This book represents a significant and timely contribution to the copious literature of the EU as a global actor providing new insights and fresh perspectives into the promotion of human rights and international labour standards in the EU's external trade relations, building on and stimulating further - the already well-engaged - scientific dialogue on this area of research. In particular, it provides the basis for developing a new analytical structure for better understanding the role of the EU in promoting human rights and international labour standards in global trade and, in particular, for assessing the extent to which and how normative considerations have influenced the adoption of EU legal instruments and policy decisions. This book will appeal to research scholars, post-graduate students, practitioners and human rights activists.

In recent years new or experimental approaches to governance in the EU, namely the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), have attracted great interest and controversy. This book examines the European Employment Strategy (EES) and its implementation through the OMC, exploring the promises and limitations of the EES for EU social law and policy and for the safeguard of social rights. This significant and timely work offers new insights and fresh perspectives into the operation of New Governance and its relationship with both European and national law and constitutionalism.

This book will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students working in European law a " specifically in the field of EU employment law and gender equality a " and European governance studies in general.

Containing contributions by some of the best known researchers in the field, this volume considers the intersection between the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), a relatively new mode of policy-making, and gender equality, a long-standing area of EU policy. It draws on a range of disciplinary perspectives to examine the effectiveness of the OMC as a medium for the advancement of gender equality within the EU. It also considers gender in the OMC in a variety of contexts and at both a general EU and Member State level. Central to the discussion is the concept of gender mainstreaming which proposes that a gender equality perspective should be incorporated at every level and opportunity of EU policy and practice. The authors assess how successful this has been in the context of the OMC. The book provides a unique and contemporary body of work on the OMC which adds significantly to existing understandings of this form of governance and informs critical debate of EU social governance.

In June 2013, after lengthy and complex negotiations the EU adopted the recast asylum package which represents a significant step forward in the future development of CEAS.

In this timely study Velluti provides fresh insights into recent legislative and judicial developments in asylum and through the lens of sovereignty she looks at some of the contemporary challenges faced by the EU protection regime, with a particular focus on asylum-seekers rights.

The volume assesses whether the EU provides an adequate framework for protecting those seeking international protection from the opposing perspectives of effectiveness and fairness. It shows that, despite the newly adopted second-generation legislative acts which include changes aimed at ensuring a stronger level of protection for asylum-seekers, the reform process at European level does not adequately ensure an equal standard of protection across all Member States.

Through a comparative analysis of selected ECtHR and ECJ asylum cases the book also examines the constitutional relationship between the two European Courts and how it impacts on the human rights of asylum-seekers and on the future of EU asylum law.

Ultimately, the book shows that real progress in the development of the human rights dimension of CEAS will be achieved largely through the European and domestic courts. "

In recent years new or experimental approaches to governance in the EU, namely the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), have attracted great interest and controversy. This book examines the European Employment Strategy (EES) and its implementation through the OMC, exploring the promises and limitations of the EES for EU social law and policy and for the safeguard of social rights. This significant and timely work offers new insights and fresh perspectives into the operation of New Governance and its relationship with both European and national law and constitutionalism. This book will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students working in European law - specifically in the field of EU employment law and gender equality - and European governance studies in general.