Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In recent years, United States foreign and domestic affairs have become increasingly intermeshed. Since these affairs are linked, domestic and foreign policy might also be linked, and implemented under a larger policy umbrella. In this critical case study, this paper examines National Security policy to look beyond if these policies are linked in practice, and see how the administration discusses them. Through discourse analysis, this paper investigates the justificatory rhetoric of the Bush administration on the U.S.A. Patriot Act and the Bush Doctrine, a domestic and a foreign policy within National Security. By analyzing Bush’s rhetorical justifications in this critical case study, this paper aims to provide a foundation for future research to explore this connection, a concept I label the policy web construction.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Drawing on the author's ethnographic and textual analysis research over a five-year period in the United States, the paper observes that older generations of workers are getting used to the new models of technology-driven communication but may not feel "at home" in them. The author suggests steps for policy makers to stimulate and reward older workers, whose roles in the "new work" are both vital and threatened. Proceeding from data suggesting that work status often drives home computer and Internet competencies and usage in the lives of Americans over 50, the author acknowledges that the advancing age of Baby Boomers will cause some generational differences in competency and usage to disappear, but cultural differences among elders will persist. Effective public policy for curing the Digital Divide must include attention to older Americans on the margins, many of whom are single women, racial minorities, and residents of central-city or rural areas, the author claims. Recommendations include:
1. Tailor retirement systems for individual differences.
2. Make employment sectors elder friendly.
3. Make the educational system non-discriminatory.
4. Eliminate ageist practices inside the academy.
5. Strengthen policies to deter age discrimination by employers.
6. Encourage inclusive images of older workers.
7. Stop retrofitting facilities to "shoehorn" in disabled (often older) workers.
8. Encourage intergenerational learning communities.
9. Pursue age studies and intergenerational research.
The author concludes that citizens must assume a collective responsibility for re-creating social environments that will accommodate unprecedented complexities of intergenerational living in today's world.

Publication Type: Proceeding

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Several approaches in the literature on compliance with international law trace non-compliance back to the decision-making stage. While enforcement approaches argue that the power of assertiveness during the decision-making stage positively affects compliance, legitimacy approaches put forward the fairness of the decision-making procedure. Yet, little attempts were made to provide an empirical underpinning for the theoretical claims that features of the decision-making process have a sustainable effect on implementation. This paper seeks to fill this gap by exploring to which extent policy-shaping might affect policy-taking of European Union (EU) policies by drawing on the case of national parliaments. It analyses the involvement of French Assemblée Nationale and the German Bundestag throughout the legislative procedure of two EU environmental directives and shows that neither power of assertiveness nor procedural legitimacy explains the subsequent transposition of these directives by the two legislatures. Yet, the study highlights that policy-shaping might affect policy-taking under the condition that it provides information on the rule and thereby enhances the capacity of implementing actors.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Is there such a thing as Common European Foreign Policy? In evaluating European Foreign Policy (EFP), it is important to take into account that EFP is made by the institutions of the EU as well as the institutions of the member states. Recent conceptualizations of foreign policy analysis have focused on actor-specific theories, are best suited for explaining EFP. This paper analyzes the case of the European democracy promotion policies toward the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since the beginning of the 1990s the African Great Lakes region has been the target of continued involvement on the part of the European Union as a whole as well as some of its member states. Drawing on James Rosenau's framework, this paper seeks to demonstrate how and when different actors influence the initiation and implementation phases of foreign policy making. Within the analysis of each stage, this paper mainly focuses on comparing the respective role and influence of the institutions of the member states as well as the institutions of the EU. The analysis of the case presented in this paper illustrates the extent to which each of these actors is relevant to the making of foreign policy and whether or not it is justified to talk about a Common European Foreign Policy and what we mean by this.