The role of African Union law in integrating Africa

This article traces how the development of regional law is linked to the state of regional integration in Africa. Given the prominent role European Union law plays in the functioning of the European Union, the question is posed whether there is similar scope for the development of ‘African Union law’, a term not established hitherto. Initially devoid from the necessary supranational elements required to adopt law that would automatically bind member states, the African Union is leaning towards a functionalist approach paving the way for transfer of sovereign powers to African Union institutions. It is argued that law-making capacity, be it through the activities of the Pan-African Parliament, the Peace and Security Council or the African court system, is a necessary requirement to accelerate the process of regional integration. African Union law will hold member states accountable to comply with international and continentally agreed standards on, inter alia, democracy, good governance and human rights.     

Τhe energy parameters of the Russian–Ukrainian–EU impasse: dependencies,sanctions and the rise of ‘Turkish Stream’

The overwhelming dependency of Ukraine on Russian energy and the lack of any short-to-medium term diversification of European Union (EU) oil and gas supplies away from Moscow dictate a cooperative approach vis-à-vis Russia in dealing with the Ukrainian crisis. The EU is unable to impose any more severe sanctions on Russia’s energy industry without provoking a major negative impact on its own troubled economy. The continuation of the current confrontational friction in EU–Russian energy relations will most likely consolidate Russia’s decision to seek the elimination of its gas transit dependence on Ukraine after 2020. Such a target will be very difficult to attain by the end of this decade, even if Russia will be able to partly replace the now abandoned South Stream project with Turkish Stream.     

The limits of autocracy promotion: The case of Russia in the ‘near abroad’

In recent years, observers have raised concerns about threats to democracy posed by external support for authoritarianism coming from regional powers such as Russia, China and Venezuela. This article assesses the efficacy of autocracy promotion through a close examination of Russian efforts to shape regime outcomes in the former Soviet Union. It finds that while Russian actions have periodically promoted instability and secessionist conflict, there is little evidence that such intervention has made post‐Soviet countries less democratic than they would have been otherwise. First, the Russian government has been inconsistent in its support for autocracy – supporting opposition and greater pluralism in countries where anti‐Russian governments are in power, and incumbent autocrats in cases where pro‐Russian politicians dominate. At the same time, the Russian government's narrow concentration on its own economic and geopolitical interests has significantly limited the country's influence, fostering a strong counter‐reaction in countries with strong anti‐Russian national identities. Finally, Russia's impact on democracy in the region has been restricted by the fact that post‐Soviet countries already have weak democratic prerequisites. This analysis suggests that, despite increasingly aggressive foreign policies by autocratic regional powers, autocracy promotion does not present a particularly serious threat to democracy in the world today.     

Financial industry mobilisation and securities markets regulation in Europe

The 2007–2009 financial crisis has led to considerable debate about the role of financial industry actors in global regulatory processes. This article seeks to contribute to this debate by assessing when and why financial industry actors mobilise in order to influence securities markets regulations. Do these mobilisation patterns suggest undue influence by a small set of powerful industry actors, or do they reflect the engagement of a more diverse set of actors representing broader public interests? It is argued that variation in mobilisation patterns is a function of: (1) institutional opportunity (the openness and accessibility of regulatory politics); and (2) demonstration effects (how crises increase the salience of regulatory issues). Empirical analyses suggest that the financial crisis diminished the diversity of mobilising actors. This trend, however, is reversed when the news media disseminate information about the costs of weak financial regulation and thereby increase the salience of regulatory issues.     

Evaluation and policy learning: The learners' perspective

This article examines how evaluation induces policy learning – a question largely neglected by the scholarly literature on evaluation and policy learning. Following a learner's perspective, the article attempts to ascertain who the learners are, and what, and how, learners actually learn from evaluations. In so doing, it focuses on what different types of learners actually learn within the context of the evaluation framework (the set of administrative structures defining the evaluation goals and process). Taking the empirical case of three EU programme evaluations, the patterns of policy learning emanating from them are examined. The findings are that only two types of actors involved in the evaluation are actually learning (programme units and external evaluators), that learners learn different things (programme overview, small‐scale programme adjustments, policy change and evaluation methods) and that different learners are in control of different aspects of the evaluation (learning objectives and processes) according to the evaluation framework established by the European Commission.     

The Rule of Law as a Vehicle for Intervention

Until recently, the concept of the ‘rule of law' (ROL) was exclusively used in relation to the domestic legal order of the state. Over the last two decades, however, it has entered the vocabulary of international legal scholars and experts. This journey of ROL from the domestic to the international sphere has provoked fierce debates between practitioners of international law, notably because, far from being a mere doctrinal controversy, it gave rise to practices impinging on the exercise of power at the international level and enabling diverse international experts to interfere in internal affairs of target states. This article argues that, in a somewhat paradoxical way, these developments impair the concept of ROL rather than expanding it into new domains. Indeed, while the established concept of ROL to a certain extent presupposed the principles of sovereignty and non-intervention, current reformulations of ROL weaken them while making new interventionist practices easier. Analysis of the legal rationalizations used in the context of contemporary EU and UN crisis management operations makes this clear. Drawing on insights gained from legal theory and international political sociology, this article highlights how the concept of ROL cannot simply be transposed into the ‘international' realm without hampering its internal coherence.     

论戈尔什科夫的国家海上威力论及其现实意义——以海权理论为视角

苏联戈尔什科夫的国家海上威力论是海权理论在冷战期间发展的一个高峰。国家海上威力论认为大洋对人类生活具有非常重要的意义,国家有必要发展自己的海上威力。国家海上威力由海军、运输船队、捕鱼船队、科学考察船队等组成。海军的主要任务是对海作战和对陆打击等等。苏联红海军在国家海上威力论的指导下成为足以与美国海军相抗衡的强大海上武装力量。然而,国家海上威力论存在的缺陷与不足也给苏联的海权发展和海军建设带来了严重的后果,值得海权领域的学者深思。     

欧盟所得税协调与税收非歧视待遇的发展

为了保障共同市场中服务、人员和资本等要素的自由流动,欧盟禁止成员国所得税法采取基于国籍的歧视措施,也禁止成员国税法限制本国国民在共同市场内行使自由流动的权利。欧盟的实践拓展了双边税收协定中的非歧视待遇,是所得税区域性协调的尝试。但是,欧盟现行机制制约了税收非歧视待遇的进一步发展。     

欧盟证券强制要约收购规则及其启示

以2004年5月20日生效的《欧盟要约收购指令》为基础,对欧盟及其各成员国有关强制要约收购的临界点、强制要约收购的价格以及强制要约收购的豁免制度进行重点研究,并对如何完善我国上市公司强制要约收购制度作一探讨。该指令的研究对完善我国证券法律制度具有重要的现实意义。     

Pares Inter Pares? The Bargaining Success of the Commission,the Council,and the Parliament in European Union Legislative Negotiations

This research note tries to determine how politically successful the Council, the Commission, and the European Parliament are in the area of EU legislative decision‐making. After reviewing the literature, a research design is presented which incorporates information on the policy preferences of the different institutional actors for 70 recent EU legislative decisions that were negotiated under the consultation and the codecision procedure. We use correlation and OLS regression to analyze the distances between what the EU institutional actors want and what they eventually get out of the process. The findings of the analysis are that (1) the preference profiles of the three actors are rather dissimilar, and that (2) the success rates of the Council are higher than the rates of the Commission and Parliament.