Suchergebnisse

Paakkinen, S.-M.: Opening remarks. - S. 5-9. Väyrynen, P.: Development of the new security architecture in Europe. - S. 10-15. Rotfeld, A. D.: Development of the new security architecture in Europe. - S. 16-33. Väyrynen, R.: CSCE and the EC - rivals? - S. 34-37. Lodgaard, S.: Norden, Europe and the near future. - S. 38-49. Theorin, M. B.: Challenge of disarmament in the new Europe. - S. 50-64. Torstila, P.: CSCE and the crises in Europe. - S. 65-76. Sweedler, A.: Role of the US in future European security. - S. 77-88

Diplôme : de Doctorat ; The liberalization of agricultural trade between the European Union and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries (SEMCs) was boosted following the Summit of Barcelona in 2005. Fruit and vegetables, the main agricultural export of the SEMCs, are at the center of debates relative to this liberalization. This thesis aims at clarifying this debate and discussing the potential impact of a reduction of European tariffs on fruit and vegetables coming from the SEMCs. European market Access is analyzed by thoroughly assessing preferences and by estimating a gravity model, leading to three conclusions. First, we show that liberalizing fruit and vegetable exchanges will probably have a limited effect. Indeed, the SEMCs already profit from strong preferential access to the Community market for these products and important non-tariff trade costs at entry of European countries were revealed. Second, we demonstrate that there exists a strong heterogeneity of the SEMCs concerning the impacts of liberalization. Lastly, our analysis brings to light that the effects of liberalization strongly depend on how the opening of the European market is implemented. For example, increasing quotas would not have the same impact on exchanges as modifying the Entry Price System. ; La libéralisation des échanges agricoles entre l'Union Européenne et les Pays du Sud et de l'Est de la Méditerranéen (PSEM) a été relancée lors du sommet de Barcelone de 2005. Les fruits et légumes, principales exportations agricoles des PSEM, sont au cœur des débats relatifs à cette libéralisation. Ce travail a pour objectif d'éclairer ce débat et de discuter des impacts potentiels d'une réduction des droits de douane européens pour les fruits et légumes en provenance des PSEM. L'analyse de l'accès au marché européen par une étude approfondie des préférences et par l'estimation d'un modèle de gravité a abouti à trois conclusions. Elle montre tout d'abord que les effets d'une libéralisation des échanges de fruits et légumes seraient ...

Diplôme : de Doctorat ; The liberalization of agricultural trade between the European Union and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries (SEMCs) was boosted following the Summit of Barcelona in 2005. Fruit and vegetables, the main agricultural export of the SEMCs, are at the center of debates relative to this liberalization. This thesis aims at clarifying this debate and discussing the potential impact of a reduction of European tariffs on fruit and vegetables coming from the SEMCs. European market Access is analyzed by thoroughly assessing preferences and by estimating a gravity model, leading to three conclusions. First, we show that liberalizing fruit and vegetable exchanges will probably have a limited effect. Indeed, the SEMCs already profit from strong preferential access to the Community market for these products and important non-tariff trade costs at entry of European countries were revealed. Second, we demonstrate that there exists a strong heterogeneity of the SEMCs concerning the impacts of liberalization. Lastly, our analysis brings to light that the effects of liberalization strongly depend on how the opening of the European market is implemented. For example, increasing quotas would not have the same impact on exchanges as modifying the Entry Price System. ; La libéralisation des échanges agricoles entre l'Union Européenne et les Pays du Sud et de l'Est de la Méditerranéen (PSEM) a été relancée lors du sommet de Barcelone de 2005. Les fruits et légumes, principales exportations agricoles des PSEM, sont au cœur des débats relatifs à cette libéralisation. Ce travail a pour objectif d'éclairer ce débat et de discuter des impacts potentiels d'une réduction des droits de douane européens pour les fruits et légumes en provenance des PSEM. L'analyse de l'accès au marché européen par une étude approfondie des préférences et par l'estimation d'un modèle de gravité a abouti à trois conclusions. Elle montre tout d'abord que les effets d'une libéralisation des échanges de fruits et légumes seraient ...

Union density remains very high in Sweden. The significantly raised fees for union unemployment funds in January 2007 were followed by an unprecedented decline in the number of union members in modern Swedish history. In the course of two years union density dropped by 6 percentage points: from 77% in 2006 to 71% in 2008. As a result, the density of employers' associations today is much higher than union density. The article below describes and analyzes union decline among different groups of workers and why it was not difficult to foresee this development when the center-right government sharply raised membership contributions to finance the state-subsidized Swedish unemployment insurance. From July 2008 the government more closely linked fund fees to the unemployment rate for each fund, thus differentiating fund fees between different groups of employees. Since the subsequent economic crisis hit private sector blue-collar workers harder than other employees, the differentiation of fees was further widened. As a consequence, total union fees (including fund fees) also varied more by time and between different categories of workers, which in turn was reflected in the development of union density. From 2006 to 2010 blue-collar density fell by 8 percentage points compared to the 4-point decline among white-collar workers. In contrast to the depression of the 1990s, union density did not increase when unemployment increased rapidly from 2008 to 2009. The article also discusses why the government failed to achieve its main goal of changing the financing system of unemployment insurance: to influence wage formation.

Union density remains very high in Sweden. The significantly raised fees for union unemployment funds in January 2007 were followed by an unprecedented decline in the number of union members in modern Swedish history. In the course of two years union density dropped by 6 percentage points: from 77% in 2006 to 71% in 2008. As a result, the density of employers' associations today is much higher than union density. The article below describes and analyzes union decline among different groups of workers and why it was not difficult to foresee this development when the center-right government sharply raised membership contributions to finance the state-subsidized Swedish unemployment insurance. From July 2008 the government more closely linked fund fees to the unemployment rate for each fund, thus differentiating fund fees between different groups of employees. Since the subsequent economic crisis hit private sector blue-collar workers harder than other employees, the differentiation of fees was further widened. As a consequence, total union fees (including fund fees) also varied more by time and between different categories of workers, which in turn was reflected in the development of union density. From 2006 to 2010 blue-collar density fell by 8 percentage points compared to the 4-point decline among white-collar workers. In contrast to the depression of the 1990s, union density did not increase when unemployment increased rapidly from 2008 to 2009. The article also discusses why the government failed to achieve its main goal of changing the financing system of unemployment insurance: to influence wage formation.

The European Council and the European Parliament adopted the European Electricity Directive in 1996. Since the end of the implementation period in 1999, some parts of the European power sector have been liberalized. In most countries, e.g., in Germany, price reductions and comprehensive institutional changes, e.g., cross-border mergers and the establishment of new power exchanges, are on the agenda. The data for cross-border electricity trade and for price developments indicate the emergence of an internal European market for electricity following the implementation of the Electricity Directive. Even if it is highly questionable whether a completely integrated internal market already exists, the obvious evolution towards more competition and market integration does not seem stoppable anymore. The Electricity Directive of 1996 is unambiguously a success on the way to competition in the European electricity industry. On March 13, 2001, merely two years after the end of the Directive's implementation period, the European Commission presented far-reaching proposals for further steps. On the one hand, these proposals aim at an acceleration of the quantitative market opening. On the other hand, they contain a far-reaching revision of the existing Electricity Directive: The proposals would induce a Europewide harmonization of the substantive as well as the institutional design of regulatory policies. This holds both for the network-use model and for public service objectives. According to the Commission's proposals of March 2001, the member states would be obliged to establish independent regulatory authorities. In Germany, for example, this could result in a sector- specific regulation authority for electricity in addition to the already existing telecommunications authority and the competition authorities. Considering the technical characteristics of the electricity industry and the recent experiences with electricity market liberalization leads to a quite simple normative conclusion: the competence assignment should give maximum leeway for competition between different regulatory approaches, and, therefore, for more or less spatially restricted experiments. The goal must be to choose regulatory institutions that provide for competition between alternative approaches and allow ongoing improvements. Thus, there is a strong argument against the noticeable competence reassignment from the EU member states to the European level as proposed by the Commission. Recognizing the disadvantages of a far-reaching harmonization of regulatory policies, one need not regret that the Council of Gothenborg in June 2001 and the Council of Barcelona in 2002 did not reach definitive decisions on the Commission's proposals of March 2001. This "reprieve" should be used for an intensive discussion about a proper competence assignment between the EU and the member states.

In 2004, the accession of ten new member states to the European Union has a significant impact on the continuing debate about the European narrative. The Western European view on the Second World War and the Holocaust is contested by other claims focusing on the Stalinist crimes and other Cold War events. The European Parliament becomes a forum for this symbolic struggle about European memory. An in-depth analysis shows that the enlargement conducts the Parliament to include new historical events in the European narrative and leads to news debates about the hierarchy of events. In these debates, a coalition of Baltic-Polish member states and nationalist eurosceptics is particularly dominating the European scene.

It should come as no surprise that access to employer property is a high‐priority objective for the union organizer. Access provides better and more opportunities to communicate with potential voters. However, the value of access goes beyond communication. Union access to the workplace itself allows organizers to acquire firsthand knowledge of working conditions and parlay their observations into campaign points. Protecting an employer's property rights, therefore, is an essential element of a union‐free strategy. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is about to make securing that protection a little harder for businesses.

It is only where noneconomic issues are powerful that a union organizer will launch a campaign on nonpay issues. If the union organizer perceives that the union has little potential for improving compensation and benefits, as would be the case where their own contracts at competing employers do not contain higher wages or benefits, organizing is less likely. When these conditions exist, it is difficult for organizers to make realistic promises of benefits to employees when their own efforts on behalf of employees they have represented for years have yielded no better results.

The process of rural-urban transformation presents both opportunities and challenges for development. If managed effectively, it can result in growth that benefits everyone; if managed poorly, it can lead to stark welfare disparities and entire regions cut off from the advantages of agglomeration economies. The importance of rural-urban transition has been confirmed by two consecutive World Development Reports: WDR 2008 Agriculture for Development; and WDR 2009 Reshaping Economic Geography. Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, this book picks up where the WDRs left off, investigating the influence of country conditions and policies on the pace, pattern, and consequences of rural-urban transition and suggesting strategies to ensure that its benefits results in shared improvements in well-being. The book uncovers vast inequalities, whether between two regions of one country, between rural and urban areas, or within cities themselves. The authors find little evidence to suggest that these inequalities will automatically diminish as countries develop: empirical and qualitative analysis suggests that spatial divides are mainly a function of country conditions, policies and institutions. By implication, policymakers must take active steps to ensure that rural-urban transition results in shared growth. Spatially unbiased provision of health and education services is crucial to ensuring that the benefits of transition are shared by all. But connective infrastructure and targeted interventions also emerge as important considerations, even in countries with severely constrained fiscal and administrative capacity. The authors suggest steps for navigating the tricky political economy of land reforms. And they alert readers to potential spillover effects that mean that policies designed for one space can have unintended consequences on

This paper explores the coronavirus pandemic response from a South Asian perspective. When their case numbers were still relatively low, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries adopted lockdowns at the same time or before India did. On 24 March 2020, when there were just two confirmed cases, Nepal went into lockdown, and Sri Lanka locked down on 22 March, when there were 78 cases. India locked down the day after Nepal, with all countries imposing some form of restrictions on people's movement. This paper draws its data from the first year of the pandemic that loomed in the SAARC nations. The regional cooperation provided by SAARC has allowed the sharing of resources and a strengthening of the region's self-reliance. Notably, the commitment made by India to ensure its neighbours are supplied with vaccines, many of these donated. The eight-member SAARC states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
This paper draws on the knowledge and perceptions of academics and social workers in the SAARC countries. It provides insight into the responses, impacts, vulnerabilities, and challenges faced by the region and in each specific country since the beginning of COVID-19. This paper also offers a discussion on vaccines, PPE, as well as the role of cooperation across the region. The relationship between India and the SAARC countries and its 'neighbourhood first' policy are also discussed.

Analyse der jüngsten Entwicklung südafrikanischer Gewerkschaften bis zur Gründung des Dachverbandes COSATU ('Congress of South African Trade Unions') im Dezember 1985. Ausführliche Untersuchung der Konflikte innerhalb der kanadischen Gewerkschaft CLC ('Canadian Labour Congress') im Zusammenhang mit der Unterstützung südafrikanischer Gewerkschaften und insbesondere der Zusammenarbeit mit der verbotenen Gewerkschaft SACTU ('South African Congress of Trade Unions'). (DÜI-Fwr)