Grand theories of European integration in the twenty-first century

This paper sets the scene for a JEPP special issue entitled ‘Re-engaging Grand Theory: European Integration in the Twenty-first Century.’ The special issue engages three theories–neofunctionalism, intergovernmentalism, and postfunctionalism–that have their intellectual roots squarely in the study of European integration. The purpose of this article is to describe the genesis of each school and outline what is distinctive about its approach in relation to four landmark events of the past decade: the Eurocrisis, the migration crisis, Brexit, and illiberalism

Introduction to theory meets crisis collection

This collection consists of five contributions presented as plenaries at a conference, ‘Theory Meets Crisis’, held at the Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute, in July 2016. The organizers of the conference asked leading scholars of varieties of capitalism, democracy, redistributional politics, European integration and political parties to engage the theoretical implications of Europe’s multiplex crisis. To what extent and how, we asked, has the European crisis confirmed, undermined or reshaped theoretically grounded expectations in these fields? Beyond the confirmation or disconfirmation of particular hypotheses, does the crisis impel us to take a fresh look at comparative politics

Intergovernmentalists in the Commission:Foxes in the Henhouse?

Contrary to the dominant view in the scholarly literature on European institutions, where the European Commission is generally described as a unitary actor whose acts are primarily influenced by a political agenda and/or considerations of self-interest, this article argues that a variety of opinions coexist within the Commission staff. Based on the largest attitudinal survey ever conducted on Commission officials, it documents the existence of a sizeable minority of intergovernmentalists and analyzes their attitude towards the institution they serve and their views on its place in the integration process

Law, Market Building and Public Health in the European Union

European Union (EU) law is based upon a liberalising imperative, the goal of which is to construct a single market between member states. Yet the EU is no ordinary trade pact, incorporating as it does a range of supranational political institutions and common policies in a range of areas beyond simple market building. Scholars have nevertheless noted a distinction between ‘positive’ integration (the formulation of common policies applying to all member states) and ‘negative’ integration (the removal of national-level regulations acting as barriers to market integration). In the context of debates about the implications of trade law and corporate activity for health, this article poses three related questions. First, to what extent does EU law afford corporations opportunities to challenge national-level health regulations? Second, to what extent do EU legal and political processes provide opportunities for positive pro-health supranational regulation, including that which might offset the effects of negative liberalising integration? Third, how do EU market-building processes differ from those of more narrowly-drawn trade agreements and organisations in their implications for health? We analyse and compare two recent sets of health-related legal proceedings under EU law, the first of which challenges legislation passed by the Scottish Government to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol, and the second of which addresses the legality of specific aspects of the EU’s 2014 Tobacco Products Directive. We find, first, that EU law offers ample opportunities for corporations to challenge national health regulations; second, that there is significant scope for pro-health supranational regulations, but that these must be couched in the language of facilitating the single market, and are dependent on the political commitment of key policy actors; and, third, that this (limited) scope for pro-health supranational regulation distinguishes EU legal and political processes from those of other trade agreements and organisations

Citizens' perception of the Cohesion Policy and support for the European Union

Using a novel database, this study assesses the impact of the perception of the personal benefits of the EU Cohesion Policy on support for the European project. The results show that the gap in support between people who claim to have benefited from the Cohesion Policy and those who feel they have not vanished once differences in individual traits and reverse causality are taken into account. This means that, despite the significant positive effect that the intensity of the Cohesion Policy in the region exerts on the perception of the policy, it does not stimulate support for the EU

Perturbations cosmologiques de deuxième ordre dans le contexte des modèles d'inflation à deux champs et leurs conséquences pour la non-gaussiannité

Les prédictions d'inflation du spectre de puissance de la perturbation de la courbure ont déjà fait l objet de vérification d un excellent niveau, permettant à de nombreux modèles de rester compatibles avec les observations. Dans la présente thèse, nous avons étudié les corrélations de troisième ordre qui pourraient permettre de mieux distinguer les différents modèles d'inflation les uns des autres. Parmi toutes les extensions possibles du modèle standard d'inflation, nous avons choisi d'étudier des modèles de deux champs scalaires à termes cinétiques standards et à métrique des champs plat. La nouveauté introduite par ces modèles est la présence de la perturbation d'isocourbure. Son interaction avec la perturbation adiabatique hors de l'horizon produit des non-linéarités caractéristiques des modèles à plusieurs champs scalaires. Dans, ce contexte, nous avons établi la forme de la perturbation adiabatique et de la perturbation d'isocourbure invariant sous transformations de jauge en deuxième ordre. De plus, nous avons trouvé l'action de troisième ordre qui décrit leurs interactions. En outre, nous avons élaboré le formalisme des grandes longueurs d'onde afin d'obtenir une expression pour le paramètre de non-gaussiannité fNL en fonction du potentiel des champs. Nous avons ensuite, utilisé cette formule pour traiter analytiquement - avec l'hypothèse de slow-roll - des classes générales de potentiels et vérifier nos résultats numériquement par la théorie exacte. De là, nous avons pu tirer des conclusions générales concernant les propriétés de fNL, comme par exemple la dépendance de sa magnitude des caractéristiques du trajet des champs et de la perturbation d'isocourbure, ainsi que sa dépendance de la magnitude et de la taille relative des trois impulsions dont le corrélateur à trois points est fonction.Inflationary predictions for the power spectrum of the curvature perturbation have been verified to an excellent degree, leaving many models compatible with observations. In this thesis we studied third-order correlations, that might allow one to further distinguish between inflationary models. From all the possible extensions of the standard inflationary model, we chose to study two-field models with canonical kinetic terms and flat field space. The new feature is the presence of the so-called isocurvature perturbation. Its interplay with the adiabatic perturbation outside the horizon gives birth to non-linearities characteristic of multiple-field models. In this context, we established the second-order gauge-invariant form of the adiabatic and isocurvature perturbation and found the third-order action that describes their interactions. Furthermore, we built on and elaborated the long-wavelength formalism in order to acquire an expression for the parameter of non-Gaussianity fNL as a function of the potential of the fields. We next used this formula to study analytically, within the slow-roll hypothesis, general classes of potentials and verified our results numerically for the exact theory. From this study, we deduced general conclusions about the properties of fNL, its magnitude depending on the characteristics of the field trajectory and the isocurvature component, as well as its dependence on the magnitude and relative size of the three momenta of which the three-point correlator is a function.PARIS11-SCD-Bib. électronique (914719901) / SudocSudocFranceF

Immigrant integration policy-making in Italy. Regional policies in a multi-level governance perspective

This article contributes to the debate on the local governance turn' by considering a recent immigration context: the Italian case. We analyse integration policies and governance processes in three regions: Lombardy, Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna. The aim is to shed new light on the multi-level governance relations that shape immigrant integration policies, taking into account the interdependencies of the vertical and horizontal dimensions of multi-level governance. The analysis points out the emergence of different multi-level governance arrangements and highlights the relevance of institutional and organisational factors in accounting for local differentiation. General traditions and established public-non-governmental organisation relations in the social policy field, the internal organisation of the regional administration (specialised staff versus general bureaucratic apparatus), and the role of ideology appear to make a difference. The implications of this analysis for multi-level governance scholarship are discussed, emphasising the need for a middle-range theory approach. Points for practitioners Multi-level governance is considered by policy scholars as a promising approach to make sense of increasingly complex policymaking processes, implying the interaction between different levels of government and between public and non-public actors. By considering the politically sensitive immigrant integration issue, this article attempts to point out how multi-level governance relations concretely take shape at the regional level in Italy, and which factors account for regional differentiation. Our study suggests that contextual and organisational factors are particularly relevant, that is, social policy traditions, the regions' internal organisation and the individual civil servants' attitudes. Nevertheless, politics should also be carefully taken into account