Suchergebnisse

In its issue of July 1975, the International Review reprinted the substance of a circular letter sent to all governments inviting them to participate in the second session of the Conference of Government Experts on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons at Lugano, 28 January to 26 February 1976.The letter gave the programme of the Conference, which will deal with incendiary weapons, small-calibre projectiles, delayed-action and treacherous weapons, blast and fragmentation weapons and other new weapons, continuing the work on conventional weapons which might cause unnecessary suffering or have indiscriminate effects.

Is the end of the nation-state approaching, now that the international economy takes less and less notice of borders between countries and the European Union has already acquired so much political power? What does national autonomy mean when governments delegate any number of powers to international organizations? Internationalization leads to political change, and the position of the nation-state appears to be undergoing a radical process of erosion. The surprising conclusion of this book is that the political significance of the state will not be lost. The analyses show that both expansion and fragmentation of political power are characteristics of fundamental political change. While it is true that the state is delegating authority and that internationalization is limiting autonomy, the state is also finding new forms of cooperation and coordination, both nationally and internationally, to preserve and even to strengthen its power and autonomy. Contrary to widely held assumptions, the idea of a progressive weakening of the nationstate does not prove tenable.

The development of European Union law plays a fundamental role in the transformation of contract law in civil law systems. This article assesses these transformations of continental legal systems through the notion of juridical subject. It is argued that the evolution of a different conception and regulation of the juridical subject derives from a new conception of competition and of the market order, which involves a major transformation of the function of contract law and of the founding notions of this legal field. The transformations brought forth by a new conception of the market order and the development of the European Union are assessed on the basis of examples taken by French, German and Italian law. Just as the unity of the juridical subject and of the contract stemmed from a specific philosophical and economic approach, the same is true for the present fragmentation, which stems from a new understanding which challenges the foundations and the functions of private law.

THE RUSSIAN ELECTIONS OF DECEMBER 1993 WERE A FURTHER STEP IN RUSSIA'S TRANSITION FROM A FRAGILE, EMBRYONIC DEMOCRACY TO A CONDITION OF CHRONIC INSTABILITY AND AT LEAST PARTIAL DISINTEGRATION. THE ALREADY ADVANCED PROCESS OF GRADUAL COMING-APART-AT-THE-SEAMS WILL PROBABLY CONTINUE, TO BE FOLLOWED IN DUE COURSE BY DETERMINED EFFORTS TO REUNITE THE COUNTRY, MOST LIKELY LED BY THE FORCES OF MILITANT RUSSIAN NATIONALISM. THIS ARTICLE ARGUES THAT THE PROSPECTS FOR RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY APPEAR BLEAK.

Réfléchir aux transformations qui affectent les démocraties contemporaines amène à réévaluer le rôle que les partis politiques jouent dans leur fonctionnement. Même si le principe représentatif est né sans les partis (Manin, 1995), historiquement, ceux-ci ont été des agents de démocratisation (Ostrogorski, 1993 (1903) ; Bryce, 1912 ; Duverger, 1992 (1956) ; Pombeni, 1992 ; Offerlé, 1987) dans la mesure où ils ont principalement permis l'encadrement, la mobilisation et, en partie, la socialisation politique des masses électorales. Mais leur contribution au fonctionnement démocratique passe aussi par leur travail de prise en charge des clivages sociaux et idéologiques autour desquels s'organisent le débat démocratique et la logique de représentation politique. Ce rôle, traditionnellement désigné comme celui de « structuration de l'opinion » (Apter 1, 1965 ; Epstein, 1967), a également été au cœur des réflexions sur les évolutions des systèmes partisans. [Premières lignes du chapitre]