French President Emmanuel Macron’s assertion three years ago that the transatlantic alliance was “braindead” rings as utterly misguided today.1 The resurgence of war in Europe has reinforced NATO’s raison d’être and forced Europeans to face the fact that there is no realistic alternative to transatlantic cooperation. Further, more European policy leaders recognize China’s increasing threat,2 which bolsters the case for Western “friend shoring” on defense and other issues. This process will require leadership on both sides of the Atlantic. France, the largest military power in the European Union and the second-largest EU economy, is more reluctant to embrace Atlanticism than most of its NATO counterparts. This hesitance risks limiting the success and scope of efforts to reinforce transatlantic cooperation. Nonetheless, in the evolving geopolitical context, France’s best shot at preserving its interests and influence would be through embracing Atlanticism and helping lead the reinforcement of transatlantic cooperation in the realm of defense and beyond. American policymakers should encourage and extend a hand to their oldest ally to embrace such a shift.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Politics, European Union, and Transatlantic Relations
Political Geography:
Europe, France, North America, and United States of America
The war in Ukraine and the long-term consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic have put the spotlight on important political developments in the three largest EU members, Germany, France and Italy.
In Germany, the new coalition government led by Olaf Scholz is trying to adapt the country’s foreign, energy and fiscal policies to the new international scenario, relinquishing some of its long-term tenets.
France has just re-elected Emmanuel Macron as President, who is likely to advocate more flexibility in EU fiscal rules and strategic autonomy in foreign, defence and energy policy.
Mario Draghi’s government has attempted to steer Italy out of the economic and health crisis and has sought closer cooperation with France. Italy will hold a general election by June 2023, with four parties vying for pre-eminence.
In the wake of Brexit, Berlin, Paris and Rome have tried to revive the integration process. In the near future, it is expected that they will continue to drive EU politics, even if sometimes with different priorities, in close consultation with European partners.
Topic:
Politics, Regional Cooperation, European Union, Leadership, and Political Crisis
On 1 January, France took over the presidency of the
Council of the European Union for six months. The
exercise, which mainly consists of leading meetings
of European ministers, is also an opportunity for
the country temporarily in charge to convey its
priorities and even a political vision for Europe.
In this respect, the French Presidency comes at a
particular time for the European Union, for France
and for its President, Emmanuel Macron.
Hard hit by the pandemic, the European Union is
both emerging from the crisis and adapting to the
global changes accelerated by the crisis. France,
for its part, is preparing for a major political event,
the presidential election in April, followed by the
legislative elections in June. For Emmanuel Macron,
the French Presidency of the Council will bring to a
close a presidential term of office that has focused
strongly on European issues, almost five years after
his speech at the Sorbonne.
Topic:
Politics, European Union, Leadership, and COVID-19
Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies
Abstract:
In January issue of Beehive, Elad Ben David analyses the reaction of French Muslim preachers to the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo’s republication in September 2020 of the controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
The lived experience of the covid-19 pandemic has split Europe just as the euro and refugee crises did, with the south and the east feeling much more badly affected than the north and the west.
Some people were affected directly by illness, some only experienced economic consequences, while others feel untouched by covid-19. The economic victims are more likely than others to say that restrictions have been too severe, and they tend to be more sceptical about their governments’ intentions behind lockdowns.
Europeans are divided over what they believe to be governments’ motivations behind restrictions: the Trustful have faith in governments; the Suspicious believe rulers want to cover up failings; the Accusers think governments are trying to increase their control over people.
Splits are appearing between those who believe that, in the context of the pandemic, the biggest threat to their freedom comes from governments, on the one hand, and those who fear the behaviour of their fellow citizens, on the other.
There is a major generational divide, with the young more likely than the old to blame governments for the ongoing impact; the young also feel more badly affected.
Poland, Germany, and France could each be emerging as archetypes for post-pandemic politics.
Topic:
Economics, Politics, Refugees, Crisis Management, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Polarization
There is currently much discussion about “digital sovereignty” in Europe. While the term encompasses very diverse connotations, it refers to a broad concept involving data, technological, regulatory and political elements. Cloud computing represents one example of the concrete materialisation of the European Union’s quest for “digital sovereignty” – especially through the development of its GAIA-X project. It is too early to assess whether or not GAIA-X will definitively help the Union to achieve this much-desired goal; however, some challenges have already emerged along the way. Looking to the future, if the EU wants to achieve “digital sovereignty”, a different strategy to the one currently under discussion will be needed.
Study produced as part of the project “La geopolitica del digitale”, March 2021.
Topic:
Politics, European Union, Institutions, Digital Policy, and Digital Sovereignty
There is currently much discussion about “digital
sovereignty” in Europe. While the term encompasses very
diverse connotations, it refers to a broad concept involving
data, technological, regulatory and political elements.
Cloud computing represents one example of the concrete
materialisation of the European Union’s quest for “digital
sovereignty” – especially through the development of its
GAIA-X project. It is too early to assess whether or not GAIA-X
will definitively help the Union to achieve this much-desired
goal; however, some challenges have already emerged along
the way. Looking to the future, if the EU wants to achieve
“digital sovereignty”, a different strategy to the one currently
under discussion will be needed.
Topic:
Politics, Science and Technology, Sovereignty, European Union, and Digital Policy
Funda Tekin, Vittoria Meissner, and Nils Fabian Müller
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Heterogeneity among countries in the European Union has continuously grown through enlargement processes or the outbreak of specific crises. After reaching important outcomes such as the European Monetary Union or the Schengen Agreement, in the face of the “big bang” enlargement of 2004 both national and European Union representatives subsequently committed to the motto “united in diversity”, confident that the European project would progress and deepen. Nevertheless, the crises in the euro area posed a number of new internal and external challenges to the overall European integration process as well as the EU’s political unity in terms of member states sharing the same rights and obligations, making permanent forms of differentiated integration more likely. Against this background, the paper presents a new collected dataset to outline how the EU narrative of political unity changes during times of increasing political differentiation and consequent differentiated integration. As such, it conducts a narrative analysis in two selected cases, the period between 2000 and 2004 preceding the big bang enlargement as well as the years of the crises in the euro area between 2010 and 2014. Although the existing narrative of political unity in the EU has changed in response to the crises under the more sceptical phrase “divided in unity”, our analysis shows that differentiation is not a threat to political unity.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Politics, Regional Integration, Institutions, and Integration
Political Geography:
Europe, France, Poland, Germany, Italy, and European Union
There has traditionally been a wide divide between the study of the politics of Islam in the Middle East and in the West. Middle East-focused research in American political science has focused in great depth on issues such as political mobilization, social service provision, electoral performance, and Islamist ideologies. American research on Islam in the West, by contrast, has often focused on cultural conflicts, immigration, terrorism, and anti-Islamic campaigns. Today’s European scholarship on Islam distinguishes itself by a wide spectrum of methods, topics, and fieldworks, with a trend toward strong ethnographic research. Over the last two decades, a prolific and pluralist field of scholarship on Islam and Muslims in Europe and the U.S. has emerged and brought to the fore innovative perspectives and understudied topics.
On June 28, 2018, POMEPS and Sciences Po CERI convened a workshop with a dozen scholars of Islam and politics in Europe and North America to engage with these various perspectives. Their work in POMEPS Studies 32: The Politics of Islam in Europe and North America illustrates the richness of the field of the politics of Islam in Europe and the U.S.
Topic:
Islam, Politics, Religion, Diaspora, Political Activism, Sunni, Shia, Jihad, and Tradition
What is the price of a vote? This paper investigates this consequential controversy by
analyzing a new comprehensive dataset of all French municipal and legislative elections
over the 1993-2014 period. We begin by documenting the evolution of campaign finance
in France, and show that both the amount and sources of campaign contributions vary
widely from one candidate to another, in particular depending on their political party. We then turn to the empirical analysis and tackle a number of empirical challenges. First, we
rely on recent methodological innovations to handle the special characteristics of
multiparty data. Second, to overcome the endogenous nature of campaign spending, we
propose a new instrument based on a change in legislation. We find that an increase in
spending per voter consistently increases a candidate’s vote share both for municipal and
legislative elections, and that the effect is heterogeneous depending on the parties and on
the sources of campaign funding. According to our estimations, the price of a vote is
about 6 euros for the legislative elections, and 32 euros for the municipal ones.
Simulations show that small changes in spending patterns and caps can have a large
impact on electoral outcomes and seats. Our results suggest that political finance needs to
be tightly regulated.
Topic:
Politics, Reform, Elections, Political Parties, Data, and Campaign Finance
Politics, News Analysis, and National & provincial initiatives
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Finland, France, Belgium, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Albania, Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Czech Republic, and Bosnia and Herzegovina