102 research outputs found
Uncovering the parliamentary roots of European social policy
No full textThe creation of a European social policy has been a long-held goal of many political actors across Europe. Drawing on a new book, Mechthild Roos shows how the early European Parliament was pivotal in establishing this social dimension to European policymaking
Studying the informal in European integration: a research guide
No full textThis chapter aims to offer a guide for scholars from both political science and history to the study of informality. It conceptualises informality and discusses a variety of theories, methods and source types on which an analysis of the informal can be based. The chapter starts off with an overview of the dominating definitions of informality. It focuses notably on works from political science, since most existing conceptualisations of informality in European integration have been undertaken by scholars within that discipline. However, the chapter also builds on historical research concerning informal aspects in European integration: even though these studies rarely conceptualise the study of informality, they offer important insights for instance into the interplay of formal and informal processes, as well as with regard to source material when it comes to tracing the seemingly invisible. The chapter addresses various issues arising in the process of studying the informal, such as pitfalls in terms of available or unavailable data. Finally, the chapter offers some guidance on where to look for informality in European integration, and how to structure a research agenda accordingly
How informality can play out in European integration
No full textThis concluding chapter argues that the ambition to study informality more systematically
should not be allowed to obscure the fact that historians have often already looked into
informal aspects of European integration, but refrained from claiming it openly. The point is
thus not to start studying informal aspects of European integration, but instead to do it
consciously, explicitly, and systematically. Based on the various contributions in this volume
as well as further historiographical examples, this chapter surveys the ways in which
informality can be defined, then provides some examples where informality can already be
found in the historiography of postwar European cooperation and integration, appraises how
the chapters in this volume can be categorised, and finally explores what this can indicate for
future research
Of treaties, conventions and habits: how informal integration interacts with formal integration
No full text
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The EU after Brexit: EU-UK Relations and the latent crisis of withdrawal
No full textThe UK represents an ambiguous object in the EU’s near neighbourhood: simultaneously a major partner, closely aligned on many matters of policy and knowledgeable in how the EU works, and a persistent source of significant difficulties, railing against any stabilisation of a new relationship post-withdrawal. As much as the EU was able to rapidly produce a strong and coherent response to the UK’s decision, and so turn a crisis into something much more manageable, this does not mean that the crisis aspects have been banished for good. Instead, the UK has carved out a new path for other member states, lowering the barriers to future withdrawals and establishing precedents of process and preference that might come to be used against the EU down the line. Moreover, the operationalisation of withdrawal also creates a moral hazard insofar as current member states will recognise that the EU cannot afford to lose another member this way, so increasing the leverage of any state seeking renegotiations of the terms of that membership. In this way, Brexit seems to provide two perspectives on crisis: the lived experience of a seemingly successful defence of core values with its containment and management of the UK, but also a pathway to a future crisis where such success cannot be guaranteed
Intra-party group unity in the European Parliament prior to its first direct elections in 1979
No full textBecoming Europe's parliament: Europeanization through MEPs' supranational activism, 1952–79
No full textThe European Parliament (EP) – today one of the most powerful actors at EU level – was intended to be a mere consultative assembly at the founding of the European Communities. This article studies the beginnings of the EP's parliamentarization, from its establishment in 1952 to its first direct elections in 1979. The article uses the concept of Europeanization to analyse what ideational, normative and rationalist factors induced MEPs – delegates from the member states' national parliaments at the time – to invest considerable time and effort into an institution that promised no significant political impact, career improvement, or acknowledgement by voters. In so doing, the article demonstrates that despite the fact that careers were made at the national level, MEPs swiftly began to behave as Euro-parliamentarians rather than national delegates. Inside the EP, MEPs were therefore both themselves Europeanized and pushed for the Europeanization of the EP more generally
Regimewandel oder -beständigkeit in Krisenzeiten? Die politische Regulierung des Gesundheitszugangs Geflüchteter in Deutschland während der Migrations[management]krise
No full textRegime Change or Regime Persistence in Times of Crisis? – The Political Regulation of Forced Migrants’ Healthcare Access in Germany in the Context of the ‘Migration [Administration] Crisis’
This article sheds light on the political regulation of forced migrants’ healthcare access in Germany in the context of the so-called ‘migration [administration] crisis’ (2015–16). It explains reforms in the area by situating them within a regime-theoretical framework and contemporary political context. In its analysis, this article focuses on an issue which is key to forced migrants’ societal as well as economic incorporation in a host country, and which constitutes thus a model case study for the regulation of forced migrants’ rights and opportunities in Germany more broadly. Within the scope of this special issue, the area of political measures examined here – measures which are expressly tailored to a societal target group of particularly vulnerable persons – functions as a lens in the broader investigation of sociopolitical developments during the ‘Merkel era’, and notably in times of crisis. Namely, the analysis of these persons’ changing position(ing) within the welfare state allows for important insight into larger dynamics of change, given that persons at the margins of society are typically among the first who get to feel political consequences when a system comes under strain
The slow-burning climate emergency and the European Green Deal : prospects and pitfalls in the polycrisis era
No full textThe European Green Deal (EGD) and its European Climate Law have raised EU climate ambition to new heights by making the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 legally binding. However, the action plan was proposed in times of crisis, and competing economic, health, and geopolitical emergencies risk undermining the EU’s climate objectives. In this chapter, I situate climate policy and the EGD against the backdrop of the polycrisis. I argue that crisis-era governance provides both prospects and pitfalls for EU actors to advance climate ambition. This chapter proceeds in several steps. First, I provide an overview of the EGD, the European Climate Law, and the Fit for 55 Package, discussing whether they mark a break from previous incremental steps forward. Next, I outline crisis trends that risk derailing the EU’s climate ambition. Thirdly, I demonstrate the key role that each of the EU’s institutions have played in facilitating the development of the EGD and the challenges they face to maintain momentum in crisis contexts. Finally, this chapter focuses on the COVID-19 crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, showing that crises provide both opportunities and challenges for the EU to stay the course on advancing the goals of the EGD. I argue that actions like tying climate objectives to economic recovery and energy security plans demonstrate that the EU may have adapted to working within crisis contexts to maintain climate ambitions. However, this hopeful trend is fragile as economic and energy hardships risk exacerbating east-west member state divisions on climate policy, thereby giving the EU institutions less room to advance radical climate action
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