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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > International institutions
Enormous progress has been made in global health conditions during the past several decades, yet chronic hunger and illness persist in poor countries. The authors analyze the potential of international cooperation to improve health in poor countries. Drawing on various disciplines, including public health, economics, and other social sciences, the authors stress the need for collaborative processes and local institution strengthening.
In a historic decision at its Copenhagen Conference in June 1993,
the European Union gave the green light to an eastward expansion.
Initially, invitations to join the EU went out to just six
countries of the former Soviet bloc: Poland, Hungary, the Czech and
Slovak republics, Romania, and Bulgaria. However, it was not long
before there was a queue of other applicants from Eastern Europe
pressing at the EU's gates.
This book provides a comprehensive account of national parliaments' adaptation to European integration. Advancing an explanation based on political parties' constitutional preferences, the volume investigates the nature and variation of parliamentary rights in European Union affairs across countries and levels of governance. In some member states, parliaments have traditionally been strong and parties hold intergovernmental visions of European integration. In these countries, strong parliamentary rights emerge in the context of parties' efforts to realise their preferred constitutional design for the European polity. Parliamentary rights remain weakly developed where federally-oriented parties prevail, and where parliaments have long been marginal arenas in domestic politics. Moreover, divergent constitutional preferences underlie inter-parliamentary disagreement on national parliaments' collective rights at the European level. Constitutional preferences are key to understanding why a 'Senate' of national parliaments never enjoyed support and why the alternatives subsequently put into place have stayed clear of committing national parliaments to any common policies. This volume calls into question existing explanations that focus on strategic partisan incentives arising from minority and coalition government. It, furthermore rejects the exclusive attribution of parliamentary 'deficits' to the structural constraints created by European integration and, instead, restores a sense of accountability for parliamentary rights to political parties and their ideas for the European Union's constitutional design.
Since UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched the Global Compact in 1999, over 12,000 organisations around the world have voluntarily adopted and promoted its values and Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and corruption. This corporate citizenship initiative has been seen as a non-compulsory alternative to international market regulations. Around the globe, the UN Global Compact has promoted the creation of local and regional networks for businesses to act together to mainstream the Ten Principles. This edited volume brings together international contributions on the specific implications for business when embracing the Global Compact. Managerial, internationalisation, legal, behavioural and sociological perspectives are explored in this volume in which both evidences and theoretical developments are reflected.
This book examines EU Eastern Partnership taking into account geopolitical challenges of EU integration. It highlights reasons for limited success, such as systematic conflict of EU External Action. In addition, the book analyses country-specific issues and discusses EaP influence on them, investigating political, economic and social factors, while seeking for potential solutions to existing problems. The reluctance of the Eastern countries to the European reforms should not reduce political pro-activeness of the EU. The authors suggest that EaP strategies should be reviewed to be more reciprocal and not based solely on the EU-laden agenda. This book is one of the good examples of cooperation between scholars not only from EaP and EU countries, but also from different disciplines, bringing diversity to the discussion process.
This unique collection of data includes concise definitions and explanations relating to all aspects of the European Union. It explains the terminology surrounding the EU and outlines the roles and significance of the institutions, member countries, foreign relations, programmes and policies, treaties and personalities. It contains over 1,000 clear and succinct definitions and explains acronyms and abbreviations, which are arranged alphabetically and fully cross-referenced. The book has been fully updated to include details of the elections to the European Parliament and the appointment of the new European Commission in 2014, together with other important revisions. Among the 1,000 entries you can find explanations and background details on:accession negotiations the African Union the 'Arab Spring' the Common Agricultural Policy competition policy the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund the euro human rights Jean-Claude Juncker the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) the Schengen Agreement Serbia the Single Supervisory Mechanism the single rulebook the Treaty of Lisbon Ukraine
Thoroughly updated, this extensive reference source provides in-depth information on all matters relating to the European Union (EU): EU energy policy in the context of the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine is covered in depth, as is the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on EU policy; EU citizenship after Brexit is discussed, together with EU migration policy and the EU's social framework; EU-Africa relations are reviewed, and current issues in overall foreign policy and security are addressed. Key Features: an up-to date chronology of the EU from 1947 to present an A-Z section contains definitions and explanations of organizations, acronyms and terms, and articles on each member state. Comprising some 1,000 entries, terms listed include: Brexit; the European Institute for Gender Equality; Next Generation EU; REPowerEU; and Team Europe articles written by experts on the EU provide an overview of its policies and activities. a directory of principal names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail and internet addresses of all major European Union institutions and their official bodies. This information is supplemented by summaries of important treaties, and details of EU-level trade and professional associations. Users will also find details of MEPs and the political groups and national parties contributing to the European Parliament a statistical survey gives tables covering: population, employment, agriculture, energy and mining, industry, the environment, finance, trade, transport and communications, tourism, health and welfare, and education across the EU This title will prove valuable to academic and public libraries, politicians and government agencies and the media, as well as to all those in need of accurate and reliable information on the European Union.
Drawing on research from the administrative sciences and using organizational, institutional and decision-making theories, this volume examines the emerging bureaucratic framework of the EU and highlights that analyzing the patterns and dynamics of the EU's administrative capacities is essential to understand how it shapes European public policy.
This book dissects the complex social, cultural and political factors which led the UK to take its decision to leave the EU and examines the far-reaching consequences of that decision. Developing the conceptual framework of securitization, Ryder innovatively uses primary sources and a focus on rhetoric to examine the ways that political elites engineered a politics of fear, insecurity and Brexit nationalism before and after the Brexit vote. He situates Brexit within a wider shift in international political ideas, traces the resurgence in popularity of far-right politics and explores how Britain and Europe now face a choice between further neoliberal reform or radical democratic and social renewal.
This highly topical book discusses the potential enlargement of the EU to embrace the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the enormous challenges, opportunities and threats this poses for parties on both sides. Understanding of the diversity of the issues raised, even by an experimental expansion, is limited and rarely extends beyond the concerns voiced in a particular policy arena. This volume brings together contributions from specialists across the spectrum of the social sciences who consider the possible outcomes of expansion per se. The authors consider the countries to which membership might rationally be extended, and discuss the future of a Union that continues to be exclusive, but which must advance in the context of the overall march of globalisation. The contributions from numerous disciplines are complementary and include both macro- and micro perspectives. EU Expansion to the East is designed to be accessible to all scholars of European affairs, as well as those interested in transition and policymakers at national, regional and local levels.
The eastward shift of political and economic power has been accompanied by increasing interest and participation in international peace support and stability missions by Asia-Pacific countries. From rising giants such as China and Indonesia to newer contributors such as Cambodia and the tiny city-state of Singapore, this book provides a first-ever cross-regional comparison of the capabilities of Asia-Pacific countries to contribute to peace support missions, with an eye to identifying strengths, weaknesses, emerging trends and policy implications.
This book focuses on the most important implications of the "fair hearing" right for conducting civil proceedings. It provides a thorough and critical analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (the Strasbourg Court) regarding Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It puts forward a generally applicable framework for the analysis of the various procedural issues to which the "fair hearing" right may give rise, then applies that framework to discuss a selection of specific procedural issues. The book investigates several important questions of general scope in the context of ECHR Article 6, such as: What is the relevance of case law regarding criminal proceedings when the "fair hearing" right is applied to civil proceedings? How does the Strasbourg Court actually proceed when evaluating whether specific court proceedings have been "fair"? What are the roles of fundamental concepts such as the "margin of appreciation" and proportionality in this regard? In the subsequent discussion of specific procedural issues, the focus is on the balance that must be struck between procedural safeguards and the objectives of efficiency and economy. The book considers specific procedural issues such as: When must an oral hearing be held in order for civil proceedings to be "fair"? When will a refusal of specific evidence render civil proceedings unfair? When is a civil litigant entitled to le gal aid? As such, the book not only presents current case law; it also compares various strands of the case law regarding the "fair hearing" right, and argues that the Strasbourg Court's approach to various pertinent issues needs to become more consistent. Offering an in-depth examination of the Strasbourg Court's case law regarding ECHR Article 6, this book should be consulted by anyone interested in fundamental fair trial rights.
This third volume of the comprehensive digest of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal's case-law deals with cases decided between July 1991 and April 1996. The author cites those parts of judgments which pertain to a particular issue, providing first-hand access to the Court's actual decisions on that issue. The pronouncements are arranged to give a clear picture of the contribution made to the law governing the international civil service. The author was awarded the 1989 Certificate of Merit by the American Society of International Law for his two-volume treatise on the law of the international service.
This book analyzes ways how three fringe players of the modern diplomatic order - the Holy See, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and the EU - have been accommodated within that order, revealing that the modern diplomatic order is less state-centric than conventionally assumed and is instead better conceived of as a heteronomy.
"The EU and Territorial Politics Within Member States" examines whether European integration helps or hinders the resolution of domestic territorial conflicts, including conflict between national groups, between territorially-based political parties or communities and different levels of political authority. The research draws on a wide range of case studies - from Germany, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Ireland and Italy. The studies suggest EU institutional rules altering the balance of power between central and regional elites (as in Germany) and/or different national elites (as in Spain) and particular EU policies, such as enlargement in Cyprus and EU anti-terrorism policy in Spain, may create new or aggravate existing tensions within member states. However, the same EU institutional rules in different states (such as Belgium) and different policies, such as cross-border programmes in Ireland may have the opposite effect. Similarly, opportunities for re-imagining territorial identities and redefining ambitions for control over territories may in some ways help the search for means to accommodate conflicts, while in others they may help entrench territorial cleavages or reproduce old tensions.
How do individual legislators in the European Parliament (EP) make
decisions on the wide variety of policy proposals they routinely
confront? Despite a flourishing literature on the European Union's
only directly elected institution, we know surprisingly little
about the micro-foundations of EP politics. Who Decides, and How?
seeks to address this shortcoming by examining how individual
legislators make policy choices, how these choices are aggregated,
and what role parties and committees play in this process. It
argues that members of the EP lack adequate resources to make
equally informed decisions across policy areas. Therefore, when
faced with policy choices in policy areas outside their realms of
expertise, members make decisions on the basis of perceived
preference coherence: they adopt the positions of their expert
colleagues in the responsible EP committee whose preferences over
policy outcomes they believe to most closely match their own. These
preferences are difficult to determine, however, which is why
legislators rely on a shared party label as stand-in for common
preferences. This results in cohesive parties, despite the
inability of EP parties to discipline their members.
This work reviews the progress of children's rights 25 years since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It studies the progress of that human rights instrument as part of an ongoing process. It examines how recent past, present and future generations will benefit or suffer as part of the process in which outcomes cannot be predicted. It does not project into the future. Its emphasis is on a review of the period after 1989 and it comments on what has happened and offering guidance on how children's rights might progress. The book presents a realistic but not always critical review of two and a half decades of intensive activity in the field of children's rights worldwide. It includes both failures and examples of good practice and positive experiences. It offers a review of progress and lack of progress in child rights and welfare in the twelve countries used as case studies in its predecessor, The Next Generation. Finally, the volume considers the impact of current geopolitical and economic realities on children's rights in the early years of the twenty-first century. The book is a tribute to Judith Ennew and pays homage to all of the people who have contributed so much to children's rights over the years and wishes to encourage others to take up the cause.
This volume discusses the rationale for and against multilateral development cooperation, with particular attention to international industrial development during the post-cold war era. It also documents how UNIDO has successfully transformed itself to contribute effectively to the global supply of international public goods within the purview of its mandate. A foreword by U.K. Secretary Clare Short illustrates the good reception that such transformation has elicited amongst the donor community as well as its demonstration and potential spillover effects on the whole of the UN system. The book, which contains testimonies of ambassadors of UNIDO's stakeholder countries as well as contributions by Messrs. J. D.-Martinussen, former Head of the Danish Mission for UNIDO's assessment, and R. Ricupero, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), can be expected to become an indispensable reference material for students of UN affairs and the international relations and development policy communities at large.
International Organizations as Law-makers addresses how international organizations with a global reach, such as the UN and the WTO, have changed the mechanisms and reasoning behind the making, implementation, and enforcement of international law. Alvarez argues that existing descriptions of international law and international organizations do not do justice to the complex changes resulting from the increased importance of these institutions after World War II, and especially from changes after the end of the Cold War. In particular, this book examines the impact of the institutions on international law through the day to day application and interpretation of institutional law, the making of multilateral treaties, and the decisions of a proliferating number of institutionalized dispute settlers. The introductory chapters synthesize and challenge the existing descriptions and theoretical frameworks for addressing international organizations. Part I re-examines the law resulting from the activity of political organs, such as the UN General Assembly and Security Council, technocratic entities within UN specialized agencies, and international financial institutions such as the IMF, and considers their impact on the once sacrosanct 'domestic jurisdiction' of states, as well as on traditional conceptions of the basic sources of international law. Part II assesses the impact of the move towards institutions on treaty-making. It addresses the interplay between negotiating venues and procedures and interstate cooperation and asks whether the involvement of international organizations has made modern treaties 'better'. Part III examines the proliferation of institutionalized dispute settlers, from the UN Secretary General to the WTO's dispute settlement body, and re-examines their role as both settlers of disputes and law-makers. The final chapter considers the promise and the perils of the turn to formal institutions for the making of the new kinds of 'soft' and 'hard' global law, including the potential for forms of hegemonic international law.
Europe is at a major crossroads in its post-World War II history. The European Union (EU) has not only successfully adopted the euro as a common currency but it also stands upon the threshold of including twelve more member states. In this comprehensive volume, Peter Coffey, author of The Future of Europe (Edward Elgar, 1995), examines the major issues and challenges facing Europe and presents a concise and up-to-date analysis of the economic, political and social issues facing the EU on the eve of its impending enlargement. The book is divided into five parts, with Part One analyzing issues surrounding the enlargement of the EU including criteria for membership, negotiations with candidate countries, and possible implications. Part Two covers the euro and the EMU. In Part Three the author examines the major areas of reform - institutional as well as policy - and sets forth his own proposals for future policy changes. Part Four reviews the European Convention, while Part Five looks to the future of Europe. Also included are official documents on European unification that are often difficult to obtain.In conclusion, the author foresees that the EU will, at least for some time, become a confederation of nation states, rather than a federation as desired by some EU members. This timely book is a must read for students and scholars of European studies, as well as political leaders and those with business interests in Europe.
In a short volume De Bassompierre successfully links the emerging political patterns to the overall economic integration endeavor. He concludes that this `condominium of 12 sovereign nations offers an unparalleled adventure for the national bureaucracies in managing what is, in effect, a global superpower in the making.' Of broader appeal than its title suggests. Valuable for upper-division students in all colleges and universities. Choice Watching the tortuously slow process of European integration in recent years has been akin to watching grass grow. Twelve European powers, most of whom have had a taste of global dominion in the past, are understandably reluctant to forsake their traditional sovereignty. But a process is under way that is beginning to acquire a new momentum, especially with the 1992 deadline so close. Changing the Guard in Brussels is an appraisal of the institutions of the European Community as seen by someone familiar with the daily activity of the Council of Ministers. It deals with reality and results from personal experience, not from an academic study. By 1992, all European Economic Community internal barriers are slated to come down, ensuring the free flow of persons, goods, and capital. European union, if ever achieved, will have profound political, economic, and security consequences for the world at large. U.S. policymakers should notice what is happening and what it could portend. Regardless of the outcome, the process is a unique and absorbing experiment in supranationality. Nothing quite like it has ever before been attempted. This book therefore is a story about 320 million free and prosperous people reaching for the next stage of European evolution. Despite its moments of comic relief, such a serious and historic adventure is likely to have worldwide impact.
The standard work in its field, this updated and expanded edition presents an eminently practical "nuts-and-bolts" guide to international human rights law and practice. The contributors, all specialists in their areas of expertise, offer a panoramic yet meticulously detailed survey of the many techniques now available to protect human rights at global, regional, and national levels. Appendices include a bibliographic essay that serves as a mini-guide to contemporary human rights literature, in both print and on-line sources. Published under the auspices of the Procedural Aspects of International Law Institute (PAIL). Paperback version of this title is available for classroom adoption only at cost of $25.00/copy, 10 copy minimum. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.
Can the euro area survive without a more centralized economic policy? What lessons can be drawn from Economic and Monetary Union about new modes of policy-making in the European Union? Have euro area members spoken with one voice on the international stage and what does this mean for the European Union's ambitions to be a global actor in its own right? This book explores these three key questions through an in-depth analysis of euro area governance from the launch of the single currency in 1999 to the sovereign debt crisis of 2010. Drawing insights from the study of European Union politics, comparative political economy and international political economy, it examines: Economic and Monetary Union's break from the Community method of policy-making; the European Central Bank's ambivalence about the pursuit of ever closer union; the Eurogroup's rise and fall as a forum for economic policy coordination; the interplay between national fiscal institutions and the stability and growth pact; the broad economic policy guidelines' failure to apply peer pressure; the European Union's influence within the G20 and the International Monetary Fund at the height of the global financial crisis; euro diplomacy towards China and other rising powers; and current debates about the fate of EMU and the reform of euro area governance in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. The book's conclusions challenge claims that the euro area is in crisis because of its decentralized approach to decision-making alone and the corollary that the euro can be saved only through a further transfer of sovereignty to the supranational level.
Linking Citizens and Parties addresses familiar questions about political representation: Are parties responsive to their core supporters or to the public in general? Do parties that adopt centrist policy positions benefit in elections? Does proportional representation encourage party extremism? These fundamental questions about democracy are paired with the empirical observation of Western European democracies during the last thirty years. The study highlights the pathways (mainstream and niche) through which citizens' political preferences are expressed by their political parties. It concludes with a positive evaluation of these democracies as their citizens have access to at least one, and possibly both niche and mainstream pathways. |
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