The influence of EU officials in European Security and Defence

Abstract

European Union (EU) foreign policy has long been considered the domaine réservé of the member states. This article challenges such conventional state-centered wisdom by analyzing the influence of the Brussels-based EU officials in the Common Security and Defence Policy. Using four case studies and data from 105 semi-structured interviews, it shows that EU officials are most influential in the agenda-setting phase and more influential in civilian than in military operations. Their prominence in agenda-setting can be explained by their central position in the policy process. This allows them to get early involved in the operations. The absence of strong control mechanisms and doctrine in civilian crisis management gives them opportunities to affect civilian missions. Finally, EU officials direct civilian operations from Brussels, whereas the command of military operations is with the member states and NATO.     

Explaining institutional Europeanisation in security and defence: the German administration under Schröder and Merkel

Abstract

Participating in EU crisis management operations has affected institutional actors on various levels. As the main deliverers of civilian and military resources to EU operations, national ministries and agencies have been particularly confronted with the need for administrative adaptation. A big member state like Germany is expected to make substantial contributions, but it also faces a rigid administration. This article uses a combined hypothesis of historical institutionalism and organisational learning to explain administrative Europeanisation in German government institutions involved in civilian and military crisis management deployments. The empirical data on the German administrative trajectories under Schröder and Merkel show an explanatory link between political learning and overcoming institutional path dependency.     

Introduction to Kirchheimer

Mainly through examining an essay by Iris Marion Young on policy and treatment for pregnant drug users, I compare the feminist ethic of care with the ethics of Michel Foucault, which, I argue, are founded upon the value of freedom. I find several contradictions in Young's work. She criticizes universalization, but does not avoid it herself; she espouses the value of freedom, yet wants the other to conform to her own values. I argue that the problem lies in Young's liberal-humanist understanding of freedom and its relation to ethics. Foucault's understanding of freedom is a sounder base for an ethics, and this provides needed support for the concept of caring. It also yields new perspectives on social problems such as drugs.     

Reforming the French welfare state: Solidarity,social exclusion and the three crises of citizenship

The article explores recent debates about citizenship and social provision in France. It examines the essential concepts comparable to ‘social citizenship’, as understood in British debates, and the role that they have played in the development of the French welfare state. Its conclusions are threefold. First, social provision in France is founded on the principle of solidarité, which holds that all citizens face a series of social risks (unemployment and illness) that make them dependent on one another. Second, as the traditional insurance principle (the core of the French welfare state) is founded on socio‐economic conditions (concerning the nature of social interdependence and social risk) that no longer exist, the emergence of these social ills has led to not one but three crises of citizenship: a crisis of coverage, of legitimacy and of participation. Third, while it is too early to draw definitive conclusions, recent policy reforms suggest that the difficulties faced by French welfare are encouraging moves towards the British model of tax‐based (rather than insurance‐based) financing of social provision.     

Territorial nationalism in spatial rivalries: An institutionalist account of the argentine‐chilean rivalry

The rivalry concept explored in the conflict literature during the past decade offers considerable potential for theory building in international relations. This paper explores one possible avenue to this end by applying insights from historical institutionalism to a case of spatial rivalry in order to explain many of the findings from the quantitative literature. As I demonstrate in this paper, the focus on issues is a good start at explaining rivalry, yet it masks important underlying domestic processes that initiate, maintain, and terminate rivalries. I explain how the “issue” of territory came to be fused with national identity in the case of Argentina‐Chile resulting in a history of conflict and classification as an enduring rivalry. I draw on this case to argue that territorial nationalism may explain why seemingly disparate territorial conflicts separated by time and space can be considered linked to form a spatial rivalry.     

试论《红楼梦》对《西厢记》《牡丹亭》女性意识的继承和发展

中国古代的许多小说、戏曲不同程度地体现出了以尊重女性、追求女性独立和婚恋自由为主要内容的女性意识.<红楼梦>作为中国古典文学的一座丰碑,不仅很好地承续了<西厢记><牡丹亭>所体现的较先进的女性意识,而且达到了中国古代文学女性意识表现的最高峰.这三部作品所体现的女性意识,主要是通过女主人公的形象塑造完成的.崔莺莺重爱情轻功名,体现了女性意识的初步觉醒;杜丽娘为情而死、为情复生,体现了女性意识的进一步张扬.林黛玉蔑视功名利禄,要求独立自由,看似柔弱,实则坚韧,其女性意识是对崔莺莺、杜丽娘的继承和超越.     

Committed to Coordination? Intergovernmental Councils as a Federal Safeguard

In this research note, I suggest that the design of intergovernmental councils (IGC) accounts for the extent to which they are able to prevent the federal government from encroaching on subnational jurisdictions. IGC operate in areas of interdependence where the federal government faces incentives to restore to hierarchical coordination. The effect of the intergovernmental safeguard is measured by the absence or presence of federal encroachment. Two concepts are useful to explain it: the extent to which governments are committed to coordination and the dominance of the federal government of vertical IGC. I argue that different combinations of the two variables help to understand the safeguarding effect of intergovernmental councils. In particular, I contend that in any configuration in which federal dominance is present the federal government can encroach on subnational jurisdictions. The research note shows how the concept of federal safeguards can be applied empirically.     

Is social concertation a viable alternative under globalization? Reconsidering the case of Ireland

By exploring how the Irish social partnership was established and evolved, this article highlights the validity of a social concertation model, and takes a critical look at hasty attempts to identify the causes of its breakdown. The article holds that the collapse of Irish social partnership in the current economic crisis does not suggest the irrelevancy of social concertation under globalization, as neoliberals argue, nor does it confirm a predetermined path generated by the absence of supportive institutions or the structural nature of neoliberal social partnership. To the contrary, the social concertation model remains viable as an alternative to the neoliberal free market under globalization, and it can be used even in the absence of strong institutional arrangements. Contesting the accounts of neoliberals and Marxist-inspired structuralists, the article argues that social partnership has achieved a greater success in Ireland than neoliberal Britain, under similar globalization challenges. Against institutionalist accounts, it holds that social partnership was able to survive over two decades even in the absence of supportive corporatist institutions. The article's core argument is that domestic politics, rather than institutional and structural determinism, are needed to form social consensus in building and sustaining social concertation.     

浅析西方政府规制的典型研究路径

政府规制研究在英、美等发达国家起源较早,且已成为诸多学科共同关注的课题。本文根据众多西方学者对这一问题的研究成果,分析了三种典型的研究路径,即公共选择分析、制度主义分析以及公法或行政法分析。不同的研究路径从不同的视角对政府规制的现象做出了系统的解释,也为改善政府规制的实践提供了许多有益的解决方案。     

规范制度主义理论评析

20世纪80年代,马奇与奥尔森关于重新发现制度重要性的思想标志着新制度主义思潮的兴起。马奇与奥尔森强调组织规范与价值对人的行为的影响,其思想也被称作"规范制度主义"。规范制度主义的理论构建主要包括规范性制度、内生性秩序、决定性价值、整合性组织与恰适性逻辑五个方面。规范制度主义有选择地吸收了旧制度主义与行为主义政治学的研究成果,在一定程度上形成了对旧制度主义的复归与超越。