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Summer/Fall 2000:Sociology Of Europe: Mobilisations, Elites And Institutional Configurations
Europeanization or the Emergence of a New "Political Field": the case of immigration policies (PDF, 33 pages, 102.6 KB) , by Adrian Favell
With the 1996-7 IGC, the signing of the Amsterdam Treaty and the recent declaration at Tampere, immigration has moved towards the top of the EU policy agenda. As in other policy sectors, the 'Europeanization' of immigration issues has led to new forms of lobbying and campaigning at the European level. In this paper, I develop a sociological approach to Europeanization that identifies the principle actors and organisations that constitute the emerging 'political field' of immigration at the EU level. In particular, it discusses in detail the growing presence of NGOs in Brussels, and their strategies for influencing EU policy making. It also relates the success of these 'transnational' organisations to other forms of transnational co-operation between networks of European police and security experts, and between region and city networks. To understand in sociological terms the specific forms of empowerment enabled to certain groups by European integration, it is necessary to show how successful actors in the European circles have created new forms of social and cultural 'capital' beyond the nation state.
Leader: The European Social and Political Space: a field in the Making (PDF, 29 pages, 85.6 KB) , by Virginie Guiraudon
This introductory article proposes to study the European Union as an emerging socio-political field by using the theoretical and methodological tools of classical political sociology. It focuses on what can be learnt from analysing the logic of EU institutions and their interactive dynamics through the practices of European actors.
The Resignation of the European Commission: the scandal and the institutional turning point (October 1998-Marsh 1999) (PDF, 34 pages, 106.5 KB) , by Didier Georgakakis
Based on an interactionist perspective that also draws from the sociology of political crises, this article demonstrates that the resignation of the Santer Commission comes from a number of "frustrations" that stemmed from its transformation as a government of Europe. Two types of transformation were at work in the dynamics of the scandal that led to the resignation of the Commission. First, there was a whole range of internal tensions within the Commission linked to its increasing "Nordic" and managerial tendencies. Second, expectations and competition between European institutions changed as important political rendezvous loomed large on the agenda (agenda 2000, institutional reform, EP elections). The article shows that the crisis that centred on the Commission did not so much constitute a "victory for democracy" than an episode in a more durable process of on-going transformations that include the politicisation of European institutions.
The Impact of the September 11 Events on the Creation of a Space of Liberty, Security, and Justice, by Pierre Berthelet
The terrorist attacks of September 11 (2001) have accelerated the EU's antiterrorism efforts in the context of its common objective to "establish a space of liberty, security, and justice, in which the free movement of persons is guaranteed." This fight against terrorism has been carried out in European and other international institutions. EU antiterrorism strategies are described and the importance, methods, and objectives of intelligence sharing among member-state police forces are explained. Protocols and organizations involved in judicial cooperation are outlined, e.g., with respect to extradition of suspects, instruction of authorities, and the freezing or confiscating of assets. Europe's battle against terrorism has been reinforced since 11 Sept by the involvement of outside nations, a detailed system for documenting antiterrorism projects, the development of new normative tools, and a modified concept of security. The antiterrorism campaign's effects on immigration and border-control policies are examined. The merits of Europe's new security arrangements are weighed.
The Wedding of the Carp and the Rabbit? A political sociology of the European community in the making (PDF, 26 pages, 78.4 KB) , by Andy Smith & Jean Joana
Based upon ongoing research into the role of European commissioners, this article presents some empirical material collected in order to answer three apparently simple questions: what are European commissioners? What do they do? What is the Europe that they represent? However, in transforming these questions into a research strategy suited to our subject matter, it soon became clear that we had to extend, or even discard, the way such lines of enquiry are traditionally problematised. For this reason, this text is structured around an analytical grid, which attempts to marry lessons and tools from the sociology of politics to those of public policy analysis.
The European Construction: the case of the European elections in Finland in 1999 (PDF, 16 pages, 50.3 KB) , by Niilo Kauppi
In the Finnish elections to the European Parliament in 1999, the strategy of the national political executive was clear: to delegitimize the elections to the European Parliament and leave the debates and campaigns to the candidates and the media. The effects of this retreat were partly paradoxical. In the campaigns, the debates were real and touched on European issues (democratic deficit, enlargement to the East...) without being a continuation of internal political debates, as it is the case in most European Union countries. The social construction of Europe in the campaigns diminished the power of the political parties and reinforced the power of the media as an initiator of political debates. This political context produced popular diplomacy as a principal of political representation. Popular diplomacy is a hybrid of national and cultural non-political, in the traditional sense of the term, representation.
Euronews, a laboratory for the production of "European" information (PDF, 30 pages, 89.6 KB) , by Olivier Baisnee & Dominique Marchetti
This article is the first presentation of a monograph on the pluri-lingual news channel Euronews that seeks to understand in vivo how a medium with a European dimension works. In other words, it seeks to make a sociological contribution to debates on European integration by studying a European "laboratory", which brings together journalists from six different nationalities. After a brief history of the news channel that places it within a larger political and media context, we identify the constraints that this European channel faces, in terms of sources and editorial organization, and as it tries to deliver attractive news coverage of a subject that is not a priori "media-friendly." All these features highlight the obstacles involved in creating transnational media. This article also analyses the ways in which journalists try in their daily work and organizational routines to develop a "European viewpoint" on what is called international news.
Transnational Protests (PDF, pages, KB) , by Sidney Tarrow
Recent scholarship has broadened the study of transnational relations, once limited to political economy, to contentious international politics. But much of this research revolves around the vague term "globalisation", fails to distinguish conceptually among social movements, non-governmental organizations and transnational activist networks, and fails to specify the relations between these actors and international institutions. In particular, there is a need to link domestic actors to transnational ones and to these institutions. Mass-based transnational movements are difficult to construct, hard to maintain, and have very different relations to states and international institutions. These institutions offer coalitions, resources and targets for the construction of transnational movements. If a world of transnational movements forms it will be through the domestication of international conflict, as illustrated by recent research on contention in the European Union.
Debate: Union, Federation, and Region, what/which state for Europe? (PDF, 14 pages, 45.7 KB) , by Gerard Marcou
Since its creation, the European Union intrigues. A large number of authors have tried to deal with the nature of this new "entity", which was formed by a treaty between States but which distinguished from any existing international or regional institution. The author questions integration through three main ideas by bringing a judicial enlightening: the increasing heterogeneity of European States contrasts with previous federal experiences; the limits of judicial integration; and the risks of political fragmentation that can arise from some forms of regionalisation.