Identity and European integration: diversity as a source of integration1

ABSTRACT. This article explores the concept of European Union identity and its significance for European integration by drawing upon insights from theories of nationalism and national identity. European Union identity is viewed as an ongoing process which is banal, contingent and contextual. The central hypothesis is that: European integration facilitates the flourishing of diverse national identities rather than convergence around a single homogeneous European Union identity. The role of the EU as facilitator for diverse understandings of collective identities encourages the enhabitation of the EU at an everyday level and the reinforcement of a sense of banal Europeanism which is a crucial aspect of the European integration process. Facilitating diversity may thus provide a vital source of dynamism for the integration process.     

Joseph Retinger's conception of and contribution to the early process of European integration

The origins of the European Union are especially connected to its so-called founding fathers. One of them was Polish politician Joseph Retinger, who represented a functionalist point of view. This article aims to throw light on Retinger's contribution to uniting the Old Continent. The method applied in this article is a comparative analysis of Retinger's ideas with the early phases of integration. Many significant initiatives taken with a view to the future integration of Europe, such as the founding of the European League for Economic Co-operation (1946), the Congress of Europe held in The Hague (1948), the founding of the European Movement (1948), or the establishment of the Council of Europe (1949) to give just a few examples can all be associated with Retinger's activity. The author concludes that the importance of Retinger's European activities (concerning the early period after the Second World War) were so huge that he should be ranked among the pioneers of the modern European Union.     

旅游对我国区域经济增长及其敛散性的影响——基于1997年～2010年省际面板数据的实证分析

本文以Barro和Sala-i-Martin的收敛假说为理论基础,利用面板模型探讨了1997年～2010年间旅游业发展对我国总体国民经济及东、中、西部地区区域经济增长及其敛散性的影响。结论显示:1997年～2010年间,全国及东、中、西部地区经济增长均呈发散趋势;旅游发展对全国及东、中、西部地区区域内经济增长及其差距的缩小产生了积极影响。     

权力的让渡和主权的坚持:略析欧洲一体化中的“主权让渡”

欧洲一体化实行了一定程度的权力让渡和共享,但成员国仍然保持着主权,并主导着一体化。证诸欧洲一体化进程可以看到:一、所有的权力让渡都需要成员国全体一致同意,体现了成员国主权的行使;二、辅助性原则限制着权力让渡;三、偏向于政府间主义的机构间平衡,共同体/欧盟的决策/立法权始终掌握在由成员国代表组成的理事会手中;四、种种灵活性和例外,使成员国在权力让渡的问题上保持最大限度的自主性。     

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.     

The European Union in the media coverage of the 2019 European election campaign in Italy: towards the Europeanization of the Italian public sphere

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the patterns of Europeanization of the Italian public sphere during the 2019 European Elections campaign. Europeanization is meant as a multifaceted process. The visibility and salience of the European Union (E.U.) within the public debate is realized by dynamics involving different actors, in terms of interactions, connections and contaminations between different public spheres. The aim of the article is to clarify whether and to what extent the Italian media covered the E.U. during the European Parliament (E.P.) elections campaign and more precisely to assess through which dynamics of Europeanization the E.U. entered the domestic public debate. We relied on data from a human content analysis carried out on 10 Italian media outlets during the seven weeks before election day. Our findings suggest that, compared to 2014, the visibility of E.U. and E.U. related issues is increasing within Italian media coverage. Italian media still maintain a neutral approach to the issue, resisting to Eurosceptic claims from political parties and public opinion. With regard to the Europeanization, we found that media tend to focus on the vertical dimension especially, providing visibility to domestic actors addressing the E.U. and its political actors. Elements of horizontal Europeanization, instead, are mainly referred to events from other E.U. member states, with few connections among political actors. All in all, our results confirm the idea of a growing centrality of the E.U. within national public debate combined with signals of more structured and substantial Europeanization.     

Claiming the nation for the people: the dynamics of representation in German public discourse about immigrant integration

Against the backdrop of the current trend to criticise elite‐centred approaches to the study of nationalism, this article sheds light on ways in which elite and popular notions of nationhood are mediated. Thus, public discourse on national identity is explored as a discourse that ordinary people can influence and in which elites make claims to represent the people. To illustrate the dynamics of representative claim‐making and reception, the article uses a case study from German public discourse; the debate about Thilo Sarrazin's 2010 book Germany Does Away With Itself. It finds that, although Sarrazin clearly breaches well‐established rules in national identity discourse, his ideas gain traction from the moment he becomes accepted as representing ordinary Germans. The findings are discussed against the backdrop of the history of German national identity discourse and anti‐essentialist approaches treating nationhood as a political claim.     

The May 2004 Enlargement of the European Union: View from Two Years Out

A prominent American geographer and observer of political currents shaping modern Europe provides an introduction and background for three following papers on the nature and impacts of European Union's 2004 enlargement in different macroregions along the EU's eastern frontier. He outlines three major dimensions (economic, social-political, and institutional) that may be used to evaluate claims supporting and opposing enlargement, surveying the evidence to date for each. Concluding sections highlight the importance of scale in assessing the impacts of enlargement, the persistence of state nationalism as a curb to EU "deepening," and changes in the nature of the EU itself over time. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F02, F20, F40, O19. 2 figures, 20 references.     

The power of words: the changing role of the Italian head of state during the Second Republic

Many authors use the metaphor of an accordion to describe the enlargement of the constitutional functions of the Italian head of state: because of the weakness of the political parties the president is able to ‘open and play the accordion’ according to his own interpretation of his institutional powers. While useful, this metaphor does not take into account the structural changes that have occurred over the last 30 years, as well as the informal powers that recent presidents have resorted to, which were the most important factors in the metamorphosis of the presidential figure. Structural changes include the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the First Republic and the mediatisation and personalisation of politics and party structure. Informal powers include those of ‘esternazione’ (a term that roughly means ‘to render public personal statements without previous consultation with the cabinet’) and of moral suasion. By analysing the development of these two powers, this article aims to describe the changing role of the head of state during the Second Republic. It also defines a typology of presidential moral suasion, which is proposed as a useful tool to analyse presidential style and strategy in influencing law-making. The analysis of the innovative use of communicative powers by the last two presidents, Ciampi and Napolitano, shows how the transformation of the Italian presidency can probably be considered permanent.     

A marriage,a battle,an honour: the career of Boniface of the Hucpoldings during Rudolf II's Italian reign, 924–26

This article investigates the events of Rudolf II's military campaign in Italy (922) and considers the political ramification of this, both immediately thereafter and subsequently during the rule of Rudolf. Particular attention is paid to the career of Boniface of the Hucpoldings: an Italian aristocrat who attained prominence thanks to his close relationship with Rudolf. The Hucpoldings belonged to the aristocratic elite of the Carolingian empire, came to Italy under Lothar I (c.847) and tried to settle there. Until now, scholars have underestimated their role in the wider context of the early medieval Italian kingdom. This study will stress how Boniface's career was a turning point in the lineage's development, and how his political achievements were essential for his kinship's further hegemony.     

Managing flood risk in the UK: towards an integration of social and technical perspectives

In recent years, an apparent increase in the frequency and severity of floods in the UK has led to growing concerns about societal exposure and vulnerability to flooding, particularly in the context of climate change, floodplain development and changing insurance practices. Despite the important link between assessments of exposure to flooding (hazard assessments) and issues of societal vulnerability, this link has rarely been explored in detail and has often been reflected in policy terms by a highly technocratic approach to flood risk management. Indeed, more comprehensive studies have usually favoured rigid and deterministic definitions of vulnerability, in keeping with the wider technocratic paradigm pervading management institutions. In an attempt to redress the balance, this paper considers the role of hazard assessment and issues of societal vulnerability as mutually informative debates and advocates a movement away from the technocratic ideals currently favoured in the UK.     

安全需求大于经贸需求——冷战时期中美共同利益汇合点分析

冷战时期,无论安全领域的利益汇合点还是经贸领域的利益汇合点,都在解冻、维系和推动中美关系中发挥着重要作用,但是这两个利益汇合点的作用并不是等同的,彼此间的安全需求大于经贸需求,而且社会制度和意识形态的根本对立并没有因安全利益汇合点而消失,其对中美两国关系的消极影响一直存在。     

The direct election of mayors: an assessment of the institutional reform following the Italian municipal elections of 2001

On 13 May 2001, the same day as the general elections, municipal elections were held in more than 1,000 municipalities, including all the major Italian cities (Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin). Incumbents already re-elected once could not stand because of the two-term limit. This in many cases opened the way for a renewal of mayoralties. This article aims to provide a balanced assessment of the process of direct mayoral elections by using data relating to electoral behaviour, stability and mayoral recruitment inside the 103 Italian provincial capitals (the capoluoghi ) to complement an analysis of the reform of 1993. On the basis of the theoretical analysis and the empirical evidence provided, it is argued that the direct election of mayors, and more generally the neo-parliamentary system of government, represents an example of a successful institutional reform.     

Sins of memory: reflections on the lack of an Italian Nuremberg and the administration of international justice after 1945

This article reconstructs the history of the major trial that the Allies planned to institute against the entire military command of the Nazi armies operating in Italy from 1943 to 1945. The trial was prepared on the same juridical and technical bases as the Nuremberg Tribunal, but it never took place. The reason was that it would have jeopardized the re-integration of the Federal Republic in the European community, and would also have risked placing the Italian government in the embarrassing position of having the Italian army prosecuted for crimes committed in the countries occupied by the Rome?–?Berlin axis. For those reasons, the trial was abandoned and instead only legal proceedings were taken only for some marginal cases, creating the impression that these were simply isolated cases of individual responsibility. The enigma of this missing trial and an explanation of the limits of international justice can only be understood in terms of the political situation in post-war Europe, the relations between Italy and the Allies and the double game played by the Italian government. These events served, however, to give rise to highly selective memories of totalitarianism and the war.     

Transformations in an early agricultural society: Feasting in the southern Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic

Feasting is a powerful and transformative phenomenon. Societies are both integrated and differentiated through feasting; identities are both enacted and altered; and ideologies are inculcated. This paper uses ethnographic data to establish criteria for the archaeological recognition of prehistoric feasting. These criteria are then used to assess the changing evidence for feasting across the southern Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic (ca. 10,200–7500 BP/9700–6250 cal BC), with the aim of shedding light on changes in social organization across the transition to agriculture.During most of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, the extent and scale of feasting expanded as sociopolitical complexity increased. Towards the end of the period, however, populations dispersed and feasting probably declined. Feasts were simultaneously integrative and competitive, ameliorating scalar stress even as they offered opportunities for individual or household competition. Feasts may also have played a key role in conferring ideological prominence on Neolithic cattle, and perhaps even contributed to their adoption as domesticates.     

Russian Fiscal Federalism under Stress: Federal Support of Regions during the Global Financial Crisis

A former high-ranking Russian Ministry of Finance official examines the consequences of financial support extended to regions by the Russian Federation government during the global financial crisis in 2008-2010, for the purpose of exploring its potential impact on the regions' financial health in 2011-2012. The paper is structured around an analysis of the three major dimensions of that support: (1) legal and administrative actions undertaken at the federal level to reduce financial pressure on the regions; (2) increased issuance of intergovernmental fiscal grants in 2009; and (3) loans granted to the regions from the federal budget. The author argues that the financial crisis has provided a "stress test" that is useful in assessing the efficiency and flexibility of the Russian system of fiscal federalism.     

Modeling agricultural potential in Chaco Canyon during the Bonito phase: a predictive geospatial approach

This study presents a geospatial analysis of surficial hydrology and geomorphology and their relationship to potential agricultural productivity in order to better understand the economic role of water in Chaco Canyon during the Bonito Phase (ca. AD 850–1150). Defined as the Natural Agricultural Suitability Analysis, the foundation of this study is a hierarchical geospatial analysis that integrates six key natural factors: slope, soil texture, soil depth, non-catastrophic overbank flooding potential, drainage flow length, and drainage proximity and flow potential. These factors are combined through a raster weighted overlay function to generate composite suitability map that offers a testable proxy for variability in relative agricultural potential during the Bonito Phase at Chaco. The rationale for including this set of natural factors is based largely on ethnographic and modern agricultural studies, but the predictive model differs from previous studies of agricultural potential in that it is independent of the specific archaeological distribution of evidence of agriculture in the study area. The results of this analysis suggest that previous models of Chacoan agricultural productivity have underestimated local production capacity. Previous studies have focused solely on floodplain contexts, whereas this study points to a more comprehensive and geographically distributed use of the landscape.     

On the origins of border effects: insights from the Habsburg Empire

What are the origins of border effects on trade and why do borderscontinue to matter in periods of increasing economic integration?We explore the hypothesis that border effects emerged as a resultof asymmetric economic integration in the unique historicalsetting of the multi-national Habsburg Empire prior to the FirstWorld War. While markets tended to integrate mainly due to improvedinfrastructure, ethno-linguistic networks had persistent tradediverting effects. We find that the political borders whichseparated the empire's successor states after the First WorldWar became visible in the economy from the mid-1880s onwards,already 25–30 years before the First World War. This effectof a ‘border before a border’ cannot be explainedby factors such as administrative barriers, physical geography,changes in infrastructure or patterns of integration with neighbouringregions outside of the Habsburg customs and monetary union.However, controlling for the changing ethno-linguistic compositionof the population across the regional capital cities of theempire does explain most of the estimated border effects.     

论清末民初语言的“日化”现象——以鲁迅作品为例

清末民初盛行通过日译本转译西方著作,汉语中引进了大量的日语词汇和句法。笔者认为,比起一直以来通用的“欧化”的说法,把此现象称为“日化”更为贴切。本文以鲁迅作品中的具体“日化”语言实例为证,论证了“日化”的语言事实。对于“日化”语言一直以来遭忽视的现象,笔者从政治、经济、文化心理、汉字等方面分析了原因。