Convergence Or Divergence In Europe

This volume contains the written versions of presentations given at the international conference "Convergence and Divergence of Family Law in Europe", organised in Amsterdam in September 2006. The main objective of this conference was to instigate an in-depth discussion regarding various facets of the convergence/divergence discord. Another objective was to give scholars the opportunity to present their respective views in the ongoing debate surrounding convergence, divergence and deliberate harmonisation activities in the field of family law. In the first part of this book the historical and theoretical issues of the convergence/divergence debate and the controversy surrounding the "cultural constraints" argument are discussed. The second part gives a picture of the contemporary role of convergence/divergence tendencies on a regional level in various parts of Europe. It starts with an overview of the recent trends in the renowned "Nordic co-operation" in the approximation of family laws, which is generally considered to be the most successful example of regional harmonisation of family laws in Europe. The next article deals with convergence/divergence tendencies in the development of the family law of the Spanish autonomous communities. The following two contributions offer a summary of the convergence and divergence trends in Eastern Europe against the background of such sweeping events as the fall of the Soviet Union, the disintegration of the Eastern block and the accession of a majority of the Central European countries to the EU. The third part of this volume deals with the convergence and divergence tendencies in the following particular fields of family law: marriage, divorce, same-sex relationships, establishment of parenthood and matrimonial property law.

This book aims to answer a number of important questions. To what extent have European countries converged or diverged with EU-wide economic and social indicators over the past 20 years? What have been the drivers of convergence? Why do some countries lag behind, while others experience continuous upward convergence? Why are these trajectories not always linear? Particular attention is paid to the role of institutions, actors and industrial relations – focusing on the resources and strategies of governments, employers and trade unions – in nudging EU countries onto an upward convergence path.

This book offers a unique picture of education and training in the EU between the early 1980s and the late 1990s. It synthesizes a wealth of research, policy documents and original data from the fifteen Member States and from the European Commission. The advent of the Single Market and of the euro have focused attention on economic integration in Europe; while discussions of globalization also emphasize common trends and economic convergence. Convergence and Divergence in European Education and Training Systems demonstrates that, while European education and training systems are responding to powerful general trends, they remain highly distinctive, with no obvious movement towards a single common pattern.

Recoge : 1. Introductory session. - 2. Past convergence within the European Union. - 3. Accesion countries : achievements in real convergence. - 4. Accesion countries : how to balance real and nominal convergence challenges for monetary and exchange rate policy. - 5. Does the financial sector contribute to real growth? - 6. Is there somebody left out in the cold? prospects of CEE countries other than current accesion countries. - 7. Policy challenges within the (enlarged) EU : how to foster economic convergence?

Europe Under Stress: Convergence and Divergence in the European Community is the second of two volumes which flow from a Chatham House project on the political implications of economic divergence in the European Community, funded by the Social Science Research Council. This second volume offers an interpretation of the problems that divergence poses for the European Community in a number of key sectors, from the perspective of a political economist. This book begins with a discussion of the concepts of convergence and divergence followed by an explanation of the methodology adopted in this book. The remaining chapters are organized into two parts. The chapters in Part I examine the attitudes of the major EEC member states to the convergence/divergence issue and what the terms mean for each of them. This part also attempts to relate these positions to the concerns and interests of the countries involved. The chapters in Part II analyze the impact of economic divergence on community policies.

This new monograph provides a stimulating new take on hotly contested topics in world modernization and the globalizing economy. It begins by situating what is called the Great Divergence--the social/technological revolution that led European nations to outpace the early dominance of Asia--in historical context over centuries. This is contrasted with an equally powerful Great Convergence, the recent economic and technological expansion taking place in Third World nations and characterized by narrowing inequity among nations. They are seen here as two phases of an inevitable global process, centuries in the making, with the potential for both positive and negative results. This sophisticated presentation examines: Why the developing world is growing more rapidly than the developed world. How this development began occurring under the Western world's radar. How former colonies of major powers grew to drive the world's economy. Why so many Western economists have been slow to recognize the Great Convergence. The increasing risk of geopolitical instability. Why the world is likely to find itself without an absolute leader after the end of the American hegemony A work of rare scope, Great Divergence and Great Convergence gives sociologists, global economists, demographers, and global historians a deeper understanding of the broader movement of social and economic history, combined with a long view of history as it is currently being made; it also offers some thrilling forecasts for global development in the forthcoming decades.

Against the background of the introduction of the Euro in 1999, France, Germany and Italy have recently experienced higher divergence in terms of GDP growth. Based on a set of original papers produced by a team of economists from the three main National Central Banks of the Euro area this book analyses the latest developments in three important European economies in a broad perspective, using modern econometric techniques.

The New Public Management paradigm seems to have produced a convergence of administrative reform. However, specific implementations of NPM show range of forms and results including performance indicators, personal reforms and evaluations of reforms. This text demonstrates how NPM is crafted differently in various institutional contexts.