Authors:Naomi Tilles Abstract: Why do Green parties perform better in European Parliament (EP) elections than in national parliament elections' Even in countries that use proportionally representative voting systems for both national and EP elections, many Green parties gained more than twice the proportion of EP seats in 2019 compared to the previous national election. Using national and EP election results, European Social Survey data, and Eurobarometer polling from the 2019 EP election, I test competing theories of Green party success. As EP voter issues become more salient and more voters believe that their vote matters to EU policy, I find that the “second-order election” effect is less relevant. Surprisingly, I also find that the Greens are the only small party family that consistently gained more representation in the EP. Different voter priorities and party issue framing, for both environmental and pro-EU issues, boosted the Green vote in the 2019 EP election. PubDate: Thu, 30 Sep 2021 22:32:33 PDT
Authors:Annalise Simons Abstract: This paper seeks to answer a driving research question: Why do the Baltic Countries exhibit disparate levels of immigration and emigration' The paper considers the period from 2004, when Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania became European Union member states, up to 2019. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, while all small states in the same region, experience different levels of net migration. As Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia maintain small populations with negative natural population increases, migration inflows and outflows are quite significant. Among the three, Latvia and Lithuania have experienced dramatically negative net migration. Examining the push and pull factors influencing net migration in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, sheds light on key factors shaping migration patterns, which can aid in developing policies that align with the countries’ interests regarding migration. PubDate: Thu, 30 Sep 2021 22:32:26 PDT
Authors:Katherine Y. Kramer Gaines Abstract: Many European states have been affected by the so-called European migrant crisis of the 2010s. The UNHCR has said that focusing on integrating migrants is “the most relevant durable solution” for European Union member states. Policies can help pave the road to success for refugees and migrants alike in new, unfamiliar lands. Such policies are associated with migrants’ abilities to reunite with family, find jobs, receive healthcare and education, gain permanent residence and nationality, politically participate, evade discrimination, and fully integrate into the new society they reside in. Using a gender parity lens with cross-sectional, quantitative analysis, this research shows that an increase in female representation in legislative chambers improves the quality scores of migrant integration policy in EU member states. This research expands upon the literature regarding substantive female representation and offers relevant solutions on how the absorption of migrants in Europe can be improved upon. PubDate: Thu, 30 Sep 2021 22:32:18 PDT
Authors:Ethan Kable Abstract: towards Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has evolved over the past decade. I contend that the EU was quite receptive to Chinese OFDI at the beginning of the decade, due to both ideological leanings and the economic context of a post-crisis Europe. I then illustrate how the EU slowly adopted a more guarded and critical approach towards Chinese OFDI. This paper will focus specifically on four key issues surrounding Chinese OFDI policy: national security, technology transfers and IP theft, state support for Chinese firms, and market access, ultimately arguing that bilateral investment treaty (BIT) negotiations and the new EU investment screening mechanism are the main policy levers being used to address these concerns. For the sake of this paper, I will use the OECD’s definition of OFDI. PubDate: Thu, 30 Sep 2021 22:32:10 PDT
Authors:Licinia Güttel Abstract: The European Parliament is often praised for its gender-equal composition and its high descriptive representation of women. However, there is a remarkable gender gap between the representation of women at the national and European level, and it is debated how these variations can be explained. After discussing theories of representation and reviewing data from the European Parliament on the share of women in national delegations and the political groups in the 9th European Parliament after Brexit, this paper evaluates whether institutional and contextual factors can explain the gender gap between the national and supranational level. It argues that the representation of women cannot be sufficiently explained by the institutional rules. Instead, ambitious national rules in some member states and the parties’ role as gatekeepers can explain the high representation of women. These findings have implications for promoting gender equality in politics in the EU. PubDate: Thu, 30 Sep 2021 22:32:04 PDT
Authors:Charlotte Coon Abstract: The passport-free regime in Europe known as the Schengen Area is comprised of 26 of the 27 European Union (EU) member states plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein. Signed in 1995, the Schengen Agreement was intended to address the problem of enforcing borders between increasingly connected European countries and has expanded to include non-EU member states since then. This paper will lay out the arguments of those in favor of preserving the Schengen Area, who argue that the benefits of solidarity and free movement of people far outweigh the potential risks, as well as the most prominent criticisms of Schengen, including the perceived failures related to the 2015-2016 migration crisis, the 2015 terror attack in Paris, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The succession of different crises faced by the EU in the last few years has highlighted the fact that the Schengen Agreement is a product of a different time, and that it is in need of reforms. Whether the Schengen Area can weather these challenges and adapt will have an impact on the future and functioning of the EU as a whole. PubDate: Thu, 30 Sep 2021 22:31:56 PDT
Authors:Austin E. Bicknell Abstract: The European project has brought the states of Europe ever closer together while inadvertently strengthening secessionist movements that seek to fracture the very states it has brought together. Through integration, many of the benefits a region with a potential desire for independence gains from remaining a part of its host state are transferred to the European level. Current academic consensus argues that European integration has overall harmed secessionist movements, but since the UKs decision to leave the EU, this argument has become outdated and no longer holds the strength it once did. This article uses current academic literature on the topic as well as statements from European politicians and separatist political parties to explore and compare the cases of secessionist movements in Scotland, Catalonia, and Flanders. While chosen for their strength and their diversity in circumstances, these independence movements are united in being transformed from pipedreams to possibilities thanks to European integration. PubDate: Thu, 30 Sep 2021 22:31:50 PDT
Authors:Abigail Woodfield Abstract: In recent years, several states in Central and Eastern Europe have seen democratic digression. Such illiberal resurgences came as a surprise to the many political scientists who assumed that the future of these states was democratic. Indeed, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the world largely regarded liberal democracy as the predominant system of government. The future seemed bright, and it was tempting to understand that future in evolutionary terms—just as humans evolved under natural selection to become the dominant species, democracy had survived a similar competition and defeated all other systems of government to become the dominant regime. Yet, if liberal democracy had really beaten the competition back in 1989, why do self-described illiberal democracies stubbornly persist today' To provide a different evolutionary approach, this paper tries to understand illiberal democracy in Central and Eastern Europe as the differential result of the 2008 financial crisis, rather than as the uniform result of deep historical trends. PubDate: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 17:55:34 PDT
Authors:Ryann Welch Abstract: Energy production and economic potential have been intertwined for centuries. Is nuclear energy a failed experiment, or the future of European energy' Nuclear energy has been scrutinized heavily for decades, especially in light of incidents such as Chernobyl and Fukushima. Issues of safe operation, radioactive waste storage, and threats to human health plague this energy source. However, Central-Eastern Europe’s nuclear energy production has been increasing in terms of both production and investment, especially in the Visegrad Four states. The European Union’s stance on nuclear energy is not black and white. While Western European member countries like Germany and France are moving away from this energy source, Eastern member states are expanding their nuclear production and consumption. As the European Union sets strict guidelines for nuclear operations while promoting a renewable energy agenda, it allocates substantial funding to nuclear energy projects in Central-Eastern European member and non-member states, in the name of regionalizing approaches to energy production. What is causing increased nuclear energy production in Europe, and how can the European Union rectify renewable energy agendas with regionalized energy funding' How will nuclear energy continue to affect Central-Eastern Europe in global energy relations' This paper focuses on Hungary and Ukraine’s nuclear energy capabilities in particular, as they are both former communist states intending to modernize and build economic independence. Hungary and Ukraine’s nuclear energy will be compared in terms of economic capability, social support, and influence of the European Union and Russia. PubDate: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 17:55:24 PDT
Authors:Malcolm E. C. Thomson Abstract: The Eurozone crisis forced the European Union (EU) to reconcile with the absence of supranational macroeconomic and fiscal coordination within its Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Efforts to minimise this imbalance are seen in the creation of the European Semester, a comprehensive framework that includes the issuing of voluntary Country-Specific Recommendations (CSRs) by the Commission to EU member states. This paper analyses Swedish CSR compliance and argues that Sweden’s persistent level of non-compliance is caused by contrasting positions that exist between the Swedish government and the Commission in the area of European macroeconomic integration. This contrast sees the Swedish government actively working to resist participation in supranational macroeconomic governance; the same policy area that the Commission is concurrently working to strengthen through the Semester. This paper also highlights the continued power that individual member states have to act in their domestic interests in the arena of European macroeconomic governance. PubDate: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 17:55:14 PDT
Authors:Alina L. Sobolik Abstract: This paper seeks to answer the question: what drives the recent electoral success of far-right populist parties (RPPs) in Europe' I will argue that it is supply factors, rather than demand factors, united under the theme of mistrust, that drove the recent electoral success of RPPs. To support my argument, I will summarize the ‘losers of globalization’ theory and apply it to the financial and economic crises, the migration crisis, the polarization of politics, and mistrust in governments, and categorize them as supply or demand factors according to Matt Golder’s definitions. For the sake of this paper, I will use a broad description of RPPs: any party that appeals primarily to the middle class while intentionally ‘othering’ the elite and immigrants. ‘Othering,’ in this sense, refers to the process of alienating or excluding a group from society, creating a dichotomy between ‘us’ and ‘them.’ PubDate: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 17:55:04 PDT
Authors:Sarah L. Sheets Abstract: There is growing sentiment that the rise of illiberal democracy in Central and Eastern Europe poses a serious threat to fundamental European values. Within the framework of the European Union (EU) legal system, how do post-socialist member states actually comply with fundamental European values' While there are multiple contradictory theories about the success or failure of assimilation in the region, there is surprisingly little datadriven literature which directly compares post-socialist member state compliance to the rest of the European member states. This paper fills the gap by comparing post-socialist compliance patterns with the rest of the EU, using data on infringement cases opened by the Commission. It finds that post-socialist member states are generally assimilating into pre-existing patterns of European compliance. However, they are demonstrably worse in fundamental European values compliance—and though a legal basis for enforcing these values exists, the EU currently lacks the practical ability to do so. PubDate: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 17:54:55 PDT
Authors:Clay H. Parham Abstract: In 2017, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) became the first the far-right party to win seats in the Bundestag since 1933. By campaigning on ethnic division, the AfD saw an unprecedented rise in support, especially in East Germany. This paper tests two models of ethnic conflict within comparative politics, primordialism and constructivism, to see which better explains the result of the AfD’s 2017 election. By examining the rhetorical use of political advertisements, the Manifesto Project’s analysis of the AfD’s platform, and differences of support between East and West Germany, the paper finds that constructivism better shows that highly-educated elites within the AfD purposefully constructed ethnic division to gain political support. Clear implications are drawn for the future of the two ethnic models and for European far-right politics. PubDate: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 17:54:45 PDT
Authors:Lauren M. Olsen Abstract: In the wake of the 2015 migration crisis, immigration policy has become one of the most critical topics of academic scholarship and political debate. Despite this prolific response, very little research has investigated how the gender of policymakers affects immigration policy. This raises an interesting question: is there any difference in immigration policy among countries with high and low numbers of female legislators' To investigate this matter, I use panel fixed-effects regression to systematically compare the immigration policies of the original EU-15 from 2000 to 2010. As a single policy area, I find female representation has no significant impact on immigration policy. However, by breaking immigration policy into five separate sub-dimensions, I find female representation does have a significant impact on three dimensions—family reunification, asylum/refugee, and enforcement—but not on the other two—labor migration and co-ethnics. In this study, I explore several reasons why this inconsistent influence occurs. PubDate: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 17:54:36 PDT
Authors:Ghazi Ghazi Abstract: Turkey, under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s presidency, has begun to re-animate some aspects of its predecessor, the Ottoman Empire. Many observers of Turkey speak of “Neo- Ottomanism,” both at home and in its foreign policy. With respect to the latter, aspects of neo-Ottomanism are very evident with Turkey’s engagement in the Balkans. As European Union (EU) accession seems more and more unlikely for Turkey, one might wonder if Turkish actions in the Balkans can be seen as trying to rival the EU for influence. This paper thus seeks to answer two questions. First, what factors are motivating Turkish foreign policy, and does Turkey’s neo-Ottoman influence in the Balkans make it a competitor or a partner to the EU' This paper will look at Turkish policies in the Balkan region, focusing particularly on Bosnia and Moldova, and analyze whether its growing influence is making it a competitor to the EU. PubDate: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 17:54:26 PDT
Open Access journal
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