John T. S. Keeler

Opening the Window for Reform Mandates, Crises, and Extraordinary Policy-Making

Under what conditions are governments within established democratic political systems willing and able to launch ambitious reform programs? In other words, what conjunctural factors generally serve to open the “window” for reform? The central argument of this article is that extraordinary policy-making generally becomes possible only when a macro-window is opened by a governments achievement of an impressive mandate and/or by the onset of a severe socioeconomic crisis. The mandate-reform hypothesis is tested with data from Britain, France, and the United States, then the significance of both mandates and crises is demonstrated through an analysis of eight “reform government” case studies ranging from the New Deal to Thatchers Britain.

The EU, NATO and the Quest for European Autonomy

Our title, Defending Europe, was chosen because its double meaning reflects the central themes of this book. All of the chapters that follow deal with issues related to the profound transformation of policy for the defense of Europe and the assurance of its security, as formulated within both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU), since the end of the Cold War. At the same time, all of the chapters address the issue of how new institutional arrangements may be viewed, in part, as devices for defending Europe’s interests or enhancing its influence vis-a-vis an increasingly hegemonic United States within the Atlantic Alliance. “Not since Rome has a single power enjoyed such superiority,” as Timothy Garton Ash noted recently—“but the Roman colossus only bestrode one part of the world.”1 As figure 1.1 illustrates, the U.S. defense budget is now five times that of Russia and is larger than the combined defense budgets of the next nine states on the top ten list.

Chirac's Challenge: Liberalization, Europeanization, and Malaise in France

Mitterrands Legacy, Chiracs Challenge J.T.S. Keeler & M.A. Schain - Presidents, Premiers and Models of Democracy in France J.T.S. Keeler & M. A. Schain - Constitutional Politics and Malaise in France A.Stone - The Many Styles of Policymaking in France F.Baumgartner - Business, the State and the End of Dirigisme V.Schmidt - Does the French Labour Movement Have a Future? M.Kesselman - Conflict and Consensus in French Education J.Ambler - Reforming French Health Care Policy D.Wilsford - Sexual Harassment, Gender Politics and Symbolic Reform A.Mazur - The Limits of Malaise in France M. F.Toinet - The Maastricht Referendum and the Party System A.Appleton - National Interest, European Integration and Malaise D.Cameron - Index