Showing papers on "European union published in 1995"

Optimal assessment and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The European Respiratory Society Task Force

Abstract: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. In the European Union, COPD and asthma, together with pneumonia, are the third most common cause of death. In North America, COPD is the fourth leading cause of death, and mortality rates and prevalence are increasing. The major characteristic of COPD is the presence of chronic airflow limitation that progresses slowly over a period of years and is, by definition, largely irreversible. Most patients with COPD are, or were, cigarette smokers. Prevention by reducing the prevalence of smoking remains a priority. Although much of the damage is irreversible at the time of clinical presentation, treatments are available to improve the quality of life, the life expectancy, and perhaps the functional ability of patients with COPD. Several national and international consensus statements on optimal assessment and management of asthma have been published in recent years. These consensus statements have led to international standardization of diagnosis and management and to better care. They also form a basis for clinical audits and suggest areas of future research. However, there have been few attempts to develop consensus guidelines on management of COPD [1, 2]. The European Respiratory Society (ERS) has taken the initiative of producing a consensus statement on COPD. A Task Force of scientists and clinicians was invited to provide this European consensus. The guidelines are intended for use by physicians involved in the care of patients with COPD, and their main goals are to inform health professionals and to reverse a widespread nihilistic approach to the management of these patients. This Task Force firmly believes that treatment can significantly improve the quality and length of life of patients suffering from this chronic, progressive condition. Subcommittees of the Task Force focused on the five main sections of this project: Pathology/Pathophysiology, Epidemiology, Assessment, Treatment, and Management. Experts produced papers within each section, and these papers were brought together by the subcommittee heads. At a plenary meeting held in Wiesbaden, Germany on November 11–13, 1993, all contributions were extensively discussed, and additional working group meetings were arranged. Flowcharts for management in common clinical situations were produced. However, at all stages, members of the Task Force found themselves confronted by unresolved questions and regional differences in management across Europe. A practical approach was adopted, combining established scientific evidence and a consensus view when current data were inadequate. This approach identified more clearly those areas where further research is needed. Comments on drafts of the consensus statement were invited from participants of the original meeting, which included colleagues from North America. The edited document was sent to independent experts for external review. All members had an opportunity to comment on the document at the ERS meeting in Nice on October 2, 1994. As chairmen of the Task Force, we hope that the final document will promote better management of COPD in Europe. We would like to thank all who contributed to it. On behalf of the ERS, we also gratefully acknowledge a generous educational grant from Boehringer Ingelheim and the organizational assistance provided by M.T. Lopez-Vidriero.

Construction of a set of convenient Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains that are isogenic to S288C.

Abstract: A set of GAL2+ yeast strains that are isogenic to strain S288C have been constructed. They contain non-reverting mutations in genes commonly used for selection for recombinant plasmids. Strains from this collection are being used for the European Union Yeast Genome Sequencing Programme. Representative strains from this collection have been deposited with the ATCC.

The Council of the European Union

Abstract: The Council in the EU's institutional framework the Council, members, rules, etc the Presidency COREPER: Council-Commission relationship Council-Parliament relationship internal procedures the General Secretariat other intergovernmental mechanisms Maastricht.

Social Capital and the Global Economy

Abstract: Conventional maps of the global economy divide the major players into three groups: the United States and its partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement, the European Union (eu), and East Asia, led by Japan but with the four dragons (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) and the People's Republic of China catching up rapidly. This three-pronged geography is said to correspond to major divisions in the approach to political economy: at one pole lie Japan and the newly industrialized Asian economies, which have relied heavily on state-centered industrial policies to guide their development, while at the other extreme lies the United States, with its commitment to free-market liberalism. Europe, with its extensive social welfare policies, lies somewhere in between. This familiar map, while not wrong, is today not the most useful way of understanding global economic geography. The most striking difference among capitalist countries is their industrial structure. Ger many, Japan, and the United States were quick to adopt the corporate form of organization as they industrialized in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and today their economies are hosts to giant, professionally managed corporations like Siemens, Toyota, Ford, and Motorola. By contrast, the private sectors of France, Italy, and capi

Representative Government in Modern Europe

Abstract: 1 Introduction Background Our Approach Modern Approach Plan of Campaign Modern Europe in Vital Statistics 2 Constitutions, Judges, and Politics European Constitutions Judicial Review The Appointment of Judges Judges and Law-Making Conclusion Box 2-1: Constitutions Box 2-2: The Courts and Politics 3 The Executive The Head of State The Prime Minister The Cabinet The Making and Breaking of Governments Putting it all Together Box 3-1: Executives and Heads of State 4 Parliaments Parliaments and Governments The Roles of Parliaments Parliaments and Parties Parliamentarians and Constituency Representation European Parliaments: One Chamber or Two? The Significance of Parliaments: An Assessment Box 4-1: The Power of Parliament 5 The European Union and Representative Government The Development of European Unity How the European Union Works What does the European Union do? The European Union: Intergovernmental or Supranational Organization? The Future of the European Union Representative Government in the European Union Box 5-1: The European Union 6 Levels of Governance Politicians and the Civil Service Levels of Governance Federal Government in Modern Europe The Growing Importance of Regional Government Local Government Conclusions: Federal Government, Local Politics and Decentralization Box 6-1: Regional and Local Government 7 Patterns in Party Politics and Party Systems Seven Western European Party Systems Uniformity and Diversity 8 Party Families Families of the Left Families of the Center and Right Other Parties Overview: Party Families and Party Systems Box 8-1: The Left Box 8-2: The Center and Right 9 Cleavage Structures and Electoral Change The Traditional Cleavage Structures in Western Europe The Persistence of Cleavages and the Freezing of Party Systems From Persistence to Change Change in European Cleavage Structures and Electoral Behavior Change Toward What? Evaluating Change and Stability Box 9-1: Traditional Cleavage Structures Box 9-2: Trends in Electoral Volatility 10 Inside European Political Parties What do Parties Do? Basic Party Organization Party Membership Power Within Parties The Future of European Parties Box 10-1: Membership of Political Parties Box 10-2: Selection of Parliamentary Candidates 11 Elections, Electoral Systems, and Referendums Elections in Europe Types of Electoral Systems Plurality Systems Proportional Representation Why Electoral Systems Matter Referendums Conclusions Box 11-1: Electoral Systems Box 11-2: The Impact of Electoral Systems Box 11-3: The Referendum 12 Building and Maintaining a Government Government Formation Types of Government in Modern Europe The Allocation of Cabinet Portfolios The Stability of European Governments Conclusion Box 12-1: Cabinet Types Box 12-2: Government Stability 13 From Governments to Public Policy Party Manifestos and Government Policy Programs Redeeming Campaign Pledges Party Government and Public Spending Beyond Public Spending Overall, Does Politics Make a Difference? Box 13-1: Patterns of Spending in Public Finances 14 Politics Outside Parliament Corporatism Pluralism The New Pluralism? Politics Networks Conclusion Box 14-1: Economic Policymaking 15 Building Representative Government in PostCommunist Europe The Rules of the Game: Making New Constitutions Parties, Voters, and Electoral Alignments East vs. West, or east and west? Appendix Keeping Up with Changes in European Politics Index

Decision‐making in the European Union: Towards a framework for analysis

Abstract: Renewed interest in theorizing about the process of European integration is reflected in recent scholarship on the political evolution of the European Union (EU). Meanwhile, a rich and growing literature has emerged on EU policy‐making in specific policy sectors. Yet the gap remains wide between theoretical models which seek to explain broad patterns of European integration and those which seek to explain the EU's policy‐making process. This article conceptualizes ‘policy networks’ as a tool for analysing EU policy‐making. Its central argument is that the EU is a ‘hothouse’ for different types of policy network, for two reasons. First, the EU lacks ‘off‐the‐shelf institutions which can facilitate informal bargaining between different types of actor. Secondly, decisions taken at the policy formulation stage have become important determinants of eventual EU policy outcomes in recent years. The policy networks model is placed within a broader theoretical framework for studying decision‐making in the...

The politics of legal integration in the European Union

Abstract: Developments in the European Union (EU) since the mid-1980s have generated considerable debate on the dynamics of the pooling of sovereignty and concomitant reductions in the authority of national governments.1 While most attention has been paid to the EU's internal market and monetary integration, its legal system is the clearest manifestation of burgeoning supranationalism. European law has "direct effect" in national jurisdictions (that is, it applies even if it has not been incorporated into domestic law). It also has supremacy over conflicting domestic laws. The 1958 Treaty of Rome and its subsequent amendments (the 1987 Single European Act and the 1993 Treaty on European Union) operate as a de facto constitution. Finally, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) exercises judicial review not only over interactions between member states but also over the behavior of governments within their national boundaries. In a recent article in this journal, Anne-Marie Burley and Walter Mattli offer a neofunctionalist account of this remarkable legal system.2 They assert that the Court of Justice has been the prime mover in European legal integration and that national governments passively have accepted the court's lead. European law, they argue, operates both as a "mask" that conceals the real effects of legal integration and as a "shield" that effectively insulates the legal system from political tampering by member governments. In turn, Burley and Mattli contend that this explanation is superior to what they term the "neorationalist" accounts that I have given in this journal, and elsewhere with

Economic Benefits and Support for Membership in the E.U.: A Cross-National Analysis*

Abstract: How can differences in public support for membership in the European Union across the twelve EU member states and among its citizens be explained? Using Eurobarometer polls for 1982, 1986, and 1990, the paper examines how direct and indirect economic benefits associated with EU membership affect support for integration. We find that individuals living in countries that benefit more from EU membership display higher levels of support for their country's participation in the EU. Moreover, the results indicate that those individuals who benefit personally are also more supportive of the integration project. The paper also spells out some of the possible ramifications of these results.

Institutional issues for the European regions: from markets and plans to socioeconomics and powers of association

Abstract: This article, focusing on regional development issues, discusses thepolicy alternatives that might be mobilized to reverse the centralizing forces unleashed by the pursuit of neo-liberal policies in the European Union. It highlights the limitations of contemporary versions of the managed economy model, and explores the significance of anemerging model of development rooted in socioeconomics, and stressing the powers of ‘associationism’. While broadly sympathizing with this third way-in between market and hierarchy - as a basis for generating economic success, the article goes on to argue that questions of social equity and political democracy remain unresolved by the associationist agenda.

European democracy and its critique

Abstract: After presenting a ‘standard version’ of the European Union's democratic deficit thesis, the European democratisation debate is broadened in four directions. First, the issue of demos and the political boundaries of the Union is considered, presenting competing notions of European peoplehood. Then European governance is presented as taking one of three forms: international, supranational and/or infranational. A differentiated democratic discourse is proposed to reflect the multiple‐form governance of the Union. The notion of democracy itself is then subjected to the same differentiated approach with a brief examination of various models of democracy and of the insight they can offer to European governance. Finally, the issue of Union competences ‐ as a form of disaggregating power ‐ is introduced as an important element in the democratisation debate.

The Triple Helix -- University-Industry-Government Relations: A Laboratory for Knowledge Based Economic Development

Abstract: Universities and industry, up to now relatively separate and distinct institutional spheres, are assuming tasks that were formerly largely the province of the other. The role of government in relation to these two spheres is changing in apparently contradictory directions. Governments are offering incentives, on the one hand, and pressing academic institutions, on the other, to go beyond performing the traditional functions of cultural memory, education and research, and make a more direct contribution to "wealth creation" (HMSO 1993). Governments are also shifting their relationships to economic institutions, becoming both more and less involved. In some countries with a laissez faire capitalist tradition such as the U.S. government is playing a greater role in innovation in the civilian economy (Etzkowitz 1994a) while in former socialist societies government has withdrawn from its previous position of total control of science and technology policy; adopting a stance more in accord with laissez faire principles. Multi-national institutions such as the European Union, the World Bank and the U.N. are also moving to embrace concepts of knowledge based economic development that bring the knowledge, productive and regulatory spheres of society into new configurations. In this conference, we wish to study the role of the sciences in this changing environment with a focus on the university's position in the newly emerging knowledge infrastructure.

Explaining the resurgence of regionalism in world politics

Abstract: The past decade has witnessed a resurgence of regionalism in world politics. Old regionalist organizations have been revived, new organizations formed, and regionalism and the call for strengthened regionalist arrangements have been central to many of the debates about the nature of the post-Cold War international order. The number, scope and diversity of regionalist schemes have grown significantly since the last major ‘regionalist wave’ in the 1960s. Writing towards the end of this earlier regionalist wave, Joseph Nye could point to two major classes of regionalist activity: on the one hand, micro-economic organizations involving formal economic integration and characterized by formal institutional structures; and on the other, macro-regional political organizations concerned with controlling conflict. Today, in the political field, regional dinosaurs such as the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Organization of American States (OAS) have re-emerged. They have been joined both by a large number of aspiring micro-regional bodies (such as the Visegrad Pact and the Pentagonale in central Europe; the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the Middle East; ECOWAS and possibly a revived Southern African Development Community (SADC, formerly SADCC) led by post-apartheid South Africa in Africa), and by loosely institutionalized meso-regional security groupings such as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, now OSCE) and more recently the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). In the economic field, micro-regional schemes for economic cooperation or integration (such as the Southern Cone Common Market, Mercosur, the Andean Pact, the Central American Common Market (CACM) and CARICOM in the Americas; the attempts to expand economic integration within ASEAN; and the proliferation of free trade areas throughout the developing world) stand together with arguments for macro-economic or ‘bloc regionalism’ built around the triad of an expanded European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) and some further development of Asia-Pacific regionalism. The relationship between these regional schemes and between regional and broader global initiatives is central to the politics of contemporary regionalism.

Neo‐Voluntarism: A New European Social Policy Regime?

Abstract: The essay begins with a recapitulation of core institutional properties of the European Union as they have evolved over several decades. The leading insight deriving from this exercise is that European social policy will always, for all practical purposes, be made simultaneously at two levels, a supranational one and a national one, and will be shaped by complex interactions between them and among the national systems situated in the integrated market economy of the Union. Proceeding from here, the remainder of the paper examines the two levels of social policy-making, beginning with the supranational and moving on to the national, in an effort to identify the kinds of policies that are most likely to emerge given the constraints and opportunities offered by the institutional framework.

The New Sovereignty: Compliance with International Regulatory Agreements

Abstract: The New Sovereignty: Compliance with International Regulatory Agreements, by Abram Chayes and Antonia Handler Chayes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995. Pp. 285. $49.95 (hardcover) . I. INTRODUCTION Just after the end of the second World War, and at the dawn of the modern age of technological innovation, the future prime minister of the United Kingdom, Sir Anthony Eden, told the House of Commons that "[e]very succeeding scientific discovery makes greater nonsense of old-time conceptions of sovereignty."1 Five decades later, despite the sustained assault mounted not only by science but by the dissolution, association, and recombination of what used to be thought of as indisputably sovereign states, and by the expanding importance of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, international lawyers have been slow to discard those conceptions. Sovereignty is still seen as a defining criterion of international legal personality, rendering more difficult questions regarding the juridical status of such entities as the European Union, the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and insurgent forces exercising government authority in such places as Liberia, Bosnia, Burma, and Sri Lanka.2 Despite both its title and the need for a scholarly yet provocative book on the evolution of the concept of sovereignty at the end of the twentieth century, this is not the set of issues to which Abram and Antonia Chayes turn their attention in The New Sovereignty: Compliance with International Regulatory Agreements.3 Rather than a theory of sovereignty, new or otherwise, they present a theory of international behavior modification. More accurately, it is a theory of getting states to do what they should do, either because they accepted obligations voluntarily, as in the case of treaties and other agreements, or because obligations were imposed on them by other international legal processes, such as the maturation of custom into binding law. The book's principal thesis is that noncompliance with norms is usually the result, not of deliberate contumacy, but of a lack of capacity, sluggishness brought on by domestic political paralysis, or, occasionally, ambiguity in the rule itself.4 Compliance, therefore, is most efficiently secured not by coercive measures, or even by threatened or actual withdrawal of membership rights in international organizations, but by interactive, cooperative efforts and transparency.5 Such efforts result not only in improved behavior by recalcitrant states but in improvement of the international regimes themselves. The most valuable and persuasive parts of the book are those in which the Chayeses draw upon their first-hand experience to discuss specific regulatory treaty regimes of which they have been participants or close students.6 The least effective are those in which generalizations are hazarded with insufficient empirical support and theoretical underpinnings that are not developed with adequate rigor. The volume also suffers from inconsistent and even incorrect readings of U.S. law and policy (U.S. law is regularly deployed as illustrating key aspects of the authors' thesis), which undermine some of the credibility that the authors work so hard to earn elsewhere in the book. In particular, the critical argument that coercive sanctions do not work fails to take into account other objectives, beyond bringing about compliance with treaties, that states have in view when they decide that other states' behavior is intolerable and requires a response. II. THE NEW SOVEREIGNTY The agenda in The New Sovereignty is the development of a theory under which the international community can attain a level of compliance with what the authors call "international regulatory agreements" superior to that commonly observed.7 To that end, they set out to prove, first, that sanctions-whether collective or unilateral, economic or military-do not work. …

A New Phase of Urban Development in Western Europe? The Evidence for the 1980s:

Abstract: This is the first report of patterns of population change during the 1980s in the major urban regions of the European Union (of 12), using the results of the 1990 census round (or registration data where no census was taken). There is evidence of a substantial breakup of the previous regular pattern of decentralisation, which had been spreading from northern to southern European cities and from the largest to the medium-sized cities. During the 1980s there was a significant degree of recentralisation in many northern European cities, with nearly half of all core cities gaining population. The evidence presented here is consistent with arguments advanced in an earlier paper which suggested that such a change of patterns should be anticipated. There does not appear to be a complete reversal of previous patterns, however. Some urban regions continue to decentralise and decline; others are declining but experiencing relative recentralisation. The pattern is that there is now a greater variation in patterns. C...

Community empowerment : a reader in participation and development

Abstract: Community, participation and empowerment - the human face of structural adjustment of tools for democratic transformation?, Marjorie Mayo and Gary Craig counter-development - possibilities and constraints, Benno Galjart participatory development - toward liberation and co-optation?, Muhammad Anisur Rahman disability - emancipation, community participation and disabled people, Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer empowerment and ageing - toward honoured places for crones and sages, Jenny Onyx and Pam Benton the voluntary sector challenge to fortress Europe, Pauline Conroy the university and empowerment - the European union, university adult education and community economic development with "excluded groups", Peadar Shanahan and John Ward self-organization and older people in Eastern Germany, Prue Chamberlayne Community work and the state - the changing context of UK practice, Marilyn Taylor community action in the United States, S.M. Miller, et al community development organizational capacity and US urban policy - lessons from the Chicago experience 1983-1993, Wim Wiewel and Doug Gills activism, service provision and the states' intellectuals - community work in Australia, Helen Meekosha and Martin Mowbray community organizing in the Philippines - the experience of development NGOs, Karen Constantino-David social reconstruction and community development in the transition to democracy in South Africa, Vivienne Taylor participation, empowerment and sexual health in Africa, Gill Gordon the Nicaraguan community movement - in defence of life, Hazel Plunkett Brazilian community development - changes and challenges, Frances O'Connor.

The Legitimacy of the Court of Justice in the European Union: Models of Institutional Support

Abstract: Using a survey of mass publics, we investigate the political legitimacy of the Court of Justice of the European Communities. To what degree does the Court have the visibility and diffuse support necessary for legitimacy? What accounts for variability in support for the Court? Are theories developed largely in the American context generalizable in Western Europe to a transnational legal institution? Do the sources of the Court's legitimacy vary across nations, and how? Our analysis indicates that relatively obscure institutions such as the Court of Justice are unlikely to build support through satisfying their constituencies' demands. Without information about the Court of Justice, ordinary citizens form their views based on its connection with the European Union and its association with broad political and legal values. As the Court moves into the limelight of European law and politics, the decisions the judges make may increasingly shape citizens' perceptions of its legitimacy.

Social policy in the European Union

Abstract: Preface - The Social Dimension of the European Union - Harmonisation of Social Policies - Education and Training - The Improvement of Living and Working Conditions - Family Policies - Women, Welfare and Citizenship - Policy for Older and Disabled People - Social Exclusion - Social Policy and Mobility - Assessing European Social Policy - Appendices - Bibliography - Index

Remaking Scale: Competition and Cooperation in Prenational and Postnational Europe

Abstract: The geography of Europe only two decades ago was broadly conceived as a stable hierarchy of places at different spatial scales: Eastern and Western blocs, discrete nations, subnational regions, and local and urban communities The disruption of this “given” postwar geography in the intervening two decades and of the political, economic and cultural assumptions that went with it could barely have been predicted in the early 1970s (but see Mandel 1975, 310–42 for a prescient discussion; Rowthorn 1971; Murray 1971) Certainly the development of a “European Economic Community”, equalizing conditions of trade in several commodities between six countries beginning in the early 1950s, and the steady growth of a more fully fledged “Common Market” served notice that some disruption of the traditional economic geography (at least at the national scale) was afoot Nonetheless, the reconstruction of Europe at all spatial scales that would follow the 1970s economic depressions in the West and the post-1989 implosion of official Communist Party rule in the East were quite unforeseeable Thereby, the largely economic evolution of the Common Market into the European Community in the 1970s and 1980s and now into the more politically inspired European Union was bound up with a much more complex and halting entanglement of social, cultural and political as well as economic restructurings

The European Union and the Regions

Abstract: Is Europe witnessing the death of the once mighty nation-state? If it is, then two of the most powerful factors in its post-war decline have been European integration and regionalism. Both challenge the nation state's monopoly of authority - one from above, the other from below. Although it is increasingly recognized that the two are connected. This book provides a definitive examination of the new patterns of politics and policy that link the three levels of European Union, nation state, and region. Looking at each member state in turn the authors emphasize the diversity of the European experience. European integration has differing impacts on different regions. In some it is seen as a threat, centralizing power and increasing their peripherality. To others it is an opportunity to by-pass national governments and assert their personality. The authors are sceptical of the 'Europe of the Regions' scenario, in which nation states fade away in favour of the other two levels. But they do show how the Maastricht commitment to subsidiarity together with the twin forces of European integration and regional assertion are profoundly changing the politics of Europe as it moves into the twenty-first century.

The Legitimacy of Transnational Legal Institutions: Compliance, Support, and the European Court of Justice

Abstract: Theory: We use competing propositions from the literature on institutional legitimacy and compliance to trace the sources of acceptance of, or the propensity to comply with, judicial decisions. Hypotheses: Generally, institutions with a store of legitimacy are more successful at evoking acquiescence to their decisions. We expect willingness to accept an unpopular decision to be most prevalent among those who are strongly committed to the institution itself, who perceive the Court as using fair procedures to make its decisions, who are strongly attached to the rule of law, and who are neutral about the issue on which the Court has made a decision. Methods: Regression analysis of items from a survey of the mass publics in the twelve member-states of the European Union in fall 1992. Results: The European Court of Justice does not have an extensive store of good will among ordinary citizens of the European Union. Few people are willing to accept a Court of Justice decision they find objectionable. There is, however, a moderately strong relationship between legitimacy-i.e., diffuse support-and acceptance. Perceptions of procedural justice play little role in the process, although basic legal values (e.g., attitudes toward the rule of law) contribute to acceptance within some countries. In general, our research demonstrates that legitimacy is important for acceptance and probably for compliance; and that the European Court of Justice must tend to what may be an emerging shortfall of legitimacy for the high bench of the European Union.

Subnational mobilisation in the European union

Abstract: The turbulent ratification of the Treaty of European Union has given a new sharpness to old debates about democratic representativeness in the European arena. The crisis of representation after Maastricht was, however, limited in terms of who and what was criticised: Maastricht was a crisis of intergovernmentalism. There are several alternative ways for establishing links between the citizen and Europe. This paper focuses on the role of subnational intermediaries in day‐today policy making. The first part of the paper places subnational mobilisation in a broader understanding of the Euro‐polity. Three competing conceptualisations: a state‐centric model, a supranational model, and multi‐level governance make distinct predictions about the features, opportunities and constraints for subnational mobilisation. Next, the contemporary variety of subnational mobilisation is compared with each model. The final section points at some implications for representative democracy in the Euro‐polity.

Race and ethnicity in modern Britain

Abstract: Covering a key topic in sociology, this book is a thorough and lively introduction to the role and importance of race and ethnicity in contemporary British society. The first chapters set out in a clear and accessible way some of the key conceptual issues in the study of race and ethnicity in modern Britain. Subsequent chapters examine the historical background to migration and ethnic diversity. Drawing attention to a key distinction between difference and diversity, the book examines the interplay of inequality, citizenship, and public policy in a number of key areas central to life in modern Britain. In addressing such key topics as employment, education, housing, health, criminal justice, and political representation, Professor Mason emphasizes diversity which makes up life in modern Britain and shows how the experience of different ethnic groups are also mediated by class and gender. The book concludes with a look to the future to assess how a range of trends, including developments in the European Union, the resurgence racism, and developing patterns of social mobility may pose challenges for all the citizens of an ethnically diverse Britain. The book will be an invaluable introduction and point of reference for all students of sociology, public policy, social policy, law, and human geography; as well as practitioners and trainees in social work. The Oxford Modern Britain series comprises authoritative introductory books on all aspects of the social structure of modern Britain. Lively and accessible, the books will be the first point of reference for anyone interested in the state of contemporary Britain. They will be invaluable to those taking courses in the Social Sciences. Series Editor: Professor John Scott, Department of Sociology, University of Essex This book is intended for students up to undergraduate level in sociology, ethnic studies, human geography, social and public policy; professionals and trainees in the caring professions; the informed general reader.

Law and politics in the European Union: a reply to Garrett

Abstract: Geoffrey Garrett now agrees with most of what we set out to prove in our original article.' First, we all now concur on the significance of the phenomenon under study. Garrett originally described the European Community legal system as the straightforward implementation of member state wishes.2 He now acknowledges that we have witnessed the construction of a "remarkable legal system," one not foreseen by the signatories to the Treaty of Rome.3 Second, Garrett now accepts our description of the court as a strategic rational actor in its own right, with a well-internalized mandate to promote European integration according to the aims set forth in the treaty.4 Third, whereas Garrett's original model takes account only of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the member states as the principal actors, he now agrees with our claim that the primary mechanism for the expansion of European law has been the court's

Cigarette smoking, tar yields, and non-fatal myocardial infarction: 14,000 cases and 32,000 controls in the United Kingdom. The International Studies of Infarct Survival (ISIS) Collaborators.

Abstract: OBJECTIVES--To assess the effects of cigarette smoking on the incidence of non-fatal myocardial infarction, and to compare tar in different types of manufactured cigarettes. METHODS--In the early 1990s responses to a postal questionnaire were obtained from 13,926 survivors of myocardial infarction (cases) recently discharged from hospitals in the United Kingdom and 32,389 of their relatives (controls). Blood had been obtained from cases soon after admission for the index myocardial infarction and was also sought from the controls. 4923 cases and 6880 controls were current smokers of manufactured cigarettes with known tar yields. Almost all tar yields were 7-9 or 12-15 mg/cigarette (mean 7.5 mg for low tar ( or = 10 mg). The cited risk ratios were standardised for age and sex and compared myocardial infarction rates in current cigarette smokers with those in non-smokers who had not smoked cigarettes regularly in the past 10 years. RESULTS--At ages 30-49 the rates of myocardial infarction in smokers were about five times those in non-smokers (as defined); at ages 50-59 they were three times those in non-smokers, and even at ages 60-79 they were twice as great as in non-smokers (risk ratio 6.3, 4.7, 3.1, 2.5, and 1.9 at 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79 respectively; each 2P < 0.00001). After standardisation for age, sex, and amount smoked, the rate of non-fatal myocardial infarction was 10.4% (SD 5.4) higher in medium tar than in low tar cigarette smokers (2P = 0.06). This percentage was not significantly greater at ages 30-59 (16.6% (7.1)) than at 60-79 (1.0% (8.5)). In both age ranges the difference in risk between cigarette smokers and non-smokers was much larger than the difference between one type of cigarette and another (risk ratio 3.39 and 3.95 at ages 30-59 for smokers of similar numbers of low and of medium tar cigarettes, and risk ratio 2.35 and 2.37 at ages 60-79). Most possible confounding factors that could be tested for were similar in low and medium tar users, with no significant differences in blood lipid or albumin concentrations. CONCLUSION--The present study indicates that the imminent change of tar yields in the European Union to comply with an upper limit of 12 mg/cigarette will not increase (and may somewhat decrease) the incidence of myocardial infarction, unless they indirectly help perpetuate tobacco use. Even low tar cigarettes still greatly increase rates of myocardial infarction, however, especially among people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, and far more risk is avoided by not smoking than by changing from one type of cigarette to another.

Structural Unemployment: Spain versus Portugal

Abstract: The increase in European unemployment over the last two decades has made clear that the natural rate of unemployment is all but natural, and all but constant. A considerable body of research has explored the determinants of what is now and more appropriately called the structural rate of unemployment. Much of this research was summarized in the book by Richard Layard et al. (1991). This year has seen two new and important contributions: an in-depth empirical study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD, 1994), and a theoretical exploration by Edmund Phelps (1994). How much closer are we to understanding the differences in structural rates across countries, and their movements over time? To answer those questions, we decided to take up what may be the biggest empirical challenge facing theories of structural unemployment, the dramatic difference in the unemployment experiences of Portugal and Spain. Both countries have had a remarkably similar history over the last 20 years. Yet one, Spain, has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union, 24.4 percent, while the other, Portugal, has-save for Luxembourg-the lowest one, 6.8 percent. This paper presents our conclusions. A short summary is that humility and more research are in order.