On the weights of nations: assigning voting weights in a heterogenous union

Consider a voting procedure where countries, states, or districts comprising a union each elect representatives who then participate in later votes at the union level on their behalf. The countries, provinces, and states may vary in their populations and composition. If we wish to maximize the total expected utility of all agents in the union, how to weight the votes of the representatives of the different countries, states or districts at the union level? We provide a simple characterization of the efficient voting rule in terms of the weights assigned to different districts and the voting threshold (how large a qualified majority is needed to induce change versus the status quo). Next, in the context of a model of the correlation structure of agents preferences, we analyze how voting weights relate to the population size of a country. We then analyze the voting weights in Council of the European Union under the Nice Treaty and the recently proposed constitution, and contrast them under different versions of our model.

An instrumental analysis of the European Union's capability to act in conflict response

Descripció i anàlisi dels instruments polítics, econòmics, civils i militars de la Unió Europea per enfrontar qualsevol conflicte.

La política europea de España 2005-2006

El presente working paper es la versión española del capítulo escrito por la autora sobre la política europea de España para un anuario alemán sobre construcción europea (W. Weidenfeld y W. Wessels (Hrsg.). Jahrbuch der Europäischen Integration 2005/06, Institut fur Europäische Politik. Europa Union Verlag, en prensa). La autora escribe dicho capítulo para el Jahrbuch regularmente desde el año 1990. Producto de dichos textos es el libro de la autora que lleva por título La política europea de España, Barcelona, Ariel, 1999. En dicho libro se recogen aspectos conceptuales y de análisis en profundidad que sirven de marco al presente texto, cuyas características responden al objetivo de la publicación (alemana) en la que apareció: un anuario de seguimiento de la construcción europea de carácter coyuntural.

The European Union Police Mission: The Beginning of a New Future for Bosnia and Herzegovina?

The creation, reform and/or restructuring of the police in post-conflict societies remains one of the key challenges for practitioners and scholars in the contemporary fields of peace and security, particularly due to the changing nature of conflicts. Since the 1990s the world has witnessed a proliferation of international police missions, with regional organisations gradually acquiring a prominent role. This paper analyses the 2003-2005 period of the European Union Police Mission (EUPM) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Much is at stake in this mission, both in terms of the development of the EU´s external identity but also for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s road to EU membership and sustainable peace. This paper will argue that by 2005 the balance sheet was mixed. EUPM fell short of fulfilling its overall goal of ‘Europeanising’ Bosnian police services, and of its desire to be seen as providing that additional ingredient in police matters that would set it apart from the earlier UN mission. Nevertheless, despite its shortcomings, the Mission did not merit the harsh criticisms it was faced with. Its lack of success was not entirely the Mission’s doing. The paper focuses on three aspects: political and economic viability and sustainability, security levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and institution and capacity building. The explanatory framework used in this paper is based on the democratic policing discourse. In doing so the argument developed here will also shed light on the nature of so-called “best European practices” in police matters.

Linkages of dietary patterns, international trade and land use: the case of olive oil in the European Union

Within only two decades olive oil developed from a niche product which could hardly be found in food stores outside the producing regions towards an integrated component in the diets of industrial countries. This paper discusses the impacts of the promotion of the “healthy Mediterranean diet” on land use and agro-ecosystems in the producing countries. It examines the dynamics of olive oil production, trade and consumption in the EU15 in the period 1972 to 2003 and the links between dietary patterns, trade and land use. It analyses the underlying socio-economic driving forces behind the increasing spatial disconnect between production and consumption of olive oil in the EU15 and in particular in Spain, the world largest producer during the last three decades. In the observed period olive oil consumption increased 16 fold in the non-producing EU15 countries. In the geographically limited producing regions like Spain, the 5 fold increase in export production was associated with the rapid industrialization of olive production, the conversion of vast Mediterranean landscapes to olive monocultures and a range of environmental pressures. High amounts of subsidies of the European Common Agricultural Policy and feedback loops within production and consumption systems were driving the transformation of the olive oil system. Our analysis indicates the process of change was not immediately driven by increases in demand for olive oil in non-producing countries, but rather by the institutional setting of the European Union and by concerted political interventions.

Cross-country polarisation in CO2 emissions per capita in the European Union: changes and explanatory factors

In this study, we analyse the degree of polarisation-a concept fundamentally different from that of inequality-in the international distribution of CO2 emissions per capita in the European Union. It is analytically relevant to examine the degree of instability inherent to a distribution and, in the analysed case, the likelihood that the distribution and its evolution will increase or decrease the chances of reaching an agreement. Two approaches were used to measure polarisation: the endogenous approach, in which countries are grouped according to their similarity in terms of emissions, and the exogenous approach, in which countries are grouped geographically. Our findings indicate a clear decrease in polarisation since the mid-1990s, which can essentially be explained by the fact that the different groups of countries have converged (i.e. antagonism among the CO2 emitters has decreased) as the contribution of energy intensity to between-group differences has decreased. This lower degree of polarisation in CO2 distribution suggests a situation more conducive to the possibility of reaching EU-wide agreements on the mitigation of CO2 emissions.

Explanatory factors of CO2 per capita emission inequality in the European Union

The design of European mitigation policies requires a detailed examination of the factors explaining the unequal emissions in the different countries. This research analyzes the evolution of inequality in CO2 per capita emissions in the European Union (EU-27) in the 1990-2006 period and its explanatory factors. For this purpose, we decompose the Theil index of inequality into the contributions of the different Kaya factors. The decomposition is also applied to the inequality between and within groups of countries (North Europe, South Europe, and East Europe). The analysis shows an important reduction in inequality, to a large extent due to the smaller differences between groups and because of the lower contribution of the energy intensity factor. The importance of the GDP per capita factor increases and becomes the main explanatory factor. However, within the different groups of countries the carbonization index appears to be the most relevant factor in explaining inequalities.

La prevenció de conflictes de la Unió Europea deu anys després de Göteborg

La Unió Europea (UE) ha fet passos molt significatius des que va adoptar el Programa de Göteborg per a la Prevenció de Conflictes Violents el 2001. Malgrat tot, els obstacles institucionals, una priorització insuficient i la manca d'un compromís polític clar han estat impediments fonamentals perquè la UE concretés les seves ambicions d'erigir-se en un actor global més eficaç en la prevenció de conflictes i la construcció de la pau. La pràctica concreta de la UE encara és el reflex d'una perspectiva de la gestió de les crisis clarament reactiva més que no pas d'un plantejament genuí favorable a la prevenció de conflictes. Aquest document d'actuació, principalment adreçat als qui dicten la política a seguir i les decisions de la UE i dels seus estats membres, exposa que la UE ha de realitzar un canvi que va de la simple gestió de crisis a posar més èmfasi en la prevenció de conflictes, tot augmentant així els seus avantatges comparatius. Això exigeix tenir unes prioritats clares i millorar el sistema d'alarma primerenca de la UE. Cal que la prevenció de conflictes s’integri de forma transversal en totes les polítiques exteriors d'Europa i que constitueixi el nucli del SEAE (el Servei Europeu d'Acció Exterior). Aparentment, el Tractat de Lisboa i el SEAE constitueixen una oportunitat única per a millorar la coherència i l'eficàcia de la UE com a actor globlal. Ara bé, s'està aprofitant aquesta oportunitat fugissera?

The Role of the European Union in the Processes to Ban Cluster Munitions

At the end of 2008 the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) that outlawed almost all types of cluster munitions was signed. It was the product of the so-called Oslo process, which had been set up two years earlier as a reaction to the failure to add a new protocol banning cluster munitions to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The position of the EU in these two processes was ambivalent: on the one hand it belonged to the strongest proponents for a new protocol within the CCW, but on the other hand the member states were in general not able to act jointly in the Oslo Process. According to this working paper especially the aspect of national security and the related relationship to the United States influenced the stances of many member states and complicated the formation of a common European position. There were common normative values of the EU detected, which played a role in the CCW, but they were only secondary to other interests of the member states.

Nanomaterials in the European Union [the quest for a regulatory regime]

Mentre que les nanotecnologies s'espera que porti beneficis importants en molts sectors i contribuir a la competitivitat, hi ha un creixent cos de dades científiques que indiquin que hi ha motius raonables per témer que els nanomaterials en particular pot donar lloc a els possibles riscos i efectes nocius per a la salut i el medi ambient. El meu objectiu és examinar com la Unió Europea està donant forma a un règim regulatori per nanomaterials: l'opció regulatòria escollida, la legislació vigent aplicable i la seva eficàcia (amb especial atenció sobre REACH buits normatius), la posició adoptada per la els diferents actors en aquest procés i l'evolució prevista legal en el curt termini.

Les "grans negociacions" a la Unió Europea: la formació de preferències, les estratègies y l’èxit a les negociacions

Projecte de recerca elaborat a partir d’una estada a la School of politics and international relations, de la University College of Dublin, United Kingdom, entre 2007 i 2009. L’ objectiu del projecte present ha estat contribuir a l’estudi de les negociacions intergovernamentals a la Unió Europea (UE). En primer lloc, s’ha estudiat les estratègies de negociació del estats membres a negociacions intergovernamentals en la UE, per la qual cosa s’ha desenvolupat una tipologia d’estratègies de negociació, diferenciant entre les més agressives (conflictives) i les menys agressives (cooperatives). La conclusió principal ha estat que els actors difereixen en la elecció de les estratègies i que és precisament el poder relatiu dels actors que explica quines estratègies adopten. En segon lloc, s’analitza la ratificació dels resultats a les negociacions intergovernamentals, concentrant-me en l’us dels referèndums. La investigació mostra que els referèndums són sovint usats pels partits polítics com un instrument utilitzat durant les campanyes electorals, posant en dubte la tesis de que l’objectiu principal dels referèndums és influenciar els poder relatiu dels estats membres en negociacions intergovernamentals. Finalment, s’ha estudiat com els actors socials influeixen aquestes negociacions en la UE. La evidencia empírica clarament mostra que la pressió que exerceixen els grups de pressió es sovint subestimada.

Towards economic and monetary union: changing trends in payment systems for new european members

The objective of this paper is preciselyto study the evolution of payment systems within the accession countries between 1996 and 2003 and compare them with those of the E.U. and the Eurozone countries

The European Union in North Korea: Current Realities and Paths for Future Engagement – A Qualitative and Quantitative Study

Malgrat la rellevància estratègica i el paper desestabilitzador de Corea del Nord a la regió econòmicament més dinàmica del món, la UE no compta amb cap estratègia clara per involucrar-se amb aquest país. Combinant tècniques d’anàlisi qualitatives i quantitatives, aquest treball pretén descobrir possibles contradiccions internes que impedeixin la definició d'una política exterior europea coherent i efectiva amb respecte a Corea del Nord, així com discrepàncies entre les percepcions d’actors interns de la UE i les d’actors externs. S'han detectat importants diferències d’expectatives i mancances en termes de coherència, tant entre les visions expressades pels actors interns com entre les opinions d’aquests actors i les dels futurs líders sudcoreans enquestats – diferències que fins i tot afecten la promoció dels drets humans