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How did the transition from a world of empire to a global international system organised around the sovereign state play out? This article traces the transition over the past two centuries through an examination of membership debates in two prominent intergovernmental organisations (IGOs). IGOs are sites of contestation that play a role in the constitution of the international system. Discussions within IGOs reflect and shape broader international norms, and are one mechanism through which the international system determines questions of membership and attendant rights and obligations. The article reveals that IGO membership policies during this period reflected different compromises between the three competing principles of great power privilege, the 'standard of civilisation', and universal sovereign equality. The article contributes to Global IR as it confirms that non-Western agency was crucial in bringing about this transition. States in Africa, Asia, and Latin America championed the adoption of the sovereignty criterion. In this, paradoxically, one of the core constitutional norms of the 'European' international system – the principle of sovereign equality – was realised at the hands of non-European actors.

Three volume report on the question of including sterling in the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary system, issued in 1985.

This report analyses the financial position of non-financial enterprises in the euro area, in particular the amount of external financing, the choice between debt and equity and the composition and maturity structure of debt. It aims at identifying the main features of the euro area, as well as the peculiarities that depend on the country of origin and the sector of activity. Attention is also devoted to assessing whether a country's institutional eatures are correlated with different financial structures by firms. In light of the particular interest in the access of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to financing, the report also analyses how financing patterns differ across large, medium-sized and small enterprises. Finally, the report discusses the recent trends observed in the corporate finance landscape of the euro area over the past few years. Although it is still too early to pass final judgement, vast structural changes are underway that could have already influenced in a positive way in the availability of external funds for firms. All in all, a comprehensive understanding of corporate finance in the euro area is important from a monetary policy perspective, given its impact on the transmission mechanism and for productivity and economic growth. Moreover, such an understanding is also relevant from a financial stability perspective. A first assessment is now possible eight years into the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), given that sufficient data have been accumulated during this period. This assessment is particularly important as the introduction of the single currency has had significant structural effects on the working of financial markets, increasing their size and liquidity, and fostering cross-border competition. The data available for this report generally cover the period 1995-2005, and the cut-off date for the statistics included is 10 March 2007.

[EN] The worker's right to rest constituted a new right in the construction of world peace after the First World War. Drawing on primary sources, the study begins with an overview of legislation ranging from the regulation of weekly weekend rest to annual holidays, analyzing public European proposals for holidays in the interwar years, distinguishing those designed to ensure rest for workers specifically within the context of the city. The newly acquired right was most warmly embraced by totalitarian regimes, converted into a prize, a charitable act, or an opportunity for indoctrination and control. Focusing on the case of Spain, the research presents the Ciudades Sindicales de Vacaciones, Trade Union Holiday Towns, as the culmination of the public promotion of rest for workers under Franco's regime, subsequently giving way to private initiative and mass tourism. The research presents the Trade Union Holiday Town of Marbella as the ultimate prototype for a specific typology, analyzing its values through a projective approach to territory, providing new documentary evidence of its evolution and current status, and offering a reflection on the loss of values brought about by such transformations in light of findings made. ; [ES] El descanso del trabajador constituye un nuevo derecho para la construcción de la paz universal a partir de la Primera Guerra Mundial. Comenzando con una revisión legislativa en fuentes primarias que transita desde la regulación del descanso semanal de week-end al descanso anual de las vacaciones, la investigación analiza en primer lugar las propuestas vacacionales públicas europeas de entreguerras, distinguiendo específicamente aquellas pensadas para el descanso del trabajador y teniendo en la relación con la ciudad su principal argumento. Este nuevo derecho tendrá en los regímenes totalitarios su mejor acogida, convirtiéndose en premio, caridad u oportunidad de adoctrinamiento y control. Centrándose en el caso español, la investigación presenta las Ciudades Sindicales de Vacaciones como ...

On the way towards the European Higher Education Area 2010 the EQF proposal by the European Commission offers on the one hand opportunities for increased geographical mobility within higher education and on the other hand enhanced permeability between the HE and VET subsystems, but faces also interface incompatibilities of certifying HE and VET. The further development of the ECTS and ECVET Credit Systems from the transfer to the accumulation function as well as from the input to the outcome orientation shall increasingly promote the mobility of students, apprentices and graduates via the transfer, accumulation and recognition of learning outcomes described in acquired knowledge, skills and competence. This has consequences for the classical university model. (DIPF/Orig.)

Aunque por su vinculación al concepto de soberanía el régimen aduanero está formalmente atribuido a la competencia exclusiva del Estado por la Constitución de 1978 (art. 149.1. 10ª), según reconoce el Tribunal Constitucional se trata de una competencia legislativa de la Unión Europea regulada en el Tratado de la Unión Europea, el Tratado de Funcionamiento de la Unión Europea y en el Código Aduanero, cuya último texto legal ha sido el Reglamento (UE) nº 952/2013 del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo de 9 de octubre de 2013, aún en periodo transitorio. Esta atribución competencial es consecuencia de la naturaleza fundacional y constitucional de la materia aduanera en el Derecho de la Unión Europea y explica que en la actualidad la legislación estatal española no regule sistemáticamente el Derecho aduanero, cuyo régimen vigente en España está integrado por el citado Derecho de la Unión Europea y por normas reglamentarias estales de desigual relevancia normativa: desde reglamentos calificados de "legislación básica" hasta órdenes ministeriales. Es por ello que, en defecto de una configuración legislativa en sentido formal y a la espera de ulteriores desarrollos en una ley sistemática que consolide la regulación en esta materia, el régimen competencial sobre aduanas haya debido ser parcialmente configurado por el Tribunal Constitucional, quien ha establecido una delimitación de los títulos competenciales en presencia y un sistema de relaciones intergubernamentales fundamentado en los principios de coordinación y cooperación.

"Lange Zeit schien der Wahlsieg der Union sicher. Die SPD hatte kein Wahlkampfthema. Ein unprofessionelles Themenmanagement der Wahlkampfleitung der Union brachte die SPD wieder zurück ins Spiel. Der Beitrag untersucht, welche Wahlkampffehler gemacht wurden." (Autorenreferat)

Der Autor analysiert die Entwicklung der Europäischen Union und ihre mittelfristigen Perspektiven. Er macht eine Reihe von Vorschlägen zur Verfassung der Union und zur Ausgestaltung von Institutionen, die zu einer authentischen gemeinschaftlichen Politik befähigt sein können, trotz unterschiedlicher Konzeptionen. (IAB)

Multiculturalism is continuously and relentlessly put to the test in the so- called West. The question as to whether religious or custom- based legal orders can or should be tolerated by liberal and democratic states is, however, by no means a new challenge. The present article uses as its starting point the case of religious legal pluralism in Greece, as exposed in recent European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case- law, in an attempt to explore the gaps and implications in the officially limited use of sharia in Western legal systems. More specifically, the discussion is linked to the findings of the ECtHR on the occasion of the recent Molla Sali v. Greece case to highlight and question how sharia has been evolving in the European legal landscape.

Abstract: As the list of instruments available in the international sales law market continues to grow - most recently with the addition of the proposed Common European Sales Law - the debates comparing these various instruments have proliferated in kind. On 15 June 2012, a group of academics, practitioners, and representatives from revered institutions gathered in Maastricht not only to discuss the substantive attributes of these instruments and their differences but also to debate what it actually means to choose a particular instrument over the others. Hosted by the Maastricht European Private Law Institute (M-EPLI), this conference focused on the various perspectives on choice, which revealed a rather alarming disconnect between what choice means in theory for academics and what it means in 'reality' for practitioners.

A critical examination of the resurgence of working-class militancy in East Asia & the new independent workers' organizations highlights contradictions within them & suggests that they were created "for workers," rather than "by workers." The longtime state dominance of East Asian unions/workers' organizations is discussed & it is contended that the new, independent unions/workers' organizations rely on the assistance of middle-class nongovernmental organizations, which reinforces the conception of unions as "vehicles for helping rather than organizing." It is also noted that the leaders of these unions are not democratically elected but are appointed by a central executive committee chosen by an elite core of activists. Various worker actions are analyzed to explore the relationship between acts of worker militancy & prospects for working-class self-emancipation. It is concluded that these militant protests may inhibit further development of workers' capacities for self emancipation unless they shift their organizational focus to the more basic task of building class capacities capable of bringing about truly revolutionary change in East Asia. J. Lindroth

A critical examination of the resurgence of working-class militancy in East Asia & the new independent workers' organizations highlights contradictions within them & suggests that they were created "for workers," rather than "by workers." The longtime state dominance of East Asian unions/workers' organizations is discussed & it is contended that the new, independent unions/workers' organizations rely on the assistance of middle-class nongovernmental organizations, which reinforces the conception of unions as "vehicles for helping rather than organizing." It is also noted that the leaders of these unions are not democratically elected but are appointed by a central executive committee chosen by an elite core of activists. Various worker actions are analyzed to explore the relationship between acts of worker militancy & prospects for working-class self-emancipation. It is concluded that these militant protests may inhibit further development of workers' capacities for self emancipation unless they shift their organizational focus to the more basic task of building class capacities capable of bringing about truly revolutionary change in East Asia. J. Lindroth

The achievements of the labor movement in the Caribbean are generally historicized without highlighting the contribution of labor colleges to the function and survivability of trade unions. For more than fifty years, labor colleges have played a critical role in developing the knowledge and skill sets of union members who had an interest in labor studies. Many will attribute the heydays of the Caribbean labor movement in the mid-1900s to the intellectual thrust given to the trade union movement by labor colleges. During this period, trade unions relied heavily on labor colleges for intellectual support and advice primarily on matters that required in-depth academic investigation. Support from the labor colleges enhanced the reputation of the labor movement by shifting popular notions that the trade union movement consisted only of the poor and illiterate working class. The effects of these parallel training activities have been positive for both the leadership of the trade union movement and the overall impact they have had on labor-management relationships. There has been a noted change in the pattern of trade union leadership where "the first generation leaders, considered by many as demagogic and messianic, have given way increasingly to a younger and more formally educated second and third generation leadership".