Suchergebnisse

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is one of the World Trade Organisation's most important agreements. This accord is the first & only set of multilateral rules covering international trade in services. It is a framework for international trade in services & a legal basis for resolving conflicting national interests. For the past two decades, trade in services has grown faster than merchandise trade. Currently, they represent more than two thirds of the World Gross Domestic Product. As the term services covers a wide range of intangible & heterogeneous products & activities, there has been an increasing demand for detailed, relevant & internationally comparable statistical information on trade in services. In the last ten years, the share of transportation services in international trade in commercial services was steady & amounted to about one quarter. Tables, References. Adapted from the source document.

Commenting on the article by R. Badinter (1996, this issue), the author contends that experts in international law are not broad-minded regarding the establishment of a state. Most legal experts take for granted the statements of the international judiciary on the existence of certain rules of general international law & consider them validated & indisputable. This fiction has been given support by states, since they uphold only those legal statements that suit their interests. The author analyses the Opinions of the Arbitration Committee on the process of the disintegration & the Criteria for the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia as well as the criteria for the creation of the new states. He considers this precedent as central for international judiciary law. Adapted from the source document.

The Partnership for Peace (PfP), created by NATO in Brussels in 1994, was an integral part of the Clinton administration's foreign policy toward Europe, based on the premise of a strong, viable NATO & democratic, US-friendly Europe. The military, political, & economic advantages the creation of PfP presented to the US are pointed out. Due to the Balkan War & Franjo Tudman's refusal to accept the Dayton agreement, Croatia was denied a PfP membership. However, following the Croatian president's death, his successors were eager to embark on the process of democratic changes in their country & thus please the Clinton administration by meeting its conditions for PfP membership, including (1) the acceptance of the Dayton agreement vis-a-vis the territorial integrity of Bosnia & Herzegovina, (2) cooperation with the International Tribunal in The Hague, (3) the facilitation of the return of war refugees, & (4) concrete steps on the democratization of the regime (free mass media, free elections, changes in the electoral law). It is noted that Croatia was accepted into the PfP to show other Balkan states, especially Serbia, that there are rewards for going democratic & showing willingness to cooperate with the West. Since NATO does not plan to increase its membership soon, PfP seems to be, for the time being, the principal format within which the security of Croatia & peace in the Balkans can be preserved. Z. Dubiel

When analyzing the role of the individual in society, or even in international relations, there are two polar opinions, neither of which can be documented or corroborated with definite & irrefutable evidence. According to the first opinion, the history of mankind is, in fact, the result of the exploits of relatively few prominent individuals; the other opinion is that history is the outcome of social, political, & economic circumstances & processes, which are basically unalterable. The reality & practice of today's international political relations are, naturally, much more complex than might be gathered from these two contrary approaches. In searching for a consensual attitude toward the role of the individual in international relations, there are still many more unanswered questions than acceptable answers, which makes this topic a subject of vigorous & persisting debates among today's theoreticians of international political relations. Adapted from the source document.

Apart from trade in goods & services, there has emerged a new field of international trade & it is trade in intellectual property rights. Its most important & represented form is trade in patent rights. Possession of patent rights is an increasingly important factor of competitiveness on the international market. This field is very dynamic & therefore there is a need to be constantly followed. In this paper, the author analyses the origin, process of changes & prospects for trade in patent rights. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

The author outlines some basic conceptual aspects of the legal evolution of international relations after 11 September 2001. First, he briefly sums up the classical international law. Then he goes on to analyze the two dominant approaches to the future development of international law -- the idealistic & the realistic -- by juxtaposing Kant & Hegel. Regarding this debate one should not forget Carl Schmitt, the German legal & political theoretician, since he challenges the universalist presumptions of Kant's project. Schmitt calls into question the function of the rationalization of governance which should be taken over by the constitution, both within & outside the nation-state. The author concludes that the US & other big powers will soon have to return to the path they paved & energetically followed between 1918 & 1945, the path of gradual progress in the historical evolution of international law. 12 References. Adapted from the source document.

Resource management by a national economy is of great significance for every country. If they are deficient then they should be purchased abroad. Oil & oil derivatives are the energy resources that are in shortest supply in Serbia. The statistical data on its foreign trade in the period January-July 2008 show that Serbia recorded the greatest foreign deficit in its trade with the Russian Federation. This primarily results from its energy resources imports. Russia is Serbia's most important partner in strategic commodities supply. For this reason the measures for abolishing or decreasing the oil export duties would considerably reduce the production costs in our economy. This would lead to an improvement in a large number of our economic branches. References. Adapted from the source document.

In every country, the WTO rules should be viewed from two perspectives: (1) They are used to facilitate access to other countries' markets. (2) The mechanisms for the protection of a country's economy (which make up the bulk of the WTO regulations) are used for the justified & unjustified protection of a country's economy. The author analyzes GATT's basic norms & the Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiations, with focus on the sector-accommodation policy, using financial services as an illustration. The creation of the WTO disposed of some shortcomings noticeable in GATT, eg, the temporary character of the regulations, the stable & predictable set of obstacles at the borders, & the objective procedures for dispute resolution. To implement the Uruguay session, which includes the GATT, all WTO member states are obliged to adopt its multilateral discipline & rules & bring their national regulations in line with the accepted obligations. The author concludes that the outcomes of the Uruguay session enhanced the role of world trade as a dynamizing factor of the growth of the world economy. 1 Table, 11 References. Adapted from the source document.