National Executives Research Articles

A Break from the Past or Business as Usual? EU-ACP Relations at a Crossroad

Recent scholarly literature on the EU’s development policy has argued that the Union is using its provision of development cooperation to advance its geo-strategic interests. This paper investigates whether there has been an equivalent rupture with the EU’s core normative commitment, namely to conduct a human rights-based approach to development. Contrary to the hypothesis of change, I find that continuity characterises the EU’s mandate for a new partnership with the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific group of states. In fact, the EU’s commitment to a rights-based approach to development shaped the EU’s negotiating directives for a post-Cotonou agreement. In particular, the EU sought to make sure that human rights commitments in the self-standing EPA trade agreements were not lost, as these relied on references to the Cotonou-acquis. However, drawing on a concept of justice as impartiality, I also find that there are ambiguities to the EU’s rights-based approach. I find that national executives’ delegated authority to initiate and conduct dispute settlement on violations of the Cotonou-acquis comes at the cost of promoting individuals’ and civil society’s right to autonomy. Arguably, the EU’s political conditionality policy prioritises support to duty-bearers (states) to uphold their obligations over the empowerment of rights-holders (individuals) to claim their rights.

Capitalising on External Constraint: Six Things You Should Know About Eurozone Bailouts

In the last decade, five Eurozone governments in economic difficulty received assistance from international lenders on condition that certain policies specified in the Memoranda of Understanding were implemented. What room of manoeuvre did the governments of these countries have? After conditionality, to what extent were governments willing and able to roll back changes imposed on them by the international lenders? Do we find variation across governments, and if so, why? This paper addresses those questions, summarizing the main findings of our book (Moury et al. 2021) on constraints on national executives in the five bailed out countries of the Eurozone during and beyond the crisis (2008-2019). We show that, despite international market pressure and creditors’ conditionality, governments had some room for manoeuvre during a bail out and were able to advocate, resist, shape or roll back some of the policies demanded by external actors. Under certain circumstances, domestic actors were also able to exploit the constraint of conditionality to their own advantage. The paper additionally shows that after a bail-out programme governments could use their discretion to revert the measures which bring the greatest benefits at a lower cost.

Peace agreements and the institutionalisation of human rights: a multi-level analysis

ABSTRACT Parties to peace agreements have long considered human rights as central to the consolidation of peace and democracy in post-conflict settings. Yet, understanding of the formal institutional mechanisms that peace processes put in place to promote and protect human rights is rather limited. This article informs this gap using an original multi-level analysis of 126 peace agreements and three main categories of institutions involved in securing human rights implementation after conflict – international and regional institutions for promoting and protecting rights, as well as national human rights ombudsmen and commissions. We find that peace agreements localise human rights implementation after the end of conflict, relying more on national human rights institutions than international ones to monitor and implement human rights domestically and assist national executives with processes of transition away from conflict and toward liberal democracy. While regional and international institutions like the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe are included in some peace agreements, their roles are much more limited and nearly exclusively aimed at offering support to new and existing national human rights commissions. We illustrate our analysis with two case studies of peace agreements in Cambodia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Theorizing the Judicialization of International Relations

This article introduces a Thematic Section and theorizes the multiple ways that judicializing international relations shifts power away from national executives and legislatures toward litigants, judges, arbitrators, and other nonstate decision-makers. We identify two preconditions for judicialization to occur—(1) delegation to an adjudicatory body charged with applying designated legal rules, and (2) legal rights-claiming by actors who bring—or threaten to bring—a complaint to one or more of these bodies. We classify the adjudicatory bodies that do and do not contribute to judicializing international relations, including but not limited to international courts. We then explain how rights-claiming initiates a process for authoritatively determining past violations of the law, identifying remedies for those violations, and preventing future violations. Because judicializing international relations occurs in multiple phases, in multiple locations, and involves multiple actors as decision-makers, governments often do not control the timing, nature, or extent to which political and policy decisions are adjudicated. Delegation—and the associated choice of institutional design features—is thus only the first step in a chain of processes that determine how a diverse array of nonstate actors influence politically consequential decisions.

Theorizing the Judicialization of International Relations

AbstractThis article introduces a Thematic Section and theorizes the multiple ways that judicializing international relations shifts power away from national executives and legislatures toward litigants, judges, arbitrators, and other nonstate decision-makers. We identify two preconditions for judicialization to occur—(1) delegation to an adjudicatory body charged with applying designated legal rules, and (2) legal rights-claiming by actors who bring—or threaten to bring—a complaint to one or more of these bodies. We classify the adjudicatory bodies that do and do not contribute to judicializing international relations, including but not limited to international courts. We then explain how rights-claiming initiates a process for authoritatively determining past violations of the law, identifying remedies for those violations, and preventing future violations. Because judicializing international relations occurs in multiple phases, in multiple locations, and involves multiple actors as decision-makers, governments often do not control the timing, nature, or extent to which political and policy decisions are adjudicated. Delegation—and the associated choice of institutional design features—is thus only the first step in a chain of processes that determine how a diverse array of nonstate actors influence politically consequential decisions.

The changing nature and pattern of intra-party conflict in Nigeria’s fourth republic: Critical assessment of All Progressives Congress

This study is an analysis of the nature and pattern of intra-party conflict in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic with specific reference to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Intra-party conflict has been the norm in Nigerian politics leading to crises, setback and failure of many parties to forge ahead for proper democratisation in Nigeria including the ruling parties in many instances. The problem is the way in which intra-party conflict is becoming the bane of democratisation and good governance in Nigeria for many decades and despite the previous experiences, the phenomenon continued unabated. The study investigated the new dimension of intra-party conflict in Nigeria taking the APC as the case study. The study used a qualitative method of data collection and analysis. Primary and secondary sources of data were used. The primary data involved in-depth interviews with some selected informants from the relevant institutions and agencies related to the APC and the crises such as the national party executives, senior officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and academicians that are experts in the area of study. The secondary sources included were books, journals, newspapers, internets and other documented materials. The data obtained were discussed using content analysis where thematic analytical interpretations were used in the discussions. The research discovered that, the intra-party conflict under the APC has taken a new dimension where the members of the ruling party constituted an opposition and a stumbling block for the party’s progress and governance. The work recommends that intra-party conflict of APC and other Nigerian political parties can be resolved through constitutional reforms, institutionalisation of party ideology and principles as well as strict sanctions from the national party leaders. Keywords : All Progressives Congress , democracy, good governance, intra-party conflicts, Nigeria’s fourth republic, political party

The Politics of Economic LiberalizationWueest, BrunoCham, Palgrave Macmillan (2018), 169 p., ISBN 978‐3‐319‐62321‐4

The Politics of Economic LiberalizationWueest, BrunoCham, Palgrave Macmillan (2018), 169 p., ISBN 978‐3‐319‐62321‐4

Between Order and Justice: Investments in Africa and Corporate International Responsibility in Swedish Media in the 1960s

This article analyzes how the public relations of multinational companies was affected by the double impact of decolonization and spread of television during the 1960s. It contributes to recent theoretical conceptualizations of corporate social responsibility by adding the dimension of home country stakeholders and the border-crossing character of corporate responsibility. The analysis deals with the changing media representations in Sweden of Swedish-owned firms in Liberia and South Africa before, during, and after what has been called the “postcolonial moment” (1960–1963). In its wake, Swedish industrialists faced a new policy problem: firms in overseas markets were no longer expected to do only what was legal in the host country but also what was considered right in their home country. The analysis follows the debates concerning this issue of corporateinternationalresponsibility throughout the 1960s, and how national business organizations and executives in firms such as the Liberian-American-Swedish Mining Company publicly sought to defend the role of Swedish foreign direct investment in Africa. The business community developed various public relations strategies to engage with its critics, professionalized their media relations, and organized international study tours for unions and politicians.

Intra-Party Conflict and the Future of Nigerian Democracy: Examining the All Progressives Congress (APC)

This study is an analysis of the nature and pattern of intra-party conflict in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic with specific reference to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Intra-party conflict has been the norm in Nigerian politics leading to crises, setback and failure of many parties to forge ahead for proper democratisation in Nigeria including the ruling parties in many instances. The problem is the way in which intra-party conflict is becoming the bane of democratisation and good governance in Nigeria for many decades and despite the previous experiences, the phenomenon continued unabated. The study investigated the new dimension of intra-party conflict in Nigeria taking the All Progressives Congress as the case study. The study used a qualitative method of data collection and analysis. Primary and secondary sources of data were used. The primary data involved an in-depth interview with some selected informants from the relevant institutions and agencies related to the APC and the crises such as the national party executives, senior officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and academicians that are experts in the area of study. The secondary sources include books, journals, newspapers, internets and other documented materials. The data obtained were discussed using content analysis where thematic analytical interpretations were used in the discussions. The research discovered that, the intra-party conflict under the APC has taken a new dimension where the members of the ruling party constituted an opposition and a stumbling block for the party’s progress and governance. The work recommends that intra-party conflict of APC and other Nigerian political parties can be resolved through constitutional reforms, institutionalisation of party ideology and principles and strict sanctions from the national leaders of the party.

The Binding Nature and Enforceability of Hybrid Global Administrative Bodies’ Norms Within the National Legal Order: The Case Study of WADA

There is growing attention in legal scholarship for global administrative law and the changing nature of public law in general. Still, few authors have bridged the gap between hybrid global administrative bodies, which often construe soft law norms, and nation states, which increasingly make these norms binding and enforceable in the national legal order. The question arises as to how soft law norms are made binding and enforceable within nation states after they were drafted by hybrid global administrative bodies. The manner in which the Flemish federated entity in Belgium incorporates the World Anti-Doping Agency’s norms represents an instructive case study to formulate a tentative response to this research question. The World Anti-Doping Agency is an example of a global hybrid actor that was founded and continues to exist through the partnership between governments and private (sports) organizations. The article first shows that national legislation may be a necessary method to transpose hybrid global norms in the national legal order. Second – out of at least three techniques to adopt legislation (reception, delegation and dynamic referral) – the latter technique could represent the compromise between efficiency and constitutionality. However, the dynamic referral technique is equally limited by constitutional law and the European Convention on Human Rights. The article concludes with a number of recommendations for national legislatures or executives when they refer dynamically to hybrid global norms as a technique of modern public lawmaking.

Why national parliamentarians join international organizations

It is customary to argue that international organizations (IOs) are very much dominated by national executives, with national parliaments wielding no or at best marginal influence. According to this accepted wisdom, there cannot be many reasons for national parliaments and their members to be active within IOs. However, we can observe a movement towards the parliamentarization of IOs, materialized in a growing number of parliamentary bodies with increasing competencies that accompany governmental actions and decisions. My paper wants to shed light on the underlying incentive for members of national parliaments (MPs) to engage in these international parliamentary assemblies (IPAs). Proceeding from the assumption that IPAs can enable parliamentarians to fulfil their representation and control function, I argue that (1) district level factors related to internationalization can explain why some MPs become members of IPAs, and (2) opposition parties can use the information generated in IPAs to control governmental activities in International Organizations. I test the claims with data of all parliamentarians of the recent legislative period of the German Bundestag and personal interviews with 10 IPA members. The results suggest that especially district incentives are positive predictors for membership in the different assemblies, whereas variance in membership can hardly be explained by party-level factors.

The Deposition of Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo and its repercussions in South American regional organizations

In June 2012, the Paraguayan Parliament executed a procedure that removed President Fernando Lugo from office. Since 1993, only two presidents have completed their mandates, Juan Carlos Wasmosy (1993-1998) and Nicanor Duarte Frutos (2003-2008). With the exception of the latter, all elected presidents have faced either successful or attempted coups, mostly organized by the military. In the case of Lugo, South American governments reacted by suspending Paraguay from two regional organizations (Unasur and Mercosur). This article has two main objectives: 01. to provide an interpretation of Fernando Lugo's deposition, in the context of the ongoing instability of Paraguay's democratic regime, as well as other similar cases in South America; and 02. to analyze the regional repercussions of the interruption of Lugo's presidential mandate, in particular the reactions from other South American governments and the ramifications for three Mercosur institutions: the Common Market Council (CMC), the Mercosur Parliament (Parlasur), and the Permanent Review Tribunal (TPR). It is argued that, despite the involvement of the parliamentary and judicial institutions of the bloc in the Paraguayan case, the governments have prevailed in both the suspension and reincorporation of Paraguay to the bloc, reinforcing both the intergovernmental nature of these regional initiatives and the prominence of national executives in regional decision-making.

The social base and career development of Spanish mayors

The growing corpus of studies about political elites in Spain has tended to focus on national and regional parliaments and executives, rather than on the municipal level of government. And yet, it is in these local settings that politicians acquire skills and political experience, develop their notions of democracy, and often start their political careers. Exploring patterns of political recruitment in Spanish local democracies allows us to look at some of the literature findings on this topic and check whether they also apply at the municipal level in Spain, enhancing in this way our understanding of who governs our cities, too. This article analyzes Spanish mayors’ social profiles, their patterns of professionalization and their political ambitions, trying to address questions such as: do municipal leaders share a common background? Are they amateurs or professionals in politics? Is the municipal level the first stage of an identifiable political career of Spanish representatives? In responding to these questions, this paper draws on survey data from a representative sample of 303 mayors in municipalities with populations larger than 10 000 inhabitants. The analysis confirms that Spanish mayors follow to a great extent the patterns found in studies of political elites and particularly those of local executives in other countries in Europe, but with some distinctive singularities.

Reflections on the ‘Administrative, Not Constitutional’ Character of EU Law in Times of Crisis

Abstract As is broadly recognized, the realm of administrative power greatly expanded over the course the twentieth century (particularly after 1945). This essay argues that this expansion, along with differential conceptions of legitimacy deeply bound up with it, are crucial to understanding not just the modern administrative state but also the nature of EU governance and the law governing its operation. Despite a dominant paradigm that seeks to understand EU governance in autonomously democratic and constitutional terms, the legitimacy of integration as a whole has remained primarily ‘administrative, not constitutional’. The EU’s normative power, like all power of an ultimately administrative character, finds its legitimacy primarily in legal, technocratic and functional claims. This is not to deny that European integration involves ‘politics’ or has profound ‘constitutional’ implications for its member states or citizens. The ‘administrative, not constitutional’ paradigm is meant only to stress that the ultimate grounding of EU rulemaking, enforcement, and adjudication comes closer to the sort of administrative legitimacy that is mediated through national executives, national courts, and national parliaments to a much greater extent than the dominant paradigm supposes. This is the reality that the ‘administrative, not constitutional’ paradigm on EU law has always sought to emphasize, and it is one that is particularly pertinent to the integration process in times of crisis. It is unsurprising, in these circumstances, that the public law of European integration has continually resorted to mechanisms of nationally mediated legitimacy in order to ‘borrow’ legitimacy from the national level. Unless and until Europeans begin to experience democracy and constitutionalism in supranational terms, the ‘administrative, not constitutional’ paradigm suggests that the EU’s judicial doctrines must be adjusted. The purpose should be to address the persistent disconnect between supranational regulatory power and its robust sources of democratic and constitutional legitimacy on the national level.

The French and the Italian Parliaments in EU Affairs Post-Lisbon: True Empowerment or Cosmetic Change?

The role of national parliaments in EU decision-making has generally been considered marginal since national parliaments participate indirectly through national executives. The Lisbon Treaty, however, triggered important developments in this regard. Direct involvement of national parliaments through the Early Warning System and Political Dialogue has prompted internal reforms. This article argues that, because of the new procedures provided for by the Lisbon Treaty and the direct relationship between the Commission and national parliaments, certain legislatures such as the French and Italian have become stronger in their involvement in EU affairs. However, seven years of practice post-Lisbon show that the innovations brought about by the new Treaty have fallen short of fully satisfying national parliaments’ thirst for active engagement. We also observe that changes at the national level have only been implemented progressively and have not yet been exploited to their full potential.

Regionalist Parties in Western Europe: Dimensions of SuccessOscarMazzoleni and SeanMueller (eds.)London and New York, Routledge (2017), 196 pp., ISBN 978 1 4724 7754 5

Regionalist Parties in Western Europe: Dimensions of SuccessOscarMazzoleni and SeanMueller (eds.)London and New York, Routledge (2017), 196 pp., ISBN 978 1 4724 7754 5

Parliamentary scrutiny as a function of interparliamentary cooperation among subnational parliaments

ABSTRACTThe paper analyses the scrutiny activities of three different types of institutionalised form of interparliamentary cooperation with participation of subnational parliaments: the Conference of European Legislative Assemblies; the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference; and the Interregional Parliamentary Council of the Grande Région. For the purpose of analysis, the analytical parameters of parliamentary functions are modified and applied to the forms of institutionalised interparliamentary cooperation. It is shown that the exertion of scrutiny activities increases in relation to the age and institutionalisation of an interparliamentary cooperation. Ex ante control, which may consist of as little as demands, develops more easily than ex post control. Moreover, the exercise of the scrutiny function becomes more difficult when the level(s) that populate(s) the interparliamentary cooperation is/are not congruent with the level(s) that populate(s) the executive body of the respective international organisation. Interparliamentary cooperation of subnational parliaments struggles to scrutinise an organisation in which national executives play a major role.

Greener governments: partisan ideologies, executive institutions, and environmental policies

ABSTRACTWhy do some governments have more environmentally friendly policies than others? Part of the answer involves governing parties’ ideological positions on environmentalism and the constraints imposed by executive institutions. Here, this party-based explanation is elaborated and tested with uniquely comparable indicators of national environmental policies for governments in 27 countries in the European Union (EU). The findings show that governments with parties that emphasized environmental protection in their manifestos are more likely to propose pro-environment policies during EU-level negotiations. However, the effect of ideology is mediated by the centralization of the national executive branch. In centralized national executives, the environmental positions of prime ministers’ parties affect policies, while in decentralized national executives, the positions of environment ministers’ parties are relevant. The findings have implications for understanding the impact of parties’ environmental positions on government policies, as well as for policy making in coalitions more generally.

Formal party organisation and informal relations in African parties: evidence from Ghana

AbstractIt is often assumed that political parties in Africa have only weak formal structures and are instead dominated by informal, personalised networks. This paper seeks to challenge this view by presenting a much more nuanced picture of intra-party dynamics. Based on unique survey data from Ghana, it is shown how formal and informal party structures co-exist and interact at the national and constituency level. Because informal relationships are not directly observable and difficult to study, the paper employs a social network approach to map the personal interactions between the Members of the 6th Parliament of Ghana and their respective parties. It is found that the local party organisation plays a strong role in both of the major parties NDC (National Democratic Congress) and NPP (New Patriotic Party). There are, however, also differences between the parties. At the national level, the NDC is strongly centralised and dominated by its national executives. The NPP, in contrast, has an informal power center located in the Ashanti Region. Ethno-regional factions play only a minor role in both parties. By demonstrating that the relative importance of informal relations varies even between parties in the same country, the paper contributes to a better understanding of the variation in party organisation across Africa.

Beyond a constraining dissensus: The role of national parliaments in domesticating and normalising the politicization of European integration

At the heart of the growing politicization of the EU lies a concern with how European integration potentially undermines forms of communal self-government linked to established political identities. This concern originates not from the much discussed democratic deficit of EU institutions but from a ‘democratic disconnect’ between domestic democratic institutions and processes and the decisions made at the EU level by national executives and EU officials. Our contention is that enhancing the role of national parliaments in EU decision making offers a way to reconnect the integration process with the communal self-rule of the member states. We ground this argument in an account of the normative basis of the EU that we dub ‘republican intergovernmentalism’. We argue that national parliaments offer a means for what we term the domestication and normalization of EU policymaking within the democratic processes of the member states. However, these effects will only occur if mainstream domestic parties employ these new parliamentary powers to develop competing EU policies that reflect their core ideological positions and those of their voters. We propose the introduction of a Parliamentary Legislative Initiative as a mechanism to provide an incentive for them to do so.