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The paper aims to evaluate the impact of aging labour force on productivity, measured as a GDP per person employed and total factor productivity (TFP), in the European Union (EU) countries based on models developed by Calvo-Sotomayor et al. (2019), Poplawski-Ribeiro (2020), Feyrer (2008), and Aiyar and Ebeke (2016). We combine different research methods to address previous criticism and use the most recent data to compare our results with previous trends and draw conclusions about the impact of an aging labour force on productivity. Measuring productivity as a GDP per person employed, the study finds that the aging labour force has a negative and statistically significant effect, which differs between the EU-15 and EU-13 countries, on productivity. Our evidence is not entirely robust since the negative effect of aging labour force on productivity measured as TFP was not statistically significant.

This article examines why and how China upgraded its engagement with the European Union (EU) in the years between 2001 and 2004, with reference to pre-existing foreign policy traditions and practices in reform-era China. It argues that most of the observed changes can be explained with reference to two dynamics. First, the changing international environment, mostly with regard to the roles of the United States and the EU, challenged the established approach to foreign policy inherited from Deng Xiaoping, China's pre-eminent leadership figure from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. In this sense, the shift towards the EU was part of wider efforts to solve this dilemma. Second, differences in how various groups in the Chinese foreign policy establishment understood and implemented Deng's guidelines and their respective influence in policy-making can help to grasp some of the more specific developments in Chinese policy towards the EU in the early 2000s. To supplement this main claim, the article also critically evaluates the changes less well explained by these two dynamics and proposes additional explanations.

© 2016, The Journal of Global Affairs is the official student research publication of the Department of International and Area Studies in the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Correspondence may be sent to: Journal of Global Affairs, C/O CIS/DIAS, 729 Elm Avenue, Hester Hall 150, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, United States of America. Email: jga@ou.edu. ; The United Kingdom is facing a referendum, to occur by the end of 2017, when British citizens will get the opportunity to vote on whether or not the UK should remain a member of the European Union. For Britain, the referendum is a flashback to 1975, when the nation held a similar referendum where voters decided to remain in the European Economic Community. In the four decades since then, however, Britain has continued to be haunted by its ambivalent and awkward relationship with the rest of the European continent. This study explains why Britain has historically occupied the role as being an outsider within Europe and analyzes the events surrounding the 1975 referendum, as well as the future one. In addition, this study predicts the fate of Britain if it does decide to exit the EU, outlining the numerous effects that Britain would experience if it chooses to abandon its EU membership. ; The Journal of Global Affairs is published in conjunction with the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma. ; undergraduate

The European Union (EU) has shown considerable interest in receiving the Western Balkan countries into the EU, as did the mentioned countries show considerable interest to join the EU. Although this is a historically very turbulent region, the EU has clearly, unambiguously and unanimously expressed the political attitude towards the Western Balkans: "The Future of the Balkans is in the European Union". In addition to goodwill, the EU is also ready to assist in this process but also each country must do its part of the job in the accession process. The very process of EU accession means defining and meeting necessary criteria for potential new EU members, as well as the process of accession negotiations for the full membership of the new member states. The main objective of this article is to indicate which expansion criteria or Copenhagen criteria will be the most critical to achieve for Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), as one of the Western Balkan countries, in the process of access into the EU. In the process of meeting Copenhagen criteria, unlike other Western Balkan countries, B&H shows the least success. In our research, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a problem primarily by satisfying political Copenhagen criteria and then meeting economic and legal criteria. The lack of meeting Political Copenhagen criteria is found primarily in the absence of political consensus in B&H, which stems from the special features of the Government in Bosnia and Herzegovina (two entities and Bosnia's three main ethnic populations). With the lack of political unity in B&H, it is not possible to establish stable institutions that ensure democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and the right to protect minorities (Sejdić and Finci case, corruption, non-transparent elections, nondependent media and labour unions) Fulfilling the Copenhagen Economic Criteria - a functioning market economy is also dependent on political influence (which is also fractured). The economy of B&H is structurally unregulated and is based on the processing of basic raw materials without the high-tech industry in order to deal with the competition of the European Single Market. During the research, the used scientific methods (analysis and syntheses, descriptions and classifications, historical and comparative, induction and deduction, and quantitative analysis) showed that it would be most difficult to achieve the political and economic Copenhagen criteria for the above reasons.

Mainstream literature on climate change concentrates overwhelmingly on technological solutions for this global long-term problem, while a change towards climate-friendly behaviour could play a role in emission reduction and has received little attention. This paper focuses on the potential climate mitigation by behavioural change in the European Union (EU) covering many behavioural options in food, mobility and housing demand which do not require any personal up-front investment. We use the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM), capturing both their direct and indirect implications in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Our results indicate that modest to rigorous behavioural change could reduce per capita footprint emissions by 6 to 16%, out of which one fourth will take place outside the EU, predominantly by reducing land use change. The domestic emission savings would contribute to reduce the costs of achieving the internationally agreed climate goal of the EU by 13.5 to 30%. Moreover, many of these options would also yield co-benefits such as monetary savings, positive health impacts or animal wellbeing. These results imply the need for policymakers to focus on climate education and awareness programs more seriously and strategically, making use of the multiple co-benefits related with adopting pro-environmental behaviour. Apart from that, the relevance of behavioural change in climate change mitigation implies that policy-informing models on climate change should include behavioural change as a complement or partial alternative to technological change.

With the establishment of the EU, the goals and policies pursued throughEuropean Communities, and the targets and policies covered by new actionareas, which include Economic and Monetary Union, European Citizenship,Common Security and Foreign Policy which will be progressed graduallyby European Union treaty, have started to be addressed as a whole. Theidentity of the EU at the global level has also experienced change. In thiscontext, the EU represents a political structure on its own, with its institutions,activities and authority, which constitute a supranational structure.Of course, it is not possible to say that this process continues without anyproblems and disputes. However, when we look at the development processof the EU, it is seen that this change and the transformation continue inthe context of the requirements and the process continues dynamically. Inthis context, this study includes other studies discussing the developmentsof the EU in different policy spaces. In these studies, it has been examinedwhether EU policies have an impact on national structures, practices andactors and if there is, how and under what conditions this has become clear

On 1 January 1995 Austria became a member of the European Union. Austria's accession to the EU constituted the most important transfer of jurisdiction in the history of the Federal Constitution. On this occasion the Austrian legislature passed an amendment to the Federal Constitution which provides for the participation of Austrian organs in the decision-making process of the European Union. The legal basis of Austria's membership in the EU is the treaty on accession to the European Union and the special constitutional bill authorizing the competent authorities to ratify the treaty on accession. First of all, provisions on the election of Austrian members to the European Parliament were introduced by the amendment into the Constitution. Secondly, the amendment contains a procedure for participation of the Austrian lands and local governments in the decisions of the European Union. Thirdly, the legislative bodies on the central government level (National Council and Federal Council) are also accorded the right to participate in decision-making of the EU. Finally, a special provision confirming Austria's participation in the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the Union was introduced.

Die Schottische Nationalpartei (SNP) ist bei den Regionalwahlen im Mai 2021 wieder mit Abstand stärkste Kraft geworden und hätte mit den schottischen Grünen die Mehrheit, um ein zweites Unabhängigkeitsreferendum anzustoßen. Doch der Weg dahin ist unsicher. Anders als 2014 ist die Zustimmung des bri­ti­schen Parlaments wenig wahrscheinlich und die Kompetenz des schottischen Parlaments zum Beschluss einer weiteren Volksabstimmung umstritten. Das stellt auch die Europäische Union vor Herausforderungen. Der erneute Drang zur Unabhängigkeit ist eng mit dem aus schottischer Sicht ungewollten EU-Austritt verbunden. Aber der harte Brexit macht die Unabhängigkeit mit potentieller EU-Mitgliedschaft noch komplizierter. Zwar wird die EU kaum verhindern können, dass sie in die Debatte zwischen Edinburgh und London hinein­gezogen wird. Dennoch ist sie gut beraten, das schottische Unabhängigkeitsstreben weiterhin als interne Angelegenheit des Vereinigten Königreichs zu behandeln. (Autorenreferat)

It gives me great pleasure to address the readers of such an influential publication as the JCMS Annual Review and share my views regarding relations between the two biggest players in Europe -- the Russian Federation and the European Union. The importance of this subject should not be underestimated because the future of our common continent in the 21st century will primarily depend on the EU and Russia -- and their interaction. European history cannot be imagined without Russia, just as the history of Russia cannot be imagined apart from Europe. For centuries, Russia has been involved in shaping European reality in its political, economic and cultural dimensions. Yet the debate of how close Russia and its west European partners can be and to what degree Russia is a European country has also been going on for centuries. Adapted from the source document.

"Challenging the conventional processes of conceptualising the European Union as an actor, this study provides a timely and in-depth analysis of EU-ASEAN relations which contests the use of power as the basis of such conceptualisations. It assesses the EU's actorness by analysing its attempts to promote its regionalism experience to ASEAN. Three aspects of regionalism - economic integration, institutionalisation and political norms - are analysed using data collected from officials and researchers connected to these regions. In doing so, this compelling volume shows that the effectiveness of the EU's aim to diffuse these norms is predominantly determined both by ASEAN's perception of the EU as an actor and its consideration of the EU's regionalism experience as relevant to ASEAN"--