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Throughout the industrialised world trade unionists are reforming their organisations as part of a strategy to adjust to new labour market, economic and political circumstances. This volume examines the role of merger activity in this process of reform. The book identifies the pattern of merger activity, the factors that promote its development and its impact on union structure and governance. Most merger activity is shown to originate in some adverse environmental change, such as membership decline. Furthermore, there is little evidence to suggest that mergers have improved union performance in the recruitment, retention and organisation of members, although, in some cases, the reform of systems of membership participation has been facilitated. The shift away from industrial unions has been accelerated by merger involvement, which has also brought into question the role of confederations where the number of affiliated unions has declined markedly. The book comprises two sections. The first section examines the merger process in ten countries (Australia, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, UK and US). The second section comprises three ¿horizontal¿ chapters in which authors of the national chapters develop themes that emerge from the national chapters in comparative perspective.

The book analyses the transnational Alpine region where historical, social, and geo-economic specificities have led to a distinctive type of democracy and identity. Differentialist identities, multi-level consociational accommodation, and corporatist intermediation are typical features of this region¿s «consensual politics», and the process of European integration adds further to this complexity. These forms of consensual politics are challenged today by large and persistent populist parties that express strong anti-elitist sentiments, local identities, and Euro-sceptic attitudes. The book examines the defensive reaction of populist parties to the perceived threats of open borders (multi-culturalism and cheap labour) and elite negotiations (at all levels of governance). Protest attitudes translate into alternative views of European integration favouring proposals for an anti-assimilationist and labour protective «Fortress», as well as a religiously-based «Europe of the People». The book considers the possibility of a potential cleavage in the incipient European party system through alliances of «losers of integration» cutting across the left-right alignment and overlapping with ethno-linguistic, centre-periphery, religious, and rural-urban factors that survived in the Alpine region more than elsewhere. An empirical analysis by a group of international experts focuses on the Alpine areas of Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and Switzerland in which parties like FPÖ, CSU, Lega Nord, and Schweizerische Volkspartei have recently become crucial actors.

La rupture observée au début des années 90 dans la courbe du soutien public à l'intégration européenne a posé avec acuité le problème de la place de l'opinion publique dans l'ensemble du processus d'intégration. L'émergence de ce débat européen ne saurait occulter le fait qu'il se décline en fonction des situations nationales. Le choix a donc été fait de proposer dans cet ouvrage un article par pays, en retenant une sélection représentative de chaque étape: l'Allemagne, la Belgique, la France et l'Italie parmi les six fondateurs; le Danemark et la Grande-Bretagne pour le premier élargissement, outre la Norvège; le Portugal pour celui de 1986; l'Autriche pour 1995; enfin deux pays adhérents, la Hongrie et la République tchèque. Cette démarche offre l'avantage d'apporter un éclairage inédit sur certaines opinions publiques négligées en tant que telles par les publications et de permettre de fructueuses comparaisons. L'objectif est aussi de conjuguer dans une approche pluridisciplinaire un regard historique et des clés d'explication politologiques. The importance of public opinion in the process of European integration was brought into sharp focus at the start of the 1990s. Discussion about the future of Europe comes in a variety of forms, however, depending on the circumstances of the country concerned. This book brings together important and insightful articles about public opinion in countries at the centre of this European debate. These concern Germany, Belgium, France and Italy, from the founding members; the UK and Denmark from the first enlargement, with Norway; Portugal, from the 1986 enlargement and Austria, from the 1995 one; Hungary and the Czech Republic, two candidate-countries due to accede to the EU in 2004. This volume re-evaluates the importance of particular strands of public opinion which are often overlooked in the academic literature. Seen in this fresh light, interesting comparisons and contrasts emerge. The aim of this book is also to bring together both history and political theory.

In most of the EU¿s fifteen Member States sectoral collective bargaining is an important process, if not the principal means of regulating relations between employers and employees. Yet the sectoral level of social dialogue has long been neglected at Community level, coming a poor second behind cross-industry social dialogue. The tide now seems to be turning, and a formally recognised social dialogue has been established in more than thirty sectors. The authors of this volume consider recent developments in these sectors, providing a quantitative and qualitative overview as well as some more detailed analysis of particular sectors. This volume is original in that it is based on a systematic collection of documents produced by the European sectoral and cross-industry social dialogue, along with a hundred or so interviews with the relevant players. Some of the main questions raised by the authors include: what is meant by sectoral social dialogue? How does it differ from crossindustry social dialogue? What type of negotiations take place? What are the aims and strategies of employers¿ organisations? Are the agreements implemented and, if not, why not? What difference has EU enlargement made in this area and what else might change? Is it possible to devise a typology of sectors? Without claiming to have definitive answers for all these questions, this volume offers some useful food for thought at a time when sectoral social dialogue is tentatively asserting its position Europewide.

Is there a specifically ¿European response¿ to international terrorism? Bringing together practitioners and academic experts this volume analyses the international context, threat perceptions and multi-dimensional nature of EU counter-terrorism measures. These cover legislative and operational measures, internal and international action and cut across all areas of EU responsibility and activity. A cooperative and coordinated system of national policies and anti-terrorism capabilities has been set up. However, the EU finds it easier to agree on objectives than on implementing them effectively. Of use and interest to students of European and international politics, to academics, journalists, civil servants and the general reader alike, the book critically evaluates the efforts of the European Union to protect European citizens against terrorism and to maintain a balance between the protection of its citizens and the protection of the rights and freedoms of the individual.

The book tackles a key issue for the European Union: Fiscal Federalism. It evaluates the applicability of this theoretical perspective for the EU. Conversely, it pinpoints ways in which the diversity of existing fiscal settings and organisations, both at national and European levels, can throw light on the theory. The study analyses two of the most important European policies: Cohesion Policy and the Stability and Growth Pact. It compares the episode of German Unification to the 2004 European Enlargement. It pioneers a cross-country analysis of the various national fiscal settings. Finally, it highlights the close links between the dynamics of decision-making related to the main budgetary choices and the integration process. The questions raised are crucial in the current context of economic and institutional uncertainty: How should we apprehend the Cohesion Policy, the main expression of European solidarity? How can the coordination of national fiscal policies be improved? How are European countries and their regions organised in fiscal and budgetary terms? What lessons can the EU draw from its own fiscal past and from that of its Member States? Over and above the originality of the answers provided by the authors, the book suggests that it would be difficult to take the integration process further without first clarifying what Europe can, should or wants to do.

In the 19century, the metropolis became the soothsayer of societies. Here, probabilities of progress could be perceived, felt and smelt; here was the showcase of each nation¿s prime productions and representations. Travellers took to the metropolis in order to unravel the foreign society, in order to understand and learn about social characteristics and future developments, about cultural distinctions and commonalities, about banalities and extraordinary events. Travel writers mapped the development of Europe¿s metropolises and wrote for a large market using the form of a highly popular and established genre. In travel writing, popular sentiments, market-driven imaginations of the audience¿s interests, and on-the-spot analysis of cultural and political conditions are bound together in one account. This book surveys the history of cultural perception in Western Europe from the Great Exhibition of 1851 to the National Socialists¿ party rallies in the Berlin of the 1930s. Travel writings are used as source material to enter the intricate discourses on national stereotypes, the metropolis and on the usage as well as the perception of authenticity.ÿ