*** PASCAL CHEVALIER: Action locale et développement rural en Europe. Le modèle européen LEADER 2007-2013. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - Email: pie@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). Regional Integration and Social Cohesion series, No. 14. 2014, 202 pp, €42.80. ISBN 978-2-87574-147-9.
Following on from an 'habilitation à diriger des recherches' thesis from Montpellier University in 2012, this book sees a doctor of geography make a scientific assessment of how the LEADER programme (acronym for 'Liaisons entre actions de développement de l'économie rurale) influences practices and management methods for local communities, along with new types of rural governance in the wider sense. As part of reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in 2007, the European Union counts on LEADER to stimulate rural development at the local level, which can no longer rely solely on agriculture, but must open up to new functions, be they related to tourism, residential, production or the environment. This approach is designed to contribute to the emergence of a new mode of territorial governance that tends to aim to boost local and participative democracy and foster the innovation capacity of local players while encouraging their 'Europeanisation.'
Pascal Chevalier sets about verifying in detail the three stages of 'this institutional transfer of the European local development model.' He starts by analysing the stage of supranational impetut at which the EU defines the actions that may be granted EU financial aid, along with the manner in which the Local Action Groups are to be set up and how they will be financed. In a brief bibliographical review, he shows how the local development model has taken shape as public action in Europe. In the second section of the book, he looks at the stage in which States transpose to national level the broad axes of LEADER, laying down their own rural development rules and implementation modalities. By means of a comparative analysis of the content of various countries' regulations, the authors sheds light on how each State has taken ownership of the mechanism, before examining how political concerns and intervention modes that 'can differ radically, depending on the country in question' have influenced local players and action. In the third section, he looks at the involvement of local players in developing and implementing development projects, be they politicians, managers of associations or economic players on the ground. Through a detailed examination of the configuration of local partnerships, the role of the various stakeholders and the type of interests underlying strategies and projects, the author verifies whether or not the public action model has been transformed at local level.
The research is far too detailed to be able to accurately summarise all the outcomes. We will restrict ourselves to accompanying Pascal Chevalier when he concludes that the State actor may manage application of this European policy to varying degrees “to the point at times of reducing its innovative scope.” He picks out, for example, the “interventionist” character of the ministry of agriculture in Hungary and a large part of the countries of central and Eastern Europe, where the LEADER approach “can be largely diverted from its initial aim to become the instrument of a policy designed to subject rural communities to a normative programming.” This, of course, strongly limits local communities' room for manoeuvre. Nevertheless, even in Spain and countries of the north where less freedom is taken away from local players, local governance is not “radically transformed” in that virtually everywhere, local elected officials and/or entrepreneurs “exercise the veritable leadership,” which cannot be “without endangering the participation of citizens,” such as the Roma. It clearly appears that LEADER action is often “put to the service of the interests of a local elite” and therefore does very little to encourage “the advance of participatory democracy.”
Pierre Bouvier
*** CORINNE LARRUE (Ed.): Le régime institutionnel d'une nouvelle ruralité. Analyses à partir des cas de la France, des Pays-Bas et de la Suisse. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see above). Ecopolis series, No. 19. 2014, 216 pp, €43.90. ISBN 978-2-87574-101-1.
Arising from collective research entitled 'New Rurality: towards an integrated institutional regime for the sustainable development of rural areas,' scientists make a comparative analysis in this book of France, the Netherlands and Switzerland and how they regulate activities in rural areas, particularly the relationship between traditional activities such as agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing and new activities such as green tourism, leisure pursuits, generating renewable energy and protecting nature and the landscape. Their main aim was to see how the different contexts of land scarcity (very little land is available in the Netherlands, availability varies from region to region in Switzerland and land is still relatively abundant in France) shape the institutional frameworks that decide on the deployment of new activities in rural environments, and more particularly, the authors aimed to identify the institutional regimes most likely to lead to a balanced use of land resources. After selecting some two dozen activities carried out in the countries in question and making use of the conceptual framework of institutional resource regimes that combines the institutional economy and the theory of ownership rights with an analysis of public policies, they systematically compile a portrait of the “institutional framework for a new rurality” that is forming in each of the three countries. Summing up, Prof. Corinne Larrue (Institut d'Urbanisme de Paris de l'Université de Paris Est Créteil) observes that the multifunctionalilty of the rural area is a reality in all three countries, but it is partially translated into rules governing use of the soil and other natural resources. Furthermore, in addition to the economic, ecological and social transformation of rural areas, the research confirms the difficulty of underlining the existence of an overarching institutional framework.
(PBo)
*** ERIC MARLIER, JACQUES BROSIUS, VINCENT DAUTEL, ANTOINE DECOVILLE, FREDERIC DURAND, PHILIPPE GERBER, ANNE-CATHERINE GUIO (Eds.): Cohésion sociale et territoriale au Luxembourg. Regards croisés. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see above). 2014, 301 pp, €51.40. ISBN 978-2-87574-078-6.
Opening with a fine preface by the president-designate of the European Commission at the time when he was still prime minister of Luxembourg, this book makes a useful sixteen-chapter study of social and territorial cohesion in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Written by nearly forty scientists who pool their knowledge of economics, geography, sociology and social statistics, the book examines monetary inequality (income, salaries, wealth and poverty), non-monetary inequalities (housing, jobs, education and the integration of immigrants) and inequality in terms of mobility and access to public services. A fair number of these analyses are anchored in an international perspective ranging from the countries that border on the Grand Duchy to the European Union as a whole. In the preface, Jean-Claude Juncker points out that “unlike exclusion or even social hatred” or “an individualistic or collectivist society,” social cohesion is based on “political justice, economic justice and social justice, all at the same time.” He may have cause to point this out to some people in the future…
(MT)
*** DANIELE FRABOULET, ANDREA M. LOCATELLI, PAOLO TEDESCHI (Eds.): Historical and International Comparison of Business Interest Associations. 19th-20th Centuries. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see above). Enjeux Internationaux series, No. 29. 2013, 214 pp. ISBN 978-2-87574-079-3.
This is a book of essays by university academics in the field of social sciences and economic history, who examine European business interest associations, which have been a major component in the social and economic development of Europe over the last fifty years. They explore the origins and identity of these structures, analysing their activity and examining their financial resources and strategies. This research was originally presented at the sixteenth World Economic History Congress in Stellenboch, South Africa, in July 2012. The presented articles are based on Mario Romani's cultural references and scientific study from the second half of the twentieth century onwards, when Romani refused to follow the dominant cultural ideologies about the development of the Italian economy, viz. the neoclassical approach and the Marxist interpretation, which were thought up using the role of the State as their starting point. Romani came up with a new theory, based more on the relations that exist between social structures and economic factors. Since then, analysis of economic and social structures has become one of the essential keys to exploring and defining power relations in the market economy.
(SLa)
*** SOPHIE BOUTILLIER, JOËLLE FOREST, DELPHINE GALLAUD, BLANDINE LAPERCHE, CORINNE TANGUY, LEÏLA TEMRI (Eds.): Principes d'économie de l'innovation. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see above). Business & Innovation series, No. 8. 2014, 514 pp, €59.90. ISBN 978-2-87574-138-7.
As an academic discipline, 'innovation economics' or the 'innovation economy' goes back only to the second half of the twentieth century, when it became a real subject of study at the intersection of three key topics: growth, technical change and the change in behaviour and performance of companies and industries and sectors. The forty-one authors of this encyclopaedic and educational book are all members of the 'Réseau de Recherche sur l'Innovation,' who examine the basic concepts belonging to this type of economics and the plurality of analyses arising from them. They go on to focus their attention on analysing the role of the entrepreneur and the company. Next, they further dissect the complex concept of sectoral innovation systems, before assessing the importance of the local area in the innovation dynamic. The final part of the book is devoted to an analysis (that is just as astute as the other contributions) of the national innovation system. The book's editors stress that it is more than the sum of its parts because although the parts are mainly structured around components and players in innovation systems, this systemic approach focuses on interaction within and between parties. The authors have clearly taken into account the various vectors of innovation (economic, social, political, technical and scientific), revealing the systemic relations uniting them, because this is a “plural phenomenon” that needs to be grasped at all levels since it is the company, the entrepreneur and/or citizen and the national, regional and local state that are ”the engine of permanent creative creation.”
(PBo)
*** ANDREAS KÖNIGER: Ertragsteuerrechtliche Behandlung grenzüberschreitender Spaltungen von Rechtsträgern. Unter besonderer Beachtung der Vorgaben des Unionsrechts. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, P.O. Box 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ), "Finanz- und Steuerrecht in Deutschland und Europa" series. 2014, 477 pp, €91.95. ISBN 978-3-631-65109-4.
In the interests of efficient management, it is possible for some parts of an internationally active conglomerate to be divided among more than one country. This causes problems in terms of which national legal system should apply in fiscal matters, and also in terms of application of European law. To deal with this issue, Andreas Königer proposes solutions in his thesis that would enable win-win national tax rules to be established that are advantageous for the States raising the taxes in line with European law, without damaging the legitimate interests of the taxpayers in question.
(GLe)
*** STEPHAN WACHS: Flucht aus der kartellrechtlichen Bußgeldverantwortung? Unternehmensrestrukturierung und Haftungsnachfolge im deutschen und europäischen Bußgeldrecht. Peter Lang (see above). "Saarbrücker Studien zum Privat- und Wirtschaftsrecht" series. 2013, 322 pp, €64.95. ISBN 978-3-631-64087-6.
Stephan Wachs' thesis is about the transmission of liability under anti-trust legislation in German and European legislation. The main question is whether a player that has broken the law can avoid fines under the German law on the transformation of limited liability companies or whether the fine can be reduced through the sale of the contentious company or its assets. This doctoral work rightly exposes the lack of penalties under current German legislation in the first of the above cases under case law relating to Article 30 of the German law on administrative penalties.
(GLe)
*** ISABELLE REUTZEL: Das Weltraumrecht in Europa. Eine Analyse der nationalen Regelungen zur Raumfahrt. Peter Lang (see above). "Schriften zum internationalen Recht und zum öffentlichen Recht" series. 2014, 257 pp, €57.95. ISBN 978-3-631-65116-2.
Space navigation has become an integral aspect of modern society. The numerous applications of space travel in other branches of science and technical matters have given it special political and strategic significance. For this reason, activities relating to space travel are covered by special legislation involving international law as well as different countries' domestic legal systems. This thesis focuses on the application of international legal provisions concerning space navigation and looks at how these laws affect non-State players.
(GLe)