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

De EU, België, Vlaanderen en de VN: Vlaanderen in de VN, een blik op de betrokkenheid bij de besluitvorming in de Commissie Duurzame Ontwikkeling

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Subnational routes to global decision-making on sustainable development. The Flemish involvement in the UN and the OECD

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Intergovernmental Cooperation in Belgium. The Case of International Sustainable Development Policy

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Flanders in UN decision-making for subtainable development: exploring routes to CDS-16 and CSD-17

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Routes to global decision-making. Flanders in the UN and OECD discussions on sustainable development

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Intergovernmental Cooperation for International Decision-making in Federal States: The Case of Sustainable Development in Belgium

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Vlaamse betrokkenheid bij internationale besluitvorming over duurzame ontwikkeling: conclusies en aanbevelingen

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Intergovernmental Cooperation for International Decision-making in Federal Belgium

This paper focuses on intergovernmental cooperation in Belgium and looks at the area of international sustainable development policy. Typical of the Belgian federal state is its dual nature with cooperative characteristics. Many scholars emphasize the instigating role of European and global decision-making as a trigger for intergovernmental cooperation between the federal and the subnational governments in Belgium. That can be particularly interesting in the case of sustainable development policy that is characterized as an ‘outside-in’ policy, i.e. a policy that finds its way to the domestic policy agenda because of international pressures. Moreover, earlier research on the involvement of the Belgian subnational entity Flanders in international decision-making on sustainable development has pointed at the relevance and importance of Belgian intergovernmental cooperation in that policy area. The paper consists of a framework that discusses the most relevant Belgian intergovernmental arrangements on external relations, and an empirical part that analyzes in detail the case of international sustainable development policy. In particular, three decision-making settings are examined, i.e. the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, the OECD Annual Meeting of Sustainable Development Experts and the EU discussions on its Sustainable Development Strategy. The paper argues that there is no lack of intergovernmental cooperation on international sustainable development policy in Belgium. Yet, the current cooperation practices are informal, ad hoc and a mixture of practices. Although in Belgium many cooperation agreements are already at work for various policy issues, it still lacks a formal framework for international sustainable development policy to hold on to.status: publishe

Subnational agents in global governance for sustainable development. Exploring routes for Flanders to the UN CSD

Global governance for sustainable development (SD) is characterized by the need to involve various actors and agents at all levels, from the global to the local (UNCED, 1992b). Relatively little research is done on the role of subnational governments, which are considered to be especially important because of their responsibility for the implementation of SD policies (Berger and Pohoryles, 2004). Subnational governments are, however, not recognized as decision-making actors in global multilateral organizations, where a significant part of the policy debate on SD takes place. Without direct representation, they need to find other ways to exert agency in global governance for SD. This paper focuses on how Flanders, one of the Belgian subnational entities, tries to be part of the multilateral decision-making process for the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). We adopt a Multi-Level Governance (MLG) perspective (Hooghe and Marks, 2001) in order to conceptually interpret the research topic, by studying the multi-level and the governance characteristics of the process. Analyzing the role of the Flemish government in this process implies that not only the subnational and the global level, but also the national and the regional (i.e. the EU) levels have to be taken into account. In addition, starting from MLG a typology can be developed (Geeraerts et al., 2004) with four routes the Flemish government has at its disposal to be involved in CSD decision-making; i.e. the multi-level, the European, the national and the direct route. Particular attention is paid to how the Flemish government used these four routes to exercise agency in the most recent CSD cycle (2008-2009). Besides literature study, the paper is based on interviews with Flemish, Belgian, EU and UN officials and on nonparticipatory observation. As a member of the official delegation of the Belgian government, the author observed the entire decision-making process from the inside at every single level. This gives original insights and insides into the process.status: publishe