Networking Europe

The paper explores processes of transnational network building in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. The first section reviews several relevant literatures. It concludes that historiographies of Europe often recognize the pivotal importance of transnational network building, but fail to analyse network developments as well as their entanglement with wider historical processes. Specialized infrastructure studies exist in economic and technological history, but have a distinct (sub)national focus. The networking of Europe has not been investigated. The second section presents a preliminary narrative of transnational network building in the 19th and 20th century. It highlights the relationship between network building and political events in different eras, as well as different types of ambiguities or tensions. The conclusion suggests a number of topics for further research

On the Elites in the Eastern European Post-communist Countries - Political Elites in the Eastern European Political Regimes After the Fall of the Berlin Wall: An Interdisciplinary Methodological Approach

This paper presents interdisciplinary methodological research concerning the emergence and dynamic behavior of elites in the democracies in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The research on political elites has been mainly guided so far by the interest in their origins, characteristics, functionalities, and political roles. These studies have raised several methodological questions concerning the collection of data on the political elite, and the validity and reliability of the survey data. Our approach focuses instead on a complexity-based approach by studying the social and political generative mechanisms which could illustrate elites’ emergence and dynamics. To this goal, we introduce a research methodology based on simulation and agent-based modeling which (i) constructs an artificial polity, and (ii) investigates the elites’ influence on the artificial polity’s outcomes. This type of approach enhances the study of some issues which are too complex to be studied by classic analytical and empirical means, like the emergence and self-organization of (political) elites as context-dependent and path-dependent phenomenon in the Central and Eastern European post-communist societies. After the 1990s, the democratization processes in these countries have often been questioned for their poor capacity to overcome the privilege-generating mechanisms which have affected the newly-constructed democratic institutions. Our approach identifies the privilege-generative mechanisms aimed to obtain and retain power in the post-communist polities in Eastern and Central Europe. The methodological issues approached in this experimental setting are concerned with (a) the construction of the context as an artificial polity, (b) the generation of the elites, and (c) the study of their dynamics

Integrated Border Management at the EU Level. CEPS Working Documents No. 227, 1 August 2005

In times marked by trends as diverse as economic globalisation, international migration as well as fear of terrorism and organised crime, the efficient handling of borders has become an issue of political priority, in the EU and across the world. Modern, economy-oriented states have to rely on a flourishing trade and offer a comfortable degree of security to their citizens. The formula commonly chosen in combining these two objectives is that of ‘integrated border management’, which represents the delicate attempt to marry security concerns with trade facilitation. If the implementation of this innovative approach is already proving to be a challenge to well-established nation states, it becomes a genuine balancing act for an incomplete federation such as the EU, with its sensitive mix of a single external border and 25 separate legal/administrative systems. This working paper seeks to illustrate the difficulties encountered by the EU and develop solutions that should firmly go into the direction of a coherent, communitarian approach in border management, such as that sketched out by the recent Council Regulation No. 2007/2004 establishing the European Border Agency known as FRONTEX

Planning in Cold War Europe

This volume aims at enlarging our understanding of planning, engineering and more generally regulation ideas by looking at possible forms of mutual interest, circulation of idea and models in a “pan’european” perspective. Contributions will emphasize the role played by actors from both sides of Europe at the micro- as well as macro-level and will highlight the role played by international organizations as fora and platforms where ideas and know-how were exchanged. The volume will also look at development projects in the developing countries as a field where European conceptions of planned development were competing but also converging especially in the eyes of the countries who benefited from these policies

A la sombra de la funesta nube : una aproximación al análisis crítico-cognitivo de la representación de la era atómica por los medios de comunicación estadounidenses

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Filología, Departamento de Filología Inglesa, leída el 28-10-2014Depto. de Estudios Ingleses: Lingüística y LiteraturaFac. de FilologíaTRUEunpu

The Russian National Security Strategy : shaping perceptions and coordinating actions

Dr. Katri Pynnöniemi’s review of Russian strategy documents in The Russian National Security Strategy: shaping perceptions and coordinating actions is revealing. Russian national strategy is consistent across multiple organs of the Russian government and focused on several main themes. Dr. Pynnöniemi rarely mentions Putin, but his hand is evident in the presence of the same themes that he has stressed publically for years. The strategy documents show Russia competing globally for “power and prestige” and locally for national sovereignty. Russia is painted as on the defensive against the West, which continues its Cold War policy of containment and is the instigator of all instability areas of Russian influence. These documents largely apply both internationally and domestically, as maintaining stability is a key theme. This justifies Russian actions as self-defense against Western instigated aggression. The documents stress the multi-domain aspects of competition with the West, reaffirming the US Army’s emphasis on Multi-Domain Operations. Overall, the insights into Russian strategic thinking in relation to the West provides a view to how Russia will pursue its interests and therefore what the Army may face within the Russian sphere of influence and why

Planning in Cold War Europe

This volume aims at enlarging our understanding of planning, engineering and more generally regulation ideas by looking at possible forms of mutual interest, circulation of idea and models in a “pan’european” perspective. Contributions will emphasize the role played by actors from both sides of Europe at the micro- as well as macro-level and will highlight the role played by international organizations as fora and platforms where ideas and know-how were exchanged. The volume will also look at development projects in the developing countries as a field where European conceptions of planned development were competing but also converging especially in the eyes of the countries who benefited from these policies