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This paper analyses the political origins of diverse peripheral growth models in Europe, focusing on debt-based consumption-led growth model in Southern Europe and FDI-based export-led growth model in Central and Eastern Europe. Contrary to existing approaches that attribute this East-South divergence to their geographic position and systemic features of European monetary integration, the paper argues that these growth models stem from different national and EU-level policy responses to the challenge of core-periphery market integration. While the Southern states sought to protect domestic firms, allowing for, or even directly contributing to deindustrialisation in the face of competition with the European core economies, Central and East European states aimed to preserve their industrial legacy even at the expense of FDI-dependency. These policy responses were, in turn, shaped by distinct patterns of interaction and accommodation between segments of state elites and domestic economic groups, as well as by dramatically different EU strategies of governing integration. In contrast with society-centred perspectives on the politics of growth models, the paper highlights the autonomous role of the state as a key actor balancing between the demands and accommodation of domestic economic groups, and the constraints and opportunities created by regional institutions governing market integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we contribute to recent debates on the geographies of discontent by examining the implications of urbanisation on the state as a territorial‐political community in the European context. Building on an Arendtian conception of politics, we argue that the emergence of the "urban" as a dominant spatio‐political imaginary has led to a narrowing of the conditions of politics and political agency within states. The urban imaginary has provoked selective spatio‐political discourses, geopolitical strategies, and policy practices that have resulted in the exclusion of certain social and spatial fractions of society from a shared sense of community and political agency within the state. To demonstrate this point, we empirically analysed the experience of political efficacy in Europe. The results of our analysis show that perceived external political efficacy is weakest in more rural settings and in regions with low GDP and a declining population. Accordingly, we suggest that policy measures ought to be directed against this sort of political alienation and should be used to create a stronger sense of political belonging and community. In this paper, we argue that the emergence of the "urban" as a dominant spatio‐political imaginary has led to a narrowing of the conditions of politics and political agency within states. The urban imaginary has provoked selective spatio‐political discourses, geopolitical strategies, and policy practices that have resulted in the exclusion of certain social and spatial fractions of society from a shared sense of community and political agency within the state. The results of our analysis show that perceived external political efficacy is weakest in more rural settings and in regions with low GDP and a declining population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an overview of West and Central European mapping between 1650 and 1800. The period was marked by the emergence of distinctive types of mapping, influenced by the spirit of the Enlightenment, particularly its adoption of consciously scientific methods and reliance on direct observation, the acceptance of geography as an academic discipline and a questioning attitude towards previously accepted authority. Such maps were expensive to create and relied on sponsorship by the state and/or academies and, in their published form, on collaboration of both with the map trade. 'Enlightenment Maps' are far from being a homogeneous group, however, are of varying quality, and were less prevalent than generally assumed: many traditional types of map continued to be created, published and purchased by an ever-widening public readership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African presence in Europe can be traced back to Roman times, yet African peoples within European spaces are continually perceived and often treated as new migrants with no sense of an historical attachment to European soil. This paper seeks to understand and challenge this conception of black migrants to Europe by focusing on the community and political activities of black subjects in European spaces. Using Britain as a primary reference point, the paper argues that the unfolding nature of black political activity in European spaces emerges as a result of dynamic interactions between black protagonists and the state. The nature of these interactions it is argued are racialized in character and that black community organizations and individuals play a crucial role in determining the forms and nature of political activity and outcomes that operate under the guise of minority ethnic mobilization. This paper argues a point that is often overlooked in the literature that focuses on African and other immigrants to Europe as recent migrants with problems. The paper uses a refined political opportunities approach and focuses on state practices and black community organizational practices between the First and Second World Wars to outline the varied nature of black community and political activity in an era of state antagonism towards black populations at home and abroad. The paper argues that context, state power and action, and the activities and ideas of black community organizations interact in dynamic ways to account for the changing nature of black political activity in European spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economic Annals-XXI / Ekonomìčnij Časopis-XXI is the property of Institute of Society Transformation and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Jus et Civitas is the property of Petroleum - Gas University of Ploiesti and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article takes a future focus on the direction in which social forces develop the market for animal-friendly products in Europe. On the basis of qualitative data gathered in the context of the European EconWelfare project, the differences across eight European countries are studied. The findings suggest that, given international trade barriers that prevent an improvement of animal welfare through legislation, many stakeholders believe that the market is the most viable direction to improve farm animal welfare. Economic productivity of the chain remains, however, an issue that on a fundamental level conflicts with the objective to improve animal welfare. With the help of a deeper conceptual understanding of willingness to pay for animal welfare, the paper finds that the European market for animal-friendly products is still largely fragmented and that the differences between European countries are considerable. A more animal-friendly future that is achieved through the market will therefore need substantial policy attention from stakeholders in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Portugal's accession to the EEC in 1986 was a natural and important stage in the restructuring of the international scenario, once the empire had been lost and the political and party structures were established following the revolutionary period. However, the movement towards Europe does not start in 1976, during the period of Estado Novo important steps are taken to open the dialogue with Europe, though at that time the objectives were to establish economic links, in a predominantly pragmatic strategy. The commercial agreement in 1972, designed during the government of Marcelo Caetano, is a natural follow-up to EFTA, which was viewed by Salazar, and in particular by the minister Corrêa d'Oliveira, as a complement to the international character of the regime, in the footsteps of its ally, England, and, especially, protecting the country's colonial interests. When the most extremist factions had been defeated and the military had returned to their posts, the several constitutional governments, among which those led by Mário Soares in 1976 and 1983 (Bloco Central) and Sá Carneiro (1980), advocate stronger positions regarding the place of Portugal in the EEC, and move forward with the negotiating process in 1977. The governments of Cavaco Silva and António Guterres, in different contexts, also aimed to evidence the country's role in Europe, though never neglecting our peripheral character. So as to understand Portugal's place in the European Union (EU) also requires an analysis of the nature of the organization, which we will carry out at the beginning of this paper. The EU is a changing political system which has drawn special attention of experts in political science and international relations. In this debate, we shall focus on European federalism and the positions of the Portuguese State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to prove that the abolition of state monopoly in the provision of educational services in Continental Europe will result in members of the educational community spending less time towards rent protection and more time towards educational activities, something that should also benefit the consumers of these services. It also aims to prove that once deregulation reform is introduced, those that now fiercely resist to it will, rationally, accept the new status quo and adapt to it. Design/methodology/approach-The paper presents a ~ decision of the community of educational services providers to allocate time among their profession and towards opposing reform and protecting rents that follow from laws that establish state monopolies in the market for education services. The model proposed shows that, in the presence of such externalities, the introduction of reforms that remove the state monopoly will make the educational community adapt to the new status quo by allocating less time to protect monopoly rents and oppose reform, and more time and effort towards educational-related activities like research and publications, high-quality teaching and tutorials, etc. Findings - The prediction of the assumed model that no internal forces can lead to a departure from the unfavorable equilibrium that exists before reform, underlines the need of society to press ahead with reforms regardless of the objections raised by the affected interest communities. Originality/value - The paper provides for the first time in the relevant literature, an analysis of the harms and drawbacks of the higher education state monopoly in Continental Western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the author analyses the possibility of 'creating' a European political people and forming a European political identity and a European political community. In the first, theoretical part of the paper, the author defines two concepts of people -- demos and ethnos -- and describes problems in identity building on purely political grounds of people as demos. By examining the references on a European political people in the EU legal foundations, the author illustrates dual premises of legitimacy for the Union and the Union's identity referents which are generally of a universalist nature. In the second, empirical part of the paper, the author presents how the European identity is formed, in line with classic distinction between 'civic' and 'ethnic' identity. Since the Eurobarometer survey showed a low level of European identification of EU member states' citizens, the author presents concepts which aim to overcome the low level of European afiliation. In the final part of the paper the question which is examined is whether the existence of a European political people is necessary for the future of the European integration. To this end, the author uses various theoretical approaches to the 'creation' of a European political people: economic/market approach, communitarian/ statist approach, 'constitutional patriotism' of Habermas, Weiler's 'multiple demoi' and pluralism/particularism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is twofold. It aims first to provide a critical overview of the literature on the history of technology as it relates to colonialism, decolonization and development in the extra-European world during the 20th century. Second, it seeks to identify changing perspectives and emerging research issues in the history of technology in the European colonies and ex-colonies of Asia and Africa, and thus to trace a move away from earlier ‘diffusionist’ arguments and discussion of polarization and conflict between ‘Western’ and ‘indigenous’ technologies, toward a more interactive, culturally-nuanced, multi-sited debate about how technology functions within specific parameters of time, place and culture. Body, land and state are identified as major ‘triangulation’ points for the critical investigation and contextualization of these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes up a neglected dimension of the social and political life of post-communist countries, that of rural life. With the resurgence of subsistence farming, on the ashes of communist-era collectivization, features of rural politics, which this paper refers to as 'neo-dependency', have resurfaced. The entrenched institutional structure of small villages generate certain subjectivities and political behaviors that, in turn, reinforce the institutional structures themselves, in a vicious circle that makes rural reform extremely difficult. After a brief survey of some of the major social scientific approaches to the peasantry, over the course of the twentieth century, this paper outlines a multidisciplinary approach to the problem. The paper presents comparative data on peasant voting behavior and political opinions as well as an anthropological case study, based on fieldwork in two very different Romanian villages. Based on this analysis, the paper presents a model of local state capture, based on the persistence of communist-era local power brokers. In many cases, the very same communist-era officials control local access to resources, placing them at the center of patronage networks - as 'gate-keepers' - that cut the populations of small villages off from any contact with the political and social life of the more modern cities. The democratization of the countryside is of paramount importance to the success of many post-communist countries, and understanding the agrarian sector is a necessary first step in this direction. This paper seeks to make a modest methodological contribution to this monumental task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I follow a group of professionals in their efforts to address the problem of statelessness in Europe. My interlocutors divide the members of their group into "practitioners," on the one hand, and "scholars" on the other. Relating this emic dichotomization to Antonio Gramsci's dialectical take on common sense, I argue against a theoretical reductionism that regards expertise and activism as two essentially different and mostly separate endeavors, and put forward the concept of the "expert activist." Unpacking what I call the "practitioner–scholar dilemma," I show that in their effort to end statelessness, "practitioners" take a reformist route that aims at realizing citizenship for the stateless, while "scholars" are open to a more revolutionary path that contemplates the denaturalization and even the eradication of the state. By drawing on Gramsci, I suggest that the impasse the group encounters in their work might relate more to the structural constraints imposed by the state within or against which they operate than to the problem of statelessness they are trying to solve. This article contributes to a body of emergent work in anthropology that explores the intersection of scholarly expertise and activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an invitation to reflect sociologically on statelessness, to date mostly absent from an otherwise burgeoning sociological debate on citizenship, rights, and legal status. Millions of stateless people worldwide confirm the need for a more nuanced understanding of contemporary forms of membership attentive to the interplay of different rights regimes. While the article characterizes the Roma as the undeserving stateless, so alien to the dominant imagination of citizenship as to be even denied access to the procedure for status recognition, it also argues that the experience of Roma families who have lived for years in Italy in absence of any formal citizenship complicates Hannah Arendt's insightful characterization of stateless people as rightless. The lack of any citizenship does not make the Roma bare life, it reveals instead political subjectivity as an embodied and emplaced process, where subjects actively negotiate their position in the world and vis-à-vis the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The processes of Europeization have invaded the public policy sphere and introduced into it, among other things, the altered views of the roles of policy players and their relationships in the processes of the formation and the implementation of public policy. As soon as these new developments had been detected, numerous political science debates understandably ensued about the changed roles and competences of the actors who operate at different political levels in the European Union. The paper begins with the definition of the policy actor in the research of the EU policy process. The usability of the traditional and the contemporary understanding of the policy actor in the EU policy system is looked into by means of the indicators of (non)statehood and the existing view of the role of the state, thereby articulating the dilemmas and the prospects for the potential new taxonomies of policy actors that might emerge as a consequence of the policy activity at the EU level, since the newly identified features breed suspicion in the unequivocal adequacy of the existing taxonomy of the actors. Also, the appropriateness of the categorization of the players according to their political level or to the structuralfunctional character of their activities is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ages ago, Plato understood justice as the purport and the essential purpose of the very existence of the state. Though Plato distinguishes between the political justice of the state and the personal justice of the individual soul, it was Aristotle who in his practical philosophy developed, apart from the general justice, an appropriate understanding of the special or particular justice and its significance for social progress. The first part of this paper deals with the different types of justice, and the second with civil society. In order to understand the contemporary theories of political justice and the roles of civil society in its realization, the author looks into the history of the European political thought and "civil society", since "civic" or "civil society" ("societas civilis"), was originally a political society. In modernity, Hegel began differentiating between the state as a political community and the "civil society" as a non-political society; his intention was not to separate but to integrate them by means of the public scrutiny and the citizens' governance. Thus Hegel linked Locke's and Montesquieu's opposing definitions of the relationship between the civil society and the state. This is all the more important since Hegel's philosophy is often misinterpreted as the state totalitarianism since we overlook the dangers coming, especially today, both from the civil society reduced to economy and the absolute state, the dangers that Hegel, with his concept of customariness, detected and avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1980—during the 'double dip' crisis—and 2008, the European social pact, born of the armed and revolutionary defeat (in part of the countries) of Nazi fascism, ended. In exchange for disarmament and the end of the revolutionary struggle, in 1945–47, a specific form of counter-revolution was designed in Europe, outlined in Yalta and Postdam, which erected the European Welfare State and full employment in 1945–47 in exchange for workers abdicate from the struggle for power. In this article, we argue that this period –known as 'European social pact'—began to break down with the anti-cyclical measures of 1980, which opened doors to the generalisation of precarious work to new generations, after the defeat and/or cooptation of the main unions, from 1986, before the fall of the USSR. Precariousness that after the anti-cyclical measures of 2008 extended to almost the entire working population in Europe, subject to increasingly intense, brutal and precarious working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista del CLAD Reforma y Democracia is the property of Centro Latinoamericano de Administracion para el Desarrollo (CLAD) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Teorija in Praksa is the property of Teorija in Praksa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores the nationality, ownership, and governance of news agencies in Europe, and suggests that we need to rethink and problematize the categories previously used when studying these. Drawing on recent data from a pan-European study, the article suggests that the concept of hybridity could be applied to analyzing news agencies' nationality, ownership, and governance. It reviews the concept through different fields: (a) cultural studies, (b) organizational studies, and (c) political-regime and media-system studies, each of these contributing to a complementary understanding of the concept of hybridity. It concludes that (a) the previously fixed categories of national and international news agencies have become more integrated, (b) the different ownership forms of national news agencies have been partly amalgamated in terms of both owners and clients, and (c) ownership category alone cannot determine whether governance is democratic or nondemocratic, so we also need to look at governance. The article suggests that, by using the concept of hybridity when analyzing news agencies, we are able to see crossing boundaries of earlier ideal types and even developing possible alternative approaches to studying news agencies in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essence and main functions of democracy in modern Europe are analyzed; the author argues that the democratic political regime in the united Europe has become a framework for implementing a sufficiently flexible and effective governance system (with all its shortcomings). In this context, it is possible to speak of a managerial-representative function of democracy as a mechanism for securing and reconciling the interests of many actors of sociopolitical and economic interaction within the EU. Democracy embodies a fair distribution of resources and goods, based on appropriate government and local government. In the European Union, democracy has become a tool for ensuring human rights, high levels of well-being of citizens, freedom of expression and pluralism in various spheres of public life. The effectiveness and functionality of European democracy needs special attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National identities of the states of Central Europe evolved in several historically delimited phases. The states were a part of empires, later they were integrated into a socialist bloc, and on the threshold of the 21st century, they gained independence and thereby a new identity. In our view, identity is one of the key factors that influence the formation of a security environment. We will examine identity from the point of several analytical perspectives, e.g. philosophical, historical, political and maybe also cultural, in the delimited historical phases that caused the change of identity in the states of Central Europe. In the article we will try to define the basic framework for each analysed identity. This will create the limits on the basis of which we will analyse the position of states in a concrete security environment (NATO and the EU, eventually also the Warsaw Pact or former alliances that the states of Central Europe were a part of in the analysed period). In this sense, we can refer to these states in connection with several types of identities: primordial, collective or institutional/constructive, forced or voluntarily shared (but also the voluntarily accepted identity on the basis of party system, respectively dissident as well as collaboration identity, i.e. identity which collaborated with the opposite of primordial identity in order to maintain the position of a state, respectively of a nation within a state). All historical types of identities participate in the formation of a security environment of a different type. Thus, they determined on a large scale the active structure of rational behaviour of a nation/state. It is therefore necessary to identify the mutual consistencies and differences between the concerned parties, and this may contribute to collective cooperation. The aim of the article is to determine and delimit by means of historical analysis and comparison the listed types of identities in the states of Central Europe and the integration of their partial segments to the present time. The initial premise is based on the assumption that the substance of contemporary identity can be understood as reproduction of positive elements from the past. We will analyse the genesis of every identity, the influence on the formation of socio-political changes, positive and negative factors introduced by this identity, as well as the threats and risks provoked or reflected by a particular identity within a society, and how this particular identity affected the escalation, securitization or desecuritization of threats. The given concretization is reflected in the ability of the states to create a stable security environment in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macroeconomic imbalances are a substantial characteristic of the recent economic crisis in Europe. As several authors emphasise the impact of the state, public institutions and territorial structures on the world city, the impact of the crisis on the economic performance of global cities becomes a crucial question. After discussing the theoretical aspects of the state - global city linkages and discussing two fields of influence on the global city formation, the empirical section analyses the deviation of national and regional growth performance to estimate the decoupling of European global cities from the national economies. The results show that the correlation between European global cities and the national scale also depends on the form of capitalism and the territorial organisation of statehood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that the growth of religious service provision directed at the Muslim diaspora in Europe has led to greater professionalization and pluralism within the Islam state in Muslim countries. Contemporary Muslim governments have claimed a monopoly over public prayer and religious education and have heavily invested in a network of infrastructure and services – the Islam state. The recent breakthrough of Islamist parties into governments in Turkey and across North Africa poses a challenge to the continued ‘civilian control’ over religion. What will become of the enormous Islamic Affairs ministries that Islamist parties have inherited – the hundreds of thousands of public servants of state Islam across the region, the tens of thousands of mosques and thousands of religious schools? Liberals demand the abolition of the Islam state because it violates the separation of religion and state; Islamists detest it for its repressive qualities. Despite progressive liberalization, governments in the past decade have not sought disestablishment, and have instead increased the resources and policing of state-run religion. I draw on the experience of Muslim governments in the competitive field of state–Islam relations in European countries to explain the modest beginnings of reform of the official religion apparatus in Muslim-majority countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As part of their strategy for economic and monetary union, European governments committed themselves to fiscal discipline - particularly by placing limits on annual deficits and on public debt. Subsequently, and as they sought to respond to the 'current crisis', they embraced the view that only if public finances were kept under control would sustainable recovery be possible. Rules of fiscal governance were strengthened. To help them meet these rules, the governments of many member States of the European Union made changes to their pension systems or to funds they had established specifically to pay the costs of population ageing. The intention was not to cut retirement benefits or to improve the efficiency of the relevant pension schemes and institutions. Rather, it was to free up resources immediately. Funded pension schemes and pension funds were treated like 'piggy banks' that were raided when times became hard. Moreover, the policies pursued succeeded in meeting their objectives only because the system of national accounts according to which outcomes are judged does not recognize the way in which most of the fiscal gains are matched by future fiscal liabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It seems to be impossible for the liberal state to embrace a Christian identity, because 'liberalism' is exactly a device for separating state and religion. Discussing the implications of a recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights, Lautsi v. Italy (2011), I argue that this is not necessarily so. If paired with a liberal commitment to pluralism, a Christian identity might even be more inclusive of minority religions than a narrowly 'liberal' state identity, which has been the dominant response in Western Europe to the challenge of immigrant diversity, especially that of Muslim origins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the representations of Greek–Turkish relations among local political elites in the Greek border region of Evros. The transition from competitive nationalism to Greek–Turkish rapprochement in the late 1990s created a new context for political action and led to a readjustment of public practices. This process reflected an interplay of national and European policies and global normative discourses. Nonetheless, changing discourses should be critically examined, as fieldwork in Evros revealed ambivalent representations that point to the reproduction of nationalism and the state, a condition that is becoming salient anew in the context of the recent economic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In European countries there is no uniform model of relations between state and churches and religious communities. Different models of relationships between state and churches and religious communities are: separation between state and churches and religious communities, cooperation between state and churches and religious communities and form of a State Church or predominant religion model. Although there are different models of those relationships, and despite the fact that different systems of relations between the state and churches and religious communities are deeply rooted in historical heritage, they are by no means static. After analysis of individual systems, it can be concluded that, despite differences between individual systems, there seems to be a measure of convergence. Regardless of which model the relationship in question, state, in different ways, financially supports churches and religious communities, allows, to some extent, the activities of churches and religious communities in the state institutions, regulates and helps to build worship places, accepts and treats religion in the public sphere and maintains dialogue with churches and religious communities. Such a development is quite understandable because religion is part of the public sphere, and churches and religious communities are, after all, of this world and act in this world. The convergence of different models of relations between state and churches and religious communities in Europe is supported by understanding of the role of the state as a guarantor of human rights which is therefore obliged to ensure conditions for their achievement in the public sphere, equality and the prohibition of discrimination, and, in principle, supranational integrations. The EU respects legal status of churches and religious communities under the member states law and shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with churches and organizations whose identity recognizing under the national law. It can be expected that the results of the strengthening of the dialogue and cooperation between the EU/ member states and churches and religious communities will be the development of model of separation between church and state, which will be combined with co-operation and state aid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amongst historians of early modern Europe, the relation between confession and nation has been largely neglected, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world. The dominant discourse on nationhood, in contrast, was established by historians of modern history such as Elie Kedourie, Ernest Gellner, Eric Hobsbawm, Benedict Anderson, and Miroslav Hroch. This article evaluates the contributions of two historiographical debates to the study of early modern Central Europe, which were conducted in parallel, from the 1980s, but have not been assessed in context. It argues for the necessity to combine the perspectives of 'confessionalization', developed by early modernists, with the focus of nationalism, championed by students of the nineteenth and twentieth century, in order to achieve a full understanding of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Politica y Sociedad is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article compares the performance of state institutions and compliance with EU law in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. The public institutions highlighted are of crucial relevance when it comes to enforcing EU social standards and include the court and legal systems as well as labour inspectorates and equal treatment authorities. Expert and practitioner assessments point to major shortcomings in their institutional performance. The procedural compliance pattern to which these shortcomings give rise closely resembles that found by previous studies in some Western European countries, notably Ireland and Italy. Thus, the four countries examined here fall within a 'world of dead letters' as far as their compliance with EU law is concerned. In this 'world', EU directives tend to be transposed in a politicised mode (although so far, this happened rather timely and correctly) and there is frequent non-compliance at the later stages of monitoring and enforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographical indications (GIs) are remarkably different from other instruments of intellectual property rights (IPRs). Their acreage to the local provides an original scheme of governance. Contrary to other IPRs, GIs have only been homogenized in a very small way in the international legal framework. The issue is whether GIs are implemented as any other IPR, due to their collective and public dimensions. In particular, what is the role conferred to the state in the protection of GIs? The French legal framework, which largely influenced the European legal framework, is based on long traditions of protection of the appellations of origin and GIs where the role of the state has been declining, in order to give more responsibilities to the producer groups. The control task has been transferred from the state to the certification bodies to increase the guarantee of quality. The Indian experience, a post-TRIPS Agreement (the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) example, shows a state and its agencies which are very active in the process of filing GI applications, including being themselves the applicant and eventually the proprietor. This might be justified by the lack of strong producer organization. These different roles of the state between France/Europe and India give a new understanding of the legal nature of GIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Ph.D. is not a qualification to decide a country's foreign policy, but it should not be a disqualification from communicating with people whose choices are not entirely rational. Founders of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) learned to do this in occupied Europe during the Second World War. I learned it in libraries and working on newspapers. So, instead of talking about Iraq in an Oval Office meeting with President Bush I offered a parable about Northern Ireland, supported by quotations from Max Weber and Isaiah Berlin.European Political Science (2008) 7, 78–83. doi:10.1057/palgrave.eps.2210177 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is the state on the retreat? We examine this question through an analysis of changing patterns of government involvement in infrastructure provision, which is generally considered to be one of the main functions of the modern state. Based on an analysis of the extent of privatization of infrastructure companies between 1970 and 2000 across 20 OECD countries, we find that there is indeed a general trend towards less public infrastructure provision visible in all of the countries and that the main factors associated with the extent of privatizations are EU membership and government ideology. Overall, the results of the study are consistent with the view that the trend of privatizing infrastructure companies was triggered by a change of the prominent economic discourse in the 1970s and that a rightist party ideology and EU membership fostered the adoption and implementation of these ideas in domestic settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]