Politics & Public Policy

‘2°C is an objective,’ EU Climate and Energy Commissioner  Miguel Arias Cañete said in February 2015, when questioned over the status of the widely recognised target for preventing ‘dangerous’ global warming[1] at this December’s Paris UN climate conference. ‘If we have an ongoing process you cannot say it is a failure if the mitigation commitments […]

Inga Ulnicane and Meng-Hsuan Chou What are the boundaries of the Europe of Knowledge? Does a specific conceptualisation of scientific excellence lead to a more divided Europe of Knowledge? How are diverse aims of research policy such as economic competitiveness, societal relevance and research excellence reconciled? Do universities increasingly behave like private companies? These are […]

One of the recurring themes in talks I give about the EU is the notion of entanglement: the idea that ‘Europe’ is not some distant agency, doing things to us, but rather IS us (at least in part) and that we are caught up in it, whatever we feel about it. A couple of stories […]

As affable as he may seem, as much as you might think you could have a pint down the pub with him, Mr Nigel Farage has a dangerous and confused message for the nation. This week he called for laws to prevent racial discrimination at work to be scrapped. British businesses should be free to […]

The use of knowledge has become increasingly important in policy-making for tackling important societal challenges such as climate change. As a result, the role of scientific evidence has grown as well. Particularly, the role of environmentally-related scientific knowledge has becomes more important. A significant example of this development is the 2011 100% Renewables Report of […]

Narrative arcs seem to be figuring in my life quite a lot at the moment. On the one hand, I’ve just started watching House of Cards and can already see the arc of Frank Underwood’s trajectory being sketched out: the initial pique, the considered revenge, the rise and – I presume – the ultimate hubris. Partly I […]

‘NIGEL FARAGE: UKIP WOULD BAN TERMINALLY-ILL MIGRANTS FROM BRITAIN’ – Telegraph My response: Turning away people with terminal illnesses? People with cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, lung disease, multiple sclerosis, liver cirrhosis, pituitary disease, mental illness… old age? All these conditions and more are potentially terminal. Nigel Farage’s vision for Britain will […]

There are many paradoxes in British politics, but the one that has most struck me in recent weeks has been the one about Europe. On the one hand, we are repeatedly told that the EU – and Britain’s role therein – is a crucial matter of public interest and public concern, and that it is […]

As governments gear up for the international climate change Conference of the Parties (COP) in Paris in December 2015, this post considers the role of political parties in climate politics. As the locus and focus of much modern-day political debate, parties arguably play a key role in shaping political conversations and actions on climate change. […]

Anete Vītola In my paper, “Innovation policy mix in a multi-level context: The case of the Baltic Sea Region countries”, I analyze how multi-level innovation policy mixes function in the six countries of the Baltic Sea Region – Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The paper summarizes findings of my PhD thesis research on […]