This title was first published in 2003.The completion of the Single Market and the launching of the European Monetary Union during the 1990s have been accompanied by processes of socio-economic restructuring and major changes in the structure and forms of governance within the dynamic multi-level EU system. The patterns of reaction and adaptation of national industrial relations systems to these EU - developments are discussed under the heading of "Europeanisation" of national IR-systems. The Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties have extended - to a certain degree - the scope for legislative and coordinated activities by the EU in the fields of social, labour - market and employment policies. These basic legal and political decisions have created new avenues for the development of transnational industrial relations and the establishment of new arenas for EU - level interaction, including social dialogues between the social partners. .

This title was first published in 2001. The emergence of the European Works Councils (EWCs) is one of the most important developments in international industrial relations and the most significant intervention by the European Union in the industrial relations field. This volume is the second of three studies into the establishment and operation of EWCs conducted by the authors. It examines the development of a typology of EWCs and explores the prospects for establishing networks of EWCs, using case studies drawn from the food, banking and insurance sectors. The book is an informative text for researchers, academics and practitioners who wish to locate empirical material and practical experience in a developmental and theoretical framework.

This title was first published in 2002: Negotiated Europeanisation is the final study in a three-volume series on European Works Councils by an international research group. The first two studies have already been published by Ashgate. The current study is rooted in an analysis of the establishment of EWCs under Articles 5 and 6 of the 1994 EWC Directive. This is now a mandatory procedure and completes the development of EWCs from bodies set up purely by voluntary negotiation to bodies set up within a binding statutory procedure. The study is based on cases of five (named) major European firms in a variety of industrial sectors. As well as a detailed consideration of how negotiations using the mandatory procedure took place, there are more general reflections on the 'quality' of the actors involved, the negotiating process and the outcomes. As well as their analytical value, these observations offer a number of practical pointers on the establishment of information and consultation arrangements internationally. The study also asks why EWCs have been set up in only one third of eligible companies and why the pace of establishing new EWCs slowed after the mandatory procedure came into force in September 1996. This part of the study is based upon a pan-European questionnaire and offers the first empirical findings on this issue. European Works Councils exemplify a new mode of regulation at the European level, not only within industrial relations but in the field of European integration more widely conceived - Europe as a multi-level system of governance within a framework of devolved subsidiarity. This study is of both academic and practical interest, particularly in view of the continuing process of change in this area, exemplified in new Directives on the European Company Statute and information and consultation at national level.

First published in 1999, this volume evaluates the context, role and development of EWCs through eight case studies and asks whether EWCs will promote the Europeanisation of Industrial relations. The EWCs were the first European institution in the field of social policy and went far beyond simply requiring national implementation of a common framework. They were innovative in their requirements for a judicious blend of subsidiarity, shared responsibility and flexibility. This study represents the culmination of research carried out between September 1996 and September 1997 and sets out to anchor a number of qualitative case-studies in a systematic, nationally comparative approach.

This title was first published in 2003.The completion of the Single Market and the launching of the European Monetary Union during the 1990s have been accompanied by processes of socio-economic restructuring and major changes in the structure and forms of governance within the dynamic multi-level EU system. The patterns of reaction and adaptation of national industrial relations systems to these EU - developments are discussed under the heading of "Europeanisation" of national IR-systems. The Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties have extended - to a certain degree - the scope for legislative and coordinated activities by the EU in the fields of social, labour - market and employment policies. These basic legal and political decisions have created new avenues for the development of transnational industrial relations and the establishment of new arenas for EU - level interaction, including social dialogues between the social partners.

Industrial relations has traditionally been a national affair, characterized by distinct local laws, practices and cultures. The process of European integration, exemplified by the Single Market Programme, the Maastricht Treaty and the imminent prospect of Economic Monetary Union, has created a framework within which national practices have been exposed to growing cross-border influences - including European Union legislation requiring European Works Councils to be set up in large transnational firms. Might European integration create the basis for a new distinctly European-level of industrial relations? And what impact would this have on exisitng national systems? This volume explores the prospects for the emergence of a distinctly European pattern of industrial relations, in which the European-level organizations representing employers and trade unions gain in importance vis-a-vis their national organisations. In particular, individual contributions analyze the impact of the "Social Chapter" to the Maastricht Treaty, which created a new institutional framework within which European-level employers and trade unions can negotiate.

The service sector has not always received the attention it merits in industrial relations research when set against its enormous economic significance. One factor in this is certainly the highly diverse nature of services. Research attention has also lagged behind long-standing processes of transnationalization undertaken by service sector companies and the challenges these pose for policy and practice in the field of employment relations. This study by Stefan Rub and Hans-Wolfgang Platzer represents a pioneering effort to remedy this gap. Through six named company case studies, Rub and Platzer explore the scope and background for transnational employee relations conflicts and the mechanisms that have emerged to resolve and anticipate these, highlighting the complex relationships between employee representatives, management and trade unions. The choice of case studies aims to capture a broad range of service sector employment, in terms of both working conditions and employment relations arrangements. As well as covering a number of key sectors, the choice of home countries of the selected firms also aims to capture the impact of national influences for the main industrial relations models in Europe. Overall, the study offers insights into the complexities of the Europeanization of company-level industrial relations in a dynamic field now also confronted by the convulsions unleashed by the Eurozone crisis.

This timely book seeks to contribute to the debate on the transfer of values, rules, and practices by European actors to former soviet countries. The actors in focus include multilateral organisations, such as the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as European governments and non-governmental organisations. The contributions in this collection address different aspects of the export or transfer of values, such as democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, as well as rules and practices in the fields of education and migration management, examining motives, mechanisms, and effects of the European engagement.

This groundbreaking volume offers a historical comparison between the events leading up to World War I and current global tensions related to the economical and political rise of Asia. What are the risks that the desire of the new super power China and great powers like India to be recognized by the West could set off a chain of events resulting in the nightmare of a great power war? Assessing the similarities as well as differences between the build-up of World War I and today, it is argued that we need to understand the driving forces behind the scene of global politics: The conflict between rising, established, and disintegrating powers and the desire of recognition on all sides. Carefully dissecting the current power dynamics in play, the authors hope to contribute to a better understanding of world events in order to ensure that history will not repeat itself.

Durch die Weltfinanzmarktkrise des Jahres 2008 - mit ihren bis dato nur zum Teil bewaltigten Folgen - und vor allem durch die dramatischen Entwicklungen in der Eurozone zu Beginn des Jahres 2010 hat die Frage "Europa - Quo Vadis?" eine beispiellose Aktualitat und Brisanz gewonnen. Die Europaische Union befindet sich in einer Lage, in der mit den Weichenstellungen zur Bewaltigung der Euro-Krise auch uber die Zukunft der EU als politisches Projekt entschieden wird.

Aus einer deutsch-franzoesischen Perspektive setzen sich die Beitrage dieses Bandes mit dieser politisch wie wissenschaftlich gleichermassen vielschichtigen und brisanten Thematik auseinander. Dabei werden zwei Forschungsstrange zusammengefuhrt, die bislang ein eher getrenntes Dasein fuhrten: die europawissenschaftliche Forschung uber europaische Identitat und europaisierte OEffentlichkeiten und die Rechtspopulismus- und Rechtsextremismusforschung.