Forecasting candidate states’ compliance with EU accession rules, 2017–2050

The European Union (EU) is said to be tired of enlargement – but how likely is it that a candidate would be ready to join within 10, 15 or more years? This research forecasts how prospective members are likely able to perform in implementing EU law until 2050. Using compliance data of all states from the 2004, 2007 and 2013 accession rounds, as well as of five current/potential candidates, we construct an empirical model on candidates’ ability to comply with the acquis communautaire. We employ in-sample and out-of-sample techniques to ensure high model prediction accuracy and, ultimately, forecast the five candidates’ potential compliance levels in 2017–2050. Our research shows that only one candidate might sufficiently be able to comply with the accession criteria until 2023, while many are unlikely to be ready before the mid-2030s. Focusing on prediction and forecasting, our contribution is given by the research’s policy relevance and its methodological innovation

Internet fragmentation, political structuring, and organizational concentration in transnational engineering networks

Is the internet at risk of fragmentation? Whereas the literature has examined this question with a focus on domestic policies, communication standards, and internet governance institutions, we analyze fragmentation and alternative outcomes in transnational engineering networks. These networks constitute the social foundations of the unified or ‘global’internet. Our contributions include (1) broadening the debate beyond fragmentation-related network outcomes to include political structuring and organizational concentration, and (2) new evidence from an important engineering network around the Internet Engineering Task Force comprising thousands of participants and over four decades. Our analyses reveal fast and continuous network growth as well as clear signs of growing concentration of the network around a few major companies. A key implication is that, at the level of engineering networks, concerns about internet fragmentation might be unfounded and might distract from more salient developments such as organizational concentration

With or without force? : European public opinion on democracy promotion

A Large part of the education provided at colleges and universities of today requires for thestudent to be more independent in their studies. This demands that the physical space,where the students choose to study, is designed in a way that can encourage and supportlearning. It seems as though that many of the learning spaces of today don’t always meetthe students’ needs. The university library at the University of Umeå is currently planningto design new learning spaces for the students. The aim of this study is to examine how thephysical learning space can be designed to engage and encourage the students in theirlearning process. Based on literature describing learning spaces we have initially identified three mainareas to examine- Learning, Information Technology and Learning space design. Theseareas are all important features in the design of new learning spaces. With informationdrawn from that literature we conducted an empirical study at the library of the Universityof Umeå. The empirical study was carried out through observations and focus groupinterviews. To give us more insight about the students’ thoughts about the learning spacewe also compared our findings with a survey conducted by the library personnel in 2008and 2010. The result of our study shows that there are some areas to be improved in theexisting learning space. The students are working more collaboratively which requiresmore group areas. Our study also shows that flexibility, more student interaction and asocial and engaging environment are all important features in the design of new learningspaces

Introduction : the Europeanisation of the Western Balkans

The Western Balkans region represents a unique laboratory for exploring a wide array of parallel-tracked political processes. Over the past three decades, the region has experienced manifold state disintegrations, (non)violent conflict between and within countries, as well as a delayed transition to democracy and market economy. All of these experiences have been framed through the concurrent, overlapping and conflicting dynamics of nation- and state-building processes and aspirations to join the European Union (EU). Understanding nuances of the interplay between these processes is central to understanding why the carrot of EU membership, has had different and differentiated effects in the Western Balkans compared to Central and Eastern Europe. Against this backdrop, the Introduction provides a general overview of the topic of the book and situates the individual contributions in the wider discussions on Europeanisation. It also offers a methodological umbrella for each chapter and guides the reader through the edited volume

The Role of EU Agencies in the Acquis Transfer: The Case of the European Neighbourhood Policy Countries

The politics and administration of institutional chang

Facing a fragmented neighbourhood: The EU and six eastern partnership countries

After the so-called eastern crisis engulfed the EU Neighbourhood, attention was drawn in particular to the mismatch between eastern neighbours' needs and vulnerabilities and the EU assistance, to the changing geopolitical context in the region as well as to the limits of the EU transformative power. This chapter focuses on six countries-Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan-that fall under the EU-Eastern Partnership framework. It takes stock of the 'pre-crisis' evolution of the European Neighbourhood Policy in the east by crossing two dimensions: the outside-in policies promoted by the EU vis-à-vis its eastern neighbours and the inside-in practices of adaptation, contestation, or subversion of EU programmes by local actors. This exploration helps illuminate broader questions about the limits and enabling conditions for the EU's transformative power in its neighbourhood