Social Movements and Public Action : Lessons from Environmental Issues
edited by :
Pascal MARTY and Sandrine DEVAUX
Prague, CEFRES, 2009, 193 p.
ISBN 978-80-86311-20-3

Since the end of the 80’s environment issues are taken into account in almost every domain of public action (energy, industry, agriculture, regional development, strategies for sustainable development…). Environment is not any more only related to narrow “green” issues (e.g. waste management, nature and wildlife conservation…). On the other hand, environmental issues have long been promoted by local groups and NGOs representing alternative social movements.
As public action for environment is now acknowledged or presented as a necessity by almost every institutional actor, social movements involved in environmental issues are being put in front of new challenges and particularly participation in public decision-making and institutionalisation.
This book was published with the support of the EU-CONSENT network of excellence, a European Commission Framework 6 programme.

Contents
« Environmental NGOs in the raising debate of climate change » (A. Dahan-Dalmedico, Ch. Buffet)
« Social protests and the world of the environmentalists in the Czech Republic » (N. Maslowski)
« The Green Party : an undeserved success ? » (M. Perottino)
« Involvement of the Czech environmental movements in the European game » (S. Devaux)
« Who knows ? Notes on civic epistemology in the Czech Republic » (T. Stöckelová)
« Social participation and environmental assessment policies » (P. Marty)
« Local actors facing environmental issues : a bottom-up approach« (M.-C. Maurel)
« Social actors and environment in local sustainable development initiatives » (A.-L. Lereboullet)

To order the book, please contact : claire@cefres.cz

Europeanisation : Social Actors and the Transfer of Models in EU-27
edited by :
Sandrine DEVAUX and Imogen SUDBERY
Prague, CEFRES, 2009, 257 p.
ISBN 978-80-86311-21-3

Since the 1980’s, the growing role of social actors has been observed in the framework of the European polity. If this new conception of European mechanisms is well understood and recognised by almost all stakeholders, nevertheless the manner in which social actors inside the EU-27 are using these new resources has still been little studied. The challenge of this collective volume is to capture the effects of both EU widening and deepening processes on social actors from old, new and prospective member states. The empirical findings presented here are the results of a research that took place within the EU-Consent programme, which was supported by the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commission.
The ultimate question is “has the European polity changed due to the widening process ?” Are stakeholders from candidate and new member states able to frame or reframe the rules of the European game ? To answer these questions, this book proposes a comparative approach of strategies adopted by social actors from different European countries.

Contents
« Revisiting Europeanisation : the role of social actors in the EU accession process » (Elsa Tulmets)
« The multilevel strategies of Portuguese socio-economic actors in the EU » (J. M. Magone, V. Martins)
« The Turkish interest groups in Brussels » (C. Visier)
« The Europeanisation of interest groups in post-communist states : the case of Estonia » (J. Ruus)
« The use of discourse on multifunctional agriculture in Bulgaria and Czech Republic : the case of agricultural lobby » (I. Yakova)
« The influence of the EU on the NGO sector in Poland – a benefit or an obstacle ? » (A. Pacześniak)
“Europe as a means of action : the campaign for voting rights for third country nationals in the Europeanisation process » (S. Lacalmontie)”
« The political communication of social movements : an empirical analysis of ATTAC associations claims-making over European integration » (M. Petithomme)
« Conclusion : towards a more sociological understanding of europeanisation » (S. Devaux, I. Sudbery)

To order the book, please contact claire@cefres.cz

Dialogues sur l’Europe. Paris-Prague à l’heure des présidences de l’Union européenne
sous la direction de :
Jacques RUPNIK et Jean-Marc BERTHON
Prague, CEFRES, 2009, 144 + 166 p.
ISBN 978-80-86311-19-7
Publication bilingue.

Quelles sont les valeurs de l’Europe ? Faut-il préciser les finalités du projet européen ? Faut-il fixer des frontières géographiques à l’extension de l’Union européenne ? Quelles politiques communes les Européens devraient-ils mener en priorité ?
Telles sont les questions sur lesquelles la France et la République tchèque, avant de se succéder à la tête du Conseil de l’Union européenne au cours du second semestre 2008 et du premier semestre 2009, avaient souhaité organiser un débat approfondi.
Ce débat sur les questions de fond de la construction européenne eut lieu à Prague les 26 et 27 mai 2008. Il rassembla des hommes politiques et des intellectuels des deux pays. Ce livre restitue leurs interventions et leurs échanges. Il montre la richesse du débat européen en France comme en République tchèque, mais aussi l’intensité du dialogue politique et intellectuel entre Paris et Prague.

Lire le texte ici

Pour commander le livre  : claire@cefres.cz

Borders of the European Union : Strategies of Crossing and Resistance
edited by :
Paul BAUER and Mathilde DARLEY
Prague, CEFRES, 2007, 294 p.
ISBN 978-80-86311-00-5

In the European post-Cold-War context, marked by the end of the bipolar world order which had played an essential role in the sacralization of borders, is the national border as a producer of spaces and representations to disappear, transcended by processes of economic and political integration at local and European level ? Or do we observe, at the local scale, a relative autonomy of the way of living the “limit” and of its representations vis-à-vis national and regional policies ? Are lines of rupture similar within the European space and at its periphery ? Are they becoming more and more numerous and multiform or are they, on the contrary, harmonizing as a result of a global political approach of “transborder” practices ? The texts gathered in this book should not be seen as a collection of answers to contemporary interrogations that the “frontier phenomenon” raises in a territorially, politically and economically mutating Europe. But they contribute to nourish a common reflection, through the exposition of different border situations at the margins of or within the European Union : the one of the relation between, on the one side, the emergence of a « European model » of border development and control, and, on the other, local economic needs, the historical thickness of local and national experiences, and the construction of identities.

Contents
« Prefaces » Michel Foucher / Hastings Donnan
« Introduction » Paul Bauer, Mathilde Darley
« Outer Borders, Inner Boundaries in Finland : The Reconstructed Russian Border and the Changing Geography of Memory » Jocelyn Parot
« Multicultural Policy as a Resisting Strategy of a Border Society : The uses of Ethnicity in the Spanish Enclave of Melilla » Eduard Rodriguez-Martin
« Practices and Discourses of Uneven Development : The Role of Border in Cultural Politics of the Identity of the Belarusian Community in Warsaw » Siarhei Liubimau
« New Forms of Mobility at the Romanian-Moldovan Border : European Enlargement and Changing Living Strategies » Bénédicte Michalon
« Borders : A Resource for Underground Economies » Pauline Carnet
« Are Cross-Border Urban Spaces European Integration Patterns at Local Level ? Analysis of the Management of Urban Areas astride the ’French Border’ » Bernard Reitel
« Everyday Life Near State Borders. The Social Effects of the Changing Status of Borders in Central Europe (Romania – Hungary) » Emmanuel Bioteau
« De-Traditionalizing the Cross-Border Co-Operation Practices : Interests, Values and “Culture” at the Finnish-Russian Boundary » Karri Kiiskinen
« The Primeval Forest at the Belarusian Border in Poland : Constituting and Crossing Borders » Eunice Blavascunas
« The Tri-National Prespa Park in Albania, Greece and Macedonia (FYROM) : Using Environment to Define the New Boundaries of the European Union » Jean Gardin
« Conclusion » Paul Bauer, Mathilde Darley

To order the book, please contact claire@cefres.cz