EUropean cultural policies should not be based on assumed common roots expressed in the cultural heritage of Europe, but rather should focus on contemporary and critical cultural and artistic expressions.     

Introduction

Institutional design, structure, and processes in the European Union (EU) provide a fertile ground for studying a new model of intergovernmental and supranational cultural policymaking. In this article, the author provides a map and an analytical compass to assist researchers and practitioners in navigating the EU cultural policy labyrinth. She offers insight into how transnational cultural policymaking occurs in the EU by tracing the Culture Programme through the agenda-setting, policy formulation, policy decision, and policy implementation stages of the policy process. The author concludes by introducing an emerging process of institutionalized cultural policy transfer that appears to be developing through systematic and incremental policy transfer, policy learning, and policy convergence.     

Convergence in British Cultural Policy: The Social,the Cultural,and the Economic

It is increasingly the case that cultural policy at all levels of governance is expected to address a suite of concerns much broader than those traditionally associated with the arts and creative practice. Indeed, in many nations, including most notably Britain, the concerns of cultural policy now embrace the economic and the social, as well as the cultural. In Britain, this convergence is occurring as part of a broader policy concern to ameliorate social exclusion by providing people with opportunities to participate in the creative economy. Drawing on the findings of a major study of the factors shaping cultural policy internationally, this article identifies and maps the priorities, key intersections, and convergences associated with these priorities in British cultural policy. The article argues that, in spite of taking different forms and having varying emphases depending on the constituency and the level of governance involved, the convergence agenda currently dominating British cultural policy is nevertheless remarkably consistent in terms of the discourses surrounding culture, the remit of the cultural sphere, and strategic policy implementation.     

The Creation and Transformation of Regional Parliamentary Assemblies: Lessons from the Pan-African Parliament

This article analyses the genesis and recent evolution of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), one of the key institutions of African integration. Based on theories relating to the European Parliament, it argues that the dynamics surrounding the establishment of the PAP result from a blend of internal and external factors. On the one hand, the decision to create a PAP can be traced back to the problems of the Organisation of African Unity and to the will of African leaders to revive Pan-Africanism. On the other hand, the establishment and design of the PAP are partially inspired by international precedents such as the European Parliament. Over and above this observation, which is informed by the theory of mimetic institutionalism, the existence of regular interactions between Europe and Africa and, more generally, the outward activities of the PAP, would seem propitious to the self-assertion of this institution. Ultimately, the objective of the article is to lay the ground for a more ambitious theory of regional parliamentary assemblies.     

MP Transparency,Communication Links and Social Media: A Comparative Assessment of 184 Parliamentary Websites

Parliamentary websites (PWs) can potentially enhance the quality of government by providing information and communication links that stimulate political awareness, deliberation and participation. This article focuses on two particular uses of PWs that can facilitate communication between constituents and their Members of Parliament: provision of MP contact and background information; and links to social media. Through a seminal empirical examination of all 184 functioning lower house and unicameral PWs around the world, this study found that although PWs in wealthy democracies generally provide more MP information, the majority of PWs are deficient in providing basic MP information to citizens and utilizing linkages to social media. By contrast, some non-democratic states and newly democratized countries, especially those with compulsory voting, display a relatively high level of MP transparency and social media connectivity.     

Website accessibility and the European Union: citizenship,procurement and the proposed Accessibility Act

Websites can be accessible to all if they are designed according to certain principles. Website accessibility has long been a European Union policy priority, particularly with the growth of egovernment services and the related impact on citizenship. A number of studies, while showing some improvement in accessibility, indicate the need for accessibility improvement in relation to egovernment services. This article outlines the European Union's policies on accessible websites and the related legislation. A theme in the development of disability related Directives is fragmentation and the lack of harmonising principles. Public procurement has been used as an extremely effective tool to increase accessibility in the United States, and it is this approach that lies at the heart of the proposed Accessibility Act. This initiative seeks to harmonise standards and policies on accessibility to harness fully the power of the internal market and the commercial impetus in order to increase access. While the Accessibility Act is currently being drafted after recent public consultation, this article evaluates the potential impact it could have on the accessibility of European Union public, and ultimately, private websites.     

National interest versus the common good: The Presidency in European Council agenda setting

The European Council is an institution which brings together the Heads of State, or Governments of the European Union (EU) Member States. For the Presidency, preparing the agenda of European Council meetings involves a tension between loyalties. Existing research is divided over the question whether the Presidency pushes its domestic policy agenda on the EU level. Using empirical data on the Conclusions of European Council meetings, and national executive speeches presented annually in five Member States, this article investigates the relationship between the policy agendas of the EU and its constituent countries. It tests whether national issue attention of the Presidency holder dominates the European Council agenda. The findings suggest that having the Presidency does not provide a de facto institutional advantage for agenda setting power for any of the countries in the sample. The analysis points out that normative and political constrains limit the leeway of presiding Member States to push for domestic agenda preferences in the European Council.     

Governing the future: the European Central Bank’s expectation management during the Great Moderation

Abstract

The experience of the global financial crisis has sparked renewed interest in the role of futurity in the capitalist economy in general and in the formation and coordination of expectations under uncertainty in particular. Economic sociologists have carefully studied the ‘defuturizing’ technologies devised by private actors, but have tended to neglect the increasingly pivotal part played by central banks. Political economists have had more to say on central banks, but have focused on institutional issues rather than on the concrete practices of central banking. Making an original contribution to both literatures, this paper traces the construction and subsequent evolution, up to 2007, of the European Central Bank’s communicative apparatus. Drawing on official documents and on interviews with both ECB staff and market participants, the paper shows how this apparatus created the conditions for the formation and coordination of private sector expectations. The insights from this empirical analysis into the performative dimensions of ‘credibility’ and ‘knowledge’ in monetary governance contribute directly to ongoing debates about the recent extension of the ECB’s communicative apparatus through forward guidance and quantitative easing.     

Upgrading the ‘software’: The EU–Korea Free Trade Agreement and sociocultural barriers to trade and investment

Abstract

In October 2010, the European Union (EU) and the Republic of Korea signed a free trade agreement that went into effect in July 2011 and aims to increase levels of bilateral trade and investment by dismantling existing tariff and non-tariff barriers. In this article, we highlight the importance of a third class of barriers: social, cultural and institutional barriers to trade with and investment in Korea that cannot be legislated for under the new agreement but that can serve as ‘hidden stumbling blocks’ to its implementation and effectiveness. We argue that the phenomenon of ‘mismatched globalization’ (in which economic globalization outpaces cultural globalization) is still apparent in Korea, as evidenced by the continuing existence of these ‘soft’ barriers which include, inter alia, the gap between policy and implementation; the lack of predictability, consistency and transparency in the regulatory environment (including IPR protection); education systems; labour militancy; and attitudes towards globalization. These findings resonate with Dent's (2006 Dent, C. M. 2006. New Free Trade Agreements in the Asia-Pacific, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) argument that ‘deficient capacity’ in terms of technocracy, industry and/or institutional arrangements can pose problems for developing countries seeking to negotiate and implement bilateral trade agreements with more developed countries. In the case of Korea, the long-term ‘soft’ social, cultural and institutional barriers identified and discussed in this article act as a constraint on the country's institutional capacity functions and thus have the potential to hinder the full and effective implementation of the EU–Korea Free Trade Agreement and reduce the economic benefits that the signatory parties hope to gain from it.     

International relations in China and Europe: the case for interregional dialogue in a hegemonic discipline

Abstract

The international relations (IR) discipline is known as an ‘American Social Science’ dominated by scholars and theories from the US core. This paper compares IR in two noncore settings, China and Europe. It shows that there is a growing institutional and intellectual integration into global Anglophone, mostly American, IR in both Europe and China. Both Chinese and European IR communities have established top Anglophone journals like the European Journal of International Relations and the Chinese Journal of International Politics to spearhead their integration into mainstream Anglophone IR and carve out a space for regional thinking. Yet, the analysis of their publication and citation patterns shows that IR outside the American core communicates through a hub-and-spokes system where there is always a connection to the American core but rarely very strong linkages to other peripheral regions. The two journals studied thus function as outlets for ‘local’ and American scholars, rely on ‘local’ and American sources, and there is very little integration and exchange between Chinese and European IR. Chinese and European IR would benefit from such a dialogue, especially regarding ‘schools’ of IR at the margins of an ‘American social science’.