Increasingly unequal? The economic crisis,social inequalities and trust in the European Parliament in 20 European countries

The 2008/2009 economic crisis has been identified as an important element contributing to declining trust in institutions in Europe and worldwide. However, it is unclear whether this decline in trust is distributed homogenously among citizens or whether there are differences across social strata. This article applies multilevel models to six waves of European Social Survey (ESS) data to analyse changes in trust in the European Parliament (EP) from 2002 to 2012 in 20 European Union countries. Moreover, it investigates whether individuals with different socioeconomic backgrounds experienced different reductions in trust. The results indicate that trust in the EP declined the most in the peripheral European countries hit hardest by the economic crisis: Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Cyprus, Greece and Spain. Furthermore, the results suggest that the decline in trust was more pronounced among subjects with lower social status. The tightening of the link between social and political inequalities is especially preoccupying considering the importance of trust in institutions for citizens to actively participate in society, voice their needs and demand their place at the table. Hence, the worsening economic conditions, combined with declining levels of trust, are not only troublesome for the functioning of democracies as a whole, but they are also problematic at the individual level as they are likely to perpetuate the divide among subjects at different ends of the social ladder.     

The Power of Policy Regimes: Explaining Shale Gas Policy Divergence in Bulgaria and Poland

Shale gas policies vary significantly across Europe, notably in Russia‐dependent Central Eastern Europe. Most strikingly, Bulgaria banned shale gas, whereas Poland remains firmly committed to fostering it despite its drawbacks. This article uses a policy regime approach to explain the shale gas puzzle. Drawing on a large set of interviews, the piece investigates regime strength as the causal factor that explains the adoption of specific shale gas laws (Poland) or a fracking ban (Bulgaria). It finds that the Polish shale gas policy regime was strong, based on a powerful political narrative and characterized by an institutional process ensuring the buy‐in of actors from relevant policy levels and subsystems. In Bulgaria the policy regime was weak, failed to co–opt key stakeholders, and was institutionally ill‐designed. The findings show how different degrees of policy regime strength translate into diverging policy trajectories in two countries that otherwise operate in similar environments.     

How Safe Do Majority Group Members,Ethnic Minorities,and Muslims Feel in Multicultural European Societies?

London elected a Muslim mayor in 2016, less than a year after Germany took the lead in welcoming Syrian refugees. What accounts, then, for political leaders’ public assertions of the death of multiculturalism and the resurgence of far-right parties? We examine the possibility that some areas of multicultural policy foster a sense of discrimination on the part of majority populations and reduce their sense of safety, putting pressure on political leaders for assurances and providing the impetus for populist political party agendas, even to the point of Brexit. Data from the Banting/Kymlicka Multiculturalism Policy Index project and from the European Social Survey allow us to explore the impact of specific areas of multicultural policy on those who identify as majority group members, ethnic minorities, and Muslims in fourteen European states. We provide a quantitative multivariate analysis of the influence of key areas of state-level multicultural policy on individuals’ sense of being in a group that is discriminated against, as well as their feelings of safety, satisfaction with life, and satisfaction with the national government. Background factors, including respondents’ education, are controlled. For each of the three groups of respondents, the article offers conclusions as to which areas of multicultural policy seem to contribute to the most adverse reactions. Our findings help to explain the backlash against multiculturalism and the shift in focus in European states toward “mainstreaming” integration programs. They also provide a contextual background for understanding the increasing sway of rightist party demands and cautions for the development of programs to counter violent extremism.     

From Planning to Market: A Framework for Cuba

The measures introduced by Raúl Castro since 2008 and the most recent US–Cuba policy change indicate that Cuba is shifting from a planned and highly centralised state socialist economic model toward one in which economic actors and markets become main drivers of the economy. The examples of Asian and Central and Eastern European socialist countries suggest four distinguished pathways for such transition. The question is which one may provide a feasible model for Cuba. Based on the country's economic and population structure, this study places the Cuban case within the framework of socialist economic transitions and explores some policy implications.     

The practice of burden sharing in European crisis management operations

ABSTRACT

If a European organisation decides to deploy a military force in Mali or a police mission in Afghanistan, member states probably believe that collective security is a public good that benefits them all. But who will lead the mission? Who will staff it? Who will pay for it? Who will risk casualties? While rational-choice theorists expect little burden sharing, constructivists expect a great deal more insofar as normative pressures are brought to bear on governments. The problem is that it is hard to find countries that systematically eschew their responsibilities or, contrariwise, systematically contribute their fair share out of a sense of moral obligation. In this article, we analyse burden sharing as an anchoring practice, shedding light on the social logic of burden sharing rather than abstract interests or norms. Established after the end of the Second World War, the field of European security has given birth to a “community of security practice” around the more or less routine task of determining national contributions to crisis management operations. Based on interviews with practitioners from the UK, France, Germany, Norway and Ireland, we analyse the impact of intersubjectivity, power and strategic culture on the practice of burden sharing.     

Dealing with populists in government: some comparative conclusions

This conclusion summarizes the findings of the special issue and offers some comparative conclusions about what we can discover by examining the reactions to populists in government in Austria, Ecuador, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Venezuela. Looking across this set of cases, we show that there is a diverse range of reactions to populists in power in terms of the actors involved, the strategies followed and their effectiveness. We start by summarizing the main ideas advanced in the framework for analysis of the special issue. After this, an overall assessment of the effectiveness of the opposition to populists in power is presented and here we offer an overview of each case study. Finally, the article concludes by proposing some comparative points, which not only seek to capture the main findings of this special issue but also to highlight the role of populists in actively developing strategies that curtail opposition.     

The Concept of “Political Prisoner”: A Critique

The term “political prisoner” plays an important role in contemporary affairs. But how coherent is the concept behind the term, and is use of this term essentially unobjectionable? As it turns out, the most influential contemporary definitions of the concept of “political prisoner” are fundamentally flawed, and the use of the term itself may do more harm than good. One basic problem with the concept of “political prisoner” concerns the most current definitional criteria, which all prove either arbitrarily narrow or excessively broad. Even more worrisome than these definitional issues, the use of the concept contributes nothing to the moral assessment of detentions and punishment, and deflects attention from other considerations that are more relevant in evaluating their legitimacy. There is, finally, a third fundamental problem with the concept: it serves to arbitrarily privilege one class of prisoners vis-à-vis all the others.     

欧洲及东亚国家社会保障制度的比较与借鉴

健全与完善的社会保障制度在稳定社会环境、促进经济发展方面发挥着积极的作用。欧洲福利国家的社会保障制、新加坡的中央公积金制度及日本的社会保障制度都各具特色。     

波兰参与中东欧区域合作机制的策略与挑战

波兰是世界上公认的典型的“中等强国”,是中东欧区域实力最强的国家。冷战结束以来,波兰利用自己特殊的地缘优势,积极加强与中欧、东部邻国和广大中东欧国家的合作,创建或参与了“维谢格拉德集团”“东部伙伴关系”“中欧倡议国”组织“三海倡议”等合作机制,力图成为这些合作机制中的核心和引领国家,并希望借助这些合作机制,加强波兰的影响力。波兰对中东欧区域合作的积极参与和倡导,极大地加强了“大海之间”国家的合作,但由于波兰综合实力有限,加上中东欧各国的国家利益具有较大差异,并普遍存在对俄罗斯的能源依赖,波兰在实现战略目标时面临巨大的限制和挑战。如果波兰试图在区域合作中四处出击,平均用力,反而不利于其发挥“中等强国”的影响力。     

Do populist parties support referendums? A comparative analysis of election manifestos in Europe

Earlier research refers to populist parties as being advocates of a greater use of referendum. Yet, there has been no large-scale systematic test of this claim. This article addresses this gap in the literature and tests the relationship between populism and greater use for referendums in party manifestos. It analyzes 824 manifestos of 187 populist and non-populist parties in 27 Member States of the European Union between 1994 and 2018. We test if populist parties are virtually all in favor of a greater use of referendums and whether they would talk about referendums much more than non-populist parties.