European Union

The UN member states have agreed on non-binding principles for dealing with refugees and migrants at the Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis in New York. People must force their governments to improve the situation of refugees, some commentators urge. Others say more must be done to fight the causes of the exodus.

Putin's United Russia party won the Duma elections on Sunday with a big lead against three other parties with close ties to the Kremlin. Once again there were reports of irregularities, and voter turnout was lower than in 2011. Voters see no point in going to the polls at all anymore, commentators write, describing the Duma as a pro forma institution.

Martina Vukasovic

Section chair Mitchell Young. Photo credits: Meng-Hsuan Chou

The 2016 edition of the General Conference of ECPR (European Consortium for Political Research) took place in Prague, 7-10 September 2016. Approximately 2000 participants presented their most recent work in political science, policy analysis, public administration and related areas of inquiry in almost 70 different sections. The newly formed ECPR Standing Group on Politics of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, for the fifth time in a row organized a section dedicated to knowledge politics and policies.

The section consisted of eight thematic panels comprising 3-5 papers each, spread over the three conference days. First, ‘Applying Complex Systems Theory to Higher Education and Research Policy’ panel looked beyond the commonplace description of political and policy phenomena as complex and discussed the possibilities of using complexity theory for public policy analysis. It featured presentations by Graham Room about agile actors on complex educational terrains (author of the 2011 book on Complexity, Institutions and Public Policy) , Sandra Hasanefendic about using complex adaptive system theory for analysing behaviour of higher education institutions, Mads P. Sørensen on complex policy conditions conducive to scientific breakthroughs and research excellence and Mitchell Young on the linkages between policy dynamics and biological systems.

The second panel – ‘Market-Making of, in, and around European Higher Education’ – focused on marketization of higher education, both as a process and as an outcome. Janja Komljenovic presented her work on actors involved in the process of construction of ‘diverse, variegated, processual and relational’ markets. Christopher Pokarier focused on expansion and downscaling of higher education market in postwar Japan, while Lukas Graf focused on decentralized cooperation in skill formation. Eva Hartmann then shed light on international coordination service firms (European Quality Improvement Systems (EQUIS) and their role in privatization of higher education. Finally, Susan Robertson focused on contradiction between the global trade agreements in the making (e.g. TTIP, TPP) and a creative and dynamic knowledge-based economy.

This was followed by a panel on ‘Policy Failures and Achievements in the Knowledge Domain’ which focused on policy success and failure in conceptual terms (what constitutes failure?), in terms of implications of failure for the policy process as well as in empirical terms (focusing on specific cases). For example, Damien de Blic and Anne Marijnen presented how universities in France reacted to the refugee crisis and how limited initiatives in this respect (largely by individual universities) shaped the political agenda on this matter. Mari Elken focused on the concept of policy failure as such, as well as in particular in relation to the European level policy coordination. The panel concluded with Daniel Kontowski’s presentation on antecedents and consequences of several (largely failed) attempts to introduce liberal education in Poland.

As is becoming tradition, the section also included a panel more explicitly focused on ‘Researching the Governance of Knowledge Policies: Methodological and Conceptual Challenges’. First, Teele Tõnismann presented her work on plurality of external influences on research policies in the Baltics, in particular highlighting the necessity for careful consideration of similarities and differences between systems when conducting comparative research. This was followed by Inga Ulnicane’s work on researchers’ motivations for collaboration that builds on an expansive data set including interviews, site visits, longitudinal case studies, publication and citation data, and CVs.

The final day of the conference started off with the panel on ‘The Contentious Politics of Higher Education. Students as Political Actors in Times of Crisis’. Four papers were presented: (1) Thierry Luescher’s work on student movement in South Africa, in particular focusing on recent #FeesMustFall protests, (2) Cesar Guzman-Concha’s work on student protests in Chile, in particular on their outcomes and impact on Chilean HE policy, (3) a paper by Lorenzo Cini on student mobilizations in Italy and their policy influence and, finally, (4) Alexander Hensby’s work on the 2010 student demonstrations in UK and how mediation of highly charged ‘moments of excess’ influenced the student mobilization and public visibility of tuition fees as a contentious policy issue.

This was followed by a panel on ‘The Impact of Changing Knowledge Policies’, which featured presentations by (1) Mounia Driss on higher education and welfare regimes – in particular concerning the (possible) alignment between de-commodification efforts and social security policies, (2) Karel Sima’s work on demographic changes in Central and Eastern Europe and how they may affect the politics of access to higher education and (3) Beverly Barrett’s work on higher education attainment in the context of the Bologna Process, specifically concerning Portugal and Spain.

In the afternoon, the panel on ‘The Politicization of Knowledge Policies: Actors in National Arenas’ highlighted the role of different political actors in the process of knowledge policies. First, Jeniffer Chubb presented her work on perspectives of academics from UK and Australia to an increasingly present ‘impact’ focus in research funding policies. This was followed by Alexander Raev who discussed transnational higher education projects (some of which are profit-oriented) and the actors involved in designing them, specifically focused on their (sometimes diverse) interests. Then, Miguel Antonio Lim focused on university rankings as ‘active instruments’ and in particular the actors which created them and the actors which use them in their own national contexts, illustrating these processes with examples from Denmark and India. Margarida Chages Lopes presented her analysis on Portuguese higher education reforms and the panel ended with Jens Jungblut’s (co-authored with Deanna Rexe) comparison of approaches to federal coordination of higher education policy in Germany and US.

The section was concluded with the panel ‘Transnational Actors in Knowledge Policies – Ideas, Interests and Institutions’, i.e. various non-state actors operating on macro-regional (e.g. Europe, South-East Asia) level and their role in knowledge policy-making. The panel comprised: (1) Pauline Ravinet and Meng-Hsuan Chou’s presentation on how a specific instrument of cross-region cooperation – ‘EU Support to Higher Education in ASEAN Region (SHARE)’ – is framed, (2) Didem Turkoglu’s comparison of student groups and unions in England, Germany and Turkey, (3) Que Anh Dang’s analysis of so far under-researched actors – Bologna and ASEM Education secretariats, (4) Tore Bernt Sorensen’s work (co-authored with Susan Robertson) on inclusion of non-state actors in the work of OECD and (5) Martina Vukasovic’s theoretical paper on European stakeholder organizations (EUA, ESU, EI etc.) as meta-organizations.

Standing Group meeting. Photo credits: Mari Elken

Apart from these eight panels, the members of the Standing Group on Politics of Higher Education, Research and Innovation also attended some of the panels in other sections, as well as the roundtables and took part in the annual meeting of the Standing Group on Friday, 9 September. The latter was an excellent opportunity to take stock of the development of this research community (currently comprising more than 200 members) as well as publication outlets and plans for the future, including the next year’s ECPR General Conference in Oslo, 6-9 September 2017.

The post Knowledge politics and policies section @ ECPR 2016 appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

General : Over the course of its existence, the European Parliament has transformed itself from an assembly with limited powers to a decision-making body directly shaping EU policies. It has been a long road, but one of the milestones was 20 September 1976, when ministers signed rules allowing direct European elections. The elections, held about three years later, gave new democratic legitimacy to the Parliament and allowed MEPs to seek more powers in shaping European policies.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Over the course of its existence, the European Parliament has transformed itself from an assembly with limited powers to a decision-making body directly shaping EU policies. It has been a long road, but one of the milestones was 20 September 1976, when ministers signed rules allowing direct European elections. The elections, held about three years later, gave new democratic legitimacy to the Parliament and allowed MEPs to seek more powers in shaping European policies.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

On 20 September 2016, the Council adopted a legal framework  which, for the first time, will allow the EU to apply sanctions autonomously to ISIL/Da'esh and Al-Qaida and persons and entities associated or supporting them. Until now sanctions could only be applied to persons and entities listed by the United Nations or by EU member states acting individually.

The EU will be able to impose a travel ban on individuals and an asset freeze on individuals and entities that are identified as being associated with ISIL (Da'esh)/ Al-Qaida. This means that all their assets in the EU will be frozen and that EU persons and entities will also be prohibited from making any funds available to listed persons or entities.

The individuals and entities targeted include those who have participated in the planning or perpetrating of terrorist attacks or have provided ISIL (Da'esh)/ Al-Qaida with financing, oil or arms, or have received terrorist training from them. Persons or entities could also be listed for activities such as recruiting; inciting or publicly provoking acts and activities in support of these organisations, or being involved in serious abuses of human rights outside the EU, including abduction, rape, sexual violence, forced marriage and enslavement of persons.

The EU will also be able to impose restrictive measures on individuals travelling or seeking to travel both outside the EU, and into the EU, with the aim of supporting, ISIL (Da'esh)/Al-Qaida or receiving training from them. Such measures will target particularly the so-called "foreign fighters". As a result the EU will be able to list any person who  meets the criteria - including EU nationals who have supported these organisations outside the EU and who then return. The travel ban will prevent listed persons from entering any EU member state. In the case of a listed EU national, the travel ban will prevent the listed person from travelling to any EU member state other than the member state of which that person is a national. 

Upon agreement on listing proposals from member states, persons and entities will be listed through a Council decision and a Council regulation adopted unanimously.

Ledra Advertising v Commission and ECB
Economic policy
The Court of Justice confirms the dismissal of the actions for annulment and dismisses on the merits the actions for compensation concerning the restructuring of the Cypriot banking sector

The Council adopted the "country and regional issues" part of the EU annual report on human rights and democracy in the world in 2015 which complements the thematic part of the report published on 20 June 2016. 

In 2015, the EU continued defending and promoting human rights, inclusive and democratic societies. The 2015 annual report sets out the efforts of the EU, through the High Representative Federica Mogherini, the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Stavros Lambrinidis and the EU global network of delegations, to promote the universality of human rights across the world. The "country and regional issues" section of the report provides a short overview of the human rights situation and covers EU policy support on the ground on a country by country basis.

 The Council adopted the following conclusions:

"1.             On 15 February 2016, the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Dragan Čović, presented the application of Bosnia and Herzegovina for membership of the European Union. The Council decided to implement the procedure laid down in Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union. Accordingly, the Commission is invited to submit its opinion. 

2.             Recalling the renewed consensus on enlargement as expressed in the conclusions of the European Council of 14/15 December 2006, the Council reaffirms that the future of the Western Balkans lies in the European Union. It reiterates that each country's progress towards the European Union depends on its individual efforts to comply with the Copenhagen criteria and the conditionality of the Stabilisation and Association Process. 

3.             Reiterating previous Council conclusions, in particular those of 15 December 2015, and its unequivocal commitment to Bosnia and Herzegovina's EU perspective as a single, united and sovereign country, the Council welcomes the meaningful progress in the implementation of the Reform Agenda which has been agreed by the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities at all levels. The Council calls on Bosnia and Herzegovina to continue its efforts to ensure effective implementation of the Reform Agenda in line with the schedule of the action plan agreed by the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities, to the benefit of its citizens and in close cooperation with the European Union, international financial institutions and international partners, as well as civil society. This should continue to include, as well as socio-economic reforms, reforms in the area of rule of law and public administration. The Council invites the Commission to further report on the implementation of the Reform Agenda including the coordination mechanism. When preparing its opinion on the membership application of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council asks the Commission to pay particular attention to the implementation of the Sejdić-Finci ruling.

 4.             The Council welcomes the initialling of the Protocol on the adaptation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement to take account of Croatia's accession to the European Union. The full implementation of the SAA, including its adaptation, is an important element of the country's commitment to the EU integration process. 

5.             The Council further welcomes the agreement on establishing a coordination mechanism on EU matters. It calls on all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure its effective implementation, as an important step towards improving functionality and efficiency."

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Angela Merkel said that she would “rewind time”, if she could, and deal with Germany’s influx of refugees differently, marking the first time that the German chancellor had confessed to mishandling the crisis.

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Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

The European Union welcomes this ambitious initiative, as no other global problem is more urgent today than the ongoing migration of millions of people. The United Nations still needs to strengthen its tools and find the money to deal with the humanitarian needs and other problems triggered by this unprecedented wave of migration. There is a lot of catching up to do. We hope that today's declaration will mark a new pragmatic approach and a shift towards a global system of more orderly movement, where the responsibility is shared and where no one will bear the burden alone.

You have to know that today the European Union has a clear objective to restore order on  its external borders. As a result, this will lead to the further reduction of the irregular flows to the EU. There will be no repeat of the year 2015 with more than 1 and a half million irregular migrants.

At the same time, we are ready to increase humanitarian and development assistance for refugees, internally displaced persons and host communities. Our new initiatives are already underway.

We are finalising Compacts with Jordan and Lebanon with an aim to provide an appropriate and safe environment for refugees and displaced persons from Syria, in exchange for additional EU funds. We are also setting up new partnership agreements with African countries. Moreover, we are determined to continue our cooperation with Turkey and with the Western Balkans countries.

In all the above-mentioned issues, the strengthening of EU's external borders and increasing financial assistance for those in need, I want to underline that the EU Member States stand united, which was confirmed by our meeting in Bratislava three days ago.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Global migration will accompany us in the future. And it is in our power to decide whether our future in this context will be orderly, stable and safe; or disorderly, unstable and unsafe. We need the political will, responsibility sharing and practical co-operation of all players, and not two years from now but here and now. Our discussion today gives me hope that we can make it happen. Thank you very much.

Entry into office of new Members at the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union

General : A delegation of seven MEPs from the civil liberties committee, led by Claude Moraes (S&D,United Kingdom), is visiting ebanon on 19-22 September 2016 to look into the situation of refugees in the light of the ongoing formulation of EU responses to the current refugee crisis, including EU resettlement schemes. This Storify page will cover the visit. The latest updates will appear on top

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

As academic coordinator of the European Union in International Affairs (EUIA) conference that took place in Brussels this May, Lisanne Groen introduced Young Researchers’ Masterclasses into the fifth edition of the biennial conference. The masterclasses, deemed successful, saw senior scholars give pointed feedback on both papers and presentations of younger scholars, and enabled them to establish connections with both senior scholars and fellow presenters. In future, running the masterclasses before the conference, as a separate event, might enable postgraduates to get even more out of the conference as a whole.

The aim of the EUIA 2016 masterclasses was to provide PhD and early postdoc researchers with feedback on both their papers and presentation (skills) from senior scholars in a friendly environment. Three masterclasses were included in the conference programme: on economic governance and the environment; migration; and foreign and security policy.

Each masterclass included three to four paper presentations and feedback from a senior scholar with expertise in the issue area. The masterclasses took place simultaneously on the first day of the conference in the morning. The participating junior researchers were allowed to attend the rest of the conference, but not present in a non-masterclass panel, so as to allow a larger number of academics to take part in the conference.

The masterclasses were perceived as a success for several reasons. First, they provided an opportunity for postgraduates to interact with fellow young researchers working in the same issue area and facing similar problems at the early stages of their academic careers. This allowed them to share experiences and to stay in touch during and after the conference, and to continue to share best practice and broaden their networks.

Second, the postgraduates received detailed feedback from senior scholars who are experts in their field. They also had the opportunity to speak with their reviewer after the session and to stay in touch after the conference (in order to receive more feedback with a view to preparing their conference paper for publication).

It was essential to the success of the masterclasses that the senior scholars had taken the time to prepare substantive feedback and were relatively familiar with the topics, so that the early career researchers would receive useful comments on their work. As a paper giver in a normal academic conference panel, by contrast, you can never be sure that your discussant has actually taken the time to read your work and prepare detailed feedback.

Third, the senior scholars commented on issues that are particularly relevant for early-career researchers, such as how to present your conference paper in a convincing manner. In one of the masterclasses, for example, the senior scholar advised the presenters to always face the audience while speaking, to put down only the key points of the paper on the slides and to practice the presentation at home beforehand to make sure it stays within the allowed time limit. The senior scholars were also prepared to answer any early academic career-related questions based on their own experience.

To improve the integration of postgraduates into a future edition of the conference, we might consider organising the masterclasses before the conference, as a separate event – for instance, on the day before (following the example of EISA). This would create space for the junior participants and senior scholars from all the masterclasses to interact with each other before the conference – for example, at a common reception or dinner.

If the masterclasses are billed as a separate event, the junior scholars will be able to take part both in a masterclass and in the normal conference as paper givers and can interact with more scholars. In that way, they get the best of both worlds.

The post How best to integrate postgraduate research into academic conferences? appeared first on Ideas on Europe.