*** CHRISTINE KADDOUS, MARIANNE DONY (Eds.): D'Amsterdam à Lisbonne. Dix ans d'espace de liberté, de sécurité et de justice. Editions Helbing Lichtenhahn (8 Elisabethenstrasse, CH-4051 Bâle. Tel: (41-61) 2289070 - Fax: 2289071 - email: info@helbing.ch - Internet: http://www.helbing-shop.ch ), Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129842 - Fax: 2740982 - email: jean@bruylant.be - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ) and LGDJ (31 rue Falguière, F-75741 Paris). "Dossiers de droit européen" series, No. 20. 2010, 221 pp, €41, CHF58. ISBN 978-3-7190-2831-2 (Helbing Lichtenhahn) and 978-2-8027-2916-7 (Bruylant).
This collection of essays follows on from a study day organised in April 2008 by the Centre d'Etudes Juridiques Européennes of Geneva University and the European Studies Institute of the 'Université Libre de Bruxelles'. In it, high-ranking academic experts and practitioners take a detailed look at the path followed by EU Member States in the domain of justice and home affairs since the mid 1970s and draw up a detailed balance sheet of ten years of cooperation in the 'Area of Freedom, Security and Justice,' all gauged in the light of positive developments incorporated in the Lisbon Treaty.
No need to point out that this is a rigorous, scientific book by distinguished lawyers who are naturally little inclined to sully their reputation for excellence. The book is also a pleasure to read in that it cheekily and tastefully marries pertinence and impertinence, academic freedom slicing through any trite phrases. When looking, for example, at the new architecture of the area of freedom, security and justice, Prof. Henri Labayle of Pau University in France starts by pointing out that adjective 'new' only refers to taking up innovations introduced by the Convention Members and the novelty has been 'deliberately rendered invisible by its so-called architects, the Member States'. The author is pleased, however, to find pleasure where it is due and even though it is 'at the price of the trompe l'œil familiar to town and country planners,' the most recent Treaty has the essential merit of getting rid of the pillars devoted to intergovernmental cooperation, which had 'no other rational explanation than rejection of integration and the Community Method.' This approach has shown itself incapable of meeting the needs of European society, its only merit being, as Prof. Labayle so wittingly comments, that we now have to 'recognise its pedagogical virtue of proving by failure that leads one to accept as inexorable solutions that were rejected at first.'
The rest of this essay - like the rest of the book - is more austere, of course, the author demonstrating in a knowledgeable way how the 'return to orthodoxy' is forced to adapt to circumstances because of the specific nature of this Area and the challenge of effectiveness that it poses to the European Union. The editors explore in the first part of the book the regulatory framework for the Area (Marianne Dony, vice-president of the European Studies Institute at ULB) and its foreign policy dimension (Christine Kaddous, director of the European Legal Studies Centre of Geneva University). The second part of the book assesses progress in freedom (Prof. Jean-Yves Carlier, 'Université Catholique de Louvain'), security (Gilles de Kerchove, European anti-terror coordinator) and justice (Prof. Anne Weyembergh). Shorter essays provide explanations of specific domains of civil cooperation, enlargement of the Schengen Area, police cooperation and various institutional aspects related to the status of associated States like Switzerland, definitely raise this book to the status of an invaluable beacon for finding one's way in the area of freedom, security and justice that is characterised by complexity.
Michel Theys
*** Archives de politique criminelle. Espace public / Surveillance et répression. Editions Pedone (13 rue Soufflot, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 43540597 - Fax: 46340760 - email: librairie@pedone.net - Internet: http://www.apedone.net ). "Archives de politique criminelle" series, No. 32. 2010, 330 pp, 978-2-233-00601-1.
Lower tolerance and increased penalties for inappropriate or antisocial public behaviour in France and elsewhere have encouraged the editors of this collection of essays (two university teams and the 'Mission Droit et Justice' at the French ministry of justice) to devote this issue to crime prevention and repression in the public arena. The book is divided into five sections (principles and problems with criminal policy, applied criminal policy, thematic contributions and bibliographical notes) and explores, explains Christine Lazerges, "the upheavals in social control signalled by the de-humanisation of criminal law and the radicalisation of social control procedures in a society where people are afraid of others and where there is an exacerbation or even a perversion of the precautionary principle". The author of the preface asks: "Is it really utopian to imagine streets turning into paths to a different future for humanity and society to quote the fine words of Riccardo Petrella?" Clearly relevant but politically incorrect questions and academic answers that some will find equally to the point and politically incorrect.
(MT)
*** STEFFEN ANGENENDT, RODERICK PARKES: Blue Card - (noch) kein Erfolg? Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politk, Deutsches Institut für Internationale Politik und Sicherheit (3-4 Ludwigkirchplatz, D-10719 Berlin. Tel: (49-30) 880070 - Fax: 88007100 - email: swp@swp-berlin.org - Internet: http: //http://www.swp-berlin.org ). "SWP - Aktuell" series, No. 34. 2010, 4 pp.
Population forecasts are not very optimistic for Europe because an increase in the average age is expected, which suggests serious problems on the labour market and in funding retirement pensions. The birth rate in Europe is low, meaning that European countries will need immigrants. Moreover, in order to become an innovative and competitive economy as stipulated by the Lisbon Strategy and as is also set out in the EU 2020 Strategy, Europe will need highly qualified workers.
To deal with these two questions, the European Union came up with the idea of a blue card along the lines of the green card in the United States. The blue card would guarantee freedom of movement within the single market and therefore the European Union for qualified workers from outside the EU. The idea of the blue card is enshrined in EU Directive 2009/50/EEC, but it will not be easy to introduce it in practice. A number of other options might therefore be considered in order to achieve the same objectives. Extension of the European labour market or setting up an 'education market,' for example. These options are discussed in this brief study, with Steffen Angenendt and Roderick Parkes examining the various stages in the negotiations and problems relating to the national sovereignty of Member States, before looking at alternatives to the blue card.
(JD)
*** ERHABOR S. IDEMUDIA, KLAUS BOEHNKE: I'm an Alien in Deutschland. A Quantitative Mental Health Case Study of African Immigrants in Germany. Peter Lang (1 Mosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2010, 130 pp, €21-30. ISBN 978-3-631-59975-4.
A little more each day, newspapers describing the difficulties endured by clandestine immigrants in order to reach Europe come as no surprise to anyone. Such stories have even become the norm given the ever-increasing numbers of individuals washing up on the shores of Europe cherishing the common dream of a better life, imagining the streets paved with gold, the horn of plenty and people living off oodles of milk and honey. The problem is that when they get here, they discover not milk and honey but racism, prison, a range of difficulties, harassment from the police, fear of deportation and other tragic life situations. Experiencing the worst problems in finding a job, many of these illegal immigrants, who are often university graduates, end up washing dishes or sweeping the streets if they are lucky, or are forced in order to survive to engage in prostitution, drug-trafficking or mugging.
Although many studies have made an empirical analysis of illegal immigrants, none has yet asked how they live or looked at their situations in Europe that are often tougher than the lives they left behind in their home country. Seeking to fill this gap, this research by a clinical psychologist holding a Chair at North-West University in South Africa and a professor of social science methodology from Bremen University in Germany follows a range of African immigrants - legal, illegal and immigrants in prison - in Germany, focussing on the psychological nature of their experiences. What are the psychological consequences of adjusting to a new country? What is the impact of the frustration and solitude caused by racism? How will the inevitable clash of civilisations be experienced? The authors try to answer these questions based on models and personality tests from the academic world. The research is restricted to Germany and addresses issues like mental health, the stress of being outside one's culture, values and the perception of racism. In addition to experts and researchers in social science, this book will be of interest to anyone wishing to learn about the real lives of African immigrants, as opposed to the usual caricatures.
(NDu)
*** ANDREAS GESTRICH, LUTZ RAPHAEL, HERBERT UERLINGS (Eds.): Strangers and Poor People. Changing Patterns of Inclusion and Exclusion in Europe and the Mediterranean World from Classical Antiquity to the Present Day. Peter Lang (see above). 'Inklusion/Exklusion' series, No. 13. 2009, 615 pp, €90-50. ISBN 978-3-631-59947-1.
This book reports on a series of conferences organised by the Centre de Recherches Collaboratives. More than fifty academic experts from disciplines as diverse as history of art, sociology, politics and literature participated in the conferences to gain greater understanding of the situation and social configuration of the life of strangers and poor people and changing patterns of inclusion and exclusion in Europe past and present. Is it only scarcity (for poor people) or a different origin (for strangers) that determines whether an individual will be included in or excluded from society? It appears that in addition to these structural data, the semiological dimension needs to be taken into account, in other words all sorts of action - administrative, political and ethical - leading to inclusion or exclusion. To this end, the authors examine cultural practice and cognitive traditions in European societies in order to understand how the semantics of inclusion and exclusion were first constructed and then disseminated in European culture. The authors start by analysing social structures in Ancient Egypt under Ptolemy and end up in modern Germany with the return of Germans who used to live in the former Soviet Union, examining how they are viewed in Western Germany. The way they have been treated is also examined, with the essays pointing out that the treatment and position of strangers and the poor have always been central to the way European societies view themselves - ever since Antiquity, in fact. The book looks at these topics by examining strangers' rights of belonging and inclusion in European political areas and also by reviewing the various legal systems covering the poor and policies introduced in their connection. Needless to say, the book also examines inclusion and exclusion in Europe by looking at the role played by religion. European feelings and manners of thinking have been largely formed by Christian morality and the authors therefore examine the evolution in the idea of charity from the Middle Ages to today, examining how such ideas are relayed and their institutional consequences.
(NDu)
*** FLORENTINE MAIER: Scrap Iron and Old Stagers. Constructions of Old Age in Unemployment. Peter Lang (see above). 'Sprache im Kontext' series, No. 33. 2009, 282 pp, €49-30. ISBN 978-3-631-59288-5.
The question of unemployment, particularly of older workers, is extremely topical in Europe at the moment. As countries line up to say that we will all have to work for longer, an increasing number of individuals are joining the ranks of the 'old,' meaning the over-fifties, who are unable to find new jobs. Even though the exact age when one suddenly becomes 'old' differs from one place to the next, it is clear that once people reach their forties, many panic about not being able to find a new job if they were to lose their current employment. The figures bear this out. In Austria, where this research was carried out, the average duration of unemployment for the over-sixties is double that of the under-twenties. Countries are trying to introduce re-insertion policies for older people with very mixed results or even bad outcomes, which only reinforces the idea that it is impossible for older people to get work. Taking this as the starting point, the author examines how this idea arose and how it is maintained by old people themselves and also by government agents through the directives introduced by the Austrian Employment Department. An expert in human resource management, Florentine Maier seeks to understand how the interaction between the unemployed and the government's employment advisors creates the category of 'old people/old stagers' and how this idea influences the way older people interpret their unemployment and the consequences of this representation for the unemployed and for staff who come into contact with them on a daily basis, in addition to the wider context of labour market policies.
(NDu)