European Union

This paper aims to review some important ideas, conceptualizations and definitions of Europeanization from the perspectives of the European integration processes in the Western Balkans region. Europeanization can be understood not only as a modernization process with its norms and values, but also as changes in the substance and process of democratic governance. The region provides further explanatory tools of Europeanization, such as “Balkanization,” in terms of closing up the process of establishing stable nation-states or a “quasi-Metanarrative” which provides a virtually new meaning to political life in the region. The paper’s goal is also to explain the specificities related to the processes of Europeanization in this rapidly transforming region of Europe.

Adoptée en 2005 et entrée en vigueur en 2007, la Convention sur la diversité des expressions culturelles (CDEC) se veut un mécanisme international de régulation de l’interface « commerce-culture ». Il s’avère que la construction de la CDEC ne s’arrête pas avec sa ratification, puisque celle-ci doit se confronter à la réalité à travers l’application de ses dispositions, le respect de ses prescriptions, ainsi que l’existence de moyens qui permettront de la concrétiser. Partant de l’hypothèse qu’il y a un décalage entre les normes prescrites par un instrument international et leurs résultats concrets, nous offrons une cartographie de la question « commerce-culture », se consacrant aux enjeux juridiques et politiques de la mise en œuvre de la CDEC. En ce sens, favorisant une sociologie politique de la mise en œuvre, nous cherchons à nous interroger sur la problématique du changement provoqué par la CDEC dans les pratiques des acteurs impliqués.

"Cepeda Ladino, Julio César. 2014. 'Participación de la comunidad internacional en la construcción de Laboratorios de Paz en Colombia: El caso de Viotá, Cundinamarca'. Paper presented at the 'III Congress of Colombian International Relations Network' ('III Congreso de la Red Colombiana de Relaciones Internacionales'). Medellín: Universidad EAFIT. February 27-28.

Peace Workshops have been programs for development cooperation undertaken by international actors such as the European Union in countries with internal armed conflict as Colombia. Specifically, peace dialogues during the second decade of XXI century between National Government and FARC lets to consider the feasibility of building Peace Workshops with the participation of the international community in armed post-conflict scenarios in Colombia. The town of Viotá, Cundinamarca, which is located in a complex process of rebuilding its social fabric, is the opportunity to design, develop and implement a Peace Workshop capable of being sustainable in the post-conflict in the country. For them, it will be crucial to have the support of actors and stakeholders at local, regional, national, and international levels in order that this experience can be replicated in other towns of Colombia.

Los Laboratorios de Paz han sido programas de cooperación al desarrollo por parte de actores internacionales como la Unión Europea en países con conflicto armado interno como Colombia. Concretamente, los diálogos de paz adelantados en el segundo decenio del siglo XXI entre el Gobierno Nacional y la guerrilla de las FARC permiten considerar la factibilidad de construir Laboratorios de Paz con la participación de la comunidad internacional en escenarios de postconflicto armado en Colombia. El caso del municipio de Viotá, Cundinamarca, el cual se encuentra en un proceso complejo de reconstrucción de su tejido social, representa la oportunidad de diseñar, formular e implementar un Laboratorio de Paz capaz de ser sostenible en una etapa de postconflicto en el país. Para ello, será fundamental contar con el apoyo de actores sociales e instancias de carácter local, regional, nacional e internacional en aras de que esta experiencia pueda ser replicada en otros municipios de Colombia."

Belarus is one of the least-studied European states to emerge from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Nevertheless, Belarus constitutes an important and sensitive border region between Russia and the western part of the continent. In Postcommunist Belarus, a stellar group of contributors offers an important, coherent, and comparative perspective on this little-known country.

The democratic foundations of European integration in the foreign and defence realm are increasingly being debated. This article looks at the question of democratic legitimacy from one particular angle, by examining public opinion as measured in Eurobarometer surveys between 1989 and 2009. Based on reflections about the relation between polling results and wider questions of democracy, it examines three aspects of public opinion: general support for a common foreign and a common defence policy; differences among support rates in EU member states; and what roles Europeans would prefer for European armed forces. It turns out that general support for a common foreign policy is high, whereas the desirability of a common defence policy is much more contested. Moreover, citizens across Europe would prefer European armed forces to take on traditional tasks, as territorial defence. An EU defence policy that goes beyond strict intergovernmentalism and is directed towards protecting international law and universal human rights would thus require a significant communicative effort to become accepted.

Recent years have seen some very deep changes in the way the global energy sector and its governance function. All these changes have a very significant impact on energy policy choices available for European Union (EU) policymakers and should be incorporated in a pro-active European strategy for the future. Instead, however, we witness a general stalemate of the energy policy debate within the EU, and internal problems seem to impede any meaningful and coherent external policy. In this article, building on a wide literature review, we sketch the changing global energy landscape, explaining the current state of “unprecedented uncertainty” around a set of major issues. We then move on to indicate and describe what we see as the five “cardinal sins” of European energy policy and governance, which preclude effective common responses and external action. We conclude with the policy implications and possible ways of overcoming the challenges of European energy policy and governance. 

This article analyses the determinants that lead national courts across EU countries to use the preliminary reference procedure, paying special attention to the differences and similarities in the use of this mechanism of judicial cooperation between the old and the new Member States incorporated in 2004 and 2007. The study presents original and comprehensive data on the use of preliminary references (1961-2011) in all 27 Member States. Besides confirming the impact of common factors already tested in the literature, this research additionally identifies some differences in the institutional dynamics influencing the use of preliminary references across older and newer Member States.