Perspectives,practices and prospects of public affairs in Central and Eastern Europe: a lobbying future anchored in an institutional context

‘Public Affairs’ is not a term most people in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) will recognise and associate with interest representation and lobbying as ways of linking business, society and government. The term may be seen as a euphemism for corruption-inspired ‘lobbying’, an artificial and confusing umbrella term or a public relations creation. It is a term in transition for a subject in transition in a part of Europe in transition. Even as part of the European Union, CEE is still different, in transition, finding its own feet like a phoenix arising from the ashes of 50 years of communism, but slowly, in bursts, réculer pour mieux sauter and very different from country to country. Which are the features and values of the 50 years of communism that will disappear, fast more slowly, which ones will linger on? What are the institutions in CEE countries that public affairs will have to deal with, and what is the view on transparency and transparency regulation in CEE? To add understanding, values, cultural differences, institutional context and other factors affecting the public affairs environment are examined. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Challenges of Consulting the Public on Science Policy: Examining the Development of European Risk Assessment Policy for Genetically Modified Animals

With the growing importance of public engagement in science policy making and declining levels of public trust in food production, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has attempted to embed “good governance” approaches to strengthen scientific independence and open up risk decision making, which include the use of public consultations. However, “opening up” of risk assessment policies reveals some tensions; namely, balancing the goals of scientific excellence and transparency, protecting science from interests, addressing value judgments, and limited opportunities to debate ethical and social issues. EFSA's development of risk assessment policy for genetically modified animals is used as a case study to analyze these tensions. This analysis suggests that in order to fulfill good governance commitments and maintain trust in risk governance, closer cooperation between EFSA and the European Commission is required to provide “space” for debating the broader risk management issues. This publically accessible space may be needed alongside rather than instead of EFSA's consultation.     

Selective adaptation

This paper is critical of some loose speculations about cybernetics, computers and systems, especially as to their role in organization and planning. There is a widespread tendency to believe that human and organizational vagaries can be eliminated by some combination of the former techniques. This tendency is encouraged by a bias towards mechanistic and abstract solutions for social problems. Further, there is a failure to properly take into account natural laws, in the sense of limitations on human and organizational ability, when developing normative models for policy and planning problems. Viable holistic models, supposedly, should replace human and organizational haphazardness; attention has been devoted tosubstituting the machine-techniques for the man, rather than concentrating on man-machine interactions, based on selective adaptations to natural laws.     

Chaos in the Field: Soviet Karelia's Food Supply Detachments, 1918–1920

This article traces the creation, experiences and success of Karelia's food supply detachments during the Russian Civil War and focuses on three target provinces: Kursk, Simbirsk and Saratov. It emphasises the early political and economic stumbling blocks faced by the Bolsheviks in their attempts to implement the party's food supply policies in the periphery and indicates that, although the Soviet food supply system by mid-1919 was more centralised and resistance from local soviets lessened, improvements were only relative to the more chaotic conditions of the previous year.     

Comparing accountability relationships between governments and non‐state actors in Canadian and European international development policy

This article examines the alignment of different governance arrangements and alternative accountability mechanisms in international development policy making in Canada and the European Union (EU), with a particular focus on relationships between governments and non‐governmental organizations. The Canadian case illustrates an entrepreneurial mode of governance that aligns with fiscal auditing and performance management mechanisms, while the networked governance model of the EU relies more heavily on accountability instruments of public reporting and deliberation. The article concludes that the European accountability regime likely provides policy makers with more opportunities for social policy learning but would be difficult to implement in Canada given the underlying action logic of the federal government.     

‘Old’ un peacekeeping principles and ‘new’ conflicts: Some ideas to reduce the troubles of post‐cold war peace missions

The European Union (EU) has declared its European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) operational. It has put the institutional structures in place to manage the political aspects of security and defence policy and the member-states have pledged a range of military capabilities, which the EU may call upon. However there are significant issues that need to be resolved for the ESDP to be a truly effective and credible policy. On the whole, these issues revolve around military capabilities, defence spending and a strategic concept. Without investing in critical military capabilities and without a clear direction, ESDP will become a policy without substance.     

HUNTER‐GATHERER COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE

This article describes the development of a practice group based on a hunter‐gatherer model, with the mission of providing high quality collaborative divorce services, with an emphasis on protecting children and divorcing partners, and expanding access to middle‐ and lower‐income families. The practice group professional disciplines include law, mental health divorce coaching, co‐parent coaching, financial analysis, and case administration. These professionals have collectively associated their individual practices to address challenges facing their collaborative practices. With common purpose, the practice group builds skills, generates client base, nurtures trust, and lays a common knowledge base. Collaborative divorce teams formed from its members serve divorcing families with efficient, cost‐conscious, interest‐based negotiation processes that protect children and help parties productively move on with their lives.     

Local Evaluations of Justice through Truth Telling in Sierra Leone: Postwar Needs and Transitional Justice

This article presents findings from a qualitative case study of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in rural Sierra Leone. It adds to the sparse literature directly evaluating local experiences of transitional justice mechanisms. It investigates the conceptual foundations of retributive and restorative approaches to postwar justice, and describes the emerging alternative argument demanding attention be paid to economic, cultural, and social rights in such transitional situations. The article describes how justice is defined in Makeni, a town in Northern Sierra Leone, and shows that the TRC’s restorative approach was unable to generate a sense of postwar justice, and was, to many, experienced as a provocation. The conclusions support an alternative distributive conception of justice and show that local conception of rights, experiences of infringement and needs for redress, demand social, cultural, and economic considerations be taken seriously in transitional justice cases.     

CAUSATION IN EC MERGER CONTROL

"there are ever so many ways that a world might be; and oneof these many ways is the way that this world is" (David Lewis,1986)

This article looks at two areas of merger control under EC Lawwhere the principles of causation are applied and, in our view,misapplied. The article traces the development of the conceptof the "counterfactual" in antitrust law. It then draws on thisanalysis in considering the operation of the "failing firm defense,"and in particular the standard of proof employed by the Commissionwhen analyzing the "counterfactual" in relation to the failingfirm defense. We argue that the Commission employs an excessivelyhigh standard of proof, and that this standard of proof contributesto the drawing of the failing firm defense too narrowly, througha misapplication of the principles of causation. We then proceedto contrast and prefer the approach of the UK Competition Commissionin recent cases. In the final part of the article we considerscenarios where two or more mergers are contemplated in thesame market at the same time, in cases of both parallel andoverlapping mergers. In these complicated scenarios, which requireprospective, multifaceted analysis, we set out in detail how,despite inherent difficulties, a similarly rigorous applicationof the principles of causation produces coherent results.