Second Thoughts on Europe's "Third Level": The European Union's Committee of the Regions

The Maastricht Treaty provided for a consultative Committeeof the Regions to bring the European Union's "third level" intothe deliberation of legislation. It began to operate in early1994. This article assesses its creation and recent activityagainst the expectations and demands that were expressed atthe outset, looking in turn at the representative, advisory,and symbolic functions the new body can perform. What emergesis a largely symbolic body that suffers from entrenched internaldivisions and functional overreach in the absence of any realinfluence on the Union's policymaking process. The danger isa downward spiral of progressive obscurity and the frustrationof its members' aspirations.     

The dominant male

I must agree with Ms. Taylor's conclusion that "a couple's equality in bed is likely to reflect their social and economic equality" (Sex and the 3rd world woman, June issue). My discomfort with the article arose partly from being among the mass of male sexual oppressors, but mainly from the shallowness of her report (more rhetoric than reporting). It may satisfy an appetite for feminist literature but let us think more clearly. What % of 3rd world women actually have their sexual organs tampered with? Female circumcision in Kenya, for instance, traditionally had nothing to do with this. Opportunities for women are fewest in strict Muslim societies. Ms. Taylor narrow-mindedly expects us to believe that this is entirely due to the dominant male. New Internationalist should reconsider publishing articles with so little substance as they will not aid in any real understanding of the fate of women in the 3rd world.     

The Impact of Electoral Reform: "Open Elections" and the Louisiana Party System

This article examines effects of the "open-elections" law passedby the Louisiana legislature in 1975. The law eliminated traditionalclosed party primaries, creating instead, an open-electionssystem that requires all candidates, regardless of party affiliation,to appear on the same ballot. By and large, the new system hasnot had a significant effect on party competition, party success,or voter turnout in Louisiana.