Role Of European Integration Research Articles

Europe, Constitutional Debates and the Spanish State of Autonomies

This paper examines recent debates on the European Union's (EU) constitution and their impact on territorial politics in Spain. Analysis of the preferences and participation of autonomous communities and minority nationalist parties in treaty decision processes and the 2005 Spanish referendum, addresses questions about the mobilization of territorial actors, their ability to influence politics beyond the state, political cleavages on EU issues and the role of European integration in domestic disputes on nationalities questions. I argue that innovations in EU treaty processes provided new access for some Spanish territorial actors, but treaty outcomes reflected their limited impact. Ethno-territorial and ideological cleavages present in domestic politics on territorial matters extended to EU issues with territorial dimensions. Finally, while constitutional treaty debates provided minority nationalist leaders with opportunities to articulate distinctive political profiles both at home and abroad, scope for consensual accommodation of national differences within Spain by way of European integration made little progress.

The Role of European Integration in National Election Campaigns

This study asks how and to what extent political parties in six West European countries - Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK - have addressed the process of European integration in national election campaigns since the 1970s. Based on a content analysis of newspaper data, the results show that Eurosceptic mobilization in national election campaigns has become most pronounced in countries where the public have always been rather apprehensive about European integration. In line with the ‘new cleavage’ hypothesis, in Switzerland and the UK mobilization around European integration is primarily driven by conservatives and/or the new populist right. In countries where the process of European integration is politically less salient, conservatives and/or the new populist right have been less Eurosceptic and their mobilization efforts have been more limited. While providing mixed support for the ‘new cleavage’ hypothesis, the study provides scant support for the received wisdom that Euroscepticism among political parties is essentially dictated by ‘opposition politics’.

Growth, Integration, and Regional Disparities in the European Union

In this paper we challenge the ability of the conventional methods initiated by Barro and Sala-i-Martin in the early 1990s to detect actual convergence or divergence trends across countries or regions and suggest an alternative dynamic framework of analysis, which allows for a better understanding of the forces in operation. With the use of a SURE model and time-series data for eight European Union (EU) member states, we test directly for the validity of two competing hypotheses: the neoclassical (NC) convergence hypothesis originating in the work of Solow and the cumulative causation hypothesis stemming from Myrdal's theories. We also account for changes in the external environment, such as the role of European integration on the level of regional disparities. Our findings indicate that both short-term divergence and long-term convergence processes coexist. Regional disparities are reported to follow a procyclical pattern, as dynamic and developed regions grow faster in periods of expansion and slower in periods of recession. At the same time, significant spread effects are also in operation, partly offsetting the cumulative impact of growth on space. Similar results are obtained from the estimation of an intra-EU model of disparities at the national level, indicating that the forces in operation are independent of the level of aggregation. Our findings challenge the view of economic growth as the main driver for a reduction of regional disparities and contribute to the growing scientific evidence that points towards the need to rethink current EU-wide regional development policies.

A missed opportunity? New Labour's European policy 1997-2005

When Tony Blair took office in 1997, he was seen as the most pro-European prime minister since Edward Heath and New Labour was seen as committed to the EU. Yet the record on Europe remains mixed. In its first term the government began to play a more constructive role in European integration than its Conservative predecessors had done. Blair agreed to the Treaty of Amsterdam, made the Franco-British St Malo Declaration with President Chirac of France and launched a ‘step change’ initiative on the UK's relations within the EU, notably predicated on enhanced bilateral relations with other member states. Blair was also deeply committed to the Atlantic alliance, arguing that the UK could be a bridge between the US and Europe. This suggestion was tested to the utmost during the Iraq war, when Atlanticism seemed to prevail. By 2005, Blair was working with a range of colleagues from across the EU, demonstrating his continued commitment. However, New Labour, fearful of the Eurosceptic press and public in the UK, failed to win the voters over to the European cause: after eight years in office, the government has still not held the long-promised referendum on entry into the Euro.

Broad strokes of recovery: the case of Croatia

For a long time after the proclamation of independence, Croatia suffered economic stagnation that negatively affected the development of science and higher education. However the turn of the millennium brought higher state investment in science and higher education, and all statistics now show a steady increase in the number of students and scientific personnel for the past several years. With these trends the focus has moved from the role the state can play in reviving science in Croatia to the necessity of greater participation in scientific funding, as well as the role that university graduates can play in the development of the country. The role of European integration and the brain drain phenomenon thus increase in importance, and this study provides some parameters for brain drain and the academic and intellectual labour market in Croatia.

The Italian model of capitalism: on the road between globalization and Europeanization?

The article has two objectives. First, it explores whether the Italian model of capitalism has been transformed in recent decades. This involves trying to place the Italian case in the framework established by the varieties of capitalism literature. It argues that while Italian capitalism has undergone significant changes, it has not become a form of either market or co-ordinated capitalism. As a form of 'dysfunctional' state capitalism, it has adopted and mimicked elements of both without becoming either. This is because many of the political and economic factors that were at the heart of the model in the post-war era remain in place. Second, it will argue that the role of European integration in this process of change has been, at best, indirect and that broader global and economic pressures may be responsible for change.

The history of conditional agenda–setting in european institutions

Abstract. The purpose of this article is twofold. Our first goal is to make explicit an institutionalist theory of European integration. This theory is based on the concept of ‘conditional agenda setting’, which we argue has played an important role in European integration. According to this theory, the fact that Commission proposals are more easily accepted than modified by the Council has accelerated the pace of integration. This finding brings us to the second goal of this article which is to investigate, by studying the history of EU institutions, whether or not these institutions were the result of conscious planning. We demonstrate that while some of the founding fathers (Hallstein, Spaak) and opponents of the EU (de Gaulle) had an accurate understanding of the institutional structures created in Rome, later participants in the integration process did not. In particular, the arguments surrounding the Single European Act indicate a lack of understanding of the full implications of the institutions selected.

Germany in the European Union: gentle giant or emergent leader?

The 1996 intergovernmental conference on the European Union will represent an important test of German influence in the European Union. The two preceding reforms-the Single European Act and the Maastricht treaty-were undertaken under different circumstances. The Single European Act preceded German unification, whereas the Maastricht treaty negotiations were partly a response to German unification and the end of the Cold War. The IGC negotiations will see the unified Germany operating in a more typical set of circumstances. This article examines the Federal Republic's role in European integration on the eve of the IGC. Hhat are the limits and possibilities of German diplomacy in the EU? Is Germany reluctant to use the various sources of influence at its disposal? Alternatively, are there signs of Germany willingly acting as the drivingforce of European integration?*

Social indicators and social reporting

The present integration and future enlargement of the European Union creates a new demand for comparative social statistics, particularly on general living conditions in member countries, as well as their development. The Maastricht Agreement as well as the two white papers on European Social Policy, on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment respectively, address a broad area of policy issues concerning living conditions at a micro-level. Key issues as convergence, cohesion, integration, cooperation and social dialogue are addressed, as well as social exclusion, poverty, equal opportunities, social conflict, racism and segregation. A large set of social concerns is dis­ cussed in these documents, such as employment, minimum standards, health, safety at work, hous­ ing and social security. These documents also underline the distributional aspects of living condi­ tions, highligtening gender, family, generations, disablility, old age, race, immigrants, the regions, and religion. These documents distinctly relate to the legitimative fundamentals of European integration: the growth of welfare in all member states, the levelling of disparities of living conditions between member states, and the normative role of European integration for political action at national level. These articulated user demands, as well as a generally felt need for better international social statistics calls for a strengthening of the statistical infrastructure along the lines of the social indica­ tor tradition, as it already is established on the national level in several European countries. The keyword better statistics stands for an integrated indicator system, improved data quality, compre­ hensiveness, flexible data collection systems, timeliness, cost-effectivess, and international and regional coverage. There is an urgent need for technical coordination of the national programs be­ fore these become too diversified to permit proper comparative social indicator statistics. In this paper the present status of the social indicator movement is discussed, as well as the routes it offers to enhanced international comparability. 1. The Basic Idea of Social Indicators 1.1. From Social Statistics to Social Indicators

Interests, politics, and European integration

Abstract This paper investigates the determinants of state action by using the role of European integration in Austrian politics as a case study. Based on the analysis of the conditions and process that led to Austria's application for EC membership, the explanatory power of the instrumentalist and structuralist approach to state action is discussed and some conclusions are drawn regarding state theory and the theory of corporatism.