Suchergebnisse

An examination of the relations between the Belgian army (the soldier citizens) & the Civil Guard (citizen soldiers, corresponding to the US Nat'l Guard). The 3rd type of Belgian armed forces, the Genendarmerie (a nat'l police force) is occasionally quoted for purposes of comparison. All 3 forces were established when Belgium became independent in 1830 in continuation of analogous forces of the Dutch-Belgian kingdom from which it broke loose. A detailed comparison is presented between the army & the Civil Guard re the following factors: (1) missions (foreign war, maintenance of internal peace & order); (2) recruitment (voluntary for officers, conscription for soldiers, voluntary throughout); (3) fixing of numbers (by annual law, according to need); (4) attribution of ranks (strict, looser); (5) basic org (mobile, sedentary); (6) use of languages (use of Flemish made more rapid progress in the Civil Guard); (7) juridical status (authority over men is much greater in the army). The Belgian Civil Guard fell into disuse in WWI & was disbanded by a law passed in 1921. It had a limited revival in 1939 for anti-aircraft defense. It is held that 'the revival of the Civil Guard is a necessity.' It would free the majority of our youth from conscription & give the country efficient service. I. Langnas.

Recent Developments in the Law of East-West Trade : Socialist Countries in the GATT.
East-West trade was always an important item in the plans of the economic and social reconstruction in the Soviet Union and, after World War II, in the new states of the socialist system. The main purpose of East-West trade was limited primarily to gaining access to industrial equipment available in the free economy countries. In the late sixties technological developments in industrial economies forced communist leadership to accept the view that a broader cooperation is needed, and that a more extended program of the trade with the developed West was adopted accepting as a necessity that — although a limited — nevertheless some degree of the international division of labor is required.
To this end a number of socialist countries have joined the GATT, and were granted a most favored nation status. They have organized their trade mechanism opening new opportunities for the business circles of the industrialized countries. In addition, socialist countries established more realistic rates of exchange for their currencies.

Summing up
Dean Favoreu first of all reviews the topics discussed at the symposium with particular reference to the problem of defining this new form of administration — of parallel administration — which, in his opinion, needs to be set alongside local, departmental or regional administration — the situation in Provence being a case in point. What is more, such a definition has the effect of sanctioning the need for this type of intervention. Lastly, it would appear impossible to State to what extent this parallel administration encourages or hinders decentralisation.
In his analysis of the features of this new form of administration, Dean Favoreu draws attention to the fact that this is an administrative System which duplicates the traditional administrative machinery and which has temporary and sometimes even clandestine features. This new administration is also of an experimental nature. And lastly, it is a foretaste of things to come. This new form of administration is the result of technological necessity (meaning in most cases the need for efficiency), financial reasons, of which the most important is surely that of overcoming the constraints of public accountability, psychological reasons (the new form of administration being generally better accepted) and lastly, political reasons, in particular promoting the grouping together of communes. Dean Favoreu goes on to examine the legal forms adopted by this new form of administration and concludes by listing the consequences arising from the use of such structures. He seems to see emerging a form of administration with tangled, overlapping areas of competence, often not subject to any law, and symptomatic of the dilution of responsibility. However, he feels that, in the last analysis, the drive and energy of this new form of administration should enable one to overlook its inevitable shortcomings.