scholarly journals EUROPE’S BORDERS AND NEIGHBOURHOOD: GOVERNMENTALITY AND IDENTITY

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 589-594
Author(s):  
Jan Grzymski
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
European Neighbourhood Policy ◽  
Cultural Space ◽  
Eastern Partnership ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Oriented Research

This article argues that the EU's neighbourhood policy is deeply entrenched in the Eurocentric spatial imaginaries of the EU as the universal core of and pole of attraction to its neighbours. This is especially clear in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and Eastern Partnership (EaP) concept of an asymmetrical partnership and neighbourhood. The ENP and EaP constituted the EU as a fully European core, while simultaneously othering its neighbourhood as not-fully European with an uncertain status of being between the inside and outside. This article attempts to expose how the ENP and EaP's practices draw a border for the EU/Europe and its neighbourhood with the use of specific EU policy instruments, which are not just technical or professional tools. To the contrary, these instruments hold some potential power in constituting and envisioning the EU's closest outside neighbours. This article will move beyond application-oriented research and draw on critical social theory, especially the already-existing governmentality research as well as Michel Foucault's theory of power. The article concludes with the exposed mechanisms of constructing the political and cultural space of neighbourhood (and ultimately Europe too) through the ENP and EaP's governmental rationalities of their border practices. 

Granice Europy w wyobrażeniach i praktykach Europejskiej Polityki Sąsiedztwa i Partnerstwa Wschodniego

2018 ◽  
pp. 58-76
Author(s):  
Jan Grzymski
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
The Political ◽  
European Neighbourhood Policy ◽  
European Studies ◽  
Eastern Partnership ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Specific Concept

This article critically analyses the reconfiguration of imaginaries of Europe’s borders, which is presupposed and practiced within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and Eastern Partnership (EaP). Referring to borders studies and constructivism in European studies, this article addresses to what degree the political imaginaries of ENP and EaP’s political practices are based on a specific concept of Europe and its boundaries, where Europe’s border is being constructed by reproducing the deeply-seated opposition between Europe vs. non-Europe and Europe vs. Eastern Europe. It argues that it blurs the clear-cut divisions of the inside-outside, where the former is designated as being part of Europe by geography or “friend of Europe”, but still in the process of becoming fully “European”. The article studies how the policy instruments and ENP and EaP’s concepts of “neighbourhood” and “partnership” reframe the understanding of Europe’s borders and identity.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words? The Untapped Potential of V4 Parliaments in EU Affairs

2021 ◽  
pp. 088832542110127
Author(s):  
Karolina Borońska-Hryniewiecka ◽  
Jan Grinc
Keyword(s):  
Early Warning System ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Veto Players ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Dialogue ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Green Card ◽  
Policy Ideas ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
The Eu

This article offers the first ever comparative analysis of the involvement of V4 parliaments in the sphere of European Union (EU) affairs. Its underlying research objective is to determine what conditions V4’s parliamentary participation in various EU-oriented activities such as domestic scrutiny of the government’s EU policy, the political dialogue with the Commission, the Early Warning System for subsidiarity control, and the green card initiative. Based on the actual scrutiny output, parliamentary minutes, and data from questionnaires, we address the questions: (1) To what extent domestic legislatures act as autonomous as opposed to government-supporting actors in these arenas? (2) Do they mostly act as EU veto players, or try to contribute constructively to the EU policy-making process by bringing alternative policy ideas? (3) What are their motivations for engaging in direct dialogue with EU institutions in addition to domestic scrutiny? and (4) How MPs envisage their own EU-oriented roles? While the article reveals that V4 parliaments mostly act as gatekeepers in the sphere of EU affairs, it also casts a new light on the previous literature findings related to the EU-oriented performance of the Czech and Polish lower chambers. We conclude that, generally, V4 parliaments refrain from fully exploiting their relatively strong formal prerogatives in EU affairs—a fact that can be partly explained by the composition of their ruling majorities.

Infrastructural Fractals: Revisiting the Micro—Macro Distinction in Social Theory

10.1068/d420t ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 832-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casper B Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Electronic Patient Records ◽  
Fractal Approach ◽  
Social Theorist ◽  
Danish Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between the supposedly small—the micro—and the supposedly large—the macro—has been a long-standing concern in social theory. However, although many attempts have been made to link these two seemingly disjoint dimensions, in the present paper I argue against such an endeavour. Instead, I outline a fractal approach to the study of space, society, and infrastructure. A fractal orientation requires a number of related conceptual reorientations. It has implications for thinking about scale and perspective, and (sociotechnical) relations, and for considering the role of the social theorist in analyzing such relations. I find empirical illustration in the case of the development of electronic patient records in Danish health care. The role of the social theorist is explored through a comparison of the political and normative stance enabled, respectively, by a critical social theory and a fractal social theory.

scholarly journals Frames and images facing Ukraine: comparing Germany's and Russia's media perceptions of the EU relations with Ukraine

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Integration ◽  
Print Media ◽  
The Political ◽  
European Neighbourhood Policy ◽  
Association Agreement ◽  
German Press ◽  
Political Association ◽  
Patterns Of Interaction ◽  
The Eu

The recent EU-Ukraine Summit in July 2018 demonstrated that the leaders of the EU and Ukraine have committed to further deepen the political association and economic integration of Ukraine with the EU. Yet, this “strong partnership,” based on a joint association agreement, has been overshadowed by Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and its instigation of the war in Donbas. Given that Ukraine is an important geopolitical neighbour for both the EU and Russia, the EU and its Member States – especially Germany and France – have taken on the role of mediators in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The focus of our study is on the image of the EU-Ukraine relationship as a unique and outstanding case. Ukraine’s close ties with Russia appear to be waning, however, the more Ukraine tries to strengthen its ties with the EU, the more Russia seems to resist. In this regard, we ask: How are the relationships between the EU and Ukraine are represented in German and Russian print media? How do the print media sources frame this relationship and what different images do they communicate? The content analysis of data draws diverging pictures: within the same period, the patterns of interaction between the EU and Ukraine, evolving within European Neighbourhood Policy and Eastern Partnership, tend to be depicted as far more cooperative in the German press, whereas Russia’s print media portray EU-Ukraine relations as increasingly negative and more conflicted over the years.

THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN THE POST-COVID PERIOD. KEY FEATURES AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

2021 ◽  
pp. 28-37
Author(s):  
Boris P. Guseletov ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Eastern Partnership ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Partnership Program ◽  
The Eu

The article is dedicated to the analysis of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership program in the post-COVID period. It considers the main features of that program in modern conditions and further prospects for its de- velopment, taking into account the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for the European Union and the countries participating in this program. The author analyzes the EU leadership attitude to the individual participants of the program and identifies priorities in relation to the various countries represen- ted in it. To overcome the social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Commission decided to provide financial assistance to the participating countries, but the amount of the assistance for individual countries depended on the state of relations between the European Union and the leadership of those countries. It is proved in the article that the European Union currently has the most favorable relations with three countries parti- cipating in the program: Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, which have openly declared a policy of rapprochement with the European Union in the political and economic fields. The author outlines positions of all the countries and their expectations of participating in the program in the nearest future as well as in the longer term.

4. Critical Perspectives

2014 ◽  
pp. 63-82
Author(s):  
Ian Bache ◽  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Owen Parker
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Critical Perspectives

This chapter examines the range of critical perspectives now applied to the European Union, including social constructivism, critical political economy, critical social theory, critical feminism, and post-structuralism. These critical — often termed ‘post-positivist’ — approaches emphasize the constructed and changeable nature of the social and political world. Many such approaches reject the notion that social reality can be objectively observed and argue that various agents, including policy actors and scholars themselves, are involved in its construction. They highlight the less obvious manifestations of power that pervade the interrelated worlds of political action and political theorizing. It is important to consider why these more critical perspectives have been absent for so long within mainstream studies of the EU. Both their exclusion and their gradual (re-)admittance to the mainstream can be accounted for by factors internal to political studies scholarship and factors related to the politics of European integration and the EU.

scholarly journals Marx, Cole and the Frankfurt School: Realising the political potential of critical social theory

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Masquelier
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Instrumental Reason ◽  
Political Form ◽  
Emancipatory Practice ◽  
Positive Step ◽  
Libertarian Socialism

In this article, the author proposes that whilst Habermas’s attempt to conceptualise a political form oriented towards the institutionalisation of emancipatory practice represents a positive step for critical theory, it is best served by developing a theoretical framework that does not presuppose or apologise for the instrumental mastery of external nature. It is argued that in order to achieve such a task, the political potential of the critique of instrumental reason elaborated by the first generation of Frankfurt School theorists ought to be realised through the labour-mediated reconciliation of humanity with both internal and external nature, for which the libertarian socialism of G. D. H. Cole provides an adequate basis.

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