Britain's coalition government and EU defence cooperation: undermining British interests

The formation of a coalition government by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, combined with the need for important cuts to Britain's armed forces has raised significant uncertainties about Britain's attitude to defence cooperation within the European Union. Since taking office the coalition, while grappling with the implications of Britain's fiscal challenges, has shown an unprecedented interest in strengthening bilateral defence collaborations with certain European partners, not least France. However, budgetary constraints have not induced stronger support for defence cooperation at the EU level. On the contrary, under the new government, Britain has accelerated its withdrawal from the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). This article assesses the approach of the coalition to the CSDP. It argues that, from the perspective of British interests, the need for EU defence cooperation has increased over the last decade and that the UK's further withdrawal from EU efforts is having a negative impact. The coalition is undermining a framework which has demonstrated the ability to improve, albeit modestly, the military capabilities of other European countries. In addition, by sidelining the EU at a time when the UK is forced to resort more extensively to cost‐saving synergies in developing and maintaining its own armed forces, David Cameron's government is depriving itself of the use of potentially helpful EU agencies and initiatives—which the UK itself helped set up. Against the background of deteriorating European military capabilities and shifts in US priorities, the article considers what drove Britain to support EU defence cooperation over a decade ago and how those pressures have since strengthened. It traces Britain's increasing neglect of the CSDP across the same period, the underlying reasons for this, and how the coalition's current stance of disengagement is damaging Britain's interests.     

The European Merger Regime

Even though the European Union's merger regime has been warmly received, three distinct critiques of European policy in this field are identified. In acknowledging these critiques, this article reviews EU merger policy and suggests ways in which it might be reformed in the future. However, in order to understand the particular form that the policy now takes, emphasis must be placed on the context within which the European model of merger control has evolved. Three factors are considered: the rationale underpinning the policy; the origins of the policy as a hard-fought compromise among the (then) 12 members of the Union; and the role played by supranational actors in the implementation and enforcement of the policy. These three European characteristics of the policy help to explain the distinctiveness of the EU model.     

The Transformation of Labor Relations in Russian Industry: The Influence of Regional Factors in the Iron and Steel Industry

The author examines the role played by the economic geography of the former Soviet Union in the evolution of labor relations in Russian industry, using the iron and steel industry as a case study. More specifically, three regional factors are analyzed as they affect enterprise economic strategies, organization, and management-labor relations: (1) the inherited industrial structure; (2) the degree of product specialization at the regional level; and (3) the level and sophistication of regional political and labor structures combined with the presence (or lack of same) of a “regional agenda.” These factors are examined within the context of a model predicting several possible variants of post-communist labor relations at the enterprise level. 36 references.     

Internationalization and Patterns of Political Change in Ireland

The forces of internationalization have been central to the Republic of Ireland's dramatic transformation during the past four decades. The political, social, and economic changes brought about by membership in the European Union (EU) have been especially significant. Ireland has been described s a "Celtic Tiger" whose stellar economic growth rate during the past decade has given it one of the highest per capita GDP levels in the EU. Much of this success has resulted from imaginative and dynamic programs developed b y Irish political and administrative leaders. Ireland's good working relationship with the United Kingdom has enabled the two governments to achieve significant progress in the search for peace in Northern Ireland, whatever setbacks may occur during the long term evolution of this process.     

Cross-Border M&As and the Changing Economic Geography of Europe

This study investigates the patterns of corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&As) involving firms located in the EU25 as well as in the four EFTA countries between 1998 and 2003. Against the background of a reflection on the concept of the firm in economic geography, it uncovers the cross-border balance of M&As across European states and identifies the factors that may explain the levels and patterns of corporate takeovers across Europe. The results indicate that the traditional motives of access to new and core markets, the effects of geographical proximity, and the internalisation of localised capabilities (proxied by a skilled and innovative labour pool) represent the key drivers of European M&As, while institutional factors, such as European integration or language barriers, appear to be less influential.     

More than a storm in a teacup: the defence and security implications of Scottish independence

In September 2014 the people of Scotland will vote on whether to become an independent nation, with the defence and security of Scotland proving to be one of the more vociferous areas of debate. This article argues that defence and security implications of this referendum are far more fundamental than either the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ campaigns have admitted. It makes four points. First, it suggests that the Scottish government's plans for defence and security in NATO and the EU are at odds with its proposed armed forces and that Scotland may well find itself having to make far greater commitments to defence to assure its allies. Second, it argues that a vote for independence will represent a game‐changing event for the remainder of the United Kingdom's defence and security, which will have significant consequences for the United Kingdom's partners and allies in NATO, the European Union and elsewhere. Third, the article contends that even a vote against independence will have a long‐term impact, in that the ‘West Lothian question’ and Scottish support for nuclear disarmament influence the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review. Finally, the article highlights how this issue has revealed weaknesses in the think‐tank and academic communities, particularly in Scotland. The independence vote does, therefore, represent ‘more than a storm in a tea cup’ and thus there needs to be far greater engagement with these issues within the United Kingdom and elsewhere.     

The Regional Impact of EU Eastern Enlargement: A View from Germany

Based on a relational concept of regional analysis this contribution emphasizes that European Union (EU) Eastern enlargement will primarily lead to a restructuring or intensification of interregional economic relations. However, it rejects the widespread view that at first the border regions at the present EU Eastern boundary would be affected by Eastern enlargement. This view relies on the problematic assumption that the regions' transnational relations are subject to a logic of geographical nearness. The most important nodes of transnational economic relations in an enlarged EU are not the border regions, but certain regional development centres in the interior of the European economic space. Thus the regional impact of EU Eastern enlargement should be differentiated with regard to different types of regions: Particular advantages come towards the structurally strong regions in the interior of the present EU as well as the accession countries, whereas the structurally weak regions at the present EU Eastern boundary can gain advantages from Eastern enlargement only to the extent that they manage to overcome their endogenous blockades concerning cross-border economic cooperation and a positive attitude of the regions' population towards European integration.     

European integration and the social science of EU studies: the disciplinary politics of a subfield

This article takes the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome as an opportunity to reflect upon half a century of academic discourse about the EU and its antecedents. In particular, it illuminates the theoretical analysis of European integration that has developed within political science and international studies broadly defined. It asks whether it is appropriate to map, as might be tempting, the intellectual ‘progress’ of the field of study against the empirical evolution of its object (European integration/the EU). The argument to be presented here is that while we can, to some extent, comprehend the evolution of academic thinking about the EU as a reflex to critical shifts in the ‘real world’ of European integration (‘externalist’ drivers), it is also necessary to understand ‘internalist’ drivers of theoretical discourse on European integration/the EU. The article contemplates two such ‘internalist’ components that have shaped and continue to shape the course of EU studies: scholarly contingency (the fact that scholarship does not proceed with free agency, but is bound by various conditions) and disciplinary politics (the idea that the course of academic work is governed by power games and that there are likely significant disagreements about best practice and progress in a field). In terms of EU studies, the thrust of disciplinary politics tends towards an opposition between ‘mainstreaming’ and ‘pluralist versions’ of the political science of EU studies. The final section explores how, in the face of emerging monistic claims about propriety in the field, an effective pluralist political science of the EU might be enhanced.     

针对中国市场的欧洲旅游服务行业经营模式和区位模式研究

进入21世纪以来,中国游客已成为欧洲旅游市场的后起之秀,促进了欧洲的旅游服务行业的发展和演化,一些专门针对中国游客的服务行业也应运而生。本文认为,影响欧洲旅游服务业的主要区位因素为停车场、重要景点和重要旅游服务企业;主要面向中国游客的欧洲旅游服务行业经营模式和区位模式可归纳为孤岛、依托、共生、集聚四种,其中共生模式效益最好。     

Transatlantic relations and peace in Europe

In his recent novel Alain Crémieux imagines what might happen in Europe without NATO and US military forces and security commitments. Numerous border and minority conflicts break out, coalitions comparable to those in Europe's past begin to form, and the European Union is divided and ineffectual— until pro‐peace and pro‐EU forces rally. Most European countries then unite under a treaty providing for collective defence and security and a new central European government. The novel raises questions of international order: to what extent have the Europeans overcome their old ‘demons’ (distrust, power rivalry etc.), notably through the EU? While many theories purport to explain the peaceful relations among the EU member states, critical tests of the Union's political cohesion would come in circumstances without the US‐dominated external security framework, including US leadership in NATO. To what extent could the EU maintain cohesion and resist aggression or coercion by an external power against a member state, contain and resolve external conflicts affecting EU interests, and defend the Union's economic and security interests beyond Europe? To determine whether the US ‘pacifying’ and protective role has in fact become irrelevant, thanks in large part to the EU, would require a risky experiment—actually removing US military forces and commitments. The challenges and uncertainties that would face Europe without NATO argue that the Alliance remains an essential underpinning of political order in Europe. Moreover, the Alliance can serve as a key element in the campaigns against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. To revitalize the Alliance, it is imperative that the Europeans improve their military capabilities and acquire the means necessary for a more balanced transatlantic partnership in maintaining international security.     

Regional planning of R&D and science–technology interactions in Andalucia: a bibliometric analysis of patent documents

Andalucia is a southern European LFR (less‐favoured region) with a high degree of self‐government that has allowed it to design its own R&D policies that complement those implemented throughout Spain and the European Union (EU). Recently the Regional Government passed the Third Andalucian Research Plan 2000–2003, an R&D planning instrument that, as has become customary in previous Plans, attributes considerable budgetary weight to the scientific aspects of the science–technology–industry system (Andalucia allocates more of its own resources to promoting research than any other region in Spain). This paper provides deeper insight into the role played by science in driving the technological development of Andalucia, one of the LFRs of the EU. The aim was to answer five fundamental questions: How is basic science utilized by industry in Andalucia? Which sectors are the most dynamic in the employment of scientific know‐how? Which scientific fields are most in demand by industry? Which types of institution utilize scientific knowledge most profusely? What delay is there in incorporating science into technology? The methodology that has been applied for investigating the links between science and technology is based on scientific citations in patent documents (NPC). The results in this article provide relevant information about the interconnection of scientific and technological systems and thus constitute a good point of reference for the development of future R&D plans.     

Romanian Spatial Planning System: Post-Communist Dynamics of Change and Europeanization Processes

This paper addresses the post-communist history of Romania's spatial planning system with the two-fold aim of describing its evolution and identifying the role played by the EU in this process. Taking as a starting point the contradiction between the formal goals of Romanian spatial planning and the actual spatial development patterns, the paper proposes a contextualized analysis of the system's changes. It complements the focus on the formal technical dimension with a look at the broader socio-political context, driving forces and path dependencies. It identifies five episodes within this time frame and argues that they were catalysed by factors outside the immediate technical dimension of spatial planning, such as the changes in the Romanian political scene, the dynamics in the governance and planning culture, the evolution of the economy, the actual development patterns and most notably, by the process of Europeanization. While often the role of the EU is taken for granted as a general positive force for Romania, the paper makes instead the distinction between the use of Europeanization as a rhetorical external driving force and the real changes brought about by the process.     

Audience perspectives on the European dimension in Aarhus 2017 events: impacts of EU cultural policy

Abstract

The EU’s cultural policy of creating a recognisable, common European identity is exemplified by the EU’s cultural programme, European Capitals of Culture (ECOCs), whose official purpose is to highlight similarities and differences across European cultures to generate a greater sense of European identity among the citizens of Europe. To date, there has been little qualitative investigation of how ECOC attenders perceive the representation of European culture in the events and what they think about using ECOC events to promote Europeanisation. In this article, I use the methodology of intercept interviews at four Aarhus 2017 events to explore these two aspects. Findings indicate that the inclusion of European culture in Aarhus 2017 events often went unnoticed by the event attenders, and there was uncertainty about what European culture might actually comprise. Instead of perceiving ECOC events as promoting Europe, event attenders tended to interpret Aarhus 2017 events within a local, national or international framework, with ECOC events perceived as promoting tolerance and intercultural understanding. The findings are discussed in relation to the value of ECOC as a political-cultural initiative for generating European citizens’ identification with the EU.     

L'Européen (1929-1940): A Cultural Review at the Heart of the Debate on European Identity

The notion of a United States of Europe, linked fairly closely as it was to the activities of the League of Nations, met with remarkable success in the early 1930s. This was due to several factors: the wave of pacifist opinion, which strove to render any new conflict impossible, to the search for a lasting solution to Franco-German antagonism, and to a growing perception of Europe's decline on the international economic and political stage. L'Européen, a review published in Paris between 1929 and 1940, participated fully in this intellectual movement, nourished also by an emerging consciousness of a European identity, by situating the European debate on a cultural level. Financed and led by Étienne Fougère, a Lyonnais parliamentarian and industrialist who was at the very crossroads of influences, milieux and networks, this periodical expressly targeted the international élites and actively campaigned for the economic organisation of Europe, for the defence of commercial interests by means of throwing open markets, and for the defence of a European model of society that was quite distinct from the American and Soviet blueprints.     

Multi-level Science Policy and Regional Innovation: The Case of the Munich Cluster for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology

Knowledge-based industries tend to develop within regional or local clusters that allow for knowledge spillovers, the generation of a critical mass of complementary competencies and skills as for spatial proximity to academic organizations out of which many highly innovative firms have been founded. The prototype of that development certainly is the biotechnology industry which has emerged since the 1970s first in the US where especially small and medium-sized research companies have been established around leading science bases. Following the example of the US biotechnology industry, public policies in many industrialized countries aimed at stimulating cluster formation in biotechnology. This holds true especially for member states of the European Union (EU) where public policy initiatives have been initiated at different territorial levels. This article refers to the Munich pharmaceutical biotechnology cluster and applies institutional and organizational indicators that have been developed in various systemic analyses of technological development and innovation. It will be shown that reforms of the institutional environment in which the innovative organizations are embedded were crucial for the commercialization of biotechnological research in Germany. These reforms have occurred mostly at the regional and national level, whereas the EU played a role especially in establishing the regulatory framework for the biotechnology industry. Organizational indicators will be applied in order to assess the modes of knowledge production within the cluster.     

Differentiation as a double‐edged sword: member states’ practices and Brexit

The reform of the eurozone and the concerns surrounding a potential ‘Brexit’ has given rise to a new debate about differentiation but also disintegration in the European Union. This article provides a theoretical and analytical approach to understanding how differentiation is related to the debate on distribution of competences across various levels government. It finds that differentiation has played an important role in the EU integration process since the 1950s, even though the risk of fragmentation has always existed. Facing the benefits and costs of differentiation, the member states have developed their own practices. Three ideosyncratic groups of member states can be identified in this regard: first, a group of Anglo‐Scandinavian member states which refuse centralization of the EU; a Franco‐German group which considers the integration through the promotion of a ‘core Europe’; and, third, a group of central and east European member states who fear that differentiation would set their interests aside and relegate them to second‐class status within the EU. Finally, Brexit is not only about the status of the UK in the EU, but casts deeper questions on how to clarify the nature of relations between the eurozone and the EU as a whole.     

Italy and the politics of European defence: playing by the logic of multi‐level networks

The article looks at the role of Italy in the decision‐making arena of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), analysing the initiatives it put in place to address and influence the construction of a common defence. The article aims to explain the ability or inability of Italy to build up a consensus around its proposals. By studying two initiatives in the field of European defence and security, it seeks to determine the factors which resulted in the differing outcomes of Italian actions at the European level.     

Scales and networks of neoliberal climate governance: the regulatory and territorial logics of European Union emissions trading

The growing influence of neoliberal approaches to environmental governance has significantly increased the involvement of industry non-state actors in international and national climate governance. However, the implications of this neoliberalisation and hybridisation of climate governance, and particularly state–industry relations during these processes, remain under-integrated with wider geographical debates on the scalar and network politics of environmental governance. In this paper, we probe these issues by examining the regulatory and territorial logics underpinning the negotiation and implementation of the European Union emissions trading scheme (EU ETS). We argue that overlapping interpretations of the regulatory logic of emissions trading (as a cost-effective means of meeting climate objectives) by EU, state and industry actors provided the driving force for the creation of a Europeanised climate governance space and the consolidation of the EU's governing authority in respect of the formal rule-making elements of the EU ETS. However, alliances between state and industry actors, based around intersecting interpretations of their territorial interests in relation to emissions trading, strongly influenced the scheme's design. Moreover, speculative behaviour within the EU ETS market indicates the continued ability of market networks to disrupt territorially-based climate governance regimes. We argue that critical exploration of the territorial logics and practices of EU emissions trading from regime creation to operation provides new insights into the emerging spatial politics of neoliberal environmental governance and its implications for climate protection.     

No friend of democratization: Europe's role in the genesis of the ‘Arab Spring’

The argument advanced in this article is that EU policies helped to trigger the so‐called Arab Spring, not by intention but by default. This contention is advanced through an examination of four strands of EU policy towards those countries designated as Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) under the Euro‐Mediterranean Partnership Programme (EMP) and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), namely: trade and economic development, political reform, the ‘peace process’, and regional security (including migration control). What emerges is that the EU has not just departed from its own normative principles and aspirations for Arab reform in some instances, but that the EU has consistently prioritized European security interests over ‘shared prosperity’ and democracy promotion in the Mediterranean. The net result is a set of structured, institutionalized and securitized relationships which will be difficult to reconfigure and will not help Arab reformers attain their goals.     

Mercosur and Brazil: A European Perspective

Brazil is the core state of South America and sustains an alliance called Mercosur. Mercosur was the focus of much European attention during the 1990s, both politically and economically, attracting large amounts of investment to the region. Brazil has difficulties pursuing the Mercosur integration process to its logical end, with resistance coming from both developmentalist visions of the past and industrial interests in the present. Mercosur has drawn Brazil closer to the European Union, functioning well as an instrument of Brazil's external ambitions, though also exposing it to the risk of free trade with Europe. For both Mercosur and EU‐Mercosur relations to remain useful to current Brazilian ambitions, they must remain short of achieving their final goals and linger in a prolonged state of negotiation. Some EU states also prefer this solution. After four years of preparations Mercosur entered into negotiations with the EU in 1999, and since then EU‐Mercosur negotiations have passed through several dramatic phases, often influenced by international political and economic developments, both in Europe and in Mercosur itself. The current Mercosur economic crisis impedes further progress in integration and also delays the EU‐Mercosur process. The election of Lula da Silva as president of Brazil is not expected substantially to change the course of Brazilian policies towards Mercosur and the EU, though, faced with the challenge of reviving Mercosur, the president might have to make difficult choices with regard to Brazil's own interests. Through an EU‐Mercosur agreement Lula could resuscitate the Argentinian and Uruguayan economies, though this might be at a cost for Brazil. Will Brazil be willing to pay this price in order to preserve Mercosur?