Social Classes and the Neo-Liberal Poverty Regime in Turkey, 2002–2011

The Justice and Development Party (or AKP) era in Turkey has witnessed the emergence of a new welfare regime resting on voluntary public and private transfers. This system has been replacing the former welfare system in which the right to social welfare benefits was constitutionally guaranteed. The new welfare system has tended to distribute transfers on a selective and unequal basis. This article analyses the size and effects of this system using a social class-based analytical framework. In explaining class structure in Turkey, we use the official Household Budget Survey database. The results indicate a massive process of proletarianisation has taken place. Our results indicate that the working classes have constituted the majority of the poor. In this environment, the shares of voluntary public and private transfers in the incomes of households have been rising. For some classes, like rural unemployed, urban unemployed and agricultural labourers, these transfers have captured a very high share of the incomes. These transfers have also been distributed very unequally. Their share in the central budget has also been rising. All these point to the emergence of a new neo-liberal welfare (poverty) regime as part of a new labour control regime.     

Relations with North Africa: a new priority in Portuguese bilateral foreign policy?

Portugal has remained quite distant from coastal North African states for many centuries. Having recently emerged as a prominent player across North Africa, Portugal’s current relationship with the Maghreb countries is unprecedented in its history. Lisbon has invested in building the Maghreb axis as a ‘new priority’ in the architecture of Portugal’s bilateral foreign policy. This policy already took off, and is now beyond the rhetorical plan, where it stood for many years. Portugal and its partner countries across the Mediterranean have reiterated their willingness to keep up with the positive momentum, especially from the past 10 years, deepening bilateral political dialogue and bolstering trade relations. This article puts Portuguese relations with North Africa into context and offers an up-to-date analysis on recent (and ongoing) developments in Luso?Maghreb relations.     

The Principle of Solidarity and Fairness in Sharing Responsibility: More than Window Dressing?

The lack of fairness in asylum responsibility sharing within the EU has been a persistent problem demanding an urgent solution. This article seeks to inform the on‐going debate on European solidarity instruments from a constitutional law perspective by taking the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility pursuant to Article 80 TFEU as its reference point. The article sees this principle as an important mechanism in both the enhancement of fairness in responsibility sharing and the protection of refugees. It argues that the combined reading of Article 80 TFEU and the Charter of Fundamental Rights provides a strong reason to doubt the constitutionality of the Dublin III Regulation, and any decision reforming the asylum regime should take this view into account. Despite its limited enforceability, Article 80 TFEU can play an important role as an interpretation tool, in particular in the assessment of the legality of solidarity instruments.     

Delegation of Australian,Indian and South African NGOs Visits China

At the invitation of the Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU), a 13-member delegation composed of representatives andscholars of friendly organizations from Australian,India and South Africa visited China from November 22 to December 1, 2011 and attendedthe Seminar on "Knowing about China" sponsored     

论法院执行权力的分解

传统执行体制下执行权的运行模式存在重大缺陷，导致近年来法院执行系统的违法违纪现象层出不穷。原因之一，在于传统执行体制下执行权力过于集中，其配置和运行不科学。在现有体制框架下，分解法院执行权并致其相互制衡是可供优先选择的一条路径。法院的执行权可一分为四：执行调查权、执行实施权、执行裁决权、执行监督权。     

Build an International Exchange Platform for Even Better Understanding between China and the World

At the beginning of the 1980s, China entered a new historical era of reform and opening up and socialist modernization drive. It became important and urgent for China to exchange and communicate with the international community. To meet the demand of     

Pouvoir royal et représentation provençale du XVIIème au XVIIIème siècle

SUMMARY

This paper examines assemblies of the clergy in early modern Castile and France. It provides a short overview of the representative nature of these assemblies, their functions, and their power over the ecclesiastical purse strings. In the process it argues that, in addition to secular representative institutions, historians need to take a closer look at ecclesiastical assemblies in order to understand politics, finance and representation in Catholic polities.     

Illegal access to information systems and the Directive 2013/40/EU

Directive 2013/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 August 2013, on attacks against information systems, came into force on 3 September 2013, replacing Council Framework Decision 2005/222/JHA. It maintains existing offences and criminalizes new activities such as illegal interception and the usage of certain tools for committing offences. The offence that is the focus of this article – illegal access to information systems – is set out in Article 3. It represents a change from the wording of Art 2 (2) of the Framework Decision 2005/222/JHA in that under Art 3 of the Directive the incrimination of illegal access to information systems now depends upon whether such access infringes a security measure. This paper provides an overview of the impetus for the introduction of cybercrime laws and analysis of the key provisions of the Directive before exploring whether the wording of Art 3 is a sensible legislative approach.