Annals of the Former World


Book Description

The Pulitzer Prize-winning view of the continent, across the fortieth parallel and down through 4.6 billion years Twenty years ago, when John McPhee began his journeys back and forth across the United States, he planned to describe a cross section of North America at about the fortieth parallel and, in the process, come to an understanding not only of the science but of the style of the geologists he traveled with. The structure of the book never changed, but its breadth caused him to complete it in stages, under the overall title Annals of the Former World. Like the terrain it covers, Annals of the Former World tells a multilayered tale, and the reader may choose one of many paths through it. As clearly and succinctly written as it is profoundly informed, this is our finest popular survey of geology and a masterpiece of modern nonfiction. Annals of the Former World is the winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction.




China - Europe Relations


Book Description

A detailed examination of the hugely significant relationship between China and the countries of Europe (excluding Eastern European countries) Western from a Chinese perspective.




The Politics of Migration and Immigration in Europe


Book Description

This text fulfills a major gap by comprehensively reviewing one of the most salient policy issues in Europe today, migration and immigration. It is the first book to address the question of whether we can legitimately speak of a European politics of migration that links states in terms of their policy response to each other and to an evolving EU policy. The book carefully differentiates between different types of migration, introduces the main concepts and debates, and provides a broad comparative framework from which to assess the role and impact of individual states and the European Union (EU) and European integration to this key contemporary issue. Topical and up-to-date, the author fully reviews the politics and policies of immigration across the breadth and depth of Europe including the `older' immigration countries of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the `newer' southern European countries, and the enlargement states of East and Central Europe. The Politics of Immigration and Migration in Europe is essential reading for all undergraduate and post-graduate students of European politics, political science and the social sciences more generally. Andrew Geddes lectures at the School of Politics and Communications Studies, University of Liverpool. `This book will be essential reading for students of migration and European integration, but will also be important for decision-makers, and, indeed, anyone who wants to understand one of the burning issues of our times' - Stephen Castles, Professor of Migration and Refugee Studies, Director of the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford




Politics in the European Union


Book Description

This is an account of the main developments in the process of European integration. It provides coverage of theory, history, member states, institutions and policies, drawing on academic debates including issues of legitimacy and globalisation.




The EU Internal Market in Comparative Perspective


Book Description

The European Union's internal market is the «hard core» of integration and by far its most precious asset. However a number of deep-seated factors have impeded the development of a systematic and wide-ranging academic research programme dedicated to the internal market. The purpose of this book is to begin to address this predicament with a tri-disciplinary analysis of the internal market, as scant opportunities for mutual understanding and learning across disciplines (law, economics and politics) currently exist. Internal market scholars from all three disciplines collaborated on this project, in which each chapter was read and critiqued by a scholar from a different discipline. The editors trust that this unique exercise reveals to many readers the enormous potential for in-depth and continuous analysis of the internal market and all that it entails. It also provides an accessible text for students and scholars from all three disciplines interested in the internal market.




Importing EU Norms


Book Description

This interdisciplinary work presents a conceptual framework and brings together constructivist and rationalist accounts of how EU norms are adopted, adapted, resisted or rejected. These chapters provide empirical cases and critical analysis of a rich variety of norm-takers from EU member states, European and non-European states, including the rejection of EU norms in Russia and Africa as well as adaptation of EU practices in Australia and New Zealand. Chapters on China, ASEAN and the Czech Republic demonstrate resistance to EU norm export. This volume probes differences in willingness to adopt or adapt norms between various actors in the recipient state and explores such questions as: How do norm-takers perceive of the EU and its norms? Is there a ‘normative fit’ between EU norms and the local normative context? Similarly, how do EU norms impact recipients’ interests and institutional arrangements? First, the authors map EU norm export strategies and approaches as they affect norm-takers. Second, the chapters recognize that norm adoption, adaption, resistance or rejection is a product of interaction and a relationship in which interdependence, asymmetry and power play a role. Third, we see that domestic circumstances within norm-takers condition the reception of norms. This book’s focus on norm-takers highlights the reflexive nature of norm diffusion and that nature has implications for the EU itself as a norm exporter. Anyone with an interest in the research agenda on norm diffusion, normative power and the EU’s normative dialogue with the world will find this book highly valuable, including scholars, policy makers and students of subjects including political science, European studies, international relations and international and EU law.




Competitiveness and Economic Development in Europe


Book Description

The success of an economy to adapt quickly, flexibly, and effectively to the demands of the changing international economic environment can only be investigated using the achievements of other national economies or regions as a benchmark. This book analyzes the fundamental factors of competitiveness, which will, in turn, facilitate economic development and growth, in the new post-crisis environment. In the economic, social, legal, and technological environment that has emerged in recent years, as well as in the period after the recent financial crisis, it is critical to define, assess, and implement new pathways to competitiveness and economic development. The book covers all aspects of competitiveness and economic growth, from financial intermediaries to tourism and the digital economy, and from regulation and corporate governance to exchange rate dynamics and monetary policy issues. It uses empirical findings from a variety of different countries with divergent economic structures and policies. It examines the new system of production, and the technological, commercial, financial and institutional environment, with the aim of recommending a proportional division of benefits and costs of economic growth. It offers a fresh, holistic, and flexible concept to underscore the new relationship between competitiveness and economic growth. Such an approach is needed, whereby competitiveness is no longer a zero-sum game between countries, but is achievable for all countries. The book recommends future directions and offers policy solutions, and as such, will appeal to students, researchers, and policymakers, as well as those interested in the role of competitiveness in the operation of markets, productivity, and economic development, and how it might foster innovation and growth.




Justice and Home Affairs Agencies in the European Union


Book Description

This book examines the role of agencies and agency-like bodies in the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ).When the Maastricht Treaty entered into force on 1 November 1993, the institutional landscape of the so-called ‘Third Pillar’ looked significantly different than it does now. Aside from Europol, which existed only on paper at that time, the European agencies examined in this book were mere ideas in the heads of federalist dreamers or were not even contemplated. Eventually, Europol slowly emerged from its embryonic European Drugs Unit and became operational in 1999. Around the same time, the European Union (EU) unveiled plans in its Tampere Programme for a more extensive legal and institutional infrastructure for internal security policies. Since then, as evidenced by the chapters presented in this book, numerous policy developments have taken place. Indeed, the agencies now operating in the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) are remarkable in the burgeoning scope of their activities, as well as their gradually increasing autonomy vis-à-vis the EU member states and the institutions that brought them to life. This book was published as a special issue of Perspectives on European Politics and Society.