Michael Friederich Kluth

Balancing beyond the horizon? Explaining aggregate EU naval military capability changes in a neo-realist perspective

Abstract The present paper seeks to make sense of recent European Union (EU) naval capability changes by applying neo-realist theory to the EU as a collective actor in the global balance of power. The paper compares two different strands of neo-realist theory by deducing key predictions about the expected naval posture of the Union and the corresponding expected changes in capabilities. These predictions are subsequently held up against post-cold war data on naval acquisitions in the EU. The paper concludes that the observed patterns are best explained not as bandwagoning with the USA, but as a long-term balancing strategy aimed at bolstering the autonomy and international influence of the Union vis-à-vis other major powers, including the USA.

Explaining Policy Responses to Danish and Irish Banking Failures during the Financial Crisis

The 2008 global financial crisis produced very different responses in Ireland and Denmark. While both countries embraced depositor guarantee schemes and recapitalisation programmes, these were designed and adopted in significantly different ways. Crucially, the Irish state initially assumed full responsibility for sector losses and only later defined terms for industry contributions. In Denmark, a negotiated settlement from the outset transferred most of the risk associated with banking failures collectively to the banking sector. The article assesses two explanations for these different responses: (1) variations in domestic exposure to the financial industry, notably its relative size, dominant business models and exposure to real estate markets and (2) variations in institutional features, notably banking sector preferences and legacies of collective action. While limited explanatory power can be attributed to the former, collaborative legacies decisively swayed policy responses in Denmark and Ireland in the hectic weeks of late September and early October 2008.

The European Union and sub-Saharan Africa – from intervention towards deterrence?

This article argues that aspirations of maintaining a dominant influence over sub-Saharan security issues has spurred the French and British leadership of European Union (EU) foreign and security policy integration, just as it has informed military capability expansions by the armed forces of the main EU powers. While Europes initial African focus was on stabilising a continent marred by state failure, civil wars and genocides, changes in the global security context, especially the shift towards multipolarity manifest in Chinas growing engagement, has prompted a complementary focus on deterring other powers from making military inroads into the subcontinent. Hence Europes sub-Saharan security focus is shifting from stabilisation towards deterrence. This helps explain recent military procurements which, in spite of the extremely challenging fiscal position of most EU member states, feature large-scale investments in long-range deterrence capabilities.

European defence industry consolidation and domestic procurement bias

ABSTRACT How have European cross-border defence industrial mergers and acquisitions affected domestic procurement bias among the major EU powers? This article departs from the findings of Andrew Moravcsik more than two decades ago suggesting that major West European states had no ingrained preferences for defence industrial autarchy. When cross-national armament projects were derailed, this could be attributed to political efforts of national defence industrial champions favouring purely domestic projects. As former national champions join pan-European defence groups, their preferences are likely modified. Does this shift procurement towards non-European “off-the-shelf” solutions which, according to Moravcsik, are favoured by defence departments? Or does it give impetus to a stronger preference for European as opposed to domestic systems? In this article, procurement patterns in the aftermath of cross-border defence industry consolidation will be analysed. Procurement bias is assessed in two industry segments characterised by pervasive consolidation.

Small state strategies in emerging regional governance structures: explaining the Danish advocacy for China’s inclusion in the Arctic Council

ABSTRACT This article departs from the puzzling observation that of the five littoral arctic states the Danish realm has been the most consistent backer in China’s quest to gain observer status in the Arctic Council. Small states are generally assumed to adapt to changes in the international system such as spatial re-configurations and alterations in the distribution of capabilities. Yet Denmark’s enabling role in relation to China seems to contravene that assumption. Why would a small state invite one of the world’s leading powers to enter its regional domain while its principle allies and regional partners – including USA and Canada – were still indecisive or outright hesitant? This article explores three possible explanations for the Danish support for China: 1) a domestic politics explanation featuring strategic use of discourse to entice Chinese investments in Arctic mineral extraction. 2) a securitisation explanation suggesting that unease with growing Canadian securitisation of Arctic issues has prompted courting China as a balancing act. 3) a foreign policy identity explanation focussing on the normative desire to enmeshment China into a liberal Arctic order.

The Institutional Frame: from National Welfare to the EU Social Dimension

This chapter opens my analysis on the political economy of European labour market integration. What are the issues at stake in relation to the EU’s social dimension? At one level they address the questions of the distribution of welfare in society. While integration is instigated in anticipation of welfare gains, the net positive effects of integration are usually not Pareto-optimal. The beneficial effects of increased intra-industry trade may thus be countered by welfare losses suffered by particular firms or even regions due to increased inter-industry trade. A lack of social and redistributive measures to counter the allocational effects of European integration may cause alarming disparities between regions and citizens grouping them as either winners or losers. This may severely erode public support and hence the legitimacy of the entire venture. At a macro-level a social dimension may thus be designed to alleviate dislocated regions or perhaps even dislocated segments of the work force.53

Social Protection: Health, Safety and Equal Rights

This chapter examines two political initiatives in the realm of labour market policy. While formally addressing different issues they both pass under the heading ‘social protection’. By contrast chapter 4 probes explicit attempts to erect societal management mechanism by means of the social dialogue.

The Social Dialogue: Creating European Institutions for Labour Market Governance

Legal provisions regulating labour market affairs, adopted and enacted through formal state agencies, constitute only a part of the total institutional framework of labour markets in European Union member countries.

Introduction: Regional Integration and Political Economy

Following the launch of the internal market scheme in the mid-eighties the world witnessed a resurgence in regional integrative ventures.3 In Southeast Asia ASEAN gained a new momentum as it experienced a transformation from chiefly an intergovernmental venue created in response to security concerns towards a comprehensive regional trading bloc. In the Americas the United States took the lead in expanding a series of trading agreements with its northern neighbour to the NAFTA arrangement involving Mexico, USA and Canada. Further south the countries of Latin America have set up a number of regional trading systems the two most important being MERCOSUR and ANDIN (the Andean Pact).4

Conclusion: The Dynamics of European Labour Market Integration

European labour market policy impinges on one of the four freedoms constituting the backbone of the common market. It was politically amputated as a policy field following a row between, chiefly, France and Germany in the constitutional process preceding the signing of the Treaty of Rome.