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Nations often turn to international courts to help with overcoming collective-action problems associated with international relations. However, these courts generally cannot enforce their rulings, which begs the question: how effective are international courts? This book proposes a general theory of international courts that assumes a court has no direct power over national governments. Member states are free to ignore both the international agreement and the rulings by the court created to enforce that agreement. The theory demonstrates that such a court can, in fact, facilitate cooperation with international law, but only within important political constraints. The authors examine the theoretical argument in the context of the European Union. Using an original data set of rulings by the European Court of Justice, they find that the disposition of court rulings and government compliance with those rulings comport with the theory's predictions--

The article evaluates science sectors and effectiveness of scientific research in the countries forming the BRICS group, as well as the current state of scientific and technological cooperation among the group members. The science sectors of the countries under consideration differ markedly, while facing similar problems relating to government regulations and external environments. The differences exist in total expenditures on research and development (as a share of GNP), in the scope of governmental funding (large in Russia and India, but small in China), and in the distribution of allocations among various areas and types of R&D activities. China appears to have the most well-adjusted science sector among the BRICS members. It includes not only strong universities but also high-tech companies that invest actively into research and development. The overall impact (inferred from citation indexes) of fundamental and exploratory research performed in BRICS countries remains low. BRICS's scientists prefer to collaborate with their colleagues from the world-leading countries rather than with their fellows from BRICS. Yet, in contrast to the world trend, in all BRICS countries, except Russia, a share of internationally co-authored publications is now decreasing. BRICS members have more similar interests and priorities in technological development, including infrastructural and large technological projects, than in science. Currently, bilateral cooperation in technology prevails, while the projects involving all members of the group still remain at the stage of preliminary evaluation and discussion. Russia cooperates most closely with China and India, including joint projects in such high-priority directions as new materials, photonics, biomedical, space and information technologies. For Russia, cooperation in technological development appears to be of most interest because it can lead not only to introduction of new technologies but also help to create large Russian innovative companies. Development of successful multilateral cooperation in science and technology among the BRICS members is the key for this group, originally formed for geopolitical reasons, to evolve into an effective economic union.

There are considerable benefits from cooperating among member states on meeting the 2020 renewable energy sources (RES) targets. Today countries are supporting investments in renewable energy by many different types of support schemes and with different levels of support. The EU has opened for cooperation mechanisms such as joint support schemes for promoting renewable energy to meet the 2020 targets. The potential coordination benefits, with more efficient localisation and composition of renewable investment, can be achieved by creating new areas/sub-segments of renewable technologies where support costs are shared and credits are transferred between countries. Countries that are not coordinating support for renewable energy might induce inefficient investment in new capacity that would have been more beneficial elsewhere and still have provided the same contribution to meeting the 2020 RES targets. Furthermore, countries might find themselves competing for investment in a market with limited capital available. In both cases, the cost-efficiency of the renewable support policies is reduced compared to a coordinated solution. Barriers for joint support such as network regulation regarding connection of new capacity to the electricity grid and cost sharing rules for electricity transmission expansion are examined and examples given. The influence of additional renewable capacity on domestic/regional power market prices can be a barrier. The market will be influenced by for example an expansion of the wind capacity resulting in lower prices, which will affect existing conventional producers. This development will be opposed by conventional producers, whereas consumers will support such a strategy. A major barrier is the timing of RES targets and the uncertainty regarding future targets. We illustrate the importance of different assumptions on future targets and the implied value of RES credits. The effect on the credit price for 2020 is presented in an exemplary case study of 200MW wind capacity.

Die Diplomarbeit untersucht die institutionellen Neuerungen der Außenvertretung nach dem Vertrag von Lissabon unter Berücksichtigung des viel geäußerten Anliegens einer ?einheitlichen Stimme? für die Europäische Union am internationalen Parkett. Der Hohe Vertreter der Union für die Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik, der neue ständige Präsident des Europäischen Rates und die Kommission werden im Laufe der Arbeit als zentrale Organe der Außenvertretung bestimmt. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf ihrem Aufgabenbereich sowie ihrer Zusammenarbeit in Hinblick auf die Frage nach einer einheitlichen Außenvertretung. Im Weiteren beschäftigt sich die Arbeit mit der Entstehungsgeschichte des Europäischen Auswärtigen Dienstes und der Institutionalisierung von EU-Delegationen. Dabei wird dargestellt, inwieweit die dezentralen Außenvertretungsorgane die Sichtbarkeit und den Einfluss der EU in Drittstaaten und bei internationalen Organisationen verbessern. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit wird das neue Außenvertretungssystem im Rahmen der zentralen Bereiche des auswärtigen Handelns ? den Abschluss internationaler Übereinkünfte und die Zusammenarbeit mit internationalen Organisationen ? auf die Probe gestellt. In Bezug auf die Rolle der EU beim Abschluss internationaler Übereinkünfte wird dargelegt, wie die Aufgabe zur Verhandlungsführung von den Vertragsbestimmungen zwischen dem Hohen Vertreter und der Kommission aufgeteilt wird. Zudem wird erklärt, warum bei gemischten Verträgen in der Praxis weitere Konstellationen von Verhandlungsdelegationen bestehen werden. Abschließend erläutert die Arbeit die Beziehung der Union zu internationalen Organisationen. Es wird erklärt, warum der EU kein einheitlicher Status in internationalen Organisationen zukommt und wie sie trotz mangelnder Beteiligung, insbesondere unter Berücksichtigung des neuen Außenvertretungssystems, ihren Einfluss in diesen geltend machen kann. ; The thesis analysis the institutional innovations of the external representation after the Treaty of Lisbon, taking into account the often expressed concern of a ?unified voice? for the European Union on the international stage. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign and Security Policy, the new permanent President of the European Council and the European Commission are going to be individualised as the central Organs of external representation. With regard to the question of uniform representation, their duties as well as their cooperation will build the focus of the work. In addition, the work deals with the genesis of the European External Action Service and the institutionalisation of the EU-Delegations. It will be shown, how the decentralised organs of external representation improve the visibility and the influence of the EU in third states and at International Organisations. In the second part of the work, the new system of external representation will be put to the test in the central areas of external action ? the conclusion of international agreements and the cooperation with International Organisations. In relation to the EU?s role while concluding an international agreement, it will be demonstrated, how the treaty provisions divide the task of negotiating between the High Representative and the Commission. Moreover, it is explained, why in practise there exist further constellations of negotiating delegations for mixed agreements. In conclusion, the Union?s relations with international Organisations are pictured. It is illustrated, why the EU possesses no single status in international Organisations and how it is possible, despite the lack of participation, to gain influence, particularly in the light of the new external representation system. ; von Christina Terle ; Abweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des Verfassers ; Zsfassung in engl. Sprache ; Graz, Univ., Dipl.-Arb., 2011 ; (VLID)217066