On February 9, Swiss voters narrowly approved the reintroduction of quotas on immigration, damaging Swiss-EU relations in the process. Why did the Swiss vote this way? Does it have anything to do with Robin Hood? And will this impact on the EU membership debate in the UK?
This articles shows how theories of international relations are unsatisfactory for explaining the failure of the myriad attempts to establish a transatlantic free trade area throughout history. The mere removal of tariffs should logically have occurred a long time ago. Perhaps it would have been better to study the weight of protectionist lobbies on both sides of the Atlantic to explain these multiple failures. Taking into account this factor would certainly better assess the likelihood of success of the current revival than current explanations that seem unsatisfactory. Organization: Institut d'études européennes, Université libre de Bruxelles
Cet article critique une approche qualifiée de « dissociative » dans l'analyse des relations entre les États-Unis et l'Union européenne. Il remet en cause aussi bien les présupposés théoriques que les observations empiriques des chercheurs qui ont prédit une dislocation des liens transatlantiques du fait de la fin de la guerre froide. Cette étude analyse principalement les raisonnements qui ont permis d'affirmer que I'OTAN était condamnée à disparaître, que les accords de l'Uruguay Round ne seraient jamais conclus, que l'Union européenne deviendrait une forteresse protectionniste et que les États-Unis étaient engagés dans une entreprise de sabotage du marché et de la monnaie unique européenne.
This article operationalizes the mediatization of politics by comparing the expressed preferences toward the mass media between different groups of members of parliament (MPs) in three conflicted legislative decision-making processes in Switzerland. Different from elections, MPs face a more pronounced tension between audience-oriented and policy-oriented activities in legislative decision-making processes. It is argued that MPs are “mediatized” when they express a preference for audience-oriented activities. Audience-oriented activities are aimed at resulting in coverage by the mass media outlets with the broadest reach and include (1) the preference for symbolic issues, (2) a negotiation strategy that is focused on tough bargaining, (3) image-oriented media activities, (4) symbolic interventions in parliament, and (5) a high use of staged media activities. It is hypothesized that MPs of the pole parties engage more in audience-oriented activities than MPs of the center-right parties, as this is an integral part of their quasi-opposition strategy. The quantitative results of face-to-face interviews with 50 high-ranking MPs of the parliamentary committees confirm the hypothesis. The operationalization of audience orientation in five dimensions diversifies the understanding of the concept of mediatization in the political realm. The article concludes that a potential populist challenge to democracy consists in the mutually beneficial symbiosis between audience-oriented political actors and commercially oriented media companies.
Self-regulation, government intervention, networking: transformations of the social state in europe (the cases of hiv/aids, alcohol and drug abuse) A reflection about the development of the social state and its recent changes proceeds from the analysis of the policies carried out in the areas of alcohol and illegal drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. A historical reconstruction provides a view of the transformations of government activity in this century, which has seen the birth and the decline of the social state, as well as the development of new forms of government action aimed at moderating actors. Comparing the responses to these social problems in terms of public policies, the authors observe phases of divergence and convergence corresponding to a changing demarcation between the sphere of politics and that of knowledge.
This talk is concerned with the role of democracy in preventing terrorism, identifying and apprehending terrorists, and in minimising and alleviating the damage created by terrorism. Specifically, it considers the role of democracy as a resource, not simply a limitation, on counter-terrorism.
