Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: A Critical Review of Recent Literature on Populism
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1146
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1146
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 177-186
Author-Name: John Abromeit
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of History, State University of New York, Buffalo State, USA
Abstract: This is a review article of the following five recent studies on populism: 1) Ruth Wodak’s <em>The Politics of Fear: What Right-Wing Populist Discourses Mean</em> (Sage, 2015); 2) Benjamin Moffitt’s <em>The Global Rise of Populism: Performance, Political Style and Representation</em> (Stanford University Press, 2016); 3) Cas Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser’s <em>Populism: A Very Short Introduction</em> (Oxford University Press, 2017); 4) Jan-Werner Müller’s <em>What is Populism?</em> (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016); and 5) John B. Judis’ <em>The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics</em> (Columbia Global Reports, 2016). The review argues for a return to early Frankfurt School Critical Theory to address some of the shortcomings of these studies.
Keywords: authoritarianism; Frankfurt School; left-wing populism; populism; right-wing populism
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:177-186

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Illiberal Turn or Swerve in Central Europe?
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1156
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1156
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 166-176
Author-Name: Lenka Bustikova
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University, USA
Author-Name: Petra Guasti
Author-Workplace-Name: Democratic Innovations Unit, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Abstract: Scholars are coming to terms with the fact that something is rotten in the new democracies of Central Europe. The corrosion has multiple symptoms: declining trust in democratic institutions, emboldened uncivil society, the rise of oligarchs and populists as political leaders, assaults on an independent judiciary, the colonization of public administration by political proxies, increased political control over media, civic apathy, nationalistic contestation and Russian meddling. These processes signal that the liberal-democratic project in the so-called Visegrad Four (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) has been either stalled, diverted or reversed. This article investigates the “illiberal turn” in the Visegrad Four (V4) countries. It develops an analytical distinction between illiberal “turns” and “swerves”, with the former representing more permanent political changes, and offers evidence that Hungary is the only country in the V4 at the brink of a decisive illiberal turn.
Keywords: Czech Republic; democracy; democratic consolidation; Eastern Europe; Hungary; illiberalism; nationalism; Poland; populism; Slovakia
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:166-176

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: On the Distinct Effects of Left-Wing and Right-Wing Populism on Democratic Quality
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/919
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.919
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 146-165
Author-Name: Robert A. Huber
Author-Workplace-Name: International Relations, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Author-Name: Christian H. Schimpf
Author-Workplace-Name: GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany
Abstract: This study examines the differences and commonalities of how populist parties of the left and right relate to democracy. The focus is narrowed to the relationship between these parties and two aspects of democratic quality, minority rights and mutual constraints. Our argument is twofold: first, we contend that populist parties can exert distinct influences on minority rights, depending on whether they are left-wing or right-wing populist parties. Second, by contrast, we propose that the association between populist parties and mutual constraints is a consequence of the populist element and thus, we expect no differences between the left-wing and right-wing parties. We test our expectations against data from 30 European countries between 1990 and 2012. Our empirical findings support the argument for the proposed differences regarding minority rights and, to a lesser extent, the proposed similarities regarding mutual constraints. Therefore we conclude that, when examining the relationship between populism and democracy, populism should not be considered in isolation from its host ideology.
Keywords: Europe; liberal democracy; minority rights; mutual constraints; political inclusion; populism
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:146-165

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Persuasive Populism? Estimating the Effect of Populist Messages on Political Cynicism
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1124
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1124
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 136-145
Author-Name: Matthijs Rooduijn
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Wouter van der Brug
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Sarah L. de Lange
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Jante Parlevliet
Author-Workplace-Name: Economics and Research Division, De Nederlandsche Bank, The Netherlands
Abstract: Many European countries have seen a growth of populism in recent years. Extant research shows that populist parties are increasingly successful, and that populist messages appear more frequently in the media. This raises the question to what extent populist messages affect public opinion. The aim of this study is to assess whether populist messages fuel political cynicism by arguing that an arrogant, selfish and complacent political elite does not listen to what ordinary people find important. Moreover, it assesses whether populist messages affect only those already favourably predisposed towards populist parties, or whether it affects citizens across the board. The results of a survey experiment, conducted in the Netherlands, suggests that individuals who are exposed to populist messages are indeed more cynical afterwards than individuals who are exposed to a very similar, but more ‘neutrally formulated’ message. However, the effects seem to be restricted to supporters of populist parties.
Keywords: media; political cynicism; populism; survey experiments
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:136-145

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Noisy Counter-Revolution: Understanding the Cultural Conditions and Dynamics of Populist Politics in Europe in the Digital Age
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1123
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1123
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 123-135
Author-Name: Lars Rensmann
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for International Relations and Department of European Languages and Cultures, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Abstract: The article argues for a cultural turn in the study of populist politics in Europe. Integrating insights from three fields—political sociology, political psychology, and media studies—a new, multi-disciplinary framework is proposed to theorize particular cultural conditions favorable to the electoral success of populist parties. Through this lens, the fourth wave of populism should be viewed as a “noisy”, anti-cosmopolitan counter-revolution in defense of traditional cultural identity. Reflective of a deep-seated, value-based great divide in European democracies that largely trumps economic cleavages, populist parties first and foremost politically mobilize long lingering cultural discontent and successfully express a backlash against cultural change. While the populist counter-revolution is engendered by profoundly transformed communicative conditions in the age of social media, its emotional force can best be theorized with the political psychology of authoritarianism: as a new type of authoritarian cultural revolt.
Keywords: anti-cosmopolitanism; authoritarianism; cultural turn; noisy counter-revolution; politics of transgression; populism; post-factual politics; social media
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:123-135

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Liberal Illiberalism? The Reshaping of the Contemporary Populist Radical Right in Northern Europe
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/996
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.996
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 112-122
Author-Name: Benjamin Moffitt
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Government, Uppsala University, Sweden
Abstract: Populism, particularly in its radical right-wing variants, is often posited as antithetical to the principles of liberalism. Yet a number of contemporary cases of populist radical right parties from Northern Europe complicate this characterisation of populism: rather than being directly opposed to liberalism, these parties selectively reconfigure traditionally liberal defences of discriminated-against groups—such as homosexuals or women—in their own image, positing these groups as part of ‘the people’ who must be protected, and presenting themselves as defenders of liberty, free speech and ‘Enlightenment values’. This article examines this situation, and argues that that while populist radical right parties in Northern Europe may only invoke such liberal values to opportunistically attack their enemies—in many of these cases, Muslims and ‘the elite’ who allegedly are abetting the ‘Islamisation’ of Europe’—this discursive shift represents a move towards a ‘liberal illiberalism’. Drawing on party manifestoes and press materials, it outlines the ways in which these actors articulate liberal illiberalism, the reasons they do so, and the ramifications of this shift.
Keywords: free speech; gender; illiberalism; liberalism; liberty; nativism; populism; populist radical right; Scandinavia; The Netherlands
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:112-122

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Editorial to the Issue on Populism and the Remaking of (Il)Liberal Democracy in Europe
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1328
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1328
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 106-111
Author-Name: Lars Rensmann
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for International Relations and Department of European Languages and Cultures, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Sarah L. de Lange
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Stefan Couperus
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for International Relations and Department of European Languages and Cultures, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Abstract: Populism has become the issue of comparative political science today. The rise and continuing success of populist parties is by now evident across Europe, despite persistent cross-national variations. Populist parties’ electoral success and their participation in government have raised questions about their impact: not just on established party systems, but also on the systemic core of European democracies. In theory, this impact can be both beneficial for, as well as a challenge to democracy in general, and the tenets of liberal constitutional democracy in particular. The presence of populist parties has, in several cases, increased electoral turnout and public participation, which is generally seen as a positive effect when measuring the quality of democracy. However, populist parties’ rise also points to negative effects. In addition to profoundly reshaping European party systems, they advocate what the populist Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán calls “illiberal democracy”. Both as an ideal and as an institutional practice when in government, the illiberal remaking of democracy implies eroding the separation of powers and subordinating constitutionally guaranteed individual civil and human rights to an alleged “general will” and a particular conception of “the people”. The thematic issue explores the ideological supply, favorable conditions, political contexts and dynamics, as well as the impact of the populist surge in Europe in relation to the systemic consolidation of (il)liberal democracy on a theoretical and comparative empirical level.
Keywords: cleavages; discontent; ideology; illiberal; liberal democracy; nativism; party systems; populism; representative democracy; Europe
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:106-111

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Do Labour Rights Matter for Export? A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Pineapple Trade to the EU
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1082
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1082
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 93-105
Author-Name: Annelien Gansemans
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Belgium
Author-Name: Deborah Martens
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for EU Studies, Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium
Author-Name: Marijke D’Haese
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Belgium
Author-Name: Jan Orbie
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for EU Studies, Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium
Abstract: Labour norms are increasingly considered in trade relations, but is the protection of labour standards a necessary condition for export to the EU? A Qualitative Comparative Analysis, based on countries that export pineapples to the EU, shows that labour standards protection matters in combination with distance, zero tariffs and institutional quality in a number of cases. However, for none of the cases was it a sufficient condition on its own for determining exports to the European market. Rather, we show that (1) having a zero tariff is necessary for a relatively large share of export to the EU, and (2) labour standards protection can make a difference when the institutional quality is weak in some African cases, in contrast to Latin American exporters.
Keywords: agricultural trade; globalisation; institutions; labour rights; political economy; QCA
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:93-105

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Bangladesh Sustainability Compact: An Effective Tool for Promoting Workers’ Rights?
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1093
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1093
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 80-92
Author-Name: Jeffrey S. Vogt
Author-Workplace-Name: Solidarity Center, USA
Abstract: The impetus for the Bangladesh Sustainability Compact was the Rana Plaza industrial disaster, which took the lives of roughly 1,200 garment workers and injured twice. The Compact required the fulfilment of several time-bound commitments by the Bangladesh government in two key areas—labour law reform and protection of the right to freedom of association and ensuring fire and building safety. The EU heralded the Compact as an innovative, multilateral approach to encourage its trade partners to comply with ILO core labour rights. The editors of this issue of Politics and Governance asked the contributing authors to examine effectiveness of trade and labour standards and to consider alternative mechanisms to advance workers’ rights. Specifically, they queried whether the Compact could be considered a new and effective alternative model. This hope appears misplaced.
Keywords: Bangladesh; Bangladesh Accord; EBA; EU; GSP; ILO; labour rights; Sustainability Compact; trade; trade union
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:80-92

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Advancing Respect for Labour Rights Globally through Public Procurement
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1073
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1073
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 69-79
Author-Name: Olga Martin-Ortega
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Law, University of Greenwich, UK
Author-Name: Claire Methven O'Brien
Author-Workplace-Name: Human Rights and Development Department, Danish Institute for Human Rights, Denmark
Abstract: Governments are mega-consumers of many manufactured products and services. As such they should in principle be able to influence workers’ rights abroad via the terms of purchase contracts. Yet to date little attention has been paid to the potential of public procurement to promote respect for labour rights globally besides the international trade law framework. Building on a limited emerging scholarship and policy developments, this article addresses this gap. Section 2 considers legal definitions of public procurement and distinguishes primary and secondary aims of procurement under key international and regional procurement regimes. This highlights that, although historically used to advance labour rights domestically, these regimes have restricted public buyers’ scope to advance labour rights beyond national borders. Section 3 explores new international policy frameworks on responsible global value chains and supply chains which by contrast appear to augur the greater use of public procurement to promote labour rights globally in future. Section 4 argues, supported by analysis of the limited examples available, that public buying has the potential to positively influence enjoyment of labour rights in practice. Concluding, Section 5 reflects on what the more specific impacts of public procurement in this context may be, and how public buying should complement other mechanisms for improving labour conditions across supply chains, such as social clauses in trade agreements. Finally, we outline issues for further research and the future policy agenda.
Keywords: European Union; labour rights; public procurement; social clauses; sustainable development goals; UNCITRAL; United Nations; United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; WTO
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:69-79

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: A Supply Chain Approach to Trade and Labor Provisions
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1088
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1088
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 60-68
Author-Name: Kevin Kolben
Author-Workplace-Name: Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University, USA
Abstract: As labor provisions in trade agreements have become increasingly ubiquitous, there remain questions about whether or not these provisions have been effective in improving working conditions in trading partner countries. Through an analysis of sample labor provisions in United States and European Union free trade agreements, this paper shows that both approaches, albeit using different methods, aim primarily to improve <em>de jure</em> labor law and <em>de facto</em> enforcement of that law by government regulatory institutions. This paper argues that instead, labor provisions ought to be grounded in a supply chain approach. A supply chain approach shifts the focus from impacting <em>de jure</em> and <em>de facto</em> labor law as administered by the state though sanctions or dialogue, and towards context specific, experimental, and coordinated private and public regulatory interventions that operate in key export industries that are implicated in trading partners’ supply chains. It does so in part by recognizing the potential regulatory power of consumer citizenship.
Keywords: consumer citizenship; governance; labor provisions; supply chains; trade
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:60-68

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Dispute Settlement for Labour Provisions in EU Free Trade Agreements: Rethinking Current Approaches
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1070
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1070
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 49-59
Author-Name: Axel Marx
Author-Workplace-Name: Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium
Author-Name: Franz Ebert
Author-Workplace-Name: Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Germany
Author-Name: Nicolas Hachez
Author-Workplace-Name: Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium
Abstract: While labour provisions have been inserted in a number of EU free trade agreements (FTAs), extant clauses are widely perceived as ineffective. This article argues that there is a need to rethink the dispute settlement mechanisms related to labour provisions if their effectiveness is to be increased. It proceeds in three steps. First, we look at the current state of the art of labour provisions in EU FTAs in terms of legal design and practice and argue that the current arrangements are ill-equipped to foster compliance with labour standards. Second, we explore avenues to enhance the design of FTA labour provisions by reconsidering basic elements of the dispute settlement structure. Examining US FTA labour provisions, we highlight the importance of a formal complaint mechanism, on the one hand, and the availability of economic sanctions, on the other. Based on a review of existing practice, we contend, however, that these elements alone are not sufficient to effectively enforce FTA labour provisions. We argue that for FTA labour provisions to be effective, the current state-to-state model of dispute settlement needs to be complemented by a third-party-state dimension and that, additionally, there are good reasons to consider a third party–third party dispute settlement component. We ground these reflections in experiences with already existing instruments in other areas, namely investor-state dispute settlement and voluntary sustainability standards. Thirdly, we discuss options to better connect the dispute settlement mechanisms of FTA labour provisions to other international instruments for labour standards protection with a view to creating synergies and avoiding fragmentation between the different regimes. The focus here is on the International Labour Organization’s supervisory mechanism and the framework of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
Keywords: EU; labour rights; trade agreements; trade policy
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:49-59

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Civil Society Activism under US Free Trade Agreements: The Effects of Actorness on Decent Work
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1085
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1085
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 40-48
Author-Name: Myriam Oehri
Author-Workplace-Name: Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the United Nations, USA
Abstract: US free trade agreements comprise unique provisions that enable civil society to present public complaints against labor rights violations occurring in the US or its trade partners. To date, a variety of complainants have used these mechanisms, including (inter)national trade unions, human rights organizations, and a priest. And yet, little is known about the submissions’ nature of agency and the effects it has on the procedural continuations to address illicit labor practices. To fill this research lacuna, this article employs a multidisciplinary framework of ‘actorness’ that measures the submitters’ diversity (professionalism/non-professionalism, collectivism/individualism, transnationalism/nationalism) and their effectiveness (rejection/acceptance of submissions and further procedural follow-ups). Combining quantitative examination with in-depth analysis of two diverse cases of actorness, and drawing on expert interviews, public reports, and minutes of meetings, the study reveals that the majority of public submissions were of professional, collective, and transnational nature. However, contrary to what extant literature suggests, this is not a guarantee that they achieve more far-reaching procedural steps in the protection of workers. Non-professional, individual, and national actorness can compensate for the advantages of professionalism, collectivism, and transnationalism.
Keywords: civil society; decent work; free trade agreements; labor standards; public complaints
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:40-48

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The International Labour Standards Debate in the Brazilian Labour Movement: Engagement with Mercosur and Opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1090
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1090
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 30-39
Author-Name: Marieke Riethof
Author-Workplace-Name: Modern Languages & Cultures/Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool, UK
Abstract: The social dimensions of economic integration have become an increasingly significant feature of trade agreements, particularly those between developing countries. In the Brazilian case trade-related labour standards have not become a major feature outside of the regional organization Mercosur (Common Market of the South), yet we know relatively little about the reasons for this discrepancy. Paradoxically one of the main stakeholders in this debate, Brazilian trade unions, has broadly supported social and labour clauses in the regional context but union activists have opposed labour provisions in trade negotiations between asymmetric partners. A comparative analysis of the labour campaigns in Mercosur and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations explains this ambiguity in terms of Brazilian labour strategies towards free trade negotiations and explores their implications for evaluations of labour attitudes to trade-related labour standards in developing countries. The labour movement’s own conflicting perspectives on the trade–labour connection are a key explanation of these outcomes, reinforcing the need for a greater appreciation of the complexity of trade union views in the debate on labour standards.
Keywords: Brazil; Free Trade Area of the Americas; FTAA; globalization; international labour standards; labour unions; Latin America; Mercosur; regional integration; trade
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:30-39

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Where Symbolism Prospers: An Analysis of the Impact on Enabling Rights of Labour Standards Provisions in Trade Agreements with South Korea
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1087
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1087
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 19-29
Author-Name: Gerda Van Roozendaal
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of International Relations and International Organization, Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Abstract: Can trade agreements be used as a tool for improving the conditions under which people work? The evidence from this study suggests this is not the case, even if the country in question—in this instance South Korea—is a well-developed and democratic country. While over the past six years South Korea has taken part in a number of Free Trade Agreements containing labour provisions, the impact of these on enabling rights has been rather low. This would suggest that without the willingness to enforce these parts of the agreements, or without the willingness to implement them on the Korean side, the inclusion of such provisions remains a fairly symbolic undertaking.
Keywords: Free Trade Agreements; labour; labour standards; South Korea; trade
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:19-29

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Impact of Labour Rights Commitments in EU Trade Agreements: The Case of Peru
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1091
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1091
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 6-18
Author-Name: Jan Orbie
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for EU Studies, Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium
Author-Name: Lore Van den Putte
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for EU Studies, Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium
Author-Name: Deborah Martens
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for EU Studies, Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium
Abstract: While the inclusion of labour rights in European Union (EU) trade agreements has become an ‘unobjectionable norm’, analyses of their impact have been largely absent from the literature. This article aims to partly fill this gap in existing research by examining the impact of labour rights commitments in the EU–Peru–Colombia agreement, with particular reference to the agricultural sector in Peru. Following a brief background overview of labour rights in agriculture in Peru, we draw up the analytical framework for assessing the impact of these commitments. We discern three distinctive legal commitments and find that they are flexible and conservative, also compared to provisions in other EU trade agreements. Subsequently, we assess the impact of these commitments by analysing to what extent they are being upheld in practice. Empirical evidence from several sources, including field research, shows that the Peruvian government has failed to implement the labour rights commitments in several respects. In the conclusions, we point to the cautious role of the EU, which has scope to monitor Peru’s labour rights compliance more proactively.
Keywords: agriculture; European Union; labour; Peru; sustainable development; trade
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:6-18

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Labour Standards and Trade: In Search of Impact and Alternative Instruments
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1290
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1290
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 4
Pages: 1-5
Author-Name: Jan Orbie
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for EU Studies, Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium
Author-Name: Gerda Van Roozendaal
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of International Relations and International Organization, Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Abstract: Labour standards have become an almost routine feature of trade agreements. However, we have little knowledge about whether this linkage is effective; both in absolute terms but also in comparison to other instruments that promote labour standards on a global level. Such alternative instruments include public-private agreements, value chain management and procurement policies. The articles in this thematic issue will provide insights that further the debate on the effectiveness of the connection between labour rights and international trade, looking at both ‘traditional’ trade agreements and ‘alternative’ instruments.
Keywords: Bangladesh Sustainability Compact; global value chain; International Labour Organization; labour standards; public procurement; social clause; trade agreements
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:1-5

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Normal Peace: A New Strategic Narrative of Intervention
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/972
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.972
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 146-156
Author-Name: Nicolas Lemay-Hebert
Author-Workplace-Name: International Development Department, University of Birmingham, UK
Author-Name: Gëzim Visoka
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction, School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Ireland
Abstract: International actors have used multiple discursive frameworks for justifying interventions, from human security to the responsibility to protect, and, most recently, resilience-building. We argue that the language of normalization, hidden behind these narratives of interventions, has also contributed to structure the intervention landscape, albeit in less obvious and overt ways than other competing narratives of intervention. This article disentangles the different practices of normalization in order to highlight their ramifications. It introduces the concept of <em>normal peace</em>—a new conceptual reference to understand interventions undertaken by the international community to <em>impose</em>, <em>restore</em> or <em>accept</em> normalcy in turbulent societies. The article argues that the optimization of interventions entails selective responses to govern risk and adapt to the transitional international order. The art of what is politically possible underlines the choice of optimal intervention, be that to impose an external order of normalcy, restore the previous order of normalcy, or accept the existing order of normalcy.
Keywords: international intervention; normal peace; normalization; peacebuilding; resilience
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:146-156

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Genocide Discourses: American and Russian Strategic Narratives of Conflict in Iraq and Ukraine
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1015
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.1015
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 130-145
Author-Name: Douglas Irvin-Erickson
Author-Workplace-Name: The School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, USA
Abstract: This paper presents the concept of “genocide discourses”, defined as a type of strategic narrative that shapes the way individuals and groups position themselves and others and act, playing a critical role in the production of violence and efforts to reduce it. Genocide discourses tend to present genocide as fundamentally a-political, and hold that genocidal systems are dislodged only when they are swept away through external violence. Secondly, genocide discourses are built on an assumption that the victims of genocide are necessarily moral innocents, not parties in conflict. These two factors make genocide discourses highly effective in conferring moral capital upon certain actors in a conflict. The two principles converge to produce strategic narratives that direct political and military actions in certain ways in the context of contentious conflicts and political violence, motivating humanitarian responses in defense of certain groups, or sustaining popular support for foreign wars. The paper illustrates the argument by examining two case studies between 2014 and 2017: the debates in the United States over Islamic State genocides, and the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Keywords: genocide; Iraq; Islamic State; Russia; strategic narratives; Ukraine
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:130-145

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Study of Strategic Narratives: The Case of BRICS
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/961
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.961
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 121-129
Author-Name: Carolijn van Noort
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Politics, University of Otago, New Zealand
Abstract: In the battle of narratives to give meaning to the international system in the twenty-firstcentury, emerging powers are actively engaged. In particular, the BRICS group, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, have advanced their claim to reconstitute international affairs to make it more just and fair. What if their narratives about the international system effectively contest narratives constituting the Liberal World Order? For understanding the battle more profoundly, this study examines the strategic narratives of the BRICS. A documentary methodology was employed to elicit themes and narratives in BRICS joint communiqués of 2009 to 2016 for the identification of its strategic narratives. I have identified a system narrative of global recovery, an identity narrative of inclusive participation and an issue narrative of infrastructural development. A narrative grammar was used to relate BRICS strategic narratives with their narrative environment of symbolic, institutional and material practices. Due to a partial compliance with the narrative grammatical rules, the BRICS group may not effectively influence and gain public support.
Keywords: BRICS; narrative analysis; strategic narratives; thematic analysis
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:121-129

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Russia’s Narratives of Global Order: Great Power Legacies in a Polycentric World
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1017
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.1017
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 111-120
Author-Name: Alister Miskimmon
Author-Workplace-Name: School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Author-Name: Ben O'Loughlin
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Politics and International Relations, Royal Holloway University of London, UK
Abstract: This article takes a strategic narrative approach to explaining the current and likely future contestation between Russia and the West. We argue that Russia projects a strategic narrative that seeks to reinforce Russia’s global prestige and authority, whilst promoting multilateral legal and institutional constraints on the other more powerful actors, as a means to ensure Russia stays among the top ranking great powers. To illustrate this we analyze Russia’s identity narratives, international system narratives and issue narratives present in policy documents and speeches by key players since 2000. This enables the identification of remarkably consistency in Russia’s narratives and potential points of convergence with Western powers around commitment to international law and systemic shifts to an increasingly multipolar order. However, we explain why the different meanings attributed to these phenomena generate contestation rather than alignment about past, present and future global power relations. We argue that Russia’s historical-facing narratives and weakened material circumstances have the potential to hamper its adaptation to rapid systemic change, and to make attempts to forge closer cooperation with third parties challenging.
Keywords: Cold War; international order; Russia; strategic narrative; United States
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:111-120

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Strategic Narratives and Alliances: The Cases of Intervention in Libya (2011) and Economic Sanctions against Russia (2014)
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1023
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.1023
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 99-110
Author-Name: Laura Roselle
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Elon University, USA
Abstract: Scholars of international communication recognize that strategic narratives are important for policymaking (Miskimmon, O’Loughlin, &amp; Roselle, 2013) and scholars studying alliances suggest that communication is central to the formation and maintenance of alliances (Weitsman, 2010). This essay addresses how strategic narratives affect US alliance behavior—and hence international order—in two specific ways. First, alliance behavior can be affected by other allies’ narratives as demonstrated in the case of military intervention in Libya in 2011. Here the evidence suggests that the UK and France were able to use strategic narratives to influence the decision of the US to agree to military intervention in Libya by using narratives that could evoke a fear of abandonment. Second, alliance cohesion can be affected by narrative contestation by non-allies as demonstrated in the case of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014. Russia has used strategic narratives in a new media environment in an attempt to elicit a fear of entrapment to counter the US attempts to coordinate alliance support for economic sanctions. In both cases, distinguishing between system, identity, and policy narratives give us a deeper understanding of narrative contestation today. This analysis adds to our understanding of the factors that affect alliances set within a new media environment characterized by a proliferation of sources and outlets and thus a more horizontal structure of information exchange.
Keywords: alliances; European Union; Libya; Russia; strategic narratives; Ukraine
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:99-110

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Narrating Global Order and Disorder
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1174
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.1174
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 94-98
Author-Name: Matthew Levinger
Author-Workplace-Name: Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, USA
Author-Name: Laura Roselle
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Elon University, USA
Abstract: This thematic issue addresses how strategic narratives affect international order. Strategic narratives are conceived of as stories with a political purpose or narratives used by political actors to affect the behavior of others. The articles in this issue address two significant areas important to the study of international relations: how strategic narratives support or undermine alliances, and how they affect norm formation and contestation. Within a post-Cold War world and in the midst of a changing media environment, strategic narratives affect how the world and its complex issues are understood. This special issue speaks to the difficulties associated with creating creative and committed international cooperation by noting how strategic narratives are working to shape the Post-Cold War international context.
Keywords: BRICS; genocide; intervention; narratives; politics; R2P; Russia; Ukraine; world order
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:94-98

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: EU Institutional Politics of Secrecy and Transparency in Foreign Affairs: A Commentary
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1162
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.1162
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 91-93
Author-Name: Emily O'Reilly
Author-Workplace-Name: European Ombudsman, France
Abstract: International diplomacy has long been regarded as the domain of an elite hand-picked few, instructed and groomed in something considered an art form. Both the secrecy and the pomp have their rational place. Political interventions from regime change through to more standard economic and social challenges cue both subtle and dramatic shifts in relationships and alignments and diplomats must rightly handle such situations with great delicacy. Premature or too much public disclosure about diplomatic exchanges could risk undermining the mutual trust and confidence on which the conduct of international relations and negotiations depends. The question of course concerns the determination of what constitutes ‘premature’ or ‘too much’ and who decides the point at which public access can or should occur. We have certainly seen a trend towards greater transparency in foreign affairs in recent times, but this will always remain one of the most sensitive areas for national governments and international organisations. Contributors to this publication pose important questions about transparency in the context of foreign affairs at EU level. The question ‘How much is enough?’ is particularly pertinent. I welcome the exploration of topics of secrecy and transparency in this thematic issue and look forward to further contributions as the theory and practice of the ideas put forward are developed.
Keywords: access to information; diplomacy; EU foreign affairs; EU institutions; negotiations; secrecy; transparency
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:91-93

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Puzzle of Transparency Reforms in the Council of the EU
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/941
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.941
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 87-90
Author-Name: Daniel Naurin
Author-Workplace-Name: PluriCourts, University of Oslo, Norway
Abstract: I argue that the transparency reforms that have been implemented in the Council of the EU in the last decades are unlikely to change the perception of the Council as a non-transparent institution. My argument is based on three distinctions: the distinction between transparency (availability of information) and publicity (spread and reception of information); between transparency in process and transparency in rationale; and between plenary and committee decision-making arenas in legislatures. While national parliaments tend to have all these features, the Council of the EU only has two (transparency in process and committee decision-making). As a consequence, publishing ever more documents and detailed minutes of committee meetings is unlikely to strengthen the descriptive legitimacy of the Council. Furthermore, I argue that the democratic transparency problem is the reverse of what is most often argued: It is not the lack of transparency that causes a democratic deficit, but the (perceived) lack of a democratic infrastructure that makes more serious transparency reforms unthinkable to government representatives.
Keywords: democratic deficit; European Union; intergovernmental negotiations; legitimacy; transparency
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:87-90

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Allies in Transparency? Parliamentary, Judicial and Administrative Interplays in the EU’s International Negotiations
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1056
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.1056
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 75-86
Author-Name: Vigjilenca Abazi
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for European Research in Maastricht, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Johan Adriaensen
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for European Research in Maastricht, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Abstract: International negotiations are an essential part of the European Union’s (EU) external affairs. A key aspect to negotiations is access to and sharing of information among the EU institutions involved as well as to the general public. Oversight of negotiations requires insight into the topics of negotiation, the positions taken and the strategies employed. Concurrently, however, some space for confidentiality is necessary for conducting the negotiations and defending EU interests without fully revealing the limit negotiating positions of the EU to the negotiating partner. Hence, attaining a balance between the necessities of oversight and confidentiality in negotiations is the subject of a dynamic debate between the EU institutions. This paper provides a joint analysis on EU oversight institutions’ position on transparency in international negotiations. We set out to answer whether parliamentary, judicial and administrative branches of oversight are allies in pursuing the objectives of transparency but also examine when their positions diverge.
Keywords: access to information; EU; European Union; negotiations; oversight; transparency
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:75-86

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Transparency as a Platform for Institutional Politics: The Case of the Council of the European Union
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/975
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.975
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 62-74
Author-Name: Maarten Hillebrandt
Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Sociology, University of Bielefeld, Germany
Abstract: The question of transparency is widely regarded as a thermometer of the relation between the Council of the EU and the public at large. Relatively little attention however has been devoted to the implications of transparency (i.e., access for the general public) for inter-institutional information politics, even when the limited evidence suggests that the connection is considerable. This article asks how EU actors use Council transparency as a platform and for what reason. It approaches transparency as a policy that is developed in three arenas: the internal, the external political, and the external judicial arena. The article finds strong evidence in support of the view that the Council’s transparency policy played a central role in EU institutions’ attempt to advance their information ambitions. By strongly engaging with the issue of transparency particularly the European Parliament and its members succeeded at expanding their institutional information basis in an area where their political grip was traditionally at its weakest: the Foreign Affairs Council. Acting in turn as a bargaining chip, a political lever, or an alternative to institutional information, the Foreign Affairs Council’s transparency policy was thus clearly used to advance information agendas of oversight and legislative prerogatives.
Keywords: European Parliament; Foreign Affairs Council; parliamentary information; transparency
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:62-74

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Not Worth the Net Worth? The Democratic Dilemmas of Privileged Access to Information
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/946
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.946
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 51-61
Author-Name: Guri Rosén
Author-Workplace-Name: ARENA—Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway
Author-Name: Anne Elizabeth Stie
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Norway
Abstract: In this article, we discuss the democratic conditions for parliamentary oversight in EU foreign affairs. Our point of departure is two Interinstitutional Agreements (IIAs) between the Council and the European Parliament (EP), which provide the latter with access to sensitive documents. To shed light on this issue, we ask to what extent these contribute to the democratic accountability in EU foreign policy? It is argued that the IIAs have strengthened the EP’s role in EU foreign affairs by giving it access to information to which it was previously denied. This does not mean, however, that this increase in power equals a strengthening of the EP as a democratic accountability forum. First of all, both IIAs (even if there are differences between them) fail to maximise the likelihood that the plurality of views in the EP as a whole is reproduced. Secondly, and more importantly, the EU citizens are largely deprived of opportunities to appraise how their elected representatives have exercised their role as guardians of executive power.
Keywords: democratic accountability; European Parliament; European Union; secrecy; transparency
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:51-61

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Transparency Watchdog: Guarding the Law and Independent from Politics? The Relationship between the European Ombudsman and the European Parliament
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/958
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.958
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 40-50
Author-Name: Christine Neuhold
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Andreea Năstase
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Abstract: This article investigates whether the European Ombudsman acts as an ‘independent’ institution vis-à-vis the European Parliament (EP). This is a relevant question because while the Ombudsman is appointed by and reports to the EP, it can also conduct inquiries into the work of the EP, in instances of alleged maladministration. Based on the empirical examination of all decisions following an inquiry by the Ombudsman in cases against the EP for an eleven-year period (2004–2015), plus the review of two recent landmark own-initiative inquiries, we inductively construct three roles played by the Ombudsman in relation to the EP, namely: ‘arbitrator’, ‘transparency watchdog’, and ‘vessel for civil society concerns’. These roles are used to operationalize the concept of independence. We conclude that the Ombudsman acts independently and is not a mere auxiliary organ of the European legislature. This is most apparent in the ‘transparency watchdog’ role, where the European Ombudsman has ensured the release of information empowering citizens to hold the Parliament accountable, or—failing that—has stimulated debate concerning such information (for instance, on the MEPs’ financial allowances) both within the Parliament itself and in the wider public domain.
Keywords: European Ombudsman; European Parliament; European Union democracy; transparency;
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:40-50

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: From Access to Documents to Consumption of Information: The European Commission Transparency Policy for the TTIP Negotiations
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1022
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.1022
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 29-39
Author-Name: Evelyn Coremans
Author-Workplace-Name: Leuven International and European Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium
Abstract: To increase transparency of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations, the European Commission has reformed existing information sharing systems for trade policy. The Commission has moved from a strategy of providing transparency in the form of access to documents to one of access to information, geared specifically towards enhancing consumption of the available information. In both public and institutional transparency policy, the width of the target audience and the depth of the information have increased, and the manner of provision has shifted from reactive to proactive provision of information. As a result, the TTIP is now being coined as the most transparent trade negotiation ever in the EU’s history and a pilot project for transparency policy in future trade negotiations. The article adopts a supply-centred perspective to explain a transparency policy that goes beyond the legal minimum imposed by formal requirements. It relies on interview data of the changes brought about in inter-institutional relations since 2014, basic quantitative and qualitative analysis of document material, and a five-month participatory observation by the author in the secretariat of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade.
Keywords: access to documents; common commercial policy; European Commission; European Parliament; information; negotiation; trade; transparency; TTIP
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:29-39

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: How Much Is Enough? Explaining the Continuous Transparency Conflict in TTIP
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1024
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.1024
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 16-28
Author-Name: Niels Gheyle
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for EU Studies, Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium
Author-Name: Ferdi De Ville
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for EU Studies, Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium
Abstract: Transparency has been a central issue in the debate regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), especially on the side of the European Union (EU). The lack of transparency in the negotiating process has been one of the main criticisms of civil society organizations (CSOs). The European Commission (EC) has tried to gain support for the negotiations through various ‘transparency initiatives’. Nonetheless, criticism by CSOs with regard to TTIP in general and the lack of transparency in specific remained prevalent. In this article, we explain this gap between various transparency initiatives implemented by the EC in TTIP and the expectations on the side of European CSOs. We perform a content analysis of position papers on transparency produced by CSOs, mainly in response to a European Ombudsman consultation, complemented by a number of official documents and targeted interviews. We find that the gap between the TTIP transparency initiatives and the expectations of CSOs can be explained by different views on what constitutes legitimate trade governance, and the role of transparency, participation, and accountability herein.
Keywords: accountability; European Union; legitimacy; participation; politicization; trade; transparency; TTIP
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:16-28

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Secrecy, Efficiency, Transparency in EU Negotiations: Conflicting Paradigms?
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/985
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.985
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 6-15
Author-Name: Päivi Leino
Author-Workplace-Name: UEF Law School, University of Eastern Finland, Finland
Abstract: This contribution considers how the values of transparency and efficiency are realised in the context of “EU negotiations” both in the internal and the external sphere. Legislating comes with a presumption of openness in the EU, while international negotiations have traditionally been assumed to require secrecy. However, irrespective of the basic paradigms, the institutions often appear to follow a rather simple rationale that secrecy makes better decisions, both in internal and external affairs. Similar efficiency concerns seem to relate to protecting the procedure of decision-making from external influence. Therefore, the fundamental trade-off between democratic accountability and efficiency in the external and internal fields might not be all that different: efficiency is linked with secrecy, and comes at a cost for participation and openness. I explain how the two paradigms—openness and transparency in legislative work and secrecy in international negotiations have recently developed, and how the values of openness and efficiency have been addressed by the Court of Justice of the European Union in its recent jurisprudence. This discussion witnesses to a possibility that the old secrecy paradigm might be about to break in international relations while a new transparency paradigm in EU legislative work is struggling to emerge.
Keywords: EU; international relations; negotiations; secrecy; transparency
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:6-15

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: EU Institutional Politics of Secrecy and Transparency in Foreign Affairs
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1166
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i3.1166
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 3
Pages: 1-5
Author-Name: Vigjilenca Abazi
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for European Research in Maastricht, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Johan Adriaensen
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for European Research in Maastricht, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Abstract: This thematic issue shows how the interplays of secrecy and transparency have been a salient driver of institutional politics in EU foreign affairs. It offers a critical reading of the most recent developments in EU’s international negotiations, an analysis of case law and empirical insights on public and institutional access to information. The Issue provides an interdisciplinary understanding of how information flows affect and are affect by the EU’s institutional balance through synergising perspectives from the fields of political science, public administration and law. This editorial outlines the central questions raised in this thematic issue and highlights its main findings.
Keywords: access to information; European Union, foreign affairs; negotiations; oversight; politicization; secrecy; transparency
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:3:p:1-5

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Governing Disasters: Embracing Human Rights in a Multi-Level, Multi-Duty Bearer, Disaster Governance Landscape
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/899
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i2.899
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 2
Pages: 93-104
Author-Name: Lottie Lane
Author-Workplace-Name: Groningen Centre for Law and Governance, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Marlies Hesselman
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of International Law, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Abstract: International and national disaster governance faces multiple challenges given the large variety and amounts of resources, skills and expertise that adequate disaster response commands. Moreover, disasters do not necessarily respect territorial boundaries, or may overwhelm the capacity of any one nation. They may therefore need a truly collective, joint, or even global effort to be overcome. Not seldom, reducing disaster risks and responding to disasters as they occur requires a sustained, concerted and coordinated effort of a broad range of actors, both public and private, acting nationally and internationally, and across the full ‘disaster cycle’. Unfortunately, disaster governance is commonly characterized as patchy, fragmented and inadequate, leading to essential protection gaps for affected communities. In order to strengthen disaster governance, this article first aims to further conceptualize the practice and challenges of ‘disaster governance’, mostly through the lens of ‘Multi-Level Governance’. Secondly, it proposes that disaster governance will greatly benefit from relevant actors more firmly embracing human rights-based approaches, particularly in the context of so-called, emerging ‘multi-duty bearer human rights regimes’.
Keywords: disasters; human rights; human rights-based approaches; multi-duty bearer human rights regimes; multi-level governance; non-state actors
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:2:p:93-104

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Why the United States Supports International Enforcement for Some Treaties but not for Others
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/886
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i2.886
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 2
Pages: 79-92
Author-Name: Jon Hovi
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Norway
Author-Name: Tora Skodvin
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Norway
Abstract: Under what conditions should we expect the United States to support international enforcement of treaties? We hypothesize that U.S. support is most likely for treaties where international enforcement will cause considerable (desired) behavioral change by other countries but little (undesired) behavioral change by the United States. Similarly, U.S. support is least likely for treaties where international enforcement will generate the converse effects. In developing this hypothesis, we derive specific conditions under which we should expect U.S. benefits of international enforcement to outweigh U.S. costs (or vice versa). We also provide empirical examples. Finally, we consider three alternative explanations of U.S. views on international enforcement—concern for U.S. sovereignty, desire to prevent infringements on U.S. constitutional protection of individual rights, and the usefulness of international enforcement as a domestic commitment device. We discuss these alternative explanatory factors' relationship to our own hypothesis.
Keywords: international cooperation; international enforcement; political feasibility; treaties; U.S. foreign policy
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:2:p:79-92

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Policy Integration and Multi-Level Governance: Dealing with the Vertical Dimension of Policy Mix Designs
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/928
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i2.928
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 2
Pages: 69-78
Author-Name: Michael Howlett
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Author-Name: Joanna Vince
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Australia
Author-Name: Pablo del Río
Author-Workplace-Name: Spanish National Research Council, Spain
Abstract: Multifaceted problems such as sustainable development typically involve complex arrangements of institutions and instruments and the subject of how best to design and operate such ‘mixes’, ‘bundles’ or ‘portfolios’ of policy tools is an ongoing issue in this area. One aspect of this question is that some mixes are more difficult to design and operate than others. The paper argues that, <em>ceteris paribus</em>, complex policy-making faces substantial risks of failure when horizontal or vertical dimensions of policy-making are not well integrated. The paper outlines a model of policy mix types which highlights the design problems associated with more complex arrangements and presents two case studies of similarly structured mixes in the areas of marine parks in Australia and coastal zone management in Europe—one a failure and the other a successful case of integration—to illustrate how such mixes can be better designed and managed more effectively.
Keywords: marine parks; governance; policy integration; policy mixes
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:2:p:69-78

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The State of Jordanian Women’s Organizations—Five Years Beyond the Arab Spring
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/762
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i2.762
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 2
Pages: 59-68
Author-Name: Peter A. Ferguson
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Western University, Canada
Abstract: This paper explores the failure of women’s organizations to effect the improvement of the status of Jordanian women during the Arab Spring. Through an examination of the regime’s political liberalization strategy, leadership failures within women’s organizations, and international donor influence on programmatic focus, the underlying explanation for this failure is found to be rooted in the historical depoliticization of women in Jordan. This is tested in the context of the Arab Spring through an analysis of the results of popular protests, proposed electoral law reforms, and efforts to amend the Jordanian constitution. The paper draws in part on a large collection of interviews and a focus group conducted in Jordan during the spring/summer of 2012, as well as analysis of primary documents from the government and a variety of women’s organizations in Jordan.
Keywords: Arab Spring; democratization; Jordan; women
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:2:p:59-68

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Mixed Signals: Democratization and the Myanmar Media
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/831
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i2.831
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 2
Pages: 41-58
Author-Name: Tina Burrett
Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University, Japan
Abstract: This article investigates the media context of Myanmar’s recent political reforms and transition of power. Drawing on interviews with 57 Yangon-based media professionals, the article analyzes the media’s role as both an agent and subject of political change as Myanmar prepared for parliamentary elections in November 2015. It asks to what extent changes in the Myanmar media system adhere to existing theories of the media’s role in the democratization process. Specifically, the article analyzes the features and functions of Myanmar’s media during the country’s liberalization from 2010 to 2015. The article concludes by assessing what Myanmar’s experience adds to our theoretical understanding of the media’s transformation during liberalization.
Keywords: Burma; democratization; freedom of the press; journalism; liberalization; media; Myanmar; reform; transition
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:2:p:41-58

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Towards Exit from the EU: The Conservative Party’s Increasing Euroscepticism since the 1980s
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/873
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i2.873
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 2
Pages: 27-40
Author-Name: Peter Dorey
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Politics and International Relations, School of Law and Politics, Cardiff University, UK
Abstract: Since the 1980s, Britain’s Conservative Party has become increasingly critical of the European Union, and of the country’s membership of it. So contentious and controversial has this issue become that it was a significant factor in the downfall of three consecutive Conservative Prime Ministers, all of whom found it increasingly difficult to manage their Party in Parliament, and thereby maintain any semblance of Party unity. Initially, during the 1980s and 1990s, the intra-Party divisions were between Europhiles (pro-Europeans) and Eurosceptics, but this demarcation was subsequently superseded by a division between soft Eurosceptics and hard Eurosceptics. The development and deepening of these intra-Party divisions are attributable to a plethora of endogenous and exogenous factors, the combined and cumulative effect of which ultimately led to the ‘Brexit’ vote in the June 2016 referendum.
Keywords: Brexit; Conservative Party; David Cameron; Euroscepticism; Thatcher; Thatcherism
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:2:p:27-40

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Effect of Direct Democratic Participation on Citizens’ Political Attitudes in Switzerland: The Difference between Availability and Use
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/820
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i2.820
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 2
Pages: 16-26
Author-Name: Anna Kern
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, University of Leuven, Belgium
Abstract: According to advocates of direct democracy, it is important to involve citizens more directly in political decision-making processes in order to create a democratic linkage between citizens and the political system. Indeed, some studies have demonstrated that citizens who live in direct democracies have higher levels of trust in political institutions and a higher sense of political efficacy. However, not all empirical evidence confirms this relationship. In a recent article on Switzerland, it was shown that, while the availability of direct democratic rights enhances trust in political institutions, using those rights actually initiates distrust. In this paper I expand the analysis of Bauer and Fatke (2014) and test whether the different effects of availability of direct democratic rights and the frequency of their use also hold for broader measures of trust in political institutions and political efficacy. I find that, even though an increased use of direct democratic measures is associated with lower levels of confidence in authorities on the cantonal level, this relationship is no longer apparent when applying a more comprehensive measurement of trust in political institutions.
Keywords: direct democracy; external efficacy; political attitudes; political participation; political trust
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:2:p:16-26

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Trust and Tolerance across the Middle East and North Africa: A Comparative Perspective on the Impact of the Arab Uprisings
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/750
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i2.750
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 2
Pages: 4-15
Author-Name: Niels Spierings
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology, Radboud Social Cultural Research, Radboud University, The Netherlands
Abstract: The protests that swept the Arab Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are expected to have influenced two key civic attitudes fundamental to well-functioning democracies: trust and tolerance. However, systematic comparative assessments of the general patterns and particularities in this region are rare. This contribution theorizes the uprisings’ impact and presents new society-level measurements of trust and tolerance for the MENA, synchronizing over 40 Arab Barometer and World Values Survey surveys on Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and Yemen, from before and after the uprisings. The analyses firstly show political-institutional trust falling in the uprisings’ aftermath in countries that went through democratic reform or regime change. It appears that politicians misbehaving and reforms not resolving social problems hurt people’s trust in politics. Secondly, in democratic transition countries Egypt and Tunisia, a decrease in social trust reflected the pattern of political-institutional trust indicating a spill-over effect. Thirdly, ethno-religious tolerance dropped region-wide after the uprisings, indicating that the aftermath of religious conflict impacted the entire Arab region. These results support rational-choice institutionalist theories, while at the same time refining them for the MENA context.
Keywords: Arab spring; civic attitudes; democracy; Middle East; public opinion; tolerance; trust; uprisings
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:2:p:4-15

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Brexit and Devolution in the United Kingdom
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/920
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i2.920
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 2
Pages: 1-3
Author-Name: Michael Keating
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Social Sciences, University of Aberdeen, UK
Abstract: Devolution in the United Kingdom is deeply connected to United Kingdom membership of the European Union, which provides an external support system for the internal settlement. Exit from the European Union destabilizes the internal settlement and raises a series of major constitutional issues.
Keywords: Brexit; devolution; Europe; United Kingdom
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:2:p:1-3

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Field Recognition and the State Prerogative: Why Democratic Legitimation Recedes in Private Transnational Sustainability Regulation
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/794
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i1.794
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 1
Pages: 75-84
Author-Name: Klaus Dingwerth
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics and Political Science, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Abstract: Like any regulatory effort, private transnational standard-setters need to legitimate themselves to the audiences from which they seek support or obedience. While early scholarship on private transnational governance has emphasized the centrality of <em>democratic</em> legitimation narratives in rendering private governance socially acceptable, evidence from more recent standard-setting schemes suggests a declining relevance of that narrative over time. In my analysis of private sustainability regulation, I identify a combination of two factors that jointly contribute to this diminished role of democratic legitimation. First, private transnational governance has become a pervasive phenomenon. This means that new entrants to the field no longer face the same liability of newness that required first movers to make an extra effort in legitimation. Second, private standard-setting has moved from areas characterized by ‘governance gaps’ to areas in which meaningful intergovernmental regulation already exists. In these areas, however, the ‘state prerogative’ in legitimating governance holds. As a result, transnational standard-setters rely not so much on stressing their democratic credentials, but instead emphasize their contribution to achieving internationally agreed goals.
Keywords: democracy; global governance; legitimacy; private regulation; sustainability standards
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:1:p:75-84

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Patterns of Legitimation in Hybrid Transnational Regimes: The Controversy Surrounding the Lex Sportiva
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/835
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i1.835
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 1
Pages: 63-74
Author-Name: Klaus Dieter Wolf
Author-Workplace-Name: Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Germany
Abstract: This article addresses concerns that the growth in global governance may be bringing with it a decline in the significance of democratic sources of political legitimacy. One approach in evaluating such concerns is to ask whether the respective patterns of legitimation for private and public authority differ or whether they refer to a similar set of normative standards. Private transnational governance regimes provide useful contexts in which to assess the presumed democratic erosion. They seem, almost of themselves, to make the case for such a decline: in them regulatory authority is exercised by non-state actors who, by their very nature, lack the kind of authorization afforded by the democratic procedures that legitimize state-based regulation; in addition, they are intrinsically linked to the notion of politics as a form of problem-solving rather than as the exercise of power. Given these characteristics, when governance arrangements of this kind are subjected to criticism, one would expect justificatory responses to relate primarily to performance, with normative criteria such as fundamental individual rights and the imperative for democratic procedure playing only a minor role. On the basis of a qualitative content analysis, the study tests three ideal-type patterns of legitimation for plausibility. The case selected for examination is the recent controversy surrounding the hybrid governance regime that operates to prevent the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport. The debate offers the possibility of a ‘nutshell’ comparison of the respective patterns of legitimation used in criticizing and justifying state and non-state regulatory authority. This comparison yields two findings. The first is that the values used to appraise the state-based components of the sporting world’s hybrid regulatory regime do not differ systematically from those used to appraise the private elements: contestation and justification in both cases are founded on normative criteria relating to fundamental individual rights and democratic procedure and not just on performance-related considerations. The second finding is that justificatory grounds of the first type do not appear to be diminishing in importance vis-à-vis those of the second.
Keywords: global governance; hybrid transnational regimes; legitimacy patterns; public–private authority
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:1:p:63-74

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Legitimizing Private Actors in Global Governance: From Performance to Performativity
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/773
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i1.773
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 1
Pages: 54-62
Author-Name: Elke Krahmann
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, Witten/Herdecke University, Germany
Abstract: Global governance is frequently criticised because of major legitimacy deficits, including lack of public accountability and democratic control. Within this context, questions about the legitimacy of non-state governance actors, such as non-governmental organizations, transnational corporations and private security companies, are neither an exception nor a surprise. Many actors have, therefore, turned to the measurement of performance, defined as publicly beneficial outcomes, in order to gain legitimacy. However, the rise of performance assessments as legitimizing practice is not without problems. Taking global security and health interventions as examples, this article contends that the immaterial, socially constructed and inherently contested nature of such public goods presents major obstacles for the assessment of performance in terms of observable, measurable and attributable outcomes. Performance is therefore frequently replaced by performativity, i.e. a focus on the repetitive enactment of specific forms of behaviour and capabilities, which are simply equated with the intended results. The implications for how global public goods are conceptualized and, ultimately, implemented are profound.
Keywords: global governance; legitimacy; performance; performance measurement; performativity
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:1:p:54-62

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: American Better Business Bureaus, the Truth-in-Advertising Movement, and the Complexities of Legitimizing Business Self-Regulation over the Long Term
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/790
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i1.790
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 1
Pages: 42-53
Author-Name: Edward J. Balleisen
Author-Workplace-Name: History Department, Duke University, USA
Abstract: This essay considers the question of how strategies of legitimatizing private regulatory governance evolve over the long term. It focuses on the century-long history of the American Better Business Bureau (BBB) network, a linked set of business-funded non-governmental organizations devoted to promoting truthful marketing. The BBBs took on important roles in standard-setting, monitoring, public education, and enforcement, despite never enjoying explicit delegation of authority from Congress or state legislatures. This effort depended on building legitimacy with three separate groups with very different perspectives and interests—the business community, a fractured American state, and the American public, in their roles as consumers and investors. The BBBs initially managed to build a strong reputation with each constituency during its founding period, from 1912 to 1933. The Bureaus then in many ways adapted successfully to the emergence of a more assertive regulatory state from the New Deal through the mid 1970s. Eventually, however, the resurgence of conservative politics in the United States exposed the challenges of satisfying such divergent stakeholders, and led the BBBs to focus resolutely on shoring up its support from the business establishment. That choice, over time, undercut the Bureaus standing with other stakeholders, and especially the wider public. This history illustrates: the salience of generational amnesia within private regulatory institutions; the profound impact that the shifting nature of public faith in government can have on the strategies and reputation of private regulatory bodies; and the extent to which private regulators face long-term trade-offs among strategies to sustain legitimacy with different audiences. It also suggests a rich set of research questions for longer-term histories of other private regulatory institutions, in the United States, other societies, and at the international level.
Keywords: anti-fraud regulation; Better Business Bureaus; ethnography of regulatory governance; history of self-regulation; institutional reputation; legitimization trade-offs
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:1:p:42-53

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Between History and Passion: The Legitimacy of Social Clubs in the Province of Buenos Aires (2001–2007)
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/775
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i1.775
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 1
Pages: 34-41
Author-Name: Agustín Elías Casagrande
Author-Workplace-Name: Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina
Abstract: In the last few decades the concept of self-regulation accompanied the process of dismantling the welfare state. In this context, in central countries—Europe and North America—the importance given to private regulations versus public action increased, thus requiring new mechanisms of legitimacy. To this end, appeals to the principles of economy and technical efficiency to legitimate private regulations have been made by several researchers. However, these principles acquired a negative view in Argentina because they were used to use to legitimate processes that led to various crises, especially taking into consideration the neo-liberal experience of the 1990s. Against this historical background, this paper seeks to show a particular case of legitimizing the self-regulation of non-state organizations (social clubs) by using classic <em>topoi</em>, which had been historically used to legitimize state action. In order to do so, this text focuses on the analysis of “Luna de Avellaneda” Act of 2007, by which the government of Buenos Aires sought to legitimize the self-regulation of clubs appealing to the classical values of democracy, participation, and solidarity. For this, the historical experience of the Argentinean political community will be observed from the perspective of the history of these clubs, thus recovering the social function they played in the diverse political and economic crises.
Keywords: Argentina; historical representations; legal culture; private regulations; social clubs; state crisis
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:1:p:34-41

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Public–Private Dichotomy in Fascist Corporativism: Discursive Strategies and Models of Legitimization
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/800
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i1.800
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 1
Pages: 26-33
Author-Name: Maurizio Cau
Author-Workplace-Name: Istituto Sorico Italo-Germanico, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy
Abstract: The twentieth century starts with a rediscovery of the collective dimension that legal modernity had compressed. The vivid debate that came with the fascist corporatist experiment is an interesting observatory that lets us read this process against the light. According to the major part of Italian legal culture the corporatist cultural project seems to forewarn a new framework of the connections between public and private spheres, state and society, law and economics, statism and pluralism. Corporatism, which did not intend to build a non-statual model of authority, was an answer to the need to attribute legal value and legal autonomy to economic and social actors that weren’t adequately represented in the political and normative circuit. The paper is aimed at retracing some of the discursive strategies that characterized the corporatist experiment and the different legitimization models that were proposed by legal theory in order to rebuild the dichotomy between public and private spheres.
Keywords: corporatism; fascism; legal theory; legitimization
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:1:p:26-33

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Legitimation of Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation in Corporatist Concepts of Legal Scholars in the Weimar Republic
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/784
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i1.784
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 1
Pages: 15-25
Author-Name: Peter Collin
Author-Workplace-Name: Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History, Germany
Abstract: Corporatist regulation has a hybrid structure in that it covers state regulation, regulated self-regulation as well as private-public co-regulation. Notably diverging from the standard mode of state regulation, such arrangements required a higher degree of legitimation. Corporatist concepts flourished in the Weimar Republic. This paper deals with three legal scholars’ considerations regarding how to legitimize corporatist models, namely Edgar Tatarin-Tarnheyden, Heinrich Herrfahrdt, and Friedrich Glum. Their institutional touchstone was the Imperial Economic Council, as provided for by article 165 of the Weimar Constitution. This article envisioned a multi-level system of economic councils ranging from regional economic councils up to the Imperial Economic Council and involving representatives of all occupational groups in the performance of state tasks. However, only a Provisional Imperial Economic Council, with a restricted consultative remit, was ever actually established. Based on this model, Tatarin-Tarnheyden, Heinrich Herrfahrdt, and Friedrich Glum conceptualized organizational structures aiming at the comprehensive inclusion of non-state actors. They were legitimized primarily with reference to their output; that is, these organizational forms were supposed to enable a more appropriate and efficient realization of public interests. The input-based argument was basically a question of participation, which implies considerable proximity to typical <em>topoi</em> of democratic legitimation. This similarity is perhaps counter-intuitive, given that corporatist concepts are traditionally associated with anti-democratic ideologies due to their anti-parliamentarian slant. The numerous points of convergence between corporatist and democratic thought simultaneously reflect the heterogeneity of democratic reasoning in the Weimar period and the openness for ideas that were sceptical of—or even hostile to—parliamentary democracy and the party-based state.
Keywords: corporatism; public law; self-regulation; Weimar Republic
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:1:p:15-25

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: From the 8-Hour Day to the 40-Hour Week: Legitimization Discourses of Labour Legislation between the Wars in France and Belgium
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/776
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i1.776
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 1
Pages: 6-14
Author-Name: Sabine Rudischhauser
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre de Recherches Mondes Modernes et Contemporains, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Abstract: In the interwar period both France and Belgium passed legislation reducing the number of working hours and established a hybrid regulatory regime lending a certain degree of official authority to collective agreements. The paper analyses discourses by scholars who, as experts, were close to the political elites, and who tried to legitimize this kind of co-regulation by pointing out the inefficiency of state intervention and the epistemic authority of non-state actors. Stressing the output dimension of legitimacy and the improved quality of legal norms, these discourses had a technocratic tendency and ultimately argued in favour of a shift of power from the legislative to the administrative branch of government.
Keywords: Belgium; France; Georges Scelle; Henri Velge; labour legislation; Paul Grunebaum-Ballin; public–private regulation
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:1:p:6-14

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Editorial to the Issue on Legitimization of Private and Public Regulation: Past and Present
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/915
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i1.915
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 5
Year: 2017
Issue: 1
Pages: 1-5
Author-Name: Melanie Coni-Zimmer
Author-Workplace-Name: Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Germany
Author-Name: Klaus Dieter Wolf
Author-Workplace-Name: Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Germany
Author-Name: Peter Collin
Author-Workplace-Name: Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, Germany
Abstract: This thematic issue brings together research from political science and legal history about legitimacy discourses covering different forms of public–private co-regulation and private self-regulation, domestic and transnational, past and present. These forms of governance highlight the important role of non-state actors in exercising public authority. There has been a growing debate about the legitimacy of non-state actors setting and enforcing norms and providing public goods and services. However, the focus of this thematic issue is not on developing abstract criteria of legitimacy. Rather, the authors analyze legitimacy discourses around different cases of privatized or partly privatized forms of governance from the early 20<sup>th</sup> century until today. Legitimacy is subject to empirical and not normative analysis. Legitimacy discourses are analyzed in order to shed light on the legitimacy conceptions that actors hold, what they consider as legitimate institutions, and based on what criteria. The particular focus of this thematic issue is to examine whether the significance of democratic legitimacy is decreasing as the importance of regulation exercised by private actors is increasing.
Keywords: hybrid regulatory regimes; legal history; legitimacy discourses; patterns of legitimation; public and private regulation; transnational governance
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:1:p:1-5