Search results for " International Relations"

Four aspects of politics in Max Weber’s Politik als Beruf

2019

The article offers a rereading of Weber’s Politik als Beruf as a conceptualisation of politics contingent and controversial activity in terms of the four aspects of politics: politicisation, polity, politicking and policy. Weber discusses politics as a concept abstracted from its content. All four aspects can be found in his exposition of the concept. Weber mentions first policy as the direction of politics and demarcates his focus on the state-type polities. Then, he presents the formula on politics as striving for power, consisting of chances to politicise its distinct shares, and discusses historical types of professional politicians and their styles of politicking. Weber illustrates th…

Promesses robotiques et liquidation du politique

2017

EnglishRobots are being feverishly promoted today to the detriment of human labor force, socio-environmental balance and politics. francaisSi les robots sont aujourd'hui promus de maniere frenetique, c’est au detriment de la force humaine de travail, de l'equilibre socio-ecologique et du politique.

Plus équitable, l'école retrouverait la voie de la réussite

2012

National audience; Les enquêtes Pisa montrent que l'équité de l'école française s'est beaucoup dégradée au cours des années 2000. La rétablir relève de l'engagement politique et social, mais aussi du souci d'efficacité. Pour y parvenir, il ne faut pas craindre d'adopter certaines mesures d'évaluation par les résultats, souvent diabolisées, mais qui permettraient pourtant de mieux prendre en compte les besoins des élèves les plus faibles.

The cost of protection racket in Sicily

2008

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the current cost of protection rackets in Sicily. By means of a database constructed on judicial evidence, it has been possible to come up with an estimate of the average and total costs of the protection-money system, as well as finding out in which sectors of economic activity and in which provinces is most pervasive. The average monthly payment is approximately 600 euros per business, with stronger effects in those areas with a relatively more traditional economic structure. As a whole, in monetary terms, the protection racket in Sicily accounts for over 1.4% of gross regional product. Finally, the paper supports the hypothesis that in most cases,…

The Europeanization of Health Care Coverage Decisions: EU-Regulation, Policy Learning and Cooperation in Decision-Making

2013

The paper presents two cases of Europeanization in health policy – an area that has so far been viewed as hardly affected by European integration. We show that even in the less likely case of coverage decision-making, some traces of Europeanization can be found. This is possible because the Commission has a strong interest in further integration in this field and all other relevant actors have motives to at least engage in cooperation. Our first case deals with the EU’s transparency directive and shows that this has forced member states to establish formal decision-making procedures, but did not result in a harmonization of decision-making processes and institutions, which is why the Commis…

People Who Run the European Parliament: Staff Demography and Its Implications

2014

AbstractWith few exceptions, parliament administrations, including secretariat officials and party group staff, have been relatively unexplored. However, a small, but growing, literature on the administration of the European Parliament (EP) indicates that officials play a role in the policy process that goes beyond technical and procedural questions. On this background, this article therefore aims at, first, finding out who the people working in the EP secretariat and group secretariats are, and, second, investigating whether it matters who these people are. Based on an online survey, we unveil the bureaucrats’ nationality, gender, educational background and former and future career (plans)…

Five Roles of Cross-border Cooperation Against Re-bordering

2021

How Brexit affects EU external action: The UK’s legacy in European international cooperation

2018

Abstract What exactly Brexit means for British engagement in European external affairs and development cooperation, is highly unclear, while its potential impact is considerable. After the general election in the UK on 8 June 2017, uncertainty regarding the direction, process and timing of the Brexit negotiations and the risk of a disorderly separation have risen further. The government position of a ‘hard Brexit’ seems no longer to be carved in stone. Yet, given the expected – total or partial – withdrawal of a major EU member state, like any area of EU politics, also European development policy faces a number of challenges: short-term problems regarding existing legal obligations, looming…

Procedural justice and democratic institutional design in health-care priority-setting

2013

Health-care goods are goods with peculiar properties, and where they are scarce, societies face potentially explosive distributional conflicts. Animated public and academic debates on the necessity and possible justice of limit-setting in health care have taken place in the last decades and have recently taken a turn toward procedural rather than substantial criteria for justice. This article argues that the most influential account of procedural justice in health-care rationing, presented by Daniels and Sabin, is indeterminate where concrete properties of rationing institutions are concerned. Such properties inscribe substantial norms into institutions. These norms can derive validity only…

Motives, Roles, Effectiveness and the Future of the EU as an International Mediator

2018

AbstractThis article concludes this special issue on the European Union as international mediator that set out to advance our theoretical and empirical knowledge aboutEUmediation. Providing a comprehensive reflection ofEUmediation activities and the diverse settings where they take place, this concluding article identifies some connection points between the articles and discusses their findings on the motives/drivers, roles/strategies, effectiveness and institutional capacities ofEUmediation. It discusses the implications of these findings for policymaking, focusing on the conditions forEUmediation effectiveness, the advantages of the multi-layered nature ofEUmediation and the need for flex…