The Open Method of Coordination and integration theory: are there lessons to be learned?

This paper seeks to contextualize the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) and enrich our understanding of it by submitting constructivist insights to its policy assessment with a focus on the Employment Strategy (EES). The most developed and longest-standing OMC policy area, employment provides fertile ground for the assessment of a rapidly expanding theoretical perspective in IR and European integration applied to a growing policy process. Normative considerations as to the essence of the EU and its future trajectory were highly influential in the process of launching the OMC. The paper provides a framework of integration theory and highlights the particular contribution that the ‘thin’ variant of constructivism has made in understanding different aspects of EU policy and politics. In the next section, the OMC is discussed and its core characteristics identified. I claim that most of the OMC’s core elements are directly linked to constructivist assumptions about policy change. The paper identifies three of those, namely policy discourse, learning and participation in policy-making. I subject those to an empirical and theoretical assessment by use of the relevant literature. Concluding that the record shows such mechanisms to be hardly present in the Employment Policy OMC, I argue that an institutionalist reading of OMC provides a credible alternative by focusing on power resources, preferences and strategies available to core OMC actors, namely member states and the Commission. The paper concludes with a twofold argument: firstly, constructivist hopes on OMC are, at least in the current context, ill-founded. Secondly, while the OMC retains a number of advantages, practical policy suggestions that will enhance its appeal to policy-makers and the public alike are due before it becomes a credible policy option

Frame extension, trade union identities and wage politics: evidence from Sweden

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Drawing on frame theory, this paper examines how policy entrepreneurs within the Swedish Trade Union Confederation Landsorganisationen i Sverige (LO) embarked on a campaign to extend an exclusively class-based solidarity frame along gender lines. In the process, LO’s identity was modified. Once the new solidarity frame had been accepted, it was operationalized in the collective bargaining process through the creation of a “women’s pot”—i.e., a wage supplement given to female employees, or female-dominated sectors, to counter gender-based pay discrimination. Nevertheless, the new frame has yet to meet with success in the wage-bargaining arena, as LO faces problems of intra-union coordination in an unfavorable institutional context

The Politics of Austerity and Public Policy Reform in the EU

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The European Union (EU) is at a critical juncture that will either trigger further integration or reinforce a mode of intergovernmental cooperation. The spread of market pressure to a growing number of states demonstrates that the crisis needs to be dealt with at the European and not just the national level. Up to now the 'politics of extreme austerity' has been the mainstream recipe promoted to and adopted by member states. The measures are tougher in those countries where there has been external financial assistance (i.e. Greece, Portugal and Ireland) but the rest of Europe is following suit (e.g. Italy and the UK). This introduction outlines the key directions of EU reforms to put into context the more specific cases discussed elsewhere in this symposium. The strengths and weaknesses of the theoretical frameworks employed in the articles are discussed to demonstrate the lessons that the crisis offers for our well-established public policy models and to highlight avenues for further research. Two main arguments are advanced: first, the crisis calls for an interdisciplinary approach to comprehend its full extent and deal with it efficiently; and second, the current political trajectory of the EU calls for urgent changes to strengthen its cohesion and long-term viability. © 2014 Political Studies Association

The EU in the World: Public Procurement Policy and the EU-WTO relationship

To what extent and in what ways does the European Union (EU) seek to adjust the global public policy debate to its own goals and priorities? Our paper sheds light to these crucial questions regarding the EU’s global role by examining the Union’s relationship to the World Trade Organization (WTO), adopting and revising public procurement regulations as the case study under investigation. Using a qualitative research methodology and relying on more than 15 interviews with EU, WTO and interest groups, the paper sheds new light to an underdeveloped research area. Theoretically, we point to the limitations of the Principal Agent (PA) approach in EU governance and adopt a transnational regulatory networks approach instead. Empirically, the paper demonstrates the cyclical nature of the relationship between the EU and the WTO in adopting and revising the Union’s public procurement Directives as well as the WTO’s Global Procurement Agreement (GPA). This cyclical relationship demonstrates the existence of an informal transnational regulatory network negotiating the modernization of the EU procurement directives. On the other hand, much fewer actors are active in the revision of the GPA. With the Commission playing a central role in framing the contours of the EU policy debate and representing the EU member-states in the revision of the GPA, the paper also highlights the enhanced role of the European Parliament (EP) in reforming the EU policy agenda on procurement policy

The EU in the World: Public Procurement Policy and the EU-WTO relationship

To what extent and in what ways does the European Union (EU) seek to adjust the global public policy debate to its own goals and priorities? Our paper sheds light to these crucial questions regarding the EU’s global role by examining the Union’s relationship to the World Trade Organization (WTO), adopting and revising public procurement regulations as the case study under investigation. Using a qualitative research methodology and relying on more than 15 interviews with EU, WTO and interest groups, the paper sheds new light to an underdeveloped research area. Theoretically, we point to the limitations of the Principal Agent (PA) approach in EU governance and adopt a transnational regulatory networks approach instead. Empirically, the paper demonstrates the cyclical nature of the relationship between the EU and the WTO in adopting and revising the Union’s public procurement Directives as well as the WTO’s Global Procurement Agreement (GPA). This cyclical relationship demonstrates the existence of an informal transnational regulatory network negotiating the modernization of the EU procurement directives. On the other hand, much fewer actors are active in the revision of the GPA. With the Commission playing a central role in framing the contours of the EU policy debate and representing the EU member-states in the revision of the GPA, the paper also highlights the enhanced role of the European Parliament (EP) in reforming the EU policy agenda on procurement policy

TEMPORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THOMAS FLAIRS ON THE POMMEL AND FLOOR

To perform successfully on any apparatus, gymnasts must execute skills with creativity and virtuosity. Whereas creativity is demonstrated by introducing new skills, combining existing ones, or adapting skills to different apparatuses, virtuosity is expressed by executing skills with exceptional technique (Prassas et al. 2006). The Thomas Flairs (Fig. 1), originally introduced and performed on the pommel horse, have been adapted on other apparatuses including the floor. Understanding the timing of the different phases of the skill and what effect the different physical characteristics of the two apparatuses may impose on that timing, would be valuable to coaches and gymnasts seeking to improve performance, judges evaluating gymnastic routines, and scientists studying motor skills

Social policy in the EU and Turkey: The limits of Europeanisation

[No abstract available

The political economy of Greek-Turkish relations

This paper revisits the Greek-Turkish rapprochement, taking as its point of departure the two states' economic relations, and explores possible linkages to political cooperation. The paper finds growing collaboration in a context characterized by the proliferation of non-state actors in economic decision-making, and underlines the role played by FDI flows and trade decisions in stimulating cooperation. At the same time, it rejects an uncritical acceptance of economic functionalism and stresses the salience of politics, above and beyond Turkey's EU candidacy, to consolidate the gains from the rapprochement

Social partnership in Greece: Is there a Europeanization effect?

How should one understand the influence of Europeanization on social partnership? This article examines the impact of the European Employment Strategy (EES) on Greek social partnership and the role of employers and unions in the formulation of labour market policy. It identifies two potential levels of influence: first-level change which leads to an alteration of policy discourse, and second-level change which opens up space for reforms in policy actors' preferences and institutional resources. Empirical findings show a loose and indirect link between the advancement of Greek social partnership and the EES. Policy legacies and institutional inadequacies are decisive. Nonetheless, contrasting the Greek and Italian cases reveals the room for manoeuvre available to unions willing to invest in organizational restructuring and a bigger say in the policy process. © 2008 SAGE