The Idea of a Cosmopolitan Europe: On the Cultural Significance of Europeanization

The idea of a cosmopolitan Europe is defined against a ‘national Europe’, on the one side and on the other, ‘global Europe’ where an internationalist EU-led Europe plays a major role in the world. A cosmopolitan Europe is a more accurate designation of the emerging form of Europeanization as a mediated and emergent reality of the national and the global. It is possible to conceive of European identity as a cosmopolitan identity based on a cultural logic of self-transformation rather than as a supranational identity or an official EU identity that is in a relation of tension with national identities. As a cosmopolitan identity, European identity is a form of post-national self-understanding that expresses itself within, as much as beyond, national identities.     

L’Europe sociale : créativité institutionnelle communautaire et réalités nationales

“Social Europe” has been constructed following 50 years of EEC and EU policy-making, which has gradually extricated social questions from a pure rationale of economic integration in order to turn it into a lever for European political integration. The theoretical and disciplinary viewpoints are presented that, together, help us better understand the processes at work. Attention is drawn to three of them. First of all, the evolutionary process of building the EU accounts both for the differences between social Europe and national welfare systems, and for an ongoing process of institutional creation through an accumulation of EU legal achievements (acquis). Secondly, the expansion of the EU to twelve new member states lacking robust labor relation systems, along with globalization, represents a challenge for the future of the “European social model”. Finally, social Europe has not yet undergone an assessment. Problems arise owing to the short shrift given by treaties to questions of social legislation or redistribution, but the “Europeanization of national policies” apparently opens a way toward overcoming these obstacles.     

The Impact of Europeanization upon Party Systems in Slovakia and Romania

Usually the concept of Europeanization refers to processes that download the European Union (the EU) regulations and institutional structures to the domestic level. Moreover, in the last few years the specialized literature has become increasingly preoccupied by the development of national patterns of government through the impact of European policies, processes and institutions. The developments and changes in domestic systems—much more visible in the new member states—suggest that the EU has enormous political and institutional influence. In line with this view, the paper examines the different degrees in which Europeanization has become a transforming political process, particularly in two new post-Communist democracies: Slovakia and Romania. More specifically, the interest is to survey the impact and the way in which Europeanization was incorporated in the rationale of party discourse, identity and policies in the Central-Eastern countries in the pre-accession period.      

The NGOization of LGBT activism: ILGA-Europe and the Treaty of Amsterdam

This article discusses the Europeanization of social movement organizations using the case of ILGA-Europe, the umbrella of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organizations in Europe. It examines the impact of Article 13 of the Treaty of Amsterdam, which bans discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and focuses on three entrenched dynamics ILGA-Europe has rapidly undergone: NGOization, institutionalization, and professionalization. It argues that although we should be aware of the role of the European political opportunity structure in shaping civil society organizations, we cannot overlook internal organizational dynamics and movement identities. Following the literature on the Europeanization of social movements, this piece confirms institutional opportunities and interactions with European institutions are a major cause of transformation: The adoption of Article 13 and the development of a European equal opportunity policy constitute a pivotal moment in ILGA-Europe’s history, endowing it with easier access to EU institutions and core funding. This allowed the organization to NGOize, contributed to a transformation of its internal structures, and led to the appointment of highly skilled professionals. However, this article also insists on the importance of movement identity. These transformations are not solely the result of interactions with the European institutional environment, but had been prepared by long-term orientations within ILGA, that is a preference for reformist claims and institutional strategies. ILGA-Europe’s NGOization is thus not only a response to institutional and political changes, but also results from specific ways of imagining activism. It is the interaction between movement identity and arising institutional opportunities that allowed the organization to transform.     

Migration and Policies in the European Union: Highly Skilled Mobility,Free Movement of Labour and Recognition of Diplomas

This article evaluates the relationship between highly skilled mobility (especially by individuals with university‐level degrees) and migration policies. Data from the European Union (EU) and Portugal (in particular) provide the empirical basis of the research. EU policies regarding the free circulation of individuals which aim to build the “common market” for economic factors (including labour) are reviewed, as are the more specific recognition of diplomas policies for professional and academic purposes, and recent levels of international mobility in both the EU and Portugal. The article also enumerates the main obstacles that, from a political and legal or social and cultural perspective, explain the low mobility revealed by those figures. Obstacles include the broad denial of citizenship rights; the necessity of assuring a means of sustenance; linguistic and technical exigencies for diploma recognition; the social attributes of work (more explicit in the service sector); and the institutional nature of national skilled labour markets. The main exception to the low mobility rule – movements of cadres in the internal labour markets of transnational corporations – together with flows in other multinational organizations, are also reviewed. In these, migrations are relatively exempt from political constraints and, significantly, avoid the recognition procedures adopted by the EU. In other words, it seems that the entry of highly skilled individuals in a transnational corporation, and not their citizenship in a Europe without frontiers, is what enables them to achieve effective mobility.     

Policy-making on science in society between Europeanization and core–periphery divide

The aim of the paper is to identify the cross-national differences and similarities in policy-making trends on science in society (SiS) based on the comparative analysis of national reports from FP7 project “Monitoring Policy and Research Activities Related to Science in Society in Europe”. Science in society in EU is characterized by two parallel processes: Europeanization and diversity of science and innovation policies. The focus of the analysis is to explore the possible indications of Europeanization as well as diversities and find elements of certain elements of core–periphery model. The focus of the analysis is to explore the existence of common issues of SiS and on the other side different policy actions and national priorities. Although the analysis reveals the presence of Europeanization process diversities and divides are still present which draws attention to a core–periphery model. While common trends can be recognized on the theoretical and contextual level mainly coming from the various processes of Europeanization, the core–periphery model is simultaneously present on the practical level of governance and policy-making.     

Passt die Türkei zur Eu und die Eu zu Europa?

Whether Turkey fits into the EU and whether the EU is adequate for Europe is being determined with regard to the attitude towards the basic EU principles which are freedom of religion, democracy, equal rights and constitutional legality. The European Values Survey 2000 serves as a data basis. Despite significant variances within the attitude of EU-Europeans, a comparison of averages shows Turkey’s distinct marginal position within the European Unity. In order to explain the differences of attitude, two assumptions will be taken into account on the national and individual level: according to the cultural hypothesis the agreement to EU principles declines according to the percentage of muslims within the country and the individual religious belief. According to the hypothesis of modernisation the agreement to EU principles inclines according to national gross product per capita, level of education as well as to the degree of urbanisation. Both hypotheses were essentially confirmed on the national as well as on the individual level. A comparison of the relative effects shows that the impact of the degree of modernisation with regard to the acceptance of freedom of religion and democracy is more than twice as significant as the influence of the cultural context, whereas the acceptance of equal rights depends more strongly on the cultural context of a country.     

Something new in old Europe?

This paper investigates whether EU research programmes have led to innovations in European social research. This is based on an assessment of a group of EU‐funded projects on the changing nature of work in Europe. EU‐funded projects have contributed to the creation of a European social space for European researchers, but at the cost of consolidating English as the lingua franca of European social research. Such projects tend to involve heterogeneous research actors and are oriented towards policy issues. To some extent they are therefore representative of a ‘Mode 2’ form of knowledge production. More clearly, they have ensured that social research about Europe is no longer simply comparative research. The new EU Sixth Framework Programme on RTD will undermine many of these achievements through its focus on conventional definitions of ‘excellence’ and the insistence on large‐scale research instruments.     

From charity to client-oriented social service production: A social profile of religious welfare associations in Western European comparison

The social profile of Western European religious welfare associations has never been studied in empirical detail. It is the aim of a Mannheim comparative project to systematically collect data on the qualitative and quantitative dimension of church social service provision in Europe. There are huge variations in the organizational structure of religious welfare associations in the European countries, which to a great extent can be accounted for by the historical configurations of the church-state relationships. Starting from these organizational differences it can be suggested that also the range of social activities of religious welfare associations will vary all over Europe. Consequently, special light will be shed on the target groups for which social services are provided as well as on the number, form, and capacity of institutions operating in these fields. These data may provide an interesting insight into the internal structure of the third sector in general and into the national potentials of the churches in the face of a Europeanization of social policy in particular.     

The Europeanisation of Integration Policies

This article analyses the development of integration policies concerning third country nationals at the level of the European Union (EU). Starting with the discovery of recent policy developments at the European level, including new European directives mainly granting social rights to non‐EU citizens, the paper proceeds to examine the reasons that enabled this shift from the national to the European level of decision making. It concludes that integration policies have been created as a new EU policy field amidst the also fairly new policy field of immigration policies. In light of the theoretical concept of “organisational fields,” the interests and motives of the main actors involved in the emergence of this policy field are analysed. The research combines neo‐functionalist and intergovernmentalist assumptions, and it results in the following conclusions: First, a European integration policy could only be established within the emerging field of immigration policies, which laid the groundwork for member state collaborations in this highly sensitive policy area. Secondly, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, several non‐governmental organisations and most notably the European Commission played an important role in promoting integration policies at the European level. Their engagement is interpreted as a necessary but not as a sufficient condition for the establishment of this policy field. Thirdly, these actors tried to strengthen the status of integration policies by emphasising the linkage between successful integration policies and economic and social cohesion. This semantic strategy, among other discussed reasons, facilitated the member states’ decision at the European summit in Tampere 1999 that all third country nationals shall be granted comparable rights to EU citizens.     

Structural Reforms and Fiscal Discipline in Europe

In this paper we provide an overview on recent contributions on the effectiveness of the institutional framework operating in Europe to fulfil the objectives declared in the Lisbon Agenda under the fiscal constraints established in the Stability and Growth Pact. After a review of the Stability and Growth Pact as well as the Lisbon Strategy and the Sapir Report, we discuss the relations between fiscal policy and structural reform. Finally, we focus on 2D points in the EU debate on institutional reforms: government short-sightedness and the coordination of national fiscal policies at the European level.      

Vers une représentation européenne des salariés. Les comités d’entreprise européens face aux restructurations

Nearly 900 European works councils (EWCs), transnational committees for informing and consulting workers, are now active in firms operating across borders inside Europe. How do they help establish a European industrial relations system? How have these new forms of representation been molded into a collective actor that is making itself heard at the EU level, in particular when the firms where EWCs exist are to be restructured? The intent is to see how an “additive logic”, whereby the EWC is the sum of the representatives of the firm's European workers, turns into an “integrative logic”, whereby the EWC becomes the place of a European representation of these workers. This study follows European works councils from the negotiations leading to their creation to their activities in coping with economic restructuring. It shows how they take part in the Europeanization and renewal of collective action in the social Europe under construction.     

Linking Disconnected Spaces or Venue Shopping? Trade-Offs in Participatory Opportunities in the EU

This article discusses why national civil society organisations (CSOs) use or abstain to use the participatory opportunities that the EU has developed in the last years. This is done by analysing the role of French and Spanish civil society groups in the debates on participatory democracy during the drafting and the referendum debates of the European Constitution (2002–2005). The paper departs from existing assessments of the role of national civil society in the Convention and demonstrates that national organisations built on their expertise on certain EU policies, on access to EU-level political actors and on contacts and alliances with other CSOs. It also differs from previous studies in finding that participation does not entail sharing the interpretive frame promoted by the EU. The finding that access opportunities do not fundamentally influence the frames of the organisations is related to their ability to strategically choose to participate in European and national venues. The paper finds that because of their scepticism on the constitution's participatory framing, French organisations preferred a stronger role at the national level, whereas Spanish organisations did not have real incentives to develop a campaign at the national level. While it is expected that dialogue with CSOs can contribute to bridging the gap between the EU and its citizens, this paper finds that the institutional setting provided incentives for national organisations to get involved only in one of the levels rather than to link them.     

Social Movements and Europeanization Processes: The Case of the French Associations Mobilizing around the Asylum Issue

This paper seeks to analyse the process of Europeanization of social movements mobilizing around the asylum policy since the middle of the 1990s. Taking the example of the principal French associations which have mobilized on this topic, the paper explores the dynamics that lead these associations to increasingly address the European institutions since the launching of the process of harmonisation of asylum policies. In particular, it shows that particular attention shall be given to the relationship between the associations that have constituted at the national level and the set of actors that are mobilized on this issue exclusively at the European level (which is defined as a European advocacy coalition). Through the analysis of this relationship, it can be seen that the French associations follow different processes of Europeanization. Some follow a process of inclusion into the existing European advocacy coalition while others create alternative mobilizations at the European level. This study allows us to observe and to analyse the similarities and differences in the interactions between social movements and institutions in the national political space and in the European political space on this particular issue. In doing so, it seeks to present an original perspective on a process of ‘Europeanization from below’. This research is based on the in-depth analysis of 11 associations which are representative of the diversity of the movement related to the asylum issue in France. It uses different methods that were developed in social movements studies: frame analysis, protest-event analysis and network analysis. It is based on several sources: associative discourses and publications, in-depth interviews, and associative internal literature.     

Conflicting and Reinforcing Identities in Expanding Europe: Individual‐ and Country‐Level Factors Shaping National and European Identities, 1995–20031

This study examines how, within the context of the expansion of the European Union, various multi‐level factors circumscribe individuals’ national and European identity. Focusing on the differential impact of new opportunities that Europeanization offers to people with different backgrounds, we propose hypotheses regarding the effects of individuals’ geopolitical, ethnic, class, and national historical backgrounds on their national and European identity. Drawing on theories on sociopolitical identities, we hypothesize that minorities are more likely to identify with the European Union, but are less likely to identify with their nation and that more local lower‐level geopolitical attachments can enhance broader higher‐level ones. We also combine these individual‐level arguments with macro‐level theories and examine the impact of country‐level factors such as having a communist past, the duration of EU participation, and the levels of economic development and international integration. We test these hypotheses using ISSP survey data from 15 European countries for the years 1995 and 2003. Overall, the results support our predictions about minorities’ identification patterns and about the reinforcing relationships between local and macro identities in general. Our macro‐level analyses indicate different effects in postcommunist nations than in Western‐democratic states, indicating widespread disillusionment with the European Union in postcommunist countries.     

Contextual moderators of the link between national and European identity among European youth

Identification with Europe can constitute an important part of psychological citizenship for European citizens. From a self-categorization perspective, higher-order (e.g. with Europe) and lower order subgroup identities (e.g. with the nation) may interfere with each other if they are seen as incompatible. We were interested in contextual moderators at school and country level of youth’ national identity on identification with Europe. We used multi-level regression analyses based on data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, collected from 14-year old students (n?=?71,282) from 22 European countries. Results showed strong positive effects of national identity at the individual, and classroom-level on European identity. However, main effects of national identity at the individual level were qualified by a number of interactions with contextual-level moderators. The relationship between national and European identity was weaker for adolescents attending classrooms or living in countries with lower average levels of trust in EU institutions. Living in countries with higher gender and income inequalities, less friendly immigration policies, and a communist past lessened the association between national and European identity. Results point to the powerful effects of context in shaping the relationship between national and European identity.     

Public health research – multidisciplinary,high-benefit,undervalued

The major health problems faced by policy-makers and practitioners at national and local levels require public health approaches. However, public health research is the “poor relative” of biomedical research: it is worthy, but not rich. In the European Commission's health research programme, biomedicine gets 90% of the funding, whereas public health research gets less than 10%. This pattern is repeated nationally in most countries, reflecting public policies to support industries – pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices – where profits are to be made, rather than not-for-profit, public health research. SPHERE, a study coordinated through the European Public Health Association, conducted bibliometric analyses across public health research themes and mapped the European and national structures and priorities for research. Whilst most European countries have national strategies (and some programmes) for public health, few have public health research strategies and the coordination of public health research is weak. Three further studies are being undertaken. In STEPS, the contribution of civil society organizations in the new EU member states to public health research will be discussed at national workshops with the ministries of health, the science/research councils and the national public health associations. In PHIRE, thematic Sections and the national member associations together evaluate the impact of European-funded health projects within member states. In FAHRE, the specific theme of food and health will be addressed, bridging industry and non-profit research sectors. Arguments for public health research can be made through lobbying at European level, but researchers and practitioners also need to influence the development of public health research within individual countries – leading to a European Public Health Research Area.     

When David met goliath: Research collaboration in the context of changing political realities

This article examines the dimensions of research collaboration between researchers from EU and Central and East European countries in the post‐communist period. The discussion draws on experience of two initiatives for research co‐operation, COST and EUREKA. Following an analysis of the formal levels of participation of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in COST and EUREKA, the quality of exchange during the collaborative projects and the networks that have been established, some benefits from and barriers to East‐West co‐operation in research and technology are considered. Although the collaborative arrangements have been overall successful the different groups of participants display diverging and even sometimes conflicting expectations and perceptions of benefits. Two extreme positions view the collaborative links in terms of ‘master’ and ‘student’ and as relationships between partners of equal standing. By far the most serious barriers to successful East‐West research co‐operation stem from broad cultural differences and from a tendency to assume that lack of information means lack of development. The benefits from research co‐operation can increase many‐fold, it is suggested, if the relationships are seen as a symmetrical exchange rather than as a meeting between David and Goliath.     

Unequally Adrift: How Social Class and College Context Shape Students’ Mentorship Experiences

Faculty mentorship is a highly advantageous yet under-explored form of social capital which can grant access to co-curriculars (e.g., research assistantships), ensure strong letters of recommendation, and more. It is also typically informal and dependent on student initiative, requiring that students be skilled at engaging educational authority figures. Privileged students are most likely to have such skills as part of their dominant cultural capital, making faculty mentorship a site of social reproduction. To explore variations in this process, I compare two institution types: a small, teaching/undergraduate-focused regional university and a large, research-intensive flagship. In interviews with 68 working- and upper-middle-class students, I find that college context mediates the relationship of class background and faculty mentorship. Upper-middle-class students fostered advantageous faculty relationships at both universities, but working-class students diverged: at the flagship, they rarely approached professors in search of mentorship, while those at the regional university described close, beneficial connections with professors. I discuss working-class students’ dissimilar experiences in terms of each university’s structural and cultural characteristics (organizational habitus), particularly their institutional focus and size. I argue that through their particular organizational features, colleges can both reproduce and reduce inequalities, challenging the determinacy of precollege socialization in education.     

Barriers to inclusive education in Greece,Spain and Lithuania: results from emancipatory disability research

Inclusive education is a key aspect of the European Disability Strategy 2010–2020. The aim of this study is to give voice to three local organisations of people with disability and for people with disability in Spain, Lithuania and Greece, discussing the EU policy for inclusive education in relation to personal experiences and national policies, as part of the Able’20 European project. The points of view of 58 young people with disabilities were collected through the ‘theatre of the oppressed’ approach as an emancipatory disability research tool, aiming at the empowerment of young people with disabilities and their organisations. The voices of young people show the presence of physical barriers alongside more challenging cultural and institutional barriers, which strongly limit access to inclusive education, showing an opposite trend to the EU policy, and overshadowing the social model of disability.