European Political Integration Research Articles

Wymiar formalnoprawny infrastruktury krytycznej na poziomie krajowym i europejskim

After the russian Federation began its aggression against Ukraine in 2022, the Ukrainian critical infrastructure system was attacked with the aim of its complete or partial destruction. In response to these attacks, the Ukrainian authorities announced the reconstruction of the infrastructure protection system based on eU legal solutions. therefore, the article discusses the issues of critical infrastructure, both at the european and Polish level. the provisions of 2007 are in force in the Polish legal system, and the 2008 directive – in the european legal system. however, legal provisions were amended in 2022 and will be implemented into national legal systems in 2024. the aim of the article was to analyze the content of the provisions of legal acts in the field of critical infrastructure in Poland and the eU. the analysis is accompanied by research questions regarding how to define basic concepts and terms in both legal systems and the mutual relations of both systems. the article refers to the document examination method that allows for the analysis of legal acts and comparative analysis. eU Member States have gained a superior position over european bodies, but growing natural and anthropological threats and the process of deepening european political integration have resulted in a gradual change in the way of thinking about critical infrastructure. the position of EU bodies under 2022 directive has been significantly strengthened vis-à-vis member states.

European Political Integration and Promotion of Peace

Rad se bavi istraživanjem mirotvornih aspekata europske političke integracije i deficitima europskoga mirotvorstva, kao i pokušajima objašnjenja prirode europske političke integracije kakve pruža politička teorija. Rad se oslanja na istraživanja Johna McCormicka, Zakija Laïdija, Sabine Saurugger, Renauda Dehoussea, Hansa Vorländera, Gilberta Merlioa i drugih, a koja se bave teorijom europske integracije, mirotvornim aspektima europske integracije, prednostima i nedostacima političkog sustava Europske unije, te snagama i slabostima europske demokracije. Na temelju McCormickove analize pojedinačno se istražuju aspekti mirotvornoga kapaciteta djelovanja Europske unije, kojima se priključuje kritika specifične »normativne sile« Europske unije, kakvom je opisuje Laïdi. Rad zaključuje da u uvjetima globalnih kriza, naročito u oblicima ratnih sukoba, djelovanje Europske unije u području mirotvorstva pokazuje značajne manjkavosti, koje se temelje na unutarnjim predispozicijama ovoga specifičnog političkog sustava.

On the Origins of the Crisis. Italian Political Cultures and the Process of European Integration in the 1980s

ABSTRACT The introduction to the issue emphasizes the interpretation of the weight of European political integration on the italian political culture in the long post war period of the Republic. The presentation of the various contributions qualifies the relationship between the internal framework and the international context with particular attention to the turning point of the 1980s.

Uneven Souths: The Mediterranean Dimension of Spain's Southern Regionalism

Abstract This article traces the continuities between the Mediterranean and the Global South while noting the asymmetries between and within these concepts as revealed by the development of Spain's southern regionalism or andalucismo in the 1920s and 1930s and during the post–Franco period (1975–present). Prefiguring post–Cold War South–South relations, early andalucismo promoted a wider Mediterranean community extending from Cordoba to Damascus, but opposed Spain's colonial presence in Morocco. Despite its anticolonial dimension, this modern revival of medieval al-Andalus was not envisioned as a network of comparable material and ethnic locations that could encourage lateral movements of people, capital, and ideas. In contrast to the anticolonial celebrations of Andalusian conviviality found in the work of Arabic and Muslim writers and activists in the 1930s, including Shakib Arslan and Sir Muhammad Iqbal, the andalucista archive—cultural magazines, regionalist manifestos, and literary texts—simultaneously included and excluded the Maghreb and the wider Islamic Mediterranean from articulations of Spanish and Andalusian identity. This ambivalence, which persists in contemporary immigration and cultural policies and European economic and political integration, demands a form of comparative analysis that does not reduce the interaction among the world's “Souths” to unproblematic relations of analogy, mutual recognition, and solidarity.

The evolution of European economic institutions during the COVID-19 crisis.

This article argues that the incomplete economic and institutional integration of the euro area has exposed the monetary union to increasing economic divergence, which could be deepened by the COVID‐19 crisis. We discuss how monetary and fiscal measures implemented at the onset of the pandemic have contributed to mitigate the economic consequences of lockdowns, but provided limited insurance to narrow economic gaps across member countries. However, EU countries agreed on July 21, 2020 to develop, for the first time, countercyclical fiscal transfers financed by common debt issuance. We discuss the potential of this instrument to contribute to improve the resilience of the eurozone.

Breaking the link? How European integration shapes social policy demand and supply

ABSTRACT How does European integration affect the welfare state? This paper argues that European integration has non-complementary consequences for the political economy of welfare spending: European economic integration increases popular demand for social spending, whereas European political integration decreases the supply of social spending. Thus, the conflicting implications of European integration essentially break the link between social policy preferences and social policy. Using statistical models that deal with the multilevel structure of the theoretical argument, we find a positive relationship between economic integration and support for social policy. In the second part of the empirical analysis, dynamic model specifications at the country level show that higher levels of political integration are associated with lower levels of social spending. Furthermore, we provide evidence that social policy responsiveness declines as political integration increases.

Euro Zone Budget and its Effects on the European and Monetary Union (EMU) Integration

The implemention of a monetary union in Europe, to take full benefit of the Single Market’s potential benefits, has not up till now delivered the expected outcomes. On the contrary, the euro area has been afflicted by many difficulties, including weak growth, unemployment, and inequality. Many blame the euro’s malfunctioning design, and especially its inability to promote economic convergence and provide amendment and stabilization mechanisms. The latter view prevailed when shaping the austerity policies imposed on the countries more affected by the financial and sovereign debt crises, intensifying an economic recession with dramatic social consequences. Citizens’ distrust in the European Union’s institutions grew, along with support for nationalistic political forces opposing the European integration project. Some of EMU’s needed reforms will both promote convergence, and help smooth economic activity and maintain citizens’ wellbeing when crises occur. The creation of an autonomous budget for the euro zone was mentioned in a European Commission discussion paper on the future of the EU. This is an eminently political matter, very sensitive to domestic public opinions. In fact, the existence of a budget for the euro zone, in recognition of the fact that this subset of EU countries has specific needs, distinct from those of other non-EMU members, would translate into a situation requiring the design of different budgets within the EU. Such issue is at the heart of the intense debate between holders of different views concerning the future of the EU and of the euro zone, especially in what concerns the question of which of these geometries will in the future be the engine for further economic and political integration in Europe. This paper assesses one of the main deficiencies of the euro’s governance model – lack of automatic stabilization – and discusses proposals to overcome it.

Between Shared and Unique Constitutional Traits – The Portuguese Constitutional Tradition

Ten years after the entry into force of the “identity clause”, densified by the Lisbon Treaty (2009), we should reflect on its exact extent (Article 4, § 2 TEU). The principle of the respect of the national identities of Member States conveys that European political integration cannot annihilate national state’ minimum core of political and constitutional self-determination. My point is that, whatever the scholarly stance adopted, ‘national identity’ should be understood as a cluster-concept that assembles a myriad of identities, such as cultural, linguistic and social identities or political, or economic ones. ‘Constitutional identity’ is a legal concept open to many interpretations. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) endeavored to clarify it, without success. In other situations, the ECJ has plainly avoided the subject, preferring other routes of argumentation. Does ‘constitutional identity’ mean the specific constitutional traits of each state, such as having a written or unwritten constitution, being a republic or a monarchy, the system of government, the protection of a State’s official national language, and the extension of the right’s catalog? Or does it have something to do with the cultural context in which a constitution operates? As a given constitutional identity is fluid, it can never be fully acknowledged in the present time. In some sense, it is always partially revealed, and it can evolve. Since ‘constitutional identity’ captures the “core or fundamental elements or values of a particular member state’s constitutional order” or ‘the individuality or essence of an order”, we wonder: Is ‘constitutional identity’ a constitution inside the constitution and, therefore, immune to change?

ІДЕЇ ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОЇ ІНТЕГРАЦІЇ В ПУБЛІЦИСТИЧНІЙ ТВОРЧОСТІ УЇЛЬЯМА ТОМАСА СТЕДА (ЗА МАТЕРІАЛАМИ «СПОЛУЧЕНИХ ШТАТІВ ЄВРОПИ НАПЕРЕДОДНІ ПАРЛАМЕНТУ МИРУ»)

The article analyzes the ideas of European political integration as the famous British journalist William Thomas Stead stated in his work “The United States of Europe on the eve of the Parliament of Peace” (1899). It examines the so-called “international crusade of peace”, the leading provisions of the Euro-integration concept activities of W. T. Stead. The author emphasizes the progressiveness and originality of the journalist’s approaches, and emphasizes his innovative proposals and compares the positions of W. T. Stead with the standards of behavior of a Victorian man, examines his moral and ethical attitudes towards the war, the problems of the growth of arms of the European countries of the late 19th century, and the aggressive foreign policy. As W. T. Stead wrote in his “The United States of Europe on the eve of the Parliament of Peace”, the European integration means departure from militarism and coming to disarmament, that is the absence of armed conflicts at all. The pacifist, peaceful principles of W. T. Stead are emphasized against the background of the broader imperial policy of the late Victorian Britain, and the issues of journalist perceptions of militarism, imperialism, the problems of arms and international relations, and the foreign policy of his native country are highlighted. W. T. Stead’s high expectations about the eve of the next step in the progress of human society far away from the cruelties of war were emphasized. In the article was stated that W. T. Stead thought it would be better for an imperialist Britain to limit itself within the patriotic and reasonable political line at the same time. The issues of peace and war in Britain were shown, and the increased lethality of weapons and the anomalous chaos of warfare of the end of the 19th century. The author comes to a conclusion of the sincerity, objectivity, impartiality, progressiveness of the views of W. T. Stead, who considered the process of European integration as the one of the stages of building a better human society in the world.

Peculiarities of the British Approach to the European Integration Process

The article examines the prerequisites for Britainʼs participation in European integration processes since the 1950ʼs. The evolution of the “special” policy of the British governments regarding the countryʼs participation in the system of political and military-political cooperation of the European Union, the nature of its influence on the processes of European integration in the sphere of foreign policy and security are considered. The peculiarities of the UKʼs participation in European political integration are analyzed in terms of balancing the two main strands of its foreign policy – the traditional Atlantic course, which underlies the Anglo-American “special relations” and the European course (deepening participation in European regional policy). The most common concepts of differentiated European integration are outlined, such as Europe à la carte (sectoral, selective integration) or the concepts of European Menu, Europe of Different Speeds and Variable Geometries, which have been successfully used by UK governments to counteract federalization and deepen integration of the United Kingdom, avoiding full integration, for example, in currency issues or applying restrictions on the free movement of labor (limited Schengen agreement). In general, the complex of conditions and peculiarities of historical, socio-political, economic and socio-psychological nature have been investigated, which have had their specific influence on the formation of the unique political attitude and behavior of Great Britain and became the basis of the “special” position of Great Britain in European integration processes, and as a consequence transformations of the present geopolitical position of Great Britain.
 Keywords: Great Britain, European integration, EEC, European Union, concept, “special” position.

Authoritarian Liberalism in Contemporary Europe: methodological approaches and conceptual models

Abstract The author conducts a comparative analysis of authoritarian liberalism’s concepts in contemporary political theory. The paper deals with the main directions of interpretation of authoritarian liberalism in the framework of methodological approaches and conceptual models of neoliberalism, ordoliberalism, political liberalism, J.-W. Mueller’s ‘restrained democracy’, J. Habermas’ ‘legitimation crisis’, C. Crouch’s ‘post-democracy’, C. Macpherson’s ‘participatory democracy’, M. Wilkinson’s ‘dedemocratisation and delegalisation’, W. Streeck’s ‘democratic capitalism crisis’ and G. Majone’s ‘crypto-federalism’. The basic analytical concept is the idea of authoritarian economic liberalism, first proposed by H. Heller and K. Polanyi. This paper will sub-stantiate that in crisis and transformational periods the actualisation of authoritarian liberalism corresponds to the fundamental tension between market capitalism and representative democracy. The author conceptualises authoritarian liberalism as the practice of dedemocratisation and restrained democracy, which results in the regionalisation of radical protest against the supranational regime of political integration in Europe. Latent political authoritarianism strengthens economic liberalism, which, in turn, reinforces the further EU’s ‘liberal authoritarian transformation’. Authoritarian liberalism restricts traditional forms of representative democracy, contributing to the reanimation of populism and political radicalism. The authoritarian restriction of representative democracy can lead not only to the strengthening of market capitalism, but also to the revival of reactionary forms of ‘new nationalism’ and illiberalism. Today, the EU’s regime is transformed from a nominally rule-based structure supported by market discipline into a ‘discretionary order’ reinforced by bureaucratic power. The EU’s transnational solidarity can become a democratically legitimate tool for a de-escalation of tensions between market capitalism and representative democracy.

Technologies of governance and education welfare: monitoring education transitions in Greece

ABSTRACTThe aim of this article is to explore the ways educational transitions, i.e. student dropout and early school leaving (ESL), are understood and governed in the contemporary Greek sociopolitical context that is dominated by a persistent economic crisis. Drawing upon the residual nature of the Greek welfare state the paper examines the shifts in the dominant discourses referring to ESL. Furthermore, it attempts to understand the configurations of educational attainment as well as the significance of monitoring technologies such as those of comparative statistics, especially in the context of European governance. It is argued that education transitions are multifaceted phenomena and act as sensors of socio-economic and cultural diversity in each national setting. While EU governance shifts from sophisticated technologies to direct unreserved control, compliance with the rules is a manifestation of political realism on the part of the Greek state, but at the same time a representation of the never accomplished European political integration.

Trotsky's Understanding of "The United States of Europe"

트로츠키는 1차 세계대전을 비롯해 전간기 유럽의 국제정치적 위기 상황과 관련해 19세기 유럽 평화주의 진영에서 논의되었던 유럽합중국론에 관해 자신의 입장을 밝혔다. 물론 그가 짧은 몇 편의 글에서 유럽의 정치적 통합에 관해 하나의 이론 체계를 정립한 것은 아니었다. 게다가 그는 유럽 문제를 자신의 주요 이론인 영구혁명론의 관점에서 바라보았다는 점에서 유럽합중국은 그의 주된 관심사는 아니었던 것으로 보인다. 말하자면, 유럽합중국은 연속되는 혁명 과정에서 한시적으로 존재했다가 사라지는 단계로 사회주의 혁명으로 가는 도정에 있어 일종의 과도기 전략으로 의미가 있었다. 바꿔 말해, 트로츠키에게 유럽합중국은 평화주의 운동에서 생각했던 것처럼 유럽의 평화를 항구적으로 보장하기 위한 정치체제라기보다 유럽의 프롤레타리아 혁명 과정에서 지나가게 되는 특정한 단계로 인식되었다. 이 글에서는 이러한 가설에 기초해 트로츠키의 유럽합중국론을 논하고자 한다. 글의 전반부에서는 트로츠키의 핵심 이론인 영구혁명론을 개괄할 것이다. 영구혁명론을 먼저 살펴보아야 하는 이유는 그가 국내외 정치 문제를 논할 때는 항상 이 이론에서 출발하기 때문이며, 유럽합중국 역시 국제정치적 이슈로서 영구혁명론과 분리해서 이해할 수 없기 때문이다. 이어서 글의 후반부에서는 유럽합중국에 관한 그의 글과 언급을 중심으로 그가 이를 어떻게 이해했는지를 살펴볼 것이다. 아울러 필자의 견해를 덧붙여 이를 평가해보고자 한다.Trotsky pointed out his position on the United States of Europe, which was discussed in the 19th century European pacifist camp in relation to the international political crisis in Europe during and after the World War I. In a few short articles he did not establish a theoretical framework for European political integration. Moreover, the United States of Europe seemed not to be his main concern, because he viewed the European conflicts and problems from the standpoint of his theory of permanent revolution. In other words, the United States of Europe was meaningful as a kind of transitional strategy in the struggle for the socialist revolution. It should exist for a limited period of time in the course of successive revolutions. For Trotsky, the United States of Europe was perceived as a specific stage that would pass through the process of proletarian revolution in Europe, rather than as a political system for the permanent guarantee of European peace, as was thought in the pacifist movement. Based on these hypotheses, I will discuss Trotsky s theory of European unity in this article. The first half of the article will outline Trotsky s core theory of permanent revolution. The reason why we should first look at the theory of permanent revolution is that he always starts from this theory when he discusses domestic and foreign political issues. The United States of Europe is also an international political issue and can not be understood separately from the permanent revolutionary theory. In the second half of the article, I will look at how he understood the United States of Europe in his writings and commentary on it. I would like to add my opinion and evaluate it.

Exploring the potential for common European politics: cross-national commonalities and differences in the European constitutional referendums

ABSTRACTThe European Union and especially European political integration have increasingly become subject to public contestation. The need to build consensus across different national polities severely limits elites’ policy options. In this article we investigate the potential to build cross-national coalitions among the European public using data on the referendums on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE). We argue that existing cleavage structures should create both opportunities and hurdles for cross-national cooperation and investigate these patterns in all countries where referendums took place (Spain, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). Using binary logistic regressions we find that strong common patterns, especially along party-political lines, co-exist with country-specific factors. These results demonstrate some potential for a supra-national European political space and discourse and that political parties could play a central part in that process.

Trends in European political (dis)integration. An analysis of postfunctionalist and other explanations

ABSTRACTThe divergent outcomes in respect of political integration of the several crises that the EU has confronted during the last decade present a challenge for most ‘grand theories’ of European integration. There has been more political disintegration than some of the historically most influential, ‘optimistic’ theories would have anticipated, but less than more recently-developed and more ‘pessimistic’ theories, notably postfunctionalism, would have expected. Compared with these contrasting theories, a hegemonic-stability-theoretical approach to the EU’s crises provides a more convincing explanation of recent patterns of political integration and disintegration.

«Единство по сути, а не по форме»: проекты европейской политической интеграции середины 1960-х гг.

«Единство по сути, а не по форме»: проекты европейской политической интеграции середины 1960-х гг.

How the European Community Entered the United Nations, 1969–1976, and What It Meant for European Political Integration

ABSTRACTDuring the first half of the 1970s, the European Community became a recognisable actor at the United Nations [UN]: The Community itself became a permanent observer, and it was customary for Community member-states to express common positions on most of the issues discussed within the organisation. It was a remarkable development for the Western European states—yet one not satisfactorily accounted for by the existing literature. The perspective adopted in this analysis highlights the connexions between the growing activity of the Community at the UN and the increasing co-ordination of its member-states even on matters falling outside the Community’s purview, as well as the connexions between the affirmation of the European Community at the UN and other major contemporary developments in European political integration. In this way, this analysis sheds light on some fundamental motives, features, and limits of Western European co-ordination on the international stage.

Towards political integration in Europe: the involvement of national parliaments in European Union politics and policy-making

ABSTRACT This article provides an overview of the life of the European Union over a period that has witnessed a number of historical international and institutional developments, and provides a politico-juridico-historical perspective on its growth. The article aims to examine the role of national parliaments in relation to increasing European legislative powers. The European Union is using these powers to ensure that non-European-Union states accept its rules as universal standards. At the same time, European foreign policy has expanded remarkably, reflecting its more prominent international role. The European Parliament is the world's first directly elected transnational parliament. In recent decades, the principles of human rights, peace, and democracy have reflected the deeply embedded values at the core of European integration since its inception, determining the evolution of the European Union from international actor to a model of democratization: a model promoting not only respect for human rights, but also democracy and peace, which have become concrete goals steering the European Union foreign policy.

쉴리(Sully)의 ‘원대한 구상’ - 근대 초 유럽의 정치적 통합 계획 고찰

쉴리(Sully)의 ‘원대한 구상’ - 근대 초 유럽의 정치적 통합 계획 고찰

Waning Public Support for International Cooperation? Some Lessons from Europe

The European Union (EU) is facing one of the rockiest periods in its existence. No time in its history has it looked so economically fragile, so unsure about how to protect its borders, so divided over how to tackle the crisis of legitimacy facing its institutions, and so under assault of Eurosceptic parties. While economic recovery may be on its way, at least in some member states, the Eurozone crisis has left a mark on popular opinion. Large parts of the public have come to doubt the competence and integrity of their political and financial masters in Brussels and at home. Existing approaches to public opinion towards supranational government in Europe, or international governance more generally, stress the role of economic interest and identity considerations (for an overview see Hobolt and De Vries 2016). These explanations also fit the narrative that has emerged in the media after Brexit, namely that the outcome constituted somewhat of a revolt of the left behind, those who failed to benefit from economic and political integration in Europe or more globally, against increased migration (Clarke et al. 2017; Goodwin and Heath 2016). Yet, the recent surge in Eurosceptic sentiment, expressed in European and national elections as well as in European referendums, is in many ways puzzling from both perspectives. Euroscepticism, for example, is most pronounced in countries that have weathered the Eurozone crisis very well and economically benefitted most from the single currency (Stiglitz 2016), while the support for the EU remains high in the bail-out battered South. Moreover, aggregate analyses of the Brexit vote suggest that poorer areas on average were more likely to vote out, but many deviations exist. Very rich areas in the South voted out. When it comes to identity considerations the empirical evidence is also at best mixed. While scholars expect people with an exclusive national identity to view an international organization like the EU as a threat, something that infringes on their sense of national belonging, feelings of exclusive national identity have remained remarkably stable in Europe over recent years or even declined in countries that witnessed stark increases in Euroscepticism (De Vries 2018). Opinions towards intra-EU migration and free movement also do not seem to uniformly account for the rise in Euroscepticism (Vasilopoulou and Talving 2017). In this contribution, I aim to shed light on these empirical puzzles. I suggest that one of the key reasons why Euroscepticism is widespread within comparatively richer countries and among those who are fairly well off is because wealth allows populations or individuals to consider more risky alternatives and makes the alternative state to membership, one’s country being outside the EU, look more viable. I present empirical evidence to my claims by using recent survey data from 28 member states. These findings point towards a possibly paradoxical process underlying international cooperation more generally, namely: the increasing monetary benefits associated with more economic and political cooperation across borders might over time become the risk-hedging mechanism that allows populations or individuals to turn against international governance in the long run.