Codecision and Institutional Change

We examine the sources and processes of institutional change in one important aspect of EU politics-the legislative procedure of codecision and show how interstitial change of institutions emerges between formal Treaty revisions and under specific conditions may be formalized in subsequent formal Treaty reforms. We develop two related models of Treaty change. First, in a 'simple' model, we argue that informal rules will be formalized in the Treaty text where all member states are in agreement, and will be rolled back when all member states oppose them; otherwise they will continue in existence at the informal level. Second, in a more complex framework, we argue that actors who have effective veto powers in a related arena may make credible threats that allow them to press member states into formalizing informal rules, provided that member states are not unanimously opposed to this formalization. We empirically assess our claims in the light of several instances of informal rules applied in the codecision procedure.democracy; European Parliament; European Parliament; co-decision procedure

Regulating Information Flows: States, Private Actors and E-Commerce

Growing interdependence between jurisdictions means that states are increasingly using private actors as proxies, in order to achieve desired regulatory outcomes. International relations theory has had difficulty in understanding the exact circumstances under which they might wish to do this. Drawing on existing literatures in both international relations and legal scholarship, this article proposes a framework for understanding the circumstances under which states will or will not use private actors as proxy regulators. This framework highlights the relationship between state preferences and the presence or absence of points of control, a special kind of private actor. The article then conducts an initial plausibility probe of the framework, assessing how well it explains outcomes in the regulation of gambling, privacy, and the taxation of e-commerce

Legislate or Delegate? Bargaining over Implementation and Legislative Authority in the European Union

In this article we explain how actors' ability to bargain successfully in order to advance their institutional preferences has changed over time as a function of the particular institutional context. We show how actors use their bargaining power under given institutional rules in order to shift the existing balance between legislation and delegation, and shift the rules governing delegation in their favor, between formal treaty changes. We argue that a collective actor's preferences over delegation is a function of whether the actor has more ability to influence policy through delegation or through legislation. We go on to argue that the degree to which a specific actor's preferences can prevail (in a setting in which different actors have different preferences) will depend upon its bargaining power under existing institutional rules, i.e. its ability to impede or veto policy in order to change the division between legislation and delegation and the rules of delegation. Our primary focus in this article is on choice over procedure; i.e. the battles over whether or not delegation or legislation should be employed. We maintain a secondary focus on change in procedure, examining how different procedures of comitology have come into being and been removed from the table. We examine the evolution of the debate over comitology and implementation, over five key periods. We scrutinize how actors within these periods seek to shift the balance of legislation and delegation and the rules of delegation according to their preferences. Our conclusions assess our empirical findings on the basis of our model.accountability; European Commission; Council of Ministers; European Parliament; European Parliament

Procedures for estimating the effects of design and operational characteristics of jet aircraft on ground noise

Estimation procedures for effect of design and flight characteristics of jets on ground nois

Breaking the path of institutional development?: alternatives to the new determinism

"Das Konzept der Pfadabhängigkeit wird im Rahmen neo-institutionalistischer Analysen äußerst deterministisch verwendet. Daher haben Untersuchungen, die auf diesem Ansatz beruhen, Schwierigkeiten, Wandel zu erklären bzw. vorauszusagen. Das der Theorie der Pfadabhängigkeit zugrunde liegende Modell der Polya-Urne geht jedoch davon aus, dass verschiedene Pfade möglich sind. Es lässt sich zeigen, dass Akteure auf diese Pfade zurückzugreifen können, wenn sie Veränderungen für erforderlich halten. Das in diesem Discussion Paper verwandte Modell integriert einen Bayesschen Entscheidungsträger, der in Kenntnis der die Situation steuernden Parameter auf eine sich ändernde Umwelt reagiert. So kann untersucht werden, wie Wandel mit Prozessen wie den folgenden einhergehen kann: Verwendung früherer oder redundanter institutioneller Repertoires; Erfahrungstransfer über Handlungsräume hinweg; Erfahrungstransfer von anderen Akteuren und durch Netzwerke strukturierter Beziehungen; Entstehung von Problemlösungen, die als "die eine optimale Möglichkeit" wahrgenommen werden. Fazit der Betrachtung ist, dass die in der neo-institutionalistischen Forschung verwendeten Typologien einer Anpassung bedürfen, damit diejenigen Fallmerkmale, die sich nicht in den vorgefassten Analyserahmen eines "Typs" einfügen lassen, nicht als "Rauschen" außer Acht bleiben, sondern als potentielle Ressourcen für Veränderungen angemessen analysiert werden." [Autorenreferat]"The concept of path dependence is being used in highly deterministic ways in neo-institutionalist analysis, so that studies using this framework have difficulty in accounting for, or predicting, change. However, the original Polya urn model from which path dependence theory draws predicts that alternative paths will be possible. It can be argued that actors will be able to use these when they perceive a need to change. This article seeks to capture this possibility through accommodating a Bayesian parametric decision maker, interacting with an environment. This makes it possible to examine how change may involve such processes as: the use of past or redundant institutional repertoires; transfer of experience across action spaces; or from other agents, through networks of structured relationships; the emergence of perceived "one best" solutions. This approach points to the need to change how typologies are used in neo-institutionalist research, so that those features of cases which do not fit the pre-conceived framework of a type are not disregarded as "noise", but properly evaluated as potential resources for change." [author´s abstract

Inter-organizational negotiation and intra-organizational power in shared decision-making: early agreements under codecision and their impact on the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers

'Dieser Beitrag plädiert dafür, inter-organisatorische Entscheidungsregeln und ihre Auswirkungen auf intra-organisatorische Prozesse stärker in den Blick zu nehmen. Wir argumentieren, dass ein exogener Wandel der makroinstitutionellen Regeln von formellen und sequentiellen zu informellen und simultanen Interaktionen die Einflussmöglichkeiten einzelner Akteure innerhalb von Organisationen verändert. Bestimmte Akteure, insbesondere 'Schnittstellen'-Akteure, die den organisationsinternen Informationsfluss steuern, gewinnen dadurch an Einfluss. Doch wie reagieren Organisationen auf eine solche Veränderung der internen Machtverhältnisse? Organisationen, in denen die Beziehungen gegenüber externen Akteuren zentral koordiniert sind, werden mit einer effektiven Strategie der internen Regelanpassung reagieren. Organisationen, die eine Vielzahl untereinander wenig koordinierter Beziehungen zu externen Akteuren unterhalten, werden eine solche interne Regelanpassung dagegen nur sehr schwer bewerkstelligen können. Wir illustrieren unser generelles theoretisches Argument am Beispiel des Zusammenwirkens von Europäischem Parlament und Ministerrat im Rahmen des Verfahrens der Mitentscheidung und der daraus resultierenden intra-organisatorischen Effekte.' (Autorenreferat)'In this article we argue that closer attention should be paid to the inter-organizational rules of decision-making and their implications for intra-organizational processes. We claim that exogenous changes in macro-institutional rules, which result in a move from formal and sequential to informal and simultaneous interaction between collective actors will lead to changes in individual actors' respective influence over outcomes within organizations. Certain individuals, in particular 'relais' actors, controlling information flows between organizations, will see an increase in their power over legislative outcomes. This begs the question of how organizations will respond to these shifts in their internal power balance. We argue that collective actors that centralize coordination over dealings with external actors will respond effectively through internal rule change. In contrast, collective actors with multiple, ill coordinated links to other organizations, will find it difficult to change internal rules. We empirically explore the general argument by analyzing the relationship between the Council and the European Parliament in the process of codecision and its implications for intra-organizational processes.' (author's abstract

I\u27ll Do The Same For You

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/3516/thumbnail.jp

MEANTIME: Achieving Both Minimal Energy and Timeliness with Approximate Computing

Energy efficiency and timeliness (i.e., predictable job latency) are two essential -yet opposing -concerns for embedded systems. Hard timing guarantees require conservative resource allocation while energy minimization requires aggressively releasing resources and occasionally violating timing constraints. Recent work on approximate computing, however, opens up a new dimension of optimization: application accuracy. In this paper, we use approximate computing to achieve both hard timing guarantees and energy efficiency. Specifically, we propose MEANTIME: a runtime system that delivers hard latency guarantees and energy-minimal resource usage through small accuracy reductions. We test MEAN-TIME on a real Linux/ARM system with six applications. Overall, we find that MEANTIME never violates real-time deadlines and sacrifices a small amount (typically less than 2%) of accuracy while reducing energy to 54% of a conservative, full accuracy approach

A BIM-driven framework for integrating rules and regulations in the decommissioning of nuclear power plants

Purpose: The relative low capital cost and contributions to mitigating global warming have favoured the continuous construction and operation of nuclear power plants across the world. One critical phase in the operation of nuclear plants for ensuring safety and security of radioactive products and by-products is decommissioning. With the advent of digital twinning in the building information modelling (BIM) methodology, efficiency and safety can be improved from context-focus access to regulations pertaining demolition of structures, and cleaning-up of radioactivity inherent in nuclear stations. A BIM-driven framework to achieve a more regulation-aware and safer decommissioning of nuclear plants is proposed. Design: The framework considers task requirements, and landscape and environmental factors in modelling demolition scenarios that characterise decommissioning processes. The framework integrates decommissioning rules/regulations in a BIM linked non-structured query system to model items and decommissioning tasks, which are implemented based on context-focused retrieval of decommissioning rules and regulations. The concept’s efficacy is demonstrated using example cases of digitalised nuclear power plants. Findings: This approach contributes to enhancing improvements in nuclear plant decommissioning with potential for appropriate activity sequencing, risk reduction, and ensuring safety. Originality: A BIM-driven framework hinged on querying non-structured databases to provide context-focused access to nuclear rules and regulations, and to aiding decommissioning, is new