From “partnership” to “principled pragmatism”: tracing the discursive practices of the High Representatives in the EU’s relations with the Southern Mediterranean

ABSTRACT

The EU’s relations with countries in the Southern Mediterranean have a long history as the region is of great strategic importance for the Union and its member states. The High Representatives of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy have been highly involved in shaping these relations, and this role has been officially strengthened with institutional changes brought about with the Lisbon Treaty. This article analyses the role of the HR/VPs in shaping the EU's foreign and security policy towards the region with an analytical focus on discursive practice. Drawing on insights from practice theory in IR and EU studies, the analysis traces continuity and change in how the Southern Mediterranean is described in the drafting of key strategic documents. The main finding is that EU foreign and security policy towards the Southern Mediterranean shows a high degree of continuity despite several crises and institutional changes, although the discursive practices have evolved. The article ends by highlighting a conundrum that the EU can be said to implicitly acknowledge: if authoritarian states in the Southern Mediterranean are inherently unstable, yet stable enough to quench the democratic aspirations of their people, then what should be the basis for EU actions?     

The hybrid role of the High Representative in the security and defence field: more in 10 months than in the 10 years?

ABSTRACT

Despite a growing “momentum” on European Union (EU) security and defence, there are no academic analyses that aim to systematically assess the role of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission (HR/VP) in these strategic domains. This is surprising given that the HR/VP is one of the central actors in the complex institutional architecture of EU security and defence. To fill this gap in the scholarly literature and to contribute to a more fine-grained analysis of the two post-Lisbon Treaty HR/VPs, the article assesses Ashton and Mogherini’s mandates in these fields. This study is particularly relevant because the HR/VP’s hybrid institutional role may represent a unique analytical angle to investigate a formally intergovernmental sector, strongly shaped also by EU institutions’ authority over defence-industrial policy. Following these considerations, the article looks at how the two HR/VPs managed to navigate both the military and the defence-industrial dimensions of EU security and defence.     

代表性官僚:公共行政理论与研究方法的述评

代表性官僚(representative bureaucracy),因其涉及政策执行过程中公共资源向长期弱势的群体(例如少数族裔、女性)倾斜进而达到提升社会公平公正的目的,成为公共行政学科理论前沿的重要课题之一。自1944年Donald Kingsley的《代表性官僚》成书以来,公共行政学界极大地推进了对该理论的研究,包括深入探讨官僚代表性与社会影响的因果机制,并通过严谨的社会科学研究方法提供丰富的实证证据。本文深入地评述了代表性官僚理论的主要定义、概念与假设,并创新性地对近年来代表性官僚理论的新近研究成果按照三个模块进行系统的整理:被代表群体的社会或身份特征,被动性与主动性代表之间的转化和制约条件,以及检测理论问题的研究方法和设计。与此同时,本文也对代表性官僚在中国语境下的理论探索与实证研究的发展进行了梳理。     

Shadow peacebuilders and diplomatic counterinsurgencies: informal networks,knowledge production and the art of policy-shaping

ABSTRACT

This article explores the role of informal networks in producing strategic knowledge and influencing policy responses to the 2011 post-election crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The analytical focus is on networks of shadow peacebuilders, defined as actors who are often not visible to the public and who promote a mix of altruistic and personal interests of their broader network by generating strategic narratives and influencing peacebuilding policy. As this article shows, shadow peacebuilders engage in diplomatic counterinsurgencies waged by means of diplomacy, politics, public relations and legal means. Strategic narratives are instrumental in legitimizing diplomatic counterinsurgency, inducing internal cohesion within the network and delegitimizing alternative narratives and policy solutions. Yet the production of strategic knowledge by shadow peacebuilders has its limitations. When the gap between strategic narrative and actions becomes too big, the network risks fragmentation and defeat by other networks that promote alternative strategic narratives and paths of action in the battle over control of peacebuilding policy.     

A new barrier to participation: Heterogeneous application of voter identification policies

In democratic societies there is a tension between maximizing ballot access and minimizing voter fraud. Since the 2000 presidential election, this tension has been central to discussions about election reform at the national, state, and local level. We examine this tension by focusing on the implementation of voter identification laws in one state that has experienced significant issues in recent elections, and that is currently implementing election reform: New Mexico. We hypothesize that Hispanic voters are more likely to show some form of identification than other types of voters. Using a voter data set from New Mexico's First Congressional District in the 2006 election, we find that Hispanic, male and Election Day voters are more likely to show some form of identification than non-Hispanic, female and early voters. In addition, using an overlapping study of Bernalillo County 2006 poll workers, which almost entirely overlaps with the First Congressional District, we find no evidence that differences in poll worker partisanship or ethnicity produce differences in voter identification procedures. Our findings suggest that broad voter identification laws, which may be applied unequally, may be perceived as discriminatory.     

强激励效应扩张:科层组织注意力分配与中国城市市政支出的“上下”竞争(1999—2010)

科层组织任务间竞争关系是国家治理结构失衡背后的科学问题。基于中国城市“逢雨必涝”的现象,从组织注意力分配的角度,对287个地级以上城市1999—2010年市政路桥和排水支出“上下”竞争的实证研究表明,中国科层组织绩效易测任务对不易测任务的争夺是权威体制下强激励效应扩张的结果。首先,权威体制背景下,强激励通过相对绩效和短期政绩信号两个机制塑造了这一竞争关系。其次,除了直接效应外,强激励还存在扩张效应——既构成(沟通系统集权化改革、本领域及其他领域组织任务注意力争夺等)强化这一争夺的因素起作用的前提,也造成了(监督方行政控制、代理方机构设置及外部事件央媒问责等)防止这一争夺的因素的失效。这一发现对现有组织理论及国家治理结构调整实践均有重要参考价值。     

民事执行担当研究--以执行程序中形式当事人的类型化适用为中心

申请执行的非实体权利归属主体构成执行程序的形式当事人,但执行当事人适格的判断,既涉及执行力的形式外观,也涉及实体正当性,需要结合适用类型予以限定,以避免对债务人双重执行。参照大陆法系"执行担当"的学说、判例以及我国实务情况,可以根据当事人、主文两项执行依据的记载要素加以判断:诉讼担当人申请执行原则上合法,股东代表诉讼的股东虽然可以启动执行,但无权受领给付;代表人诉讼的当事人执行被代表人利益目前并不适宜;对于让与未构成诉讼担当时的当事人申请执行,则可能丧失实体适格,但可以通过与受让人约定保留"收取"权能以补正。在"执行担当"与"承继执行"形成债权竞争关系时,须限定受让人举证权的同时完善诉讼救济。     

Bureaucratic Elitism in Bangladesh: The Predominance of Generalist Administrators

This article briefly examines bureaucratic elitism in Bangladesh, which basically inherited a transformed version of the British colonial administrative legacy. With its distinctiveness as a special social group, the bureaucracy maintains itself as a subsystem with pronounced autonomy. The Administrative Cadre of the civil service preserves the elitist tradition in supportive political conditions. It virtually shields itself from other functional groups and its members occupy key positions in the governmental structure and wield tremendous power and authority over policy making. Indoctrination and training is its own preserve and highly politicised groups within it regulate civil service recruitment and placements. Within the Administrative Cadre, elite integration is strong, while there is wide differentiation between this group and other cadres. Reform attempts failed to make inroads into changing bureaucratic behaviour mainly due to resistance from the elitist cadre, which remains the dominant instrument of the political executive.     

理想与现实之间——韦伯理性官僚制在中国的遭遇与发展

韦伯理性官僚制作为一种理想的组织模型,其应用对资本主义的兴起与繁荣起到举足轻重的作用。但伴随着工业文明向后工业文明的转向,现实中的官僚制呈现出许多的不足与缺憾,其本身也被看作是效率与民主的藩篱。发达资本主义国家兴起的新公共管理运动与摒弃官僚制呼声的高涨使韦伯理性官僚制面临着前所未有的冲击。但对中国现实官僚体系地考察可以得出这样的结论:理性官僚制不是多了,而是少了。因此,理性官僚制应成为现代中国官僚组织转型的目标导向。     

临时组织——一体化行政与官僚制缺陷下的组织安排

由于国家体制和赶超战略的原因,我国行政模式形成了一体化的行政模式,在这一模式的运作中,加上官僚制合理化的不足导致了临时组织的大量出现。临时组织帮助行政机构完成了多项重大社会任务,但是也带来了不良的后果:正式官僚组织的效能不足和社会与政府对临时机构的依赖性文化。因此,临时组织需要进行合理化和制度化改革。