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Chinese Pres Jiang Zemin talks about the socio-economic and political stability achieved by China as a result of opening up and reform policies, and the need for strengthening Sino-West European ties based on four principles aimed at benefitting both the sides. China and West Europe should continue bilateral cooperation in the 21st century, cooperate in international issues, resolve their differences and work toward common development. Both China and West European Countries such as France have the potential to improve bilateral trade and economic ties.

The influence of the planned European Union carbon/energy tax on West European energy markets is analyzed using a sectoral European energy model. It is shown that the electricity power production regulation and taxes which are already in place have a distorting effect on fuel prices. It is suggested that a deregulation of the thermal power production industry could boost the demand for natural gas in the region.

The fascist legacy in Western Europe is now most visible in the growing legitimacy of politicians' populist appeals. Fascism and racism are evident to some degree in voting, violence, and propaganda distribution throughout Europe. Their growing strength is, however, diffuse and complex. Jewish groups and journalists tend to overstate the problem, as there is little likelihood of mass fascist paramilitary movements re-emerging. More dangerous is the emergence of a Fortress Europe, buttressed by populism and organized against Islam and immigrants from North Africa and Eastern Europe.

There are large structural differences in pricing conditions between the same industries in different European Community countries, and these must be taken into account when considering pan-European pricing in a common market. However, consumer goods manufacturers are increasingly standardising and aligning their prices as the European retail industry becomes more international in character. It is now increasingly important that pricing in Europe is coordinated, and not left in the hands of managers in individual countries.

An overview of periodical literature on the medieval era is provided. Covering articles published in 1992, it touches on works by Traux, Hyams and Roffe covering the economic life of the early middle ages, from 1400-1100 A.D. The overview also covers research conducted by Cosgel, Jones, Piper and Campbell on life in the years from 1100 to 1350 A.D. Studies by Postles and Lock on the period from 1350-1500 are also reviewed.

As European Community countries become more integrated, there is a growing need for reliable statistics on Community-wide topics. Eurostat, the statistical division of the European Commission, must meet this demand while facing increasing financial difficulties. The Community's statistical work must be carefully planned, and a reliable legal framework for this work is essential if the necessary statistics are to be made available. All Community statistical activities must have a basis in one of the Treaties, with the most commonly used Treaty being the Treaty of Rome.

Statistics are extremely important, serving to make information available to the general public, put political pressure on governments and record important trends, according to John Wright, who has been seconded from the Central Statistical Office to Eurostat, where he is responsible for communicating with the news media. Until now, the media has shown little interest in European statistics, but there are many benefits to be gained by the general public from being aware of key data. Wright has found that it has been relatively easy to produce press releases which attract the attention of journalists.

The emergence of radical right-wing populist parties in Western European democracies such as Germany, Sweden, Italy and Switzerland, is a result of the people's disappointment with the leftist experience, and reveals the extent to which the rightist party system has penetrated Western Europe. The success of the radical right-wing parties is due to people's ability to express their dissent, and their capacity to face challenges posed by the developed Western European democracies, where the economic, social and cultural scenario has been transformed.

Japanese investment in Western Europe and the US is mainly driven by a desire to gain proximity to larger markets. There are two main misconceptions about direct Japanese investment in Western Europe. Government inducements and comparative benefits do not determine investment in Europe. Japanese companies also do not invest to avoid potential European trade barriers. Compaines would invest without trade barriers to liberate domestic resources for new products and to defend market share from growing competition. Vernon's product cycle hypothesis is used to dispel the misconceptions.

The study examines access problems to Combined Transport (CT) in the European Community (EC.) CT is the use of 2 or more of different transport methods, such as railways, shipping, barge and road. The study examines the different national transport systems. It shows that freedom does not automatically improve accessibility. Barriers exist in the EC because of low profits and restrictions over upstream and downstream resources. Access will not be improved as long as trucking remains cheap and resources remain nationalised.

The taxation policy for the European Community depends on the form that European unity takes in future, in particular to what extent the concept of subsidiarity is applied, and economic and monetary harmonisation. Evidence shows that increasing the fiscal powers of the EC is not necessary to extending its political powers. Furthermore, tax harmonisation between member states may not solve discrepancies resulting from the tax policy decisions of member states.

Western Europe needs a model law to cover the handling and disposal of hazardous waste, since national enforcement fails to prevent accidents. The law would assign liability for accidents to the most responsible party; thus those who stored waste would pay first if the accident occurred at their facility. The law would also create a bankruptcy trust fund to cover any cleanup costs which the polluters could not pay, financed by permit fees.

The text of a lecture given by Tony Atkinson at the Annual Gemeral Meeting of the Institute of Fiscal Studies on Jun 8, 1992 is presented. The European Community has pledged its committment to combat poverty, introduce a minimum level of social protection and increase the scope of social protection. The implications of the agreement may be lessened by the principle of subsidiarity in the European Community, whereby decisions must be taken at the lowest appropriate level. Furthermore, the level of social protection in each member country may be not apparent and difficult to measure.

This article analyses value changes in Western Europe in relation to changes in social institutions. Important institutional changes have been that families have become smaller and more fragile and the labour market has become larger and more heterogenous, especially because of the increase in the number of married women having paid jobs. Finally, globalization has resulted in a double trend of heterogenization and localism. These changes have influenced the values of the population in Western Europe. The overall change is an increase in individualization and a more fragmented value system which means, eg, that there are no clear political cleavages. The value changes can be summarized in three processes: from industrial to green values; from authoritarian values to libertarian values; and from church-oriented to personal religious values. These trends suggest that we are approaching a society with a diversity of lifestyles where many value structures are competing. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

The absence of war within Western Civilization since World War II may not be the result of nuclear deterrence. It may be that nuclear weapons have not been used because of structural factors that are responsible for the peace. Measured in several ways, the present period looks as though it may be the most peaceful one in the past quarter millennium, probably the most peaceful in modern Western history. The factors behind this peace may have to do with the combination of long-term fluctuations that produces alternate crises and |ages', and with a particular way of seeing that is as characteristic of the present period as what we now perceive as |Victorian' was for the period between the Congress of Vienna and World War I. If that should be the case, we may expect short-term pressures for arms reduction, but long-term factors that would increase tension and danger several decades hence.

The emergence of commercial television in Western Europe has delineated Western European public broadcasting from its traditional role and has given rise to two contrasting positions. Marjoritarians aim to offer viewers as much choice as possible, while pluralists want to customize programming to audience profiles. For public television to function effectively in its new role, it must compete by offering what private television does not. Continued public service and a programming approach that underlines quality will further strengthen its position in a commercial setting.

Comparative studies of migration into Western Europe and of the expression of racism within the various countries of Western Europe have become increasingly common. These can be divided into three relatively distinct categories on the basis of their intentions and objectives. However, they all share the weakness of being unable to explain both the commonality and the specificity of migration flows and the political and ideological character of the reaction to these migrations. Hence, they highlight the need for an alternative methodology and theoretical framework for such comparative analysis.

The first green revolution: the growth of production and productivity in European agriculture, 1870-1914. European agriculture in 1870 was characterized by large differences in production per hectare and per head of the agricultural population. These differences resulted from different factor endowments and from different levels of agricultural productivity, which were closely related to the level of development of the entire economy. Technological progress in agriculture in the period 1870-1914 was characterized by a strong land-saving bias. The most important innovations were chemical fertilizers, concentrated feeds, the mechanical cream separator, and, in the field of marketing, the cooperative movement. All these innovations tended to strengthen the position of small family farms. In spite of rapidly rising real wages, the growth of agricultural productivity was connected with a rise in the labour intensity of the product mix, which was made possible by the adoption of land-saving innovations on the small family farm. The most surprising feature of the period 1870-1914 was the stagnation of British agriculture, which in 1870 was still at the forefront of agrarian development.

Using data from the 1983 Euro-Barometer survey, this article examines the extent, determinants, and consequences of feminist consciousness among Western European women. The results indicate a surprising degree of feminist consciousness in Western Europe, with more than a third of women classified as feminists. The extent of feminism varies across countries, with nearly half of women in France and Italy but only a quarter of women in Britain classified as feminists. Age, education, religiosity, and ideology are the strongest predictors of feminism, although there is meaningful cross-national variation in the determinants of feminism. Finally, feminist consciousness is associated with more liberal positions on most political issues, particularly those that involve sympathy for the disadvantaged,and with the willingness to consider supporting a leftist party.

The growing prominence of service activities in the European economies is part of a major structural change. In this paper, in contrast to the implicit determinism found in much research, the new locational possibilities being created by a reorganisation of service production within both private business and the public sector are emphasised. The present phase of reorganisation offers a 'window of opportunity' for policy influence before new patterns become established as a further round of uneven development.

The study of early agricultural soils using micromorphology is outlined. The effects of tillage due to modern agriculture are reviewed and the results from four experiments in 'prehistoric cultivation' are presented. These are used in the interpretation of prehistoric agricultural practices, based on a study of soils from various archaeological sites in north-west Europe. It is suggested that microfabric features, varying according to soil texture, can be diagnostic of tillage. Microfabric type, textural features (e.g. coatings) and structure are, taken together, better indicators of ancient tillage than single features.

The U.S. is not unique in the decline of private sector unionism. Contrary to assertions of the 'unique school,' unionism in the private sectors of Canada and Western Europe has also declined and for the same reason, structural changes in the labor market. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)_

The rise of new social movements in Western Europe has led to the formulation of several models that attempt to explain why mass publics support these movements. Macro models emphasize the social location (e.g., new middle-class membership or social integration) of individuals as a source of public support for new social movements; psychological models focus on postmaterial values or problem perceptions as explanations of why citizens support protest movements. Despite the proliferation of explanatory models, however, research in this area suffers two shortcomings. First, several models remain untested, leaving it uncertain to what extent they are empirically valid. Second, most of the models remain disintegrated. Analyzing public opinion toward environmental groups in four nations, this research employs a Eurobarometer (1986) to test and synthesize various models. Postmaterial values, left policy orientations, and the perception of national pollution problems have the strongest direct influence on public evaluations of environmental organizations. Attributes that reflect the social integration of individuals indirectly influence environmental group evaluations via psychological factors. New middle-class explanations receive no support from my analyses.