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Informed by epistemological pluralism and state-of-the-art debate on research design in the social sciences, this volume combines conceptual elaboration with substantive research puzzles. Research Design in European Studies investigates different notions of causality and relates them to methods and techniques. Designed for use either in a course on European Union politics or in preparing projects on Europeanization, the book offers an applied perspective on research methods in specific areas of qualitative approaches to causality, as well as chapters introducing quantitative, critical realist, and discursive strategies. Substantively, the contributors tackle research issues in the domains of compliance, EU external relations, foreign policy, health care, party politics and urban governance.

This article examines the policy and strategies of the Shipping Federation, which was the most aggressive employer association in the United Kingdom during the pre-war period. Using a vast array of sources, including several series of minutes and the financial records and ledgers of the association of shipowners, this article provides a number of insights into the Federation's organizational and operational structure, the subcontracting of labour replacement to professional or commercial strike-breaker agencies as well as the delegation of protection tasks to vigilante groups. It looks at the transnationalization of its anti-labour schemes and the formation of an international body of strike-breakers, the International Shipping Federation, to deal with the question of maritime labour at home and abroad. The article emphasizes the shipowners' propositions to form their own private security organization in response to the Liberal government's assertion of neutrality in labour disputes. It shows their determination to use violence, including the presence of firearms, to suppress efforts by unions to achieve recognition and the monopoly over the supply of labour and hiring procedures. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the inclination of certain sectors of British industry to employ violent, illegal and inherently subversive means to protect their managerial authority from both the opposition of trade unions and the increasing encroachment of the state into industrial matters.

An argument commonplace in narratives concerning the difficult recovery after the 2008 crisis, the relative backslide of 2011, and the European peripheral debt crisis is that difficulties occurred because European economic integration has been privileged over any form of political solidarity. Consequently, Europe should develop the institutions of solidarity to provide relief of instability and inequality. Maastricht had to lead to political Union and to some form of solidarity, but this aspect always remained vague and was not implemented. What has been implemented after the crisis is an even tougher set of control-oriented institutions that introduce further rigidities in European economies, reducing the degrees of freedom of national economic policy. The aim of this contribution is to argue that the implementation of solidarity schemes in the EU should not be conceived of as a compensatory measure for the costs and damages directly or indirectly caused by the European Monetary Union (EMU) and its rigidities and passiveness, including the inability to curb financial instability. Solidarity schemes should instead be the product of unified programs framed by a genuine constitutional federalism.

In December 2017 and January 2018, the Sejm and Senate, thanks to the votes of the deputies of ruling party Law and Justice, passed hugely controversial law amending inter alia Polish Electoral Code. Its adoption was opposed by the parliamentary opposition, by the electoral administration bodies and by many experts, however unsuccessfully. The enactment of this law destabilises the electoral system without a clear or evident need and treats the electoral code as a political instrument. Secondly, it does not provide the sufficient time for adaptation (vacatio legis), which may jeopardise free and fair local elections and the stability of the political system. Thirdly, the bill contains numerous unclear provisions and is in many parts written in a careless and contradictory way. Such amendments do not correspond with the European standards, described in the Venice Commission's Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters.

Over the years Russia has become one of the most important partners of the European Union. Due to this fact a more democratic and modern Russia would have great benefits for the EU and might contribute to the stabilization of the European continent. But existing problems like terrorism, organized crime and environmental pollution are central challenges for the relationship and their solution demands for intensive cross-border cooperation. Therefore a clear strategy is needed in order to establish a successful cooperation. What strategy have the European politicians pursued and which influence have their plans exerted on the actual policy of the European Union? The European Union clearly accentuated the meaning of common values for the relationship towards the Russian Federation in the early and fundamental documents. However, it becomes more and more evident that in day-to-day policy there is a tendency to tolerate even substantial violations of the norms which originate from the concept of common values. One of the main causes for this behaviour is the strong economic interest of the EU towards Russia. For example, the Russian Federation supplies the EU with most of its energy resources, such as gas and oil. On the other hand the EU is the major trading partner of the Russian Federation. The notion of the common shared values is based - as stated in the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) and in the subsequent documents - on the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris. Because such principles are easily stated in a document their impact on the real policy has to be called into question and must be examined further in this essay.

Using a novel database, this study assesses the impact of the perception of the personal benefits of the EU Cohesion Policy on support for the European project. The results show that the gap in support between people who claim to have benefited from the Cohesion Policy and those who feel they have not vanished once differences in individual traits and reverse causality are taken into account. This means that, despite the significant positive effect that the intensity of the Cohesion Policy in the region exerts on the perception of the policy, it does not stimulate support for the EU.