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Winter 1997: Interpreting The European Union
European Union and Political Science: what has happened to the theoretical debate (PDF, 25 pages, 73 KB) , by Christian Lequesne & Andy Smith
Research on Europe has focused during a long time on what pushed for the European construction process. This generated an international relations debate between intergovernmentalists and neofunctionalists. The two authors of this article show how cleavages have become increasingly complex with the accumulation of studies on the European integration, and how, by becoming more complex, they tend to reduce to strict cleavages. The authors have a critical approach of theories and perspectives that are used to understand and analyse Europe in formation. They preach for a theoretical renewal in debates on Europe.
About the European Polity in Particular and Anthropology in General (PDF, 23 pages, 71 KB) , by Marc Abeles
How do anthropologists consider the construction of the European community? Marc Abeles suggests in this article seriously investigating on the singularity of the community process through its immediate aspect and as an ongoing project. This investigation will be done with anthropological tools. Europe never ends edifying itself. In order to deal with the European institutions and their micro functioning, one needs to consider and measure the effects of the community construction process in real time. By successively coming back to the major anthropological problematics, the author develops an analysis of this dialectic of the present that is specific to the community "construction". Does the construction of Europe not refer to a particular historicity?
Transnational Participation and Citizenship: immigrants in the European Union , by Riva Kastoryano
Riva Kastoryano analyses how immigrant populations organise and how they express their collective identity. The author thereby questions national political traditions with regards to the construction of a new form of political action: Europe. The author offers an analysis of the Europeanization of political action for these immigrant populations by observing the constitution of transnational networks. This article shows how this Europeanization being encouraged by supranational institutions produces effects within each Nation-State. The author pertinently questions the idea of citizen allegiances by giving a problematic to the notion of citizenship through the sociology of these networks transcending national frontiers.
A European Grammar of Social Engineering: the implementation of the "Employment Initiative" (PDF, 19 pages, 60 KB) , by Pierre Muller & Sophie Rouault
How are common European politics established? How does the European integration occur? The two authors highlight the fact that the definition of public policies is subject to competition between a multiplicity of national and supranational public authorities, thanks to a thorough study on the implementation of the program, initiated by the community, for jobs, integration and professional training. According to the authors, this supposes a collective apprenticeship of the mediation forms and speeches. Considering the complexity of this collective action context, the authors emphasise the need for the analysis of public policies to consider the relational dimension as well as the institutions' dynamics. The roles of ideas and images giving sense to the implicated actors must not be omitted either.
The Crisis of Public Services in France: Europe as a catalyst (PDF, 24 pages, 76 KB) , by Luc Rouban
Luc Rouban shows in this contribution that the interaction between Europe and national public services is part of a general political recomposition. The author analyses how Europe far from only being an external variable acting mechanically on national socio-political systems is also a catalyst producing political change by qualitative thresholds. This analysis was made possible by getting away from reductive political modelisations on Europe and by taking the example of the French 1990s public services crisis.
Between National Models and European Professional Interest Groups: the action of the Union in the cultural sector (PDF, 19 pages, 60 KB) , by Mireille Pongy
Mireille Pongy analyses the inscription of cultural questions on the agenda of the community, and observes very precisely the different positions held by European institutions and member States as well as the alliance configurations uniting or opposing actors when culture comes at stake. The analysis is more specifically oriented towards the formation and the implementation of transnational professional interest groups, enabling the author to show how these groups tend to superpose more than they contribute to the recomposition of national or subnational systems, as far as cultural action is concerned.
The Assessment of the European Common Policies: legitimisation and national learning-processes (PDF, 22 pages, 67 KB) , by Laurence Jourdain
European common institutions increasingly publish or generate publications of reports judging and showing the impacts of their programs. This is not without effects for the national actors, invited to join this logic of evaluation. The author comes back on the importance the European Commission gives to the evaluation of common public policies, and analyses what she calls the vocation of a community authority not only to answer to management imperatives but also to try to act with legitimacy towards society. The author provides an analysis of the convergence of practices between European and national authorities and questions the public policies judgement criteria.
Interpreting Europe – elements for a theoretical renewal (PDF, 7 pages, 28 KB) , by Christian Lequesne & Andy Smith
Christian Lequesne and Andy Smith offer a dynamic synthesis of the works existing on the European integration, and develop a series of research tracks on the impact of this integration, whether it is on the relations between public action and political system or between economy and politics. The authors emphasise that the European integration cannot be limited to its sole institutions and common "policies".
Review Essay , by Wolf-Dieter Eberwein
What kind of vision can one have on the current evolution of the international system? How can one consider globalisation? Wolf-Dieter Eberwein provides in this bibliographical chronic for a dynamic summary of these questions in the works of Bertrand Badie (La fin des territoires. Essai sur le désordre international et sur l'utilité sociale du respect, Paris: Fayard, 1995) and Ghassam Salamé (Appels d'empire. Ingérences et résistances à l'âge de la mondialisation, Paris, Fayard, 1996).