This book expertly analyses European political entrepreneurship in relation to the EU's approach towards the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development strategy. It explores the role of European political entrepreneurs in shaping, influencing and realising sustainable development goals (SDGs). Leading contributors consider political entrepreneurship at an international level, explaining how European political entrepreneurs act and interact in order to promote their policies at various levels of governance. Focusing on how EU politicians, public servants and bureaucrats create new and innovative institutional conditions, the contributors reveal how the UN SDGs are implemented in Europe. Chapters examine several EU actors in the context of numerous development goals to assess how political entrepreneurship challenges traditional EU institutions and promotes visionary activity to achieve the goals of Agenda 2030. Providing a unique contribution to the growing pool of research on entrepreneurial activity in the public sector, this book will prove to be a valuable resource for scholars working at the intersection between entrepreneurship, policy-making and European politics. It will also be beneficial for students and practitioners who are interested in global issues and sustainable development.

This timely and engaging book explores the role of European political entrepreneurship in debating, shaping and implementing the Europe 2020 strategy. Insightful chapters analyse the content, conditions and consequences of Europe 2020, investigating the plan for a future prosperous EU economy. Focussing on how European political entrepreneurship functions in times of crisis, Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth considers these crises as potential windows of opportunity. The expert contributors highlight how the 2020 strategy has been debated, decided on, and then implemented from a governance perspective with multiple actors, and look ahead to necessary future developments. Further to this, multi-level governance is discussed as a way to address the demanded socio-economic goals across the EU in order to effect smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Entrepreneurship and public policy scholars, particularly those with an interest in European affairs will find this book to be an interesting read. It will also prove to be a powerful resource for politicians and public servants working within the Europe 2020 strategy. Contributors include: H. Ekelund, A. Haglund-Morrissey, C. Karlsson, M. Nilsson, M. OEhlen, A. Parkhouse, B. Pircher, C. Silander, D. Silander, S. Tavassoli

The recent economic crisis has had severe and negative impacts on the EU over the last decade. This book focuses on a neglected dimension by examining European political entrepreneurship in times of economic crisis with particular emphasis on EU member-states, institutions and policies. Governance and Political Entrepreneurship in Europe examines the role that the political entrepreneur can play in promoting entrepreneurship and growth. The book includes an actor and a structure perspective by focussing on politicians and institutions within the public sector that use innovative approaches to encourage businesses with a goal of growth and employment. This exemplary book is a useful tool for entrepreneurship and political science scholars wishing to gain a better understanding of the ways in which political bodies can impact economic development. EU politicians and public servants would also benefit from reading this timely book as it offers key information on how they can help to promote growth. Contributors include: M. Alebaki, C. Berggren, M.-L. von Bergmann-Winberg, S. Gretzinger, C. Karlsson, B. Leick, A. Olausson, A. Parkhouse, E. Petridou, B. Pircher, C. Silander, D. Silander, P. Stroemblad, S. Tavassoli, E. Wihlborg

Political Entrepreneurship explores the role of political entrepreneurs in regional growth and entrepreneurial diversity. The authors define a political entrepreneur as a politician, bureaucrat or officer within the publicly funded sector who encourages entrepreneurship for growth and employment using innovative approaches. This book aims to enrich the established research on entrepreneurship with in-depth knowledge of the conditions conducive for political entrepreneurship in Sweden. Political entrepreneurs have the potential to be innovative and encourage entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial diversity by fundamentally challenging the prevailing formal and informal institutions. It is argued that, in times of economic stress, political entrepreneurship is essential to find new ways of promoting growth, employment and welfare. By using social science and economics perspectives, this study complements the dominant business administration research on entrepreneurship by increasing our knowledge of the economic and political contexts in which entrepreneurship and private enterprise is conducted. This book is essential reading for students, researchers and policymakers interested in politics, economics and entrepreneurship, as well as for those working in the public sector. Contributors include: D.E. Andersson, S. Andersson, A.E. Andersson, P. Assmo, C. Berggren, T. Bromander, C. Karlsson, M. Nilsson, C. Silander, D. Silander, P. Stroemblad, M.-L. von Bergmann-Winberg, Y. von Friedrichs, E. Wihlborg

Since the first elections of 1994, the South African constitution officially guarantees and promotes a wide range of political and civil rights and institutionalizes the separation of powers with an independent judiciary. This has made South Africa a political symbol of change, hope and democracy in Africa and around the world. However, since the introduction of free and fair electoral processes and with ANC dominating the presidency and the parliamentary seats, the political scene has been scattered by democratic challenges. South Africa remains a flawed democracy, combining free elections and respect for basic civil liberties with problems of governance, an underdeveloped political culture, and low levels of public participation. Today, South Africa stands at a crossroads. While the constitutional democracy has survived, South African democracy seems to have weakened by state capture, internal ANC implosion, corruption, societal polarization, social exclusion, xenophobia, and threats of state economic bankruptcy. South Africa faces growing discontent symbolized in intensified societal and political debates, protests and demonstrations providing for the question if this is a sign of dissatisfied citizens demanding deeper democracy or activities questioning the established constitutional democracy from an anti-democratic, populist, and radical point of view. South Africas Democracy at the Crossroads explores the question; what are the challenges to future democratization in South Africa?

This book examines the multiple strategies proposed by the international community for addressing global climate change (GCC) from both human and state-security perspectives. It examines what is needed from major states working within the UN framework to engage with the multiple dimensions of a strategy that addresses GCC and its impacts, where such engagement promotes both human and state security. Two broad frameworks for approaching these issues provide the basis of discussion for the individual chapters, which discuss the strategies being undertaken by major state powers (the US, the EU, China, India, Japan, and Russia). The first framework considers the multiple strategies, mitigation, adaptation, and capacity-building required of the international community to address the effects of GCC. The second framework considers the differentiation of GCC policies in terms of security and how the efficacy of these strategies could be impacted by whether priority is given to state security over human security concerns. This book will be of much interest to students of human security, climate change, foreign policy, and International Relations.

If governments and policymakers agree on the principles of responsibility to protect (R2P), then why do they continue to ignore them and deal with violations of human rights ineffectively? 'Responsibility to Protect and Prevent: Principles, Promises and Practicalities' explores the evolution of R2P, a principle which - according to its supporters - has evolved into a new type of responsive norm for how the international community should react to serious and deliberate human rights violations. Arguing that the R2P ethos has been misunderstood and used ineffectively, this work defends the validity of R2P and urges for a more practical understanding that moves beyond theory.

The progression of R2P from an initial concept to formal ratification has been a very difficult one, with a great deal of disagreement over its validity as a substantive norm in international affairs. The disagreement is not that protection or prevention are unimportant, nor that the international community does not have at least some responsibility to try to stop extreme human rights violations. Rather, it is primarily about how the fine-sounding R2P principles are supposed to work in practice, and the utility of such principles when governments and policymakers continue to ignore the basic premise of protection.

This volume presents a number of important arguments that are directly related to the state vs. human security debate, with a critical analysis of the nexus between the protection verses prevention theses Through the case study of the Libyan Crisis, Janzekovic and Silander offer an example of the discrepancy and confusion regarding how R2P should be applied in practice, and support the claim that prevention should be more than an adjunct to protection.

This book seeks to understand the obligation of the international community to implement the principles of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). With a focus on the humanitarian crisis in Syria, the volume examines what formal responsibility and actual capability international institutions have to protect and prevent civilians from systematic mass atrocities and presents an analysis of several prominent international organizations (IOs). Each chapter focuses on a specific organization and explores their formal responsibilities and how these pertain to the obligations of the R2P. Existing capabilities and actual abilities to address the challenges of R2P are analysed by looking at these issues before, during, and after the occurrence of the humanitarian crisis in Syria. With the UN not fully engaged in the Syrian conflict, the systematic human rights abuses have engendered greater attention on other organizations. This volume argues that if the UN Security Council's inactions result in an abdication of responsibilities under the UN Charter, there should not only be a discussion of how the UN must alter its approach, but also an examination of whether there are alternative R2P paths for other MNOs to take in the name of international peace and human security. This book will be of much interest to students of R2P, humanitarian intervention, international organisations, Middle Eastern politics and security studies.

This book seeks to understand the obligations of the international community to promote and protect state and human security in situations of international humanitarian crises. In Iraq and Syria, as well as in neighbouring states, the rise of ISIL has raised serious state and human security challenges. This study explores the relationships between the Global-Regional Partnership, the United Nations and nine organizations in their attempt to deal with the challenges presented by ISIL. Each organization is analyzed in terms of how it has responded in the past and how it is now responding to the ISIL threat based on three perspectives; resource capacities (military, political, economic, technological, normative); willingness and readiness; and impediments to capacity and abilities. The overall aim is to discern what capacities and abilities international organizations have to protect state and human security and prevent civilians from mass atrocities inflicted by ISIL forces. The study addresses the role of international organizations when the UNSC is unable or unwilling to uphold the most fundamental norms and values in the UN Charter. This approach acknowledges that within the international community there is an overall acceptance on security for a partnership between the UN and regional organizations, but that there is also a contested call for a renegotiated international contract on state and human security. This volume will be of much interest to students of international relations, human rights, peace and conflict studies, terrorism studies and International Relations.

This book seeks to understand the obligation of the international community to implement the principles of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). With a focus on the humanitarian crisis in Syria, the volume examines what formal responsibility and actual capability international institutions have to protect and prevent civilians from systematic mass atrocities and presents an analysis of several prominent international organizations (IOs). Each chapter focuses on a specific organization and explores their formal responsibilities and how these pertain to the obligations of the R2P. Existing capabilities and actual abilities to address the challenges of R2P are analysed by looking at these issues before, during, and after the occurrence of the humanitarian crisis in Syria. With the UN not fully engaged in the Syrian conflict, the systematic human rights abuses have engendered greater attention on other organizations. This volume argues that if the UN Security Council's inactions result in an abdication of responsibilities under the UN Charter, there should not only be a discussion of how the UN must alter its approach, but also an examination of whether there are alternative R2P paths for other MNOs to take in the name of international peace and human security. This book will be of much interest to students of R2P, humanitarian intervention, international organisations, Middle Eastern politics and security studies.

This book examines the multiple strategies proposed by the international community for addressing global climate change (GCC) from both human and state-security perspectives. It examines what is needed from major states working within the UN framework to engage with the multiple dimensions of a strategy that addresses GCC and its impacts, where such engagement promotes both human and state security. Two broad frameworks for approaching these issues provide the basis of discussion for the individual chapters, which discuss the strategies being undertaken by major state powers (the US, the EU, China, India, Japan, and Russia). The first framework considers the multiple strategies, mitigation, adaptation, and capacity-building required of the international community to address the effects of GCC. The second framework considers the differentiation of GCC policies in terms of security and how the efficacy of these strategies could be impacted by whether priority is given to state security over human security concerns. This book will be of much interest to students of human security, climate change, foreign policy, and International Relations.

This study tests the assumption that political regimes have uniform structures, which is central in the research on political regimes. The various analyses undertaken in the study are based on the concept of regime heterogeneity, which refers to the degree of institutional variation in political regimes. This concept is introduced in this book and opens the way to the possibility that political regimes may be more or less uniform in their structure. Furthermore, the study provides empirical support for the alternative assumption that political regimes may have institutional variations in their structure. The study also illustrates how politics functions when a political regime is characterized by regime heterogeneity. This book provides conceptual and empirical contributions that strengthen our understanding of how political regimes are constructed, but also how political systems function when political regimes have institutional variation.

After a decade of political oppression by Serbia in Kosovo, years of underground activities in Kosovo against Serbian rule, and months of armed confrontations between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian troops, NATO decided, in the spring of 1999, to intervene and force Serbian troops out of Kosovo. On June 12, 1999, United Nations Council Resolution 1244 released Kosovo from Belgrade's rule by transferring the control of Kosovo to the United Nations as a UN protectorate - the United Nations Interim Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). This was the largest UN mission in history. This book explores the political developments of Kosovo from the international intervention in 1999 to Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008. The author argues that the UN mission in Kosovo was doomed at its inception, because of the UN policy requiring that Kosovo met certain standards before the UN would commit to settling the future status of Kosovo. Without recognizing the country's sovereignty, Kosovo was unable to meet the UN standards. As a consequence, many challenges remain, compounded by a UN policy that for years left Kosovo a paralyzed society.