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Overcoming gender inequality is a serious challenge for many countries all over the world. Different reforms aiming at reduction of gender inequality are often a necessary condition for joining international alliances and associations. The article presents an example of comparative analysis of gender statuses in European partnership countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Russian Federation (1) on the one hand, and Iceland on the other hand due to the latter leading position in the Global Gender Gap ranking. This ranking as well as the results of the comparative analysis can be useful for lecturers in the courses on gender inequality, international comparative studies and others. The author provides a definition of the concept "gender inequality", an overview of existing methodological approaches to the international gender inequality measurement and interpretation. Based on the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) author describes men and women positions in the countries mentioned above in such socially important fields as politics, economy, education, and life expectancy; provides her own explanations of the current situation and perspectives for its development. The study shows that for all the countries under consideration the most problematic are (1) political sphere in the terms of women's empowerment and (2) the sphere of healthcare from the point of quality and duration of men's lives. The most unproblematic field from the comparative gender analysis point of view is educational sphere. According to the results of the comparative analysis, the most egalitarian country seems to be Moldova, while the least egalitarian Azerbaijan. This article is based on the data of the International project ReSET «European visions and divisions: comparative studies in improving of teaching sociology" (supported by OSI HESP in 2010-2012).

This paper will explore the nature of European Union citizenship in the context of the constitutionalisation1 of the EC/EU. The concept was formally introduced by the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and presents many problems in its current state. Under the TEU, citizenship of the EU was granted to all nationals of EU member state countries, introducing changes to the EC Treaty which now contains a revised Article 8 detailing the beneficiaries and rights of citizenship. This is an important symbolic development in the evolving constitution of the Union; a formal recognition of the extra-economic character of the EC/EU. 'But an examination of its substance reveals EU citizenship to be disappointingly feeble and gives rise to questions concerning its nature and limits. Is it an inalienable right granted to all existing and future member state nationals? Could an EU citizen be deprived of this status by a state's choosing to end its membership of the Union? The relationship between nationality and citizenship is also crucial. As member states have different methods of determining nationality it could mean, for example, that an Irish American may be able to avail herself of EU citizenship but a Turkish national who has lived all her life in Germany may not. Since there are approximately 10-15 million legally settled non-nationals in the EU, the fact that they should be further disenfranchised is of concern. The relationship between citizens' rights and human right s has been of interest since the drafting of constitutions in the late 18th century; it is indicative that this problem also remains unresolved in relation to this new citizenship which emerged from Maastricht. Citizenship, nationality, and human rights are all crucial to the future development of the Union. They are the weapons in the larger battle which has shaped and will continue to determine the personality of that Union; the division between member state sovereignty and a supranational Union. This paper will locate the issues in this overall context ...

Gender equality is a vital aspect of the European integration process. Although specific legislation concerning gender issues was included in the establishing Treaties, in the Charter of fundamental rights and in a dozen other directives, non-discriminatory principle has also been strengthened by the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union which formed a judgment in more than 200 cases. Nowadays, the EU equality legislation has moved far beyond basic gender issues, and this is also discussed in the article. It focuses not only on the fundamentals of EU legislation concerning gender equality but also on the level of its implementation and its most important limitations. Such considerations are broadened by a discussion on the EU actions which may be also treated as the implementation of non-discriminatory legislation. ; Równość płci stanowi kluczowy aspekt procesu integracji europejskiej. Szczegółowe przepisy regulujące kwestie płci zawarto w traktatach założycielskich, Karcie praw podstawowych i kilkunastu innych dyrektywach, ale zasada niedyskryminacji została dodatkowo wzmocniona decyzjami Trybunału Sprawiedliwości Unii Europejskiej, który wydał decyzje w ponad dwustu sprawach. Obecnie przepisy unijne dotyczące równości wychodzą daleko poza podstawowe kwestie płci, o czym mowa jest w niniejszym artykule. Koncentruje się on nie tylko na podstawowych przepisach UE dotyczących równości płci, ale także na kwestiach dotyczących poziomu ich realizacji i najważniejszych jej ograniczeniach. Rozważania te poszerzono o dyskusję na temat tych działań UE, które można również traktować jako element wdrażania prawodawstwa niedyskryminacyjnego.

As we embark on a new century, some 33 million people are out of work in the OECD area. Policies to increase employment have topped most countries' domestic political agendas in the past decade. And employment and unemployment are likely to remain major economic and social challenges for many countries in the years to come. This book presents the proceedings of a conference on labour markets which was organised by the Ministries of Labour and Finance of Finland, with the support of the OECD and the European Commission. It advances thinking on new policy measures, such as active labour market policies and measures to "make work pay" and focuses on specific experiences in a few individual countries, namely the United States, Japan, Finland and Denmark.

Will European companies investing abroad be transmitters of EU environmental policies or environmental dumpers? This article utilizes a most-differentcases approach to analyze transnational corporation (TNC) behavior in countries with less stringent environmental standards. Drawing on rational institutionalism, the article examines two significant European business investments in Mercosur countries: paper pulp mills in Uruguay and fishing off the coast of Argentina. These cases demonstrate that EU environmental standards will be diffused beyond Europe's borders if significant fixed assets are involved, high levels of public awareness and action in response to environmental degradation are possible, and if the environmental policy of an industry is successfully implemented in Europe. Paper pulp milling in Uruguay fulfilled these conditions and TNCs, in this case applied EU standards. This was not so with TNC fishing practices in Argentina. Also, with high citizen attention, local companies will adopt similar environmental practices to those of their European counterparts, improving environmental practices even without domestic government regulations.

Yes ; As the EU and UK negotiate a new relationship, this paper explores the welfare implications of this policy change and its interaction with major trade policy initiatives. We evaluate five Brexit scenarios, based on different assumptions regarding Brexit, TTIP and various free trade deals the UK may attempt to broker with the US or Commonwealth countries. We also consider the dynamics of welfare changes over a period of two decades. Our estimates suggest that the impact of Brexit is negative in all policy scenarios, with lower welfare losses under a soft Brexit scenario. The losses are exacerbated if TTIP comes into force, demonstrating the benefits of being a member of a large trade bloc. However, they occur gradually and can be partially compensated by signing new free trade agreements. To further minimise losses, the UK should avoid a hard Brexit.

As the EU and UK negotiate a new relationship, this paper explores the welfare implications of this policy change and its interaction with major trade policy initiatives. We evaluate five Brexit scenarios, based on different assumptions regarding Brexit, TTIP and various free trade deals the UK may attempt to broker with the US or Commonwealth countries. We also consider the dynamics of welfare changes over a period of two decades. Our estimates suggest that the impact of Brexit is negative in all policy scenarios, with lower welfare losses under a soft Brexit scenario. The losses are exacerbated if TTIP comes into force, demonstrating the benefits of being a member of a large trade bloc. However, they occur gradually and can be partially compensated by signing new free trade agreements. To further minimise losses, the UK should avoid a hard Brexit.

"Since the creation of the euro and a European Central Bank, the European Union has persistently pursued financial market integration throughout periods of economic growth, membership enlargements, financial breakdown, and political crisis. While traditionally analysed in terms of clashing ideological orientations and strategic political interests, this book presents a novel and empirically grounded perspective on the issues around financial market integration by approaching them in terms of the knowledge problems facing the actors involved. Drawing on European legal texts, policy documents and interviews with regulators, central bankers and financial market professionals, the book is rich in empirical detail which reveals a close-knit set of knowledge problems, or paradoxes, of 'the market'. These paradoxes are irreducible to a particular political ideology or national interests because they are rooted in the conceptual structure of the European treaties. Moreover, while these knowledge problems present themselves as uncertainties, tensions, and conflicts in practice, they also echo persistent conceptual and theoretical controversies in the field of economics. Indeed, the book demonstrates how 'the market' is adopted from economic theory into European treaty law, resulting in central bankers and regulators struggling with knowledge problems and conflicts paralleling classic debates in the academic discipline. This book will be of significant interest to political economists working on European economic integration and money and finance as well as readers of heterodox economics, economic sociology and political and social theory more broadly"--

In this paper, we test for the stationarity of EU current account deficits. Our testing strategy addresses two key concerns with regard to unit-root panel data testing, namely (i) the identification of which panel members are stationary, and (ii) the presence of cross-sectional dependence. For this purpose, we employ an AR-based bootstrap approach to the Hadri (2000) test. While there is only mixed evidence that current account stationarity applies when examining individual countries, this does not appear to be the case when considering panels comprising both EU and non-EU members. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Summarization: This study evaluates the energy efficiency trends of five energy-intensive industries in 23 European Union (EU) countries over the period 2000–2009. In particular, the performance of the construction, electricity, manufacturing, mining and quarrying, and transport sectors is examined. The analysis is based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) combined with the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI), which allows for distinctions between efficiency and technology changes over time. At the second stage of the analysis, cross-classified multilevel modelling is applied to analyse the main drivers behind efficiency performance using a number of sector and country characteristics. Based on DEA results, an overall improvement in efficiency is observed in all sectors over the period. The decomposition of the MPI indicates that technology change is primarily responsible for the improvements achieved in most sectors. The results obtained by the cross-classified model show, among other things, that the high electricity prices, energy taxes, and market share of the largest generator in the electricity market have a negative effect on industrial energy efficiency. ; Presented on: Energy Policy

Against the backdrop of the European Union's contemporary legitimacy crisis, this article reconstructs Arendt's still largely neglected writings on European post-national democracy. Arendt approached the 'European question' as a fundamental question for the future of democracy and civil rights in a globalized age, and a necessity for moving beyond the European nation-state model of political organization after the horrors of Nazi totalitarianism. Her work hereby shifts the focus from today's much-lamented crisis of post-national democracy back to reflecting on the 'chronic crisis', contradictions and legacies of the European nation-state and of national sovereignty – a crisis that partly motivated the evolution of new European democratic beginnings in the first place. Moving beyond both national sovereignty and technocratic supra-national governance, Arendt's critique lies the foundation for post-sovereign models of European politics and provides a rich resource for rethinking the conditions, justifications and legitimacy of European democracy today.