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This article explores the role of multilevel thematic partnerships method in building a specific policy, namely, the Urban Agenda for the European Union (EU) adopted in 2016. This method, designed as a pilot experiment, formalizes cooperation among different levels of government as well as public and private actors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of the multilevel governance approach and to determine the extent to which the thematic partnerships method contributes to the politicization of a decision-making process at the European level. For this purpose, the methodological design is based on network analysis applied to four case studies, namely, the following four thematic partnerships: Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees, Urban Poverty, Climate Action and Security in Public Spaces. Firstly, the results show a higher mobilization of stakeholders representing local interests; secondly, it is also shown that the monetization of the problem determines the nature of stakeholders (stakeholders representing social or economic interests) that join the policy networks. In sum, this article makes an empirical contribution to multilevel governance and politicization studies on the one hand, and to urban and European studies on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on analysis of public opinion towards European integration in Greece, Portugal and Spain, countries known for their positive attitudes toward integration. In particular, the article analyses how public attitudes towards Europe have been formed in these countries. Secondly, it examines the determining factors of citizens' positive attitudes toward integration and shows the types of variables that are essential to understanding the differences between Greeks, Spaniards and the Portuguese. It also examines traditional euro-optimism in these southern countries. The findings show the relevance of identity and the various impacts of party platforms and ideology in attitudes of support for European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the evolution of women's presence in both chambers of Spanish Parliament —Congress and Senate— during the last three decades, as well as in the European Parliament since 1986. The patterns of transformation in female representation are then compared with a) other lower houses in the rest of the EU countries, b) Spanish regional parliaments and c) other levels of political power such as national, regional and local governments. Further, the question of gender in political parties is raised. Finally, we identify the main socio-demographic differences and similarities that characterize female MPs and Senators in comparison to their male counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last 15 years have seen an explosion of efforts to develop international norms of minority rights, both at the global level and at regional level. These developments offer the promise of protecting some of the most vulnerable groups in the modern world from serious injustices. Ethnic minorities have not fared well under the Westphalian system of sovereign «nation-states». Various policies of assimilation and exclusion have been directed at minorities in the name of constructing homogenous nation-states, and the international community has historically turned a blind eye to these injustices. Today, however, there is a growing commitment to remedy this situation, and it is increasingly accepted that the treatment of minorities is a matter of legitimate international concern and monitoring. At a minimum, these evolving norms set limits on the means that states can use to pursue their visions of national homogenization. But they also, implicitly at least, offer a competing vision of the state, one which views diversity as an enduring reality and defining feature of the polity, and which views tolerance as a core value. Viewed in this light, the trend towards codifying international norms of minority rights is surely a desirable and progressive one. And yet it raises a number of moral dilemmas and ambiguities. This paper wants to explore some of these dilemmas through a close examination of recent attempts to codify the «rights of national minorities» in Europe. The European experience provides a fascinating, if flawed, experiment in developing international norms of minority rights, one with lessons for other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]