European Research Reloaded: Cooperation and Integration among Europeanized States

Session 1: Governance in the European UnionThis book argues that a third wave of research on the EU is needed to adequately understand the increased interconnectedness between the European and national political levels. We posit that this third wave should be sensitive to the temporal dimension of European integration and Europeanization. In particular, we seek to link the processes of Europeanization and European integration in a new way by asking the question: how has Europeanization affected current modes of integration and cooperation in the EU? Preparing the ground for the third wave, the first part of the book concerns Europeanization. In order to fully understand the feedback of Europeanization on cooperation and integration it is important to analyze how European integration has had an impact on member states in the first place, in particular indirectly, beyond the direct mechanism of compliance with European policies. The research presented here stresses the role which domestic actors and in particular governments have in guiding the Europeanization impact on the member states. The second part of the book concerns integration and cooperation, in line with what we see as a third wave of research. Here we analyze how prior integration effects, that is Europeanization, influences current preferences for integration. We find that earlier integration effects have had a significant influence on those preferences, resulting however, somewhat surprisingly not always for a preference for closer integration. The multi-faceted interrelationships between the EU level and the national level and the increased interconnectedness between them cast doubt on the appropriateness of traditional readings of central concepts of political science and international relations such as territory, identity and sovereignty. The final section of the book therefore concerns the conceptual challenges faced by the continued development of multi-level governance. These contributions show that a conceptual reorientation is necessary because up until now these concepts have been almost exclusively linked to the nation state. One of the key findings of the book is the astonishing variation in modes of cooperation and integration in the EU. We suggest that this variation can be explained by taking into account the sources of legitimacy at the national and at the EU level on which cooperation and integration are based. We argue that whereas economic integration, in particular the creation of a single market, could be sufficiently backed by output legitimacy, deeper integration in other areas requires a degree of input legitimacy that is currently lacking in the EU. Therefore, non-economic integration is often taking the form of looser types of cooperation, such as the open method of coordination and benchmarking, allowing domestic actors more control over the Europeanization of these policies onto the member state. We elaborate on this speculation in the conclusion and believe that it should be part of the future research agenda of the third wave of European research. This book emerged from the European Research Colloquium of the Netherlands Institute of Government, in which a small group of researchers from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Denmark met every 6 months over the past three years to debate substantive topics, the choice of research design and methodology, and, in particular, the empirical research presented by each author in this book

Health system performance assessment landscape at the EU level: a structured synthesis of actors and actions

Background: Many policy makers and other stakeholders in the EU have expressed interest in better understanding the performance of their own health systems to identify opportunities for improvement in effectiveness, efficiency and equity. Health system performance assessment (HSPA) has received considerable attention at EU level as an instrument to improve transparency and accountability. This is equally important for population health and sustainable health spending. The goal of this paper is to synthesise and map the current state and developments in the field of HSPA relevant in the EU context and by this aid the navigation in the growing HSPA system, understand the available tools and identify opportunities for improvement. Methods: Structured synthesis of the literature on initiatives in the field of HSPA at EU level was carried out. Key literature was identified by a focused review performed between October 2015 and June 2016 on websites of key institutions including the EU, OECD and WHO and Google engine. We used six predefined criteria for identifying key literature. Identified initiatives were classified according to analytical and conceptual output or whether a guiding or advisory role was resumed. A visual map of the relationships between the different actions and actors involved in HSPA was developed. In addition, expert opinion was sought to refine the map. Results: We identified a total of 64 relevant initiatives and their relationships in the field of HSPA. These include institutions such as the European Commission (73%), European Council (8%), OECD (9%) and WHO-EUR (9%). 24 initiatives produced analytical outputs, four developed conceptual outputs and six had a guiding role. The role of the EU in HSPA and collaboration with other key actors have intensified considerably since the adoption of the EU Health Strategy in 2013. The EU HSPA landscape is complex with seemingly few streamlining activities. Conclusions: Knowledge transfer and exchange of expertise are key to HSPA. While cooperation between the key actors have intensified recently and clearly reflect the "Health in all Policies" (HIAP) approach, there is considerable room for improved streamlining activities to share knowledge and avoid overlapping efforts, especially within the European Commission

Uzbekistan’s development experiment: An assessment of Karimov’s peculiar economic legacy

Uzbekistan’s unique post-independence experiment with development was led by Islam Karimov until his sudden death in September 2016. Despite defying international advice on structural reforms, under Karimov’s rule, Uzbekistan achieved an average annual growth rate of 5% in the period 1996–2016, which was particularly impressive (over 8%) in 2004–2016. Karimov also left behind strong macroeconomic fundamentals for his successor. Since taking over the presidency in December 2016, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has introduced wide-ranging reforms, creating an impression of a de facto start to transition in Uzbekistan. This study analyses Karimov’s economic legacy and assesses whether it has enabled or hindered the developmental targets set by his successor