This book depicts and evaluates, in a European context, the pleas and actions which parties may make use of to dissolve the parallel jurisdiction of a national court and an arbitral tribunal. The author undertakes a thorough comparative analysis of the motivations for, and practice of, such pleas and actions with special regard to the major hubs where elaborate arbitration laws are tried and tested by the arbitration community - Germany, France, Switzerland, and England. On the basis of four scenarios of parallel proceedings before national courts and arbitral tribunals, the analysis tackles such issues and topics as the following: motivations for initiating parallel proceedings from the various parties' perspectives; remedies available to parties in situations of jurisdictional conflicts; effect of the principle of competence-competence on national courts' review of arbitration agreements; pleas restricting national courts' exercise of jurisdiction to a review of core principles (arbitration defence); self-restraining pleas independent of an arbitration agreement (plea of litispendence); actions for declaratory relief; actions aimed at restraining another court's or tribunal's jurisdiction (anti-suit/anti-arbitration injunctions); pleas invoked to avoid procedural inefficiencies and inconsistencies (plea of res judicata); counsel's duty of care and arbitral tribunal's mandate to issue an enforceable award; and litigation culture versus arbitration-friendliness. Throughout, the author underlines the importance and applicability of relevant multinational and supranational conventions, institutional arbitration rules, the International Law Association's recommendations, national laws in force and national courts' case law including the case law of the European Court of Justice as regards the interface of arbitration and the Brussels Regulation. In its focus on the jurisdictional pleas and actions available where proceedings on the same subject matter and between the same parties are pending both before a national court and an arbitral tribunal, this book has no peers.

Federalism has experienced a remarkable renaissance in recent decades - as an alternative way to accommodate ethnic differences; as a tool to combat remote, undemocratic and ineffective central governments; and lastly, as a means to promote economic performance in the developing world through decentralisation. This book seeks to bring different aspects and perspectives of federalism studies closer together, by providing an analytical framework which transcends the sub-fields and encourages contributors to look beyond the comfort zones of their own disciplinary approaches to the topic. The authors seek to achieve this aim by structuring the contributions around four dimensions federalism studies: * the development and design of federal institutions; * federalism and democratic participation, representation and accountability; * federalism and the accommodation of territorially-based ethnic, cultural and linguistic differences; * federalism and public policy. With a strong comparative framework, New Directions in Federalism Studies will be of interest to students and scholars of Federalism, Government, Regionalism, and Multi-level Governance. It will also offer insights of relevance to Comparative Politics, Public Policy, Public Administration, Nationalism, and West European Politics.

The idea that there is such a thing as a human right to health has become pervasive. It has not only been acknowledged by a variety of international law documents and thus entered the political realm but is also defended in academic circles. Yet, despite its prominence the human right to health remains something of a mystery - especially with respect to its philosophical underpinnings. Addressing this unfortunate and intellectually dangerous insufficiency, this book critically assesses the stipulation that health is a human right which - as international law holds - derives from the inherent dignity of the human person. Scrutinising the concepts underlying this stipulation (health, rights, dignity), it shall conclude that such right cannot be upheld from a philosophical perspective.

This book deals with the theoretical and empirical questions of federalism in the context of five case studies: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany and Switzerland.

The central argument is that in the long run the political institutions of federalism adapt to achieve congruence with the underlying social structure. This change could be in the centralist direction reflecting ethno-linguistic homogeneity, or in decentralist terms corresponding to ethno-linguistic heterogeneity. In this context, the volume:

• fills a gap in the comparative federalism literature by analyzing the patterns of change and continuity in five federal systems of the industrial west, this is done by an in-depth empirical examination of the case studies through a single framework of analysis
• illustrates the shortcomings of new-institutionalist approaches in explaining change, highlighting the usefulness of society-based approaches in studying change and continuity in comparative politics.

Explaining Federalism will be of interest to students and scholars of federalism, comparative government, comparative institutional analysis and comparative public policy.

In this book, Christian Erk examines the ethical (im)permissibility of killing human beings in general and of selected killings in particular, namely suicide, lethal selfdefence, abortion and euthanasia, as well as organ transplantation and assisted suicide. He does so by addressing a range of important ethical questions: What does it mean to act? Of what elements is an action comprised? What is the difference between a good or evil action and a permissible or impermissible action? How can we determine whether an action is good or evil? Is there a moral duty not to kill? Is this duty held by and against all human beings or only persons? What and who is a person? What is human dignity and who has it? What is it that is actually taken when somebody is killed, i.e. what is life? And closely related to that: What and when is death? By integrating the answers to these questions into an argumentative architecture, the book offers a comprehensive exploration of one of the most fundamental questions of mankind: Under which conditions, if any, is killing human beings ethically permissible?

Reframing Berlin is about how architecture and the built environment can reveal the memory of a city, an urban memory, through its transformation and consistency over time by means of 'urban strategies', which have developed throughout history as cities have adjusted to numerous political, religious, economic and societal changes. These strategies are organised on a 'memory spectrum', which range from demolition to memorialisation. It reveals the complicated relationship between urban strategies and their influence on memory-making in the context of Berlin since 1895, with the help of film locations. It utilises cinematic representations of locations as an audio-visual archive to provide a deeper analysis of the issues brought up by strategies and case studies in relation to memory-making. Foreword by Kathleen James-Chakraborty A new volume in the Mediated Cities series from Intellect

The paradox of federalism is about whether self-rule accommodates or exacerbates ethnic divisions. A federal arrangement which formally recognizes ethno-linguistic diversity to help manage divisions can also pave the way for eventual disintegration. The case studies in this book cover a wide geographical basis (Canada, Scotland, Spain, Belgium, Bosnia, Kosovo, Russia, India, and Iraq) and seek to outline under what conditions federalism can deliver its promise of resolving ethnic conflict. The book aims to bridge those who study federalism and decentralization in the developed world and those who study the politics of ethnic divisions in the developing world. We also wanted to bridge the scholarship from the two sides of the Atlantic, as well as the subfields of Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Constitutional Politics. Furthermore, the volume has a number of high-profile senior scholars with name recognition from both sides of the Atlantic. The scope of the volume is wide - historically, methodologically, and geographically; and has relevance for the applied side as well as the theoretical literature. Consequently, we believe this is a timely collection on the high profile topic of Ethnic Conflict/Conflict Resolution. This book was based on a special issue of Regional and Federal Studies

The paradox of federalism is about whether self-rule accommodates or exacerbates ethnic divisions. A federal arrangement which formally recognizes ethno-linguistic diversity to help manage divisions can also pave the way for eventual disintegration. The case studies in this book cover a wide geographical basis (Canada, Scotland, Spain, Belgium, Bosnia, Kosovo, Russia, India, and Iraq) and seek to outline under what conditions federalism can deliver its promise of resolving ethnic conflict.

The book aims to bridge those who study federalism and decentralization in the developed world and those who study the politics of ethnic divisions in the developing world. We also wanted to bridge the scholarship from the two sides of the Atlantic, as well as the subfields of Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Constitutional Politics. Furthermore, the volume has a number of high-profile senior scholars with name recognition from both sides of the Atlantic.

The scope of the volume is wide historically, methodologically, and geographically; and has relevance for the applied side as well as the theoretical literature. Consequently, we believe this is a timely collection on the high profile topic of Ethnic Conflict/Conflict Resolution.

This book was based on a special issue of Regional and Federal Studies

Federalism has experienced a remarkable renaissance in recent decades - as an alternative way to accommodate ethnic differences; as a tool to combat remote, undemocratic and ineffective central governments; and lastly, as a means to promote economic performance in the developing world through decentralisation.

This book seeks to bring different aspects and perspectives of federalism studies closer together, by providing an analytical framework which transcends the sub-fields and encourages contributors to look beyond the comfort zones of their own disciplinary approaches to the topic. The authors seek to achieve this aim by structuring the contributions around four dimensions federalism studies:

the development and design of federal institutions;

federalism and democratic participation, representation and accountability;

federalism and the accommodation of territorially-based ethnic, cultural and linguistic differences;

federalism and public policy.

With a strong comparative framework, New Directions in Federalism Studies will be of interest to students and scholars of Federalism, Government, Regionalism, and Multi-level Governance. It will also offer insights of relevance to Comparative Politics, Public Policy, Public Administration, Nationalism, and West European Politics.

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) plays a dominant role in real-time interaction sensing of biomolecular binding events. This book focuses on a total system description including optics, fluidics and sensor surfaces. It covers all commercial SPR systems in the market. It is the first of its kind and fills a gap in the technical literature as no other handbook on SPR is currently available. The final chapter discussed new trends and a vision is given for future developments and needs of the SPR market. This excellent handbook provides comprehensive information with easy to use, stand-alone chapters and will be of great use to anyone one working with or affiliated to the technology.

This book deals with the theoretical and empirical questions of federalism in the context of five case studies: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany and Switzerland. The central argument is that in the long run the political institutions of federalism adapt to achieve congruence with the underlying social structure. This change could be in the centralist direction reflecting ethno-linguistic homogeneity, or in decentralist terms corresponding to ethno-linguistic heterogeneity. In this context, the volume: fills a gap in the comparative federalism literature by analyzing the patterns of change and continuity in five federal systems of the industrial west, this is done by an in-depth empirical examination of the case studies through a single framework of analysis illustrates the shortcomings of new-institutionalist approaches in explaining change, highlighting the usefulness of society-based approaches in studying change and continuity in comparative politics. Explaining Federalism will be of interest to students and scholars of federalism, comparative government, comparative institutional analysis and comparative public policy.

The 1990s were marked by democratic reforms throughout Africa, which went in tandem with decentralization reforms. The chapters of the volume all highlight the gradual changes that have taken place since. Long-term structural uncodified factors - be it societal, economic, geographic, demographic - seem to have interacted with the constitutional clauses introduced during the reforms. Some chapters look at how decentralization slowly gave way to recentralization because none of the new subnational entities were politically and economically strong enough to balance off the center; some look at how inherent deficiencies in infrastructure and personnel at the subnational level brought the central government back in; some look at how different subnational units ended up working differently due to differences in demographic and social factors; some look at how uncodified factors came to determine how national politics functioned; some look at how decentralization created new conflicts between ethnic groups competing for the control of the new entities; some look at how decentralization blew new life into traditional authorities. This book was original published as a special issue of Regional and Federal Studies.

The 1990s were marked by democratic reforms throughout Africa, which went in tandem with decentralization reforms. The chapters of the volume all highlight the gradual changes that have taken place since. Long-term structural uncodified factors - be it societal, economic, geographic, demographic - seem to have interacted with the constitutional clauses introduced during the reforms. Some chapters look at how decentralization slowly gave way to recentralization because none of the new subnational entities were politically and economically strong enough to balance off the center; some look at how inherent deficiencies in infrastructure and personnel at the subnational level brought the central government back in; some look at how different subnational units ended up working differently due to differences in demographic and social factors; some look at how uncodified factors came to determine how national politics functioned; some look at how decentralization created new conflicts between ethnic groups competing for the control of the new entities; some look at how decentralization blew new life into traditional authorities. This book was original published as a special issue of Regional and Federal Studies.

Decentralization reforms introduced to Africa in the 1990s have not always delivered the intended long-term outcomes. This is a collection on the consequences of these reforms two decades on. In addition to general and comparative overviews, the book contains case studies on Ghana, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ethiopia, and Uganda. The common theme across the chapters is that the reforms seem to have engendered political consequences beyond decentralization itself - mostly through interaction with the broader historical, political, social, and economic context. The book thus speaks both to the scholarly literature (on decentralization, democratization, and development) and to the community of development practitioners. Most of the literature on decentralization and development emphasizes questions of institutional design and policy, but here the harder-to-pin-down political patterns marking the workings of decentralization are the main focus of analysis. The debates on development, through the case studies, are connected to the scholarly literatures on comparative federalism, comparative decentralization, and local democracy. The main conclusion that emerges from the studies in the book is that no magic formula that can turn countries into peaceful, stable, and prosperous democracies overnight exists. Furthermore, there are risks involved in importing formal institutions without regard to the local historical, political, social, and economic context. The chapters of this book were originally published as a special issue in Regional and Federal Studies.

Decentralization reforms introduced to Africa in the 1990s have not always delivered the intended long-term outcomes. This is a collection on the consequences of these reforms two decades on. In addition to general and comparative overviews, the book contains case studies on Ghana, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ethiopia, and Uganda. The common theme across the chapters is that the reforms seem to have engendered political consequences beyond decentralization itself - mostly through interaction with the broader historical, political, social, and economic context. The book thus speaks both to the scholarly literature (on decentralization, democratization, and development) and to the community of development practitioners. Most of the literature on decentralization and development emphasizes questions of institutional design and policy, but here the harder-to-pin-down political patterns marking the workings of decentralization are the main focus of analysis. The debates on development, through the case studies, are connected to the scholarly literatures on comparative federalism, comparative decentralization, and local democracy. The main conclusion that emerges from the studies in the book is that no magic formula that can turn countries into peaceful, stable, and prosperous democracies overnight exists. Furthermore, there are risks involved in importing formal institutions without regard to the local historical, political, social, and economic context. The chapters of this book were originally published as a special issue in Regional and Federal Studies.

From antiquity until the twentieth century, rhetorical training was exclusively concerned with forming male speakers as well as producing an explicitly masculine speaking style and method. This study focuses on such body and gender-specific training by analyzing the actio doctrine. The book also demonstrates how the transformation of rhetoric in the eighteenth century was accompanied for the first time by a discursive shift: gesture, imitation, voice, and dress guidelines were adapted for use with both genders in general education and to teach the art of conversation."