This book offers an authoritative analysis of the state-of-the art in energy and climate research and policy. It starts by describing the current status of technologies that are expected to have an influence on the energy systems of the future. For an adequate evaluation, it presents the latest findings on the effects of energy supply and consumption as well as of the emissions on both the environment and people's health. This is followed by an extensive discussion of the economic and social problems related to climate change, the need for energy transitions, and other issues that may require public investment and international agreements. The book reviews the problem of energy policy from a global perspective, providing readers with the technical, political, economic and ethical background needed to understand the current situation and work at better solutions for a sustainable, just and prospering world.

Despite a substantial legacy of literature on EU interest representation, there is no systematic analysis available on whether a European model of interest representation in EU governance is detectable across functional, and territorial, categories of actors. 'Functional' actors include associations for business interests, the professions, and trade unions, as well as 'NGOs' and social movements; territorial based entities include public actors (such as regional and local government), as well as actors primarily organised at territorial level. What are the similarities and differences between territorial, and functional, based entities, and are the similarities greater than the differences? Are the differences sufficient to justify the use of different analytical tools? Are the differences within these categories more significant than those across them? Is there a 'professionalised European lobbying class' across all actor types? Does national embeddedness make a difference? Which factors explain the success of actors to participate in European governance? This book was originally published as special issue of Journal of European Integration.

The European Union is one of the world's biggest economies. However, its role as an international actor is ambiguous and it's not always able to transform its political power into effective external policies. The development of an 'assertive' European Union challenges the image of an internal project aimed at economic integration and international relations theories based on unitary state actors. This book systematically links the EU's external relations to existing political theories, showing how existing theories need to be modified in order to deal with specific characteristics of the EU as an international actor.

The European Union is one of the world's biggest economies. However, its role as an international actor is ambiguous and it's not always able to transform its political power into effective external policies. The development of an 'assertive' European Union challenges the image of an internal project aimed at economic integration and international relations theories based on unitary state actors. This book systematically links the EU's external relations to existing political theories, showing how existing theories need to be modified in order to deal with specific characteristics of the EU as an international actor.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203391446

Despite a substantial legacy of literature on EU interest representation, there is no systematic analysis available on whether a European model of interest representation in EU governance is detectable across functional, and territorial, categories of actors. 'Functional' actors include associations for business interests, the professions, and trade unions, as well as 'NGOs' and social movements; territorial based entities include public actors (such as regional and local government), as well as actors primarily organised at territorial level. What are the similarities and differences between territorial, and functional, based entities, and are the similarities greater than the differences? Are the differences sufficient to justify the use of different analytical tools? Are the differences within these categories more significant than those across them? Is there a 'professionalised European lobbying class' across all actor types? Does national embeddedness make a difference? Which factors explain the success of actors to participate in European governance? This book was originally published as special issue of Journal of European Integration.

This book offers an authoritative analysis of the state-of-the art in energy and climate research and policy. It starts by describing the current status of technologies that are expected to have an influence on the energy systems of the future. For an adequate evaluation, it presents the latest findings on the effects of energy supply and consumption as well as of the emissions on both the environment and people's health. This is followed by an extensive discussion of the economic and social problems related to climate change, the need for energy transitions, and other issues that may require public investment and international agreements. The book reviews the problem of energy policy from a global perspective, providing readers with the technical, political, economic and ethical background needed to understand the current situation and work at better solutions for a sustainable, just and prospering world.

In a multipolar world with growing demand for energy, not least by Emerging Powers such as Brazil, India, China or South Africa (BICS), questions of EU external energy governance would at first hand appear to be a high-priority. Yet, reality tells a different story: the EU's geographical focus remains on adjacent countries in the European neighbourhood and on issues related to energy security. Despite being Strategic Partners and engaging in energy dialogues, it seems that the EU is lacking strategic vision and is not perceived as a major actor in energy cooperation with the BICS. Thus, political momentum for energy cooperation and joint governance of scarce resources is vanishing. Resulting from three years of international, interdisciplinary research cooperation among academics and practitioners in Europe and the BICS countries within a project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, this volume addresses one of the greatest global challenges. Specific focus lies on the bilateral energy dialogues and Strategic Partnerships between the EU and Emerging Powers regarding bilateral, inter- and transnational energy cooperation. Furthermore, the analysis provides policy recommendations in order to tap the full potential of energy cooperation between the EU and Brazil, India, China and South Africa.

Mit diesem Band wird zum ersten Mal eine Einfuhrung vorgelegt, die alle drei baltischen Staaten - Estland, Lettland und Litauen - systematisch vergleichend analysiert. Meist werden die drei Staaten vor allem von westlichen Beobachtern in einem Atemzug genannt. Wahrend dies auf den ersten Blick gerechtfertigt sein mag, offenbart eine nahere Betrachtung neben AEhnlichkeiten auch gravierende Unterschiede zwischen den Staaten. Die Beitrage der baltischen und nicht-baltischen Experten, die in ihren thematischen Kapiteln immer alle drei baltischen Staaten vergleichend in den Blick nehmen, arbeiten gerade diese Gemeinsamkeiten und Divergenzen deutlich heraus. Somit eignet sich der Band sowohl fur einen ersten UEberblick als auch fur den am Detail interessierten Leser. Dabei werden neben traditionellen Bereichen wie der Geschichte der baltischen Staaten und ihrer Transformation und Konstitution seit den 1990er Jahren auch sehr aktuelle und spezielle Bereiche der politischen Systeme der baltischen Staaten behandelt - so etwa die Auswirkungen der Finanzkrise und die Korruption in den drei Staaten.