Central Asia is a fascinating region yet remote and unfamiliar to many people. This new study provides and introduction to the politics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgzstan, Ijikistan, Turkestan, and Uzbekistan.

The sudden transformation of the Cold War security order in 1989 altered the structure of the European state system, and necessitates the striking of a new balance between the economic, political and military requirements of security. This volume focuses on the most important institutions of European security, the European Union and NATO. Both institutions are expanding, especially eastwards, in terms of their respective roles and membership.

Assesses the post-communist period in Bulgaria and examines how the democratization process has developed so far - Contains valuable historical and comparative features providing the reader with a comprehensive and detailed account of the ongoing political, social and economic transformation in this heavily understudied Balkan country - Employs an extensive range of empirical material and analyses the obstacles and the reasons for the delays and failures of the proposed political and economic reforms - Surveys the social implications of these reforms and examines the role of the emerging...

This book is the first to examine how the European Commission has addressed concerns about its ethical standards since 1999. References to the European gravy train, to instances of nepotism or patronage, and even corruption and fraud are commonplace in the popular press. However, until now, there has been no study of the European institutions themselves to question the validity of these claims, or to explore the extent to which the European Commission has responded to and resolved such problems and/or criticism.
This book considers the European Commission's administrative ethics in the...

Europe and Civil Society provides an in-depth examination of how public interest groups and social movements seek to influence the European policy-making process.
The book is based on a comparison of the role of networks of activists and their allies - broadly defined as Movement Advocacy Coalitions - in influencing decision-making at the European Union level in three specific areas of policy-making: environmentalism, anti-racism and ethno-nationalist regionalism. It draws on systematic documentary analysis and an extensive series of interviews with activists and institutional actors to...

This exciting book, newly available in paperback, investigates the scope of maternity legislation and family-friendly policies in the European Union. The wider context of the analysis is the development of equal rights as part of a European social dimension. The book is concerned with the influence of values and beliefs about women, equality, politics and employment on the scope of equal rights and maternity provisions. It provides answers to the following questions - what are the stated objectives of family-friendly policies? Which values transpire from the analysis of maternity rights? How...

Can we conceive of a citizenship that could, in principle, be relevant to a variety of types of political framework? This book, available at last in paperback, offers a coherent and innovative conception of citizenship that is independent of any specific form of political organisation, and discusses topical issues of European Union - democracy and authority, political community and identity, the supranational constitution - in the light of it. Bringing political theory together with debates in international relations and in citizenship studies, the author argues that citizenship should no...