On October 2nd, a new BACES/JMC EUGov journal article has been published in one of the most authoritative journals covering politics, government and public policy in Western Europe: West European Politics. The authors of the article are Dr. Javier Arregui (BACES Director and JMC EUGov Coordinator) and Nicolas Bicchi (BACES PhD Researcher).

As said in the abstract, the article analyzes to what extent does being aligned in EU negotiations predict favourable outcomes for the Southern Euro countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece) in Council of the EU negotiations. The article attempts to answer this question by leveraging data from the DEU (Decision-Making in the European Union) dataset, and comparing this group of countries to two other well-established alliances at the EU level: the Nordics and the Visegrad Four. Results indicate that the Southern alliance generally lacks cohesion compared to the other groups, but when it is able to find a coherent position, it becomes more effective in obtaining its members’ desired legislative outcomes. Preliminary evidence also suggests that this effect occurs because aligning gives groups of countries more voting power, and because their social capital makes them more effective in negotiations.

If you are interested, you can find the full article in the following LINK.

JMC EUGov TEAM