WEEKLY SUPPLEMENT / European library

*** MAREK KOHN: Trust, Self-Interest and the Common Good. Oxford University Press (Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Internet: http://www.oup.com ). 2008, 150 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-921791-5.

In the Western world, economic development has over the course of time catered for basic needs like housing and healthcare and has generally assured people's well-being, which is why people nowadays tend to be less interested in the accumulation of wealth and are asking more searching questions about better living. Although the financial and economic crisis of recent months might change the situation, there is a trend to seek a better, rather than a more prosperous, life and families are looking at how they can have a healthier diet, institutions and companies are looking at how to make managers happy, and nations are looking at how to improve relations with other countries and how to improve the world's climate. This desire to create things together has breathed new life into the old human dilemma of trust. In order to have trust in an enterprise, one has to be sure that one will receive something in return. This ability to believe other people (and believe in other people) was very soon attacked in the history of sociology by Hobbes and this has encouraged the author of this book, Marek Kohn, to discuss trust, self-interest and the common good.

The author starts by looking at its primary presentation, early childhood in the family environment, which will hugely determine a child's relations with the rest of the world when it grows us. Children trust their mother because they are sure she will defend their interests no matter what, but when they grow up and it is their turn to look after their own interests, what will the adult children attribute this trust to? How is this connection set up? What are the bases and preconditions for it to develop? Marek Kohn asks the same questions later on when examining cooperation among bodies or agents pursuing their own individual interests. A few examples from World War One - the famous Christmas truce and football match of 1914 is a good illustration of the trust that can arise in the least likely places, even among two armies at war, and that it involves some rules that both sides have to abide by. It emerges that cooperation among human beings is possible and can even be initiated and sustained without trust coming into the equation. When trust comes into play, however, interactions that would have led to failure are able to survive. Trust improves the quality of cooperation and also weaves social connections. More importantly, it makes people feel good. Human beings, it is argued in the book, seem to have a natural penchant, an instinct, for trust. Sometimes people bestow trust and then remove it, of course, but the opposite rarely occurs.

The author then introduces reflection on language in all its forms and asks why, of all the modes of communication, speech is the mode that lends itself the most to deceit. He tries to establish which other signals could be at the origin of the establishment of the so greatly desired trust. The chapter ends with a philosophical reflection on the rationality of trust. The notion of trust is then examined in relation to authority. Firstly authority in its primary form, when most of humanity believed in deities and had absolute trust in them. Authority next in its modern form in the light of the trust endowed by communities in their institutions. In the fifth part of the book, Marek Kohn looks at a world where lack of trust dominates, like among the mafia of Naples, and studies the economic consequences of such a set-up. He goes on to look at the problematic of society's trust in institutions, using the sadly famous case of O. J. Simpson to illustrate people's mistrust of the legal system. He explains that this mistrust, and the way it has been manipulated, was important in the manoeuvring of Communist dictatorships vis-a-vis their population in order to keep control over them. This point is discussed in the penultimate chapter and is balanced by the observation that liberal democracy is also based on mistrust. When it comes to liberal democracy, however, the mistrust is of leaders, who are assumed to be abusing their power. Hence the checks and balances that have been established in Western democracies, but which are not always sufficient. The book ends with a reflection on the benefits of trust and the problems of a world where trust is generalised, even though generalised trust is needed for a "good society".

Nuno Duarte

*** JAMES GRIFFIN: On Human Rights. Oxford University Press (see above). 2008, 339 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-923878-1.

Human rights arose in the Middle Ages, when they were known as 'natural rights' and strongly influenced by theology. The concept has undergone huge changes since then, generating a degree of vagueness about their exact definition. As the author explains: "We need to complete the incomplete idea," by settling the question of the vagueness of meaning of the historic notion of human rights. Stressing his lack of expertise on human rights in international law and believing that the definition has limits, the author James Griffin, professor of moral philosophy at Oxford University, focusses on the ethical aspects of human rights rather than the political and legal aspects. His aim is to provide a definition that is the best justified from the ethical viewpoint, without closing the door on counter-proposals. He explains that this approach "is by no means the only one to offer". Taking this into account, James Griffin's book provides an effective analysis of the various arms of human rights, conflict that can arise among them, among individuals and authorities and, finally, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

(TBa)

*** BARRY KELLMAN: Bioviolence. Preventing Biological Terror and Crime. Cambridge University Press (The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK. Tel: [phone] - Fax: 326111 - email: [e-mail] - Internet: http://www.cambridge.org ). 2007, 362 pp, £14-99. ISBN 978-0-521-70969-9.

As suggested by the title, this book is concerned with the dangers of bacteriological war currently threatened by terrorists around the world. The author starts by explaining why such fears are founded before assessing the means of defence introduced by governments to counter these threats. The book explains that the means implemented by the authorities are insufficient, and the author therefore provides several political suggestions that he feels could solve the problem.

(NDu)

*** TOBIAS PINKEL: Das Buch VI des Entwurfs eines Gemeinsamen Referenzrahmens (DCFR): Nichtvertragliche Schuldverhältnisse aus Schädigung Dritter. Eine kritische Analyse des Modellgesetzes eines europäischen Deliktsrechts. Zentrum für Europäische Rechtspolitik an der Universität Bremen (Universitätsallee, GW 1, 28359 Bremen, Deutschland). "ZERP-Diskussionspapier" series, No. 6/2008. 2008, 34 pp, €8.

This study is based on the book "Principles, Definitions and Model Rules of European Private Law: Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR)," and makes a critical analysis of the legal model of EU criminal law. The author Tobias Pinkel, who works for Bremen University's European Legal and Political Study Centre, notes that greater coherence is required in EU contractual law and, more specifically, there is a lack of homogenous criminal law, and therefore draws up a balance sheet based on the work of the research group published in the DCFR book.

(EPi)

*** FANNY PENVERNE: L'Union européenne et la protection civile. Editions Apogée (11 rue du Noyer, F-35000 Rennes. Tel: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - email: [e-mail] - Internet: http://www.editions-apogee.com ). "Publications du Centre d'excellence Jean Monnet des Universités de Rennes" series. 2008, 128 pp, €18. ISBN 978-2-84398-303-0.

Following on from a postgraduate thesis, this short book clearly explains the EU civil protection mechanism, describing its origins, organisation, operations and challenges. This both historical and legal analysis leads Fanny Penverne to observe the fragility of the legal foundations of action that the EU can take in this connection and paints a warts-and-all picture of the weaknesses of the EU mechanism and countries' resistance to it. Including the contribution of the Lisbon Treaty, this rigorous study argues in favour of a special legal basis being set up for civil protection, and for the promotion of a uniform instrumental approach and a European civil protection force. In her work as legal assistant, the author recently defended all these ideas during the French Presidency of the Council of the EU.

(PBo)

*** LUKAS BAUER, KONRAD LACHMAYER (Eds.): Praxiswörterbuch Europarecht. Springer (P. O. Box 89, 4-6 Sachsenplatz, 1201-Vienna, Austria. Tel: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - email: [e-mail] - Internet: http://www.springer.at ). 2008, 1, 025 pp. ISBN: 978-3-211-38363-6.

This guide to the practice of European law covers a range of relevant topics, providing clear explanations in order to help readers find their away around EU legislation. Written under the leadership of two assistants at the Public and Administrative Law Institute of Vienna University in Austria, some six dozen contributors have written a rich, voluminous and detailed compilation of the main notions of the A to Z of European law, providing an overview of the practice of European law. There are explanations, current literature, links and EU legal acts to help readers understand and deepen their appreciation of the broad spectrum of EU legal notions.

(EPi)

*** MARIANNE DONY: Droit de l'Union européenne. Éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles (26 av. Paul Héger, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - email: [e-mail] - Internet: http: //http://www.editions-universite-bruxelles.be/ ). "UBlire" series, No. 2. 2008, 690 pp, €12. ISBN 978-2-8004-1426-3.

The tenth issue of this highly educational book helps readers understand the basics of European law, taking account of the measures promised by the Lisbon Treaty. After describing the main stages of the European project, the author spends the first part of the book looking at institutional law, identifying the signs of gradual constitutionalisation of the EU, followed by analysis of its institutional set-up, the sources and nature of EU law and the EU legal system. Professor at the 'Université Libre de Bruxelles' in Belgium and director of its European Studies Institute, Marianne Dony describes in the second section of the book the EU's main policies, the Common Market's legal system, the four freedoms, the competition system, harmonisation of legislation, the area of freedom and justice that is overhauled by the Lisbon Treaty, economic and non-economic policies and the EU's foreign affairs. This is a clear, concise book, a must-read for students and anyone else interested in EU law!

(MT)

*** YVES DOUTRIAUX, CHRISTIAN LEQUESNE: Les institutions de l'Union européenne. La Documentation Française (29 quai Voltaire, F-75344 Paris cedex 07. Tel: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - Internet: http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr ). "Réflexe Europe" series. 2008, 181 pp, €12. ISBN 978-2-11-007224-5.

The first title to be published in the "Réflexe Europe" series in 1995, this book is now in its seventh edition, which only goes to demonstrate its continued pertinence and utility. State advisor Yves Doutriaux sets out the EU institutions in a clear and detailed manner, explaining in a brief, user-friendly way what their status is, how they are made up, their structure and operations. The decision-making procedures and processes are described in a similar manner. Prof. Christian Lequesne (politics) looks in the second part of the book at the way France is organised to act and interact with Brussels and how it is organised in order to react to policies decided at the EU level. A perfect introduction to the world of the European institutions!

(MT)

*** RICHARD BLASSELLE: Traité de droit européen de la concurrence. Volume III. Publisud (15 rue des Cinq-Diamants, F-75013 Paris. Tel: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - email: [e-mail] - Internet: http://www.editionspublisud.hautefort.com ). "Manuels 2000" series. 2008, 543 pp, €99. ISBN 978-2-86600-663-1.

Until recently a professorat Paris 13 University, Richard Blasselle has taken on the cumbersome task of commenting on all EU competition law. In the first volume, he described the domain and application criteria for EU competition rules and meticulously reviews competition restrictions attributable to companies. He then looks at competition restrictions attributable to the Member States, starting with trade barriers, the establishment of individuals and the supply of services. He then looked in the second volume at other instruments that Member States can use to try and influence the market, like the granting of state aid, special or exclusive rights and the signing of public-private partnerships. In this new volume, he examines EU law on cartels, price-fixing and dominant market position from two angles - cooperation between Member States' institutions and the EU; and legal protection for individuals, paying particular attention to this latter aspect. There are very useful and detailed annexes. given the nature of the subject matter, the series is not aimed at the general public.

(PBo)