Documents political integration 20 results

"This critical working paper looks at the series of political choices, circumstances and windows of opportunity that have enabled one particular vision of the model of EU monetary union to gain acceptance. In the context of this model, political union is not considered an accessible way to manage the crisis, for the rescue of the euro is regarded as feasible only in a more competitive economy.
The social dimension, accordingly, becomes the adjustment variable. In this regard, the statements made by the President of the European Central Bank announcing the death of the European Social Model, are merely the anticipation of a reality that is the outcome of a political choice, based on a set of economic prescriptions and which takes for granted the impossibility of attaining true political union."

"Nuestra hipótesis es que, a raíz de la crisis financiera de 2008 y de la posterior “crisis del euro”, y también debido al hecho de que la gran mayoría de los gobiernos de la UE responsables de la gestión de esta crisis eran de centro-derecha, un modelo de la unión económica y monetaria se ha convertido en otro. Lo que describimos es una serie de opciones políticas, circunstancias y ventanas de oportunidad que han permitido la aceptación de esta visión particular del modelo de unión monetaria. En el contexto de este modelo, la unión política no se considera un modo accesible para gestionar la crisis, porque el rescate del euro se considera factible sólo en una economía más competitiva. La dimensión social, en consecuencia, se convierte en la variable de ajuste. En este sentido, las declaraciones hechas por el Presidente del Banco Central Europeo -anunciando la muerte del modelo social europeo- no son más que la anticipación de una realidad que es el resultado de una elección política, basada en un conjunto de recetas económicas, y que da por sentado la imposibilidad de alcanzar una verdadera unión política.

Se describe el nuevo sistema de gobernanza compleja puesto en marcha para poner en práctica este nuevo modelo de gobernanza económica de la UEM. Es un sistema aún bajo construcción, pero ya está ejerciendo mucha presión sobre las relaciones laborales (en términos de salarios y descentralización) y los Estados de bienestar (políticas laborales y de pensiones). Se diferencia del sistema de gobernanza anterior en que, por un lado, las reglas son más rígidas y, por otro, los cambios previstos se refieren a las instituciones más que las políticas. Aunque se concluye llamando la atención sobre los aspectos que actualmente cohesionan y dan sentido, somos igualmente muy conscientes de las contradicciones, anomalías, luchas de poder y posibles cambios de paradigma, que descartan cualquier sugerencia de una conclusión predecible."

"Critics of globalization claim that economic integration drains political authority from states: devolving authority to newly empowered regions, delegating it to supranational organizations, and transferring it to multinational firms and nongovernmental organizations. Globalization is also attacked for forcing convergence of state institutions and policies and threatening the ability of societies to chart their own democratically determined courses. In Governance in a Global Economy, Miles Kahler and David Lake assemble the contributions of seventeen leading scholars who have systematically investigated how global economic integration produces changes of governance. These authors conclude that globalization has created a new and intricate fabric of governance, but one that fails to match the stark portrait of beleaguered states. Exploring changes in governance across several policy areas (such as tourism, trade, finance, and fiscal and monetary policy), the authors demonstrate that globalization changes the policy preferences of some actors, increases the bargaining power of others, and opens new institutional options for yet others. By reintroducing agency and choice into our understanding of globalization, this book provides important new insights into the complex and contingent effects of globalization on political authority and governance."

"En Amérique latine, la minorisation politique des femmes demeure, malgré un accès réel à la sphère publique. En effet, la participation de femmes soit à des mouvements populaires mixtes, soit à des mouvements populaires féminins, soit à des mouvements féministes à pu sans doute leur permettre d'accéder à la sphère publique durant les dictatures militaires. Mais cette participation ne s'est pas traduite par une ample intégration à la représentation politique depuis la transition démocratique."

"This article seeks to shed light on the development over the past decades of the concept of economic governance. It asks what is understood by economic governance and what role the social dimension has played. The article offers an analysis of the problems and possible issues confronting the EU as it seeks ways to address the sovereign debt crisis by embarking on deeper economic integration. The article concludes that from the early days there have been questions about the exact interaction between economic and monetary integration and thus between ‘economic' and ‘monetary' union. Despite Delors' original inclination, few were willing to establish any linkage between EMU and social matters. The crises have again brought out the need to consider the two in tandem. Moreover, with the increased role in economic governance accorded to EU-level institutions, there is a need to rethink the EU democratic model. "

"Early theorists of European integration speculated that economic integration would lead to political integration and a European identity. A European identity has not displaced national identities in the EU, but, for a significant share of EU citizens, a European identity exists alongside a national identity. At the same time, political parties asserting more traditional nationalist identities and policies have directed their dissatisfaction against immigrants, foreigners and, sometimes, the EU. Those who participate in ‘Europe' are more likely to develop a European identity, while those whose economic and social horizons are essentially local are more likely to assert nationalist identities. It is argued in this article that the issue of European and national identity plays a heightened role in European politics, particularly in the economic crisis of 2007–11. The resolution of that crisis, which may result in increased European political co-operation, will have to take into account highly salient national identities that have so far resisted such co-operation."

"We review the initial predictions and claims regarding economic and monetary union (EMU) in Europe against the evidence of its first ten years of existence. We argue that pessimistic views on the creation of EMU have proved to be wrong. Yet EMU's success is rather puzzling, since it is based on a peculiar institutional structure not thought to lead to success. EMU has generated redistributive effects and may have increased business-cycle synchronization. Those effects have not translated into the expected decrease of legitimacy or a widespread democratic deficit of EMU. At the institutional level, EMU has coped well with an asymmetric framework, largely decoupling EMU from political union. There have been neither major spill-over effects pushing for further political integration nor conflict and disintegration. The main question for the future is whether this institutional structure will stay the same in the aftermath of the global financial crisis."