September 23

EU Foreign Policy Resource Guide

Policy International relations European Union Trackbacks (0)

Exploring EU foreign policy resource guide

http://soc.kuleuven.be/iieb/eufp/

This excellent resource guide is coordinated by Stephan Keukeleire Professor in European Foreign Policy at the University of Leuven. It serves as a guide to researching EU foreign policy for students as well as a companion to the textbook The Foreign Policy of the European Union by Stephan Keukeleire and Jennifer MacNaughtan (Palgrave 2008).It is divided into a number of thematic topics including: the history of EU foreign policy, the key actors, EU policy making processes, the EU Common Foreign and Security policy and beyond. Each section highlights and provides links to key EU documents, organisations and key research institutions. It also offers free access to PowerPoint presentations, Updated figures and tables on EU foreign policy and classroom resources for teachers associated with the textbook. Copyright and technical information is displayed on the website.From Intute.ac.uk
June 11

European Parliament Elections 2009

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European Parliament elections 2009: UK Web Archive
A web archive of 200 key English language sites created during the 2009 European election which has been preserved by the Uk Web Archive, headed by the British Library. They cover a number of categories including: EU institutions, national political parties, pan-European parties, candidates, interest groups (ranging from charities and industries), news media (mainly news services as newspapers are excluded due to licensing and copyright issues). Weekly snapshots of sites were taken for a key 20 sites, before and after capture election shots for all others. This great collection enables researchers to get a real taste of how the election progressed on the web. They show the evolution since 2004 of Web 2.0 interactive features, sophisticated political communication online, and the development of Pan-European parties. There are some technical limitations: streaming video may not be able to be accessed in the snapshot, in terms of Twitter, the first page of Tweets only could be captured by the web crawler. But this does not detract from the quality of the collection which will be invaluable to researchers of today and the future.Technical and copyright information is displayed on the website.From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.webarchive.org.uk/ukwa/collection/28180520/page/1
February 20

EU-Africa Strategic Partnership

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EU-Africa Strategic Partnership
This European Union and African partnership developed from the EU-Africa Summit, which was held in 2007 in Lisbon. This Web page from the EU has full details, including the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, the Lisbon Declaration and related documents (in PDF, requiring Adobe Acrobat software). From Intute.ac.uk
http://ec.europa.eu/development/geographical/regionscountries/euafrica_en.cfm/in
February 11

Guide To The European Parliament. BBC

European Union Parliamentary institutions Trackbacks (0)
BBC Guide to the European Parliament
This handy Web page was produced by the BBC, to act as a guide to the European Parliament, the only directly elected European Union body. There are sections about its powers, where it meets, political party groupings, enlargement of the EU and how that affects the parliament, and salaries of MEPs. Finally, there is a section on apathy and how fewer voters are turning out in European elections - with statistics. There are links to news about the parliament, to Mark Mardell's euroblog which is essential reading on the EU and to news. A question and answer section helps you to understand the European Parliament elections in June 2009. From Intute.ac.uk
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7824346.stm
November 12

European Portal For Action On Health Equity

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Determine : a European portal for action on health equity
Determine is an EU wide initiative running from 2007-2010 and made up of a consortium of European health organisations. Determine provides a portal site with information on the socio-economic determinants of health inequalities. It provides country profiles for the countries of the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area, with details of, and documents relating to, national health inequalities policies, a good practice database and links to publications, events and relevant EU policies. Determine seeks to identify effective national policy, innovative approaches to improving the health of disadvantaged groups and to develop awareness raising activities. Intute.ac.uk
http://www.health-inequalities.org/
August 30

Europe's Role In Nation-Building: From The Balkans To The Congo [Pdf]

Peace and Peacekeeping European Union Trackbacks (0)
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG722/

When most people think of international peacekeeping work, they might immediately think of organizations like the United Nations or NATO. What they might not know is that in recent years the European Union (EU) has become a very active participant in operations in countries such as Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire. These efforts haven't escaped the attention of policy analysts and scholars at the RAND organization, and this report released in July 2008 takes a close look at this phenomenon. The 344-page report is divided into ten chapters, which include case studies of EU activities in Macedonia, the Solomon Islands, and a chapter of conclusions and final remarks. Additionally, the report also contains a detailed chapter of comparative analysis that looks into thematic areas such as the civilian police force in each country, the return of refugees post-conflict, and international combat-related deaths. [KMG] Scout Report

February 08

Everyday Democracy Index: In EU Countries

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Everyday democracy index

This site provides access to a pamphlet by Kirsten Bound, Paul Skidmore which was published by the Demos think tank in January 2008. ISBN 978 1 84180 193. The index measures levels of democracy in 25 nations in the EU using an innovative approach which includes the 'formal dimension' of democratic political systems' as well as 'everyday measures' experienced by individuals such as levels of democracy in the workplace, community and levels of access to public services. The 77 page report presents the results of the survey as well as details on its methodology and rationale. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/theeverydaydemocracyindexbook

November 06

Impact Of Globalisation On Industrial Relations: EU States, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, South Africa And The US

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Impact of globalisation on industrial relations in the EU and other major economies
Source: Eurofound

This report looks at industrial relations systems across 25 EU Member States and seven global economies: Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, South Africa and the US. It explores the most significant effects of globalisation, including labour market flexibilisation, increasing labour migration, the rise of atypical employment forms, as well as changes in work content and working conditions. Through an analysis of the various components of industrial relations systems (actors, processes, outcomes and impact), it tries to identify which type of social model may survive in terms of global competition.

+ Full Report (PDF; 1.1 MB)

Docuticker

October 22

American Visions Of The EU

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Seeing Blue: American Visions of the EU (PDF; 404 KB)
Source: Institute for Security Studies

The United States has been a constant, if at times ambivalent, support of European integration from the earliest days of the European Coal and Steel Community to the current European Union. After two world wars drew the United States into military action to defend liberal democracy in Europe, American leaders understood that the security of Europe was in the American interest. The foundation of that security would be a transatlantic alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) providing a formal commitment that the US and its allies would defend each other if they were attacked. While the mlitary alliance was the foundation, a deeper relationship needed to be built. By forging new economic, political and social links, Europeans could make war among Germany and its neighbours unthinkable. The vision was realised in Western Europe through the integration process that would lead to the European Union.

This Chaillot Paper will analyse American perspectives on the European Union, particularly as a global strategic actor. It will argue that while the US-EU relationship is less acrimonious than in 2003, there are still fundamental tensions in the relationship. While most of these are political, some are structural. The political ones can be solved by changed in policies and policy-making personnel; the structural ones cannot. These have to be addressed and managed, but are likely to continue to be a source of friction.

Docuticker

September 17

The EU, The US And Hamas

Islam and Politics Middle East United States of America European Union Trackbacks (0)

The Rise of Islamists in the Near East: The EU, the US and Hamas (PDF; 228 KB)
Source: Center for Security Studies

The resurgence of Islamists in the Levant is changing the regional balance of power and confronts the West with new challenges. The EU and the US will hardly be able to curtail the polarization and radicalization of the Palestinian population with their strategy of joining with Israel and moderate Arab regimes to isolate the democratically elected Hamas. Europe is faced with the difficulty of formulating a sustainable Middle East policy that will not cause new transatlantic frictions.

Docuticker

September 17

EU Constitution

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EU Reform: A New Treaty or an Old Constitution? [pdf]

http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2007/rp07-064.pdf

The future of Europe is a subject that has intrigued scholars, policymakers, and politicians since long before the Treaty of Westphalia, and this working paper is an interesting reflection on that subject. Released in July 2007, the paper was authored by Vaughne Miller on behalf of the British Parliament's House of Commons. Miller's work takes a critical look at the failure of the European Union (EU) to effectively ratify the 2004 "Treaty Establishing a Constitution For Europe". The report begins with a brief summary, and then goes on to discuss the viewpoints offered by different EU institutions, member states, and the general public. It's definitely worth a look, as it offers both incisive analysis and commentary on the political economy of the EU. [KMG] Scout Report

August 21

European Union RSS Feeds

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Europa RSS feeds

This official European Union website offers a handy directory of the RSS news feeds created by the EU and its main institutions. This enables users to quickly locate and sign up to the latest press releases. It includes the main EU press releases; lists of the latest documents from key bodies such as the European Parliament; European Commission and the Court of Justice. Also available are links to RSS feeds from the websites of key European Commissioners. Technical information is available on the website.
http://europa.eu/rapid/syndication/setLanguage.do?language=en

From Intute.ac.uk