The EU, the OSCE and the European security architecture: network or labyrinth?

The shake-up of the European security architecture produced by the end of the Cold War has not led to a clear-cut division of labour between the different actors involved. While one organization, the Western European Union (WEU), has all but disappeared, the expansion of the EU and NATO in terms of both competencies and membership and the institutionalization of the OSCE have resulted in an intricate web of functionally and geographically overlapping institutions.Senior research fellow in the Royal Institute for International Relations (IRRI-KIIB) in Brussels and professor of European security at Ghent University in Belgium.

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THE COURTS AS A SOURCE OF REGULATORY REVITALIZATION: EXTERNAL AGENDA SETTING AND EQUAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS

The authors examine the relationship between the courts and HEW's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), to illustrate the effects of legal efforts to generate more vigorous agency enforcement. Opponents of racial and sex discrimination in public schools won a series of suits against OCR after it had ceased to effectively implement anti-discrimination legislation. As a result of court decisions, OCR has had its discretion over how it will carry out its legislative responsibilities curtailed.     

Summary judgment in intellectual property litigation--the three of Harts

Legal context. The popular image of litigation is one of anoften long and expensive full trial. However, better case managementmeans that courts in the United Kingdom increasingly deal withdisputes at an early stage, by striking out claims that haveno genuine chance of success and by giving summary judgmentagainst defendants whose defences have no hope of succeeding.These procedures, detailed under the Civil Procedure Rules,are frequently invoked in intellectual property disputes. Unlikefull trials, which are normally heard before a specialist intellectualproperty judge, applications for summary judgment and strikingout are frequently heard by judges in the Chancery Divisionwho may have little experience of the area. Key points. This article considers the advantages and disadvantagesof deploying non-specialist judges, reviewing in particularthree decisions of a non-specialist judge, Mr Justice Hart.It suggests that a specialist judge might have reached a differentconclusion in at least one of these decisions. It also questionsthe policy issue of refusing to strike out a claim that, onthe law as it currently stands, has no chance of success wherethe intention is that the claimant be given the opportunityto invite the trial court to evolve a change in the law throughprecedental development. Practical significance. At a time when there is a strong demandfor the administration of justice to be both effective and swift,the twin facility of entering summary judgment and strikingout is likely to remain attractive and popular with intellectualproperty litigants. However, it is a facility that should notbe abused. The employment of non-specialist judges for the purposeof determining whether that facility should be utilised mayproduce results that, if justifiable, may run counter to theintuition of those who specialise in the field. Accordingly,judicial practice in this regard should be carefully monitoredand reviewed if predictability and consistency of decision-makingis to prevail.     

如何制度化解决当前中国土地问题——对土地管理制度改革目标模式的探讨

土地领域存在的矛盾和问题已经成为影响中国社会和政治稳定的主要问题之一。土地问题产生的根源是土地权利与义务的双重缺失与失衡。这种缺失和失衡,使得国家、集体和个人的利益都缺乏制度化的实现和调节机制,导致土地利用上的囚徒困境博弈和公地悲剧。因此,要制度化地解决中国土地领域存在的问题,必须构建权利与义务平衡的土地管理制度体系,形成各方合理的利益结构,而这也构成了中国土地管理制度改革的一个主要目标。同时,制度化的土地管理模式,也需要进行财税体制改革,改变中国土地管理的制度环境。     

The Eurozone as a Flawed Currency Area

The European single currency system has come under unprecedented strain during the past three years and there is little reason to assume that this will diminish, in any significant way, in the near future. This article briefly explores the background to the current eurozone crisis before outlining a number of potential solutions. Specifically, we discuss how the credit crunch induced recession of 2008 triggered the problems within the eurozone regarding sovereign debt, looking at the issues of spill‐over and free‐rider effects, together with the implementation of EMU fiscal rules. The analysis is then extended by outlining a series of potential remedies. This consists of a critical evaluation of solutions that the EU has already instigated (i.e. moral persuasion, financial relief measures and debt default), together with a series of alternative propositions (i.e. fiscal federalism and a European Clearing Union) and even the collapse of the euro.     

Bleaching out the color line?: The skin color continuum and the tripartite model of race

Bonilla-Silva [Skin Deep: How Race and Color Matter in the “Color-Blind” Era, IRRPP and University of Illinois Press, Chicago and Urbana-Chapaign, IL, 2004, pp. 224–239] argues that “the U.S. is developing a tri-racial system with “Whites” at the top, an intermediary group of “honorary Whites,” and a non-White group or the “collective Black” at the bottom. His thesis provides a new, provocative explanation of how race will operate in 21st Century America. Using data from the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality, this article provides an analysis of propositions derived from three models of race as they relate to stratification outcomes: the “binary” (Black/White) model of race, Bonilla-Silva’s tripartite model of race, and a multi-ethnic model of race and ethnicity. The analysis points out that Whites and Blacks differ significantly on several stratification outcomes (e.g., education, occupational prestige, earnings, and family income), irrespective of the model of race that is used. The binary, Black/White model of race is still important in identifying baseline differences in who gets what. The results of the analysis further suggest that Bonilla-Silva’s tripartite model of race makes some apparent improvements on the binary model. In particular, the bivariate results were fully consistent with Bonilla-Silva’s tripartite model. Nevertheless, there are other stratification outcomes that do not strictly conform to the expectations of the tripartite model. The implications of these findings are examined briefly.     

When a ‘Like’ Is Not a ‘Like’: A New Fragmented Approach to Data Controllership

In Fashion ID, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) held that an operator of a website featuring a Facebook ‘Like’ button is a data controller under EU Directive 95/46 (‘Directive’) jointly with Facebook in respect of the collection and transmission of the personal data of website visitors to Facebook, but Facebook alone is a data controller for any subsequent data processing. While the CJEUs expansive interpretation of joint controllership aims to leave ‘no gaps’ in the protection of individuals, we question whether the proposed solution to ‘fragment’ controllership into different stages of processing helps to achieve that goal. We argue that CJEUs ‘fragmented’ approach is incompatible with the GDPR, as it does not reveal the intended purposes of data processing, and thus negates informed and specific consent. We suggest that such ‘fragmentation’ undermines the consistency, predictability and transparency of EU data protection law by obscuring the pervasiveness of data commodification in the digital economy.