The transformation of European migration governance

This paper explores the role played by the production and use of knowledge about international migration – or to be more specific the incompleteness of such knowledge –in driving new forms of EU migration governance. The focus is on the transformation of modes of governance linked to the roles played by instrumental, social and communicative logics of institutional action. The paper shows that, while the key referent for migration governance in Europe remains the state and associated state-centered logics of control, it is now evident that both the understanding of the issues and the pursuit of policy objectives are clearly shaped by the EU. A key reason for this is the role played by uncertainty related not only to the causes and effects of international migration, but also about the actual numbers of international migrants living both regularly and irregularly in EU member states. In contrast to existing approaches that see uncertainty and incomplete knowledge as causes of policy failure, this paper sees uncertainty and incomplete knowledge as creating social and political opportunities for EU action linked to the quest for more and ‘better’ knowledgewith resultant conceptual and practical space for `transgovernmental’ relations among government units working across borders

Bilateral border disputes and EU enlargement

1\. Introduction 5 2\. Borders and European Integration 6 3\. Italy - Slovenia 7 4\. Croatia - Slovenia 10 5\. FYROM - Greece 12 6\. Conclusion 16 References 18This paper explores a neglected aspect of the wider debate about EU enlargement; namely bilateral disputes between a Member State and an applicant, where the former uses, or threatens to use, its membership to block membership to resolve a dispute. As we show through analysis of three cases - Italy and Slovenia, Slovenia and Croatia, and Greece and Macedonia - the EU’s transformative power does not always flow ‘outwards’ towards the state seeking membership. This raises interesting questions about enlargement as international bargaining between sovereign states filtered via a supranational entity formally responsible for the negotiations. Our cases suggest limits to the EU’s transformative power in the context of disputes that are linked to the meaning and significance of borders. When enlargement intersects with identity politics, the result can be potentially destabilizing in ways that can lead to a decline in the EU’s legitimacy. It is not surprising that the Commission prefers disputes to be resolved bilaterally or via a third-party

Those Who Knock on Europe’s Door Must Repent? Bilateral Border Disputes and EU Enlargement

This paper explores a neglected aspect of the wider debate about EU enlargement; namely bilateral disputes between a Member State and an applicant, where the former uses, or threatens to use, its membership to block membership to resolve a dispute. As we show through analysis of three cases - Italy and Slovenia, Slovenia and Croatia, and Greece and Macedonia - the EU’s transformative power does not always flow ‘outwards’ towards the state seeking membership. This raises interesting questions about enlargement as international bargaining between sovereign states filtered via a supranational entity formally responsible for the negotiations. Our cases suggest limits to the EU’s transformative power in the context of disputes that are linked to the meaning and significance of borders. When enlargement intersects with identity politics, the result can be potentially destabilizing in ways that can lead to a decline in the EU’s legitimacy. It is not surprising that the Commission prefers disputes to be resolved bilaterally or via a third-party

The Dutch aren’t turning against immigration – the salience of the immigration issue is what drives Wilders’ support

The key story in the 2017 Dutch election campaign so far has been the high levels of support for Geert Wilders’ PVV in opinion polls. But what explains the PVV’s ability to attract voters? James Dennison, Andrew Geddes and Teresa Talò write that although Wilders’ success is frequently linked to hardening views on immigration, attitudes toward immigration in the Netherlands have actually remained fairly stable. The real root of the PVV’s support lies in the salience of the immigration issue itself, partially heightened by media coverage of recent increases in the numbers of migrants entering the country

Why immigration has the potential to upend the Italian election

The failure of Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders to cause an upset in 2017 has prompted some observers to argue that Europe's 'populist right' is now in retreat. But as James Dennison, Andrew Geddes and Matthew Goodwin highlight, the apparent fall in support for anti-immigration populism elsewhere in Europe has not been seen in Italy ahead of the country's general election in March. Immigration has risen from a non-issue to the second most important for Italian voters, and polls have shown growing support for the increasingly anti-immigration Forza Italia and Lega Nord

20 year anniversary of the Tampere Programme: Europeanisation Dynamics of the EU area of Freedom, Security and Justice. CEPS Research Paper 12 May 2020.

The end of 2019 coincided with the 20 anniversary of the Tampere European Council Conclusions of October 1999 (The Tampere Programme). The Programme set for the first time in European integration a common policy programme on Justice and Home Affairs. It also corresponded with the 10 year anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty which brought a majority of these policies under the Community method of cooperation and enshrined a legally binding EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. This collaborative Book examines and takes stock of the main policy and legislative developments during the last 20 years of EU cooperation on the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). The Chapters review the current facets and latest steps in all relevant AFSJ policy domains, including migration, borders, asylum and criminal justice and police cooperation. They critically assess the main achievements, unfinished components, as well as the new and old challenges, paying attention to different types of ‘Europeanization’ dynamics (narratives, actors and instruments), and their relations and compliance with EU rule of law, democratic and fundamental rights values. The Volume is based on the contributions delivered in a Conference co-organised by CEPS, the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) and the Law Department of the European University Institute (EUI), in cooperation with the Finnish Permanent Representation to the EU on 3 and 4 October 2019 in Brussels. The Conference was an official event part of Finland’s Presidency calendar which ran during the second half of 2019

Tensions Between Science and Intuition in School-Age Children

Adults with extensive science education exhibit cognitiveconflict when reasoning about counterintuitive scientificideas, such as whether clouds have weight or whether bacterianeed nutrients. Here, we investigated whether elementary-school-aged children show the same conflict and whether thatconflict can be reduced by targeted instruction. Seventy-eight5- to 12-year-olds verified, as quickly as possible, statementsabout life and matter before and after a tutorial on thescientific properties of life or matter. Half the statements wereconsistent with intuitive theories of the domain (e.g., “frogsreproduce”) and half were inconsistent (e.g., “cactusesreproduce”). Participants verified the latter less accurately andmore slowly than the former, both before instruction andafter. Instruction increased the accuracy of participants’verifications for counterintuitive statements within thedomain of instruction but not their speed. These resultsindicate that children experience conflict between scientificand intuitive conceptions of a domain in the earliest stages ofacquiring scientific knowledge but can learn to resolve thatconflict in favor of scientific conceptions

Compositional nanodomain formation in hybrid formate perovskites

We report the synthesis and structural characterisation of three mixed-metal formate perovskite families [C(NH$_2$)$_3$]M$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$(HCOO)$_3$ (M = Mn, Zn, Mg). Using a combination of infrared spectroscopy, non-negative matrix factorization, and reverse Monte Carlo refinement, we show that the Mn- and Zn-containing compounds support compositional nanodomains resembling the polar nanoregions of conventional relaxor ferroelectrics. The M = Mg family exhibits a miscibility gap that we suggest reflects the limiting behaviour of nanodomain formation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure