Agenda-setting under pressure: Does domestic politics influence the European Commission?

The European Union (EU) has become increasingly visible and contested over the past decades. Several studies have shown that domestic pressure has made the EU's ‘electorally connected’ institutions more responsive. Yet, we still know little about how politicisation has affected the Union's non-majoritarian institutions. We address this question by focusing on agenda-setting and ask whether and how domestic politics influences the prioritisation of legislative proposals by the European Commission. We argue that the Commission, as both a policy-seeker and a survival-driven bureaucracy, will respond to domestic issue salience and Euroscepticism, at party, mass and electoral level, through targeted performance and through aggregate restraint. Building on new data on the prioritisation of legislative proposals under the ordinary legislative procedure (1999–2019), our analysis shows that the Commission's choice to prioritise is responsive to the salience of policy issues for Europe's citizens. By contrast, our evidence suggests that governing parties’ issue salience does not drive, and Euroscepticism does not constrain, the Commission's priority-setting. Our findings contribute to the literature on multilevel politics, shedding new light on the strategic responses of non-majoritarian institutions to the domestic politicisation of ‘Europe’.     

Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors Among Adolescents

The purpose of this article is to examine the self-reported sexual attitudes and behaviors of adolescents living in the Midwest. A survey was administered to 463 African American youths ages 11–19. The results indicate that intent to have sexual intercourse, reported likelihood toward having sexual intercourse, and whether participants felt that they would have sex in the next 3 months were predictors of whether they had sexual intercourse at the 3-month follow-up. The results also revealed that the opinions of referent others did not predict sexual intercourse at 3 months. Negative attitudes toward condoms did predict condom use at 3 months and the opinions of referent others also predicted condom use at 3 months. Limitations as well as future research are also discussed.     

关于加强社区青年思想政治工作的探讨

共青团加强社区青年思想政治工作就是要处理好工作的基本方式和基本内容问题。基本方式就是要做到培养社区理念与发展青年创造性相结合、强化服务与积极引导相结合、正面激励与社区救济相结合、团属工作和社会统筹相结合、项目实施和社会效益相结合、传统手段与现代工具相结合。基本内容就是要将党的基本路线方针政策与社会实际情况相结合、光荣传统与个人生活价值相结合、提高青年生活素质与社会服务相结合、参与创新与正确认识事物相结合。以便满足社区青年思想政治工作可持续发展的要求。     

高校专职团干部工作和心态综述与思考

高校团的专职干部群体人数众多,由于地区状况差异和各高校具体情况不同,他们的工作现状和心态多种多样.当前,高校团干部在工作、学习和生活中存在诸多实际问题和困难.高校及有关部门应对此给予足够重视,并从实际行动上理解、关心团干部,更好地支持高校共青团工作.     

我国青少年劳动权益法律保护之探析

青少年作为社会现实的或潜在的力量是一支不可忽视的劳动大军.但是,我国在青少年劳动权益保护方面的现状令人担忧.提高全社会对青少年劳动保护的意识,提高青少年自我保护的能力,从立法、执法上完善、落实对青少年劳动权益的法律保护,将对国家和民族未来的发展具有重要意义.     

The More the Merrier? Hungarian and Romany Minorities in Slovakia

This article discusses some important aspects of thetreatment of minorities in the Republic of Slovakia.It discusses the 1992 Constitution and subsequentdevelopments such as the State language law 1995, therestriction of political rights of Hungarians,educational policies, the setback of EU entry talks,the September 1998 general elections, the Dzurindagovernment's ``De-Meciarization', the 1999 MinorityLanguage Law, and recent electoral legislation. Thespecial condition of the Romany is considered. Theeffectiveness of international mechanisms for theprotection of minority rights (the Organisation forSecurity and Cooperation in Europe, the InternationalCovenant for Civil and Political Rights, the EuropeanConvention of Human Rights, the Framework Conventionfor the Protection of National Minorities) isassessed, as is the involvement of the EU. Finally,the role of the judiciary is reflected upon.     

Developmental Benefits of Extracurricular Involvement: Do Peer Characteristics Mediate the Link Between Activities and Youth Outcomes?

In this article, we test: (a) the relation between school-based extracurricular participation and indicators of positive and negative development across a range of activity contexts, and (b) a mediation model linking activity participation, prosocial peers, and development. Extensive survey information was collected from a predominately White sample of middle class adolescents in 9th, 10th, and 12th grades. Extracurricular participation was related to more favorable academic, psychological, and behavioral adjustment; the pattern of findings differed by activity and outcome. In addition, we documented some support for the hypothesis that the link between extracurricular participation and positive adjustment is partly a function of associating with a prosocial peer group. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are presented. Assistant Professor of Human Development, Connecticut College. Received her PhD in 1999 from the University of Michigan. Major research interests include motivation, school engagement, extracurricular participation, and adolescent development. MacKeachie Collegiate Psychology Professor, University of Michigan. Received PhD in 1974 from the UCLA. Recent work focuses on ethnicity and the transitions from middle childhood to adolescence and into adulthood.     

V.A.T., Taxation and Prostitution: Feminist Perspectives on Polok

Debates concerning the taxation of prostitution have occurred in taxation law and in feminist literature. This article will integrate the case of Polok v. C.E.C. [2002] E.W.H.C, 156; [2002] S.T.C. 361, within the feminist legal canon. The case is discussed in the context of the argument of the European doctrine of fiscal neutrality, which dictates that, regardless of legality as amongst member states, if an activity is levied to V.A.T. in one member state, V.A.T. should be levied on it in all member states. The doctrine of sovereignty accepts the possibility that the integrity of the V.A.T. system may be compromised by the levying of tax on illegal activities, in terms of the cooperation between tax and other aspects of the U.K.’s legal system. European law, feminist law, commodification and the marketplace are all considered within the context of these principles. The article also considers the place of Polok within standard feminist texts on prostitution. Different paradigms of prostitution define different aspects of prostitution as ‘problems’, and the article considers the implications within a feminist reconstruction of Polok of this. The article suggests that the challenge for a feminist analysis of Polok is to remain within the realm of European tax and competition law, and to render the perspective of the employees of the Polok taxpayers part of the substance of the deliberations of the case.     

历史演进视角下的欧盟与北约关系走向——兼析拜登当选的影响

自欧盟确立共同安全与防务政策以来,欧盟独立防务与北约之间存在着“相互替代”和“相互增强”两种论调。争论焦点在于价值观念、威胁评估和战略文化、军事和民事能力、国防工业和支出。在过去几年,欧盟与北约的关系也围绕上述四个方面发生变化。具体而言,欧盟与北约之间总体上呈现以合作为主、竞争为辅、两者同步增强的发展态势。美国新任总统拜登承诺修复美国与盟友的关系,包括进一步加强北约。同时,美、欧将在价值观念上回归“旧常态”,在威胁评估和战略文化上进一步靠拢,在民事和军事手段的运用以及增加国防工业投入上也会有更多共识和共同行动。因此,欧盟与北约的关系将进一步呈现相互增强的态势,但前提是欧盟的战略自主建设不只是出于做强自身,而是更多地为了使欧、美双方公平承担相应的责任。     

The New Zealand Model of Family Group Conferencing

The Family Group Conference (FGC) originated in New Zealand where it is the foundation stone of the Youth Justice system introduced in 1989. A significant feature of that system is the way in which it enables restorative justice principles to be implemented in an integrated manner in a statutory framework supervised by the courts and applicable to all young offenders throughout New Zealand. FGCs are used both as a diversionary technique (pre-adjudication) and at a (post-adjudication) pre-sentencing stage. In addition this type of model is now being applied in a voluntary way but on a small scale with adults. A significant feature of the FGC model is its greater use of community-based solutions with a consequent reduction in the number of young persons in state institutions.