Suchergebnisse

This article examines whether Eastern enlargement has led the EU 15 member states to enter strategic interactions implying a race to the bottom. The question is whether concerns about welfare migration have led to downward pressure on the EU 15 member states in the form of more restrictive access to their labour markets and adjustments of their social policy benefits. We find little empirical evidence to support the asumption that welfare states with generous benefits and accessible labour markets will become magnets for welfare migration. Nevertheless, the study demonstrates that the EU 15 member states do enter strategic interactions as if such migration would occur. The majority of them have temporarily restricted the free movement of workers from the acceding countries. EU 15 member states with the least restrictions are the ones most active in adjusting their social policies. Strategic interactions in social policy may thus intensify in the future as transitional periods come to an end and future enlargements come into place.

At the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council meeting in Brussels on 2 and 3 October 2003 final political agreement was reached on a new and expanded version of the Brussels II Regulation, a text which has commonly become known as Brussels II bis. The instrument, which was adopted by the JHA ministers on 27 November, has now received formal classification as Council Regulation No 2201/2003 Concerning Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Matrimonial Matters and Matters Relating to Parental Responsibility Repealing Regulation (EC) No 1347/2000.1 The net result of this precipitous reform is that Brussels JJ shall cease to have effect from 1 May 2005,2 a mere 4 years and 2 months after it entered into force. Henceforth there will be a single, integrated instrument which will cover, inter alia, the free movement of judgments in matters of parental responsibility as well as of matrimonial judgments and introduce provisions on cooperation between Member States.

In the mid-1950s, the City of Cape Town was part of a wider area demarcated as a Coloured Labour Preference Area. The free movement of African people into the city was strictly controlled and the residential areas were segregated along racial lines. In terms of Apartheid's grand design, an area designated Mitchell's Plain was demarcated for occupation by Coloured people in 1973 while another designated Khayelitsha was allocated for African people. The two areas were incorporated in one magisterial district, Mitchell's Plain, in the mid- 1980s. A sample survey of the area was conducted in late November and early December 2000 with a focus on labour market issues. Its aim was to capture occupants of households aged 18 or older. The survey data has been interrogated to describe the connections between migration, poverty and health in a city where recent rapid urbanisation is changing the demographic profile significantly. As a consequence, the need to provide adequate infrastructure, decent housing and employment poses a daunting challenge ten years after the new democracy has been ushered in.

Are countries with unregulated capital flows more vulnerable to currency crises? Efforts to answer this question properly must control for "self selection" bias since countries with liberalized capital accounts may also have more sound economic policies and institutions that make them less likely to experience crises. We employ a matching and propensity score methodology to address this issue in a panel analysis of developing countries. Our results suggest that, after controlling for sample selection bias, countries with liberalized capital accounts experience a lower likelihood of currency crises. That is, when two countries have the same likelihood of allowing free movement of capital (based on historical evidence and a very similar set of economic and political characteristics)—and one country imposes controls and the other does not-- the country without controls has a lower likelihood of experiencing a currency crisis. This result is at odds with the conventional wisdom and suggests that the benefits of capital market liberalization for external stability are substantial.

Are countries with unregulated capital flows more vulnerable to currency crises? Efforts to answer this question properly must control for "self selection" bias since countries with liberalized capital accounts may also have more sound economic policies and institutions that make them less likely to experience crises. We employ a matching and propensity score methodology to address this issue in a panel analysis of developing countries. Our results suggest that, after controlling for sample selection bias, countries with liberalized capital accounts experience a lower likelihood of currency crises. That is, when two countries have the same likelihood of allowing free movement of capital (based on historical evidence and a very similar set of economic and political characteristics)—and one country imposes controls and the other does not-- the country without controls has a lower likelihood of experiencing a currency crisis. This result is at odds with the conventional wisdom and suggests that the benefits of capital market liberalization for external stability are substantial.

After noting peculiarities in European Union (EU) borders & the fact that eastern enlargement was meant to address them, attention turns to issues surrounding European identity & the political & economic identity of new EU members. Coming to grips with a common European identity requires defining the European geographical space; ie, determining where Europe's should end. The EU has defined borders that leave some groups who had always considered themselves as part of Europe out, & this has implications for immigration & the free movement of people within the EU. How to understand the notion of common European culture is next considered before scrutinizing the issue of weak states in the new Eastern European democracies as a reason for their differential development; some lessons regarding state building in the postcommunist context are elaborated. How the EU accession process might spur political & economic development in Eastern Europe so that these states might catch up to the EU is discussed in conclusion, touching on core member concerns regarding enlargement & its implications for deeper integration. J. Zendejas

AbstractEconomic globalization is reducing the significance of state boundaries. We have a global economy but lack the institutions necessary for a global polity. Unilateral action by a would–be hegemon is untenable in the long term and hence there is a need to discuss our institutions of global governance. The benefits and costs of globalization have been distributed asymmetrically, placing poor people in poor countries at a disadvantage, especially as regards the free movement of low–skilled labour and the creation of intellectual property rights. The World Trade Organization, a target of the critics of globalization, should be seen as a welcome extension of the rule of law to the international arena and a counterweight to unilateralism. More generally, global economic liberalism should be balanced by institutions which provide global public goods and international mechanisms to finance them. All of this implies a further weakening of state sovereignty and a need to ensure that global institutions are democratic and can be held accountable to people worldwide for their performance.

A summary of the seminar entitled, "The Accession Negotiations and the Shape of Polish Membership of the European Union" examines the substance of Poland's 2001/2002 negotiating strategy; development of specific guidelines for negotiations in the areas of Finance/Budget; Agriculture, & Regional Policy; constitutional changes needed to comply with EU standards; & adjustments that would have to be made in Poland following the termination of negotiated transition periods. A description of Poland's negotiating strategy focuses on possible changes of direction in non-financial areas such as, the Free Movement of Persons & Capital. The essence of the debate over possible constitutional changes is described, along with potential difficulties associated with the planned national referendum on Poland's accession to the EU; budgetary considerations; & problems Poland is likely to encounter after accession. Ways in which negotiators can better identify both negotiating problems & national interests are discussed. It is contended that the examination of problems involved in Poland's accession negotiations will lead to a better understanding of difficulties related to EU enlargement in general. J. Lindroth

The free movement of workers is a highly controversial issue with regard to the Eastern enlargement of the European Union (EU). Members of the EU are extremely anxious of mass immigration flows from Central and Eastern Europe countries (CEECs). This paper estimates the potential migration and analyses socio-economic impacts of migration in the context of the EU enlargement. How many people might migrate from the Eastern European transition countries to Western Europe, and what will be the socio-economic consequences for home and host countries? In order to answer these questions we draw on previous literature as well as on our empirical work. In the empirical analysis we evaluate the size and the structure of current and future migration to Western Europe. In particular, we estimate the future migration pressure, based on economic conditions in the Baltic States and Western Europe. Our empirical results suggest that depending on assumptions 3-5 percent of home countries working population might emigrate after opening labour markets in the old EU member states.

A dualism in Europe between immigration of European and of non-European origins increasingly characterized the 1970s and the 1980s; i.e., the time span following the phase of the massive labor migration of the 1950s and 1960s after the break marked by the end of active recruitment in 1973–1974. The result was, on the one hand, the integration of a considerable number of immigrants of European origin into the society of the host country. On the other hand, it resulted in the nonintegration of immigrants of non-European origin and their social isolation as well as scenarios of conflict with this group. The consequences of the process of European integration highlighted this dualism. It was beneficial for most of the immigrants of European origin in terms of improved social and legal status and especially in terms of free movement. The dualism was likewise emphasized by increasing immigration flows from different parts of the Third World which could be observed in the 1970s and 1980s.

Completion of the European Community's single internal market by 31 December 1992 is intended to secure the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour within the Community. This article examines the 1992 project with special reference to harmonisation and variation among the twelve members of the EC, `Social Europe' and the Social Charter, `Citizens' Europe', and the wider European context following the collapse of state socialism in Eastern Europe. It is argued that the interaction between the neo-liberalism of the single market, other EC policies, and the various historic practices of the twelve will generate highly complex outcomes for the Community as a whole and for individual members. Novel social and political forms - some of them hard even to conceptualise - may be expected. The same may be said of Eastern Europe. Throughout the continent sociologists will have an indispensible part to play in making the provenance and character of the various outcomes understandable to all concerned.

The United States has vital economic, political and military stakes in the twelve member nations of the European Community ("EC" or "Community"). A review of the 1987 statistics regarding United States exports and United States foreign direct investment demonstrates the continued economic importance of the EC nations for the United States. The Community is currently carrying out an ambitious program to complete the EC "Internal Market" by 1992. This program calls for the Community to adopt almost 300 legislative measures aimed at eliminating the remaining barriers to the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital between the Member States. The Community's Internal Market program has significant implications for United States interests in Europe. In particular, it creates an important new challenge, presenting both opportunities and risks, for business interests in the United States and in other countries. Many important aspects of the Internal Market program are explored in the contributions to this Symposium. The purpose of this Article is to put the Community's 1992 Project in perspective.

The study of postwar American foreign economic policy recently has been informed by a dual conventional wisdom: that the American state is relatively weak domestically, yet powerful internationally. Domestic weakness refers to the ability of private actors to penetrate and influence the state; to the institutional fragmentation and decentralization of the state apparatus; and to the difficulties state officials encounter in extracting resources from domestic society and in achieving their policy preferences in the face of domestic opposition. International strength, on the other hand, refers to the high degree of resources controlled by the United States relative to other nation-states, and to the ability of state officials to translate those resources into influence over international outcomes. In the early postwar period, America's external strength more than compensated for its internal weakness, and enabled state officials to pursue effectively their primary foreign economic policy objective: the creation of a liberal international economic order, characterized by the free movement of goods and capital across borders and by stable exchange rates.