Financial services industry has shown trends of increased consolidation across different types of financial institutions. This book focuses on the conglomeration of banking and insurance activities among financial institutions of the 15 old members of the European Union, and addresses the development and impact of conglomeration linkages between these fifteen and the ten new member states.

Over half a century old and continuing to grow in strength and authority, the European Union consists of 25 member states_with more on the waiting list_and a population of 450 million people. Its influence in foreign and domestic affairs and human rights and law reaches far beyond its earlier fields of trade and politics. From the initial ideas about integration leading to the Treaty of Paris and the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community to the current reflection on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, The A to Z of the European Union encompasses the most basic elements of the EU and the components that have emerged as a result of them. Through the use of maps, photographs, a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on topics such as leaders, personalities, institutions, enlargements, member states, internal policies, external relations, basic theories, treaties, and law, this dictionary tells a clear and complete story about the European Union that will assist those with greater interest in understanding it.

This book looks at the history of the EU’s trade negotiations with China from 1975 to 2019 from a distinctive perspective – the EU as a linkage power. The author explains how the EU through linkage strategies speaks with one voice, overcomes its weakness in military capabilities and translates its non-military capabilities into advantages and influences in some specific policy areas. The book systematically traces the European negotiators’ tactics in managing the EU’s trade relations with China. It’s the first time that the history of EU–China trade negotiations is presented to the public by a seasoned trade negotiator. The author, combining the identities of a negotiator and a scholar, gives a panoramic view of EU–China trade relations from 1975, when the European Economic Community established diplomatic relations with China, to 2019 when the Juncker Commission leaves office. This book will appeal to policymakers, think-tankers, professors and students, as well as anyone who is interested in trade policies and negotiations in the EU and China. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis .com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

The OECD report Urban-Rural Linkages in Poland analyses the potential of urban and rural territories for development and improved well-being. Urban and rural areas have different yet often complementary assets, and their better integration is important for socio-economic and environmental performance.

The ongoing global financial crisis has manifested a remarkable degree of global financial integration—and its implications—for emerging Asian financial markets. The current crisis will not and should not deter the progress that the region has made toward financial openness and integration. However, events like this clearly demonstrate that financial liberalization and integration is not without risks. Hence, emerging Asian economies' growing financial ties have motivated us to look closer at the repercussions of increased financial integration and evaluate the benefits of risk sharing and better access to international capital markets against the costs of cross-border financial contagion. The crisis also presents a timely opportunity for the region’s policy makers to rethink their strategies for financial deregulation and liberalization and to reconsider a next step to integrate emerging East Asia’s financial markets further. However, doing so requires deeper understanding of financial market integration. While much has been said in both academic and policy circles about financial globalization and regional financial integration as separate areas of study, existing research has been relatively silent on the dynamics between these two distinctive forces. The book addresses this gap in financial literature and assesses financial integration in emerging East Asia at both regional and global levels. The publication studies the factors driving the progress of regional financial integration in relation to financial globalization and identifies the relevant policy challenges facing emerging market economies in the region. Chapters look into three broad aspects of regional and global financial market integration: (i) measurement of regional and global financial integration, (ii) understanding dynamics of regional financial integration versus global financial integration, and (iii) welfare implications from regional financial market integration amid financial globalization. Against this context, academics, policy makers, and other readers will appreciate the rigorous research contribution provided by the book.

The government of Kazakhstan has set an objective to substantially increase the contribution of SMEs and entrepreneurs to employment and value added in the economy. Although there are large numbers of SMEs and entrepreneurs in the country, achieving this growth will require a step change...

The European Union is one of the world's biggest economies. However, its role as an international actor is ambiguous and it's not always able to transform its political power into effective external policies. The development of an 'assertive' European Union challenges the image of an internal project aimed at economic integration and international relations theories based on unitary state actors. This book systematically links the EU's external relations to existing political theories, showing how existing theories need to be modified in order to deal with specific characteristics of the EU as an international actor.

Global supply chain integration is not only a rapidly growing feature of international trade, it is responsible for fundamentally changing trade policy at international and domestic levels. Given that final goods are produced with both domestic and foreign suppliers, Ka Zeng and Xiaojun Li argue that global supply chain integration pits firms and industries that are more heavily dependent on foreign supply chains against those that are less dependent on intermediate goods for domestic production. Hence, businesses whose supply chain would be disrupted as a result of increased trade barriers should lobby for preferential trade liberalization to maintain access to those foreign markets. Moreover, businesses whose products are used in the production of goods in foreign countries should also support preferential trade liberalization to compete with suppliers from other parts of the world. Fragmenting Globalization uses multiple methods, including time series, cross-sectional analysis of the pattern of Preferential Trade Alliance formation by existing World Trade Organization members, a firm-level survey, and case studies of the pattern of corporate support for regional trade liberalization in both China and the United States. Zeng and Li show that the growing fragmentation of global production, trade, and investment is altering trade policy away from the traditional divide between export-oriented and import-competing industries.

Over the past decade the European Union (EU) has gradually developed the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) with its neighbours. At the same time, the ‘neighbours of the EU’s neighbours’ have presented new challenges. This book addresses the EU’s broader neighbourhood, comprising of the ENP countries and the neighbours of its neighbours. With specific focus on Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, it discusses trans-regional policy issues that arise from the EU’s relations with regions beyond the ENP. Based on an interdisciplinary, policy-oriented approach, this volume explores major political, legal, security and socio-economic challenges and identifies opportunities for cooperation across the EU’s broader neighbourhood. This book will be of interest to students, experts and scholars interested in EU affairs and politics, international relations, EU and international law, diplomacy and area studies.