COMMERCIAL AGENCY AGREEMENTS, VERTICAL RESTRAINTS, AND THE LIMITS OF ARTICLE 81(1) EC: BETWEEN HIERARCHIES AND NETWORKS

Commercial agency agreements benefit from a specific competitionlaw regime with regards to the application of Article 81 ofthe Treaty of the European Communities (hereinafter Article81). Although they may contain clauses that can produce anticompetitiveeffects, such as minimum price fixing, these are generally foundoutside the scope of Article 81 paragraph 1 [hereinafter Article81(1)]. In comparison, if a franchise or selective distributionagreement contains resale price maintenance clauses, Article81(1) may apply. The existence of a distinct competition lawregime for commercial agency agreements constitutes a paradox,as from an allocative efficiency perspective it makes no senseto distinguish between the two situations. By adopting a new-institutionaleconomics perspective, this study will provide a justificationfor this specific competition law regime. The agency agreementsexception will be considered as a specific form of the singleentity defense that operates in situations of hierarchy. Othervertical restraints are mainly organizational mechanisms usedin situations of network forms of organization. The distinctionestablished between these agreements could thus be theoreticallydefended. More generally, the comparative institutional analysisof vertical restraints will provide a useful insight to delimitthe boundaries of Article 81(1).     

Struggling for the Kurdish vote: religion,ethnicity and victimhood in AKP and BDP/HDP rally speeches

This study explores the competition for Turkey's Kurdish vote through the instrumentalization of religion, ethnicity and victimhood in political competition. This becomes possible through the study of rally speeches of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalk?nma Partisi – AKP), the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (Bar?? ve Demokrasi Partisi – BDP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (Halklar?n Demokratik Partisi – HDP), in Turkey's June 2011 and June 2015 general elections. The AKP campaigns framed the resolution of the Kurdish issue along with an updated version of the ‘Turkish Islamic Synthesis’. The issue of ethnicity was toned down in contrast to the idea of common victimhood of pious Turkish and Kurdish Muslims in republican Turkey. On the other hand, the BDP/HDP moved from a more ethnic-oriented and exclusive identity approach in 2011 to a more inclusive, liberal and extrovert agenda based on a civic definition of Turkish national identity in 2015. Religion and victimhood appear as the two most enduring symbolic resources for political party mobilization.     

Psychiatric Medication Intake in Suicide Victims: Gender Disparities and Implications for Suicide Prevention

Frequency and gender differences of psychiatric medication intake in a sample of suicide victims from the Athens Greater Area were investigated with a particular focus on the implications for suicide prevention. Data were collected from the toxicological analyses of the suicide cases of the period November 2007–October 2009. Information was available for 262 individuals, 196 men (74.8%) and 66 women (25.2%); 109 of these (41.6%) were receiving psychiatric medication(s). Women were statistically more frequently under treatment: antidepressants (32.8% vs. 11.3%, p < 0.001), antiepileptics (9.1% vs. 0.5%, p = 0.001), antipsychotics (24.2% vs. 9.2%, p = 0.003), and benzodiazepines (16.7% vs. 6.6%, p = 0.024). Campaigns aiming to bring men with psychological difficulties in contact with mental health services and to lessen the stigma of mental illness, together with better training of nonpsychiatrists into “suspecting” “male” depression, could be particularly helpful for decreasing male suicides. More thoughtful choice of psychiatric medication could possibly already prevent a number of female suicides.     

Workers’ risk underestimation and occupational health and safety regulation

The standard treatment of occupational risk in the labour market is conducted in terms of the theory of compensating wage differentials, the basic characteristic of which is that workers can fully estimate actual occupational risks. However, research in cognitive psychology, and recent advances in economic psychology, suggest that individuals consistently underestimate risks associated with accidents. In this paper, we discuss the case when the workers systematically underestimate job risks. After presenting the standard treatment of occupational risks, and of health and safety at work regulation, we then proceed to incorporate the idea of job risk underestimation. The paper discusses the types and impact of regulation on health and safety effort in a simple framework in which workers’ beliefs concerning accident risks also play a role. The paper shows that a particular type of regulatory intervention is necessary for the risk underestimating workers not to suffer a welfare loss.     

Prepartum Psychosis and Neonaticide: Rare Case Study and Forensic‐Psychiatric Synthesis of Literature

Peripartum psychosis is a rare but serious psychiatric disorder characterized by the presence of a mood episode with psychotic features. Although controversy surrounds the nosological status of peripartum mental disorders, these conditions continue to be of exceptional interest to the medical and forensic mental health communities. The aim of this study was to report a rare case of prepartum psychosis which escalated to the endpoint of neonaticide and summarize literature on peripartum mental disorders and infanticide. A 30‐year‐old mother murdered her newborn with the spike of her serum delivery system and planned to commit suicide while in hospital after hallucinating due to an acute puerperal psychotic disorder with a prepartum onset and postpartum deterioration. Her disorder was not managed until neonaticide. Throughout this paper, the significance of a multidisciplinary approach for the optimal management of these incidents is highlighted and diagnostic as well as therapeutic issues are addressed.     

The national politics of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans

Abstract

European enlargement has often been viewed from an institutional perspective. The academic literature in the field has tended to focus primarily on how the Commission or the Council has addressed the issue of EU expansion. Relatively little attention has been paid to the role of individual member states. This article considers the way in which domestic political concerns and national politics affects the way in which EU members approach enlargement to the Western Balkans. It does this by examining studies conducted on seven countries: Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Hungary, Greece and Cyprus. It shows that there are in fact a wide variety of factors that shape individual member state attitudes towards enlargement. These factors include economic and commercial goals, ties to the region and to individual accession states, concerns over immigration, general foreign policy priorities and national ideological approaches towards the future shape and orientation of the European Union.     

Distrusted Partnership: Unpacking Anti-Americanism in Turkey

The decline of US-Turkey relations has been one of the most striking developments within NATO and the broader Western alliance. This article sheds light on this distrusted partnership by studying anti-American sentiment in Turkish public opinion since the Arab uprisings of the 2010s. Employing a typology of anti-Americanisms introduced by Keohane and Katzenstein, it examines views of the United States and US-Turkey relations in the Turkish media and among the public, and it explores the conditions under which the declining relations could be reset. In particular, it shows how the ruling Justice and Development Party exploits anti-US opinion, the Turkish media's role, the stances of Turkish opposition groups, and the long-term consequences for the strained bilateral relationship.