*** SUSAN GEORGE: Les usurpateurs. Comment les entreprises transnationales prennent le pouvoir. Éditions du Seuil (25 bd Romain-Rolland, F-75014 Paris. Internet: http://www.seuil.com ). 2014, 1886 pp. €17. ISBN 978-2-02-109326-1.
The Franco-American, Susan George, is the Honorary President of the French section of Attac and President of the Board at the Transnational Institute. She is also one of the leading resistance figures to the incessant waves of globalisation. She defines herself as a "researcher and militant", which she confirms in this book (the French translation of a book initially published in the US). This is something she does not intend to renounce and she is determined to put her knowledge at the service of the social movements fighting the powers of money that slyly work toward shaping the world to their exclusive benefit. She is also determined to make a contribution to the mass campaigns that attempt to change a situation that is crying out for change. Throughout this book she denounces the transnational companies that from their eagle's nest in Davos take hold of the powers previously reserved for our elected representatives. These powers draw from a more or less explicitly neoliberal ideology that George describes as, "totally illegitimate and non-democratic". These powers are now leading, with the complicity of the indolent and impotent political classes, to the socially bloodletting triumph of the "Great Neoliberal Regression" and the austerity cures vainly imposed on countries like Greece which are nothing other than the most recent misadventure in the unambiguous offensive against the, "welfare state and European social model" …Obviously, these accusations are not neutral and they are certainly going to rub up a lot of people the wrong way. To be honest, this anti-globalist is not exactly nuanced when she seeks to demonstrate with a number of concrete examples how the functions of legitimate government are increasingly subject to incursions by illegitimate bodies that are nonelected and opaque and whose activity in this sphere increases all the time. Her credibility does not always escape unscathed, however. For example, should she really have said that the "European bureaucracy" is caused by the abusive use of language substituting governance for government and the fact that this concept appears to have been imposed by Anglo-Saxon influences spawned by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan? This is also the case when she adds that, "If governance can be defined as the art of governing without government… This is exactly what the European Commission does…" She makes a serious mistake when she appears to forget that the Commission is neither master of its destiny because it is in fact the member states themselves that are the masters of the European treaties and the position allocated to the Commission and the institutions. Is it not also a rather outrageous example of reductionism to assert that the "great priests" of the religion that has become a "theo-liberalism" in certain milieu "officiating in Brussels", whilst their missionaries meet up in Davos, their theologians and preachers infiltrate the think tanks and their other acolytes cut a swathe through innumerable governmental departments?
Nonetheless, what may appear as excessive is not always without significance. When Susan George illustrates the elements demonstrating that the world is now ruled by the transnational companies, that the four major accounting agencies act as their pilot fish and that these "usurpers" have woven a gigantesque spider's web that condemns our political leaders to inertia either through their outright subjection or complicity, it is not very much to assert that what she is saying is indeed worrying. Her very detailed chapter focuses on the international treaties based on the lines of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership currently being negotiated, which is tailor-made to the interests of the transnational companies and should be enough to worry the most placid and trustworthy minds. Susan George attacks the complicity of the Commission, particularly DG Trade, in this enterprise that seeks to drastically realign standards downwards on the lines of the US system that apply to agri-foods, the pharmaceutical industry and chemicals, the production of genetically modified organisms and hydraulic fracturing. In so doing she also gives credit to all the different organisations that are now putting themselves on the barricades to prevent what she describes as nothing other than an attack on democracy, fostered by the Davos class, with the complicity of our political leaders. In this connection, she is delighted with the programme upon which Jean-Claude Juncker was elected the President of the Commission and she explains that the promises made in it are an implicit disavowal of the European policies applied for years under the antidemocratic, narrow-minded and underhand administration of José Manuel Barroso. If the former Luxembourg Prime Minister demonstrates through his action that he does not intend to sacrifice the jurisdictional sovereignty of member states and the European standards and safety, health, social norms, data protection and other cultural diversity on the altar of free trade, the European Union will, in the eyes of Susan George, once again be on the right path. This would also appear, judging by the evidence, the case for a lot of people who share Susan George's ideas and who are currently mobilising to defend them …
Michel Theys
*** REINHARD HILDEBRANDT: Zivilgesellschaft im Widerstreit. Konkurrenz zwischen Staat, Ökonomie und Zivilgesellschaft in der Realisierung des gesamtgesellschaftlichen Gemeinwohls. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, P.O. 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2015, 211 pp. €44.95. ISBN 978-3-631-65876-5.
In this book on civil society in conflict, Reinhard Hilderbrandt redefines the commitment by civil society actors in view of the common good. His starting point is that this commitment is continually growing in importance in our societies. He analyses the internal motives of the civil society actors themselves and concludes that although the action of the latter is indeed partly determined by the quest that they deem to be for the common good, it is also in the interest of these individuals themselves. The common good, as formulated by the civil society actors, is facing increasing competition with the common good as formulated by the state and the economy, which is why it is necessary to redefine the common interest by taking into account the presence of these actors from civil society in societies. If we are to preserve democracy it is also important that these characters are treated in the same way as the state decision-makers and those from the economic world.
(GLe)
*** MUTHUCUMARASWAMY SORNARAJAH: Resistance and Change in the International Law on Foreign Investment. Cambridge University Press (University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, UK. Tel: (44-1232) 326070 - fax: 315052 - Internet: http://www.cambridge.org ). 2015, 452 pp. £80, $125. ISBN 978-1-107-09662-2.
The author of this book is both a precise and methodological legal expert and in her own individual way she endorses what Susan George calls for in her militant and impassioned terms in her most recent book (see the article in this edition of the European Library). Although the Commission presided by Jean-Claude Juncker promises to ensure that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership does not encroach in any way on the standards held dear to European citizens, the author of this book, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the National University of Singapore, drafts an implacable indictment against this kind of agreement, particularly of the ways for settling disputes between investors and states and the arbitration mechanism. Her first line of attack is at a legal level and she criticises this plethora of provisions. There where around 500 treaties like this in 1990 whereas in 2000 there were 2700 and the current number is now more than 3200. This leads to fragmentation that damages international law. In her political analysis, the author dedicates a significant part of her introductory chapter to the ideology that has led, since the final quarter of the last century, to major swathes of political decision-makers to exclusively draw on the ideology of liberalised markets, trade and investment or, in other words, "neoliberalism". Under the "hegemonic power" of the US, "the home of the largest multinational corporations", neoliberalism has spread to the four corners of the planet and the assertion that the protection of investments prevails over everything else. This explains the rebellion that has occurred over time in certain countries that have fallen victim to the appetites of the super power, especially among certain civil society activists. The author concurs and puts forward her case. (MT)
*** OLIA SKRIPOVA: Civil Liability of Securities Underwriters? Enforcing the Gatekeeping Function. Intersentia (31 Groenstraat, B-2640 Mortsel. Tel: (32)3) 6801550 - fax: 6587121 - Email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.com ). “European Studies in Law and Economics” series, No. 16. 2015, 252 pp. €74. ISBN 978-1-78068-263-1.
During the first decade of the 21st century, we experienced many cases where companies were lying about their real financial situation. Those that are described, in Anglo-Saxon financial jargon as Securities Underwriters, are the financial intermediaries employed by companies to organise, promote and sell their shares. Many of them see, and many more of them would like to see themselves as… important gatekeepers for the credibility of the information provided. After all, they are legally obliged to provide comprehensive and accurate information about the different companies in question. In this book, the legal adviser Olia Skripova, examines the civil liability of these people in cases involving inaccurate information about companies. The writer also seeks to help the reader understand the role played by civil liability as an instrument for strengthening the duty to provide valid information. After providing a theoretical description of the subject, she then goes on to provide a detailed analysis of the way in which the civil liability system works in the US, European Union, the Netherlands and United Kingdom. (HHe)
*** VOLKER LEMMER: Integrierte Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht. Eineverwaltungsrechtliche Strukturanalyse der Aufsicht über Banken und Versicherungen. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, P.O. 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Schriftenreihe der Forschungsstelle für Finanzdienstleistungsrecht der Philipps-Universität Marburg" series. 2014, 416 pp. €81.95. ISBN 978-3-631-65099-8.
Supervising the banking and insurance industries is an area that is experiencing profound change. Legal standards in this field are attempting to keep up at a furious pace in an effort to tackle the repercussions of the crisis on the financial markets. The European financial supervisory system seeks to introduce a European banking union with a European Central Bank as the new supervisory authority. In this context, the work undertaken in this thesis examines the relationship between the instruments and the bodies employed to oversee the financial supervision of the banks and insurance companies. The book's author puts forward a number of proposals to improve the vertical regulation and supervision (shared between the different appropriate levels of authority) and its horizontal equivalent at a member state level. (GLe)
*** PAUL TRITSCHLER: Die Regulierung von Leerverkäufen als Folge der Finanzkrise. Übertriebener Aktionismus oder angemessene Maßnahme zur Stabilisierung des Finanzsystems ? Peter Lang (see address attached). "Schriftenreihe der Forschungsstelle für Finanzdienstleistungsrecht der Philipps-Universität Marburg" series. 2014, 265 pp. €61.95 ISBN 978-3-631-66205-2.
In this thesis Paul Tritschler examines the issue of whether it is necessary to regulate short selling and if it is, how should it be done. He also analyses the appropriateness of existing regulation in this area at a European and German level. First of all the author points out that short selling was once considered as being one of the factors for the financial crisis in 2008 but that this was in fact a mistaken interpretation. He believes that short selling did help speed up the way in which the crisis spread but it was not in fact the cause of the crisis. He also defines covered and uncovered short selling, terms that are not always used for the same situation. He then provides an insight into how the German legislator attempted to mitigate the dangers identified from certain kinds of short selling and actually points out that these kinds of sales can also have beneficial economic effects in certain conditions. He then provides a general overview of when it is necessary for the legislator or regulatory authority to intervene and how their objectives should be pursued. This exercise leads him to draw the conclusion that European regulation, particularly the EC 236/2012 Regulation on short selling contains certain shortcomings. He concludes his demonstration with a study of the compatibility of the European regulation with European legal standards prevailing upon it, namely the TEU and TFEU, as well as the Charter of Fundamental Rights. He concludes that it is only the compatibility of the European regulation with the latter that is likely to be problematic. (GLe)
*** CORRIGENDUM. Yannis Vassiliou, the author of the book, " Le présent et l'avenir de la politique agricole de l'Union européennne in Bibliothèque européenne No. 11298/1090 on 21 April 2015), has informed us that he was never a senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham but that he defended his doctoral thesis there.
*** CORRIGENDUM. A typo occurred when typing the name of one of the co-authors of the "More Union in European Defence" report (published in Bibliothèque européenne No. 11307/1092 on 4 May last), Steven Brockmans should have read Steven Blockmans. It should also be pointed ou that this report was published by the Ceps in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung EU Office (38 rue du Taciturne, B-1000 Brussels).