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Since the early 2000s, the United States and European Union have discussed the development of bilateral and regional trade agreements. The TTIP - Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership was announced in February 2013 and is currently under negotiation. The initiative aims at establishing a trade agreement between the two blocs, removing all trade barriers, including the non-tariff ones, in a wide range of economic sectors. The paper looks at several key elements that the bilateral negotiations are set to challenge from the European Union perspective. We focus on the main causes for resistance within the EU towards establishing the agreement, seeking to understand the future framework for international trade for the European states. While the EU continues integration to establish a functioning internal market, still continuing the process of diminishing and eliminating non-tariff barriers among the member states, we examine whether liberalisation of trade and investment between the US and the EU will benefit the EU as a whole, considering the current socio-economic trends at the Union's level. Keywords: TTIP, tariff and non-tariff barriers, international negotiation mandate, international trade, FTA, EU, US, regulatory convergence, regulatory coherence, mutual recognition, equivalence, regulatory compatibility. (Romanian Journal of European Affairs / SWP)

The historical and normative background : 'freedom of transit' in international law -- The scope and content of obligations regarding transit of energy -- The nature of international obligations regarding transit of energy : from bilateral to indivisible obligations -- Responses to breaches under the law of treaties -- Treaty provisions concerning dispute settlement and compliance supervision -- Countermeasures against the responsible transit state -- Countermeasures as circumstances precluding wrongfulness of transit interruptions

This research is warranted, since the Northwestern Federal District accounts for a significant proportion of Russia's exports. The study aims to reveal the connection between the federal district's external and internal economic development and to identify the extent to which institutional support for international economic cooperation facilitates brisk international trade. The authors consider international trade from the perspective of its procedural and institutional components. The study stresses dependence between the total international trade and internal economic performance of Russia's North-West. Another focus is an analysis of institutional support for the development factors and the levels and areas of international economic cooperation. The analysis shows that the Northwestern regions' external and internal economic development is interdependent and there is considerable support for international cooperation at different levels and in different areas. To a degree, this is explained by the federal district's geographical position and transport connections, the 'Nordic' character of the economy shared by the Russian and neighbouring territories, and the multi-tier nature of the institutional framework for international economic cooperation in the international region.

The creation of the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) as the sharp tactical edge of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), tasked with the neutralising of armed groups, was a watershed moment in the history of modern peace missions. What was more significant was that sub-Saharan national leaders were instrumental in the creation of the FIB (South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi), but lacked the resources to deploy such a force and consequently the brigade was deployed under the banner of the UN. With the legacy of an African Renaissance, and its role in the conception of the FIB, South Africa remains a critical player in international peace and security in sub-Saharan Africa, and therefore holds a key strategic role in achieving the FIB's objectives. This comes at a critical time where blue helmets are increasingly exposed to complex and challenging security contexts. The aim of this work is to provide a conceptual model for South African military future operations and UN offensive peacekeeping operations. In this undertaking, a layer of military and Clausewitzian theory is added to offensive peacekeeping operations. Furthermore, there are sections on operational constructs (capstone and operating concepts), doctrine and structural elements, as well a section on mine action. This book contributes towards an understanding of the nature of modern strategy through the lens of UN offensive peacekeeping operations and provides insights into operational challenges.

Case for establishing a standing UN group of international volunteers to provide armed humanitarian intervention, including refugee relief, in Third World conflicts.

Examines conflict between doctrines of state sovereignty and human rights in international law; calls for establishment of a UN Human Rights Council.

Development interventions are agreed by states and international organisations which administer public development funds of huge proportions. They have done so with debatable success, but, unlike the good governance of recipients, the rules applying to donors have hitherto received little scrutiny. This analysis of the normative structures and conceptual riddles of development co-operation argues that development co-operation is increasingly structured by legal rules and is therefore no longer merely a matter of politics, economics or ethics. By focusing on the rules of development co-operation, it puts forward a new perspective on the institutional law dealing with the process, instruments and organisation of this co-operation. Placing the law in its theoretical and political context, it provides the first comparative study on the laws of foreign aid as a central field of global public policy and asks how accountability, autonomy and human rights can be preserved while combating poverty

Each state plays international roles, that are determined by the internal and international factors. Amongst them two are crucial: the state's international position and its international identity. The international role of a state is a dynamic expression of its position, provided the state uses that position actively. A state's potential is very important and is a function of internal factors: its geographical environment in the wide sense; its population potential; its economic, scientific, and technical potential; and its military potential. Political, historical and cultural factors, however, are also significant. The perception of a state by other actors on the international stage is also a very important factor in that state's international position and, in consequence, for its international roles. It is closely related to the state's international identity, i.e., the state's self-perception on the basis of its sense of distinctness in relation to others and the traits ascribed to it by other states. The 'international identity' of a state is made up of its 'internal identity', which determines the cohesiveness of its component parts, and its 'external identity', which constitutes its distinctiveness in relation to other states. International roles of state are subject to various classifications and typologies. The most comprehensive classification based on the following criteria: the subjective criterion, the objective criterion, the spatial criterion, the time criterion the attitude toward international reality criterion the hierarchic criterion the efficiency of role criterion. The effectiveness of international roles is a phenomenon of considerable complexity. It is an unusually difficult task to appraise the effectiveness of a given actor's role when it is understood as the cost-efficient realization of a goal. First, costs are hard to measure. Second, in today's interconnected and co-dependent world, a goal could be realized by many entities. I consider that there are three main factors determining the efficiency of roles: 1) the reasonableness of the role's conception, 2) the ability and consistency involved in performing the role, that is, the degree of its realization, and 3) the level of support for a role by the other actors in international relations, and particularly among those affected by itthe development of their international roles. The thesis of the article is to say that Poland is a medium size state and is limited in These limitations should be taken into account by decision-makers in the formulation of the tasks and goals of Polish foreign policy.

Im Umfeld des Treffens der Regierungschefs der Mitgliedstaaten der Nordatlantischen Allianz (NATO) im Juli in Warschau war erneut die Rede von der großen Bedeutung gemeinsamer Werte für den Zusammenhalt und die Stärke der Institution. Doch schon lange ist das Wertegerüst des "Westens" brüchig. Der Wandel der deutschen Außenpolitik ist ein Beispiel dafür, wie sich westliche Regierungen an die neue internationale Ordnung anpassen. Deutsche Außenpolitik orientiert sich zusehends weg von traditionellen, wertebasierten Partnerschaften hin zu einem interessenbasierten Engagement in wechselnden Koalitionen und Netzwerken. In Europa hielt Berlin auch gegen breiten europäischen Widerstand an der Maxime der Preisstabilität fest. Insbesondere wertebezogene Partnerschaften mit den USA, Frankreich oder Israel und damit verbundene Bündnisse wie die NATO verlieren an relativem Gewicht zugunsten von aufgewerteten strategischen Beziehungen zu Ländern des Globalen Südens, vor allem zu China. Diese Neukalibrierung der Balance von Werten und Interessen in der Außenpolitik spiegelt eine Anpassung an die veränderte geopolitische Lage wider, deutet aber gleichzeitig auf schwerwiegende transatlantische Differenzen sowie die Fragilität des bestehenden multilateralen Systems hin. Erstere werden im deutschen Unverständnis gegenüber den US-Präsidentschaftsvorwahlkämpfen, letztere in der gegen den Willen der US-Regierung eingegangenen deutschen Mitgliedschaft in der Asiatischen Infrastrukturinvestmentbank (AIIB) deutlich. Im Umgang mit dem Dilemma, zunehmend wichtige Interessen mit Staaten wie China, der Türkei oder Kasachstan zu teilen, mit denen Werte- und Normendivergenzen bestehen, steht Deutschland vor dem Risiko, insgesamt an Glaubwürdigkeit als internationaler Vermittler zu verlieren. Fazit Deutschland ist gut beraten und in der Lage, seine Interessen in flexiblen Netzwerken zu verfolgen. Doch wenn Deutschland die Rolle eines glaubhaften "Chef-Vermittlers" Europas in internationalen Krisen einnehmen möchte, sollte auch interessenorientierte Netzwerkdiplomatie konsistent für wertebasierte Prinzipien eintreten und den Dialog über außenpolitische Interessen mit der Öffentlichkeit sowie neuen und alten Partnern weiter ausbauen.