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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > International institutions
This book provides a new understanding of the eurozone crisis across three of the worst hit cases: Greece, Portugal, and Ireland. In contrast to accounts which stress the 'immaturity' of the European 'periphery', as well as more critical narratives that understand these countries as victims of German and core 'economic domination', this book recognises that individual peripheral countries have followed dramatically different paths to crisis, making it difficult to speak of the eurozone crisis as a single phenomenon. Bringing literature from Comparative Political Economy into dialogue with scholarship on Europeanisation, this book contributes the concept of 'divergence via Europeanisation'. It explores the much-overlooked ways in which the negotiation of a 'one size fits all' project of European financial integration has been generative of precarious patterns of economic growth across Greece, Portugal, and Ireland. The book shows that far from their failure or inability to do so, it has been the European periphery's attempt to 'follow the rules' of European integration that explains their current difficulties. This novel understanding of the eurozone crisis should appeal to students and scholars in International Political Economy, European and European Union Studies, Comparative Political Economy, Irish Politics, Greek Politics, and Portuguese Politics.
This book introduces Ali Mazrui's delightfully stimulating scholarship about intercultural relations, calling it Postcolonial Constructivism, and shares elements of his intellectual vitality in an original way. It begins with a chronicle of Mazrui's eventful, sixty-year journey as a scholar of International Relations. It then proceeds to present some of the most remarkable yet least remarked up on features of his intellectualism, including his paradoxes, his perceptive typologies, his neologisms as well as his interactions with historical figures. The book draws on materials which were either unavailable until now or were found scattered in time and space. Designed as an invitation to a wider audience to the supermarket of Mazrui's ideas, this book also seeks to underscore the timeliness and possible durability of many of his observations about intercultural relations.Thorough, comprehensive and up-to-date, this book is a concise account of the core of Mazrui's vast body of work.
A new international standard of national accounts is being implemented worldwide under the auspices of the United Nations. The New National Accounts is an authoritative introduction to this new system and provides a comprehensive explanation, with illustrative data, of the accounts and accounting concepts that all countries will use in the future. The book assumes no previous knowledge of either economics or national accounting. Beginning with an overview of the entire structure of the new system of accounts, both for flow transactions and their derived balancing items and also for stocks of economic assets and liabilities, Dudley Jackson explains the system's main balancing item - gross value added - and its relation to gross domestic product, to final expenditures, to primary incomes and to transfer payments. The book concludes by explaining the accumulation accounts and the resulting 'wealth of the nation' as recorded in the new system's balance sheets. The New National Accounts will be essential reading for both students and practitioners concerned with macroeconomics, economic policy, national accounting and comparative studies of the economic performance of advanced and developing countries.
Globalizing Europe examines the involvement of the European Union in the deepening integration that results as trade and transnational production link markets and economic systems across the world. This process is posing a unique challenge to European decision-makers to implement measures that will maximize the benefits and reduce the costs of globalization. As Europe expands and becomes more integrated it is being obliged to assume greater control over the development of its external economic relations. To effect this, the authors propose that member states play a more active and constructive role in the global political economy. They advocate the planning and implementation of major initiatives that could ensure greater stability in the world economy. Because of the magnitude of the economic bonds developing between the EU and the USA, special attention is paid to the trends and issues associated with the evolution of Atlantic relations. One of the greatest challenges the authors highlight, and a theme implicit throughout the book, is that the EU's external problems may receive inadequate attention due to the complexities of its decision processes. EU-level decision-making may become more introspective, rather than global, in outlook. Combining firm, industry, regional and country levels of analysis with the diverse and provocative views of the authors, this book will be essential reading for scholars of international economics, international political economy, and international business and finance.
This new edition covers each of the current issues concerning the development of the EU - for example, enlargement, EMU, security and defence policy, the Treaty of Nice, the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, Justice and Home Affairs and relations with countries outside Europe. Jargon-free and accessible, this substantial textbook opens with an introduction to the historical and theoretical perspectives on European integration. The book then examines the EUs institutional machinery and policy processes. The final section provides a wide-ranging review of the main EU policies, seeking to enhance understanding of the main issues and controversies surrounding development of the EU. Intended for students undertaking courses in European integration and as a supplementary book for other courses, this textbook is useful for anyone seeking a concise yet authoritative introduction to the institutions and policies of the EU. Robert Jones has drawn on his wide teaching experience to produce a text which students will find both accessible and stimulating.
This important book presents a comprehensive and systematic investigation of the effectiveness of environmental policy within the European Union at the dawn of the twenty-first century.The development of environmental policy, including the policymaking process, is analysed from an historical perspective. The authors then examine implementation and enforcement and present a critical appraisal of the impact of environmental policy throughout Europe. Key issues discussed include: trade and the environment environmental protection and the maintenance of industrial competitiveness agriculture and the environment energy and environmental policy transport and the environment tourism and the environment The authors provide insight into the problems of reconciling differing national interests, and present a number of proposals for environmental policy in the future. They conclude that what is required for effective environmental policy is not more radical measures but the opportunity for the measures already in place to be effectively implemented. This book will be of interest to a wide audience including students interested in environmental issues and the European Union, as well as postgraduates and academics working in the fields of environmental management and environmental studies. It will also be of use to environmental policymakers, consultants, advisers and non-government organizations.
This book introduces the Original Nation scholarship to examine the historical genealogy of the nation's struggles against the state. A fundamentally different portrait of history, geography, politics, and the role of law emerges when the perspective of the nation and peoples is placed at the center of geopolitical analysis of global affairs. In contrast to traditional and canonical state-centric narratives, the Original Nation scholarship offers a diametrically distinct "on-the-ground" and "bottom-up" portrait of the struggle, resistance, and defiance of the nation and peoples. It exposes persistent global patterns of genocide, ecocide, and ethnocide that have resulted from attempts by the state to occupy, suppress, exploit, and destroy the nation. The Original Nation scholarship offers a powerful and widely applicable intellectual tool to examine the history of resilience, emancipatory struggles, and collective efforts to build a vibrant alternative world among the nation and peoples across the globe.
Concerns about European prospects for competitiveness, jobs and growth are high on the European Union agenda and regulatory reform, both at national and EU levels, is widely recognised as a crucial tool for improving the performance of European companies. Despite the single market, selective sectoral regulatory reform and certain reforms at the national level, regulation in Europe still tends to discourage new entrants, impede new production methods and inhibit the exit of existing competitors. It often increases costs without providing compensatory benefits, reduces operational flexibility and distorts capital expenditure, creating obstacles to innovation. The authors in this book argue that regulatory reform can, more often than not, help improve the competitiveness of companies while generating net growth effects for the European Union as a whole.In this book, the authors discuss the horizontal issues involved in regulatory reform. Following an extended introduction by the editors, two general chapters address regulation and growth, and the regulatory burdens and failures in Europe. Other chapters deal with national competition policy, state aid, EU environmental policy, reforms in product markets, labour market reforms, the regulatory environment of small and new firms, and the current, insufficient EU reforms to improve regulatory quality. Throughout the book the authors aim to demonstrate how the market can function more efficiently and offer policy recommendations to show how regulatory reform can improve competitiveness at the firm level as well as performance at the industry, national and EU levels.
Highly topical and with an interdisciplinary focus, this book explores the recent political and social developments in EU citizenship. Bringing political scientists, sociologists and law scholars together, this book analyses the implications of identity categorisation regarding gender and generations in the EU and what this means for the realisation of citizens?' rights, particularly of women, young adults and migrant care workers throughout the EU. Established researchers explore the stories of social and civil rights in the EU, covering family mobility and migration issues, the precarious positions of female migrant workers across member states and the EU?s promotion of diverse family rights. Moreover, the book focuses on the prominent issues facing the new generation of young adults: particularly social mobility, civil rights and political parties?' differing views on gender and family issues. With insight into national and regional perspectives on these significant topics, the authors argue that the European Parliament is currently striving for a new consensus to unite member states and dissipate current divisions. An important read for academics and students from across the social sciences, specifically public and social policy, gender studies and European studies, interested in the future direction of the EU surrounding gender and generational division. Contributors include: G.M. Dotti Sani, J. Gal, T. Knijn, A. Krizsan, D. Lepianka, J. Long, M. Luppi, M. Naldini, R. Oomkens, L. Rolandsen Agustin, A. Santero, B. Siim, J. Sipic, D. Sirinic, C. Solera, L.J. van den Braken, M.A. Yerkes
This book provides an in-depth analysis of EU-Tunisia negotiations during the last three decades to understand what 'joint ownership' means in Euro-Mediterranean relations. The principle of joint ownership often figures in the EU's public discourse of the EU and other international actors. Yet, it has been scarcely conceptualised and there is little research on which factors determine its presence or lack thereof. The book contributes to its definition, highlighting its evolving nature and intersubjective dimension. The author further explains how bargaining rules, practices, and procedures affect joint ownership by constraining or empowering actors, and shaping their expectations about which options they perceive are possible during the negotiations. Negotiation analysis proves useful for showing how, and to what extent, the interests of both sides eventually feature in Euro-Mediterranean agreements and enables scholars to bring back third countries' agency and perceptions into the study of the EU's external relations.
Research on evaluation shows that low-use and non-use of evaluation is common, yet evaluation is hailed as beneficial and worthwhile. The worth of evaluation is tied to its utilisation, presenting a paradox if evaluation is both revered and underutilised. This book investigates this paradox in the under-researched context of small development non-profit organisations, which have specific resource constraints and 'bottom up' community development values that complicate their ability to do and use evaluation in line with top down directives. The book examines the utility, meaningfulness, and purpose of evaluation from small non-profit perspectives, and explores whether evaluation has value for these organisations. For development practice, it presents evaluative alternatives that reconceptualise evaluation as part of the active process of development rather than as an interval-based add-on. For evaluation theory, it highlights a historical preoccupation with improving evaluation without assessing its inherent worth, and considers alternative ways to enhance the value of evaluation for small non-profits.
This book focuses on the recent rise of new regional economic institutions such as the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which were established, in part, as a result of dissatisfaction of dynamic emerging markets with global economic institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the GATT/WTO. The latter were formed by advanced economies in the West, after the historic Bretton Wood Conference of 1944. In doing so, the book addresses how this recent round of decentralisation, defined as the co-existence of "senior" global institutions and a plethora of newly-established regional institutions, has affected global economic governance, and the delivery of global public goods. It also poses the question if this has led to the fragmentation of global economic governance. The book adds value to existing literature by using a benefit-risk analytical framework to study the decentralisation process. Unlike the "contested multilateralism" argument used by some authors which focuses on the costs of decentralisation, the authors argue that benefits must also be considered. It also describes and analyses the establishment of global and regional international economic institutions and the evolving relationships between the two. Third, the authors argue that this decentralisation process will continue in the postpandemic period and recommend policies to reset the relationship between global and regional institutions. And lastly, the book discusses proposals to reform the international monetary system including the global reserve system with a view to reducing the hegemony of the US dollar. Throughout the book, the role for Asia is also identified, and elaborated on.
In the first interdisciplinary work focused on the European Ombudsman, expert observers of EU institutional affairs provide a thorough evaluation of the Ombudsman and its constitutional role, powers, activities and future potential. The book addresses the Ombudsman's impact on accountability in the EU's executive branch and offers new suggestions for the further development of the practice of 'ombuds review'. The contributions to the discussion within this book come from law, political science, administrative science and economics. Looking at comparative developments in EU law and policy they critically review, from a variety of perspectives and methodologies, the Ombudsman's role in the review of activity of EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies. They then evaluate this role, and its achievements, against the original objectives for creating an Ombudsman some 20 years ago. This timely book will appeal to scholars and advanced students of the EU political and legal system. It is a also must-read for policy advisors and practitioners looking to enhance their understanding of alternative modes of dispute settlement and anyone interested in the future of administration in the EU. Contributors include: P.N. Diamandouros, D. Dragos, I. Harden, H.C.H. Hofmann, R. Mastroianni, J. Mendes, B. Neamtu, C. Neuhold, G. Tridimas, T. Tridimas, J. Trondal, A. Wille, J. Ziller
Among the criteria for accession to the European Union are democracy and the Rule of Law. In the insightful analysis offered by the author of this book, these concepts, while admirable and even necessary criteria in principle, are almost impossible to measure, and any judgement grounded in them will always be difficult to justify. In his words, by including analysis of democracy and the Rule of Law within the field of the EU enlargement law, the Union entered an unstable terrain of vague causal connections and blurred definitions. Dr Kochenov addresses this problem by proceeding as follows: outlining EU enlargement law in general, including the principle of conditionality and the role played by the analysis of democracy and the Rule of Law in enlargement preparation; and focusing on the role actually played by the monitoring of democracy and the Rule of Law in ten candidate countries, scrutinizing the way the EU used the legal tools and competences outlined in its enlargement law.The book adopts the EU's own understanding of democracy and the Rule of Law, as derived directly from the substance of the numerous legal and political instruments issued by the Community Institutions and especially the Commission in the course of the pre-accession process. In this way it demonstrates the actual, as opposed to the officially announced, role played by the assessment of democracy and the Rule of Law in the candidate countries in the regulation of enlargement. Many formidable inconsistencies in the application of the conditionality principle are thus laid bare.This leads the author to a series of recommendations on policy and procedure that he demonstrates could be profitably applied to the regulation of current and future accessions, using the Commission's own structure of monitoring pre-accession reforms in the three areas of the legislature, executive, and judiciary in candidate countries. The probity and soundness of these recommendations, firmly grounded as they are in the actual pre-accession monitoring and its consequences for the pre-accession progress of ten Eastern European countries admitted to the EU in 2004 and 2007, will greatly interest policymakers and scholars concerned with the future of European integration.
This book examines why Turkey has become infamous as a repressor of news media freedom. For the past decade or so it has stood alongside China as a notorious jailer of journalists - at the same time as being a candidate state of the EU. The author argues that the reasons for this conundrum are complex and whilst the AKP is responsible for the most recent illiberality, its actions should be taken in the wider context of Turkish politics - and the three way battle for power which has been raging between Kemalists, Kurds and Islamists since the republic was founded in 1923. The AKP are the current winners of this tripartite power struggle and the securitisation of journalists as terrorists is part of that quest. Moreover, whilst securitisation is not new, it has intensified recently as the number of the AKP's political opponents has proliferated. Securitisation is also a means of delegitimising journalism - and neutralizing any threat to the AKP's electoral prospects - whilst maintaining a democratic facade on the world stage. Lastly, the book argues that whilst the AKP's securitisation of news began as a means of quashing the reporting of illiberality against wider political targets, since 2016 it has become a target in its own right. In the battle for power in Turkey, journalism is now one of the many losers.
Professor Philip McCann has contributed to a revival of regional and urban economics. His ideas and research have stimulated views about how regions and cities grow, and also how they can be better governed. He offers here another major contribution to improved regional policy design. By its scale and scope, EU regional policy reform merits a thorough and enlightening analysis such as this. This is an important book by one of the finest scholars in the field.' - Joaquim Oliveira Martins, Head of OECD Regional Policy Division, France'Geographical economics has come a long way in the past two decades. It has generated new ways of thinking about how to improve development in less-favoured cities and regions, in the context of a commitment to enjoying the advantages of trade and the mobility of people and knowledge. Philip McCann's magisterial analysis of one of the most ambitious efforts ever undertaken in this area - the EU Cohesion Policy - argues powerfully for a new way forward based on respecting the different starting points of cities and regions and mobilizing their potential, and yet doing so with rigorous respect for efficiency and openness.' - Michael Storper, London School of Economics, UK The regional and urban development policy of the European Union, or more precisely, EU Cohesion Policy, is undergoing change. This development is driven by the enormous transformations in European regions and by shifts in thinking and analysis. The issues raised by the changes to regional and urban development policy in Europe span many academic disciplines and build on different research methodologies. A broad approach is required in order to address these issues and this book explicitly incorporates insights from a range of different disciplines. After examining the major regional and urban features of the European economy and discussing the analytical underpinnings of the current re-design to EU Cohesion Policy, the book also aims to provide a road map of the various EU regional and urban data-sources which are available to researchers and policy-makers. This volume is aimed at all economists, geographers, regional scientists, spatial planners, transportation scientists, sociologists, urban studies researchers, environmental scholars, political scientists and policy-analysts who are interested in regional and urban issues. Contents: Preface 1. The Backdrop to EU Cohesion Policy Debates: Europe 2020 and the Post-Crisis Economy 2. The Regional and Urban Economies of the European Union 3. The Logic and Workings of EU Cohesion Policy 4. A Reformed EU Cohesion Policy 5. Innovation, Regions and the Case for Regional Innovation Policies 6. Smart Specialisation and European Regions 7. Conclusions on the Reforms to the Regional and Urban Policy in the European Union Bibliography Index
This book devises a new conceptual framework of 'moral power' and applies it to the policy of the European Union (EU) towards the South Caucasian states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. It covers the period starting from the 1990s to the present and analyses policy domains (democracy promotion, conflict resolution, security, energy, trade) juxtaposing the policy of EU/member states with those of the United States (US), Russia, Turkey, Iran, as well as inter-governmental and regional organizations. 'Morality' is unpacked as composed of seven parameters: consequentialism; coherence; consistency; normative steadiness; balance between values and interests; inclusiveness; and external legitimacy. 'Power' is branched into 'potential', 'actual' and 'actualized' types. 'Moral power' is consequently developed as an objective and neutral framework to capture the foreign policy of an international actor in any geographic area and policy sphere. The book will be useful for students and scholars of International Relations and EU Studies, policy-makers and practitioners.
No analysis of migration in Europe today can avoid consideration of the role of the EU institutions, as well as the member states, in policy-making. This is because the obstacles for labour mobility which have confronted the EU in the post-enlargement period have been multi-dimensional in nature, have encompassed many different aspects of European integration process, and have operated at many different levels. Recent developments in the free movement of labour in Europe entail a comprehensive analysis of the dynamic of migration policy process, contextualising institutional change, cooperation, control and competition between the EU institutions and the member states. This book provides a picture of how governance of labour migration is constructed, managed, negotiated and decided at the European level. It brings together in an informed and well-organized way some of the key issues in the face of current migration crises and Brexit.
The eurozone crisis has raised fundamental questions about the EU's future and has also sparked debate about the wider functions and future direction of European integration in the 21st century. This engaging book provides a broad-ranging reassessment of the whole experience of integration to date and the challenges which face Europe today.
Environmental Policy in Europe focuses on the creation of environmental policy, how new legislation is formed and the influence brought to bear by industrial interest groups. By addressing the nature of this consultation process between interested parties and public authorities, the authors show why public policy in the European Union is so different in practice from the prescriptions of academic scholarship. European environmental legislation results from a process of consultation and negotiation which is extensively explored in this volume by a distinguished group of authors. Focusing on such issues as pesticide registration, combustion emissions, the European waste management industry, recycling regulations and eco-auditing, they offer unique insights into the development of public policy. While the analysis focuses on the actual behaviour of firms and public authorities, the authors also discuss the involvement of firms within the regulation devising process - to determine whether their behaviour distorts the public interest - and the strategic use by firms of the regulatory process by firms leading to restrictions of competition. Scholars, students and policymakers will welcome Environmental Policy in Europe for seeking to enlarge the traditional perspective of environmental economics on public policy while integrating the recent advances of both the economics of regulation and industrial economics.
This pivot introduces the Arctic Council and its role as a platform for dealing with local, national, regional and global challenges of relevance to the "new" Arctic. Against the backdrop of climate change and increasing commercial activity, it considers what a future Arctic should look like, from ideas of total protection to expansive oil and gas extraction. It examines the Arctic's position on the political agenda, from Norway's High North hype to a more peripheral place in the foreign policy of the US and explores the Council's role as an important international forum for dialogue and cooperation on Arctic challenges and opportunities, and a significant arena for developing knowledge and learning about a changing region.
Institutionalist analysis is increasingly used as a key research tool for economists confronted with the shortcomings of mainstream economic analysis and the problems presented by the transformation of socio-economic systems in Eastern Europe. On Economic Institutions brings together leading economists working in a wide range of research traditions who examine theories of institutions and institutional change. This important volume shows that the failure of most neoclassical economic analysis to consider economic institutions is a major shortcoming in scholarship which seeks to describe and understand crucial economic phenomena. After discussing the dynamics of institutional change, the contributors examine the explanatory variables necessary for researching institutions and pay particular attention to 'efficiency' as the key variable used by neoclassical institutional analysis. Later chapters examine the processes of institutional change focusing on issues such as path dependency, selection mechanisms and institutional dynamics, and methodological issues in analysing economic institutions. An introduction by the editors places these papers in context and traces the development of economic research across the various schools. Economists from both neoclassical and institutionalist schools, as well as economic historians, are making increasing use of institutionalist analysis as a key research tool. In bringing together cutting-edge theory and research on economic institutions, this important volume will be welcomed by scholars working in evolutionary and institutionalist research traditions, as well as by organizational theorists and sociologists.
This book offers an in-depth case study on the leading international refugee agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and its approach to environmentally displaced persons. The author examines the UNHCR on the basis of expert interviews and content analysis in order to highlight why and how the organization is addressing the issue. The analysis draws on organizational as well as security theory, offering readers a better understanding of the connection between the two. The book appeals to scholars in the fields of migration and organizational studies, as well as policymakers and professionals working in international organizations.
When the Wall Street banker takes the side of the indebted developing countries in his feature articles reviewing the impact of the global sovereign debt crisis of the 1980s in the Dutch daily NRC-Handelsblad, it is time to leave banking. He is attracted to Unicef's vision and goal of Health for All and its tireless pursuit of structural economic adjustment programmes with a human face. In Africa, Boudewijn Mohr jumps into Unicef's hands-on work in the field. He spearheads the clearing of landmines in Unicef project areas in Mozambique, and engages with children throughout his travels on the continent. Thus he can be found playing football with former child soldiers in Monrovia; touring Nouakchott with street children who show him the tricks of pick pocketing; or gate crashing a diamond mine that exploits child labour near Kenema in the rebel-infested east of Sierra Leone. His stories are both an adventure and the search of fulfilment but at the same time a call to all those who want to do more and are uncertain of what the world holds. Part of the proceeds of this book are going to 'Hands-Up Foundation', a British charity working with Syrian doctors and nurses in Syria under harsh circumstances.
Based on an extended agonistic pluralism perspective, this book offers a novel notion of a transnational public sphere that goes beyond the questions of whether a European public sphere exists or is possible and instead provides a solid understanding of its key features. This book offers an alternative concept of European integration based on the idea of integrative and constitutive conflicts. Not only an exploration of the emerging European public sphere, this groundbreaking book evaluates the outcomes of the EU polices aiming to create it as well as the trans-European networks' efforts to become a pan-European civil society. Expert contributors also explore the European public sphere's contribution to democracy and present enhanced empirical knowledge of the role of supranational institutions and pan-European networks in facilitating European integration, thus challenging the liberal intergovernmentalist, neo-functionalist and multi-level governance approaches. Integration, Diversity and the Making of a European Public Sphere will be of interest to scholars and upper level students of European studies, politics and public policy. Global, regional and national civil society organizations, think tanks and media corporations will also find value in this book. Contributors include: W. Dressler, D.N. Duru, M. Klicperova-Baker, J. Kostal, M. Mokre, M. Perez, R. Sata, H.G. Sicakkan, H.-J. Trenz, J.H. van de Beek, F. Vermeulen |
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