Saturday 26 March 2011
Reminder, the "drama," article.
We will begin the class with a discussion on why we seek drama and the roles it plays in our lives.
Article for the 29th of March
EU policymakers, public opinion divided on partnership with US
Published: 22 March 2011
European attitudes towards the US have improved markedly since the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, without quite reaching the levels prior to the Iraq war. However, both EU policymakers and public opinion are split on the need for a stronger EU-US partnership, according to a new poll.
A new survey by the German Marshall Fund of the United States shows EU leaders and public opinion are divided on how close the EU-US partnership should be. 49% of policymakers were in favour of 'closer' relations and 35% were for 'more independent' relations, while public opinion was almost evenly split 42-38%.
The poll, published last week, is the first of its kind since the 1960s and surveyed 512 policymakers and opinion leaders in Brussels and Washington, DC. MEPs, Congressmen, senior European Commission and Council officials, and leaders of businesses, labour unions and NGOs were among those interviewed.
The survey sheds new light on differences and commonalities of opinion in the US and the EU among the general public and political elites in Brussels and Washington, DC on issues such as relations with the US, the benefits of the euro, Turkish accession, the 'economic threat' of China and the use of force against Iran.
While EU and US attitudes towards one another were generally positive, elites were far more likely to be enthusiastic than the general public.
85% of EU policymakers polled considered US leadership 'desirable', while only 54% of the public thought the same. There were similar findings on questions such as whether EU-US relations were 'good' and whether the EU and the US shared common values.
German European People's Party MEP Elmar Brok, chairman of the Parliament's delegation for relations with the United States, said "we need to communicate more intensively so that the citizens understand the policies we do for them".
"The EU and the US are natural partners. We not only share a common history and common values, but the EU-US partnership is also the largest, most integrated and longest-lasting economic relationship," he added.
A clear EU-US divide on Turkey's accession to the bloc
Some of the findings were unsurprising for those in the 'Brussels bubble'. A majority of EU policymakers surveyed said Turkish membership of the EU would be a good thing, whereas only 22% of the public thought the same. In contrast, 71% of US leaders polled agreed.
The division between public opinion and the institutional apparatus was also evident on the euro. While 85% of EU policymakers considered the euro "positive for their country," only 38% of the general public agreed.
Interestingly, attitudes towards China's economic rise were very similar on both sides of the Atlantic. Almost two thirds of leaders polled in the EU and the US considered China to be an economic opportunity, whereas in both cases 51% majorities of the public considered China an economic threat, no doubt due to anxieties caused by the recession and outsourcing.
Differences over use of force, but publics hawkish on Iran
Confirming previous findings, strong differences on war and the use of force were found between the EU and the US.
Americans overwhelmingly agreed with the statement that "war is sometimes necessary to obtain justice". In contrast, less than half of EU leaders and a third of the public thought so.
US leaders and public opinion were more likely to favour sanctions and military force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. However, both the US and EU general publics were significantly more likely than elites to favour military force to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons "if all nonmilitary options fail". 62% of Americans and 46% of Europeans polled agreed with that statement.
Article for the 29th of March
EU worried about waning public image of renewables
Published: 06 October 2010
The European Commission is looking into mechanisms to boost public acceptance of renewable energy projects to meet its climate goals, but behavioural scientists warn that obvious solutions like individual compensation do not always work.
BACKGROUND
The EU's Renewable Energy Directive set national targets for renewables in order to reach a 20% share in the EU's overall energy mix by 2020 (see EurActiv LinksDossier on 'EU renewable energy policy').
To ensure that the goals are reached, the directive set "indicative trajectories" - intermediate targets - for each member state. Countries were obliged to draw up national renewable energy action plans by the end of June 2010, setting out measures on how they intend to keep up with their trajectories, but most member states missed the deadline and only 21 plans have been submitted so far.
The EU's Renewable Energy Directive requires each member state to produce a certain proportion of their energy from renewable sources to reach a common EU target of 20% in 2020.
But renewable projects often run into resistance from local communities, who have to live with the noise of wind turbines or the visual changes to their landscapes.
Mindful that developers of renewables projects often run into public resistance at the permitting stage, the European Commission's energy department has launched a study investigating how to increase local acceptance.
"A lot of time this is an obstacle to economic operators when they want to develop a [wind] park or another renewable project," said Ron Van Erck, policy officer at the European Commission, at a conference in Brussels yesterday (5 October).
He said that the preliminary results of the study show that there are several mechanisms to improve the situation by sharing the benefits of the projects. These include compensation mechanisms such as community funds, where the project banks money for the local community to spend as it sees fit, local ownership, where the developer offers a share of the project to local citizens, and direct compensation.
In addition, more indirect and softer mechanisms, like new local employment, and indirect social benefits, such as prestige to the area and eco-tourism, seem to be "quite effective" in creating local acceptance, Van Erck said.
"It appears also that when you go for individual compensation – just pay off one or two persons who may have problems with the project – it should be done with caution, since it tends to create problems," he added.
Behavioural studies
"It's good that we dig into these behavioural things," said EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard.
Her native Denmark, which pioneered wind power development in the 1970s and 80s, requires developers to offer a share of the project to local citizens to give them co-ownership, Hedegaard pointed out. "That in itself already helps a lot," she said, as locals will not have to put up with the inconvenience of having a wind turbine in their backyard without also seeing some of the money.
Hedegaard agreed that individual compensation remains "one of the more tricky points," but said it could be helpful if a local citizen had proof that their real estate had diminished in value as a result of a renewables project.
Nick Pidgeon, professor of environmental psychology at Cardiff University, said that compensation does not always work if the people in question are not seeking compensation but reject the project for other reasons. It also raises questions of fairness, he added.
"You've got to know the community to understand what type of process to put in place," Pidgeon stressed. He said that some people might get irritated when offered money, when in fact they object to the reliability of wind energy or the lack of local democracy in the permitting process.
Public acceptance poses a problem to the Commission, as it is essentially the responsibility of member states but can stand in the way of common EU energy goals. The EU executive will also attempt to tackle delays in permitting for energy infrastructureprojects via simplified procedures for projects of European interest, a leaked energy infrastructure plan showed.
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