Search

Begin New Search Topic Government Journal Central European University Political Science Journal

1. British Public Opinion and Mass-Elite Relations on EU Enlargement: Implications on the Democratic Deficit Debate

Author:
Oya Dursun-Ozkanca
Publication Date:
02-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
Despite the fact that the public in Britain had predominantly negative attitudes towards the Easter n enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004, the British government endorsed this policy . Since the legitimacy of elite actions on EU affairs depends on the level of public support, it is important to study the formation of public opinion and the poli tical communication processes in the European context. Using Flash Eurobarometer survey data, this article first tests the determinants of public support for EU enlargement in Britain. It then examines the nature of the relationship between elites and publ ic opinion on the 2004 enlargement. It concludes that the public discussion about enlargement in Britain was fuelled by hysteria rather than facts, and that the British policymakers failed to both provide the worried public with clear facts on the possible effects of enlargement and take substantive policy decisions to alleviate popular concerns.
Topic:
Government and Communications
Political Geography:
Britain and Europe

2. Political Parties in Multi-Level Polities: The Nordic countries compared

Author:
Maria Shagina
Publication Date:
02-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
As the result of changes in European governance, the environment in which national parties operate has been unambiguously modified. The complexity of European structures has put additional pressure on national parties and forced them to adapt to new challenges. The emergence of sub-national level has created new arena for national parties to perform their customary functions such as candidate selection, formulation of party manifestos, government formation etc. Yet, the sub-national level stipulated by other institutional structure differs significantly from the national one. The democratic deficit intrinsic to the EU institutions affects and changes the internal organization of national parties. Aylott, Blomgren, and Bergman aim to fill this research gap by investigating the impact of European integration on democratic accountability within Nordic political parties. The authors seek to uncover “the black box of party organization” (p. 2) through the lens of modified delegation and accountability procedures on both national and European levels.
Topic:
Environment, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe

3. Mongolian Values and Attitudes toward Democracy

Author:
Mina Sumaadii
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
For most of modern history Mongolia has been isolated from the world due to the geopolitical struggles between Russia and China. As the Communist system collapsed and liberal democracy was established, many outsiders wondered why the country succeeded in democratization where other neighboring ex-Soviet states had failed. The odds were mainly against the country, due to high levels of poverty and geographical distance from established mature democracies. Nevertheless, in Mongolia the common answer is that the political culture was compatible with the principles of liberal democracy. This work is an empirical study of macro and micro developments based on modernization theory. It explores the values and attitudes of the general population in an effort to examine what makes it pro-democratic. The main finding is that the general claim of modernization theory is applicable to Mongolia, but in relation to political culture as a mediator between economic development and democratization.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Russia, China, and Mongolia

4. Rudy B. Andeweg, Lieven De Winter and Patrick Dumont (eds.) Puzzles of Government Formation: Coalition Theory and Deviant Cases(New York: Routledge, 2011)

Author:
Martin Mölder
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
Analyzing coalition governments in Western parliamentary democracies has followed more or less the same design throughout the years. The objective has been to “predict” or “explain” the formation of governments in general. Although the explanatory power of models has improved, even the most comprehensive are able to predict government formation in less than half of the cases. 1 This can mean either that the process of coalition formation is to a significant extent idiosyncratic or that current models have not been fully specified.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Norway and Austria

5. Nermin Abadan-Unat, Turks in Europe (London: Berghahn 2011)

Author:
Patrick Hein
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
In his 2010 best-selling book Germany Is Doing Away with Itself former German Central Bank executive member Thilo Sarrazin denounced the structural integration unwillingness of the Turkish community in Germany. The book sparked a fierce controversy especially among young, liberal, German-speaking Turks who feltCEU Political Science Journal. Vol. 8, No. 2 267 deeply offended by Sarrazin's allegations. The German unease with Islam and Turkey has cast a shadow over bilateral relations between the two states. With the rise of radical Islam and ongoing human rights violations in Turkey, tensions have been on the increase.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Germany

6. Andreas Goldthau and Jan Martin Witte (eds.) Global Energy Governance. The New Rules of the Game

Author:
Paula Ganga
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
Traditionally, when energy is discussed the focus is placed primarily on the supply side of the chain, on state-to-state competition in which one country's energy gain is another one's loss and on the struggle to achieve energy security and be protected against a possible “energy weapon”. Both the academic and the policy worlds still use this zero-sum approach to analyze the energy domain while the changes that have occurred in the global energy landscape should have made this geopolitical paradigm obsolete. With these observations in mind the authors have embarked on addressing this research gap by shifting the focus of the energy discussion from a narrow security perspective to a broader governance-centered view on energy emphasizing the role played by rules and institutions.
Topic:
Government

7. Aynsley Kellow and Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen (eds.), The International Politics of Climate Change (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2010).

Author:
Emilian Kavalski
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
The problems associated with climate change and their unintended consequences have challenged the capacities for comprehension. At the same time, the issues provoked by environmental degradation tend to evince the fickleness of established models for their management. Equally significantly, the dynamics associated with climate change have come to indicate the pervasive uncertainty of the post-Cold War climate of international interactions and the unpredictability of the emerging global patterns. While not new in themselves, the cumulative effects of intensifying environmental threats have drawn the attention of international relations theory to the complex challenges posed by climate change.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Europe and Romania

8. They will save us, or shouldn't they? An analysis of the role of the international community in the Albanian print media after the January 21st 2011 demonstrations

Author:
Sonila Danaj
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
This article investigates the political controversies related to the role the international community plays and should play in contemporary Albanian politics through an analysis of the media accounts of the January 21, 2011 demonstration. We analyse opinion articles in the mainstream media and find that there are two representations of the political reality that compete for legitimacy: one in favour of the government and the other against it. The picture that emerges from the media accounts is that events, political action and political personalities are subject to the perceived judgement of external actors, whose confirmation or support is taken as the legitimizing factor. Thus, the accepted patterns of power put the international community at the top, from where they control, monitor, confirm or refute political elites. The alternative representation criticizes international intervention as a deterrent to the democratization processes in Albania.
Topic:
Government and Politics
Political Geography:
Albania

9. Internet forums in Lithuania: a new stimulus for social capital?

Author:
Austėj Trinkūnait
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
This article analyzes the process of social capital formation in internet forums. It investigates whether this social phenomenon can originate in online environments and to uncover the steps of its development. Three Lithuanian internet forums are chosen for the analysis according to their discussion topics: professional, family and leisure. The methodology used is participant observation, surveys, and interviews with members of these message boards. Data analysis indicates that interactions in internet forums can contribute to formation of social capital and bridging social capital is the predominant type among Lithuanian message boards. Moreover, there exists a “middle ground” of interaction between online and offline environments and leisure forums contribute to the formation of social capital less than other discussion groups.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Lithuania

10. Multinational Enterprise and International Finance in the History of Light and Power 1878-2007

Author:
Simone Selva
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
Global Electrification pulls together a cohort of leading experts in the fields of industrial and financial history of power and light enterprises to offer a global history of electric utility companies since the early steps in the last quarter of the nineteenth century through the late twentieth century from the vantage point of international business history and transnational financial history. The authors do investigate the early beginnings and evolution of the electric utility industry in the background of both the rise to globalism of multinational corporations and the worldwide spread of international investments to crisscross private-sector activities and government-run initiatives, national and transnational concerns and capital flows. They adopt a two-fold research perspective: foreign portfolio investments and foreign direct investments are brought into focus alongside to pinpoint the changing balance between the level of internationalization and the degree of domestication – to borrow from the book's vocabulary – featuring the history of the electricity industry since the early technological innovations, down into the recent attempts over the last twenty years to revive the role of multinational corporations after half a century trend toward either private-sector or state-owned national control.
Topic:
Government