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In the context of economic crisis, Europe has witnessed a spate of extraordinary political measures pressed by executive discretion. This article examines what emergency rule of this kind implies for the possibility of normal rule thereafter. Political decision-makers face the challenge of drawing a line under the crisis so that the unconventional measures used to handle it do not compromise the polity's norms in lasting fashion. Based on an analysis of the preconditions for plausibly making such an act of separation, I suggest the principal resources for doing so in the EU case are missing. Emergency rule will tend to blend in with normal rule, to the detriment of the political order's legitimate authority. A more dubiously grounded 'descriptive' authority may conversely be enhanced by emergency rule, as may compliance for instrumental motivations, producing a polity that is stable even if weakly legitimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imagery of Left and Right has been a common way to conceive democratic politics in modern Europe, and commentators have suggested it be extended to the European Union. This article examines the normative implications and plausibility of European politics being cast in these terms. It focuses on the challenges of rendering political division recognizable and acceptable at a transnational level, of evoking its continuities of structure, and of symbolizing the ties of political community. The article probes the Left–Right dichotomy’s potential in these regards, together with the conjunctural factors likely to raise or diminish its appeal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

I examine responses to norm indeterminacy in the transnational context, focusing on regional integration in post-War Europe. I argue that the development of the European Union has been facilitated by the use of a legitimizing device whereby policy decisions at a European level are cast as beyond the scope of reasonable political disagreement and therefore distinct from the conditions which make democracy a desirable political form at the national level. This rejection of the political significance of norm indeterminacy has led to a widely diagnosed trend of "depoliticization" in European politics. The paper examines how best to understand this trend, and explores how an adapted account of "enlightened localism" might offer better ways of coping with indeterminate norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant attention has been given to the necessary conditions for a viable and legitimate European polity. Drawing on traditions in political philosophy, a central strand of this debate has concerned what must be common to a set of people such that they may be ruled through the same institutions, with various types of collective bond proposed as possible bases for political community. The argument of this article is that many such approaches, which conceive a bond in terms of shared interests, cultural attributes or shared values and principles, are liable either to underplay or to overplay how much the citizens of a polity must have in common, tending either to empty public life of the pursuit of shared ends or conversely to downgrade the importance of adversarialism. Both may be seen as depoliticising moves. The article goes on to explore how a more explicitly political bond, based on the appraisal of political problems, might be conceived for a European polity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Positive patch test reactions to p-phenylenediamine (PPD) are common. PPD is used in oxidative hair dyes and is also present in dark henna temporary ‘tattoos’. Cross-sensitization to other contact allergens may occur. Because subjects sensitized to PPD are at risk of clinically severe reactions upon hair dyeing, there is a need for ‘current’ prevalence data on PPD sensitization. Objectives: To compare PPD patch test results from dermatitis patients tested between 2003 and 2007 in 10 European patch test centres and to analyse the causes and determine relevance of positive PPD patch test reactions. Materials: Patch testing was performed using PPD (1% free base in petrolatum from Trolab (Almirall Hermal GmbH, Reinbeck, Germany) or Chemotechnique (Malmö, Sweden), equivalent to 0.090 mg/cm2 in the TRUE® test from MEKOS Laboratories AS). Statistical analysis was performed using the chi-squared test. Results: The weighted average prevalence was 4.6% among 21 515 patients. PPD sensitization occurred more often in centres located in Central and Southern Europe than in Scandinavian centres (odds ratio = 2.40; 95% confidence interval = 2.07–2.78). The overall proportion of positive patch test reactions to PPD that were registered as being of either current or ‘past’ relevance was high (weighted average 53.6% and 20.3%, respectively). Consumer hair dyeing was the most prominent cause of PPD sensitization (weighted average 41.8%). Furthermore, occupational hair dye exposure (10.6%) and cross-sensitization to textile dyes (12.6%) were frequently reported. Conclusions: PPD sensitization caused by exposure to hair dyes is frequent and remains a present problem for patients visiting contact dermatitis clinics, especially in patch test centres located in Central and Southern Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]