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This article examines the relationship between the Europeanization process and the anti-globalization agenda in Europe. Relying on the results of fieldwork research conducted since 2001 on the anti-globalization demonstrations surrounding the European summits, it argues that these transnational protest movements are of a dual and, in part, contradictory nature. On the one hand, they have an agenda-setting character, contributing to the formation of European public opinion. On the other hand, their influence in terms of agenda setting of European policy is constrained by their discourse style which bypasses or circumvents of special discourse about European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Culture' and 'change' are not words typically yoked together in social science. Indeed, the whole point of explanatory recourse to culture is to account for permanencies. Nonetheless, subject to certain conceptual precautions, middle range cultural analysis can work in conjunction with mainstream political science to clarify processes of policy change. The paper illustrates this by focusing on the case of European research policies and practices. After presenting a conceptual framework designed to bring together cultural analysis and policy science, the paper elaborates, on the basis of the framework, a theoretical scheme for the analysis of research policy. It then reports on some empirical findings from recent research and assesses the extent to which they validate the conceptual and theoretical framework. Finally, the paper offers some conclusions about the scale and innovative nature of policy change in contemporary European polities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]