Suchergebnisse

In 2009 the EU adopted a new migration policy instrument - the Blue Cards (BC) - for attracting highly skilled workers to the EU. The present paper examines the potential impacts, which BC may cause on the less developed sending countries (LDC). According to the adopted framework of innovative capital, the BC will reduce human capital in LDC. In addition, BC will also have a negative impact on knowledge capital. These findings suggest that the BC is not coherent with the EU's development policy. Without appropriate policy responses, BC fade the developing country growth prospects away. In order to address the skill drain issues, we propose and examine alternative migration policy options for the LDC.

"This paper takes Belarus as a case study to consider patterns of cooperation and conflict between Russia and the EU in the "common neighbourhood." It examines the ways that Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko has exploited competition between the EU and Russia to extract subsidies which have helped to sustain the regime.
The paper begins by examining why Belarus's relations with Russia have become characterized by cycles of conflict and engagement. Integration with Belarus represents an important part of Russia's efforts to maintain regional hegemony. On the other hand, the relationship is also perceived as a burden which provides resources for the Belarusian regime's survival with little benefit to Moscow. The contradictions of this approach have been further sharpened by the Customs Union.
It is argued that Belarus has provoked further conflict with Russia by adopting an increasingly instrumental approach to integration. The assertion of loyalty or independence can be seen as a form of "sovereignty entrepreneurship," which recalls the ethnic bargaining of Russia's regions in the 1990s. When Russia has sought to reduce subsidies, Belarus has responded by threatening to diversify its foreign policy and seeks other partners.
However, the inconsistencies of Lukashenko's foreign policy mask a deeper continuity—the consolidation of Belarusian statehood and identity as an independent state. The dilemma for the EU—which has an interest in promoting Belarusian sovereignty—is that this has been conducted within the context of an authoritarian system.
Both the EU and Russia are seeking to shape Belarus's domestic normative environment. The implication of EU policy is that Belarus needs to discover (or recover) its European identity, which has been suppressed by its Soviet heritage and the current regime. The rational for integration with Russia is a common history and cultural affinities as part of a single Slavic civilizational space.
Behind these competing approaches is an implied struggle for Belarusian identity which, because it is cast in terms of geopolitical choice, is liable to lead to polarization between Russia and the EU. In the long term, the consolidation of Belarusian statehood is likely to lead to further differentiation from Russia. However, the failure of the nationalist opposition to harness falling support for Lukashenko's regime suggests that a change of government will not necessarily lead to the immediate "Europeanization" of Belarus. This suggests that the EU needs to re-calibrate its policy to be more sensitive to the needs of Belarusian society, rather than making it the object of broader strategic rivalries." [author's abstract]

The paper reviews the positions of the Hungarian social partners on the labour issues relating to EU accession. In addition to the topics dealt with in the 'Social Policy and Employment' chapter in the accession negotiations, the paper also discusses unions' and employers'views on labour migration, as well as how the adaptation of EU regulations in various sectors is likely to affect employment prospects. The paper argues that, on the one hand, social dialogue on EU accession can become more meaningful if employers and unions develop a co-ordinated strategy. On the other hand, appropriate back-up by experts is also required, because social partners ought to influence the complex system of negotiations being conducted, by experts of both the EU Commission and the Hungarian government, behind the scenes of high-level political negotiations. The authors also analyse the operation of social dialogue fora dedicated to EU accession issues. Hungary was the first East European candidate country to establish a joint committee with the Economic and Social Council (ESC), and within the country labour-related issues of accession have been delegated to the newly founded European Integration Council. In these fora the behaviour of trade unions is largely a consequence of the frustration over the fact that the current right-wing coalition government does not wish to go any further than formally observe the unions' consulting rights on major issues. At the same time organisational weakness and internal divisions still exist on the trade union side.

Cover -- Contents -- List of Tables -- List of Figures and Boxes -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- 1 Current Issues in EU Integration -- Part I: Agriculture, Competition and Industry -- 2 Common Agricultural Policy: Evolution and Economic Costs -- 3 Competition Policy in the Single European Market -- 4 Industrial Policy: The Changing Agenda -- Part II: Economic and Monetary Union -- 5 Central Bank Independence and Monetary Policy -- 6 EMU Convergence and Fiscal Policy -- Part III: Regional Convergence and Enlargement -- 7 The New Role and Resurgence of Regions in the EU -- 8 EU Enlargement: EMU and Agriculture -- Part IV: Alternative Futures for the UK -- 9 Alternatives to Further Integration -- 10 Is NAFTA Membership Really a 'Barmy' Idea? -- Notes -- References -- Index.

This book offers a conceptualisation of unintended consequences and addresses a set of common research questions, highlighting the nature (what), the causes (why), and the modes of management (how) of unintended consequences of the European Union's (EU) external action.The chapters in the book engage with conceptual and empirical dimensions of the topic, as well as scholarly and policy implications thereof. They do so by looking at EU external action across various policy domains (including trade, migration, development, state-building, democracy promotion, and rule of law reform) and geographic areas (including the USA, Russia, the Western Balkans, the southern and eastern European neighbourhood, and Africa). The book contributes to the study of the EU as an international actor by broadening the notion of its impact abroad to include the unintended consequences of its (in)actions and by shedding new light on the conceptual paradigms that explain EU external action.This book fills the gap in IR and EU scholarship concerning unintended consequences in an international context and will be of interest to anyone studying this important phenomenon. It was originally published as a special issue of The International Spectator (Italian Journal of International Affairs).

A disparity exists between mainstream perception and reality with regard to American economic history. There is widespread belief among the public, media, and even some scholars that the U.S. amassed its wealth and prosperity from the adoption of exclusively free-market principles from the onset of the union. This is far from reality. Since 1980, the U.S. government has adopted policies that largely support the free-market ideology and can be classified as neoliberal. However, As Chang (2002) and Cohen and DeLong (2016) have shown, during the early stages of economic development and critical junctures whilst a middle-income country, the U.S. record is one of active government intervention in targeted industries, the creation of important institutions to complement free-market competition, and the widespread use of trade protection in support of infant industries. This misconception has significant ramifications for present-day developing countries, which are routinely advised to adopt neoliberal policies with insufficient regard for the idiosyncratic stage of economic development. This paper documents the misconceptions by examining the theoretical basis and historical record of U.S. industrial and trade policy. We detail how this misconception became widespread and ultimately entered policymaking by analyzing two contributing factors: the rise of neoliberalism, and the standard economics curriculum.

In the context of globalization, the Japanese government emphasizes the importance of reinforcing the free trade system. Due to European Union's (EU) reluctance, the free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between Japan and the EU took 4 years to conclude. However, Brexit prompted the conclusion of Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU as to maintain the economic interests of both sides after the British exit from the EU. The UK wants to maintain economic relations with Japan and to become a 'Global Britain' in the post-Brexit era. This article analyses both Japan–EU and Japan–UK FTAs. The core of the article looks at the impact of Brexit on Japan's access to the European single market through a review of Japanese sectors and large corporations, particularly the automobile industry.