Search results for "Union"

Lifelong Learning: international injunctions and university practices

2001

JEAN-PIERRE JALLADE & JOSE´-GINE´S MORAIntroductionThe aim of this article is to elucidate whether the international discourse onlifelong learning (LLL) had any influence on what universities are doing in thisfield. International trends will be examined on the basis of OECD, UNESCO,EU and Council of Europe policy documents. University practice will be based onan enquiry carried out in 28 universities in seven European countries in 1999–2000 in the framework of the project Lifelong Learning and the University,sponsored by the EU/DG 12.Between the international policy discourse and university practice stands thenational layer of policy-making, giving rise to two interesting issues: first, don…

The European Union as a normal international actor: an analysis of the EU Global Strategy

2019

For a long time, the European Union (EU) has been described by many scholars and policymakers as a civilian and a normative power. This article argues that these concepts do not accurately capture the foreign policy behaviour of the EU as prescribed in the European Union Global Strategy (EUGS). It first situates EU identity and role played in international relations within role strain theory. Then, it notes that the EU has difficulties fulfilling duties connected with its international identity and role. The second part of the article uses three indicators to examine whether the EU is pursuing ‘normal’ international actor status or not, drawing on the Strategy and relevant literature to do …

Legal and Political Determinants of Implementation of the Principle of Subsidiarity in the Federal Republic of Germany

2015

It is not surprising that subsidiarity is very often discussed with autonomy and federation (equally multidimensional concepts, similarly discussed in science). It is clearly evident taking into account, for example, results of analysis of the key words (tags) in scientific publications. The European Union has significantly contributed in popularizing of the concept so it is no surprise that strongly linked with EU's problems has become a central point of the discussion of its organizational structure and internal relationships between forming elements. It is difficult to imagine analysis of the conditions for implementing of subsidiarity in Germany without prior presentation of the state p…

European federation as a systemic response to the crisis of leadership in Europe?

2015

The idea of European federation keeps recurring in politicians' and intellectuals' discourses on the future of the European Union. The logic of global rivalry of “large territories” favors this in particular, as it somehow forces Europe’s states to enter into a tighter integration if they want to realize their politics. The biggest challenge which the Union faces is the problem of leadership, understood both in the context of internal policy and relationally towards the surrounding. The problem, however, is the diversity of the member states and the unrelenting tension between particular concern about a national interest and European universalism. European federation sensu stricto, just bec…

European administrative centre formation. Lessons from international bureaucracies

2011

The strengthening of administrative powers is comprehensively documented within national governments. This article asks to what extent centre formation also happens within international bureaucracies. Based on a large body of data (N=121) within three international bureaucracies, this study adds two new observations: First, administrative centre formation is primarily observed inside the European Commission and only marginally within other international bureaucracies – such as the OECD and WTO Secretariats. Moreover, within the Commission, centre formation is primarily observed at the administrative centre (the General Secretariat) and only marginally within bureaucratic sub-units. Concomit…

Europe as Empire: The Nature of the Enlarged European Union

2007

EU external policy at the crossroads: The challenge of actorness and effectiveness

2013

The goal of this Special Issue is to improve our conceptualisation and empirical understanding of EU actorness and effectiveness in International Relations. While the European Union aspires to play a greater global role, its actorness and effectiveness cannot be taken for granted given the nature of the EU as a multi-level and semi-supranational polity encompassing 28 Member States with diverse foreign policy preferences. The EU is presently at an important crossroad. On the one hand, its external policy stature and capacity have been boosted by institutional innovations and by the Union’s increased involvement in the full spectrum of international issues. On the other hand, a number of fa…

The European Union in a Changing World Order: What Is at Stake?

2019

This introductory chapter aims to shed light on how tightly the EU and the liberal international order are entwined and discuss the likely impact on the EU of a changing and, most likely, less liberal world order. The chapter discusses the concept of order in international politics and analyses how the liberal order that emerged after WWII has effected the development of the EU. The chapter introduces the book’s interdisciplinary, holistic approach, and discusses how a changing world order is affecting the EU and how the EU, in turn, is trying to shape the emerging new order by recalibrating its policies and actions in various domains, ranging from its relations with the rest of the world, …

The EU’s Role in International Climate Change Policy-Making: A Global Leader in Decline?

2013

This chapter assesses the European Union’s (EU) role in international climate change policy-making by comparing the EU’s degree of goal attainment at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009 and Cancun in 2010. By making use of three analytical factors (coherence, the opportunity structure and politicisation) we assess the outcomes of both negotiations for the EU. The Durban negotiations of 2011 are touched upon in the conclusions.

The European Union as a laboratory of paradiplomacy in the context of international and domestic determinants of regions’ foreign activities

2019

The aim of this article is to propose an analytical framework of the EU as a laboratory of paradiplomacy in context of international and domestic determinants of the regions’ foreign activities. The article shades some light on the definitions of paradyplomacy, which allow to understand the ambiguity of the status of regions in international relations. Firstly, the dimensions and types of paradiplomacy are identified. Secondly, the discourse concerning international and domestic determinants of international engagement of regional governments is identified. Then, the framework of the EU as a laboratory of paradiplomacy is explained in the three subsequent parts. Firstly, the EU is referred …