Economic-union Books

"The Constitution of Europe: "Do the New Clothes Have an Emperor? and other essays on European Integration" is an excellent book that I borrowed from a nearby library by chance. Truth to be told, I plan to buy this book even though I have already read it, due to the fact that it is the kind of book you just want to have. This book includes several essays and articles written by J. H. H. Weiler on European integration, from different points of view. That variety can be seen simply by reading the titles of some of the essays in this book, for example "The transformation of Europe", "Introduction: the reformation of European constitutionalism", "European democracy and its critics: polity and system" and "To be an European citizen: Eros and civilization".

Those essays were written by the author during a period of 10 years, and were finally revised, updated (when it was necessary) and compiled in this book, released in 1999. According to Weiler, he considered rewriting all these essays into a monograph, but settled on keeping their format in order to allow the reader to choose exactly what he wanted to read, according to his interests and available time. In Weiler's own words, "I expect that no one will read all the essays and articles in this book- not even my own doctoral students. But I do hope that many more will read some of its essays and articles that would be the case if this were a scholarly monograph of equal size".

I specially liked the fact that every chapter (that is, each individual essay) can be read as a standalone, because I think that allows everybody to choose exactly where to begin reading this book, and gives the opportunity of not reading something if the theme isn't particularly appealing. Despite that, if you start this book because you are interested in one particular chapter, it is highly likely you will end up reading at least some of the others, as the writer's engaging writing style will tempt you to go on reading. Also, and from the point of view of a non-native English speaker (my case), it is a pleasure to read something that is so well-written...

All in all I can say that all these essays and articles are highly interesting, and allow the reader to learn something more about European integration, as a process, an ideal and a reality everybody has to deal with. In my opinion, this book somehow manages to tackle quite well both the structure and ends of European Integration, and that is no easy task. Whether you are a student or someone who is just interested in the subject, I recommend this book as great reading material that allows you to read exactly what you find interesting and at your own pace.

Belen Alcat

This book fills an obvious gap in contemporary east-European political literature. Unlike other books on Belarus, the strong point this book has is that is written primarily by young Belarusian scholars who have studied both within Belarus and in the west and thus gives a far more even account of the true nature of this interesting nation.

This book is required reading for any serious scholar of east European politics, economics, culture or society.

I am continually pleased with each and every fabozzi book I buy. The man is prolific and always provides you with real data, great overviews, and commentary by leading people in the field. This book is no exception.

Lech Walesa is a true example of what determination and courage can accomplish; and aganst all odds! This humble Polish electrician from Gdansk turned out to be, without question, one of the greatest heroes of the 20TH century. Mary Craig writes a crisp and flowing story. This should be in every school, as an inspiration to all the world.

This book provides a very interesting critique of the successes and failures of the Cuban revolution from an Anarchist perspective. In this book we learn how the Cuban people have been deprived of their political freedom. In addition, Dolgoff points out how the people are largely marginalized from making decisions in the workplace, and how the workforce is just as demoralized as the oppressed masses in many capilatist societies. This is a rare book. It's a must-read.

If you are a politics student, a businessman or a journalist interested in the Czech and Slovak Republics, read this book. In under 200 pages, Robin Shepherd has successfully drawn out almost all the key themes of the last decade of post-communist transition. The book is divided into eight self-standing chapters each dealing with a different theme, but the value of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts in that it provides a coherent and comprehensive analytical framework for understanding the recent history of the two countries. Straight-forward histories of the post-revolution period too often fail to provide a broader context, thereby leaving many a journalist or analyst surprised or alarmed by subsequent events. How many predicted that Czechs and Slovaks would part ways in 1993 or that the Czech economy would sink into recession in the late 1990s for example. Shepherd, by eschewing chronology for analysis has produced a classic political textbook of the period, that is readable, rigorous and bristling with ideas.

He also doesn't pull his punches. Vaclav Klaus, Czech Prime Minister for much of the last decade is rightly lambasted for launching and then derailing free-market reforms. Shepherd argues that Klaus failed to understand the difference between "possession" which involves the mere physical control of assets and "property" which also involves enforceable legal title. By contrast, that distinction goes to the heart of much of the later writings of the Czech President, Vaclav Havel. Havel is presented not simply in the light of his anti-communist disent but as one of the most penetrating critics of post-communist society too. His 1997 speech attacking the Czech government for mishandling economic reform revealed that the President (supposedly ignorant of economics) had a better understanding of the economy than the trained economist Klaus. Havel's favourite theme of building a civil society is shown to be a crucial part of the proper functioning of free-market capitalism by providing the foundations of trust and transparency in public institutions.

Shepherd demonstrates a voracious appetite for digesting complex issues while remaining aware of their subtleties. He argues, for example, that the expulsion of 3 million Germans from Czechoslovakia after World War II might have left the Czechs psychologically and morally ill-equipped to resist the subsequent propaganda of Communism. He highlights how the politics of personality --- Klaus in Prague and Meciar in Bratislava --- has stunted the development of healthy party political systems. And he warns that endemic corruption is particularly dangerous in emerging democracies because ordinary voters may be tempted to see salvation in a charismatic, strongman leader. To what extent such sentiments kept Meciar in power in Slovakia is unclear. Shepherd adds later that the Slovak premier's authoritarian style was also the consequence of his experience of repeated betrayal by former political allies. He might also have noted that crony-style-thug rule is still the norm in the more eastern parts of Europe, which has to do with more than just psychological dysfunction. Fortunateley, the vast majority of Slovaks uniting to force out Meciar in 1998 has, in the process, created a stronger appreciation of democracy.

Despite the Meciar period, the author is sympathetic to Slovak independence. He rejects the notion that the split was the result of "irrational fantasies" of extremists but more fairly as the consequence of the different speeds of economic development coupled with an unworkable communist-era federal constitution. At the same time he buries the arguments of many Slovak apologists for the wartime Nazi-puppet state: Either the war-time government was forced by Germany to deport its Jews to deathcamps, in which case Slovakia could hardly have been deemed independent or it did so willingly thereby morally damning itself.

There is one shortcoming in the book. Though Shepherd does document the failure of Czech and Slovak industry to restructure resulting in its subsequent demise, he hardly mentions what is increasingly taking its place and staving off economic collapse ---foreign direct investment. Subsidiaries of western multinational companies now account for most of both countries' exports and economic growth. It's an aspect of globalisation that may, one day, exact a high political price. This ommission does not, however, diminsh Shepherd's acheivement. There has been so much about the two countries that cries out for explanation. This book has, masterfully, provided just that.

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I picked up Manheim's book by chance during a visit to the United States and it was indeed a revelation.

As a Ph.D student in communications, I have read my fair share of books but Manheim's volume is a standout.

It is an extradordinary piece of scholarship the way he has tied all the different threads of this growing phenomenon together to give us a fairly sophisticated, yet extremely readable analysis of what we are seeing today.

Though there have been the occasional article or monograph written on this area before, no one has traced the evolution of this concept so thoroughly or assembled such an impressive number of case studies about corporate campaigns.

Apart from this, Manheim's book has a number of other strengths that make it quite compelling.

As a communications scholar of some note,Manheim understably, devotes considerable time and attention to analysis of the communications strategies employed by the antagonists of a company. His discussion of the activist need to define "the moral high ground" is fascinating.

Another strength is his discussion of codes of conduct and how activists use them against companies. Codes of conduct based campaigning by activists is not a terribly well understood phenomena within the corporate sector which is surprising given the proliferation of these charters, codes or compacts.

The space that Manheim devotes to shareholder activism is also intriguing given the growing efforts of activists to target companies through key stakeholders such as institutional investors and the like.

All of this marks Manheim's book as a must-have for anyone working in a corporation who is in a corporate affairs, public affairs, human resources, investor relations, marketing and especially higher management function.

I think this book is a helpful guide into the compex world of European regional integration.Eilstrup-Sangiovanni puts together the most important texts on this matter and presents each chapter with in-depth introductions about the most important theories in the field.Scholars, students and people in general will be pleased to read this excellent contribution to regional integration studies. As a researcher on Latin American integration I appreciate very much this book which by the way fills a gap in my refernece books selection.

This is the best of a number of books that I have read that discuss the entire region - the writing style is accessible and the amount of information contained is quite comprehensive. Ten of my Hungarian, Slovak and Croatian friends who have borrowed my copy have pronounced it the best book on the region they had read in any language.

Students interested in the history of labor movements will enjoy this case study of California which compares the different experiences in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas. While many labor historians focus broadly on national politics, Clark limits his discussion to California and gives the reader a much more intensive background of local politics and state laws which were often hostile to the labor movement. A great read for any fans of California history and politics.