Papers
John
Crowley
European Integration: Sociological Process of Political
Project
Abstract
Within
debate about prospects for future European unification,
‘integration’ is a fashionable and often confusing word.
Depending on context, it may refer to long-term socio-economic
processes (‘convergence’), to processes of political
construction, to symbolic processes (‘European identity’),
or to the quite separate issue of prudential co-operation
between states – or to some uncertain mixture of all four.
Yet the concept of integration has a reputable sociological
pedigree and remains useful for thinking about the issues
raised by Europeanization. Thus, a fresh look at Durkheim’s
thinking on the possibility of solidarity within complex
societies is of direct relevance to the contemporary European
case. Of particular importance is the Durkheimian distinction
between three complementary dimensions of integration –
shared practices, social intercourse (or ‘moral density’)
and common ‘consciousness’ –, and the suggestion that,
in the absence of ‘mechanical solidarity’ based on
similarity, the latter is both deeply problematic and
derivative rather than generative. They shed light on the
ambivalence of the process / project of Europeanization and
open up a space for specific discussion of collective prudence
– originally the essence of Europeanization and which, while
in principle separable from it, has tended in practice to
become tangled with the integration issue. As the borders of
Europe become potentially less stable, disentanglement is of
vital importance.
Ann
Bartholomew and Iain Begg
Policy Assignment in the European Union
Abstract
EMU
will see a re-allocation of responsibility between different
tiers of government for different elements of economic policy,
yet policy assignment in the EU often reflects political
compromises rather than dispassionate analysis or principles.
This article explores the arguments for assigning
responsibility for economic policy to different tiers of
government in the EU. In the light of these arguments, the
case for re-assigning policy for prudential supervision of
credit institutions, regulation of utilities and industrial
policy is examined. This leads to the conclusion that closer
economic integration will require potentially substantial
changes in the assignment of policy.
Barrie
Axford and Richard Huggins
Media Without Boundaries: Fear and Loathing on the Road
Eurotrash or Transformation in the European Cultural Economy?
Abstract
This
paper is concerned with the implications of the ‘New Media
Order’ for European identities in the light of European
Union policy documents on the need for a European media
industry. Examined are specifically the tensions between the
prescriptions and the emerging realities of the ‘New Media
Order’ for a Europe in-the-making.
Martin
O'Brien and Sue Penna
Postmodern Theory and Politics: Perspectives on
Citizenship and Social Justice
Abstract
In
this paper we consider some contributions made by postmodern
perspectives to theoretical and political questions of
citizenship and social justice. Postmodern theory is often
dismissed as a distraction from pressing questions of material
inequality and economic and political exploitation. In the
paper we distinguish between 'ludic' or 'spectral'
postmodernisms and 'oppositional' or 'resistance'
postmodernisms. We suggest that the latter provide theoretical
resources for analysing the cultural construction of
inequalities and struggles around social inclusion and
exclusion. The paper is divided into three sections: in the
first, three dominant narratives of modernization are
addressed and their implications for concepts of citizenship
and social inclusion noted; in the second, some postmodern
challenges to these narratives are explored in order to
disclose some of the key problems with modern paradigms of
citizenship and social justice; in the third section we
outline two postmodern approaches to the analysis of social
struggles and their contributions to debates about citizenship.
Charles
Husband
The Right to be Understood: Conceiving the Multi-Ethnic
Public Sphere
Abstract
The
article deals with the role of mass communications in
multi-ethnic societies and proposes a model for a multi-ethnic
public sphere. Following Young's (1989) strictures on the role
of an active state in guaranteeing equity of participation
through the creation of state institutions capable of enabling
diversity, the author advocates a third generation of human
rights framework which recognizes the integrity and solidarity
of peoples and which then presents itself as a necessary
expansion of the right to communicate to incorporate the right
to be understood. The communication environment consequently
outlined as being adequate to service this multi-ethnic public
sphere is itself diverse, and operates under a tension between
first generation freedom of action and second generation
regulation to guarantee equality of expression and service.
Maryam
Kamali Miyamato
Restricting Asylum: Trends and Prospects
Abstract
The
dramatic rise in asylum applications in industrialized
countries during the last decade has resulted in the
development of an increasingly restrictive asylum regime. The
tools these countries have devised for containing and
deterring asylum claims--the concepts of Safe Countries of
Origin and Safe Third Countries, Manifestly Unfounded
Applications, and numerous administrative measures which act
as barriers to entry--are targeted specifically at nationals
of countries most likely to produce refugees. Additional
pre-entry measures attempt to make the asylum route as
difficult as possible through the use of visa requirements and
carrier sanctions. For those asylum seekers who manage to make
the journey despite these obstacles, the administrative
evaluation of their claims is accelerated, the legal
procedures shortened, and the opportunities for appeal reduced.
In addition, governments are increasingly resorting to
bilateral agreements to ensure the readmission of rejected
asylum seekers into the countries from or through which they
came. The implementation of these measures in many European
countries--but also in North America and Australia--are
already well on their way, and the trend toward harmonizing
these restrictionist responses is likely to continue. Policy
makers need to be reminded of the risks of their policies for
the basic tenets of asylum and refugee protection.
Joost
van Loon
Technological Sensibilities and the Cyberpolitics of
Gender: Donna Haraway's Postmodern Feminism
Abstract
In
this article, I discuss the far reaching implications of Donna
Haraway's cyborg feminism for social and cultural theory. I
argue that it allows us to re-think the collapse of modernity
not so much as the death of the social and the death of the
subject, but as the eclipse of ‘Modern Man’ as the 'natural'
anchorage of views from nowhere. Highlighting the inevitable
particularism of embodiment, her notion of the cyborg marks
the possibility of differential politics which combine
critique with agonistique. Such an alliance could serve as
particularly effective way of working through the challenge of
postmodernity without either surrendering to 'anything goes'
liberal pluralism or the romantic desperation of nihilistic
fatalism.
