EU Cross-Border Cooperation and Conflict Transformation in the Basque and Irish Border Regions

Comparative research on violent conflict in the Basque Country and Ireland has yielded a sizable body of published academic work. Less well explored is the relationship between conflict transformation and cross-border cooperation in that specific comparative context. This paper provides a comparative examination of Third (not for profit) sector cross-border cooperation as conflict transformation in the Basque (France/Spain) and Irish (UK/Ireland) border regions. To what extent does cross-border cooperation contribute to peacebuilding in the two last violent ethnonationalist conflicts in Western Europe? The comparison is based on the premise that the EU played a different role in both cases. In the Irish case, the EU contributed to the institutionalization of a peace process that included cross-border cooperation between third sector organizations among the policy instruments contributing to conflict transformation. In the Basque case, the unilateral renunciation of violence by ETA (Euskadi eta Askatasuna) in 2010 did not generate the consistent involvement of the EU in a comparable institutional peace process. However, some third sector organizations used EU instruments for cross-border economic, social and cultural cooperation between France and Spain in order to reinforce their cross-border networks, which indirectly impacted on conflict transformation. The effectiveness of this cross-border cooperation for conflict transformation is assessed comparatively. To what extent does this increase in cross-border cooperation “from below” connect to wider institutional and social processes of conflict transformation in Ireland and the Basque Country? Crucially, does the strengthening of cross-border relations on shared issues mollify or sharpen existing identity cleavages? Also considered is the sustainability of such cooperation in these regions in light of the less favourable post-2004 EU funding environment, and the post-2008 economic and political turmoil affecting the relevant EU member states, especially Ireland and Spain.

European Union Cross-Border Cooperation as Conflict Transformation:Potential and Limits

Cross-border cooperation as conflict transformation provides a potential strategy for the European Union (EU) to help realise its founding peacebuilding objective. A wealth of cross-border cooperation activity sponsored by the EU spans a quarter of a century. Although the conflict transformation capacity of that cooperation is questionable in some border regions there is evidence to suggest that it has delivered peacebuilding dividends in other border regions. However, EU cross-border cooperation as conflict transformation faces a number of significant twenty-first century challenges including: ghost borders of the communal imagination; EU external border securitization; perceptions of EU and Russian empire-building; and the Mediterranean transmigrant/refugee crisis. It is argued that these challenges pose significant obstacles to EU cross-border cooperation as conflict transformation and undermine the peacebuilding objective of European integration.

International Coordination in Cross-Border Bank Bail-ins: Problems and Prospects

Bail-in is quickly becoming a predominant approach to banking resolution. The EU Bank Recovery Resolution Directive and the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s single point of entry strategy envisage creditors’ recapitalisations
to resolve a failing financial institution. However, this legislation focuses on the domestic aspects of bail-in, leaving the question of how it is applied
to a cross-border banking group open. Cross-border banking resolution has been historically subject to coordination failures, which have resulted in disorderly resolutions with dangerous systemic effects. The goal of this article is to assess whether bail-in is subject to the same coordination problems that affect other resolution tools, and to discuss the logic of international legal cooperation in bail-in policies. We demonstrate that, in spite of the evident benefit in terms of fiscal sustainability, bail-in suffers from complex coordination problems which, if not addressed, might lead to regulatory arbitrage and lengthy court battles, and, ultimately, may disrupt resolutions. We argue that only a binding legal regime can address those problems. In doing so, we discuss the recent Financial Stability
Board’s proposal on cross-border recognition of resolution action, and the role of international law in promoting cooperation in banking resolution.

Cross-border Movement of Patients in the EU: A Re-Appraisal

The national welfare state, so it seems, has come under attack by European integration. This article focuses on one facet of the welfare state, that is, health care and on one specific dimension, that is, cross-border movement of patients. The institution which has played a pivotal role in the development of the framework regulating the migration of patients is the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The Court’s activity in this sensitive area has not remained without critics. This was even more so since the Court invoked Treaty (primary) law which not only has made it difficult to overturn case law but also has left the legislator with very little room for manoeuvre in relation to any future (secondary) EU law. What is therefore of special interest in terms of legitimacy is the legal reasoning by which the Court has made its contribution to the development of this framework. This article is a re-appraisal of the legal development in this field.

Charting the Border

A half-hour commissioned documentary for BBC Radio 4. 'Charting the Border' is a study of Ireland's border viewed through the prism of my own cartography work. Most recording was done in the field.

The programme received much attention on social media networks and was selected for BBC Radio 4's 'Pick of the Week' broadcast on the following Sunday.

Photoionization of Co+ and electron-impact excitation of Co2 + using the Dirac R-matrix method

Modelling of massive stars and supernovae (SNe) plays a crucial role in understanding galaxies. From this modelling we can derive fundamental constraints on stellar evolution, mass-loss processes, mixing, and the products of nucleosynthesis. Proper account must be taken of all important processes that populate and depopulate the levels (collisional excitation, de-excitation, ionization, recombination, photoionization, bound–bound processes). For the analysis of Type Ia SNe and core collapse SNe (Types Ib, Ic and II) Fe group elements are particularly important. Unfortunately little data is currently available and most noticeably absent are the photoionization cross-sections for the Fe-peaks which have high abundances in SNe. Important interactions for both photoionization and electron-impact excitation are calculated using the relativistic Dirac atomic R-matrix codes (DARC) for low-ionization stages of Cobalt. All results are calculated up to photon energies of 45 eV and electron energies up to 20 eV. The wavefunction representation of Co III has been generated using GRASP0 by including the dominant 3d⁷, 3d⁶[4s, 4p], 3p⁴3d⁹ and 3p⁶3d⁹ configurations, resulting in 292 fine structure levels. Electron-impact collision strengths and Maxwellian averaged effective collision strengths across a wide range of astrophysically relevant temperatures are computed for Co III. In addition, statistically weighted level-resolved ground and metastable photoionization cross-sections are presented for Co II and compared directly with existing work.

The Changing Significance of European Borders

It is necessary to understand how state borders in Europe are changing in order to fully assess the factors which facilitate and encourage cross-border cooperation. This article considers the enduring social significance of borders, the need for a historical understanding of the nature and extent of border change in Europe, and the impact of recent European integration. Change in the structure, functions and meanings of European state borders has been the norm rather than the exception. Although much of this change has been associated with war, violence and coercion, a key contemporary issue facing the architects of European integration is how the ambiguity and contradictory nature border change can be regulated democratically and managed cooperatively.

Uranium removal from contaminated groundwater by synthetic resins

Synthetic resins are shown to be effective in removing uranium from contaminated groundwater. Batch and field column tests showed that strong-base anion-exchange resins were more effective in removing uranium from both near-neutral-pH (6.5)- and high-pH (8)-low-nitrate-containing groundwaters, than metal-chelating resins, which removed more uranium from acidic-pH (5)-high-nitrate-containing groundwater from the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) Y-12 S-3 Ponds area in Tennessee, USA. Dowex 1-X8 and Purolite A-520E anion-exchange resins removed more uranium from high-pH (8)-low-nitrate-containing synthetic groundwater in batch tests than metal-chelating resins. The Dowex™ 21K anion-exchange resin achieved a cumulative loading capacity of 49.8 mg g^-1 before breakthrough in a field column test using near-neutral-pH (6.5)-low-nitrate-containing groundwater. However, in an acidic-pH (5)-high-nitrate-containing groundwater, metal-chelating resins Diphonix and Chelex-100 removed more uranium than anion-exchange resins. In 15 mL of acidic-pH (5)-high-nitrate-containing groundwater spiked with 20 mg L^-1 uranium, the uranium concentrations ranged from 0.95 mg L^-1 at 1-h equilibrium to 0.08 mg L^-1 at 24-h equilibrium for Diphonix and 0.17 mg L^-1 at 1-h equilibrium to 0.03 mg L^-1 at 24-h equilibrium for Chelex-100. Chelex-100 removed more uranium in the first 10 min in the 100 mL of acidic-(pH 5)-high-nitrate-containing groundwater (~5 mg L^-1 uranium); however, after 10 min, Diphonix equaled or out-performed Chelex-100. This study presents an improved understanding of the selectivity and sorption kenetics of a range of ion-exchange resins that remove uranium from both low- and high-nitrate-containing groundwaters with varying pHs..

Crisis Management in the Eastern Mediterranean (Implications for Policymakers)

This article examines Greek-Turkish crisis behaviour in the Eastern Mediterranean over the past two decades. Crises are first defined and classified, after which a number of common misperceptions are then addressed in light of recent experience. Three broad categories of foreign policy crises are analyzed: 1) those involving ethnically related minorities across the border; 2) those with 'alien' minorities within borders; and 3) those with third countries involving territories and resources. The article examines whether crises are simply elite-driven or partly endorsed and motivated by mass publics in both countries, and whether Greek-Turkish crisis behaviour reflects enduring ethnic rivalries, 'genuine' security interests, or domestic political needs and norms. The article draws upon the Greek-Turkish experience of the past two decades to illuminate contemporary dilemmas and issues which policymakers face in this region.

Social identification and prevalence of PTSD in Northern Ireland

Background Understanding of the psychological impact of politically motivated violence is poor. Aims To examine the prevalence of post-traumatic symptoms subsequentto the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland. Method A telephone survey of 3000 adults, representative of the population in Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Irish Republic, examined exposure to political violence, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and national identity. Results Ten per cent of respondents had symptoms suggestive of clinical PTSD. These people were most likely to come from low-income groups, rate national identity as relatively unimportant and have higher overall experience of the ‘troubles’than other respondents. Conclusions Direct experience of violence and poverty increase the risk of PTSD, whereas strong national identification appears to reduce this risk.

Survival of Swiss-Webster mouse cerebellar granule neurons is promoted by a combination of potassium channel blockers

Cultured cerebellar granule neurons (CGN) are commonly used to assess neurotoxicity, but are routinely maintained in supraphysiological (25 mM) extracellular K⁺ concentrations [K⁺]_o. We investigated the effect of potassium channel blockade on survival of CGN derived from Swiss-Webster mice in supraphysiological (25 mM) and physiological (5.6 mM) [K⁺]_o. CGN were cultured for 5 days in 25 mM K⁺, then in 5.6 mM K⁺ or 25 mM K⁺ (control). Viability, assayed 24 h later by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) reduction and by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, was ∼50% in 5.6 mM K⁺ versus 25 mM K⁺ (p < .001). Potassium channel blockers, 2 mM 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), 2 mM tetraethylammonium (TEA) or 1 mM Ba²⁺, individually afforded limited protection in 5.6 mM K⁺. However, survival in 5.6 mM K⁺ with a combination of 4-AP, TEA and Ba²⁺ was similar to survival in 25 mM K⁺ without blockers (p < .001 versus 5.6 mM K⁺ alone). CGN survival in 25 mM K⁺ was attenuated 25% by 2 μM nifedipine (p > .001), but nifedipine did not attenuate neuroprotection by K⁺ channel blockers. Together, these results suggest that the survival of CGN depends on the K⁺ permeability of the membrane rather than the activity of a particular type of K⁺ channel, and that the mechanism of neuroprotection by K⁺ channel blockers is different from that of elevated [K⁺]_o.