Offering a new perspective, the authors show how efforts to prevent violent civil wars could be much more effective if they incorporate the business sector.

Human rights are the only universally recognized system of contemporary values which, during the last 50 years, has been gradually developed and defined by all States in a comprehensive international legal framework. The international human rights regime is closely related to international peace and security, development and a global trend towards pluralist democracy, good governance and the rule of law. International humanitarian and criminal law can today be considered as specific aspects of international human rights law, which after the end of the Cold War has become increasingly complex and difficult to oversee. The present textbook attempts to provide a first and at the same time comprehensive introduction into the idea and significance of human rights, its philosophical and theoretical foundations, historical development, the main structures and procedures of international human rights protection by the United Nations and regional organizations (Council of Europe, Organization of American States, African Union, OSCE and others), and modern trends, such as preventive mechanisms, international criminal law, human rights as essential elements of peace-keeping and peace-building operations, humanitarian intervention or the relationship between human rights and terrorism. The book perceives human rights as an inter-disciplinary topic and illustrates the theory of human rights with a considerable number of practical case-studies, graphics, statistics, procedural charts and textboxes. It serves as a textbook for students of law, political science, international relations and other academic fields related to human rights, but may as well be used as a first introduction for those working in the field, for NGO activists, legal practitioners and others interested in the fascinating world of universal human rights.

The book provides a structural analysis of the European space effort from an institute change perspective. It analyzes the EU-ESA inter-institutional relationship, gives an overview of the development of space policy in Europe, and advances the debate about the impact of the European integration process on existing institutional actors. While European Space collaboration was initially developed outside the competences of the European Union (EU) with space programmes being carried out almost exclusively under the framework of European Space Agency (ESA) and national agencies, the EU has gained “shared competences” (Art. 2, TFEU) in space policy following the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty. Currently the EU and ESA work together under a Framework Agreement. In 2016, the EU Commission has published a Communication entitled “European Space Policy” (ESP). Even though ESA’s Member States have agreed to keep ESA as an intergovernmental organisation during the ESA Ministerial Council of 2014, the discussion about ESA becoming part of the EU framework continues. The EU’s ambitions for leadership in European space policy raise question concerning the future of ESA. The study of institutions lies at the heart of political sciences. Strikingly the theoretic framework qualifying institutional change and making it comparable leaves room for more concrete and testable dimensions of institutional change.

Die von der Stiftung Bruno Kreisky Archiv herausgegebene Studie analysiert anhand von Fallstudien ausgewahlter Staaten die Aussenperzeption wesentlicher historischer Entwicklungen der Zweiten Republik Osterreich. Anhand von neu erschlossenen Quellen aus dem In- und Ausland werden die Einschatzungen uber Leistungen, aber auch Misserfolge der Zweiten Republik im Spiegel der politischen und medialen Meinung des Auslandes dargestellt und analysiert. Damit verlasst der Band die klassischen Pfade einer diplomatiegeschichtlichen Darstellung der Aussenpolitik der Zweiten Republik und versucht auf der Basis von historischen Expertenanalysen, aber auch von Bewertungen ehemaliger hochrangiger osterreichischer Diplomaten, Osterreichs Position auf dem internationalen Parkett zu orten. Die Spanne der Beitrage reicht von den direkten Nachbarstaaten und europaischen Mittelmachten, den Supermachten, uber Staaten des Nahen und Mittleren Ostens bis hin zu Indien und der Bewegung der Blockfreien. Osterreichs Stellung im Ost-West-Konflikt, die aktive Neutralitatspolitik der Ara Kreisky und die Fokussierung auf innereuropaische Angelegenheiten seit den 80er Jahren wurden in Politik und Offentlichkeit vieler Staaten aufmerksam verfolgt. In der Zusammenschau mit der Einschatzung der inneren Entwicklung der Zweiten Republik, der sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Organisation des Landes fachert der Sammelband ein multiperspektivisches Bild Osterreichs und seiner Stellung in der Welt nach 1945 auf, das in vielerlei Hinsicht traditionelle osterreichische Selbsteinschatzungen relativiert und neue Erkenntnisse liefert. Erganzt wird der Sammelband durch einen hilfreichen Apparat an weiterfuhrender Literatur zu den jeweiligen bilateralen Beziehungen und Einschatzungen sowie einer detaillierten Chronologie der Aussenbeziehungen der Zweiten Republik.

"Part I describes and analyses the ESDP, including all 22 military and civilian crisis management operations launched up to 31 August 2009 as well as developments under the Lisbon Treaty, and briefly discusses the international law issues raised, offering a unique insight into ESDP practice and its legal aspects. Part II examines this practice in the framework of the status and obligations of international organizations under international law: it looks at the legal status and personality of international organizations and of the EU as well as at how international organizations, including the EU, are bound by international obligations. Part III extensively addresses the international law applicable to the conduct of ESDP operations, in particular the law of armed conflict and international human rights law, filling a gap in the literature."--Jacket back cover.