Latest posts
New Working Paper: Forging the World
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Alister Miskimmon (RHUL), Ben O'Loughlin (RHUL) and Laura Roselle (Elon/Duke) have published a new working paper on strategic narratives. This working paper presents a new research agenda for a major problem in both the praxis and study of inte...
A Presidency in crisis?
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The institution of the German federal presidency is once again under scrutiny. Only twenty months since the last German president, Horst Köhler, resigned due to comments about Germany’s military involvement overseas, Christian Wulff has be...
Does Cameron want to turn Britain into Belarus?
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Britain is feeling rather alone at the moment since the other 26 member states, including Hungary, are now proceeding to a new treaty on the Euro. If the Conservatives want exit from the European Union, they should spell out what status Britain would...
EU annual budget for 2012 agreed
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At 3am on Saturday 19 November, the conciliation committee agreed the budget for 2012. Originally, the European Commission had propose an increase of 4.9% on the figure for 2011. The Council cut this to the rate of inflation at 2% though the British...
Berlusconi has resigned! A setback for kleptocracy
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Tonight, with Berlusconi's exit, Europe is feeling a little bit safer. His resignation marks a symbolic victory in the struggle against kleptocracy which has so weakened the public finances of countries in southern Europe. Any of his likely succes...
Irish President elected through AV
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In Ireland they call it STV, but for electing their President, they use AV – rejected by the British in last May’s referendum. This election campaign was more interesting and contested by more candidates than ever before. The presidency i...
Greek referendum on the bail-out
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What was George Papandreou thinking in calling for a referendum on the package agreed by the Europeans for Greece? International media are assuming he will lose, but is that part of the calculation? Win or lose, Papandreou could be the winner. If he...
Miskimmon keynote address ISA-South 15 October 2011
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Ben O'Loughlin and Alister Miskimmon will give the keynote address at the ISA-South 2011 Conference. The conference will take place October 13-15, 2011 at the Elon University; Elon, North Carolina, USA. The theme of this year’s conference...
Thank God for the Euro
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...which has saved us for the time being. This is the essence of today's editorial in The Observer by Will Hutton, where he writes: 'In fact, the existence of the euro has, until now, been a bulwark against disaster. Suppose it had not been created...
Thank Goodness for the Euro
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...which has saved us for the time being. This is the essence of today's editorial in The Observer by Will Hutton, where he writes: 'In fact, the existence of the euro has, until now, been a bulwark against disaster. Suppose it had not been created...
Germany's stumbling foreign policy on Libya
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Germany's foreign policy lacks the predictability and dependability of previous years, resulting in heated debates within German foreign policy elites and bemusement within the ranks of Germany's allies. Since the decision to abstain on the United Na...
Lessons from the Left in Germany and Italy
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In Germany, the Greens have made their breakthrough. In Baden-Wurtemburg, with 25% vote they outpolled the Social Democrats with 23% and now lead a coalition administration with them. In Bremen, the Social Democrats retained their position as f...
Portugal: can it get worse for the European left?
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The Portuguese election has seen yet another Socialist party ejected from government during the World’s most serious economic crisis since the 1930s. In the last months, we have seen national elections in Cyprus, Estonia, Finland and Ireland, r...
The EU and the UK in 2011: A tale of two interwoven contradictions?
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The EU entered 2011 in a state of both political and economic turbulence. What began as the fiscal deficit of Greece in 2009 had become by the end of 2010 a fully-fledged crisis of the eurozone. Moreover, renewed concerns over another banking crisis...
Germany and Libya
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With operations to enforce a no fly zone in Libya underway, one major EU country is noticeable in its absence from operations - Germany. Germany's decision to abstain in the United Nations Security Council vote along with China and Russia, set it apa...
Elections and party change in Ireland
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The elections called amid the fallout from Ireland’s debt crisis have resulted in total realignment of the Irish party system. Gone are the Greens, the former junior coalition partner. Fianna Fail, in power since 1932 for all but 17 years, has...
World record for longest period without a government: Belgium
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Yesterday Belgium was awarded the prize for the longest period ever for a state to have no government, 249 days. This follows an inconclusive election result last year, about which I write here: http://cep.rhul.ac.uk/cep-blog/2010/6/15/coalition-form...
EU Budget Veto 2011: what, why, and where next?
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WHAT HAS HAPPENED The EU's annual budget for 2011 was vetoed last night. It is the first time that this happens since 1985 and is due to the European Parliament’s miscalculations in the negotiations on the Lisbon Treaty. Under the Lisbon Treaty...
Veto of EU Budget 2011
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The EU's annual budget for 2011 was vetoed last night. This means voting through monthly amounts until a new budget is agreed. Any new budget has to be re-proposed from scratch by the European Commission and accepted by both a qualfied majority of th...
EU budget vetoed?
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The final deadline of midnight on 15 November for agreeing the EU's annual budget for 2011 may have passed. No press release has appeared on the website of the European Parliament or the European Council to indicate otherwise. A Council press confere...
