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Repairing the Link? Civil Society’s Role Regarding Accountability Deficits of the German Government in EU Affairs
Get PDFNational governments acting in the Council of the European Union can rarely be held to account by parliaments and the public. This is because secrecy prevails in Council negotiations, and institutions of democratic scrutiny often lack information and resources to effectively control the executive. This study focuses on the involvement of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) as a potential remedy to the lack of democratic control over governments’ positions in Council negotiations. Examining the German case, a qualitative analysis of 13 interviews with German CSO representatives shows that CSO involvement concentrates on direct dialogue with the German government: Although lacking formal sanctioning powers, CSOs engage in an informal, voluntary consultation with policy-makers, based on co-dependency. Thus, they enact a loose form of social accountability with the German government. In this role, CSOs are however constrained by several factors, such as access to policy-making arenas. The paper further shows that CSOs seldom trigger formal scrutiny mechanisms by alarming the Bundestag or the public on potential governmental wrongdoings. Therefore, they rarely make use of their second potential role as political accountability facilitators. As a result, this raises the question whether CSOs’ impact on the accountability deficit can make up for the lack of popular scrutiny in EU policy-making
TALE E QUALE, OR NOT REALLY? Blackface and the construction of Mediterranean Whiteness on Italian television
Get PDFIn November 2020, on the Italian national television broadcast Tale e quale show (TQS), participant Sergio Muñiz imitated Tunisian-Italian rapper, Ghali, with a performance that received backlash from Ghali himself because of its use of blackface. This is not the first time that blackface was used on TQS, but the first time that it was used to imitate an Italian artist. In this paper, I analyze what implications this performance has from the perspectives of Cultural Studies, History, and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. I argue that the performance invokes Mediterranean Whiteness to differentiate North-Mediterranean populations from their racialized South-Mediterranean ‘Others’
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION V. FACEBOOK: A Case Study of the Effects of Antitrust Laws on Consumers’ Data Privacy Protection
Get PDFOn December 9, 2020, the United States (U.S.) Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook. The lawsuit is an attempt by the U.S. government to regulate big-tech companies using antitrust laws after noticing the growing concerns of consumers’ data privacy breaches. The use of antitrust laws to regulate consumers’ data protection has been debated extensively by legal scholars; however, the debate focuses too much on theory and ignores the effectiveness of antitrust remedies. This paper looks at Federal Trade Commission v. Facebook, Inc. from both viewpoints of legal theory and practicality. It concludes that even though U.S. antitrust laws have possible jurisdiction over consumers\u27 data privacy protection issues, their available legal remedies are not qualified to ensure consumers\u27 data privacy protection
KILLER ROBOTS IN CONFLICT: The Morality of Artificial Intelligence in Warfare
Get PDFIn light of the fast pace of technological advancement in warfare, this paper is concerned about the moral implications of the use of artificial intelligence in the weaponry industry. Specifically, it provides an interdisciplinary perspective on the application of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) in conflict. The concepts of techno-moral implications of Swierstra (2015) and techno-moral boundaries of Kamphof (2017) are applied to the case of LAWS in warfare and provide insights into future changes of morals in war. The key results of this method suggests that LAWS in warfare threaten to erase moral virtues and cause a shift to a less humane reality of war
And yet, it moves: Lobbying Regulation in the Council of Ministers of the European Union
Get PDFThis study aims to explain the commitment of the Council of the European Union to the Inter-Institutional Agreement on a common Transparency Register for interest representatives with the Commission and European Parliament in 2021. To scrutinize this surprising turn in the hitherto transparency-averse position of the Council, this study draws on a set of elite interviews with Council sources and transparency stakeholders. The emerging data are analyzed through a theoretical framework grounded in institutionalist theory, grouped in a strategic, institutional, and ideational dimension. Evidence on a strategic dimension suggests a transparency-averse majority in the Council that explains the overall skepticism of the institution towards advancing lobbying transparency. The institutional dimension reveals the Council as compelled by norm-entrepreneurship and a logic of appropriateness instilled by other institutional actors in the Inter-Institutional Agreement. Lastly, the ideational dimension reveals shifting notions of transparency, as well as effective change agency and knowledge sharing through pro-transparency actors within the Council. The study concludes that, while a merely strategic analysis of institutional change fails to explain reform, a holistic institutionalist perspective, considering different dimensions of institutional change, is well suited to explain the advance of lobbying transparency in the Council. Further research could draw on the tentative findings of this research and attempt a longitudinal assessment of drivers and inhibitors of lobbying transparency in the Council
MEETING YOUR MINIMAL SELF? : A Harry Potter-based Exploration of an Encounter Between Two Selves
Get PDFThis paper explores the philosophical problem of self through the lens of the literary example of Harry Potter. The paper first builds a theoretical framework consisting of contemporary conceptions of self as the minimal and narrative self. This framework is then used to analyse the time-travel scene in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which two versions of Harry Potter encounter each other. The paper finds that it is not possible for Harry to conceptualise his future self as himself when he encounters himself because for an experience of self, a first-person experience is necessary. This paper provides an illustration of? a thought-experiment of an individual encountering themselves, which is physically impossible and has not been discussed academically. It is thus relevant in exploring a philosophical and physical problem at hand of a popular story, making this thought-experiment easier to grasp
Will the Real Scrutinizer Please Stand Up? The Role and Control of the French European Affairs Committee Over Its Executive
Get PDFWhile traditionally considered the losers of European integration, scholars argue that national parliaments have clawed their way back to European affairs. The Lisbon Treaty has also sought to formally empower the national legislatures. However, little academic attention has focused on studying through which channels national parliaments have a say in the supranational arena. This explorative research aims at tackling this issue by analyzing what role the French European Affairs Committee (EAC) plays in EU affairs’ scrutiny and control of the executive. Through a qualitative design based on interviews with EAC members and content analysis, this paper shows that this French committee makes use of police-patrol oversight, rather than fire-alarm scrutiny to follow its executive’s behavior in the EU. However, the EAC remains legislatively powerless in the face of EU negotiations in the Council. Interviews reveal nonetheless that this is not perceived as a problem, as many respondents explain that national interests align at the supranational level, regardless of one’s political affiliation. This contradicts the argument of the importance of opposition in scrutinizing executive conduct. Instead, the French EAC is best conceived as an information hub, for other deputies and citizens, which reinforces the communicative function of the national legislature. This, in turn, questions the legitimacy of empowering national parliaments to solve the democratic deficit of the EU
A Prerequisite for Accountability: Access to Information in the German European Affairs Council
Get PDFNegotiations in the Council of the European Union have been described as non-transparent since access to certain documents concerning the deliberations is restricted. As a result, national parliaments struggle to hold their national governments to account. Parliaments, providing a direct link between voters and the executive, play a vital role in granting legitimacy to the EU. Their incapacity weakens the democratic legitimacy of the European project. Existing literature on the topic has examined the formal powers of national parliaments and how active they are. However, it has failed to explore their access to information. This paper analyses the access to information on deliberations in the Council by the German European Affairs Committee (EAC) in the Bundestag. Interviews were conducted with members of the German EAC and their EU policy advisors. The analysis revealed that the German EAC employs an extensive network of direct oversight, manually scrutinizing a large number of documents. Certain limitations of this method were revealed, as due to capacity constraints only select decisions were examined. Individual citizens, organized interest and the media were shown to play a role in triggering the oversight at times, thus providing the impetus to start the scrutiny process
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Bulletproof Coffee and Cognition
Get PDFThere is evidence that caffeine has positive effects on cognition. Studies have shown that caffeine is an indirect enhancer of cognitive functions such as memory, concentration, and mood. A new caffeine-based trend has emerged, claiming “massive impact on energy and cognitive function.” This new beverage, known as Bulletproof coffee, is a combination of coffee, grass-fed butter, and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) oil. Thus far, these claims have not been supported by any scientific evidence. This research aimed to determine whether these enhancing effects could be corroborated by empirical data. We hypothesised that participants in the Bulletproof condition would perform better on memory-related tasks and subjective mood ratings. 21 participants performed two working memory-related tasks after consuming a coffee beverage (either decaffeinated coffee, regular coffee, or Bulletproof coffee). Subjective mood ratings were collected before and after coffee consumption as a secondary measure. Findings show that there was no effect of coffee beverage on cognitive performance during the working memory-related tasks. The statistical analysis also yielded a significant interaction effect between the Alertness mood dimension and coffee beverage (decaffeinated and regular coffee). Further research needs to be conducted to gain more conclusive results.
Keywords: Bulletproof coffee, memory, caffeine, cognitive enhancemen