The European Union as a Mediator in Israel-Palestine: Operations Cast Lead and Protective Edge. EU Diplomacy Paper 01/2016

The European Union (EU) has played an important, yet inconsistent role in the Israel-Palestine conflict since the1980 Venice Declaration. This paper analyses how the EU’s role as a mediator has changed more recently in the Israel-Gaza conflict. Specifically, it examines how the ‘Concept on Strengthening EU Mediation and Dialogue Capacities’ adopted in 2009 and the creation of the European External Action Service and the High Representative by the Lisbon Treaty have changed the EU’s resources and strategies as a mediator as well as how these developments improved cooperation and coordination with other mediators. This analysis is done through a comparison of the EU’s role in the Israeli Operation Cast Lead in 2008/2009 and Operation Protective Edge in 2014. It is argued that the aforementioned changes made the EU a more capable mediator and facilitated internal coordination. However, these changes did not create more resources for the EU as a mediator, rather they changed how the EU used its resources.

International Conciliation, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. COMECON, No. 549, September 1964

The Council of Mutual Economic Assistance is the least known of all the regional organizations. This is attributable partly to the fact that it was largely dormant from its inception in 1949 until the late 1950s and partly to the scattered and fragmentary nature of information on its activities. The present article is an attempt to bring available knowledge into focus for a coherent pioture of the organization that "will probably play an increasing role in the economic development of East Central Europe." COMECON is of interest not only because of its importance as one of the regional bodies shaping a network of relations among European countries. Its interest lies also in the light it throws on the particular problems faced by centrally planned economies when they try to integrate and in its demonstration that international organizations have a life of their own.

Political Decision-Making in Switzerland. The Consensus Model under Pressure

This in-depth study of the decision-making processes of the early 2000s shows that the Swiss consensus democracy has changed considerably. Power relations have transformed, conflict has increased, coalitions have become more unstable and outputs less predictable. Yet these challenges to consensus politics provide opportunities for innovation.

Prospects in International Investment Law and Policy: World Trade Forum

The negotiation of a patchy but burgeoning network of international investment agreements and the increasing use to which they are put is generating a growing body of jurisprudence which, while still evolving, requires closer analytical scrutiny. Drawing on many of the most distinguished voices in investment law and policy, and offering novel, multidisciplinary perspectives on the rapidly evolving landscape shaping international investment activity and treaty-making, this book explores the most important economic, legal and policy challenges in contemporary international investment law and policy. It also examines the systemic implications flowing from frenetic recent judicial activism in investment matters and advances several innovative propositions for how best to promote greater overall coherence in rule-design, treaty use and policy making and thus offer a better balance between the rights and obligations of international investors and host states.

The future of the WTO and the international trading system: investigating the institutional crisis

Pierre Sauvé addressed the issue of the WTO’s institutional crisis at a workshop on "The Future of the WTO and the International Trading System" organized by the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee in Brussels on May 8th, 2012.

Why Do Some International Institutions Contain Strong Dispute Settlement Provisions: New Evidence from Preferential Trade Agreements

To understand why some international institutions have stronger dispute settlement mechanisms (DSMs) than others, we investigate the dispute settlement provisions of nearly 600 preferential trade agreements (PTAs), which possess several desirable case-selection features and are evoked more than is realized. We broaden the study of dispute settlement design beyond “legalization” and instead reorient theorizing around a multi-faceted conceptualization of the strength of DSMs. We posit that strong DSMs are first and foremost a rational response to features of agreements that require stronger dispute settlement, such as depth and large memberships. Multivariate empirical tests using a new data set on PTA design confirm these expectations and reveal that depth – the amount of policy change specified in an agreement – is the most powerful and consistent predictor of DSM strength, providing empirical support to a long-posited but controversial conjecture. Yet power also plays a sizeable role, since agreements among asymmetric members are more likely to have strong DSMs due to their mutual appeal, as are those involving the United States. Important regional differences also emerge, as PTAs across the Americas are designed with strong dispute settlement, as are Asian PTAs, which contradicts the conventional wisdom about Asian values and legalization. Our findings demonstrate that rationalism explains much of international institutional design, yet it can be enhanced by also incorporating power-based and regional explanations.

International delusions,

Printed in Great Britain.

Pursuing excellence : a study of U.S. eighth-grade mathematics and science teaching, learning, curriculum, and achievement in international context /

Mode of access: Internet.

Political community at the international level: problems of definition and measurement.

Mode of access: Internet.

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

Editors: 1890-95, E. J. James; 1896-1900, R. P. Falkner; Jan. 1901-Mar. 1902, H. R. Seager; May 1902-Sept. 1914, E. R. Johnson; Nov. 1914-July 1929, C. L/ King; Sept. 1929- T. Sellin.

Revue du droit public et de la science politique en France et à l'étranger.

Editor: 1894- F. Larnaude.

Columbia studies in the social sciences.

Each no. also has a distinctive title.

Studies in British history and politics,

Bacon, Milton, Laud: three points of view.--An American-independence group.--Some marks of English history.--Politics as a practical study.--Frederic William Maitland.

Cinq ans d'histoire grecque, 1912-1917; discours prononcés à la chambre des députés en août 1917,

Mode of access: Internet.