Canada and the Bureaucratic Politics of State Fragility

Canada's 2005 International Policy Statement announced that the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces were committed to “whole of government” interventions in failed and fragile states. This led both the Canadian government and outside observers to declare that Canada was successfully harmonising the aims and practices of its internationally focused departments and crafting a synergised approach to interventions in failed and fragile states. Drawing on Halperin and Clapp's organisational theory of bureaucratic politics, this paper argues instead that the foreign affairs and defence departments embraced the idea of failed and fragile states to reinforce their organisational essences and recycle their existing missions, roles, and capabilities. In addition, the departments used a “whole of government” approach to secure their autonomy, fence their respective functions, and enlarge their unique capabilities, under the guise of greater efficiency.     

The Public Acceptance of Green Taxes: 2 Million Voters Express Their Opinion

In September 2000, 4.7 million Swiss citizens were invited tovote on three proposals for taxes on fossil energy. Theydiffered by tax rate and mode of revenue recycling. All threewere rejected, one by only 3.4%. I analyze the votes usingindividual data of a post-referendum survey. Few voters paid attentionto the fine differences between the proposals made.Those who did favored the smaller taxwith revenues earmarked for a wide range of subsidies. The promise of a favorable direct impact on employment made by amini green tax reform was not understood or valued. Citizenswith leftist affinities and better education were morefavorable.     

European civil society

The concept of “civil society” is still the subject of thorough academic research. It emerged, in Europe, in the 18th century and implied a culture of civility which, while emphasising autonomy from established institutions, also emphasised the freedom to associate and a commitment to common good beyond particular interests. A modern definition of the concept makes civil society the sum of “Organisations which are self-governing and constitutionally independent of the State or political parties; do not involve the distribution of profits to shareholders; and benefit to a significant degree from voluntarism”. The emergence of civil society has followed different historical patterns in different EU Member States, and European State institutions have had different ways to accommodate the emergence of civil society and its aspiration to influence policy-making. From the 18th to the early 20th century, civil society associations and networks mostly emerged and operated within local of national frameworks. It is in the second half of the 20th century that the development of civil society acquired a trans-national dimension. The emergence of a truly trans-national civil society in Europe is a rather recent phenomenon which is increasingly taken into consideration in the formulation of policy by the European Union institutions. The EU foreign policy also aims at strengthening civil society in third countries (including Asia) to achieve its objectives, notably in the field of human rights and democratisation.     

Umwelt in schlechter Verfassung?

Im Koalitionsvertrag der gro?en Koalition ist eine F?deralismusreform bis in die Details der geplanten Verfassungs?nderung hinein vereinbart und – wie gewünscht – mit wenigen ?nderungen durch Bundestag und Bundesrat verabschiedet worden. Die wissenschaftliche Kritik, die Kritik aus den Wirtschafts- und den Umweltverb?nden sowie aus Berufsverb?nden insbesondere an der Reform der Verteilung der Gesetzgebungskompetenzen für den Umweltschutz hatte gegen die politischen Absprachen zwischen gro?er Koalition und den Bundesl?ndern keine Chance. Nachfolgend wird die Neuordnung der Gesetzgebungskompetenzen für den Umweltschutz analysiert, wobei die Verfasser insgesamt zu einer skeptischen Einsch?tzung gelangen.     

Canada opens the door to enforcing foreign non-monetary orders

The Supreme Court of Canada has overturned the common law rulethat prevented the enforcement of foreign judgments other thanjudgment debts and held that, in certain circumstances, Canadiancourts should give effect to non-monetary orders from foreigncourts.     

Democratization in the Middle East and North Africa: A More Ambidextrous Process?

Democratization is always an ambidextrous process. On the one hand, it triggers a universalistic set of norms, events, processes and symbols. On the other hand, democratization involves a much more particularistic set of ‘realistic’ adaptations to the structures and circumstances of individual countries. In analysing the structures and conjunctures of countries in the Arab World during the past decades, scholars looked at them from the perspective of persistent authoritarianism. This essay exploits democratization theory – as well as its converse ? by analysing the universalistic set of events, processes and symbols of democratization elsewhere in the world, and then identifying the particularistic characteristics of timing, location and coincidence that seem likely to affect the political outcome of regime change in the countries affected by recent popular uprisings in the Arab World.     

Copiepresse SCRL & alii v. Google Inc. – In its decision of 5 May 2011, the Brussels Court of Appeal confirms the prohibitory injunction order banning Google News and Google’s “in cache” function

In 2003, Google made available in Belgium its online free service “Google News”, which consisted in offering Internet users a computer-generated press review. In his orders of 5 September 2006 (previously commented in [2007] 23 CLSR 82–85) and of 13 February 2007 (previously commented in [2007] 23 CLSR 290–293) the President of the High Court of Brussels found that, by offering this service, Google infringed the copyrights of Belgian press editors and authors. On 5 May 2011, the Brussels Court of Appeal upheld to a very large extent the first instance decision. The Court confirmed that Google’s “cache” function and its “Google News” service were infringing the claimants’ copyrights and that Google could not rely on any copyright limitation (such as the exceptions for quotation or for report on news events), legislation or fundamental right.     

In Defense of Kant’s League of States

This article presents a defense of Kant’s idea of a league of states. Kant’s proposal that rightful or just international relations can be achieved within the framework of such a league is often criticized for being at odds with his overall theory. In view of the analogy he draws between an interpersonal and an international state of nature, it is often argued that he should have opted for the idea of a state of states. Agreeing with this standard criticism that a league of states cannot establish the institutional framework for international justice, others also suggest an alternative stage model interpretation. According to this interpretation, Kant’s true ideal is in fact a state of states, whereas the league is merely introduced as a temporary and second best solution. In contrast to both the standard criticism and the stage model interpretation, I argue that fundamental normative concerns count in favour of a league rather than a state of states. I also argue that Kant’s defense of such a league is consistent with his position on the institutional preconditions for just interaction in the domestic case because of crucial relevant differences between the state of nature among individuals and the external relations between states.