Documents international relations 258 results

"If you are studying EU law in the UK, please see the UK version of this textbook: EU Law: Text, Cases, and Materials UK Version, ISBN 9780198859840. Building on its unrivalled reputation as the definitive EU law textbook, this seventh edition continues to provide clear and insightful analysis of all aspects of European Union law. Drawing on their wealth of experience, Paul Craig and Gráinne de Búrca succeed in bringing together a unique mix of illuminating commentary and well-chosen extracts from a wide range of cases, legislation and academic publications. Chapters have been carefully structured and designed to enhance student learning at all levels, laying the foundations of the subject while building analysis of more complex areas and cutting-edge debates. The seventh edition has been comprehensively updated to reflect the extensive legal developments that have taken place since publication of the sixth edition, and a new chapter on current challenges facing the EU (including Brexit and the rule of law crisis) has been added. Digital formats and resources The seventh edition is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats, and is supported by online resources. - The e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools, navigation features and links that offer extra learning support: www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks - The book is accompanied by online resources which include the following: - Updates to the law post-publication - A timeline of key events in the development of the EU"

"Global economy on firmer ground, but with divergent recoveries amid high uncertainty

Global prospects remain highly uncertain one year into the pandemic. New virus mutations and the accumulating human toll raise concerns, even as growing vaccine coverage lifts sentiment. Economic recoveries are diverging across countries and sectors, reflecting variation in pandemic-induced disruptions and the extent of policy support. The outlook depends not just on the outcome of the battle between the virus and vaccines—it also hinges on how effectively economic policies deployed under high uncertainty can limit lasting damage from this unprecedented crisis.

Global growth is projected at 6 percent in 2021, moderating to 4.4 percent in 2022. The projections for 2021 and 2022 are stronger than in the October 2020 WEO. The upward revision reflects additional fiscal support in a few large economies, the anticipated vaccine-powered recovery in the second half of 2021, and continued adaptation of economic activity to subdued mobility. High uncertainty surrounds this outlook, related to the path of the pandemic, the effectiveness of policy support to provide a bridge to vaccine-powered normalization, and the evolution of financial conditions."

"En cette période post-Brexit et où l'Union européenne est traversée par des crises qui en interpellent les fondements et l'avenir, à l'heure où la guerre s'installe dans son plus proche voisinage et face aux tensions et impacts multiples du conflit armé russe en Ukraine, cet ouvrage dresse un état critique, prospectif et rétrospectif, de la liaison dialectique entre l'Union et la paix. Il offre une approche juridique transversale ouverte aux sciences politiques et économiques ainsi que des regards comparés de droit international et européen permettant de cerner la paix comme concept, valeur et objectif affirmés au plan supranational. Les réflexions sont nourries d'éclairages croisés, intérieurs et extérieurs à l'Union, et d'analyses fouillées sur les réalités et enjeux internes et externes pour l'Union de son rapport à la paix.

Partant du prisme économique à partir duquel l'Europe communautaire s'est construite autour des idées de fédération européenne et de paix puis de la liaison irréductible entre la paix et la garantie des droits de l'homme placée aux confluents de l'Union et du Conseil de l'Europe par l'oeuvre décisive de leurs juridictions respectives, il montre tant la nécessité que les difficultés d'une approche de la paix prise dans sa globalité et intégrant son lien aux valeurs de l'Union telles que la démocratie, l'État de droit et le respect des droits fondamentaux. Il invite à des réflexions nouvelles sur la nature juridico politique, le modèle et l'identité de l'Union à l'aune de la paix, sur les avancées et reculs du fédéralisme européen et sur la participation des juridictions européennes à l'objectif de paix. Il donne la mesure des défis du multilatéralisme pour l'Union et d'un constitutionnalisme européen à même de répondre à l'objectif international et européen de paix.

Au-delà des questionnements sur les progrès d'un cadre juridique autonome propre au développement de l'Union, à la préservation de son unité et à l'affirmation de son autonomie stratégique voire d'une souveraineté européenne en matière de sécurité et de défense dans les différents espaces explorés, cet ouvrage développe des réflexions critiques sur les approches conceptuelles, les moyens et les instruments européens au service de la paix et sur l'implication de l'Union, avec ses perceptions variables, dans les mécanismes de résolution ou de prévention des conflits.
Par cette démarche originale, il tend à saisir la dialectique des rapports entre l'Union et la paix à l'aune des processus d'intégration et de fédéralisation rapportés aux méthodes de l'Union, leur diversification et leurs mutations. Il propose ainsi une introspection sur l'objectif de paix dans l'Union autour de quatre sessions : la paix intérieure et extérieure comme objectif axiologique d'une Union intégrée de type fédéral ; la paix aux confluents de la protection européenne des droits de l'homme ; le modèle de l'Union au prisme de l'objectif international de paix ; la contribution de l'action extérieure de l'Union aux objectifs de paix et de sécurité."

"This Open Access book addresses climate change in Europe and Latin America from a comparative regionalism studies (CRS) perspective. Written by an international team of scholars and experts, chapters critically analyze proposals for mitigating climate change while contributing to the mutual understanding about the issues at stake across regions. The book is divided into three main sections. In the first section, authors discuss EU and Latin American cooperation, negotiations, and perspectives on climate change, exploring their agendas, the interests and key challenges at the global, regional and interregional levels. The second section focuses on the challenges to finance development and a greener economy. The third section explores new green solutions to climate change in the agriculture sector and initiatives such as nature-based solutions to climate change and best practices. Providing policy oriented solutions for combatting regional climate change at a critical juncture, this volume will be of interest to researchers and students of international relations, international law, and environmental politics, as well as public officials and climate change activists."

"Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 12 July 2023 – The energy transition requires a dramatic increase in the supply of critical materials, yet their supplies chains remain vulnerable to a range of geopolitical risks.

While there is no scarcity of reserves for energy transition minerals, global capabilities for mining and refining them are limited. Supply disruptions could impact the speed of the energy transition in the short to medium term, a new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) warns.

Geopolitics of the Energy Transition: Critical Materials examines the geopolitical risks and opportunities linked to a growing demand for materials in the coming years and calls for a holistic approach to diversify supply chains.

While the dependency and supply dynamics fundamentally differ from fossil fuels, mining and processing of critical materials is geographically concentrated, with a few countries and few major companies playing a dominant role. External shocks, resource nationalism, export restrictions, mineral cartels, instability, and market manipulation could therefore increase the risks of supply shortages.

The report also highlights the opportunity to rewrite the script for extractive commodities and build the momentum for more inclusive, ethical, and sustainable value chains. Geographically widespread material reserves open opportunities to diversify the mining and processing to notably developing countries. Supporting policies will allow developing countries realise new business opportunities and could improve resilience while keeping the global decarbonisation agenda on course.

“The energy transition will become a main driver of demand for critical minerals,” IRENA's Director-General Francesco La Camera said. “The risk of supply chain disruptions is less about energy security and more about the potential slowdown of the transition, which must be avoided. On the road to COP28, my message is to urgently strengthen collaboration on critical materials to minimise the geopolitical risks of concentrated supply chains and accelerate the deployment of renewables to limit rising temperatures to 1.5°C.”

He added: “The significant increase in critical materials gives the international community an opportunity to diversify supply chains and make them more sustainable. No single country can alone fulfil its demand for materials, so collaborative strategies that benefit all involved need to be developed and implemented. Particularly mineral-rich developing countries gain if they can capture a greater share of the critical material value chain. By redefining the narrative of extraction, we can promote a more responsible approach to the benefit of people and communities in pursuit of inclusive and resilient economies.”

Today, the mining of critical materials is highly concentrated in specific geographical locations. Australia (lithium), China (graphite, rare earths), Chile (copper and lithium), the Democratic Republic of Congo (cobalt), Indonesia (nickel) and South Africa (platinum, iridium) are the dominant players. Processing is even more geographically concentrated, with China accounting for more than 50% of the world's refined supply of (natural) graphite, dysprosium (a rare earth), cobalt, lithium, and manganese.

Furthermore, the mining industry is dominated by a few major companies, leading to frequently oligopolistic markets. As a result, the industry is highly concentrated, with few controlling a significant portion of global production and trade. The top five mining companies control 61% of lithium output and 56% of cobalt output.

By contrast, critical material reserves are widely distributed. Developing countries currently account for most of the global production needed for energy transitions, but their share in reserves is even greater. For example, Bolivia has 21 million tons of lithium reserves, but produced less than 1% of the world's supply. An estimated 54% of minerals are located on or near indigenous peoples' land, underscoring the need for community engagement.

A renewables-based energy transition, if well-planned and executed, can rewrite the legacy of extractive industries, the report concludes. As has been the case with extractive industries for centuries, activities and processes carry risks for local communities such as labour and other human rights abuses, land degradation, water resource depletion and contamination, and air pollution. Stronger international cooperation to raise and enforce standards and longer-term corporate views are essential for sustainable development and social license."

"Si les monographies syndicales ne manquent pas, elles accordent, en général, bien peu de place à la politique extérieure des syndicats et à leur insertion dans des structures d'organisatins internationales. A l'heure où l'interdépendance est perçue comme une donnée majeure du monde contemporain, on ne peut que s'étonner de cette discrétion qui entoure les tentatives de coordination et de coopération syndicaless dont certaines sont déjà fort anciennes.
Tout l'intérêt de l'étude des affiliations internationales, des réseaux d'action transnationaux ou des politiques étrangères syndicales réside dans le décloisonnement de l'analyse des identités et des stratégies syndicales en soulignant ce qu'elles doivent à l'enchevêtrement de facteurs internes et externes. "

"This article examines the crucial role of subnational actors in the diffusion of policy change at the international level, illustrated by the creation of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). First, the concept of interlevel mobility, which combines the two-level game theory and policy entrepreneurship literature, is introduced. Second, the paper explores how subnational actors navigate between the national, international, and transnational levels, exerting influence and placing their preferences on the political agenda. This research contributes to a more robust theoretical understanding of policy entrepreneurship, provides new insights into the origins of IRENA, and offers valuable guidance for policymakers seeking to foster change, by linking policy change at the international level with subnational actors."

"Trade relations face unprecedented challenges, which has led to an increased politicisation and contestation of trade rules. In response, the EU has changed its trade policy under the motto ‘Open Strategic Autonomy' towards a more assertive policy. The EU seeks to significantly expand its room of manoeuvre and to gain more autonomy by strengthening the enforcement of its trade rights and by ensuring more effectively, including unilaterally, a level playing field. This reorientation engenders several new or amended trade policy instruments, but meets with reservations as the renewed politicisation of EU trade policy will have internal consequences and raise demands for more democratic accountability of the European Commission. The new policy instruments will enlarge its leeway in trade policy. The future of the EU's multilateral, rule- instead of power-oriented political stance becomes unclear, which might undermine its negotiation position in WTO reform and collide with the EU's respect for international law. The tensions of the EU's new hybrid approach with its international commitments even more fuel demands for increased accountability of the Commission as a safeguard against employing the new powers for protectionism and disrespect to international law. The contribution analyses the need for increased Commission accountability in the redirected trade policy."

"Interest in the intersections of environmental issues, peace and conflict has surged in recent years. Research on the topic has developed along separate research streams, which broadened the knowledge base considerably, but hardly interact across disciplinary, methodological, epistemological and ontological silos. Our forum addresses this gap by bringing into conversation six research streams on the environment, peace and conflict: environmental change and human security, climate change and armed conflict, environmental peacebuilding, political ecology, securitisation of the environment, and decolonizing environmental security. For each research stream, we outline core findings, potentials for mutual enrichment with other streams, and prospects for future research."

"Do political regimes determine how geopolitics influence international trade? This paper provides an empirical answer to the question by analyzing the joint impact of democracy and geopolitical distance between countries with an augmented gravity model of bilateral trade flows and an extensive dataset of more than 4 million observations on 59,049 country-pairs over the period 1948–2018. Implementing the Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood regression and the two-stage least squares with instrumental variable approach, I find that geopolitical developments are not as important as income and geographical distance in determining bilateral trade flows and that democracy fosters international trade and moderates the potential negative impact of geopolitics. While the impact of democracy and its interaction with geopolitical distance are significant across all countries, the magnitude of these effects is substantially larger in advanced economies than in developing countries, reflecting the greater strength of democratic institutions, on average, in advanced economies."