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The ambitions of this book are twofold, one fraternal and one methodological. It shows that the realist tradition is alive and well in Europe, by presenting a sample of European scholars working under the realist paradigm - including Russia. Introducing neoclassical realism to a European academic audience poses a particular challenge. For Europeans, the American discourse of 'bringing intervening variables back in' sounds curious. In sum, the American approach privileges neorealism at the expense of classical realism. In the United States, neoclassical realism is essentially a research programme aimed at explaining how states filter systemic factors through domestic structures, thus explaining foreign policy output on the basis of both systemic and domestic variables. Neoclassical realism, as it stands, is thus some sort of 'neorealism + domestic variables'. It is an attempt to respond to the shortfalls of structural realism by (re)incorporating variables located within the famous 'black box'. Domestic factors are yet clearly relegated to second-order status, as they play the role of intervening variables in the so-called missing link between power resources and foreign policy output. American ontological approaches and methodological preferences give neoclassical realist literature a decidedly scientific rationalism, grounded in material factors. In Europe, however, the English school and constructivist approaches have emphasized the non-material aspects of international relations, factors that were taken seriously by classical realist authors but which became a victim to the attempt to 'scientize' the discipline. Neorealist approaches see the structure of the international system as the driving force behind changes in European politics.
A perfect companion to European politics today, written by the same authors, this book presents past events, prominent personalities, important dates, organisations and electoral information in an accessible, easy-to-read format. The book is split into five sections for ease of use: a dictionary of significant political events, a chronology of major events in Europe since 1945, a biographical dictionary, a dictionary of political organisations and electoral data. In addition to being a comprehensive reference tool, this book is intended to provide a sound historical background to the development of Western European politics.
This book seeks to review the state of political issues early in the twenty-first century, when New Labour is in its second term of office. As part of the updating process it became necessary to choose which political issues are important. The book includes the main issues which appear in current Advanced Level Politics syllabuses. In the case of Edexcel, which offers a specific political issues option in its A2 specification, all the specified issues have been included. The book deals with the process of constitutional and political change which are issues in themselves. It also includes material on constitutional reform (incorporating the recent development of human rights in Britain), and devolution. The book includes the global recession and other recent political developments and looks at the important issues in British politics since 1945. It examines the key issues of British politics today: economic policy, the Welfare State, law and order, environment policy, Northern Ireland, issues concerning women, European integration and the European Union, and the impact of the European Union on Britain. The book also deals with the European Union and Britain's relationship to it. Finally, it must be emphasised that Britain's relationship to the European Union is in itself a political issue which has fundamentally changed the party system.
influence events. Again, neoclassical realism offers new vantage points from which to view institutions, not least with respect to institutional dynamics, potential and limits. Third, and closely related to the preceding issues, debates about neoclassical realism are inseparable from questions regarding the relative roles of structures and agents. Neorealist approaches see the structure of the international system as the driving force behind changes in European politics. Writers in the classical tradition view national interest as a constraint on member states, locking
people crossing the Med. Caroline Abu Sa’Da is General Director of its Swiss branch. Juliano Fiori: SOS is very much a product of contemporary Europe. It’s a civic response to refugees and migrants in the Med but also to nationalistic politics, or to the return of nationalist movements to the forefront of European politics. How, then, does SOS differ from European humanitarian NGOs founded in past decades? Caroline Abu Sa’Da: SOS is a European citizen movement. Besides our search-and-rescue activities, we aim to give to the greatest number of
Ukrainian Minister of Defence, Oleksii Reznikov, had declared that a ‘major war in Ukraine’ would lead to three to five million Ukrainian refugees ( Reznikov, 2021 ). This prediction was part of Reznikov’s warning that a war in Ukraine ‘would plunge the whole of Europe into crisis’ and his attempt to raise support among European political leaders in the face of the Russian threats. Without referring to Reznikov’s prediction, the Biden administration announced at the beginning of February 2022 that a Russian
There has been a lot of talk about the European Union's so-called 'democratic deficit', by which is meant its lack of legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens. This book provides a critical analysis of the democratic stalemate in European politics. It argues that the root of the 'democratic deficit' has more to do with the domestic political fields of the Union's member-states and the structure of the evolving European political field than with the relationships between supranational institutions. The book analyses the complex ways 'Europe' is integrated into domestic politics and shows how domestic political fields and cultures have prevented deepening integration. As a result of the formation of a European political field, political resources in European 'postnational' and 'postabsolutist' polities are being redistributed. The theory of structural constructivism proposed fuses French structural theories of politics and a 'bottom-up' approach to European integration. The book examines the relationship between French political traditions and the construction of a European security structure from the point of view of identity politics and the French post-imperialist syndrome. The educational and social homogeneity of French civil servants provides a political resource that certain individuals can use in Brussels, influencing the direction and form of European integration. Studying legislative legitimacy in the European Parliament elections, the book highlights that intellectuals are important players in French politics: the politics of the street has always been a key part of French political life.
assert that supranational structures determine the nature of European integration. In reality, national and European interests merge, as sometimes vehemently chauvinistic policies have been at the same time fundamentally pro-European. A closer look at both national and European politics reveals that it is misleading to examine one without examining the other because of their increasing fusion (Mény 1996; Wessels 1997; Rosamond 1999; Chryssochoou 2001). The traces of the dichotomy between national and international politics can be seen in the most knowledgeable studies
Conclusions In this work, I set out to study the democratic stalemate in European politics through an examination of European integration as a general transformation of practices, norms and identities. I conceptualised this process as that of the structuration of an evolving, multilevelled European political field - a common space for political action composed of a relatively heterogeneous supranational level and more established national political fields - that is reinforcing specific mental and objective structures of political domination. In this process
Introduction We are not in business at all; we are in politics. (Former President of the EEC Commission Walter Hallstein, quoted in Swann 1990, vii) There has been a lot of talk about the European Union's so-called 'democratic deficit', by which is meant its lack of legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens. This book provides a critical analysis of the democratic stalemate in European politics. In contrast to most studies, however, this book argues that the root of the 'democratic deficit' has more to do with the domestic political fields of the Union's member