infonet-economy

By examining the case of Switzerland we observed that direct democracy can help develop a public sphere for diversified populations. The European Union could follow this example to develop a greater feeling of identity and legitimacy of its own. Based on our analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of direct democracy, we suggest an optional legislative referendum be promoted on...

L'originalité de cet ouvrage est d'apporter un éclairage à la fois théorique et pratique sur le rôle joué par l'Union européenne en matière de sécurité internationale. Il offre au lecteur une synthèse complète et lisible de la recherche universitaire en science politique. Ce livre réunit certains des meilleurs spécialistes francophones du sujet. Ils adhèrent à des...

The author guides us expertly through the thickets of referendums (no fewer than fourteen from 1972) in which Swiss citizens have been given the opportunity to pass judgment on the European question. Most importantly, this volume explains why the Swiss still oppose joining the European Union. It examines the thorny questions of identity, reservations on policy matters (preserving...

The concept of external governance seeks to capture the expanding scope of EU rules beyond EU borders. This article elaborates the theoretical foundations of this concept, differentiates the various institutional modes through which external governance takes place and suggests a set of hypotheses addressing the conditions under which EU external governance is effective. Here, we...

In the information age, intellectual assets (such as trade secrets and music) are flowing across borders and between continents. However, legal hurdles may still negatively affect and prevent the smooth flow of these intellectual assets, as shown in the article. Even though the article analyses the issue from a European perspective with a view towards Asia (China and Japan), the...

In the global fight against biopiracy, one of the key issues is to prevent the grant and exploitation of patents on traditional knowledge and genetic resources by requiring that patent applicants for inventions involving traditional knowledge and genetic resources disclose the source of those resources and provide evidence that the prior informed consent of the local owners of such...

La vente aux enchères d'objets d'art met en rapport un fournisseur et une maison de vente, d'une part, et une maison de vente et un acheteur, d'autre part. La première relation contractuelle influence la seconde, en ce que la maison de vente, intermédiaire, représente le fournisseur vis-à-vis de l'acheteur, sans toutefois divulguer à ce dernier l'...