Intergovernmental Conference Research Articles

Constitutional Dynamics in the European Union: Success, Failure, and Stability of Institutional Treaty Revisions

ABSTRACTDespite high institutional hurdles for constitutional change, one observes surprisingly many EU treaty revisions. This article takes up the questions of what determines whether a treaty provision is successfully changed and why provisions are renegotiated at subsequent Intergovernmental Conferences. The article presents an institutionalist theory explaining success and renegotiation and tests the theory using all core institutional provisions by means of Qualitative Comparative Analysis. The causal analysis shows that low conflict potential of an issue is sufficient for successfully changing the treaties. Furthermore, high conflict potential of an issue and its fundamental change are sufficient for it to be renegotiated.

On Cross-Border Languages and Cross-Border Collaboration between Malawi and Mozambique

Abstract: One glaring consequence of colonial history is the placement of people speaking one language into different countries. Mozambique is no exception in this regard. With reference to one of its neighbours, Malawi, the two countries have languages such as Chichewa (also known as Chinyanja), Chilomwe, Chisena, and Chiyao cutting across their borders. The two countries, however, differ in terms of the statuses and degrees of corpus-planning treatment given to the cross-border languages. For example, the two countries use different orthographies for their cross-border languages. Another profound difference is that the language known as Chichewa in Malawi is called Chinyanja in Mozambique and other Southern African countries. This paper observes that it is not uncommon for neighbouring countries to set up cooperation agreements to handle the effective management of cross-border resources such as water and wild life. As an analogy, this paper argues that cross-border languages are resources that also deserve cross-border cooperation or collaboration in their management and development. It is in this spirit that the 1997 Harare Intergovernmental Conference on Language Policies in Africa (UNESCO 2002) urged African countries to cooperate in the management and development of cross-border languages. The current paper observes that this cooperation is largely lacking between Malawi and Mozambique. There is, therefore, the need to increase the level of cooperation between the two countries. Attempts are made in this paper to account for the current state of affairs. In addition, the paper outlines some of the benefits that can be gained from cross-border cooperation. The current state of the cooperation on cross-border languages is then subjected to a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. The paper ends with the way forward. It has to be acknowledged at the very beginning that this paper is written from a Malawian sociolinguist’s point of view.

Imperial polities, intercolonialism, and the shaping of global governing norms: public health expert networks in Asia and the League of Nations Health Organization, 1908–37

AbstractThis article stresses the role of colonial governments, not only national sovereign states, in Asia (and to a lesser extent, Africa) at the League of Nations in shaping global governing norms. It emphasizes the significance of lateral and horizontal cooperative actions across colonial governments, especially intercolonial networks of public health experts. It argues that the League of Nations Health Organization (LNHO) accepted these intercolonial practices in Asia in the 1920s, and that this led it to recognize colonial governments as formal and legitimate units in its intergovernmental conferences held in the mid 1930s. In the process, the LNHO provided an intercolonial channel for ‘national’ experts from colonial Asia to participate directly in regional and global governing norm-making processes. In turn, this highlights both the ambiguous nature of national experts and the intercolonial legacy in international health programmes in developing countries in the post-war period.

Sõdadevaheline vene emigratsioon suures ilmas ja väikeses Eesti / Interwar Russian Emigration in the Larger World and "Little Estonia"

Sõdadevaheline vene emigratsioon suures ilmas ja väikeses Eesti / Interwar Russian Emigration in the Larger World and "Little Estonia"

The foundations of environment in Quran with a review of seven United Nations Conferences on the environment

Although scientists have felt the dangers of environmental degradation from a long time ago and were sure about its’ adverse consequences and the need to change human behavior towards the only livable plant, But in the past four decades have taken practical steps through numerous international and Inter-governmental conferences and sometimes implementation of their decisions. Meanwhile, Quran as the holy book of Muslims with a quarter of the global population, has refered to fundamental issues in relation to the environment, human and creation of the universe, that could be the basis of different environmental policies in the Muslim world and can be used as the agenda for their representatives in these communities. The purpose of this paper is to get acquainted with environmental concepts in the Quran and adapting them with seven international environmental conferences since 1972. Research method is descriptive and documental analytical referring to the final statement of conferences and searchig Quran and based on the authentic interpretations of texts and translations with deductive approach.

The Genesis of Protocol 36

Protocol 36 on transitional provisions was annexed to the EU Treaties at the Intergovernmental Conference of 2007, which negotiated the Lisbon Treaty, in order to organise the transition between the previous EU and EC Treaties and the Treaties as amended by the Lisbon Treaty. This contribution concentrates on why and how Article 9 of Protocol 36 – on keeping the legal effects of acts adopted under the legal regime of the previous TEU – and Article 10 – on the 5-year transitional period regarding the Court of Justice powers on the police and criminal justice acquis and on the UK block opt-out from that acquis – were drafted and negotiated. It also clarifies the meaning of these Articles and what such an arcane neologism as “lisbonisation” means.

A review of status of living languages of African origin

The colonial powers subjected the African states to adopting the imported languages, for examples, Arabic, English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish; as the only official languages in different African countries. This created a language barrier and led to the official language problem in the continent. The Organisation of the African Unity (OAU) proposed the replacement of imported languages to Africa by living languages of African origin, since 1986. This was not practicable and there was no way the OAU's proposal could resolve the language barrier and the official language problem in the continent because the imported languages were already part of the language situation in the continent. There was a decisive shift in the 1997 Harare Intergovernmental Conference on Language Policies in Africa when the language specialists recommended that the imported languages should be accepted as part of the language situation in Africa. The African Union succeeded the OAU in 2002; and it established an Academy of African Languages and its statutes were adopted in January 2006.Today, the statutes have completed eight years, but only few African countries have considered the official status of living languages of African origin, and the language barrier still haunts the continent. This paper focuses on the review of the living languages of African origin and their official status in Africa. The review shows that the colonial hard and global soft powers surpassed the African Union power. Therefore, the African Union should strengthen its power to address the language barrier in the continent.

The European People’s Party and the Amsterdam Treaty

JEIH Journal of European Integration History , Seite 269 - 286

Recent European Union initiatives in support for languages

Council of Europe project: Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants (LIAM)The Language Policy Unit of the Council of Europe has undertaken an extensive project on the linguistic integration of adult migrants (LIAM), which is reflected in a well populated website.1 This reflects the rapidly changing patterns of migration and the concerns of European countries for the linguistic implications that are being experienced by public institutions. The aim of the project is to support member states in developing language integration policies and practices based on shared fundamental values - respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law.The project draws findings from three substantial surveys conducted by the Language Policy Unit in 2008, 2010 and 2013.2 The results formed the basis of discussions in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and recommendations in which member states were invited to reappraise their approach to integration tests by evaluating their long-term effectiveness as a tool for efficient, sustainable and user-friendly integration. The issues were discussed at an intergovernmental conference in June 2014, where serious reservations were aired about language tests as a means of promoting integration. The conference report gives a full summary of the deliberations.3The project has produced two very useful short publications.4 The first, subtitled From one country to another, from one language to another, offers a collection of texts proposing specific measures member states can take to help adult migrants become acquainted with the language of the host country. Its main focus is on organising language courses that meet migrants' real communication needs. The second brochure, subtitled Guide to policy development and implementation, is aimed at policy makers. It provides a range of advice and information about resources that are available to enable public institutions to address the expectations of migrants and of the host society.The report on the 2013 survey, published in December 2014, builds on the two previous surveys, and provides information on language requirements and course provision in member states. It shows a steady increase in the number of countries enacting legislation to make language proficiency a requirement for residence, citizenship, and, in some cases, entry. It notes 'a disquieting variation in the range of proficiency levels required' and differences in policies for the provision of learning support and for language testing. The editors suggest 'in some cases that language requirements aim at hindering migration and/ or integration rather than facilitating integration'.The 68-page report outlines the methodology of the survey and gives details of changes in legislation in recent years. It also outlines some of the factors at work. The following is extracted from the Conclusion (pp. 31-32).5Report on Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants:ConclusionThe main conclusion is that knowledge of the host country's language is relevant more with regard to residence and citizenship together than to one or other of these two administrative categories. In most cases, knowledge of the language is required for residence, and sometimes even admission, and for acquisition of citizenship. This applies to 19 countries, mostly in western Europe, or over half of the 36 countries which took part in the survey in 2013. Nine of them have extended the obligation to demonstrate knowledge of their language to admission to the country.Another notable trend is an apparent increase in the amount of legislation concerning language requirements from 2009 to 2013 compared with the previous period (2007-2009). From 2007 to 2009, three new laws were passed concerning admission to countries, five concerning residence and three concerning citizenship, making a total of 11 new laws. The figure rose to 18 for the period from 2009 to 2013, with nine new laws planned after 2013. …

THE ENLARGEMENT POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS LINK WITH THE EXTERNAL DIMENSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON THE TURKISH CASE

One of the primary themes which occupies the agenda of the European Union is the issue of enlargement. After the accession of Austria, Finland, and Sweden in 1995, the Union is faced with the task of making a decision concerning the member- ship of applicant Central, Eastern, and Southern European countries. Following, the conclusion of the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference, the enlargement negotiations with Cyprus and possibly Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, are due to start. (i.e. Malta withdrew its application following the change of government in the general electrions of 26.1 0.1996). In this context, Turkey occupies a unique position. It con- cluded an association agreement with the European Community in 1963 which is much earlier than the other applicant countries. However, especially after 1989, Tur- key has fallen behind in the list of potential members to the Union. While the acces- sion of Cyprus, and the Central and Eastern European Countries is only a matter of time, Turkey's membership does not seem likely to happen. One of the main argu- ments put forth against the Turkish application is Turkey's poor human rights record. In this context, the article tries to explore the significance of human rights considera- tions in the European Union's enlargement process by way of referring to the conclu- sions of the European Council meetings, and attempts at stressing the importance of improving the human rights situation in Turkey in order to develop Turkey-European Union relations.

AB GELECEĞİNİ ARIYOR: AB Konvansiyonu

The European Union has stepped up through a phase in which Single European Act, the EU Treaty, Amsterdam Treaty and Nice Treaty became important landmarks. Together with the Rome Treaty these establishing treaties put objectives and destination of the Union, which are well-known characteristics of the EU, -like peace and solidarity expressed in the preamble of the Rome Treaty and the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law on which the Union 'is founded'. However, there had been a question regarding the methods and means of this ongoing intensive progress. Which methods/means could be employed or applied to achieve these objectives? The Union has taken necessary initiative and amended the Treaties by way of Intergovernmental Conferences for a long time. As this method got many criticisms because o f lack o f legitimacy, the Conventions have formed to discuss and to work on the matters regarding the future of the EU. The Conventions submits drafts or proposals for the matters outlined by the European Council to the next /GC which would make amendments to the Treaties. First Convention was gathered in year 2000 and worked on a Charter o f Fundamental Rights o f the EU and The European Commission, The European Council and The European Parliament proclaimed it. Second Convention, The Convention of the Future of the EU, started to work in February 2002 to submit proposals on the issues pointed by Leaken European Council to 2004 IGC. This article is about this second Convention.

Proteção social aos idosos: concepções, diretrizes e reconhecimento de direitos na América Latina e no Brasil

O artigo tem por objetivo percorrer o processo de constituição e concretização do sistema de proteção social na América latina e nele localizar as medidas específicas de proteção social, adotadas pelo governo brasileiro, no atendimento das demandas da população idosa. Escolheu-se como marco histórico de análise da realidade latino-americana, a I Conferência Intergovernamental sobre Envelhecimento na América Latina e Caribe, realizada pela Comissão Econômica Para a America latina e Caribe -CEPAL, em novembro/2003, em Santiago no Chile, como síntese das medidas de proteção social que vem sendo destinadas pelos países do continente ao segmento social idoso. Para a experiência brasileira elegeu-se como marco as prerrogativas legais relacionadas aos direitos dos idosos e à Seguridade Social implementadas a partir dos anos de 1990. São abordadas as concepções sobre proteção social e envelhecimento, encaradas como direito e conquista da civilização humana no século 21.

Science and education across cultures: another look at the Negev Bedouins and their environmental management practices

This is a rejoinder to the original article written by Wisam Sedawi, Orit Ben Zvi Assaraf, and Julie Cwikel about waste-related implication on the welfare of children living in the Negev’s Bedouin Arab community. More specifically, the authors discuss the role of environmental education in the improvement of participants’ life conditions. They do so by analyzing the impact of current precarious waste management practices on children’s health and proposing the implementation of a science study unit in school that could assist them in dealing with the problem. My argument here is divided in three parts: first, based on the original article’s information, I comment on some important characteristics of those unrecognized settlements and their waste production practices; second, I try to determine what kind of environmental education—if any—is necessary in that context to promote the desired changes put forward by the authors; and third, I adopt a cross-cultural approach to science and environmental literacy as means to provoke readers to consider the scientific value (often neglected) of traditional knowledge in attempting to solve the issues described in the original paper. In addition, both the Tbilisi Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education (1977) and the Treaty on Environmental Education for Sustainable Societies and Global Responsibility (1992) are used to support my argument, which also encompasses the concept of empowerment. Ultimately, bridging the Bedouin’s traditional knowledge and Western modern science can help to improve science education at the school level in the unrecognized township under study by linking present and past in search of a more sustainable and peaceful future.

O percurso da sustentabilidade do desenvolvimento: aspectos históricos, políticos e sociais

O presente artigo objetiva realizar uma revisão teórica sobre os principais acontecimentos que culminaram na gênese da consciência ambiental no mundo moderno. Assim, faz um conciso resgate histórico e político das conferências intergovernamentais sob os auspícios da ONU desde 1970, passando pela Conferência de Estocolmo, Rio-92 e, por fim, a recente Rio+20. Além disso, aponta os principais entraves, desafios e contradições impostos à consecução da sustentabilidade como propósito planetário. A compreensão dos processos que culminaram no surgimento da problemática ambiental em nível global, a partir da historicidade da sustentabilidade, assim como as medidas adotadas para enfrentamento da crise socioambiental, representa um passo fundamental a todo pesquisador da área, a fim de se evitar enfoques imprecisos da questão. Trata-se de uma leitura necessária aos que adentram nas discussões sobre a sustentabilidade do desenvolvimento, quer nos níveis local, regional, nacional ou mundial. Entender criticamente os processos históricos, políticos e sociais da sustentabilidade possibilitará ultrapassar uma visão fragilizada, míope e equívoca na análise, abordagem e tratamento das mazelas socioambientais na modernidade.

European Power by Design

Veto Power: Institutional Design in the European Union. By Jonathan B. Slapin. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2011. 184 pp., $58.93 hardcover (ISBN-13: 978-0-472-11793-2). Security Integration in Europe: How Knowledge-Based Networks Are Transforming the European Union. By Mai'a K. Davis Cross. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2011. 281 pp., $52.02 hardcover (ISBN-13: 978-0-472-11789-5). Jonathan B. Slapin's book Veto Power: Institutional Design in the European Union and Mai'a K. Davis Cross' book Security Integration in Europe: How Knowledge-Based Networks Are Transforming the European Union address fundamental questions about how, when and why integration happens in the European Union (EU). While Slapin focuses on the institutional foundation of incentives and regimes in the European Union, Cross focuses on the importance of shared ideas, persuasion, and perception for the creation of regimes and the actual work inside EU institutions. Slapin's book is, first and foremost, a book about European integration. As such, it contributes to the literature on the evolution of institutional development in that region. Slapin's study adds to the already rich field of historical institutional analysis of EU governance structures by looking specifically at the intergovernmental conferences, the forums where EU members negotiate their treaties. These conferences establish the rules that govern work that takes place within all of the other structures and institutions that govern the European Union on a daily basis. Slapin likens these understudied formative moments to constitutional conventions for EU members. Slapin examines the interactions between sovereign states in these conferences as they battle for the “EU's grand bargains” (p. 5)—the-rules-that-will-set-the-rules—in what seems to be a classic international bargaining and alliance-building situation. Slapin's work makes a contribution to the literature on international negotiations: particularly the development of norms and regimes, and the crafting of agreements among sovereign states in particular issue areas (see Krasner 1983; Young 1989; Ostrom 1990; and Gowa's 1995 work on regimes, governing the commons, and negotiations to establish international trade agreements). Because Slapin sees the veto power in intergovernmental conferences (IGCs) as key to explaining the relative success small states have had in negotiating the rules that govern EU countries (despite their clear …

Hospitality in geopolitics and the making of Commonwealth international relations

Hospitality is an important part of geopolitical practice. This paper focuses on the welcome given to Commonwealth dignitaries in London, UK in the 1950s and 1960s, and at an intergovernmental conference in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1979, in order to highlight the centrality of hospitality to post-colonial international diplomacy. These examples illuminate four key contributions that a focus on hospitality can make to our understandings of geopolitics more broadly. First, they point to the role of the welcome, hospitality and the host in staging political relations, and to the value of attending to hospitality that is conditional and instrumental in our research. Second, they highlight the need to go beyond the current focus on violence and exclusion in critical geopolitics, by illuminating the role of welcoming performances in a range of geopolitical contexts. Third, they elucidate a different set of spaces – bars, clubs, hotels and tourist sites – that form an integral, but often overlooked, component of political practice. Fourth, drawing on a broad range of literatures, including those around commercial relations, the paper proposes that hospitality – in contrast to dominant conceptualisations as either ethico-political position or embodied, economic and instrumental practice – is better understood as always moving and shifting between these poles. These contributions advance the field of critical geopolitics by highlighting international relations as performance: a conceptualisation that makes space for diplomatic labour, the construction of atmosphere, and the often uneven power relations that such performances embody.

British Irish Institutional Structures: Towards a New Relationship

Growing institutional cooperation between the Republic of Ireland and the UK, initially directed explicitly at resolution of the Northern Ireland conflict, has taken the form of three parallel institutional structures. First, an Anglo-Irish (later, British–Irish) Intergovernmental Conference has dealt with matters relating to the government of Northern Ireland in areas to which power is not devolved, and with certain other ‘sovereign’ matters. Second, a British–Irish Council links not just the two sovereign governments but also the devolved institutions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Third, a matching British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly provides common ground for representatives of the legislative bodies of the same jurisdictions. The paper tracks the evolution of these structures, and assesses the significance of the new institutions for the British–Irish relationship.

“Perhaps I’m a Don Quixote but I’m Trying to Be a Paul Revere”: Irving Fisher as a Public Intellectual

The American economist Irving Fisher (1867-1947) combined his work as a scientific economist, addressed to his fellow economists, with sustained and vigorous participation in public discourse, trying to change public policy and to reform attitudes and behavior by teaching policymakers and the public what Fisher regarded as the lessons of economic science. Fisher’s dissertation, on general equilibrium analysis, was removed from political debate, but early works such as “The Mechanics of Bimetallism” (1894) and Appreciation and Interest (1896) responded to contemporary agitation. Fisher’s struggle with tuberculosis (from 1898 to 1904) led him to dedicate himself to using the light of academic research to improve life beyond the ivory tower. He campaigned for better health, advocating a national Department of Health, writing a government report on national vitality and a best seller, How to Live (twenty-one editions from 1915 to 1945, and 12 to 15 million copies of an abridgement distributed by Metropolitan Life), as well as three books opposing repeal of Prohibition. Fisher’s 1890 paper “A League for Peace,” reprinted in the New York Times in August 1914 and then as a pamphlet by the Church Peace Union, was followed by two books and many articles by Fisher urging US entry into the League of Nations. Fisher’s efforts to educate the public about “money illusion” led him for several years to write a weekly newspaper column to accompany the announcement of the weekly price index calculated by his Index Number Institute. Fisher’s simultaneous pursuit of several reform and scientific projects sometimes got in the way of each other, as in 1912 when his campaigns for an international conference on the cost of living and an international society for the promotion of mathematics and statistics in economics coincided with his promotion of his “compensated dollar” plan to stabilize price levels by varying the gold price of currencies, provoking suspicion that his proposed intergovernmental conference and scholarly society were intended to promote his monetary plan. In addition to his speaking tours and his writings in the popular press, Fisher also provided much advice (much of it unsolicited, and not all of it welcome) to US and foreign governments on monetary reform, stabilization, public health, and world peace, and dabbled in politics. He also proposed a world map projection, a new calendar, and eugenic arguments for restricted immigration. Described in a chapter title in R. L. Allen’s biography of Fisher as “Theorist, Reformer, Loser,” Fisher became much better known as a public figure than other leading US academic economists of his time, making and then losing a public reputation as well as a private fortune in the booms of the 1920s and subsequent crash. Fisher’s high-profile use of his authority as a recognized academic expert to intervene in public discourse, both on subjects within his professional competence (e.g., price-level stabilization) and on unrelated subjects (e.g., dietary reform), provoked heated contemporary debate, especially after his disastrous 1929 prediction of stock prices.

Of Gay Rights and Christmas Ornaments: The Political History of Sexual Orientation Non‐discrimination in the Treaty of Amsterdam

AbstractThis article asks why sexual orientation was included in the anti‐discrimination clause of the Treaty of Amsterdam (Article 13) in the absence of active support within the Council of Ministers and even though few Member States had established it as protected ground prior to the intergovernmental conference. A detailed historical analysis reveals how the European Parliament (EP) gradually developed into the hub of a transnational advocacy network that promoted gay rights to the European Commission and the Council. The dynamics of the intergovernmental conference enabled the EP to introduce sexual orientation into the treaty‐making process, while the use of naming‐and‐shaming tactics vis‐à‐vis the Dutch Presidency secured the ground's final inclusion. This political history has theoretical implications since it presents a challenge to extant liberal intergovernmentalist and institutionalist analyses of the Amsterdam Treaty and suggests that the EP should be afforded more attention by neofunctionalist scholars.

Political and Economic Integration in the EU: The Case of Failed Tax Harmonization

AbstractThe European Union (EU) tax mandate remains narrow. That there was only a limited transfer of tax authority to the EU exemplifies the failure of political and fiscal integration. Using a political economy framework, this article analyzes why the heads of state rejected tax harmonization proposals in the intergovernmental conferences. The presented findings of the original data on the Maastricht, Nice and Lisbon negotiations support the main hypothesis derived from the theoretical framework – namely that resistance against tax harmonization came predominantly from low‐tax countries. Moreover, the results indicate that after the accession of the central and eastern European countries the prospects of harmonizing tax policy starkly decreased. The analysis shows that tax heterogeneity and the enlargements have negative effects on tax integration. Based on the empirical findings and the theoretical framework, the article concludes by discussing how the creation of the monetary union restructured the politics of tax Europeanization and fiscal integration.