Local Councillors and Citizens. An exploratory study of the interaction between councillors and citizens in 4 municipalities in the Meuse-Rhine Euregion

The aim of this study is to look into into role behaviour of local councillors and their relation with citizens in their municipality. As little is known about the actual interaction between councillors and citizens in local government the nature of the study is mainly explorative. The research focuses on councillors in 4 different municipalities in the 3 countries of the Meuse-Rhine Euregion: Valkenburg (Netherlands), Riemst (Belgium-Flanders), Visé (Belgium-Wallonia) and Übach-Palenberg (Germany). The study reveals that there are many similarities between the councillors in the different countries. All councillors receive input from citizens, always about specific and often even individual issues of citizens, and surprisingly they leave the initiative mostly to the citizens, instead of actively looking for input. We also found significant differences. We noticed different patterns of contacts between citizens and councillors in the municipalities and it seems that input by citizens is valued differently on the different sides of the border. Several questions for further research were identified.

IOs in the BBNJ Regime Complex – the Dataset

The dataset on the involvement of international organizations (IOs) in in the negotiations for a new legally binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) underlies the visualizations (Figure 1,2,3) and overview (Table 1) in the publication “Not ‘undermining’ whom? Unpacking the emerging BBNJ regime complex”. The dataset describes the involvement of IOs in the negotiations through participation, making statements, being referred to by states, hosting side events and being mentioned in a draft text. Every involvement was traced to one of the package items of the BBNJ agreement, as well as to the specific provision of the draft text, where the involvement occurred

SOEP-Core v33 - INTERVIEWER: Detailed Information on SOEP Interviewers

Kroh M, Hilgert L, Langlet A. SOEP-Core v33 - INTERVIEWER: Detailed Information on SOEP Interviewers. SOEP Survey Papers. Vol 479: Series D, Variable Description and Coding. Berlin: DIW Berlin / SOEP; 2017

Global environmental agreement-making: upping the methodological and ethical stakes of studying negotiations

This perspective identifies how recent advances contribute to re-evaluating and re-constructing global environmental negotiations as a research object by calling into question who constitutes an actor and what constitutes a site of agreement formation. Building on this scholarship, we offer the term agreement-making to facilitate further methodological and ethical reflection. The term agreement-making broadens the conceptualisation of the actors, sites and processes constitutive of global environmental agreements and brings to the fore how these are shaped by, reflect and have the potential to re-make or transform the intertwined global order of social, political and economic relations. Agreement-making situates research within these processes, and we suggest that enhancing the methodological diversity and practical utility is a potential avenue for challenging the reproduction of academic dominance. We highlight how COVID-19 requires further adapting research practices and offers an opportunity to question whether we need to be physically present to provide critical insight, analysis and support