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This document was developed by a group of over two dozen pain clinicians and investigators from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany Ireland, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway. Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and funded by an educational grant form Mundipharma International, Limited. The stated aim of the White Paper is to identify inequalities in government policies towards opioids that contribute to inadequate treatment of pain. It calls for their replacement with policies that will support doctors and patients in their efforts to relieve pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual or multiple earnership has been considered an important factor to prevent in-work poverty. The aim of this paper is to quantify the impact of second earnership on the risk of in-work poverty and the role of the tax-benefit system in moderating this risk. Our analysis refers to 2014 and employs EUROMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for the European Union and the United Kingdom. In order to assess the role of second earners in preventing in-work poverty we simulate a counterfactual scenario where second earners become unemployed. Our results show that the effect of net replacement rates (i.e. the ratio of household income before and after the transition of second earners to unemployment) on the probability of in-work poverty is negative and statistically significant, but in relative terms it appears to be small compared to the effects of individual labour market characteristics, such as low pay and part-time employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 1 January 2014 the transitional controls on free movement adopted by the UK when Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007, ended. This paper demonstrates how the discourses of politicians relating to their removal, amplified via news media contributed to the extension of state bordering practices further into everyday life. Based on ethnographic research into everyday bordering during 2013–15 the paper uses an intersectional framework to explore how this homogenizing, bordering discourse was experienced and contested from differently situated perspectives of Roma and non-Roma social actors from established communities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines young people's experiences of open access youth work in settings in the UK, Finland, Estonia, Italy and France. It analyses 844 individual narratives from young people, which communicate the impact of youthwork on their lives. These accounts are then analysed in the light of the European youth work policy goals. It concludes that it is encouraging that what young people identify as the positive impact of youth work are broadly consistent with many of these goals. There are however some disparities which require attention. These include the importance young people place on the social context of youth work, such as friendship, which is largely absent in EU youth work policy; as well as the importance placed on experiential learning. The paper also highlights a tension between 'top down' policy formulation and the 'youth centric' practices of youth work. It concludes with a reminder to policy makers that for youth work to remain successful the spaces and places for young people must remain meaningful to them 'on their terms'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses implications for the practical and theoretical understanding of consent in light of the coming into force of the European Cookie Directive (2009/136/EC). This Directive shifts behavioral advertising from being an opt-out practice to an opt-in one requiring consent. The aim of this paper is to assess conceptions of consent as detailed by the European Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, the UK government and the behavioral advertising industry. This is achieved through the application of philosophical understandings of consent generated in the first half of the paper that detail the ways in which these have been applied in health, an area that deals extensively with informed consent. The paper concludes by offering recommendations to behavioral advertisers on how best to implement opt-in consent policies so as to progress to ethically sound privacy practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

At a time when the belief in a welfare crisis is being connected to a so‐called "migration crisis", in particular in the United Kingdom, it is important to look at the lived experiences of mobile EU citizens and the influence of transnational social protection practices. The article introduces the concept of a "migration‐welfare corridor" – as opposed to the widespread welfare magnet hypothesis – taking into consideration the role of welfare systems in origin and destination countries at different stages of a migrant's life cycle, the changing nature of the welfare habitus as well as migrants' attitudes towards what can be defined as welfare chauvinism. Looking specifically at the case of Spanish and Polish migrants in the UK who have reacted to this protracted environment of deterrence, particularly in respect to their welfare rights, this paper discusses several dimensions that should be taken into consideration when analyzing transnational social protection practices from below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to examine the governance of activation in relation to the decentralization and centralization of activation for social assistance recipients in Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK. Design/methodology/approach – This paper outlines broad trends in the governance of activation policies in Europe, focusing on processes of decentralization and centralization in Sweden (characterized by a context of shifting national and local level governance of policies, cultivated within a strong tradition of active labour market policies); The Netherlands (where there has been a deliberate shift in governance towards the local level); and the UK (typified by highly centralized decision making in policy design but local variation in delivery). Findings – The comparison identified different paths of decentralization and examines how these processes interact and overlap with modes of centralization/coordination of policies. Finally, the paper demonstrates the interface between the modes of decentralization and centralization. Originality/value – The investigation of vertical changes in the governance of activation in three country case studies provides an original in-depth analysis of types and paths of decentralization and centralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the majority of the European housing stock falls towards the bottom of the energy efficiency rating scale on the EU Energy Performance Certificate. If governments and businesses are to successfully address ambitious CO2 reduction targets, then it will be imperative that energy-efficient measures and policies focus on existing housing. In order to understand what kind of retrofit is needed to achieve an “A” energy performance rating in social housing, the paper reports the findings of an on-going research project in the UK. The paper draws on a case study from the Technology Strategy Board's “Retrofit for the Future” competition entry in Cambridge. The upgrade strategy improved the home's energy performance rating to A, aimed to radically reduce carbon dioxide emissions (17 kg m−2 year−1) and provided affordable warmth for the tenants. In order to get an impression of the actual energy consumption in the case study, energy use behaviour of the household was observed. Based on the barriers identified in the case study, the feasibility of the current UK policy strategies (e.g. Smart Meters and Feed-in-Tariffs) to facilitate the acceptance of energy measures in social housing is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, as elsewhere in Europe, government policy aims to reduce the use of private cars for consumer shopping trips. One major instrument of policy aims to ensure that new retail development is located in places accessible by all transport modes. This paper reviews the effectiveness of this and other such policies through analysis of survey evidence relating to routine shopping behaviour in the UK. It appears that these policies are likely to have little impact upon shopping travel, given the advantages to the consumer of private car use. However, demographic trends and increasing use of the Internet for food shopping are likely to stabilize or even reduce the use of private cars in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AimThis paper reports on the findings from a qualitative study exploring the experiences of teenage mothers using a nurse-led, home-based contraceptive service designed to prevent repeat unplanned pregnancies. The aim was to understand if, and how the service was effective in equipping teenage mothers to make informed choices about contraception, thus preventing a second pregnancy.BackgroundUnplanned teenage pregnancy remains a significant focus of health and social policy in the United Kingdom (UK). Despite the long-term pattern of declining conception rates, the UK continues to report higher rates than comparable countries elsewhere in Europe. Current estimates suggest that approximately one fifth of births amongst under 18’s are repeat pregnancies (Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group, 2009). Services that are designed to reduce second unplanned pregnancies are an important element in promoting teenage sexual health. However, there has been no UK research that explores this kind of service and the experiences of service users.MethodsWe conducted a qualitative interview study. From 2013–2014 we interviewed 40 teenage mothers who had engaged with the nurse-led, home-based contraceptive service.FindingsThe data demonstrates that the service was effective in preventing repeat pregnancies in a number of cases. Among the aspects of the service which were found to contribute to its effectiveness were privacy, convenience, flexibility, appropriately timed access, the non-judgemental attitude of staff and ongoing support. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With more than 10 million Muslims living in Western Europe, states are struggling to accommodate the religious needs of Muslims in state-supported institutions. Such issues include whether to fund separate Islamic schools and how or whether to teach Islam in state-supported schools. Despite these common concerns, national governments vary widely in their response to the religious needs and practices of Muslim citizens and permanent residents. This paper looks at how Britain, France and Germany have resolved these issues. We explore how pre-existing Church-State practices and institutional arrangements structured the politics of state accommodation of Muslims' religious needs in each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the systems and devices of corporate governance in European countries, such as the shareholder-based system. According to the report, individual corporate governance devices, like dividend policy and control policy, act unitedly in Great Britain. Information about shareholder-based system and stakeholder-based system, which have clear advantages and disadvantages on European's national system is also presented.

This paper discusses the relationships between the migratory policies of the EU countries with more experience of immigration and their national political cultures. It focuses on France, Germany and the United Kingdom. It then looks at Italy, a relatively new country of immigration, which, with 3,000,000 legal immigrants, has become the fourth country of immigration in Europe and the first in the Mediterranean basin. In its final part it highlights the incipient process of 'communitarisation' of the immigration policies of EU countries in the last decade. This process, which has already entailed a significant convergence of their migratory policies, is expected to continue after the recent enlargement of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Swiss Journal of Sociology / Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Soziologie is the property of Sciendo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article provides a comparative study of the labour market and social policy measures introduced in light of the COVID-19 crisis in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom between March 2020 and January 2021. Its main aim is to understand whether the crisis response has changed the structures of the welfare states concerned. Focusing in particular on the differences regarding the crisis measures taken for individuals in 'standard employment' and 'non-standard workers' in each country, it argues that, although extensive temporary protection instruments were introduced for both groups during the crisis, these did not lead to an immediate convergence as regards these groups' social protection. Rather than changing the underlying structures of welfare systems, many of the measures in fact highlighted the specific vulnerabilities of large segments of Europe's labour markets. States have, however, granted social compensation at unprecedented levels, which could result in improved infrastructures and a clearer understanding of the responsibility of the welfare state in future emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brought to fame by a 1994 World Bank report, the idea of pension pillarization has become part of the orthodoxy of pension reform. Yet scholars have neglected both the national origins and the pre-1994 diffusion of the ‘three-pillar doctrine’. This article presents a critical history of the transnational diffusion process that led to the adoption of this concept at the World Bank. My analysis retrieves the Swiss roots of the doctrine during the late 1960s, as well as its gradual adoption and mainstreaming during the 1970s and early 1980s by a transnational epistemic community of life insurers and pension consultants. By 1990, the doctrine was widely used without reference to its national origins: a Swiss trademark had become a generic reform idea that framed controversies on the future shape of old-age provision. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the right to health care. Various expressions of this right may be distinguished. These include both individual rights and social rights which could be based upon international treaties and constitutional rights. They may be found in national health legislation and, in some cases, in jurisprudence. To analyze the consequences of limiting the right to health care, a framework for judicial review has been developed which encompasses these expressions of the right to health care. The framework was used to examine legal and health policy developments in three Western and two Eastern European countries. In Italy and the Netherlands the right to health care is protected constitutionally (but on differing legal bases) while the United Kingdom does not have a written constitution. In contrast, Hungary and Poland have for many years seen the state take responsible for the provision, administration and allocation of health care services and the right to health care was guaranteed theoretically but not in practice because of the lack of (financial) means. However, the Polish Constitution explicitly anticipates possible limitations of the right to health care. What all these countries have in common is a cost containment perspective where the future will bring even tighter limits on what resources patients may consume. Despite differences in legal structure between these countries, where they seem to converge is on the consequences of putting limitations on the right to health care. The courts in Italy, the Netherlands and the UK have formulated conditions drawn from the acceptance that this right has to be judged within the context of limited resources. It may be concluded that finding a compromise between the right to health care and cost containment policies could also be an issue, Eastern European countries will have to face in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British government's position in the 1996 IGC will reflect long-standing policy positions that have been shared by both main parties. This consistency in policy was partly masked by the tone of British statements on Europe during the Thatcher premierships. However, there was a change of tone when Major came to office, and this was followed by successful British diplomacy in the 1991 IGC on political union, with the result that, on the issues that are under discussion in the 1996 IGC, Britain is largely a status quo state. The government will resist far-reaching changes to the Treaty on European Union, especially any erosion of the three-pillar structure and any further extension of the competences of the European Community. However, it will want to see institutional changes agreed that will pave the way to further enlargement. In these objectives it is likely to find allies because the European Union as a whole has been moving in the British direction since Maastricht, because of public hostility to further integration, the collapse of the federalist coalition, and the 1995 enlargement. However, the influence of Conservative backbenchers is making it more difficult for the present government to adopt the right tone in negotiations. The policies of the Labour Party do not differ markedly from those of the Conservatives, except on social policy, and if there is a change of government before the end of the IGC, the removal of the so-called 'Euro- sceptic' influence on the diplomatic tone of the government might help Britain to achieve its objectives even more successfully than the present government could. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article puts contemporary debates about the relationship between immigration policy and the welfare state in historical perspective. Relying on new historical data, the article examines the relationship between immigration policy and social policy in Western Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the modern welfare state emerged. Germany already had comparably strict immigration policies when the German Empire introduced the world's first national social insurances in the 1880s. Denmark, another early social-policy adopter, also pursued restrictive immigration policies early on. Almost all other countries in Western Europe started out with more liberal immigration policies than Germany's and Denmark's, but then adopted more restrictive immigration policies and more generous social policies concurrently. There are two exceptions, Belgium and Italy, which are discussed in the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: There is evidence that young people are less satisfied with their lives when they are unemployed or working in precarious conditions. This study aims to shed light on how the life satisfaction of unemployed and precariously employed young people varies across welfare states with different labour market policies and levels of social protection. Methods: The analyses are based on representative cross-sectional survey data from five European countries (Denmark, the UK, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic), corresponding to five different welfare state regimes. For economically active young adults (N =6681), the prevalence ratios of low life satisfaction were estimated through multivariate logistic regressions. Results: In all five countries, unemployed young adults presented a higher prevalence of low life satisfaction. When we compared employees with people with permanent and temporary contracts, the former were more satisfied with their lives only in Germany and the UK, examples of conservative and liberal welfare regimes, respectively. Experience of unemployment decreased young adults' life satisfaction only in Germany and the Czech Republic, examples of a conservative and an eastern European welfare regime, respectively. In almost all countries, young adults with low economic self-sufficiency presented a higher prevalence of low life satisfaction. Conclusions: There are nuanced patterns of employment type and life satisfaction across European states that hint at welfare state regimes as possible moderators in this relationship. The results suggest that the psychological burdens of unemployment or work uncertainty cannot be overlooked and should be addressed according to different types of social provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to reliable and timely information ensures that decision-makers can operate effectively. The motivations and challenges of parliamentarians and policy-makers in accessing evidence have been well documented in the policy literature. However, there has been little focus on research-providers. Understanding both the demand- and the supply-side of research engagement is imperative to enhancing impactful interactions. Here, we examine the broader experiences, motivations and challenges of UK-based research professionals engaging with research-users relevant to policy-making and scrutiny in the UK using a nationwide online questionnaire. The context of the survey partly involved contributing to the UK Evidence Information Service (EIS), a proposed rapid match-making service to facilitate interaction between parliamentary arenas that use evidence and research-providers. Our findings reveal, at least for this sub-sample who responded, that there are gender-related differences in policy-related experience, motivations, incentives and challenges for research professionals to contribute to evidence-informed decision-making through initiatives such as the EIS. Male and female participants were equally likely to have policy experience; however, males reported both significantly broader engagement with the research-users included in the survey and significantly higher levels of engagement with each research-user. Reported incentives for engagement included understanding what the evidence will be used for, guidance on style and content of contribution, and acknowledgement of contributions by the policymaker or elected official. Female participants were significantly more likely to select the guidance-related options. The main reported barrier was workload. We discuss how academia-policy engagement initiatives can best address these issues in ways that enhance the integration of research evidence with policy and practice across the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the European policy, the relationship between Europe and United Kingdom, political decision making process of the British, managing the issues of the European Union and coordination across Whitehall. It talks about the European budget contributions, Budget Council meetings in Brussels and Luxembourg, Treasury introducing a system called EuroPES and regional funding to reduce the budget deficit of the European Union.

This article examines the contours of how sex-selective abortion (SSA) and ‘gendercide’ have been problematically combined within contemporary debates on abortion in Europe. Analysing the development of policies on the topic, we identify three ‘turns’ which have become integral to the biopolitics of SSA in Europe: the biomedical turn, the ‘gendercide’ turn, and the Asian demographic turn. Recent attempts to discipline SSA in the UK and Sweden are examined as a means of showing how the neoliberal state in Europe is becoming increasingly open to manoeuvres to undermine the right to abortion, even where firm laws exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this article is to shed light on the nexus between occupational pensions (OPs) and the financialization of pensions in Europe. In particular, we address the following questions: Has the recent evolution of OPs contributed to the financialization of pension policy? Is the nexus between OPs and financialization the result of the increased influence of financial markets in the pension field? Or of a more complex interaction of state, market, and social actors? By comparing Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, we show financialization is a broad process that affects the three countries, but it has followed three different paths. In Italy, financialization is spreading through individual pension schemes rather than OPs. The Dutch collective OPs are still a central part of the pension systems, but are increasingly influenced by the financial markets. In the United Kingdom, employer‐led OPs are in the hands of the financial services industry. This proves that financialization is a powerful trend, but has to deal with domestic socioeconomic institutions (a country's political economies and pensions institutions) that shape actors' strategies and reforms. Financial actors have an increased role in pension politics, but are involved in complex interactions with the state, employers, and trade unions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature addressing attitudes about social policy and the welfare state has been telling us for decades that welfare interventions are supported by those individuals who benefit from a specific measure. The diffusion of ‘demanding’ active labour market policies (ALMPs), however, challenges this relationship. Using a novel dataset, I analyse which individual- and country-level factors explain public support for demanding ALMPs in five Western European countries. The results show that labour market risk and ideological orientation influence public attitudes towards these ALMPs. Thereby, unemployed individuals sympathising with the political right are more strongly opposed to demanding measures than employed individuals with the same political preferences. Moreover, aggregate support is found to be correlated with the country's ALMP legacy, varying from high levels in Germany and the UK to low levels in Denmark and France. The findings suggest that most ALMPs are in fact implemented despite the opposition of their beneficiaries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses fertility among descendants of immigrants in some European countries such as Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, and Spain on the basis of childbearing patterns and birth order. Topics include migration and family policies, fertility dynamics, and influence of mainstream society on fertility behavior.

In the interface between national and local levels of UK government, narratives of place are made to fit particular tropes of ‘success’ or ‘failure’ at multiculturalism. Thinking through ‘community cohesion’ policy in England between 2001 and 2010, this article shows how (reputations of) relative success at ‘living together with difference’ become a medium through which local government practitioners negotiate the space between national and local priorities, needs and ambitions, by examining how practitioners in English local authorities negotiate narratives of ‘failed multiculturalism’ associated with the places they work and, in doing so, how they re-inscribe or subvert local reputations and their ‘elsewheres’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers the author's insights on the two inquiries into the media ownership rules in Europe and Great Britain. Topics discussed include European Union's (EU) interest on media pluralism, the relationship between domestic media policies and EU, and the key issues that are central to the development of media ownership. Also mentioned the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the House of Lords Communications Committee, and Member of Parliament (MP) Harriet Harman.

Since the sixteenth century the state has restricted the mobilities of Gypsies and Travellers in Britain. As studies have repeatedly demonstrated, nomadic Gypsies and Travellers experience high levels of exclusion. In 1994 a duty to provide caravan sites was repealed and greater restrictions on nomadism were introduced. Motivation for restrictive state policy stems from economic factors but also involves processes of othering. The rise of New Labour in the mid-1990s left many to wonder whether constraints on the travelling way of life would continue or if new, more tolerant, policy initiatives would emerge. This article considers the impacts of policy introduced by the New Labour Government on nomadic Gypsies and Travellers and the rationale behind these policy initiatives. The 2003 Anti Social Behaviour Act, the main New Labour policy that affects nomadic Gypsies and Travellers, promoted new eviction powers which campaigners have argued could lead to a greater cycle of eviction. The article draws from local case-study sites where attempts have been made to develop transit sites and the role of political opposition, the media, and public opinion in thwarting these proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On both the national and European levels, cooperation between state and society has developed considerably with regard to decision-makingand regulatory enforcement, often with the explicit intention of raising the effectiveness and legitimacy of the regulatory practices. A number of instruments (e.g. voluntary agreements, joint implementation, environmental dispute resolution, legislative consultation and concertation procedures) have been developed and introduced, which seem to generalize and expand cooperation as a principle of environmental regulation altogether. The present paper aims to take up these developments by drawing a picture of cooperative environmental regulation in Great Britain, France, Germany and the USA, the purpose being to delineate and compare national styles or patterns of cooperation. It isargued that each country has a proper way of organizing and molding cooperation within public administration and between state and society. Moreover, each style of cooperation is linked to distinct working relationships, problem-solving approaches and strategies of validation and legitimization. In spite of these different traditions and styles, however, it will be argued that all countries are bringing about a less autonomous and more cooperative state. This general development, which is repeated on the European level as well, raises the need for a more strongly structured and transparent organization of cooperative relations between the state and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the employment of migrant women as care workers in European welfare states is increasing, the rate, extent and nature of this increase vary. The article draws on empirical research on migrant care work to develop links between three levels of analysis – micro, meso and macro. The main aim is to progress analysis of the meso level by developing indicators attached to three sets of regimes – care regimes, migration regimes and employment regimes. It is argued that variations emerge in the ways these three regimes intersect within any one country. These intersections allow us to look across different sites, markets and sectors of care work and, in so doing, reveal a degree of growing convergence across Europe in the employment of migrant care labour. This convergence contributes, at the macro level, to a transnational political economy of care. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports developments related to financial regulation in Europe. The European Commission has released its proposals for insider trading regulation and market manipulation and a directive for penalties. The Independent Commission on Banking in Great Britain has set out its recommendations to establish healthy competition in the British banking sector. The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) has been released by the European Commission.

Devolution has increased the divergence in law and policy, and this has impacted on the social work services as part of the welfare state. It has led to debate about the changing nature of social citizenship within the UK. Many adults who come to the attention of social work services already have conditional citizenship by virtue of poverty, environment, illness and disability. This article demonstrates how this can be further compounded by the welfare agencies themselves by comparing the mental health law frameworks for Scotland and England. It argues that differences in participation ultimately led to the different civil and social rights being enshrined in law. However, law is just one ingredient that defines citizenship; the political ethos and the public service culture are two other key ingredients. This article will demonstrate that these have also been significant in creating divergence. Finally, the article will explore whether this social citizenship model for mental health has a wider relevance for all people who use social work services. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It has now been over a decade since the concept of creative industries was first put into the public domain by the Blair Labour government's Creative Industries Mapping Documents in Britain. The concept has gained traction globally, but it has also been understood and developed in different ways in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and North America, as well as through international bodies such as UNCTAD and UNESCO. A review of the policy literature reveals that although questions and issues remain around definitional coherence, there is some degree of consensus emerging about the size, scope, and significance of the sectors in question in both advanced and developing economies. At the same time, debate about the concept remains highly animated in media, communication, and cultural studies, with its critics dismissing the concept outright as a harbinger of neoliberal ideology in the cultural sphere. This article couches such critiques in light of recent debates surrounding the intellectual coherence of the concept of neoliberalism, arguing that this term itself possesses problems when taken outside of the Anglo-American context in which it originated. It is argued that issues surrounding the nature of participatory media culture, the relationship between cultural production and economic innovation, and the future role of public cultural institutions can be developed from within a creative industries framework and that writing off such arguments as a priori ideological and flawed does little to advance debates about twentieth-century information and media culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of International Affairs seeks to stimulate more debate and interest in Britain on North Africa. This relatively neglected area of British foreign policy has largely been funneled through the European Union (EU), where the focus of policy has been on preventive security, above all policing against illegal migration and the spread of radicalism and terrorism. The main driver for regional change and potential insecurity is now demographic, evident in the high levels of youth unemployment across North Africa. In facing the challenge of leadership successions over the next decade, it is in the interest of the EU, and in turn, Britain, to engage more closely with North Africa's younger generations to ensure the region's longer term security and stability. Britain has few strong bilateral links with North African societies, however, with the exception of private sector investments in the energy sector and security cooperation. New investment opportunities and a demand for English language and other forms of training for employment could put Britain at an advantage in responding to North African demands for diversified international relationships. A greater focus is also needed on local development opportunities to assist new actors to assume their own economic and political roles, as a better means of delivering security and jobs than relying on central states to deliver both. The articles in this special issue offer new insights into developments in the region, as well as analyses of European and American policy responses to the challenges identified. A common theme is that the region has been held back by a combined lack of institutional safeguards and political participation, with negative impacts on the spread of the economic benefits of higher growth rates and investment. Authoritarian leaderships have proved reliable partners for the EU and Britain in the past, but will they continue to do so in future? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the enlargement of the European Union in 2004, the UK implemented a relatively open labour market policy that allowed migrants from the eight central and eastern European accession states to take up work in the UK providing that they complied with registration requirements. At the same time, however, the UK sought to prevent EU8 migrants who found themselves without work from accessing benefits in its territory. This article analyses the House of Lords decision in Zalewska v Department for Social Development [2008] UKHL 67 in which the UK rules were challenged. Although the majority of the House of Lords upheld the decision that the UK's rules of registration are compatible with the Accession treaties and broader provisions of Community law on free movement and citizenship, it is submitted here that the opinions of the minority represent a more accurate application of the relevant Community law principles, notably proportionality, as interpreted by the European Court of Justice. Overall, the article emphasises how individuals' access to rights enshrined in provisions of Community law depends largely upon the goodwill of the national courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on debates over the restriction of rights towards Muslim women in Great Britain. Particular attention is given to Muslim women wearing the niqab, which is a face veil. The article argues that despite the political conflicts caused by the "veil debate" in 2006 on the niqab, government regulation against wearing it was not predicted. The article suggests that wearing the veil is not against the law because of Britain's church and state policies as well as Article Nine of the European Commission of Human Rights.

This study examines when and why environmental nongovernmental organizations in the United Kingdom, France and Germany bypass national-level activity in favor of supranational action. Data are gathered from a content analysis of news wires and analyzed in a series of logistic equations. Evidence supports the multi-level governance theory of European Union integration. Examining political opportunity structure explanations for activity, I find that changes in domestic elite alliances and electoral cleavages help to explain why groups choose to target activity at the supranational level. When the domestic opportunity structure is closed, supranational activity becomes more likely. The opening of the domestic political opportunity structure decreases supranational activity among groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author discusses the political issues surrounding child care as practiced in Western nations. She notes that governments in Europe, but not the United States, have mandated two features regarding child care, namely provisions for guaranteed maternity leave for working mothers and the possibility of extended absence from work for a male caregiver, if approved by an employer. More liberal child care services offered by continental European countries are contrasted with the comparatively few facilities available to citizens of Great Britain.

This article examines some of the processes conditioning both policy stability and policy change. It focuses on how established policy communities (usually associated with policy stability) can exist alongside a powerful dynamic of change within the policy subsystem. By listing and analysing agents of exogenous and endogenous stability and change, it is concluded that the concepts of epistemic communities, advocacy coalitions and choice of 'image' and 'venue' are useful in explaining the co-existence of stability and change. In the case of British trunk roads policy, this stability and change can be explained by the development of the road and environmental lobbies as rival adversarial policy communities operating in separate and competing policy arenas. The article concludes that, although one of the adversarial communities may hold an advantage over the other at a particular time, the scope for action in a number of different policy-making arenas makes it unlikely that it will retain supremacy over time. Radical change is most likely to be brought about by factors exogenous to policy communities such as scientific and technological developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an analysis of British politics in relation to Europe. It focuses on the British policy regarding the post-war construction in Europe, noting how domestic politics may affect Great Britain's international relations. Consequences of the country' political difficulty are enumerated, suggesting to investigate such consequences and to further consider how the question of Europe may be integrated into the British politics. The process of domestic politics is defined as well as offers a description of the business of politics and the structure of politics. Also provided are various impairments of the British political system including inadequacy, corruption, and disloyalty.

The article focuses on the talk in financial circles, following the moving of Brussels negotiations towards a climax, regarding the possibilities for world liquidity that would be opened if Great Britain will join the Common Market. It was said that Sterling can become the currency of Europe, and that a perfect marriage can be arranged between European Economic Community asset and the British liabilities. However, it was found that the said marriage was cancelled. Moreover, an overview of the new approaches toward multilateral solutions of sterling's problems is offered.

Presents news briefs related to medical ethics as of April 2000. Publication of a parliamentary bill entitled Medical Treatment by the Great Britain government on January 18, 2000; Joint consultation document on preimplantation genetic diagnosis issued by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology and Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing on November 1999; Revision of the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki for the ethics of medical research on humans.