T I MES
Autumn 2013
times.eui.eu
Governing the ungovernable Guarding the guardians Hitting the debt ceiling
PROFILES OPINIONS EVENTS
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ntroduction Welcome to the fourth edition of EUI Times, the quarterly electronic magazine produced by the European University Institute in Florence. In this issue’s feature section we look first at the issue of climate governance, asking how nations respond to climate change, and at the related work being done at the EUI by the Florence School of Regulation and the Global Governance Programme. We also profile the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom and its activities towards developing a transparent measure of media pluralism. Our final feature is a Q&A with Professor David Levine, giving an economist’s view of the US government shut down and debt ceiling negotiations. The EUI Times Profiles feature Brigid Laffan, the new Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, as she embarks on her five year term. We also speak to Ben Hammersley, Robert Schuman Fellow at the Global Governance Programme, about his work which looks at the threat of terrorism through the prism of public health. Finally we interview Joseph Lacey, researcher in the Department of Political and Social Sciences and Fulbright Scholar at Princeton University, about his work on multilingual democracies. The Opinion section features contributions from two distinguished EUI professors. In light of the revelations about the activities of the US National Security Agency, Professor Martin Scheinin discusses the legal boundaries of mass electronic surveillance systems. Professor Hanspeter Kriesi looks back at September’s German general election and its implications for the European Union. We also invite readers to take a look at some key upcoming events, as well as a selection of recent publications by EUI members. As ever your thoughts and comments are welcome and can be sent to times@eui.eu I hope you enjoy the Autumn 2013 issue of EUI Times. Stephan Albrechtskirchinger Director, Communications Service
T I MES Autumn 2013
Features
4 GOVERNING THE UNGOVERNABLE
The Florence School of Regulation and the Global Governance Programme talk Climate Change Policy
Profiles
13 Faculty
A NEW DIRECTOR FOR THE ROBERT SCHUMAN CENTRE
Opinions
MASS SURVEILLANCE VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS Martin Scheinin
18 ELECTRONIC
Features
7 GUARDING THE 10 HITTING THE DEBT GUARDIANS
A talk with the RSCAS' Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom
Profiles
15 Fellow
A NON-TRADITIONAL ACADEMIC
Brigid Laffan
Features
CEILING
Q&A with economist David Levine on the October US government shut-down
Profiles
17 Researcher
LANGUAGE AND DEMOCRACY Joseph Lacey
Ben Hammersley
Opinions
GERMAN ELECTIONS AND EUROPE Hanspeter Kriesi
19 THE
20 Events 23 Publications
T I MES
Autumn 2013
times.eui.eu
Governing the ungovernable Guarding the guardians
EUI TIMES Autumn 2013
Director: Stephan Albrechtskirchinger Editor: Jackie Gordon Writing: Mark Briggs Web: Francesco Martino, Raul Pessoa, Federico Gaggero Online: times.eui.eu Email: times@eui.eu
European University Institute Badia Fiesolana - Via dei Roccettini, 9 50014 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) - Italy +39 055 4685266 www.eui.eu twitter: @europeanuni Published in October 2013 by the European University Institute © European University Institute, 2013
Hitting the debt ceiling
PROFILES OPINIONS EVENTS
on the cover: Terrace, Villa San Felice
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GOVERNING THE UNGOVERNABLE
T
he challenges posed by climate change are becoming increasingly apparent, as is the acceptance of the need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, notably CO2, to mitigate against its worst possible consequences. What remains unclear however is how to organise a global response to a uniquely global problem. Do the solutions lie in policy, technology, economics, the life styles of individual citizens, or all of the above? At the EUI, both the Florence School of Regulation and the Global Governance Programme are studying this problem, working with policy makers to create and measure effective responses to climate change. Professor Denny Ellerman and Professor Jean-Michel Glachant sat down with the EUI Times to discuss their work and wider context of dealing with climate change.
When we move to an “ environmental problem
with a global reach, there is no world government, so how do nations, human society, the globe organise effectively to tackle this problem?
”
Problems Climate change is not the first environmental challenge humanity has faced, however it is the first with truly global causes and consequences. “We know that climate is a problem of global dimensions,” says Professor Ellerman, director of the Climate Governance research strand at the GGP and the FSR's Climate Policy Research Unit. “It is different from a local environment or pollution problem. If we are cleaning up the air in London or Los Angeles, there is a government structure in place to deal with the problem.” “When we move to an environmental problem with a global reach, there is no world government, so how
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Denny Ellerman
do nations, human society, the globe organise effectively to tackle this problem? Is it through multinational agreements, voluntary actions, trading systems? That is the governance question.” The general trend of anthropomorphic generated warming has become accepted in Europe, as is the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However the exact level of the required reduction is still disputed, making drafting policy difficult says Ellerman: “You’re talking about what will be the situation in 2100. Technology will change, we don’t know what the demographics are, there are continuing issues in the science about the effect increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases have on the climate. The direction is all very clear, but the magnitudes and timing are considerably less so, those are areas of disagreement.” With no agreed upon destination and no global government, policies have become piecemeal, aimed at targeting specific problems rather than the overall picture. “We have several policies and sets of rules acting in the EU, sometimes they fit together and are co-ordinated, sometimes they are not,” bemoans Glachant. Germany has a high percentage of its energy generated by renewables, which are less polluting but more expensive. The country than supplements its energy requirements through the burning of cheap coal. “It’s totally crazy to spend more than €20bn a year on renewables to still burn such an amount of coal. Where is the carbon pricing gone?”
Solutions According to Ellerman: “The EU has done more to implement environmental policy than any other nation or set of nations. I would call Europe the world’s climate policy laboratory”. Adding to local flagship environmental policies such as London’s congestion charge, in 2005 a Europeanwide carbon price was established. The price, the first significant price on GHG emissions in the world, fluctuates with economic activity, among other things, such as weather and relative fuel prices.
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Jean-Michel Glachant
“We didn’t go for only this,” adds Glachant, “in 2007 Mrs Merkel got a European Council agreement on the ‘20-20-20’ in 2020 target. 20 per cent less emissions, 20 per cent renewables in our energy mix, 20 per cent more energy efficiency.” Ellerman has a particular focus on the carbon price, and says its success in Europe is causing other countries to consider implementation. “The carbon problem is made for trading because the location doesn’t matter. If you reduce the carbon in China it is just as effective globally as if it was reduced in Europe.” “There is this perception that an absolute limit on carbon emissions is a limit on growth. I think that is a false perception. The evidence is that you can remove the carbon without really changing lifestyles all that much. It’s going to cost a little more, but life goes on pretty much the same. Before 2005 a carbon price did not exist in Europe, does Europe look much different eight years later?” Despite Europe being in the grip of a continent-wide recession Ellerman says no serious academic argument has been made that connects slow economic growth with the carbon price, adding that other regions of the world have experienced the same post-2008 economic problems despite not having a carbon price. “The system is reliant on creating a scarcity to turn carbon emission into a commodity, and it has done so throughout the European Union despite the consid-
erable differences in per capita GDP among member states. One of the more interesting features of the EU ETS is the shift to significant auctioning that starts this year. About 60 per cent of the allowances are auctioned, and the revenues are kept by the member state governments. One of the issues we will be looking at in the future is what governments will do with this. Although the revenue is small relative to total government revenue streams, member states facing debt crises will likely welcome these extra revenues. There will be 28 experiments about what countries “The problems in policy development lie in the politics not in the underlying scientific reality,” states do with the revenue.” Ellerman. “We should not expect scientific knowledge alone to solve political problems. The climate policy debate is stalled in some countries because of a stand-off between the so-called climate deniers “Climate change is a long term issue,” says Glachant, on one hand, and on the other, what might be called “It affects all human beings. In the EU we are not the climate catastrophists cum social utopians who see ones who are going to suffer the max of it.” Glachant is climate change as a compelling justification for draconfident the EU will meet its self-imposed 20-20-20 matic societal changes.” targets, however he is unconvinced about the effect Ellerman suggests that even though climate is a globthat an isolated EU policy ultimately has on global al problem, the solution may not require every single climate: “Today Europe is already small on the pol- nation. “We don’t need all 190 nations to be part of luting side, and we are becoming smaller and smaller the agreement. Most of the emissions are from mayevery year. We cannot reduce pollution by ourselves be 20 countries, that’s all you need for an effective at the world level. In 30 years we will be 7 per cent of coalition to limit emissions.” the world population, Africa will be 24 per cent. If “The challenge is how to organise to preserve a global they catch up with the quality of life in Europe [our public good? If the nations of the world can create an own targets] will not have a decisive importance.” effective global system to limit and regulate green“What we are doing in Europe is not going to unilat- house gas emissions, humans will have succeeded erally change the game. Many others need to follow in overcoming the greatest environmental challenge or to replicate. However, ethically the EU position that has faced the species.” has value.” Last month the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Denny Ellerman is Director of the Loyola de Palacio's Change unveiled its latest report. Despite its declara- Climate Change Policy Research Unit, and directs the Global Governance Programme's research strand on Climate tion that climate change is 95 per cent likely to be Governance, at the EUI's Robert Schuman Centre for caused by human activity, the report garnered less at- Advanced Studies. He comes to the EUI from MIT's Sloane School of Management and has advised on energy issues for tention than its predecessor in 2007. “I am very sympathetic (to the IPCC) they do exactly both the US government and the private sector. what they should do, they do not make any decision, Jean-Michel Glachant is Director of the Loyola de Palacio but they say the facts, they also acknowledge that Energy Policy Programme and the Florence School of they can be wrong in this or they can be right in Regulation at the EUI's Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. He is scientific coordinator and/or partner in numerous that, science is science but truth is never 100 per cent international research projects, and advises on regulation policy true,” says Glachant. on both national and international/European levels.
The problems in “ policy development
lie in the politics not in the underlying scientific reality.
”
Looking forward
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GUARDING THE GUARDIANS
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Started in December 2011 the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) provides an independent research observatory on the situation of pluralism and freedom in the media landscapes of EU member states. Co-financed by the European Commission, and headed by Professor Pier Luigi Parcu, the project seeks collaboration across academic disciplines, with media professionals and policy makers. As explained in the CMPF’s latest report, “Media freedom and pluralism are both a result and a guarantee of efficient and legitimate democratic rule.” However unlike other pillars of democracy the media doesn’t benefit from specific EU legislation aimed at defending it. “It was an issue before the union was born, so it’s an issue usually dealt with in the constitutions of the member states, making it politically sensitive at a national level” explains Professor Parcu. “However, the European Commission cannot accept that one of its member states has problems of freedom or pluralism. If there is a problem in the member states it be-
Pier Luigi Parcu
comes partly a European problem. The Commission is wondering what to do, can it do something? The first step to decide what to do is to understand.” “The purpose of the Centre is to provide an entity that can observe, interpret, and make recommendations without direct involvement of European institutions.”
Media freedom and “ pluralism are both a
result and a guarantee of efficient and legitimate democratic rule.
”
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Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom
Who or what is a journalist today? When assessing the media, the issues surrounding its practitioners cannot be ignored. The debate over who actually counts as a journalist has become increasingly important as the industry grapples with the advance of online news. Gone are the days when a journalist was anyone with a press card in their cap and a newspaper editor waiting to print their article. In recent years the activities of the “Fifth Estate” have grabbed headlines around the world, with its cast of characters including Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. The Arab Spring showed the increasing importance citizen journalists play in covering events, with mainstream media organisations turning to them for content their journalists were unable to obtain. “The issue of Wikileaks demonstrates that the interpretation of journalists is useful,” says Elda Brogi, scientific coordinator at the CMPF. “The citizen journalists, caught in the middle of the Arab Spring, are more of a journalist than Assange, because they are choosing what they want to publish rather than just supplying everything they have.” Some security professionals and MPs in the UK have called for the Guardian newspaper to be prosecuted after involvement in the publications of Wikileaks and the Snowden revelations: “These are important themes in media freedom, have always been there and will not go away because of the internet. The permanent ability of media to print given information and protect their sources,” says Parcu, “will remain fundamental even in a digital environment.”
Pluralism means the “ media environment is
diverse in order to let people decide according to different sources of information.
”
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A working definition of a “journalist” is more than just a theoretical exercise. It has consequences for issues including libel and the protection of sources. Should the same laws apply to every Wordpress or Tumblr blogger as to accredited journalists at the Guardian or the New York Times? “The CMPF is studying how journalists are safeguarded in Europe and what is the definition of “journalist” nowadays. Some people say that journalists do not exist, but journalism does,” says Brogi. According to Professor Dirk Voorhoof, an expert in media law from Ghent University who teaches at the CMPF summer school, rulings from the European Court of Human Rights on the protection of sources suggest that claim may have a legal grounding: “The definition in case law is suitably broad. It’s about bringing information on a regular basis to the public. It’s not a profession, but a function.”
Pluralism and ownership It is not just the role of the individual that the Centre examines, but also the environment in which they operate. A free and varied media helps create a public sphere where different information and views facilitate discourse, and ultimately lead to an informed electorate. “Pluralism means the media environment is diverse in order to let people decide according to different sources of information,” Brogi stresses. “If there is no free circulation of ideas, just the broadcast of one set of views, it is very difficult for the ordinary citizen to understand what is happening and to form their own idea about what is going on, especially of the political reality.” However specific definitions and measurements of plurality are notoriously difficult to pin down: “One level is economic, ownership for example, and this you can measure,” explains Parcu. “The other area is content, and this is more difficult, but there are instruments that allow you to interpret how much freedom there is. As long as you’re transparent and can be criticized, you put the debate on a more objective platform.”
In the aftermath of the phone hacking scandal in the UK a wider debate is taking place about media ethics and pluralism. There have been numerous attempts to suggest a legally mandated level of plurality in terms of ownership. However these appear likely to be rejected as it proves easier to define what is too little plurality, rather than what is enough. “I don’t know if it is a question of best practices,” suggests Parcu. It may rather be “a question of the best indicators. If the indicators are transparent, easily measureable and open to discussion, then it becomes easier to positively contribute to the debate and achieve good results.”
New Media As with all aspects of the media, technology is posing its own challenges when it comes to plurality. While on the one hand the internet gives access to an extremely plural environment, on the other hand, with the myriad of voices now present, there is an increasing percentage of people who unconsciously filter their news through social media networks. “There is an observable phenomena called ‘The Bubble Effect’,” explains Brogi, “You feel like you are open to all views, but you aren’t.” Indeed, most people select their social media contacts for reasons other than maintaining media plurality. The result is individuals are only exposed to articles and news items which reaffirm already held views rather than challenging them. According to Brogi, more noticeable questions are being asked about the responsibilities of such services and, in general, Internet intermediaries: “Do they have an editorial control on the content they display, do they have a responsibility? Do we have to think of specific new rules for such services on the internet?”
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Future of the Centre In addition to the research, seminars and Summer School undertaken over the last year, the Centre will be involved from September 2013 to August 2014 in the test-implementation of the “media pluralism monitor”. The tool has been developed in 2009 by a group of universities and research institutions, led by the University of Leuven. The European Commission awarded a grant to the CMPF to test and pilot-implement the tool for the first time, to measure pluralism in an objective and neutral way in nine countries across the EU. The monitoring tool will be updated to make it easier to use and to place greater emphasis on the role of the internet. “We have studied European competencies, what Europe can do and where it could do more” says Parcu. “The next phase is the monitoring. The Commission wants the media monitor to be implemented by actors who are not politically involved.” The CMPF is currently studying the Western BalLeo Meeus kans and will present a report on the current state of media freedom and plurality, and will report to the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights in November. For more information the Centre maintains a blog, pulling in content regarding plurality and media freedom from around the web. Pier Luigi Parcu is Director of the Communications & Media Area of the Florence School of Regulation and Director of the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom at the EUI's Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. He is a specialist in antitrust and regulatory issues of network industries.
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©US Congress; © trekandshoot 2013
tured as well: we had various claims by Treasury about catastrophe if the debt limit were not raised in time. However, if the limit had not been raised, Treasury - and the Federal Reserve Bank, along with the IMF and other central banks around the world - would have done everything they could to mitigate the impact. Default in the technical sense only occurs if bond-holders demand payment and payment is not made. So, for example, if the Federal Reserve Bank were to buy all maturing bonds and hold them for future payment without demanding payment, there would be no default. I think we may expect to see further posturing when the new deadlines are approached. Is this a unique phenomenon to the United States?
After weeks of negotiation and rhetoric the US Congress agreed on a deal to re-open the federal government and raise the debt ceiling, removing the threat of the US defaulting on its loans. However, with the deal only intended as a short term fix EUI Times speaks to American economist and Professor in Microeconomics at the EUI, David Levine about the causes and consequences of recent events on Capitol Hill. In view of the US Government shut down and the challenge to further raise the US government debt ceiling, how does an economist judge the political situation?
There was a great deal of posturing on both sides. The Republicans have been highly disorganized and have fought among themselves unable to agree on even what they might want. The Executive pos-
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Default by governments of various types is common. Greece, for example, defaulted on its debt - for the very good reason that it was unable to pay. The state of California had a political situation very similar to the one now playing out on a larger stage - two political parties unable to agree on a budget. It routinely “defaulted” every summer for many years - furloughing employees, and paying them with IOUs instead of cash and so forth. It did not default on its bonds. Belgium managed to go without any legal government for nearly two years without anyone taking great notice of it either inside or outside of Belgium. What exactly would it have meant for the US to default on its loans?
There is no chance that the US will default on any substantial proportion of its loans – either now, or in February when the debt limit will again be an issue.
What is at issue are particular loans that are to be redeemed at a particular time - a very small part of US debts. Moreover, as debt is retired, Treasury can legally issue new debt, so that only the interest payments on short terms bonds are in question. Treasury might or might not choose to prioritise those payments over other payments, so may or may not choose to default. The bond-holders (including the Federal Reserve Bank) might or might not choose to demand repayment. Are there different stages of default?
Default is not a single thing. In the end it amounts to not paying your bills. The state of “default” is a complicated one legally, with Congress telling the Executive on the one hand: “you must spend money,” and on the other “you may not borrow,” both within its legal rights, and the Executive on the other hand saying: “it is impossible to spend the money you have ordered us to without borrowing.” The Executive then faces the question of which Congressional mandate to violate. Payments to numerous people and businesses including public employees and private firms with government contracts were defaulted on for several weeks prior to the current agreement. What were the likely short-term, and longterm consequences?
If an agreement had not been reached, the consequences in both the short-term and long-term would have been likely to be mild for both the US and world economies. Given that there is no long-term issue in getting paid, most interested parties, including governments and central banks throughout the world
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David Levine
have a great deal of incentive to mitigate any ill-effects of a default, technical or otherwise. Obviously central bankers and ordinary bankers did not like the possibility because they would have had to rush around dealing with all the legal technicalities. Bear in mind that the world is a big place and the US a large country, so even a very small effect in percentage terms means real pain to a very large number of real people. Will the possibility of future default affect market confidence in the US? Do the dollar and US government bonds remain a reliable investment?
There was some impact on the term-structure of interest rates for bonds maturing immediately at or after October 17. There were fluctuations in the stock market that some attribute to news about progress or
non-progress on the debt limit, but there are always fluctuations in the stock market, and who can say if congressional negotiations have anything to do with it. Basically, for all the talk, those actively buying and selling in markets have not seemed too concerned about the possibility of default except for some minor short-term unpleasantness. Of course, they may have been confident that an agreement would be reached in time. For the longer term - California continued to issue bonds and people bought them because - despite the various political fighting - they thought the state had a strong economy and would be able to repay. Political fighting in Congress doesn’t have much effect on the long-term prospects of the US economy, so is unlikely to change people’s views of it. Will the events of the last weeks strengthen markets in other countries now seen as a safer bet than a few weeks ago?
reason for the brinksmanship over default, and this political problem will also not go away (it lasted for decades in California) so that can has been kicked down the road too. Where there any economic/political winners from this?
Mostly losers, especially the Republicans. (One might argue that the Republicans’ loss is the Democrats’ gain, but the general harm has probably exceeded the short-term political gain for the Democrats). It may be true that the government requires us to go through unnecessary and onerous procedures to open a business, buy a house, or whatever. But a shutdown that leaves intact the laws that say we need government approval for these things, but closes down the offices that give the approval, is not likely to be popular. A lot of Republicans dislike big government and are visibly gleeful at the closure and prospect of default. Unfortunately all those people who use government services and can’t get them aren’t going to say “but someday if this keeps up and also a whole bunch of laws get changed, the private sector will take over and things will be much better.” Rather they are likely to conclude that the government officials responsible are jerks, and those officials gleefully going around saying “close ‘er down” are likely to be singled out for blame. As they seem to have been.
Other countries have been eager to replace the US dollar and US bonds as a reserve currency for decades now, but with only limited success. Whatever the uncertainties about the dollar, nobody is proposing that the United States should split up with different states adopting their own currencies - as is the case with the Euro. At the end of the day, investors must ask themselves which is more likely: the US Government never gets around to paying its bills, or Germany gets sick of propping up the Southern part David Levine is Professor of Microeconomics at the EUI, and of the EU, and withdraws from the Euro, leaving Italy holds a Joint Chair in the Economics Department and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. He is on leave and Spain to follow Greece into default? as John H. Biggs Distinguished Professor of Economics at
Is this a situation that is likely to re- Washington University in St. Louis. occur?
There are two problems - a long term fiscal problem that current commitments to future expenditures and current plans for future tax revenues lead over a very long period to eventual insolvency. Nobody on either side of the political divide has proposed to do anything about this problem, so no doubt that will continue to get kicked down the road - as it is and has been in virtually every country in the world. There is also a short-term political problem that the Republicans would like to cut many programs, but cannot agree either with each other or with the Democrats about which programs to cut. This is the
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P rofiles
Brigid Laffan has taken over as the new Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. At the beginning of her five year term Professor Laffan talks to the EUI Times about what she hopes to achieve during her time in Florence. “The Robert Schuman Centre is in my view an essential pillar of the EUI; it is the external face of the Institute for a lot of stakeholders- European Institutions, governments, and regulators. Europe is in a deep crisis and we are at a time of big changes. The attraction of developing and promoting an intellectual agenda on the European Union and Europe’s place in the world is an opportunity that I relish.” Established in 1992, the Robert Schuman Centre engages in research on a wide variety of topics, notably regulation, migration, economic and monetary union, EU democracy, and global governance. It focuses not only on issues of academic interest, but also undertakes applied policy research relevant to decisions being made in Brussels. “The Schuman Centre in my view is a bridge; it’s a bridge between
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Faculty A new director for the RSCAS
Brigid Laffan
disciplines, a bridge between the Institute and the outside world. It’s a bridge between basic research and applied policy research. That’s its great strength.” After first coming to the EUI in 1981 to attend a summer school in
EUI TIMES | Spring 2013
political science, Laffan has since then gone on to be a Jean Monnet Professor at University College Dublin (UCD) where she was founding director of the Dublin European Institute (DEI), before becoming UCD vice-president in
A key “ question is
[...] to what extent Europe is now a shaper of global dynamics or a taker?
”
RSCAS - Convento
2005. In 2012 she won the THESEUS Award for Outstanding Research on European Integration. “I would not describe myself as a Europhile. I would describe myself as a political scientist who works on Europe and the European Union,” says Laffan. “If you ask me ‘on balance do I think the broad trajectory of European integration has been good for this part of the world?’ I would say yes’. “If you ask me, on the other hand, to consider what’s happening in the Union today and the cost and consequences for different social
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groups and European democracy of the crisis, and ask if I am content with what I see? The answer is no.” Laffan is adamant the Schuman Centre is a resource for Europe’s political, administrative and regulatory policy makers as they grapple with the consequences of deepening integration at a time of economic difficulty. Laffan believes the future of the EU will be defined by the dynamics that play out as a result of the economic crisis, defining what type of Europe will emerge and how it will interact with the outside world. To help
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ensure the centre maintains its policy relevance, Laffan intends to sharpen the focus of the centre, and has identified three broad research themes that will form the basis of the centre’s work. These themes are integration, governance and democracy; regulating markets and governing money; and 21st century world politics and Europe. “A key question is whether, the EU is capable of being strategic in the world or to put it another way, to what extent Europe is now a shaper of global dynamics or a taker?” Closer to home Laffan hopes to build on the previous successes of the Robert Schuman Centre to create a scholarly community focused on conducting both basic and applied research to the highest standard, while continuing the Centre’s tradition of executive training and policy relevance. “If I achieve these things, then I will be pretty happy when my time here comes to an end.”
P rofiles
Ben Hammersley is a Robert Schuman Fellow with the Global Governance Programme. He is currently working on a paper reframing responses to terrorism through the lens of public health. “Wherever you are in the world that has had a spate of terrorism, there have been noticeable counter terrorism measures that have an effect on the entire populace,” he explains. “If you look at terrorism as a public health issue, it leads you into interesting ways of combating it that don’t do as much harm as if you view terrorism as a massive existential threat.” Hammersley’s work uses parameters used in the pharmaceutical industry to evaluate the costs and benefits to the public of counter-terrorism techniques. For example, one can weigh up the inconvenience caused from being asked to remove your shoes before air travel, as opposed to the likelihood of the practice foiling a terrorist plot. A “purposefully eclectic” career has seen him write for The Times and The Guardian, be banned from Burma for interviewing Ann San Suu Kyi, and serve as ambassador to Tech City in East London for the
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Fellow A non-traditional academic
Ben Hammersley
UK Prime Minister, while coining the term “podcasting” in an article in 2004. His current roles include editor at large of the UK edition of Wired magazine, Innovatorin-Residence at Goldsmiths University, and non-residential fellow at the Brooking Institute. “I try to work on two things at the same time, I find they tend to feed off each other, sometimes in unexpected ways.” “In all the fields that I work in, they are all very fast moving. Nothing I have ever done in my career is something that existed
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even 10 years before, aside from this. It would be nuts to make plans further in advance than about two years.” Before taking up his fellowship with the EUI, Hammersley worked alongside former EUI professor Miguel Maduro as a member of the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Media Freedom, and previously visited the EUI to consult with Professor Parcu of the Centre for Media Freedom and Plurality. “In any organisation you need your hedgehogs and you need
In any “ organisation
you need your hedgehogs and you need your foxes, the value I can bring is to come in and draw parallels.
”
your foxes, the value I can bring is to come in and draw parallels.” His current work does exactly that, exploring how costbenefit analysis used in the pharmaceutical industry can be used to measure counterterrorism practices and thus decide whether such practices are in the public interest. The NICE guidelines which are used to decide which drugs are
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administrated to which patients in the UK’s National Health Service take into account the drug’s effectiveness and cost, but also the patients’ quality of life, and age. “If you treat terrorism as a public health matter, it allows you to have a similar conversation.” Invariably, when asked about particular measures, security services respond that if such practices weren’t in place lives would be lost. Hammersley suggests we consider other areas where an accepted level of risk is weighed against convenience, such as road travel, which, for example, causes 20,000 deaths a year in the US. “What’s worse, an ‘X’ number of people dying from terrorism versus everyone being inconvenienced? The amount of intellectual currency that has been dedicated to terrorism is more of a cost than the terrorism.” Hammersley will be at the EUI for the rest of the semester and regards the Institute as the ideal location for his current work: “For the political theory that I do it is certainly the best place in
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Europe. The Schuman fellowship is an amazing gift. The location, the atmosphere is completely unique. I’m not a traditional academic. I don’t have any academic qualifications at all. I’ve certainly given more classes and lectures in universities than I ever attended as a student. To have that connection with the EUI afterwards is deeply powerful.”
P
Researcher Language and democracy
rofiles
Joseph Lacey is a researcher in the Department of Political and Social Science, and is spending the 2013/14 academic year at Princeton University on a Fulbright Fellowship. His work explores democratic legitimacy in multilingual federal states and sits at the crossroads between democratic theory, EU studies and comparative politics. While salient for the troubles facing the EU, Lacey’s work is also applicable to nation states such as Switzerland and Belgium where large proportions of the electorate speak different languages and share different cultures. “I’m interested in the question of whether or not democracy can satisfactorily work in multinational political systems,” explains Lacey. “Especially when the issue of multilingualism is thrown in.” Before coming to the EUI, Lacey spent time as an MPhil researcher at KU Leuven, which helped crystallise his research field: “Living in Belgium during 2010/2011 was an interesting time. Not only was Brussels at the institutional heart of the on-going Euro-crisis that provoked pretty se-
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vere nationalistically charged political divisions in Europe, but Belgium was also suffering its own internal problems as nationalistic tensions between Flemish and Walloons prevented the formation of a federal government for well over a year.” His background in philosophy has a notable effect on how Lacey conducts his research, as he prefers to start from a firm theoretical base before beginning his empirical research: “Many go the other way, but I have found that the more well worked out the problem is in abstraction the easier it is to make sense of cases when they are tackled.” “The most exciting part for me is when theory meets political reality. It’s very satisfying when you find your theoretical work has explanatory power when applied to actual cases. But what’s most interesting (and sometimes frustrating) are the times when the theory must be revised, developed, or even abandoned because it’s not doing the explanatory work that good theory should.” Lacey was notified of his Fulbright award in April. “I was pretty surprised when I got the e-mail. My interview, I thought, could have gone a lot better and so I didn’t have very
EUI TIMES | Spring 2013
high hopes. Though I got the impression that having some publications in hand helped to strengthen my case.” While the quality of academic life and the beautiful surroundings are qualities both institutions have in common Lacey has noticed a few differences to the EUI. “Of course, the accents are a bit more homogeneous at Princeton. Also, in US universities PhD candidates are still considered (both by themselves and their professors) to be ‘students’. At the EUI, there is a feeling that PhD candidates have a more collegial status which seems to be deliberately promoted by the use of the word ‘researcher rather than student.’” While at Princeton, Lacey will consult with faculty and take advantage of graduate seminars at the University Center for Human Values and at the European Union Program. On his return to Florence, Lacey hopes to arrange a workshop on multi-national democracy before turning his attention to post-doctoral deadlines, as he looks to develop a career in academia: “I have a strong interest in continuing to do research. But I enjoy teaching and would like to make it part of my future.”
O
pinions
As the public d e b a t e continues about the electronic sur veillance by national governments, it is becoming increasingly clear that the US broke the law. Many of the technical details about programmes used by the US government for the collection of communications data remain unknown. Nevertheless, the Snowden revelations make it obvious the US has been involved in activities in violation of its legally binding obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which the US is a party. The central privacy provision in the ICCPR is brief, and fails to fully articulate permissible limitations. However, Article 17 explicitly prohibits “arbitrary or unlawful interference” with anyone’s privacy or correspondence. It establishes a positive obligation for states to create a legal framework for the effective protection of privacy rights against interference or attacks, irrespective of whether they come from the state itself, foreign states, or private actors.
ELECTRONIC MASS SURVEILLANCE VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS
When I was UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism (2005-2011), I produced a report presenting an analytically rigorous test for permissible limitations upon privacy rights, including data protection. It includes the following conditions to determine whether an interference with privacy rights is justified, or whether it amounts to a violation of the ICCPR, The conditions are that (a) Any restrictions must be provided by the law; (b) The essence of a human right is not subject to restrictions; (c) Restrictions must be necessary in a democratic society; (d) Any discretion exercised when implementing the restrictions must not be unfettered; (e) For a restriction to be permissible, it is not enough that it serves one of the enumerated legitimate aims; it must be necessary for reaching the legitimate aim; (f) Restrictive measures must conform to the principle of proportionality; they must be appropriate to achieve their protective function; they must be the least intrusive instrument amongst those which might achieve the desired result; and they must be proportionate to the interest to be protected; and (g) Any restrictions
must be consistent with the other rights guaranteed in the Covenant. The application of this test concludes the electronic mass surveillance engaged in by the US, divulged by Edward Snowden, and to a certain extent confirmed by US authorities, did result in breaches of the legal obligations of the United States under ICCPR Article 17. This assessment follows independently from multiple grounds, as most of the NSA’s mass surveillance programmes fail to comply with several separate elements of the permissible limitations test. A detailed assessment of the additional programmes within the NSA mass surveillance architecture will require more work (and possibly more revelations). SURVEILLE, the EU funded project we run at the EUI, seeks to assess surveillance technologies for their technological usability, ethical implications, and intrusiveness upon fundamental rights. The hope is that in the future the discourse in this area will be able to move away from abstract ‘balancing’ to more rigorous assessment.
Martin Scheinin is Professor of International Law and Human Rights. From 1997 until 2004 he was a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and in 2005 was appointed the first United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, a position of trust he held until 2011.
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EUI TIMES | Autumn 2013
O
THE GERMAN ELECTIONS AND EUROPE
pinions
No experiments – this was the slogan of the CDU under Konrad Adenauer in the 1950s, and this still seems to have been the winning formula in the German elections this fall. The incumbent chancellor won in a big way. The voters seemed to appreciate the prudent incrementalism she stands for; her lack of vision did certainly not work against her. The Germans, apparently, can live very well without a daring pitch. Given that the German economy is humming along, the voters were not in the mood for a change. The campaign was utterly boring, big issues were conspicuously absent. The CDU won with the smiling image of the Chancellor, whose understatement and common sense won the sympathy of the voters. With respect to the key issues, an unexpressed agreement has existed between the two camps in the Bundestag for some time, given that the CDU under Merkel had moved considerably to the left in the course of the last legislature. This unexpressed agreement not only characterized domestic
policies such as the family policy, or energy policy after the government had abandoned nuclear energy and adopted the ‘Energiewende’, but also the way to deal with the Eurocrisis. Europe did not play a role in the elections, because the positions of the CDU, SPD and the Greens on the European debt crisis were so similar. The implications of the election result for Europe depend on the outcome of the coalition formation which may still take some time. Although the CDU and Angela Merkel triumphed, the election outcome makes coalition formation very difficult. An exceptionally large number of votes were wasted since two parties narrowly failed to gain representation in parliament due to the 5 percent threshold: the CDU’s preferred coalition partner (FDP) and the Alternative for Germany, the Eurosceptic upstart that did well for a brand new party, but did not quite make it. Three parties from the left actually got a majority of the votes, and it is only due to the refusal of the SPD and the Greens to form a coalition with the Linke that the CDU is going to lead the next government once more. As the Economist put it, ‘around Europe they sit and wait for
Angela. They waited for her to fight her election campaign. Now they must wait for her to form a coalition’. It is unlikely that she will change her prudent approach to the Eurocrisis. She is unlikely to become any less insistent on fiscal discipline and greater competitiveness in the Eurozone. The Economist believes that Mrs. Merkel will be keener than ever to protect German taxpayers not just because the voters demand it, but also because the challenge of the Alternative for Germany came close to obtain representation in the Bundestag. Alternatively, one might argue that the Alternative for Germany mostly took votes from the FDP and does not constitute a direct threat to the CDU, and that a grand coalition, the most likely outcome of the coalition formation, might actually be promising for Germany’s leadership role in Europe. The formation of a grand coalition would give the government a two-thirds majority allowing it to change the constitution and to impose far-reaching decisions making for institutional integration in Europe – a way out of the Eurocrisis.
Hanspeter Kriesi holds the Stein Rokkan Chair of Comparative Politics in the Department of Political and Social Science at the EUI. He has been a visiting professor at Cornell University (1994-95) and at the WZBBerlin (2000-2001). At the University of Zurich, he has directed the Centre for Comparative and International Studies (2002-2005), and the Swiss National Competence Centre for Research on Democracy (2005-2012).
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E
vents
29-30 OCTOBER 2013
6TH CHINESE IN PRATO & 4TH WENZHOUESE DIASPORA SYMPOSIA ON CHINESE MIGRATION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMY
The RSCAS' Migration Policy Centre (MPC) is collaborating with Monash University Prato Centre, PIN University of Florence, and the Business School of Wenzhou University to organise the 6th Chinese in Prato & 4th Wenzhouese Diaspora Symposia, which will take place in Prato, Italy, near Florence. This year the theme of the conference is Chinese migration, entrepreneurship and development in the new global economy. The MPC will be presenting several papers written within the framework of its pilot project 'Chinese migration and economic relations with Europe'.
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EUI TIMES | Autumn 2013
5 NOVEMBER 2013
THE URSULA HIRSCHMANN ANNUAL LECTURE ON GENDER AND EUROPE Bodies Covered and Exposed: Feminist Reflections on '’Choice’’ in the 21st Century
Professor Leora Auslander (University of Chicago) will deliver the 2013 Ursula Hirschmann Annual Lecture on Gender and Europe, discussing the choices women face about their bodies in public spaces, and how the debate has progressed since the 1970s. The Lecture series is named in honour of Ursula Hirschmann, who created the group Femmes pour l'Europe in Brussels in 1975 as a space to reflect on, critique and contribute to the contemporary debate on the construction of Europe. The lecture series aims to promote an understanding of the linkages between gender and European issues, as well as an idea of Europe which recognises differences, including that of gender. The Ursula Hirschmann Lecture series is organised by the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies and the Departments of History and Civilization.
E
vents
MAX WEBER LECTURE 27 NOVEMBER 2013
Quo vadis Europe? Banks, Sovereigns and the Crisis
Professor Martin Hellwig (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods) will examine why Europe has found it so difficult to deal with the so-called "euro crisis�, looking at the weaknesses in the available governance mechanisms and the inadequacy of national and supranational discourse to address the complex crises. Professor Hellwig will also discuss the role of banking union in the reform of European governance, and the political issues associated with it. The monthly Max Weber Lectures are given by distinguished scholars from the four fields of Economics, History, Law and Political and Social Sciences. The series is coordinated and planned by the Max Weber Programme. Register online
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EUI TIMES | Autumn 2013
2-4 DECEMBER 2013
ACADEMY OF GLOBAL GOVERNANCE EXECUTIVE TRAINING SEMINAR European Union and Global Governance
The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies' Academy of Global Governance offers an executive training seminar on the role of the EU on the global stage, discussing the issues of national identity and how the EU fits into the existing structures of multilateral organisations such as the UN, WTO and IMF. The scientific coordinator of this seminar is Professor Nuno Severiano Teixeira (New University of Lisbon), former national defence minister of Portugal and EUI alumnus. Participation by application only Application Deadline: 10 November 2013 Apply online
E
vents
The EUI is going on the road with a new recruiting initiative. EUI faculty and/ or researchers will be on hand in the listed cities to answer questions from prospective applicants to the PhD programmes. For more information, including specific times and locations, please write to the EUI Communications Service at eui.pr@eui.eu Application deadline for 2014/15 academic year:
PHD RECRUITMENT ROADSHOWS
GENEVA 31 October DUBLIN 4 November LONDON 6 November TURKU 11 November ZURICH 15 November VIENNA 15 November GLASGOW 19 November EDINBURGH 20 November TARTU 20 November HELSINKI 2 December
31 January 2014
Learn about the EUI through our new video.
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EUI TIMES | Spring 2013
P
ublications
Religious Conversions in the Mediterranean World Olivier Roy and Nadia Marzouki Palgrave Macmillan, 2013 EUI Professor Olivier Roy and Nadia Marzouki have edited a book exploring the social and political impacts of religious conversions in the Mediterranean world. “What we consider a new phenomena is religious conversations that are both massive, and individual. It is not local populations coming into a religion, but a collection of individuals who choose for themselves a different religious affiliation. It is now reaching a quantitative threshold,” explains Roy. These conversions, says Roy, pose questions not only for the converted, but increasingly for the societies in which they live, breaking the established consensus between religion, the state, and nationality. Conversions can pose problems for employers who have to quickly adapt to new religious behavior, it can also cause problems in courts as converts are often less willing to accept traditional compromises such as the separation between church and state. According to Roy, such converts are causing states around the world to rethink what religion is and what freedom of religion is: “When you have a convert, they want the real thing. They are not interested in traditional compromises.”
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“One of our colleagues studied the phenomena of black French citizens self-converting to Judaism. This has consequences for Israel, how do they define what is a Jew, how do they define who has the right to check conversions? Even if there is a relatively small number of converts to a religion, it has an impact.” In Tunisia, their consensus is they are a Muslim society. In this context eating during Ramadan can, and is, seen as a disturbance to public order. However there is an increasingly large community of evangelical, ethically Arab Christians, who see no reason not to be allowed to eat during Ramadan. In these cases, how should the law, which is partly based on Sharia, treat Christians? In Europe the converts are readdressing the way differing religions are seen in the context of an individual country: “In Germany you can be protestant, Catholic or perhaps Jewish, but Muslims are viewed as foreign, but converts can be white German.” The book, which comes out of a conference which took place three years ago at the EUI, also looks at the phenomena such as Turkish Muslim women who venerate the Virgin Mary and the growth of Mormonism in France. The work fits into the framework of the European Research Council-funded ReligioWest project at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, which studies how states are redefining their relationships to religion.
P
ublications
Democracy: An Ongoing Challenge to democracy in megacities and the democracy of NCCR Democracy, Hanspeter Kriesi, Lars Müller (eds) democracies. Brief citations and classic statements Zürich, Lars Müller Publishers 2013 from some of democracy’s heroes illustrate the general argument. Democracy: An Ongoing Challenge: This is a ‘vis- In addition to the mosaic of texts, Democracy: An ual reader’, an illustrated textbook for the public at Ongoing Challenge builds on the power of images. large. It presents the ongoing challenge of democ- Individual images as well as galleries of pictures racy from a variety of perspectives, making clear bring seemingly abstract concepts like democratisathat democracy is not a state that can be reached tion, globalisation, and internationalization to life. once and for all but instead requires dialogue and As addressed here, democracy is not just an abstracconfrontation, time and time again, posing an en- tion. It is shown in its many and varied dimensions: during challenge both for those who are governed as a utopia, as a challenge, as normalcy. The photos of and those who govern. Nelson Mandela as president and images of the fall of This volume follows the long road to democracy as the Berlin Wall illustrate how once-utopian notions we know it today. It discusses what ‘rule by the peo- have become reality. ple’ means, shows the variety of ways people rule, it introduces the preconditions for democracy and assesses its performance, uncovers traditional forms of participation, moves to the smaller scale of democracy in everyday life, points to the challenge of mediatization and globalization, and asks whether democracy is on the right track or whether we are moving toward post-democracy. The text is presented in a combination of topical chapters and shorter texts devoted to case studies and special issues ranging from the question of whether small is beautiful
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P
SELECTED EUI BOOKS cadmus.eui.eu
ublications
Burke, Ciarán. An equitable framework for humanitarian intervention (Hart, 2013)
Cole, David; Fabbrini, Federico; Vedaschi, Arianna. Secrecy, national security and the vindication of constitutional law (Edward Elgar, 2013)
Francioni, Francesco ; Gordley, James. Enforcing international cultural heritage law (Oxford U Press, 2013)
Geary, Michael J. Enlarging the European Union : the Commission seeking influence, 1961-1973 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
Lixinski, Lucas. Intangible cultural heritage in international law (Oxford U Press, 2013)
Mair, Peter. Ruling the void: the hollowing of western democracy (Verso, 2013)
Millet, FrançoisXavier. L’Union européenne et l’identité constitutionnelle des États membres (Lextenso editions et Karine Roudier, 2013)
Pérez-García, Manuel. Vicarious consumers : transnational meetings between the West and East in the Mediterranean world (1730–1808) (Ashgate, 2013)
Rose, Richard. Representing Europeans : a pragmatic approach (Oxford, 2013)
Triandafyllidou, Anna; Gropas, Ruby; Kouki, Hara. The Greek crisis and European modernity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
Brisku, Adrian. Bittersweet Europe : Albanian and Georgian discourses on Europe, 1878-2008 (Berghan, 2013)
Radi, Yannick. La standardisation et le droit international : contours d’une théorie dialectique de la formation du droit (Bruylant, 2013)
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EUI TIMES | Autumn 2013
FLORENCE SCHOOL OF REGULATION
Chairman of International Power Ltd
BUCHEL
Deputy CEO, ERDF
FULVIO CONTI
CEO, Enel
andCLIMATE
FSR
2013
do we go
WHERE
JOS DELBEKE
Director General, DG Climate Action
DIRK FORRISTER
President & CEO, IETA
CONNIE HEDEGAARD
policy:
CHRISTIAN
26 NOVEMBER, BRUSSELS
FORUM
DIRK
EU Energy
BEEUWSAERT
?
from here
EU ENERGY & CLIMATE POLICY: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
A one day high-level Forum on European energy and climate policy organised by the European University Institute (EUI) and the Florence School of Regulation (FSR) in partnership with the Financial Times.
European Commissioner for Climate Action
ØYSTEIN LØSETH
CEO, Vattenfall
Leading policymakers, business leaders as well as regulators and academics will gather to discuss the future of energy and climate change policy in Europe. The forum will be followed by the FSR’s Energy Transparency Award ceremony where the 2013 winner will be announced. KNOWLEDGE PARTNER
PHILIP LOWE
ASSOCIATE PARTNER
SUPPORTING PARTNER
ORGANISATIONAL SUPPORT
Director General, DG Energy
GRÉGOIRE POUX-GUILLAUME
President, Alstom Grid
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN fsr@eui.eu | eecf.eui.eu
QM-AJ-12-001-EN-N
ISSN: 1977-799X