Experimentalist Governance in the European Union: Towards a New Architecture. By Charles F. Sabel and Jonathan Zeitlin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010
December 1, 2011 Author: Alexander A. Caviedes
Experimentalist governance in the European Union has occupied
academics for over 15 years, yet the subject still suffers from the twin perceptions
that it is infrequently utilised and that unenforceable ‘soft law’ measures have
limited efficacy. The co-editors of this volume have been at the centre of efforts
to document and understand this development for nearly this entire period,
and therefore are well poised to assess the state of experimentalist governance
in the EU. Sabel has focused on experimental regionalism and democratic
deliberation measures, while Zeitlin established a forum for research on the
open method of coordination during his time at the University of Wisconsin.
Police intelligence – the road towards a European Model
December 1, 2011 Author: Robert D. Marin
In a time of difficult economic and financial conditions, the sophistication and globalisation of the organised crime, equally affecting the communities in the Member States and throughout the European Union, require, more than ever, the creation of a European space of security and justice. This is to be achieved through the consolidation of the cross-border police cooperation based on the development of proven models of national policing and the integration of already established EU framework and instruments within the area of justice and home affairs. All this have been reinforced, over the last decade, by a “golden thread” represented by a strengthened exchange of police information in the EU. This paper seeks to analyse the current state of play at the EU level in terms of adopting, developing and implementing a European Police Intelligence Model as a part of Internal Security Strategy of the European Union.
Regional cooperation and ‘frozen conflicts’ in the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood and the Black Sea Region
December 1, 2011 Author:Ioana Strat
The aim of this paper is to establish a causal relationship between the threat of ‘frozen conflicts’ in the former Soviet space and the evolution of regional cooperation by analyzing the bilateral and multilateral policies designed by the European Union in order to address security and democratic governance in the Eastern neighborhood. At first, we discuss the prospects for the development of multilateral cooperation between the EU and six Eastern countries by means of the Eastern Partnership policy. Then, we analyze how regional cooperation in the Black Sea Region has evolved under different cooperation frameworks, focusing on the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, the GUAM Organisation and the Black Sea Synergy. This section aims at establishing the main factors which advance or impede the progress of regional cooperation in the Black Sea Region. In the end, we discuss the proposal regarding a potential ‘EU Black Sea Strategy’ as a more coherent and more effective contribution by the EU to the build-up of regional integration and enhanced security in the post-Soviet space and the extended Black Sea Region.
The price of helping and equal opportunities in the European Union
December 1, 2011 Author:Ana-Maria Godeanu
This paper studies the price of helping in the European Union by looking at different types of compensation and the job design applied inside an organization. Given that previous literature has mainly examined each determinant separately, I aim at developing a complex perspective that considers their effect simultaneously. Drawing from agency theory, social exchange theory and the theory of cooperation, I predict that piece rates and individual productivity payments decrease cooperation while compensation based on common goals and empowerment leads to more helping behavior. Also, equal opportunities and cooperation in different European countries are analyzed. Using a cross-sectional dataset of European employees, results yield support for the majority of the hypotheses confirming that managers should know how to increase the benefits or decrease the costs of helping by either giving employees autonomy to be able to assist others or by introducing and combining different compensation techniques.
The civic solution to the Estonian identity crisis
December 1, 2011 Author: Paul Pryce
As disputes over historical memory in Estonian society lead to manifestations of violence both online and offline, there is an express need to examine how identity politics are framed in contemporary Estonia. By examining ideational constructs that have emerged in Estonian discourses, a number of proposals for an inclusive Estonian identity, based in civic nationalism, will be shared. These ideational constructs include the “Nordicization” of Estonia, social democracy, constitutional patriotism, and the multi-layered society that is forming around the multi-layered polity of the European Union. Each of these constructs is examined critically, with the author prescribing constitutional patriotism as the construct with the greatest potential to reduce tensions between the ethnic Estonian majority and the ethnic Russian minority.