2015 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Consolidating or Dismantling Representative Democracy at the EU-level: An analysis of the activites of the Europarties, European Parliamentary Groups before and after the 2014 European elections
| Project/Area Number |
26380174
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| Research Institution | Oita University |
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Principal Investigator |
Day Stephen 大分大学, 経済学部, 教授 (60404357)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
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| Keywords | Europarties / European Union / European Parliament / Democracy / elections |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
During the second year of the project I have been able to:
1) Continue to undertake research on the role and significance of the European political parties in the aftermath of the 2014 European Parliamentary elections.
2) Undertake two field trips which proved fruitful in deepening my understanding of contemporary developments and also enabled me to continue building my contact base. In November 2015, I attended the Congress of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Party (ALDE-P), in Hungary, where I was able to attend debates, collect party literature and undertake on-the-spot interviews. Second, in March 2015, I undertook a research visit to Ireland and the UK. Here I conducted interviews with representatives from the four main Irish political parties and talked about their relationship with their corresponding European-level political party. I was also able to interview a number of party politics experts at the University College Dublin and Trinity College and attend some public meetings in Dublin and London.
3) I gave two presentations during the year relating to the European Union. I also began thinking about the rise of populism and the existential crisis that the European Union is currently facing. In May, I was invited to become a 21st Century Ambassador for the National Democratic Institute (US) initiative on the future of political parties.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
My actual research has continued to advance as I hoped in my original plan. I have continued to develop my conceptual framework and collect and digest empirical material. Unfortunately, the opportunity to disseminate my findings in an international arena did not pan out as planned as two applications to international conferences were not successful. So that from that point of view things are slightly delayed. One paper though will be presented (in absentia) at the London School of Economics in May 2016. This is a joint paper with Dr. Simon Lightfoot from Leeds University who is a leading expert on the Europarties.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In this final year, I will continue to collect data as the story of the Europarties and European parliamentary groups continues to unfold. The need to study the impact of BREXIT will also be an important issue this year. I intend to disseminate my work via one or two presentations and continue to write the occasional blog postings. My overall aim is to continue to work on a short monograph on my research theme. I hope to find a Japanese publisher and translator so that my work can make a contribution to society. In March 2017, I intend to hold an end of project meeting that will be open to the public.
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| Causes of Carryover |
To increase the budget for labour costs. This is intended to contribute towards the costs of translating my final manuscript from English to Japanese.
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| Expenditure Plan for Carryover Budget |
I wish to make use of these additional resources to pay for the translation costs associated with my final manuscript.
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Research Products
(5 results)
