Re-Politicising Regulation: Politics: Regulatory Variation and Fuzzy Liberalisation in the Single European Energy Market

[From the introduction] The idea that we are living in the age of the regulatory state has dominated the study of public policy in the European Union and its member states in general, and the study of the utilities sectors in particular.1 The European Commission’s continuous drive to expand the Single Market has therefore been a free-market and rule-oriented project, driven by regulatory politics rather than policies that involve direct public expenditure. The dynamics of European integration are rooted in three central concepts: free trade, multilateral rules, and supranational cooperation. During the 1990s EU competition policy took a ‘public turn’ and set its sights on the public sector.2 EU legislation broke up national monopolies in telecommunications, electricity and gas, and set the scene for further extension of the single market into hitherto protected sectors. Both the integration theory literature (intergovernmentalist and institutionalist alike) and literature on the emergence of the EU as a ‘regulatory state’ assumed that this was primarily a matter of policy making: once agreement had been reached to liberalise the utilities markets a relatively homogeneous process would follow. The regulatory state model fit the original common market blueprint better the old industrial policy approaches. On the other hand, sector-specific studies continue to reveal a less than fully homogeneous internal market. The EU has undergone momentous changes in the last two decades, which have rendered the notion of a homogeneous single market somewhat unrealistic

Euro-scepticism as party strategy: persistence and change in party-based opposition to European integration

'Parteien, die eine grundsätzlich oder bedingt ablehnende Haltung der europäischen Integration gegenüber vertreten, sind im gesamten politischen Spektrum zu finden. Ein kursorischer Blick auf die europäische Parteienlandschaft zeigt, dass Mitte-Links- und Mitte-Rechts-Parteien eher nicht zur Übernahme einer grundsätzlich euro-skeptischen Position tendieren, obwohl sie bestimmte Aspekte der europäischen Integration ablehnen mögen, wenn diese programmatischen Zielen zuwiderlaufen. Bis auf einige bedeutende Ausnahmen beschränkt sich die prinzipielle Ablehnung auf Parteien an den Rändern des politischen Spektrums bzw. auf Parteien, die spezifische Interessen und Identitäten repräsentieren. Basierend auf der Annahme, dass die Entscheidung einer Partei für die Annahme einer europa-skeptischen Haltung bzw. deren Modifikation eine strategische ist, untersucht der Beitrag die Wurzeln für den Euroskeptizismus der Partien und die Dynamiken seiner Unveränderlichkeit bzw. seines Wandels. Die Parteistrategie ist untrennbar mit der Position der Partei im jeweiligen Parteiensystem verbunden und wird von der Abwägung der folgenden vier, das Wesen einer politischen Partei bestimmende Ziele bestimmt: dem organisatorischen Überleben, der Umsetzung spezifischer programmatischer Ziele (policies), der Stimmenmaximierung (votes) und der Ausübung von Regierungsgewalt (office). Obwohl viele, wenn nicht sogar fast alle Parteien Strategien der sog. Catch-all-Parteien oder Kartellparteien verfolgen, hat doch eine beachtliche Anzahl an Parteien alternative oder gemischte Strategien gewählt. Die euro-skeptischen Tendenzen der Parteien und die Anreize für eine solche ablehnende Haltung werden mit diesen unterschiedlichen Strategien in Zusammenhang gebracht und analysiert. Folgenden Fragen wird nachgegangen: Warum übernehmen Parteien euro-skeptische Positionen und warum verändern sie diese? Die 'Zähmung der Widerspenstigen' oder die Abschwächung des Euroskeptizismus kann über Veränderungen in der Gewichtung der vier Ziele oder den Rahmenbedingungen erfolgen oder über eine Kombination aus beiden.' (Autorenreferat)'The parties that have adopted principled or contingent positions opposed to participation in European integration span across most of the political spectrum. Yet even a cursory glance at the European scene reveals that the mainstream centre-left and -right parties tend not to adopt principled Euro-scepticism, although they may oppose aspects of European integration when policy preferences clash. With a few significant exceptions, principled opposition has been constrained to parties at the flanks of the system or parties that represent specific interests or identities. Starting from the premise that a party's decision to adopt or modify a Euro-sceptic stance is a strategic decision, the present paper explores the roots of party-based Euro-scepticism and the dynamics of its persistence and change. Party strategy is linked inextricably to the party's position in the party system, and is made up of the party's efforts to reconcile the four main goals that almost define political parties: organisational survival and the pursuit of policy, votes and office. Although many, if not most, parties pursue the kind of strategies that are associated with the catch-all or cartel model of political parties, a significant number of parties have chosen alternative or mixed strategies. Parties' propensities for and incentives regarding Euro-scepticism are explored in relation to these different strategies. The questions are, why do parties adopt Euro-sceptic positions, and why do they change these? The 'taming of the shrew', or softening of Euro-scepticism, may be driven by changes in any of the four goals or the context in which they are pursued, or a combination thereof.' (author's abstract

Assessing Microfinance: The Bosnia and Herzegovina Case

Microfinance is often hailed both as a tool for fighting poverty and as a tool for post-conflict reconciliation. This paper explores the use of microfinance in post-civil war Bosnia and Herzegovina, assessing its results in terms of both goals. As it combined high unemployment with a highly educated population in an institutionally open context, Bosnia and Herzegovina provides a crucial test of the effect of microfinance. If unambiguous signs of success cannot be found in a case with such favorable conditions, this would raise serious questions about the potential benefits of microfinance. The paper draws together evidence from a series of independent reviews of microfinance in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to assess its impact in terms of economic performance, the economic system, social welfare and post-conflict integration. Based on this case study, microfinance appears a better tool for dealing with poverty than with social integration or institution building.micro finance, post-conflict, poverty alleviation, economic development, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Svexit or Huxit? How another country could follow the UK out of the EU

What are the chances of another country following the UK out of the EU? Eurosceptics in other states may be emboldened by the deal the UK manages to secure, especially if it includes access to the Single Market. Moves to further EU integration could have a similar effect. Simon Hix (LSE) and Nick Sitter (Central European University) look at the cases of Hungary and Sweden

Power, authority and security: the EU’s Russian gas dilemma

This paper investigates contestation of authority in EU energy policy, with a focus on natural gas. It argues that the main challenge centers on the EU’s goals and means of energy security policy, not the location and scope of authority. The contested choice is between an across-the-board approach to regulation (Regulatory Power)- and a strategy that opens for the use of regulatory tools for geo-political purposes (Market Power). Competing claims of authority and competing views on how the European Commission should wield its regulatory power reflect both geography (North-Western versus (South-Eastern Europe) and the policy paradigm (market versus geo-politics). The Commission’s traditional strategy in energy policy–power-sharing and compromise–only works if there exists a consensus on the ultimate purpose of regulation. However, when the contested issue is whether the Commission should use is regulatory power to pursue market integration or geo-political goals, this presents a genuine policy dilemma

The four horsemen of terrorism: it’s not waves, it’s strains

This is the accepted and refereed manuscript to the articleDavid Rapoport’s concept of four waves of terrorism, from anarchist terrorism in the 1880s, through nationalist and Marxist waves in the early and mid-Twentieth Century, to the present religious wave, is one of the most influential concepts in terrorism studies. However, this article argues that thinking about different types of terrorism as strains rather than waves better reflects both the empirical reality and the idea that terrorists learn from and emulate each other. Whereas the notion of waves suggests distinct iterations of terrorist violence driven by successive broad historical trends, the concept of strains and contagion emphasizes how terrorist groups draw on both contemporary and historical lessons in the development of their tactics, strategies, and goals. The authors identify four distinct strains in total – socialist, nationalist, religious, and exclusionist - and contend that it is possible to trace each strain back to a ‘patient zero’ active in the 1850s.1, Forfatterversjo

Analyzing European Union Politics

The speed and depth with which the European Communities/ European Union has evolved is breathtaking and has radically shaped the life of the continent. Ever since the beginning of this ambitious economic and political project, scholars around the world have tried to explain the underlying logic behind it and the mechanisms of its functioning. Thus, a plethora of studies developed alongside the evolution of the EU. SENT (Network of European Studies) is an innovative and ambitious project which brought together about 100 partners from the EU member states, candidate and associated countries, and other parts of the world. It was a far reaching project aimed to overcome disciplinary and geographical- linguistic boundaries in order to assess the state of EU studies today, as well as the idea of Europe as transmitted by schools, national politicians, the media, etc. SENT’s main goal was to map European studies, in order to get a comprehensive picture of the evolution of European studies over the last decades in different disciplines and countries. This approach permitted to achieve a better understanding of the direction these studies are now taking. Five disciplines were identified where EU studies have particularly evolved: law, politics, economics, history, and social and cultural studies. The mapping of EU studies thus includes a review of the most studied issues in EU studies today, the main academic schools, the most influential journals and books published, but it also shows how local realities and national identities affect the study and teaching of Europe around the world. In addition, an important work was done in mapping and discussing teaching methodologies in relation to European studies with the aim of introducing and diffusing the most up-to-date techniques

The Study of European Union Politics in the UK and Ireland

This is a working paper version of a paper written for SENT - The Network of European Studies. The working paper provides an overview of the development of the British and Irish literature on the EU, from the early debates on European integration to the broad area that makes up European Union politics today. Because this is a large field, the paper charts the development of this literature rather than provide in-depth assessment of individual contributions