Poland, Germany and the EU

The eastward enlargement of the European Union may well be the biggest challenge in the history of European integration. It is, however, accompanied by profound internal and external crises highlighted by the EU's difficulties in coping with the effects of economic globalization, of which the most obvious are high unemployment and a growing scepticism with regard to integration. This article argues that the solutions to both these challenges are deeply interconnected: while enlargement is a strategic necessity in its own right, it is also the only factor galvanizing EU member states into action for the reforms which are inevitable if the integration project is to be kept afloat.
As the new democracies of central and eastern Europe prepare for EU membership and the EU prepares for enlargement, Poland and Germany can reflect on the past eight years of a historically unprecedented improvement in their relationship. Bringing Poland into the EU (as well as into NATO) has become a key item in the Polish-German 'community of interest'.     

土耳其入欧盟：战略价值与认同差异的角力

在现代国际关系史上,土耳其申请入盟是最耐人寻味的特殊案例。近年来,土耳其入盟进程历经坎坷与周折,尚未完成夙愿。土耳其地缘政治优势、战略安全价值是其入盟谈判的重要筹码,美国的支持可能影响欧盟对土入盟的态度。未达＂哥本哈根标准＂是土入盟遭拒的＂虚构的理由＂,伊斯兰文明属性及其与欧洲文化差异引发的＂文明冲突＂才是土耳其融入欧洲的真正障碍。在未来,土耳其入盟前景存在许多不确定性,不管结果如何,其象征意义大于实际意义。     

Network dynamics in collaborative research in the EU, 2003–2017

ABSTRACT

A key objective of the EU Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation is the creation of cross-country research networks. We make use of Social Network tools to describe the evolution of the EU research network across countries on the basis of unique data covering collaborative projects launched during the first four years of implementation of Horizon 2020 and its predecessor programmes, the Sixth and Seventh Framework Programme. We describe the positioning of all EU-countries in the collaborative research network, the positioning of the older member EU-15 and the newer member EU-13 countries in particular, and to what extent the network has been subject to change during the period 2003–2017. EU-15 and EU-13 countries have become more integrated, and some organizations fulfil a bridging function in the EU research network. EU-13 countries are more heavily engaged in parts of the programme on lower complexity research activities.     

North-South Local Authority and Governance Differences in EU Networks

The current pattern of spatial disparities in Europe increasingly reflects the different networking capacity and competitive orientation of European localities. The article focuses on the north-south pattern of disparities and discusses the particularities of the economic and socio-political contexts of urbanization and local governance in the southern states of Spain, Greece and Portugal. The European Union (EU) networking initiatives, it is argued, have limited provisions in their structures for the north-south divergence of European local governance, endangering an increase in disparities. The responses of seven northern and southern local authorities to two EU RECITE networks (1992-1997) are comparatively examined in this framework.     

Spatial Effects of Labour Policies Promoted in Italy from 1996 to 2006: An Analysis in the EU Context

One of the most important economic and social facts concerning the European Union consists in the mismatch among its regions in terms of unemployment rates. The paper aims at examining and measuring the efficiency of Italian policies for labour market carried out in the last 10 years, in terms of reduction in the regional disparities in comparison with the whole European distribution of unemployment. We question whether these policies have been successful or the territorial dimension has still a relevant role on the unemployment in Italy. We try to answer to this question by calculating the Theil Index using data from 1996 to 2006 on unemployment and participation from Eurostat at NUTS 2 level, comparing Italian data with those of other EU countries. Our results show that Italy has still a prominent role in the geographical disparities among regions and that its contribution to the geographical concentration of unemployment is still high (especially if we consider female and youth unemployment).     

Spatial Units for EU Territorial Governance: Findings From a Study on North-Western Italy

This article explores the possibility of identifying spatial units that are more suitable to manage the European Union territorial governance process than the traditional administrative districts or crude statistical partitions. To this purpose, the article presents a study on North-Western Italy, which the author has developed recently in the framework of a research project promoted by the Italian Ministry of Infrastructures to prepare a spatial vision for the Italian National Strategic Reference Framework under the EU cohesion policy 2007–2013. While updating the reader on the Italian approach to EU cohesion policy and on developments in this area, the article particularly draws the attention of European planners to the concept of “Interdependent Territorial Systems” as spatial units contributing to combine the relevant dimensions of EU territorial governance in a proactive planning process.     

Russian Accession to the WTO: An Assessment

A senior World Bank economist presents a study focusing on issues controlling Russia's accession to the WTO in 2007. The paper discusses the principal reform commitments that Russia has made in an effort to become a member of the organization and addresses the question of whether the country faces excessive demands due to political considerations. While exploring such issues as potential relations with foreign exporters and investors, the author summarizes the relevant parts of his recent joint study of Russian import tariffs that casts a new light on a complex aspect of international trade. Among other problems relating to Russia's entry, he discusses in some detail branch banking and the tradedistorting subsidies in agriculture. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F13, F40, O19. 3 tables, 26 references.     

Stumbling Towards Union: Policymaking in the EU

Desmond Dinan (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the European Union .
Pierre-Henri Lament and Marc Maresceau (Eds.), The State of the European Union
John McCormick, The European Union: Politics and Policies .
Stelios Stavridis, Elias Mossialos, Roger Morgan, and Howard Machin (Eds.), New Challenges to the European Union: Policies and Policy-Making .
Helen Wallace and William Wallace (Eds.), Policy-Making in the European Union .     

Testing for Regional Differences in Means: Distinguishing Inherent from Spurious Spatial Autocorrelation by Restricted Randomization

Tests for differences among regional means are typically carried out by analysis of variance (ANOVA). When such data are spatially autocorrelated (SA), the assumptions of ANOVA are not met, giving rise to excessive type I error rates. Two spatially adjusted ANOVA methods, Griffith's and COCOPAN, have been proposed to overcome this problem. In this study we show, by means of extensive simulations, the magnitude of the error rates introduced by SA induced in isolation-by-distance models typical of those used in population genetics. For data suspected of exhibiting such SA, we propose a strategy for distinguishing between inherent SA, generated within the data by a contagious process, and spurious SA, introduced by regional differences in means. The approach adopted is that of restricted randomization of distance matrices. We also furnish error rates and power estimates for both Griffith's method and COCOPAN. In addition to the simulated data, the methods are applied to an actual example from plant population biology.     

The Heroic Presidency in the Era of Divided Government

Abstract

Contemporary democratic theorists focus on democratic processes to the exclusion of the substantive goods which motivated their predecessors. This undermines the legitimacy of democracy, especially in an era of emerging democracies. This article critiques underlying deficiencies in contemporary theory and prescribes revisiting early modern, natural-law-based democratic theory exemplified by John Locke. Locke argued that the ultimate legitimacy of democratic processes depends on their serving the good of the people, as distinct from the will of the people. The authors argue that this conclusion is unavoidable, because it is impossible for democratic legitimacy to rest ultimately on any kind of process at all, even a democratic process. Legitimacy must rest on a substantive norm used to govern (create or repair) processes. Contemporary democratic theory seems unwilling to revisit this important problem.     

Spatial organization of the Gravettian mammoth hunters' site at Kraków Spadzista (southern Poland)

One of the largest and best known sites of the Central European Gravettian is the Kraków Spadzista site. This article summarizes archaeological, palaeontological, and zooarchaeological data from the site, obtained in the course of more than 40 years of excavations and studies. The site is known mainly from the discovery of the large mammoth bone accumulation in trench B. During field work conducted in a few trenches located close to this assemblage, numerous human artifacts and faunal remains were found. On the basis of analyses of lithic materials, faunal remains, and radiometric data it is concluded that the Krakow Spadzista site was frequently re-occupied during a few weeks or months, by groups of Gravettian hunters in the period 24–22,000 rcyBP This short-term camp site was related to mammoth hunting. The analysis allowed identification of three possible activity zones, characterized by the presence of different groups of flint tools, fireplaces, and different faunal assemblages: a camp area, a lithic workshop, and an animal-processing area, besides the well known accumulation of mammoth bones.