The EU as Provider of Frames and Scripts: Evidence on Law and Courts from Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) differ a great deal in both their legal and judicial dimensions. Accounting for RTAs means, in good part, to explain those differences. A rationalist approach focused on interests, calculations, and utility-maximizing outcomes can offer limited insight into those differences. RTA officials do not operate in a vacuum. First, at the intra-regional level, they work in environments with established, and often similar, national legal and judicial traditions. Those traditions, rather than the EU, provide the frames through which officials interpret and solve the regulatory challenges associated with integration: officials develop legal frameworks and judicial mechanisms that mirror, in their overall character, what is already in place in the member states. But, second, officials are aware of RTAs elsewhere in the world – above all, the EU. The EU provides ready-made detailed instructions, or scripts, for the formulation of specific laws and judicial processes in other RTAs. If consistent with the national traditions in a given RTA, officials often adopt or mimic those scripts. Thus, overall, choices about legal and judicial design have little to do with what is ‘best’ for trade liberalization and the fulfillment of national interests. They have a lot more to do with continuity, legitimacy, and expediency

Trading Blocs in the Twenty-First Century

The twentieth century saw the consolidation of national economies. The twenty-first century could very well be the time of regional trading blocs: today, nearly every country on Earth is part of one or more such blocs. Financial and manufacturing firms, labour, interest groups, and other economic actors are operating in regional economic spaces. But does this mean that those actors will necessarily acquire a more regional character? And will blocs over the long term help or hinder the rise of a truly international economy? This chapter argues in this chapter that trading blocs are highly complex projects that can have multifaceted implications for economic actors and the international economy. Rather than a simple economic space, twenty-first century capitalism is likely to bring complexity and variation

Why Populist Leaders Succeed

We have recently witnessed the rise of populist leaders across the world. What makes those leaders so successful? We still do not quite know. This article offers a new perspective. In contemporary societies, the public and private spheres are typically kept distinct and apart. Populist leaders, however, behave in the public sphere as if they were in the private sphere: they say and do things that are normally only said and done in private. This unorthodox approach – especially pronounced among the more authoritarian populists – resonates strongly with those who feel like the public sphere has left them behind

The uncomfortable truths about populism

Populist politicians are often accused of spreading misinformation, but does this tell the full story? Francesco Duina writes that while there is no question many populists stretch the truth, they also owe their success to their willingness to accurately describe the way millions of people actually feel and act. Anyone interested in opposing populist politicians must be prepared to deal directly with the uncomfortable truths that they voice

Do EU policymakers pay any attention to academic research?

There is a wealth of academic research published on the European Union, but do EU policymakers actually make use of this research in their work? Drawing on a new study, Francesco Duina finds evidence that staff at the European Commission regularly draw on the work of academics

Histone Chaperones Spt6 and FACT: Similarities and Differences in Modes of Action at Transcribed Genes

The process of gene transcription requires the participation of a large number of factors that collectively promote the accurate and efficient expression of an organism's genetic information. In eukaryotic cells, a subset of these factors can control the chromatin environments across the regulatory and transcribed units of genes to modulate the transcription process and to ensure that the underlying genetic information is utilized properly. This article focuses on two such factors—the highly conserved histone chaperones Spt6 and FACT—that play critical roles in managing chromatin during the gene transcription process. These factors have related but distinct functions during transcription and several recent studies have provided exciting new insights into their mechanisms of action at transcribed genes. A discussion of their respective roles in regulating gene transcription, including their shared and unique contributions to this process, is presented

Regionalism and diffusion revisited : from final design towards stages of decision-making

First published online 14 January 2016An emerging research programme on diffusion across regional international organisations (RIOs) proposes that decisions taken in one RIO affect decision-making in other RIOs. This work has provided a welcome corrective to endogenously-focused accounts of RIOs. Nevertheless, by focusing on the final design of policies and institutional arrangements, it has been conceptually overly narrow. This has led to a truncated understanding of diffusion’s impact and to an unjustified view of convergence as its primary outcome. Drawing on public policy and sociological research, we offer a conceptual framework that seeks to remedy these weaknesses by disaggregating the decision-making process on the ‘receiving’ side. We suggest that policies and institutional arrangements in RIOs result from three decision-making stages: problematisation (identification of something as a political problem), framing (categorisation of the problem and possible solutions), and scripting (design of final solutions). Diffusion can affect any combination of these stages. Consequently, its effects are more varied and potentially extensive than is currently recognised, and convergence and persistent variation in scripting are both possible outcomes. We illustrate our framework by re-evaluating research on dispute settlement institutions in the EEC, NAFTA, and SADC. We conclude by discussing its theoretical implications and the conditions that likely promote diffusion