The heart of political steering: the EU's areana of power as template for a governance typology

The literature on the so-called new modes of governance in the European Union focuses on steering instruments beyond hierarchy and coercion. While it has repeatedly been put into question how ‘new’ these instruments are, no systematic attention has been paid to the mutual dependency between policy types marked by the specific conflict lines and choice of governance tools. On the contrary, some attempts to classify modes of governance explicitly disregard policy typologies. The paper argues conversely that in order to arrive at a comprehensive mapping of modes of governance – ‘old’ and ‘new’ – the most promising doorway is indeed to start from the actor constellations characteristic for the different policy types. A review of the European Union’s policies and modes of governance illustrates how modes of governance are pre-defined by the structures between policy-makers and –takers innate to the policy types that dominate supranational policy-making

Structuring the European Administrative Space - Channels of EU Penetration and Mechanisms ofNational Change

The author provides an analytical model to capture mechanisms of supranational impact on national public administrations. The aim is to understand how we can perceive a European administrative space given the persistent diversity between member states. In face of the overly complex subject matter, it is argued that a typology that presents ideal types of interaction modes between supranational and national levels of administration provides in fact a suitable pragmatic approach to understand the potential impact of European integration on national civil services. Scrutinizing which mechanisms of possible influence-taking the European Union (EU) invokes shows that administrative integration does actually not suggest overall convergence. Instead the shared administrative space works precisely because it preserves state-sensitive diversity. Only in the context of enlargement did the EU need to present a single model to the candidate states and thus the notion of an ever more converging single administrative space was invented. Despite the external promotion of a single model, the driving dynamic of the emerging European administrative space remains increased cooperation and common administration that respects and sustains differences between independent national public administrations. The theoretical framework and empirical application therefore provide a first step for further research to tackle how supranational integration changes national public administration.public administration; identity; ideas; integration theory; public administration; closer cooperation; Europeanization; Europeanization

Pattern and Extent of EU Involvement in Public Administrations: How to Describe and Explain in the European Administrative Space

This paper claims that public administrations are central players in the policy process. Hence, the control over and organization of civil services represent core state powers. The puzzles that emerge are therefore: which administrative system underpins supranational policy-making; and which consequences does participation in the European Administrative Space entail for the autonomy of national bureaucracies? I confront the theoretical challenge, namely the analytical description for the EAS, proposing a policy-centered approach that captures the EAS along the four dimensions administrative tasks, authority, instruments, and actor constellations. The empirical challenge is how to measure a supranational impact on national civil services. Drawing on a complementary view of political and administrative action in public administration research, a set of variables is applied to the EAS and the German national bureaucracy. The results show that not only the EAS but also the participation of the German administration herein increase the distance between the political and administrative realm but, at the same, also reduce drastically the ability of administrations to mitigate between the policy process, politics, and citizens

channels of EU penetration and mechanisms of national change

The author provides an analytical model to capture mechanisms of supranational impact on national public administrations. The aim is to understand how we can perceive a European administrative space given the persistent diversity between member states. In face of the overly complex subject matter, it is argued that a typology that presents ideal types of interaction modes between supranational and national levels of administration provides in fact a suitable pragmatic approach to understand the potential impact of European integration on national civil services. Scrutinizing which mechanisms of possible influence-taking the European Union (EU) invokes shows that administrative integration does actually not suggest overall convergence. Instead the shared administrative space works precisely because it preserves state-sensitive diversity. Only in the context of enlargement did the EU need to present a single model to the candidate states and thus the notion of an ever more converging single administrative space was invented. Despite the external promotion of a single model, the driving dynamic of the emerging European administrative space remains increased cooperation and common administration that respects and sustains differences between independent national public administrations. The theoretical framework and empirical application therefore provide a first step for further research to tackle how supranational integration changes national public administration

What Sound Reveals To Our Eyes: The Intersection Between Subconscious Thought and Real Imagery in Experimental Film and Sound Design

The impetus for making films that conjure up atemporal, interconnected spaces suggestive of a unique reality has been influenced in large part by Michel Foucault’s idea of heterotopia, or the creation of a new world by joining together discursive spaces. As such, my practice begins with the collection and re-imagination of these discursive spaces through a combination of an in-depth exploration of little-known landscapes and the organic observation of the natural realm in relation to the human world. By combining various mixed media including digital, film print, as well as re-purposed archival footage, I alter the filmic quality of the images I have captured and researched to lend them a sense of other worldliness. Concurrently, I create a soundscape, composed of multi-layered field recordings and archival sounds, which are at once harmonious and reminiscent of nature, yet have a cacophonic and almost hyperreal quality. The result of the combination of image and sound is the manifestation of a reality that speaks to the relationship between humanity and the natural world

Structuring the European administrative space: channels of EU penetration and mechanisms of national change

"The author provides an analytical model to capture mechanisms of supranational impact on national public administrations. The aim is to understand how we can perceive a European administrative space given the persistent diversity between member states. In face of the overly complex subject matter, it is argued that a typology that presents ideal types of interaction modes between supranational and national levels of administration provides in fact a suitable pragmatic approach to understand the potential impact of European integration on national civil services. Scrutinizing which mechanisms of possible influence-taking the European Union (EU) invokes shows that administrative integration does actually not suggest overall convergence. Instead the shared administrative space works precisely because it preserves state-sensitive diversity. Only in the context of enlargement did the EU need to present a single model to the candidate states and thus the notion of an ever more converging single administrative space was invented. Despite the external promotion of a single model, the driving dynamic of the emerging European administrative space remains increased cooperation and common administration that respects and sustains differences between independent national public administrations. The theoretical framework and empirical application therefore provide a first step for further research to tackle how supranational integration changes national public administration." (author's abstract

Mending the hole in multilevel implementation: Administrative cooperation related to worker mobility

European economic integration creates unintended consequences for national public administrations. This article offers a conceptual and empirical analysis of how these challenges are met. First, three challenges are identified: a reduced capacity to offer services to citizens who move freely, increasing administrative burdens, and negative externalities for all parts from a single states’ administrative failure. Second, a conceptual framework is developed that links each challenge to a most likely response in form of modes of administrative cooperation. Third, the framework is illustrated by an empirical analysis of the coordination of social security systems, labor inspectorates, and posted workers. The case studies show that horizontal administrative cooperation is developed stepwise over time and in line with the theoretical framework. In sum, we can sustain that horizontal administrative cooperation is a relevant additional integration dynamic that buffers unintended effects of market integration on formally independent but increasingly interdependent member state executive bodies

Kehrtwende in der Koordinierung europäischer Politikumsetzung: Horizontale Kapazitätsbündelung statt vertikaler Kompetenzverlagerung

Politikumsetzung in Mehrebenensystemen steht vor besonderen Koordinierungsproblemen, da Kompetenzen zur Rechtsformulierung und -anwendung meist vertikal auf verschiedene Ebenen verteilt sind. Dieser Artikel analysiert jüngste Neuerungen zum Ausbau eines Steuerungsansatzes, der in der EU bisher vorrangig ad hoc und ohne weiterreichende Politikagenda zum Tragen kam. Basierend auf einer systematischen Betrachtung eines Instruments horizontaler Verwaltungszusammenarbeit werden die zentralen Charakteristika der zu Grunde liegenden Steuerungsstrategie als direkt-dezentral-gemeinschaftlich ausgeführter Verwaltungsvollzug konzeptualisiert. Neben der supranationalen Zentralisierung von Verwaltungskompetenzen und zunehmender Konvergenz nationaler Systeme stellt die horizontale Kooperation so einen theoretisch abgrenzbaren Ansatz zur Gestaltung von Politikumsetzung in Mehrebenensystemen dar.Policy coordination in multilevel systems faces particular coordination problems because competences to formulate and to apply law are usually attributed to different levels of the system. This article analyses recent innovations that indicate an extend use of horizontal cooperation. Based on a systematic illustration of horizontal administrative cooperation, the aim is to conceptualise the key characteristic of the underlying steering strategy as direct, decentralised and joint policy execution. Besides the supranational centralisation of administrative competences or the convergence of national administrative systems, horizontal cooperation thus represents a theoretically distinct approach to multilevel policy implementation

Neue Impulse für die Politikwissenschaft in Österreich: erfolgreiche Graduiertenkonferenz bietet Anstoß für weitere Initiativen

Was ist die Zukunft der Politikwissenschaft in Österreich? Welche Position haben Graduierte und DoktorandInnen in den bestehenden Strukturen? Wo bestehen inhaltliche und methodische Mankos? Und wie kann nachwuchswissenschaftliches Potential besser eingebunden sowie gefördert werden? Diese Fragen standen im Mittelpunkt von powi04, der ersten österreichischen Graduiertenkonferenz für die Politikwissenschaft, die vom 13. bis 15. Mai 2004 in Wien stattfand. Ziel der Konferenz war es einerseits, die wissenschaftliche Vernetzung und den akademischen Austausch zu fördern und andererseits, allgemeine Probleme für DissertantInnen und NachwuchswissenschafterInnen anzusprechen, um mögliche Verbesserungen anzustoßen. Mit über 100 TeilnehmerInnen waren sowohl die öffentlichen Podiumsveranstaltungen als auch die intensive wissenschaftliche Arbeit zu verschiedenen thematischen Schwerpunkten ein voller Erfolg. Neben einigen Eindrücken zum Ablauf der Konferenz, soll im Folgenden darauf eingegangen werden, welche Punkte sich in den Debatten um eine stärkere Einbindung junger WissenschafterInnen im Stadium der Dissertation herauskristallisiert haben - in der Hoffnung, dass die powi04 tatsächlich ein erster Schritt für weitere Initiativen zur Erweiterung der österreichischen Wissenschaftslandschaft war

Effects of periodic breathing on sleep at high altitude: a randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study using inspiratory CO2

Abstract: Hypoxia at high altitude facilitates changes in ventilatory control that can lead to nocturnal periodic breathing (nPB). Here, we introduce a placebo-controlled approach to prevent nPB by increasing inspiratory CO2 and used it to assess whether nPB contributes to the adverse effects of hypoxia on sleep architecture. In a randomized, single-blinded, crossover design, 12 men underwent two sojourns (three days/nights each, separated by 4 weeks) in hypobaric hypoxia corresponding to 4000 m altitude, with polysomnography during the first and third night of each sojourn. During all nights, subjects’ heads were encompassed by a canopy retaining exhaled CO2, and CO2 concentration in the canopy (i.e. inspiratory CO2 concentration) was controlled by adjustment of fresh air inflow. Throughout the placebo sojourn inspiratory CO2 was ≤0.2%, whereas throughout the other sojourn it was increased to 1.76% (IQR, 1.07%–2.44%). During the placebo sojourn, total sleep time (TST) with nPB was 54.3% (37.4%–80.8%) and 45.0% (24.5%–56.5%) during the first and the third night, respectively (P = 0.042). Increased inspiratory CO2 reduced TST with nPB by an absolute 38.1% (28.1%–48.1%), the apnoea–hypopnoea index by 58.1/h (40.1–76.1/h), and oxygen desaturation index ≥3% by 56.0/h (38.9.1–73.2/h) (all P < 0.001), whereas it increased the mean arterial oxygen saturation in TST by 2.0% (0.4%–3.5%, P = 0.035). Increased inspiratory CO2 slightly increased the percentage of N3 sleep during the third night (P = 0.045), without other effects on sleep architecture. Increasing inspiratory CO2 effectively prevented hypoxia-induced nPB without affecting sleep macro-architecture, indicating that nPB does not explain the sleep deterioration commonly observed at high altitudes. (Figure presented.). Key points: Periodic breathing is common during sleep at high altitude, and it is unclear how this affects sleep architecture. We developed a placebo-controlled approach to prevent nocturnal periodic breathing (nPB) with inspiratory CO2 administration and used it to assess the effects of nPB on sleep in hypobaric hypoxia. Nocturnal periodic breathing was effectively mitigated by an increased inspiratory CO2 fraction in a blinded manner. Prevention of nPB did not lead to relevant changes in sleep architecture in hypobaric hypoxia. We conclude that nPB does not explain the deterioration in sleep architecture commonly observed at high altitude