ARENA Working Papers 1999
ARENA working papers are pre-prints of research articles and chapters analysing issues of European governance and politics.
The State in the Post-National Constellation - Societal Denationalization and Multi-Level Governance
This paper attempts to conceptualize the role of the state in a post-national world by applying a relational understanding of sovereignty and authority.
The Common Foreign and Security Policy: an Emerging New Voice in International Politics?
This paper accounts for changes of the late 1990s in the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy. Discussing whether changes towards supranationalism could be stable and consistent, it is argued that traditional foreign policy perspectives must be supplemented to account for new dynamics.
Understanding of Theory in the Social Sciences
This essay discusses the concept of theory as it has been applied in social sciences; it arrives at a classification of four different uses of the word.
Multiple Institutional Embeddedness in Europe. The Case of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Government Officials
This paper investigates the dynamics of national officials involved in EU committee work. Drawing on organizational theory it is argued that the co-ordinative role of foreign ministries depends crucially on the framing of interaction in Brussels.
Unpacking Social Mechanisms. Comparing Social Constructivism and Organization Theory Perspectives
What lines could be drawn between constructivism and institutionalism with regards to subject matter and theoretical assumptions? This paper presents an unusual synthesis; empirics are drawn from national officials in EU committees, with focus on role conceptions and decision-making behaviour.
The "Europeanisation" of Central Government: The UK and Germany in Historical Institutionalist Prespective
The Europeanization of Gender Equality Policy and Domestic Structural Change
Delegering, læring og politisk kontroll i EØS-arbeidet: Norges deltakelse i EU-komitéer på veterinær-og næringsmiddelområdet
Europe in Search of Legitimate Governance
This paper evaluates the processes and interests involved in the development of a more legitimate EU.
The End of Citizenship? New Roles Challenging the Political Order
This paper discusses the marketisation of political citizenship towards client or customer roles. It is argued that while this is a logical effect of an increasingly complex public agenda, it also poses dangers for a conception of politics as endeavours for the collective good.
Schemes of Woting Weight Distributions in the EU: Possible and Actual Justifications
This paper discusses competing principles of vote distribution in the EU Council within a framework of normative political theory.
Why Comply? Constructivism, Social Norms and the Study of International Institutions
This paper argues that social constructivism suffers from a lack of micro-level, social agency theory; it attempts to fill this lacuna by analyzing state actor compliance with human rights regimes.
Globalisation and Democracy
This essay reviews a recent volume on globalization, marketisation and the challenges these developments pose to democratic political theory and practice at the turn of the century.
A critique of Structuralism. Towards a Generative Analysis of Disordered Systems
Subsidiarity and Democratric Deliberation
This paper considers subsidiarity as introduced by the Amsterdam Treaty in the light of democratic deliberation and alternative notions of legitimacy.
Global Ethics and Respect for Culture
How can the inherent tensions between supposedly universal rights and cultural relativism be resolved? This paper takes this question to a concrete evaluation of two policy documents: (i) an UNESCO report and (ii) the Bangkok Declaration, both dealing with Asian, Westen and 'universal' values.
Survival of the European Welfare State
This paper summarizes two decades of reforming European welfare states, while aspiring to give a balanced prediction for the future; it is argued here that organic adaptation is inherent to welfare regimes, pointing towards certain survival, yet in altered form.
The Search for Convergence of National Policies in the European Union: An Impossible Quest?
The Double Puzzle of EU Enlargement
How should we conceive of the EU's collective decision to expand towards Central and Eastern Europe? This paper analyses the process and finds that rationalist and constructivist approaches both have something to offer; while pursuit of self-interest may predominate, decision-making is played out within a framework of perceived consensus and need for legitimacy.
Talking Oil: A Study of Speech Acts Performed by Saudi Arabian and Norwegian Oil Ministers
This paper studies the rhetoric of Norwegian and Saudi Arabian oil ministers on the basis of John Searle's typology of speech acts.
What Do Theories of International Regimes Contribute to the Explanation of Cooperation (and Failure of Cooperation) among Oil-Producing Countries?
This paper discusses oil producer cooperation in the light of regime theory and finds that while such theory may have little specific to offer in this field, there are sound alternative explanations to voluntary cooperation among oil-producing states.
Sanctions, Social Learning and Institutions: Explaining State Compliance with the Norms of the European Human Rights Regime
Why do states comply with international norms? This paper draws together agency-focused regime literature and constructivist accounts of socialization to give a fuller picture of compliance, taking as case study the European human rights regime.
Norske myndigheter og EØS: mellom utenrikspolitikk og innenrikspolitikk
The European Union and Post-national Integration
This paper addresses the European Union in a deliberative perspective, portraying deliberation as the only viable procedure of non-coercive integration beyond the nation-state.
Role Conceptions and the Politics of Identity in Foreign Policy
This papers applies role conceptions as conceptual device to show how differing national identities in Britain, Germany and France lead to contrasting foreign policies in a post-Cold-War setting.
Eksterne sjokk og institusjonell endring: Kugalskap-krisen og reformer i EU
International Institutions and Socialization
This paper discusses the potential of social constructivism to gain a better understanding of international institutions; socialization is conceived of as a key concept for such understanding to be reached.
The Question of Deliberative Supranationalism in the EU
Questioning the alleged democratic deficit of the EU, this paper makes the case for discourse theory as alternative to the traditional liberal and republican conceptions of democracy.
(Regional) Norms and (Domestic) Social Mobilization: Citizenship Politics in Post-Maastricht, Post-Cold War Germany
This paper addresses the overarching question of citizenship and community in the present EU; its key focus is on the Federal Republic of Germany, to which is applied constructivist insights about international normative regimes.
Institutional Dynamics in Collapsing Empires: Domestic Structural Change in the USSR, Post-Soviet Russia and Independent Ukraine
What are the causal variables behind domestic structural change? This paper sketches a comparative analysis of three 'most different cases' of the Eastern bloc; one of the conclusions drawn is that individual agency, while crucial in an authoritarian setting, must be supplemented by constructivist insights of social learning and ideational exchange.
Institutionalising a Big Idea: Identities, Interests and Moral Doubt Brought to Bear on the EMU
This paper reviews a significant volume discussing the emergence and development of the EMU: The Politics of Economic and Monetary Union by Petri Minkkinen and Heikki Patomäki(eds)