European Union

On 21 December 2016 the Court of Justice of the European Union rendered its appeals decision in the case C-104/16 P, Council v. Front Polisario, overturning the decision by the EU General Court in T-512/12, Front Polisario v Council of 10 December 2015. With its judgment the EU General Court had annulled the Council Decision 2012/497/EU on the conclusion of theAgreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalization measures on agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products, in so far as it had approved the application of the Agreement to Western Sahara, a «disputed territory» partially controlled by the Front Polisario, a national liberation movement involved in a long armed conflict with the Kingdom of Morocco. The ECJ stated that the Agreement did not apply to Western Sahara and therefore Front Polisario is not concerned by the decision of the Council and so it lacked standing in the European Courts. This paper aims to analyze the issues, mutually linked, involved in the Front Polisario case, with a special attention for the relationship between the principle of self-determination of peoples and the rules on the validity of the treaties, not forgetting the necessity to protect the fundamental rights of the Western Sahara population.

Il 21 dicembre 2016 la Corte di giustizia dell'Unione europea ha emesso la sua decisione d'appello nel caso C-104/P, Consiglio c. Fronte Polisario, riformando la decisione del Tribunale del 10 dicembre 2015 (causa T-512/12, Fronte Polisario c. Consiglio). Con la sua sentenza il Tribunale aveva annullato la Decisione del Consiglio 2012/497/UE dell’8 marzo 2012, relativa alla conclusione dell'Accordo in forma di scambio di lettere tra l’Unione europea e il Regno del Marocco avente ad oggetto delle misure di liberalizzazione reciproche per i prodotti agricoli, i prodotti agricoli trasformati, il pesce e i prodotti della pesca, nella misura in cui è stata approvata l'applicazione dell'Accordo al territorio del Sahara occidentale, un «territorio conteso» parzialmente controllato dal Fronte Polisario, un movimento di liberazione nazionale coinvolto in un lungo conflitto armato con il Regno del Marocco. La Corte di giustizia ha stabilito che l'Accordo non si applica al Sahara occidentale e che di conseguenza il Fronte Polisario non possiede interesse ad ottenere l'annullamento della Decisione. Questo lavoro mira ad analizzare i temi, reciprocamente collegati, coinvolti nel caso del Fronte Polisario, con una particolare attenzione per il rapporto tra il principio di autodeterminazione dei popoli e le norme internazionali sulla validità dei trattati, non dimenticando la necessità di proteggere i diritti fondamentali della popolazione del Sahara occidentale.

The aim of this article is to offer a comprehensive analysis of the European Union’s neo-abolitionist approach to prostitution, drawing on the literature that addresses the global rise of neo-abolitionism and using key concepts developed by the gendered approaches to the European Union in order to adapt them to the particular context of the European Union. To do so, the article undertakes a critical frame analysis of the European Union’s violence against women policies, as it is in such policies that prostitution has been most thoroughly addressed, in combination with an analysis of the nature and evolution of the European Union’s gender equality policies more broadly. The article contends that the emergence of prostitution on the gender equality agenda of the European Union and the adoption of an explicit neo-abolitionist approach by the European Parliament can be explained by the coalescence, in the mid 1990s, of three key factors: Sweden’s accession to the European Union and the consequent positioning of Swedish femocrats, keen on exporting Sweden’s neo-abolitionist agenda to the European Union, in central positions of power within European Union institutions; the crystallisation of a robust neo-abolitionist velvet triangle through the creation of strong institutional links between the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Women’s Lobby, which remained unchallenged; and the gradual development of a hybrid model of gender equality in the European Union which resonates with ne-oabolitionist ideals at the same time as neo-abolitionism itself was increasingly associated to gender equality as a fundamental European Union value.

The vast majority of Holocaust victims and survivors were Ashkenazim. Their main language was Yiddish. Yiddish is very close to German, the main difference being that the former is written in Hebrew letters, while the latter in Latin ones. Postwar Europe' s moral foundation is Holocaust remembrance. But this remembrance to be effective, it must be active in the absence of Holocaust survivors. A way to ensure that could be the novel school and university subject of Yiddish for reading purposes. As a result, researchers and interested Europeans would start reading documents and books in Yiddish again. Germany' s premiere cultural organization, Goethe-Institut, is uniquely well-placed and morally obligated to facilitate the relaunch, popularization and cultivation of the skill to read Yiddish-language sources and publications for both the sake of research and for pleasure.

The period 550 to 750 was one in which monastic culture became more firmly entrenched in Western Europe. The role of monasteries and their relationship to the social world around them was transformed during this period as monastic institutions became more integrated in social and political power networks. This collected volume of essays focuses on one of the central figures in this process, the Irish ascetic exile and monastic founder, Columbanus (c. 550-615), his travels on the Continent, and the monastic network he and his Frankish disciples established in Merovingian Gaul and Lombard Italy.

The post-Roman kingdoms through which Columbanus travelled and established his monastic foundations were made up of many different communities of peoples. As an outsider and immigrant, how did Columbanus and his communities interact with these peoples? How did they negotiate differences and what emerged from these encounters? How societies interact with outsiders can reveal the inner workings and social norms of that culture. This volume aims to explore further the strands of this vibrant contact and to consider all of the geographical spheres in which Columbanus and his monastic communities operated (Ireland, Merovingian Gaul, Alamannia, Lombard Italy) and the varieties of communities he and his successors came in contact with — whether they were royal, ecclesiastic, aristocratic, or grass-roots.

Table of Contents

Preface
List of Abbreviations
Maps
Contributors
Foreword Walter Pohl
Part I: Columbanus in Context
Chapter 1: Introduction: Columbanus and Europe Alexander O'Hara
Chapter 2: Columbanus and the Language of Concord Damian Bracken
Part II: The Insular Background
Chapter 3: The Political Background to Columbanus's Irish Career Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
Chapter 4: Movers and Shakers? How Women Shaped the Career of Columbanus Elva Johnston
Chapter 5: Columbanus's Ulster Education Alex Woolf
Part III: The Frankish World
Chapter 6: Columbanus in Brittany Ian Wood
Chapter 7: Columbanus and Shunning: The Irish peregrinus between Gildas, Gaul, and Gregory Clare Stancliffe
Chapter 8: Orthodoxy and Authority: Jonas, Eustasius, and the Agrestius Affair Andreas Fischer
Chapter 9: Columbanus and the Mission to the Bavarians and the Slavs in the Seventh Century Herwig Wolfram
Part IV: On the Fringe: Columbanus and Gallus in Alamannia
Chapter 10: Between the Devil and the deep Lake Constance: Jonas of Bobbio, interpretatio Christiana, and the Pagan Religion of the Alamanni Bernhard Maier
Chapter 11: Drinking with Woden: A Re-Examination of Jonas's Vita Columbani I. 27 Francesco Borri
Chapter 12: Between Metz and Überlingen: Columbanus and Gallus in Alamannia Yaniv Fox
Chapter 13: Quicumque sunt rebelles, foras exeant! Columbanus's Rebellious Disciple Gallus Philipp Dörler
Part V: Lombard Italy and Columbanus's Legacy
Chapter 14: Columbanus, Bobbio, and the Lombards Stefano Gasparri
Chapter 15: Disputing Columbanus's Heritage: The Regula cuiusdam patris (with a translation of the Rule) Albrecht Diem

The European Union is facing with difficulty the management of migrant flows, above all of asylum seekers. According to the principle of solidarity and responsibility sharing, Member States are demanded a huge collaboration. However, some of them (the Visegard Group) have adopted a set of policies in conflict with the European Union’s approach on migration. Since 2015, Hungary, with its legal developments, has seriously undermined human rights and the right to asylum, in violation of international and EU law. Alarmed by the March 2017’s Asylum law, below discussed in detail, the aim of the Brief is to underline the illegitimacy of the measures contained in the Act. Supported by some Reports drawn up by UNHCR, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Amnesty International, this document focuses on illegal return, detention and push back of migrants and asylum seekers who arrive in the ‘Transit Zones’. To highlight the unlawfulness of actual Hungary’s legal framework on asylum, a reference is also made to the recent jurisprudential developments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and to judgements handed down by Member States’ national Courts. In the final part of the Brief it is strongly suggested to Hungary to set remedy to EU and international law violations, and are also underlined the consequences that may emerge if the State would perpetrate its unlawful behaviour.

The September 2021 edition of the IRMO Brief deals with energy security of the Balkans and the upcoming changes in the energy security of the region. Year 2023 could bring a dramatic overhaul on the energy map of the Western Balkans countries, as by then the derogation from EU environmental regulation for a number of thermal power plants expires while reliability of lignite mines and power plants deteriorates. As the region’s energy supply is to a large extent dependent on lignite-fired power plants, the 2023 will be a turning point for the Balkans in terms of energy supply. At the same time, the Western Balkan countries are aware of the importance of the EU Green Agenda and that the replacement of coal by other energy sources, is at the core of EU climate policy. The author also analyses the energy map Europe after the completion of the Nord Stream 2 and Turk Stream gas pipeline projects as well as closures of nuclear and coal plants and phase out of Groningen gas field , and positions the role of the Balkans in the overall energy security of Europe. Paper address the risk that developments in Balkans affect credibility of the EU promotion of the rule of law, climate change awareness and human rights.  Findings are confirmed by recent failures in gas and power supply across the region and spike in wholesale prices.

Il commento muove dalla decisione del Collegio di Coordinamento A.B.F. sulla sorte di un contratto di fideiussione omnibus che contempla le clausole dello schema contrattuale uniforme predisposto dall’A.B.I., qualificate come anticoncorrenziali dal provvedimento della Banca d’Italia n. 55/2005. L’analisi si concentra esclusivamente sulla nullità della fideiussione stabilita dalla decisione. In questo senso, tale nullità viene fatta discendere dall’art. 2 l. 287/1990, il cui divieto abbraccia non solo le intese, ma anche i contratti attuativi, nella misura in cui ne realizzino il risultato. Con riferimento al caso in esame, la nullità investe, quindi, la fideiussione, nella parte in cui concretizza l’intento uniformatore contemplato dallo schema contrattuale A.B.I. Si tratta, pertanto, di nullità parziale, e non già di nullità «necessariamente parziale», poiché non risulta applicabile, come invece sostiene il Collegio in commento, la disciplina della nullità di protezione.

This paper explores with the way in which individuals and groups supporting migrants in the European Union relate to and contest dominant narratives of European belonging and identity. First, I examine the emergence of an increasingly exclusionary discourse on European belonging produced by politicians of the EU and its member states. I argue that, faced with the difficulty – identified by Jacques Delors decades ago – that 'people do not fall in love with a single market', an ideological enterprise aiming at putting forward a notion of “Europeanity” was initiated by ideologues of the European Union. Discourses of Europeanity are underpinned by the idea of a coherent socio-cultural European self, which becomes the basis for legitimising the process of European integration. This process of has thus relied on attempts at identifying “Europeans” and at setting them apart from non-Europeans. It has led to the identification of new Others and , in this sense, I suggest that dominant discourses of European belonging share features with national identity building processes.

In the second part of this paper, I propose to look at the process of harmonisation of immigration and border controls in the EU as the expression of this exclusionary agenda and as the manifestation of a dominant notion of European belonging. I argue that the construction of 'Fortress Europe', which aims at securing the integrity of the territory of the EU, has been central to the continuation of European integration since the mid-1980s.

This process has however been contested. In the last part of this paper, I propose to examine the emergence of a transnational migrant solidarity movement in the EU and to explore whether this movement-in-formation has produced alternative visions and understandings of Europe. Drawing on findings gathered through a prolonged period of ethnographic fieldwork with pro-migrant groups in three EU member states (France, the UK and Italy), I investigate the narratives formulated by people acting in solidarity with non-Europeans in the EU. I conclude that this emergent movement has been increasingly articulated at the European level yet that it has not been integrated around alternative visions of Europe and European identity. I argue that this is due to tensions and contradictions generated by the European project. I explain this through a critical reflection about the process of European construction and the production of ideas about Europe.

This analysis of the Austrian health system reviews recent developments in organization and governance, health financing, health-care provision, health reforms and health-system performance. The Austrian health system provides universal coverage for a wide range of benefits and high-quality care. Free choice of providers and unrestricted access to all care levels (general practitioners, specialist physicians and hospitals) are characteristic features of the system. Unsurprisingly, population satisfaction is well above EU average. Income-related inequality in health has increased since 2005, although it is still relatively low compared to other countries. The health-care system has been shaped by both the federal structure of the state and a tradition of delegating responsibilities to self-governing stakeholders. On the one hand, this enables decentralized planning and governance, adjusted to local norms and preferences. On the other hand, it also leads to fragmentation of responsibi...

The current migration cooperation framework between the EU and Turkey was devised mainly as a response to the large-scale movements of 2015–2016, and the policy crisis they provoked inside the EU. Judged not exclusively but primarily by its performance in reducing irregular crossings from Turkey to Greece, and thus by its contribution to momentarily alleviating the policy crisis in the EU, cooperation has been regarded as highly effective. Yet, the type of mixed migration that is of concern to both sides is driven by structural factors, which are likely to occasionally escalate into humanitarian crises, calling for sustainable policy and cooperation approaches that are also emergency-proof. In line with this perspective, this paper examines how the current migration cooperation between the EU and Turkey fares in terms of producing durable responses to mixed migration in the Eastern Mediterranean context, and identifies the main challenges ahead to render both the cooperation and the policy solutions it produces more sustainable.

Governments of backsliding countries are deliberately shrinking the civic space for critical organisations and movements. But what methods and tools are employed and what are the consequences for those fighting for democratic principles? This chapter dives into the methods at play in Hungary and Poland and the implications it can have for the rest of the Union.

In March 2020, the European Union (EU) was at the epicentre of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Case numbers of the novel virus were rising in many Member States at an alarming rate, overwhelming even the public health infrastructures of more developed States assumed better equipped to handle such threats. Simultaneously, lockdowns imposed by individual Member States to stem transmission meant acute labour shortages in key economic sectors. These included shortages in social and medical care, agriculture, industry, construction and transport, compounding difficulties in providing services to prevent and treat the spread of the virus. In the face of a mounting struggle to recruit local workers, many EU Member States decided that the most effective measure to ensure the continued provision of services in these sectors was to lift the temporary internal and external border controls imposed to curb the spread of the virus. 

The easing of travel restrictions to allow temporary workers to continue ‘essential’ activities not only laid bare the exploitative conditions these workers too often endure,  but also reinvigorated debate about the EU’s conflicting common market and social policy ambitions.  Within this broad group, posted workers are unique. These are ‘temporarily mobile’ workers – predominantly EU citizens – who are posted by their employers to a host State for an average duration of four months.  Rather than falling under the EU regulatory regime governing the free movement of labour, these workers are legally treated under the free movement of services.  As such, a different set of worker rights is activated.  As explained in Section Two, the general theory is that these workers largely maintain the rights provided by their home country when they are sent on assignment to another EU Member State. Although certain discretion is given to host States vis-à-vis posted workers in establishing certain aspects of working time, minimum annual holidays and rates of minimum pay, posted workers are more often than not barred from the typically higher standards in the host State. It is at this point that the workers can lose out. In a regulatory sense, they find themselves with a foot in two or more countries at risk of the worst of both worlds.

J.F. Kennedy once said: “Consumers, by definition, include us all.” Indeed, no matter where we look in the Croatian legal system, we come across a new consumer. Sometimes this is a consumer protected by lex generalis for consumer protection, the Consumer Protection Act. Another time it is a consumer protected by the Obligations Act or, more specifically, the Consumer Credit Act and even more specifically by the Mortgage Consumer Credit Act. If he pays for something he has bought, he is also a consumer protected by the Payment System Act, and if he has decided to travel around by means of a package travel arrangement, he is a consumer enjoying protection under the Act on Provision of Services in Tourism. The first part of this paper is devoted to legal development of the Croatian consumer protection law and presentation of consumer rights as guaranteed by the main source of consumer protection in Croatia, namely, by the Consumer Protection Act.

This insightful book analyzes the evolution of the operational tasks and cooperation of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX), the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL). Exploring the recent expansion of the legal mandates of these decentralized EU agencies and the activities they undertake in practice, David Fernández-Rojo offers a critical assessment of the EU migration agencies.

The book identifies two key trends in the administration of the European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. Fernández-Rojo discusses how on one hand the new legal frameworks of FRONTEX, EASO and EUROPOL stress that their operational roles are limited to providing national authorities with technical assistance, while on the other hand these agencies are increasingly involved in guaranteeing the enforcement of EU migration, asylum and border management measures. The book expertly illustrates how FRONTEX, EASO and EUROPOL establish an effective and uniform national implementation of laws and policies, with a focus on their multilateral cooperation in the hotspots established in the aftermath of the refugee crisis.

Examining the de jure and de facto operational powers and cooperation of EU migration agencies, this book will be critical reading for academics and students of law, international relations and political science. Its assessment of the effectiveness of policy implementation will also be beneficial for legal practitioners, policy makers and NGOs.

In recent decades, civil society organisations (CSOs) have grown both in number and in their impact on policy-making, at European and also non-Member state level. Public institutions, motivated by the need to increase their legitimacy, have increasingly delegated functions to CSOs. Concomitantly, CSOs have expanded their access to public funding. In part because of increased access to public funding, and in part because of a stronger relationship with public powers, CSOs are under pressure to demonstrate that they use the resources they are given in an efficient, accountable and transparent manner, e.g. by adopting policies on fiscal transparency, and by maintaining financial solvency. The EU's interest in regulating CSOs is relatively recent. At present, the legal framework addressing CSOs' financial accountability includes two 'categories' of norms: those that regulate the award of public contracts and the concession of grants, and those norms that address transparency and openness. The first category includes the rules on public contracts and the rules on (co-)financing of CSO projects; whereas the second category includes the Financial Transparency Initiative (FTJ) and the Joint Transparency Register
(JTR). The FTJ gathers all information on EU funding in a single database. The JTR gathers information produced by the various organisations (including CSOs) that are interested in lobbying the EU, and who register voluntarily. Defining the boundaries of CSO fiscal accountability and effectively tackling cases of fraud or financial mismanagement remains a difficult endeavor. On the one hand, the EU still lacks a single overarching understanding (and, consequently, legal definition) of CSOs. This translates into the absence of clear legal definitions, and more generally into
the opacity of the information available on CSOs through EU databases. Moreover, as CSOs are 'private entities', they are not submitted to the same integrity mechanisms and norms that apply to public institutions, including internal and external oversight. Finally, a significant administrative burden imposed on CSOs may, in the end, counter EU efforts to tackle financial mismanagement by CSOs. In many respects, the issue of CSO financial accountability has come to resemble a dialogue of the deaf: EU institution-proposed reforms have been postponed, or have not produced the outcomes expected, or have been fiercely opposed by CSOs. At the same time, the self-regulatory tools (including policies on selecting donors, self monitoring and codes of conduct and standards) developed by CSOs to enhance their
financial accountability have not obtained official recognition from EU institutions.

This paper presents a realist reflection on the crisis in Ukraine from the perspective of the Western powers, in particular, that of the United States. Its theoretical argumentation is built on the basis of thoughts of contemporary realist minded scholars and geopoliticians, but, concomitantly, criticizes the contradictory nuances in their approaches. The paper analyses the consequences of the Ukraine crisis as an accomplishment from the Western point of view and diverges from other realist scholars who consider it as a mistake of the West. It argues that the United States has successfully completed its geopolitical mission concerning Ukraine by breaking it away from Moscow's sphere of influence, therefore, now it can seek to de-escalate tensions with Russia over Ukraine and redirect its focus on other threats, such as the rise of China.

Europe is currently experiencing a "refugee crisis", demonstrated by millions of displaced people unseen since World War II. This book examines the interface between the EU's response to irregular flows, in particular the main extraterritorial border and migration controls taken by the Member States, and the rights asylum seekers acquire from EU law.

"Remote control" techniques, such as the imposition of visas, fines on carriers transporting unsatisfactorily documented third-country nationals, and interception at sea are investigated in detail in a bid to assess the impact these measures have on access to asylum in the EU. The book also thoroughly analyses the rights recognised by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights to persons in need of international protection, inclusive of the principle of non-refoulement, the right to leave any country including one's own, the right to asylum, and the right to remedies and effective judicial protection.

The fundamental focus of the book is the relationship between the aforementioned border and migration controls and the rights of asylum seekers and, most importantly, how these rights (should) limit the scope of such measures and the ways in which they are implemented. The ultimate goal is to conclude whether the current series of extraterritorial mechanisms of pre-entry vetting is compatible in EU law with the EU rights of forced migrants.

A key focus of much scholarly attention is on the (theoretical) relationship between legal orders. The practical question I intend to answer in this article is the following: how can we know who has the final say – international, European Union (EU) or national law? I proceed in three steps. First, I critically sketch major current theories – monism and dualism, as well as global legal pluralism and global constitutionalism. However, because none of them offers a satisfactory answer to the question posed, I move to the reconceptualization stage of the theoretical relationship between legal orders. In the second step, I offer my account of how to think about the relationship between legal orders by introducing the theory of the law creators' circle (TLCC). The TLCC provides a theoretical foundation for deciding on the source of the decisive norm. It does not, however, provide a general solution which fits any norm conflict stemming from overlapping legal orders. Thus, the purpose of this article is to develop a legal theory which facilitates the understanding of the interaction between international law, EU and national law. Third, I use a doctrinal analysis to show the results of the TLCC application. For instance, in the famous Kadi saga, according to the TLCC, the EU should have either claimed that the UN Security Council was acting ultra vires or considered the UN Security Council Resolution faulty because UN human rights (instead of EU human rights) had been violated.

Slovakia’s relations with the states of Eastern Europe not only have a bilateral impact, but contain geopolitical, security and economic dimensions as well. This article analyzes the domestic, bilateral and multilateral aspects of relations between Slovakia and Russia before and after the parliamentary elections of 1998, when Slovakia adopted a pro-Western course aimed at EU and NATO membership. The article also focuses on bilateral relations with Ukraine, where Slovakia is among the most active supporters of Ukraine’s future EU membership. The final sections analyze the Eastern policy of Slovakia – particularly within the framework of the EU’s Eastern Partnership and the Visegrad Group – as well as Slovakia’s relations with the new Eastern European partners, such as Belarus, Moldova and Georgia, as target countries of Slovakia’s “soft power.”

Politique agricole, relance économique, vaccin contre le Covid-19, législation environnementale, etc. : l’Union européenne joue un rôle essentiel et controversé dans la vie de ses habitants depuis des décennies. Sur toutes ces questions, trois modèles s’affrontent : l’Europe du marché, l’Europe solidaire et l’Europe puissance.
À partir d’archives inédites, Laurent Warlouzet revisite l’histoire du continent au prisme de la lutte homérique entre ces trois visions depuis 1945 : l’Europe du marché, souvent dénoncée pour ses dérives ultralibérales, surtout depuis la tragédie grecque du début des années 2010 ; l’Europe solidaire, celle des législations sociales et de la promotion de l’égalité hommes-femmes, qui a conduit la majorité des syndicats britanniques à appeler à voter contre le Brexit ; l’Europe puissance, enfin, évanescente sur le plan militaire, mais s’exprimant dans les projets de politique industrielle communautaire ou dans la lutte contre les GAFAM, et voulant s’imposer face à ses concurrents, États-Unis, Russie ou Chine.
Cette nouvelle histoire de l’Europe, vivante, heurtée et mouvementée, nous montre que l’organisation de l’Union ne suit pas une logique mécanique et univoque. En exhumant des projets abandonnés mais sérieusement envisagés, elle propose aussi autant de futurs possibles dont les Européens pourraient se saisir.

The textbook Transition to Democracy in Central Europe focuses on the
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia and their transition from communist regimes to democratic ones. Different problems of democratic development are under scrutiny. These states lie in the part of Europe, which is from the regional perspective called Central Europe. But this perspective and the determination of this region can be different going more to West or more to East. The aim of the present textbook is to give an overview of selected topics related to political development in Central Europe in the last one hundred years. The focus is put on the installation, character and fall of communist regimes, mode of transition to democracy and the given issues of democratic consolidation as it was with the state division in the case of Czechoslovakia, transition from one party system to a multiparty system, dealing with the communist past, economic transition and international influence on the democratization process. A great part of the book is also dedicated to an overview of relations with the European Union and to a lesser degree with NATO. Each chapter is accompanied by questions, by which the students can verify their acquired knowledge, and by further reading developing the topic.

There are more types of borders today than ever before in history. Borders of all kinds define every aspect of social life in the twenty-first century. From the biometric data that divides the smallest aspects of our bodies to the aerial drones that patrol the immense expanse of our domestic and international airspace, we are defined by borders. They can no longer simply be understood as the geographical divisions between nation-states. Today, their form and function has become too complex, too hybrid. What we need now is a theory of the border that can make sense of this hybridity across multiple domains of social life.

Rather than viewing borders as the result or outcome of pre-established social entities like states, Thomas Nail reinterprets social history from the perspective of the continual and constitutive movement of the borders that organize and divide society in the first place. Societies and states are the products of bordering, Nail argues, not the other way around. Applying his original movement-oriented theoretical framework "kinopolitics" to several major historical border regimes (fences, walls, cells, and checkpoints), Theory of the Border pioneers a new methodology of "critical limology," that provides fresh tools for the analysis of contemporary border politics.

The most recent transformation of world order is often depicted as a shift from a Westphalian to a post-Westphalian era in which international organizations are becoming increasingly independent sites of authority. This internationalization of authority is often considered as an indication of the constitutionalization of the global legal order. However, this article highlights that international organizations can also exercise authority in an authoritarian fashion that violates the same constitutionalist principles of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law that international organizations are usually expected to promote. It is thus an open question which post-Westphalia we are in fact heading to: a constitutionalized order, an authoritarian order, or a combination of both? Based on a conceptualization of post-Westphalian orders as a two-dimensional continuum linking the ideal-typical end points of constitutionalism and authoritarianism, we analyze the United Nations security s...

This study focuses on the European Union’s (EU) discursive construction, and representation in the process of its enlargement. It problematizes the presently common tendency of doing so in ways which portray EU expansion as an expansion of Europe. At issue are thus practices conflating and equating the EU and Europe which pervade much of related academic, political and public debates and discourses, and so structure how we know of and imagine enlarging EU. Embracing post-structuralist and discourse-theoretical analytical and interpretative framework, this work points to the political character of representing the EU in this and, for that matter, any other fashion. Pursuit of this assertion necessitates a ‘step back’ from, and critical consideration of mainstream political and scholarly presuppositions concerning the Union and its enlargement in their arbitrariness. The very problematization of practices equating the EU and Europe, or of their allied ‘Europe-building’ concept of ‘European identity’, is conceivable and ‘meaningful’ only once we admit that these are not politically innocent components of an ‘objective’ grasp on ‘present’ or ‘emergent’ social realities in Europe and the EU but instead ‘merely’ value-laden interpretative possibilities biased in favour of the EU-official federalist integration project. Anticipating a divergence in conceptions and portrayals of the Union by senior EU members, elite and institutions on the one hand, and the new post-communist Member States on the other, this study examines national discursive spaces in the so-called Visegrad countries. On the basis of this extensive empirical enquiry, it reports rather distinctive understandings of the EU/European integration therein, affirming thus the suspected dissonance from the EU mainstream. They are attributed to several factors, considerations and concerns which are posited to be very likely shared more widely among post-communist member countries. The Visegrad societies’ conceptions of the EU and of its relation to Europe converge on a number of crucial points. These can be seen and interpreted as combining into a latent alternative European integration project which envisions persisting primacy of national identifications and maintenance of the current social and political organization of European space. The EU is conceived of as enlarging common political superstructure of Europe of nations and their states rather than a certain culture-bound, ‘thicker’ community of ‘post-national’ subjects of a ‘pan-European’ federal entity with centre in Brussels. The study challenges in this context the prevalent political and scholarly tendency to reduce debates on and contention over the character and future of European integration to a binary conflict between the so-called ‘Euroenthusiasts’ vs. ‘Eurosceptics’. Building on insights of Lacanian psychoanalysis as deployed by discourse theorists, it suggests that it may be precisely the suppressed democratic conflict of competing visions and projects of European integration which greatly contributes to the lacking popular identification with the process and the EU, and prompts some ‘obscene’ or more ‘excessive’ expressions of discontent with it.

The tension between unity vs. multiplicity seems to be at the heart of the European Union (EU). In terms of language, whereas the EU funds numerous projects to foster multilingualism, it is becoming an increasingly monolingual institution because of the ad hoc use of English as a lingua franca. Furthermore, the issue of the EU's translation medium and its alleged transparency, neutrality and universality plays a pivotal role in this debate. Even though translating and interpreting are some of the key activities carried out by EU institutions, very little is said about its mechanisms, as there is no real distinction between originals and translations. Does this strategy really erase linguistic hierarchy or reinforce it by pushing it out of the debate? The aim of this paper is to explore this main question and propose various ways out of the dilemma. KEYWORDS: English as a lingua franca, European Union, multilingualism, translation