The WTO is facing difficult times as the renewal of the members of its Appellate Body seems to be in a deadlock. The opposition of some Members of the Organization to the process means the number of adjudicators is slowly dwindling. In this paper, we put this problem in context, by linking it to the greater concerns about consent in international adjudication. Consent amounts to the effective transfer of adjudicative power to a given tribunal. It is therefore argued that the non-renewal of AB members amounts to a withdrawal of consent by the parties concerned, be it legal or not. Should the problem persist, the WTO's dispute settlement system could be profoundly impacted, transforming it into a mere conciliatory body.
This article investigates to what extent social democratic parties still benefit from the support of union members at the polls. Not only are social democratic parties confronted with new competitors in the party systems, but also the union confederations of the socialist labour movement are in some countries losing their dominant position due to the rise of separate professional confederations. We argue that the effect of union membership on voting choice is conditioned by the structure of the trade union movement. The support of union members for social democracy is fostered by the strength of the confederations historically close to this party family, while it is hampered when strong separate (or politically unaffiliated) white-collar confederations exist. Using European Social Survey and Swedish Public Opinion data, we show that social democratic parties still enjoy an important support from trade union members, but at the same time are under fierce competition from bourgeois and green parties among members of white-collar confederations. This reinforces the challenges for social democracy to build new voters' coalitions in post-industrial societies.
The European Union is in a state of emergency. The crisis it is facing today is a global one, rather than merely sector-specific as in the past. It therefore requires a global response, in other words at a political level. This is the central message conveyed by this selection of texts. Having presented some of the main challenges, both internal and external, with which the Union is contending, the author maintains the need for a European political authority subject to democratic control, in particular with regard to currency, foreign, defence and security policy and migration. He puts forward the case for a federative core within the Eurozone which at first could take the form of “enhanced cooperation” between a certain number of countries favourable to the idea, while allowing other Member States the possibility to join them. He also stresses the need to break with austerity policies, a breeding ground for populism, and to promote solidarity as a guiding principle for future actions. As a result an unprecedented European federalism could be developed which would provide the European continent with the means to defend its values and to continue to play its part as a major peacekeeper in the 21st century.
