2,590 research outputs found
Theorizing ideas and discourse in political science: intersubjectivity, neo-institutionalisms, and the power of ideas
Oscar Larssonâs (2015) essay condemns discursive institutionalism for the âsinâ of subjectivism. In reality, however, discursive institutionalism emphasizes the intersubjective nature of ideas through its theorization of agentsâ âbackground ideational abilitiesâ and âforeground discursive abilities.â It also avoids relativism by means of Wittgensteinâs distinction between experiences of everyday life and pictures of the world. Contrary to Larsson, what truly separates post-structuralism from discursive institutionalism is the respective approachesâ theorization of the relationship of power to ideas, with discursive institutionalists mainly focused on persuasive power through ideas, while post-structuralists focus on the structural power in ideas or on coercive power over ideas
The European Union in search of political identity and legitimacy: Is more Politics the Answer?
The problems of identity and legitimacy in the EU are significant, but tangentially interconnected. The problems for EU identity derive not solely from the fact that European citizens have not developed much sense of being European because they have not been doing a lot in the EU; it is also that national elites have not been saying much about what the EU has been doingâexcept in moments of crisis. The problems for legitimacy derive not only from the ways in which the EU worksâwith more emphasis on âoutputâ for the people and âthroughputâ withâ the people than âinputâ by and of the people. It is also that the EUâs development challenges nationally constructed identities at the same time that it alters the traditional workings of national democracy. And this in turn adds to problems for citizen identification with the EU and their perceptions of its legitimacy. So the question is: would politicizing the EU help build more identity and legitimacy? Or would this only increase the problems?political science; European identity; citizenship; legitimacy; democracy
Digital data registration and differencing compression system
A process is disclosed for x ray registration and differencing which results in more efficient compression. Differencing of registered modeled subject image with a modeled reference image forms a differenced image for compression with conventional compression algorithms. Obtention of a modeled reference image includes modeling a relatively unrelated standard reference image upon a three-dimensional model, which three-dimensional model is also used to model the subject image for obtaining the modeled subject image. The registration process of the modeled subject image and modeled reference image translationally correlates such modeled images for resulting correlation thereof in spatial and spectral dimensions. Prior to compression, a portion of the image falling outside a designated area of interest may be eliminated, for subsequent replenishment with a standard reference image. The compressed differenced image may be subsequently transmitted and/or stored, for subsequent decompression and addition to a standard reference image so as to form a reconstituted or approximated subject image at either a remote location and/or at a later moment in time. Overall effective compression ratios of 100:1 are possible for thoracic x ray digital images
Resonance bifurcations of robust heteroclinic networks
Robust heteroclinic cycles are known to change stability in resonance
bifurcations, which occur when an algebraic condition on the eigenvalues of the
system is satisfied and which typically result in the creation or destruction
of a long-period periodic orbit. Resonance bifurcations for heteroclinic
networks are more complicated because different subcycles in the network can
undergo resonance at different parameter values, but have, until now, not been
systematically studied. In this article we present the first investigation of
resonance bifurcations in heteroclinic networks. Specifically, we study two
heteroclinic networks in and consider the dynamics that occurs as
various subcycles in each network change stability. The two cases are
distinguished by whether or not one of the equilibria in the network has real
or complex contracting eigenvalues. We construct two-dimensional Poincare
return maps and use these to investigate the dynamics of trajectories near the
network. At least one equilibrium solution in each network has a
two-dimensional unstable manifold, and we use the technique developed in [18]
to keep track of all trajectories within these manifolds. In the case with real
eigenvalues, we show that the asymptotically stable network loses stability
first when one of two distinguished cycles in the network goes through
resonance and two or six periodic orbits appear. In the complex case, we show
that an infinite number of stable and unstable periodic orbits are created at
resonance, and these may coexist with a chaotic attractor. There is a further
resonance, for which the eigenvalue combination is a property of the entire
network, after which the periodic orbits which originated from the individual
resonances may interact. We illustrate some of our results with a numerical
example.Comment: 46 pages, 20 figures. Supplementary material (two animated gifs) can
be found on
http://www.maths.leeds.ac.uk/~alastair/papers/KPR_res_net_abs.htm
Structure of fish assemblages on coastal rocky shores of the Azores
Bol. Mus. Mun. Funchal, Sup. N.Âș 6: 127-138, 2001The structure of fish assemblages was investigated from the surface down to 25 m depth on Azorean rocky shores. A total of 57 fish species was recorded by visual censuses, most species (66%) occurring in the whole depth range studied. Fish abundance was dominated by 11 species, mainly sparids, labrids, carangids and pomacentrids, which constituted over 88% of the total number of individuals recorded. The trophic structure of the fish assemblages studied in the Azores was characterized by the dominance of benthic mesocarnivores and high proportions of herbivores and pelagic macrocarnivores.A estrutura das comunidades ictiolĂłgicas dos fundos rochosos dos Açores foi estudada desde a superfĂcie atĂ© aos 25 m de profundidade. Um total de 57 espĂ©cies de peixes foi identificado com recurso a censos visuais. A maioria das espĂ©cies (66%) ocorreu em toda a gama de profundidades estudada. A fauna ictiolĂłgica era dominada, em termos de abundĂąncia, por 11 espĂ©cies, principalmente pertencentes Ă s famĂlias Sparidae, Labridae, Carangidae e Pomacentridae, os quais constituĂram mais de 88% do nĂșmero total de indivĂduos observados. A estrutura trĂłfica das comunidades ictiolĂłgicas estudadas nos Açores apresentouse dominada por meso-carnĂvoros bentĂłnicos e proporçÔes elevadas de herbĂvoros e macro-carnĂvoros pelĂĄgico
Forgotten Democratic Legitimacy: âGoverning by the Rulesâ and âRuling by the Numbersâ
Introduction: During the euroâs sovereign debt crisis, European leaders have become obsessed with rules,
numbers, and pacts. This has reinforced an approach that began with the Maastricht Treaty in
1992, which set out numerical targets for inflation, deficits, and debt for member-states adopting
the Single Currency, was formalized by the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) of 1999, but
accelerated during the Eurozone crisis beginning in 2010. In quick succession EU leaders signed
up for the so-called âSix-Pack,â the âTwo-Pack,â and the âFiscal Compact,â each more stringent
on the nature of the rules, more restrictive with regard to the numbers, and more punitive for
member-states that failed to meet the requirements. In the absence of any deeper political
integration that could provide greater democratic representation and control over an everexpanding
supranational governance, the EU has ended up with âgoverning by the rulesâ and
âruling by the numbersâ in the Eurozone.
What has become clear as a result of the crisis of the Euro is that the EU is not just missing an
economic union and a fiscal union; it is also missing a political union. During the crisis, the EU
abandoned any pretense to respecting the long-standing âdemocratic settlementâ in which
Commission, Council, and European Parliament all contributed in their different ways to
decision-making via the âCommunity Method.â Instead, Eurozone governance combined
excessive intergovernmentalismâas EU member-state leaders generated the stability-based rules
in the European Council while treating the Commission largely as a secretariatâwith increased
supranationalism. While the ECB pressed the member-states to engage in austerity and structural
reform in a quid pro quo for its own more vigorous monetary interventions, the Commission
gained enhanced budgetary oversight powers to apply the restrictive numerical targets. In all of
this, moreover, the European Parliament was largely sidelined
Rethinking EU governance: from âoldâ to ânewâ approaches to who steers integration*
*I wish to thank the guest editors of this Special Issue, Mark Pollack and Mareike Kleine, for their impressive stewardship of the entire project along with their extremely perceptive and careful editorial suggestions for my own article. I would also like to thank the anonymous referees for their very helpful comments and their close reading of the manuscript. The manuscript has its origins in a working paper for the Istituto Affari Internazionali, and benefited from comments by Lorenzo Vai and Pier Domenico Tortola. Its elaboration was undertaken under the auspices of the EU Commission Horizon 2020 project: âEuropean Legitimacy in Governing through Hard Timesâ (# 649456âENLIGHTEN), and further benefited from comments by Ramona Coman, Amandine Crespy and Frederik Ponjaert. Thanks to them for their insightful suggestions as well as to participants in the workshops at Princeton and the EUI, including the two commentators on my article, Gerda Falkner and Lewis G. Miller, and especially, needless to say, Andrew Moravcsik himself.EU scholars have long been divided on the main drivers of European integration. The original approaches were at odds on whether EU level intergovernmental actors or supranational actors were better able to exercise coercive or institutional power to pursue their interests, with Andrew Moravcsik's liberal intergovernmentalism serving as a baseline for one side of those debates. Newer approaches are similarly divided, but see power in terms of ideational innovation and consensusâfocused deliberation. The one thing old and new approaches have in common is that they ignore the parliamentarists, new and old. What all sides to the debates have failed to recognize is the reality of a ânewâ EU governance of more politically charged dynamics among all three main EU actors exercising different kinds of power. This has roots not only in the national level's increasing âpolitics against policyâ and its bottom up effects on the EU level. It also stems from EU institutional interactions at the top, and its âpolicy with politicsâ.Accepted manuscrip
The New World Order, Incorporated: The Rise of Business and the Decline of the Nation-State
Digitised version produced by the EUI Library and made available online in 2020
The European Union: democratic legitimacy in a regional state?
'Das 'Demokratiedefizit' der EU stellt fĂŒr die einzelnen EU-Mitgliedsstaaten ein gröĂeres Problem dar als fĂŒr das EU-System insgesamt. Die LegitimitĂ€t der EU ist nur insofern problematisch, wenn sie mit nationalstaatlich verfassten Demokratien wie etwa den Vereinigten Staaten verglichen wird, deren LegitimitĂ€t auf dem Grundsatz des Regierens 'durch, von und fĂŒr die BĂŒrger' sowie 'mit den BĂŒrgern' beruht. Stattdessen scheint es angebracht die EU als Regionalstaat zu betrachten, in dem die SouverĂ€nitĂ€t geteilt ist, die Grenzen variabel und IdentitĂ€ten gemischt sind, es multiple Ebenen und Formen des Regierens gibt, und in dem die Demokratie unvollstĂ€ndig ist, da das Regieren 'fĂŒr und mit den BĂŒrgern' ĂŒber die Herrschaft 'durch und von den BĂŒrgern' gestellt wird. Diese Art der Regierungsform belastet die nationale Politik und erfordert einen besseren Diskurs, um die VerĂ€nderungen auf nationaler Ebene legitimieren zu können.' (Autorenreferat)'The 'democratic deficit' represents a greater problem for EU member-states individually than for the EU as a whole. Legitimacy for the EU is problematic mainly if it is contrasted with a national democracy such as the US, which has finality as a nation-state and legitimacy predicated on government 'by, of, and for the people' as well as 'with the people'. Instead, the EU is best considered as a regional state, with divided sovereignty, variable boundaries, multiple levels and modes of governance, composite identity, and an incomplete democracy in which government for and with the people is emphasized over and above government by and of the people. This puts special burdens on national politics and demands better discourse to legitimize the changes in national polities.' (author's abstract)
"Theorizing Democracy in Europe: The Impact of the EU on National and Sectoral Policy-making Processes"
[From the Introduction]. In this paper, I begin with a consideration of the relationship between institutional structures and policymaking processes, then examine the nature of the âmacroâ policymaking patterns in the EU and its member-states, and finally explore the âmicroâ patterns of relations in policy sectors. I illustrate with the cases of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy
- âŠ