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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > International institutions
Developing an original theoretical approach to understanding the roots of regional conflict and cooperation, International Relations in the Middle East explores domestic and international foreign policy dynamics for an accessible insight into how and why Middle Eastern regional order has changed over time. Highlighting interactions between foreign policy trajectories in a range of states including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey, Ewan Stein identifies two main drivers of foreign policy and alignments: competitive support-seeking and ideological externalisation. Clearly linking political, ideological and foreign policy dynamics, Stein demonstrates how the sources of regional antagonisms and solidarities are to be found not in the geopolitical chessboard, but in the hegemonic strategies of the region's pivotal powers. Making the case for historical sociology - in particular the work of Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser - as the most powerful lens through which to understand regional politics in the Middle East, with wider implications for the study of regional order elsewhere.
This book provides a concise account of the principles and norms of international law applicable to the main-type of international organisation - the inter-governmental organisation (IGO). That law consists of principles and rules found in the founding documents of IGOs along with applicable principles and rules of international law. The book also identifies and analyses the law produced by IGOs, applied by them and, occasionally, enforced by them. There is a concentration upon the United Nations, as the paradigmatic IGO, not only upon the UN organisation headquartered in New York, but on other IGOs in the UN system (the specialised agencies such as the World Health Organisation). -- .
In a trend that has been developing since the European Union was first established, it has becoming patently obvious that EU policies on the Mediterranean simply do not work. In the past this failure have largely been understood as being the result of problems that are primarily cosmetic in nature with some commentators indicating an issue with structural incentives or enforcement mechanisms in the region while others have pointed to a negligence of historical structures and legacies on the part of the EU that leave a lasting impact.This book provides a compelling alternative understanding of why EU policies on the Mediterranean have failed to work and one that highlights that the problems are far more than simply cosmetic but rather lie at the very foundations on which the entire edifice of EU-Mediterranean policy is built and continues to be built. As high-lighted by case studies using new constructivist Institutionalist perspective, the EU seems to have ignored the central role that ideas play in policies and in the process of policy formation but rather prioritise policies that continue to privilege the economic concerns of the EU, rather than the social concerns of the Mediterranean states. This books is important reading for students and scholars interested in the policy-making process of the EU and the impact of its policies.
The region of the Balkans has become one of the emblematic features
of the post-Cold War geography of international relations.
Understanding the extension of the European zone of peace to the
Balkans is at the heart of this pioneering work into the post-Cold
War socialisation of the region. How is peace (i.e. a
security-community-order) initiated in the Balkans? Who are the
dominant agents of such peace-promotion? What processes suggest the
initiation of (lasting) peace in the Balkans? Under what
circumstances do regional states comply with international
standards?
This book ""presents the first major comparative study of EU Cohesion policy after the May 2004 enlargement and the 2006 Cohesion policy reform. Using a balanced selection of case studies from both old and new member states, it examines the implementation of EU Cohesion policy in an enlarged and increasingly differentiated Europe.
The book addresses the impact of the European Union (EU) on subnational mobilization in small unitary states. Located at the intersection of contributions from the literatures on multilevel governance and Europeanization, this book offers a new theoretical framework to account for state rescaling processes in small unitary states. By means of a comparative analysis of eight small unitary states in Europe, this book shows that the impact of the EU on subnational mobilization is filtered through domestic mediating factors which can lead to three possible outcomes: decentralization, recentralization or no change. The book offers a balanced combination of analytical clarity and the richness of empirical accounts in a wide diversity of case studies. It sheds a new light on the 'hybrid nature' of the European polity and demonstrates that member state governments have remained the most important pieces of the European puzzle. Overall, it arrives at two conclusions: first, that we are witnessing a 'transformation of the state' rather than its demise; second, the notion of a 'Europe of the Regions' in small unitary states was no more than a 'damp squib'. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Regional & Federal Studies.
International aid and development is increasingly channelled through religious groups and this collection examines the role that these faith-based organizations play in managing international aid, providing services, such as health and education, defending human rights and protecting democracy. Focusing on Asia, Africa and the Middle East, this book argues that greater engagement with faith communities and organizations is needed, particularly in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, and questions the traditional securalism that has underpinned development policy and practice in the North.
This book explores the concept and practice of resilience that has generated much debate among both scholars and practitioners. The contributions propose a new understanding of resilience, both as a quality and a way of thinking, taking it to the level of 'the person' and 'the local', to argue that a more sustainable way to govern the world today is bottom-up and inside-out. While carrying a seemingly unifying message of self-reliance, adaptation and survival in the face of adversity, resilience curiously continues to appear as 'all things to all people', making it hard for the EU and international institutions to make full use of its arresting potential. Engendering resilience today, in the highly volatile and uncertain world hit by crises, pandemic and diminishing control, becomes a priority as never before. This book develops a more comprehensive view of resilience by looking at it both as a quality of the system and a way of thinking inherent to 'the local' that cannot be engineered from the outside. It is argued in this volume that in some cases the level of 'the person', especially the person's sense of what constitutes a 'good life', may be the most appropriate focus for understanding change and strategic adaptation in response to it. This understanding widens the scope of discussion from what makes an entity, system or person more adaptable, to how one can best govern today to establish a stable equilibrium between the global and the local, the external and the internal, and become more responsive to the challenges and changes of today's highly uncertain world. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal Contemporary Security Policy.
With growing levels of Euroscepticism across EU member states,
grasping the roots of opposition to European integration has become
more important than ever. This book charts public perceptions of
the European Union in both the EU-15 and the new member states and
introduces an identity-based model to explain mass
Euroscepticism.
The proliferation of regional trade agreements, including both free trade agreements and customs unions, over the past decade has provoked many new legal issues in WTO law, public international law, and an emerging law of regional trade agreements. The various Parts of this book chart this development from a number of perspectives. Part 1 introduces the economic and political underpinnings of regional trade agreements, their constitutional functions, and their role as a locus for integrating trade and human rights. Part 2 examines the WTO rules governing regional trade agreements, focusing on a number of areas in which regional trade agreements prove problematic, such as trade remedies, regulatory standards and rules of origin. Part 3 investigates areas in which regional trade agreements go beyond WTO rules, in areas such as intellectual property, investment, competition, services, sustainable development and mutual recognition, while Part 4 is devoted to the dispute settlement mechanisms of regional trade agreements, and includes illuminating case studies. Part 5 explores the interrelationship between regional trade agreements and the WTO system from the perspective of public international law, involving questions with significance beyond the trade community.
This book asks whether the well-established privilege against self-incrimination applies to corporations, whether it should, and if so, to what extent. Those questions have an increasingly important EU criminal law dimension. To answer them, this study draws on comparative insights from Belgium, England and Wales, and the US; as well as case law of the ECtHR and EU Law. It covers the established CJEU case law in competition cases, the recent CJEU ruling in DB v Consob and addresses Directive (EU) 2016/343. It will appeal to scholars of EU criminal law, but also to white-collar and competition practitioners.
In the near future the UK will need to decide whether or not to join the euro. Yet few of us really understand the issues at stake. Will the Government lose control of the economy if we join or will we lose investment and weaken our international voice if we remain outside the euro? When, if ever, will the time be right to join?
First published in 1993. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, in June 1992, was a unique event in the annals of international affairs. The 'Earth Summit' brought more heads of state and government together than any previous meeting, and five separate agreements were signed by most of the participating governments. It was billed as the world's greatest opportunity to resolve pressing problems of continuing poverty and environmental destruction and to set the world on a path of sustainable development. Thirty thousand people descended upon the city, and the Summit received a blaze of publicity around the world. Yet despite the vast efforts devoted to it, and the unprecedented press coverage which it received, to many the Earth Summit is still a mystery. The outcome has been labelled as everything from a disastrous fiasco to an outstanding success. Which was it; indeed, what was it? What came out of it? What was actually agreed, and what does it mean for the future of environment and development issues? This book presents a major summary and analysis of UNCED. It explains the background to the conference, its major achievements and disappointments, and the legacy which it has left. Individual chapters examine in detail each of the five main agreements signed at Rio, providing a short description of the negotiating background, analysis of the final text, and the likely implications. This title will be of great interest to students of environmental studies.
This edited volume proposes that an understanding of ASEAN - its development and institutionalization - is invaluable to our conception of international relations theory in the Asian context. Southeast Asia and ASEAN host peoples, ideas, institutions, and relations that contribute to a critical reassessment of theories in social sciences. In the field of IR, studies on transnational networks, diasporas, small states, middle powers, the role of history, and identity learn from Southeast Asian practices. ASEAN has long been established as an authoritative example of alternative ways of regional institutionalization. Besides empirical analysis, these fields can also benefit from their interactions with regional scholarly communities. This edited book offers an opportunity for a dialogue among scholarly communities on a variety of issues of which Southeast Asia and ASEAN provide ample opportunities for a critical analysis. This book will be of great interest to scholars of ASEAN, the broader Asian region, and for scholars of regionalism in general.
This book provides a timely evaluation of the EU's ability to act internationally and coordinate policy in a time when it also seeks to meet shifting demands of international cooperation. These include global sustainable development, the challenge of multilateralism and the changing geopolitical order. Analysing the networks of officials and policy professionals in EU development policy, the book yields theoretical insights into dominant processes that characterise EU governance in international cooperation and assesses their role for policy coordination. Overall, this book concludes that EU policy coordination evades intergovernmental control and demonstrates how the agency of EU institutions depends on efforts of member state officials to defend their priorities and identities. Finally, it shows the need to better understand the EU as a collective international actor, beyond the widespread concern with institutional adjustments, which continuously fail to produce the intended outcomes. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of European and EU politics, EU foreign policy, EU external relations and more broadly to international relations and international development.
This book shows how the first institution of global governance was conceived and operated. It provides a new assessment of its architect, Eric Drummond, the first Secretary-General of the League of Nations, appointed a century ago. The authors conclude that he stands in the front rank of the 12 men who have occupied the post of Secretary-General of the League or its successor, the UN. Part 1 describes his character and leadership. His influence in shaping the International Civil Service, the 'beating heart' of the League, is the subject of Part 2, which also shows how the young staff he appointed responded with imagination and creativity to the political, economic and social problems that followed World War I. Part 3 shows the influence of these early origins on today's global organizations and the large scale absorption of League policies, programmes, practices and staff into the UN and its Specialized Agencies.
The Millennium Development Goals, adopted at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, are the world's targets for dramatically reducing extreme poverty in its many dimensions by 2015?income poverty, hunger, disease, exclusion, lack of infrastructure and shelter while promoting gender equality, education, health and environmental sustainability. These bold goals can be met in all parts of the world if nations follow through on their commitments to work together to meet them. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals offers the prospect of a more secure, just, and prosperous world for all. The UN Millennium Project was commissioned by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to develop a practical plan of action to meet the Millennium Development Goals. As an independent advisory body directed by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, the UN Millennium Project submitted its recommendations to the UN Secretary General in January 2005. The core of the UN Millennium Project's work has been carried out by 10 thematic Task Forces comprising more than 250 experts from around the world, including scientists, development practitioners, parliamentarians, policymakers, and representatives from civil society, UN agencies, the World Bank, the IMF, and the private sector. This report lays out the recommendations of the UN Millennium Project Task Force 5 Working Group on TB. The Working Group's recommendations include expanding access to DOTS programs, implementing efforts against HIV-related TB and multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB, engaging all primary care providers and communities in high quality TB care, and developing new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines. These bold yet practical approaches will enable countries in every region of the world to halve the prevalence of TB by 2015.
The Millennium Development Goals, adopted at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, are the world's targets for dramatically reducing extreme poverty in its many dimensions by 2015 income poverty, hunger, disease, exclusion, lack of infrastructure and shelter while promoting gender equality, education, health and environmental sustainability. These bold goals can be met in all parts of the world if nations follow through on their commitments to work together to meet them. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals offers the prospect of a more secure, just, and prosperous world for all. The UN Millennium Project was commissioned by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to develop a practical plan of action to meet the Millennium Development Goals. As an independent advisory body directed by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, the UN Millennium Project submitted its recommendations to the UN Secretary General in January 2005. The core of the UN Millennium Project's work has been carried out by 10 thematic Task Forces comprising more than 250 experts from around the world, including scientists, development practitioners, parliamentarians, policymakers, and representatives from civil society, UN agencies, the World Bank, the IMF, and the private sector. In this report the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Water and Sanitation outlines the bold yet practical actions that are needed to increase access to water and sanitation. The report underscores the need to focus on the global sanitation crisis, which contributes to the death of 3900 children each day, improve domestic water supply, and invest in integrated development and management of water resources, all of which are necessary for countries to reduce poverty and hunger, improve health, advance gender equality and ensure environmental sustainability. Implementing the recommendations of this report will allow all countries to halve the proportion of people without access to safe water and sanitation by 2015
The European Union widened and deepened integration when it introduced the Single Market and the common currency, increasing the number of member countries from 12 to 28. After a quarter of a century, the 2008 financial and economic crisis opened a new chapter in the history of European integration. Prosperity was replaced by economic crisis and then long stagnation, with ramifications far beyond the economic arena. For the first time, after more than half a century, some countries were almost forced to step out of the Union. History's most frightening migration crisis shocked Europe and led to the strengthening of several anti-integration parties in various countries. This pioneering book discusses the nine crisis elements that could lead to disintegration of the EU. Beginning with the Greek Debt disaster this book delves into the cause of the recent European crisis and then onto the recent immigration influx and its consequences, as well as Britain's exit from the Union. A concluding chapter, based on the facts of positive development during the crises years, gives a cautiously optimistic forecast for the future and asks the question: further integration or disintegration? This volume is of great importance to academics, students and policy makers who have an interest in European politics, political economy and migration.
"The Millennium Development Goals, adopted at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, are the world's targets for dramatically reducing extreme poverty in its many dimensions by 2015?income poverty, hunger, disease, exclusion, lack of infrastructure and shelter while promoting gender equality, education, health and environmental sustainability. These bold goals can be met in all parts of the world if nations follow through on their commitments to work together to meet them. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals offers the prospect of a more secure, just, and prosperous world for all. The UN Millennium Project was commissioned by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to develop a practical plan of action to meet the Millennium Development Goals. As an independent advisory body directed by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, the UN Millennium Project submitted its recommendations to the UN Secretary General in January 2005. The core of the UN Millennium Project's work has been carried out by 10 thematic Task Forces comprising more than 250 experts from around the world, including scientists, development practitioners, parliamentarians, policymakers, and representatives from civil society, UN agencies, the World Bank, the IMF, and the private sector. This report lays out the recommendations of the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Environmental Sustainability. It identifies key environmental challenges, such as degradation of land, watersheds and marine fisheries, deforestation, pollution, and climate change. The Task Force proposes specific interventions and policy changes required to improve environmental management at the country, regional and international level. These bold yet practical approaches will help countries make progress towards environmental sustainability by 2015."
International trade policy, including the trade policies of the European Union (EU), has become controversial in recent years. This book illuminates the politicised process of the EU's contemporary trade negotiations. The book uses the notion of 'contentious market regulation' to examine contemporary EU Free-Trade Agreements (FTAs) with industrialised countries: the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the USA (TTIP), the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada (CETA), the EU-South Korea Agreement (KOREU), and the EU's agreement with Japan (EU-Japan). It also analyses cross-cutting issues affecting trade policy, such as business dimensions, social mobilisation, parliamentary assertion, and investment. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.
Investigating the unique EU-CARICOM legal relationship, this book explores the major theme of globalisation, which shapes inter-regional organisations individually and determines their relationship to one another. It evaluates how EU-CARICOM relations have fostered trade, security and other development measures, reflecting on the past, future and present of the Caribbean states that are active in the EU-CARICOM framework. Providing case studies on key issues such as immigration, tax and energy, it examines the impact that the EU-CARICOM has on the slave trade and the deportation of millions of people. Such bitter experiences still indirectly shape culture, hopes and the economic framework of possibilities today; therefore, the focus of the volume is on the issues which the constant stream of globalisation creates. The book assesses many potential impacts that the agenda of the EU and Brexit pending will have upon the EU-CARICOM relationship, given the potential for these to create instability. Overall, it highlights how the EU and CARICOM are representations for multilateralism and serve as models that provide the basis for many successful initiatives and agreements. In all new agreements and negotiations, the will to accept the Sustainable Development Goals and thus to make inequality, climate change and other goals of the SDGs the basis of an order that puts people at the centre, are evaluated, and the global agenda 2030 and its impact on EU-CARICOM. Overall, it highlights how the EU and CARICOM are representations for multilateralism and serve as models that provide the basis for many successful initiatives and agreements. In all new agreements and negotiations, the will to accept the Sustainable Development Goals and thus to make inequality, climate change and other goals of the SDGs the basis of an order that puts people at the centre, are evaluated, and the global agenda 2030 and its impact on EU-CARICOM.
This volume of the "Advances in Ecopolitics" examines the impact of the economic crisis on peripheral European states such as Ireland and Greece. Following an introductory chapter, it is divided into two geographically-focused sections, the first on Ireland, the second section on Greece. Specifically the book focuses on governance, sustainable politics and environmental policies, within the context of accelerated growth and the subsequent economic downturn. It also examines issues of governance and politics within these peripheral states, in addition to the development of policies within an EU/EC context. The book concludes with a discussion of the future for sustainable politics in the peripheral states of Europe, in the aftermath of the global downturn. "Advances in Ecopolitics" is essential reading for all academics, researchers and practitioners who are involved in the areas of environmentalism, providing insight and extending understanding of these issues.
This book explores the mechanisms of political representation and accountability in the European political system, against the backdrop of multiple crises in recent years in the economic, financial, security and immigration fields, which have triggered strong tensions and centrifugal drives inside the EU and among its member states. Exploiting a rich set of new ad hoc collected data covering elite and public opinion orientations and party positions, it investigates how the current politicization of European issues and the asymmetries among member states can challenge the sustainability of the European Union. It examines how existing policy tools were found largely unable to neutralize promptly the negative effects of these crises on the populations, economies and security of the Union and how this suggests the need to reconsider overarching theoretical frameworks and a more in-depth analysis of some crucial mechanisms of the European political system and to go beyond some of the dominant scholarly debates of the past decades. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of the European Union and more broadly to comparative European politics and international relations.
The study of the European Union has historically been a theoretical battleground. Since the 1990s, new theoretical directions such as neo-institutionalism, multi-level governance and constructivism have provided a new impetus. However, despite these new inroads, empirical work has often remained sociologically and empirically underspecified. This volume seeks to bridge the gap between theory and fieldwork by developing an actor-centred political sociology. In doing so, the volume engages in a critical dialogue with the constructivist framework and proposes to build on its insights through a sociological hardening centred on European actors. The renewal of European studies through political sociology is only useful if it generates new understandings through empirical observation. This volume seeks to take a new tack on constructivism by asking what it is that Europe constructs by looking at three areas- social spaces and professions, policy 'problems' and policies and policy instruments such as the Eurobarometer. -- . |
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