Soft power is a useful concept of political theory and sociology developed by J.S. Nye Jr. in 1990. However, this concept can be overly abstract and hence somewhat artificial. In particular, this concept has been criticized by other sources and points of view. This paper develops a more complex...

Providing regional and global security governance is both increasingly common and controversial in Germany. The paper addresses the sources of current controversies in three areas: First, legal limits that emanate from the delegation of competences in regional and international institutions....

This paper covers the analysis of the energy markets, emerging trends, oil price evolution and oil shocks and focus on the identification of the major energy game changers. Furthermore the issues of the energy security in the XXI century are introduced and discussed within the framework of...

Over the past twenty years or so, economic and cultural interdependence has gone hand in hand with the rise of nationalism, particularly in stateless nations. For example, Catalan politics has increasingly focused on the issue of secession from the rest of Spain. As in Flanders, Quebec,...

This working paper examines the institutional reaction to the sovereign debt crisis in Europe. The response has so far consisted of three new financial mechanisms: the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the European Stability Mechanism....

Bringing together a variety of outlooks from comparative law, legal theory, organizational sociology, socio-legal studies or political science, this Joint Working Papers explores the cognitive equipement through which international judges perform their role. The notion of 'fabric', borrowed from...

This paper analyses the effects of the crisis on trust in national and European Union institutions within an EU27 country sample from 1999 to 2012. The paper finds that the overall negative trends in trust throughout the crisis are driven by countries from the eurozone (EA12). However, whereas...

The twentieth century is commonly acknowledged as the 'age of migration'. During the last 100 years population movements have intensified and, more importantly, their structure changed significantly. In terms of the geographical distribution of immigrants the European Union and traditional...

The increasing complexity, interdependence and acceleration of global developments, digital media and the growing share of global public goods, have all contributed to the publicitisation, sectoralisation and summitization of foreign policy worldwide. In this context, the Lisbon Treaty since...

This paper is written against the background of the on-going evaluation of the EU Visa Code and an emerging paradigm shift in EU visa policy with visas becoming a tool for economic growth and job creation. The paper analyses, more particularly, current challenges for the proper functioning of...