Globalisation, regions, nations and integration: Central and western European perspectives

Abstract

As the eastern Enlargement of the European Union is approaching there is more and more talk about the necessity of fundamental reforms in the ways in which the EU is governed and managed. Most observers agree that the old ways of the Community Method will no longer be able to answer the challenges of Enlargement Multilevel governance and subsidiarity as guiding principles of EU governance in the last decade or so have enabled many constitutional regions and stateless nations to have a greater impact in decision-making at the European level. The ongoing Future of Europe debate and the establishment of the European Convention, which is supposed to be a preparation for the next Intergovernmental Conference in 2004, have clearly opened up new possibilities for sub-state actors to formulate their opinions and contribute to the pan-European debate about how our continent should look after Enlargement. The chief aim of this paper is to outline the vision of the constitutional regions concerning the future of the enlarged EU and to assess whether or not their views are taken into consideration by the other actors in the debate.Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 3:2

Youth Perceptions of Voting Participation in the Midst of Catalonia’s Active Struggle for Independence

“…Discussion of possible independence was also muted in part because partial political autonomy provided room for Catalan national and cultural aspirations (Conversi, 2000) and because many Catalans were still scarred by the memory of the devastating Civil War (1936-1939; see Hernàndez Cardona, 2014). Spain’s membership in the EU stressed the notion of a “Europe of Regions” (see Anderson, 1990; Grúber, 2002; Loughlin, 1996) with emphasis on the preservation and respect for regional characteristics and interests. In 2006, the Catalan government sought to expand self-governance through an autonomy charter, which was subsequently struck down in 2010, instigating a surge of Catalan nationalistic sentiment (Crameri, 2015; Guibernau, 2013).…”

A cosmopolitan analysis of the contradictions in EU regional and enlargement policies as drivers of Europeanization

“…The following section of this paper focuses on one of these standpoints, that is, the role of EU regional policies in Europeanization. These policies and their related funding programs are particularly relevant to our argument, because they exert contradictory influences on governance through their encouragement of the establishment of common 'European best practices,' while at the same time recognizing the value of diversity (Drake, 2000;Gruber, 2002;Doucet, 2006;Faludi, 2007;Bachtler and McMaster, 2007). In doing so, Cohesion policy plays an integral role in Beck and Grande's vision, according to which 'European cosmopolitanism signifies the need to restrict and regulate difference ' (2007: 14).…”