Germany in the European union: constructing normality

Article Abstract:

Germany's role in the European Union has been the subject of intense political speculation and academic debate. The key question is whether Germany has made, or is undergoing, a re-evaluation of the goals and means of European integration policy in the aftermath of unification. This article sheds new light on the debate by examining shifts in German political elites' normative understandings of Germany's role in European affairs. It uses a constructivist approach that challenges rationalist accounts of German Europapolitik and provides a more nuanced understanding of how German policy towards the EU is changing. The authors argue that the end of cold war bipolarity and German unification provided a window of opportunity for normative change and that a number of influentially situated domestic actors have purposefully sought to generate and reshape debate on German European policy norms. This is illustrated by three case studies that focus on Germany's strategic partnership with France; the shift in German security policy in the 1990s and its embedding in the EU's European security and defence policy; and the role and aims of the Lander in German EU policymaking. The authors conclude that German political elites are engaged in a process of `constructing normality' that will have important implications for the future direction of the European integration process.

Germany, Planning

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European defence and the changing politics of the European union: hanging together or hanging separately?

Article Abstract:

This article assesses the implications of the common European security and defence policy (CESDP) for shifts in both the politics and the policy-making procedures of the European Union. It analyses the emerging dynamics of the new institutional structures of CESDP launched in 2000 (COPS, EUMC, EUMS, HR-CFSP) and in particular the tensions between national capitals and the process of `Brusselization' in the definition and formulation of European foreign and security policy. It argues that, in the field of crisis management, the requirements of rapid decision-making and efficient implementation will increasingly favour Brussels as the locus of policy formulation. This process will be enhanced by the growing role in CESDP of military officials and of defence ministries, which will take primary responsibility for the shape and remit of the nascent European Rapid Reaction Force (ERRF). The article also assesses the problems facing EU governments in selling CESDP to their publics. This involves the construction of a discourse which, both cognitively and normatively, can persuade electorates coming from very different security cultures of the necessity and appropriateness of the project. It also requires governments, sooner or later, to make the case for increased defence spending.

European Union, Research

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Telecommunications policy in the European Union: developing the information superhighway

Article Abstract:

The European telecommunications market is comprised of national monopolies that provide little more than voice telephony and value-added network services such as fax and e-mail. The EU has issued a series of directives aimed at breaking up these monopolies through privatization to establish a competitive multimedia services market. The UK is leading in telecommunications reform while Germany, France, Belgium and Italy are still resisting such efforts. Alliances are already being formed to enter the market for mobile telephony and multimedia services.

Regulation and Administration of Communications, Electric, Gas, and Other Utilities, Communications Programs, Analysis, Laws, regulations and rules, Telecommunications services industry, Telecommunications industry, Telecommunications systems, European Union, Telecommunication policy, Telecommunications policy

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