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Over the past two decades, queer has grown into an established critical approach to social science. Correspondingly, the term queer has emerged as a recognised brand in the language of academia. This paper examines the potential risks that such linguistic institutionalisation poses for queer as a critical and emancipatory endeavour. Building on Michael Billig's argument that the bias towards 'big nouns' in academic discourse tends to further entrench the power of academic elites, I draw a parallel between queer and CDA (critical discourse analysis) as two emerging academic brands in order to determine whether queer is one such big noun and how this may affect the very capacity of queer scholars to commit themselves to critique and self-critique. I conclude by outlining a modest proposal to ensure that the term queer remains available to be appropriated by whoever shares the premises and the aspirations underlying the queer project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews an abuse of dominance decision against the incumbent do-mestic airline in South Africa (SAA) taken in 2010 and upheld on appeal in 2011. This case placed significant emphasis on the economic impact of the abusive conduct, and it represents a clear example of the adoption of an effects-based approach to assess exclusionary behavior by a dominant firm. As this article sets out, given the features of SAA's conduct and of the relevant market context, it is also possible to identify a coherent economic framework that can explain why SAA's rivals could not profitably match its incentive schemes and were therefore foreclosed. The conceptual issues raised by the SAA case are similar to the ones at stake in the landmark judgments on British Airways. The lessons from this case are therefore relevant to the ongoing antitrust debate on loyalty discounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys, from an economic perspective, the recent application of merger control in the European energy sector. It considers ten significant transactions in the energy sector: the eight largest energy transactions assessed by the European Commission since 2004, as well as two major gas-electricity mergers in Spain over roughly the same period. Merger decisions in the energy sector have been characterized by a significant concern for potential horizontal unilateral effects, even in situations where the merging parties accounted for a limited combined share of the market, or where one of the parties was only a small competitor. A variety of non-horizontal concerns have also been considered by the competition authorities, including effects flowing from the increasing use of gas for electricity generation or from limited ownership unbundling of network assets. Remedy packages have typically included extensive structural divestments to remove competition concerns. Given the nature of competition in energy markets, particularly effective remedies are those that involve the sale of price-setting generation plants, network assets, and controlling stakes in merging parties' competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new approach to loyalty discounts has been proposed in the 2009 Guidance Paper issued by the European Commission, but the test proposed in that paper to assess the legality of such rebates raises practical difficulties which undermine its validity as the primary tool to detect exclusionary conduct. Even if the test is satisfied, the theories of consumer harm applicable to rebates need to be articulated and verified against the characteristics of the market to embrace an economically sound approach to loyalty discounts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]