{"title":"African Continental Free Trade Area: Opportunities and Challenges","authors":"Andrea Cofelice","doi":"10.2478/tfd-2018-0032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/tfd-2018-0032","url":null,"abstract":"On March 21, 2018, at the end of the 10 extraordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, forty-four out of the fifty-five member states of the Union signed the Treaty establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). In terms of the number of countries involved (with a combined GDP that is currently worth over two trillion dollars a year) and the population concerned (1.2 billion people), the AfCFTA represents the main free trade agreement since the foundation of the World Trade Organization. Equally important is the timing of the agreement, as it stands in sharp contrast with an international context marked by a persistent and significant increase in trade-restrictive measures, as well as by a growing resistance (or even hostility) towards the development of regional integration systems.","PeriodicalId":426036,"journal":{"name":"The Federalist Debate","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133016330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A World Parliament: Governance and Democracy in the 21st Century","authors":"Nicola Vallinoto","doi":"10.2478/TFD-2018-0024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/TFD-2018-0024","url":null,"abstract":"“A World Parliament: Governance and Democracy in the 21 Century”, authored by Jo Leinen, MEP, and Andreas Bummel, director of UNPA Campaign, has been published by Democracy Without Borders on 11 April 2018. In 400 pages, the book describes the history, today’s relevance and future implementation of the idea of a democratic world parliament as centerpiece of a peaceful, just and sustainable world community. For the first time, there is a detailed account of the efforts for the creation of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. As William Pace underlines, ‘In a time of dangerous and regressive political forces, Leinen and Bummel have given us an outstanding atlas of hope – and a roadmap for the survival of humanity and democracy.’","PeriodicalId":426036,"journal":{"name":"The Federalist Debate","volume":"89 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114607201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"SDR and Bitcoins: Competition or Cooperation?","authors":"E. Flor","doi":"10.2478/TFD-2018-0017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/TFD-2018-0017","url":null,"abstract":"The answer is that, for the time being, this is not the case, because virtual currencies are “too volatile, too risky, too energy intensive; [...] many are too opaque for regulators; and some have been hacked”. Nonetheless, there is a “growing demand for new payment services” in economies “rooted in peer-topeer transactions, in frequent, small value payment, often cross border”: in these cases, virtual currencies can be competitive against traditional systems such as credit cards.","PeriodicalId":426036,"journal":{"name":"The Federalist Debate","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122738850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards a New Architecture of the Euro Area","authors":"Alberto Majocchi","doi":"10.2478/TFD-2018-0021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/TFD-2018-0021","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":426036,"journal":{"name":"The Federalist Debate","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133120238","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"UN Reform: Where Are We Now?","authors":"Andrea Cofelice","doi":"10.2478/TFD-2018-0016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/TFD-2018-0016","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":426036,"journal":{"name":"The Federalist Debate","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128506770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"European Neighborhood and Marshall Plan with Africa: a Federalist Point of View","authors":"Paolo Ponzano","doi":"10.2478/TFD-2018-0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/TFD-2018-0014","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":426036,"journal":{"name":"The Federalist Debate","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121336553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The United States and Its Foreign Policy: Searching for the Lost Federalism","authors":"Michele Ballerin","doi":"10.2478/TFD-2018-0018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/TFD-2018-0018","url":null,"abstract":"There’s a feature in the USA cultural life which has always amazed me, particularly in the way Americans perceive themselves and their own history: they are considerably proud of the first chapter of their adventure – the independence war against Great Britain –, while they pay a far weaker enthusiasm to the second – the Philadelphia Convention and the birth of the first federation in history, in 1787. Having conquered their independence by defeating the strongest army of that time with a scratch militia is one of the decisive elements which have contributed to found their common identity, and it’s definitely not hard to understand the reason. Far paler is the representation that Americans have about themselves as the inventors of federalism. And that is what sounds weird.","PeriodicalId":426036,"journal":{"name":"The Federalist Debate","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134215405","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"President Macron’s Call for a «Sovereign Europe »","authors":"Dusan Sidjanski","doi":"10.2478/TFD-2018-0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/TFD-2018-0020","url":null,"abstract":"In the light of the EU’s existential crisis, President Macron, a truly committed European, has proposed his vision for a “sovereign Europe”. The bottom line is that the Union is not, or rather is insufficiently equipped with sovereign powers. Yet it is these very sovereign powers which are needed in order to effectively respond to the considerable threats hanging over the EU and the Eurozone. Particularly with regard to currency, foreign, defence and security policy, as well as migration. In our democracies all of these areas are subject to a political authority and parliamentary control. Especially the army and security forces. As the reform of the 27-member Union will be a more or less lengthy process, one could envisage taking immediate action by using “enhanced cooperation” in order to create a federative political core capable of giving a new impetus to all 27 Members States.","PeriodicalId":426036,"journal":{"name":"The Federalist Debate","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121456596","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transnational Lists: a False Good Idea","authors":"Pierre Jouvenat","doi":"10.2478/TFD-2018-0023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/TFD-2018-0023","url":null,"abstract":"It is generally thought that only transnational lists can give elections to the European Parliament a real European dimension. However, there exists another alternative which is more likely to be approved by the Council and which corresponds to the longterm federalist vision. This would be attributing all of the votes to European political parties while maintaining national quotas, national and regional constituencies.","PeriodicalId":426036,"journal":{"name":"The Federalist Debate","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131969715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}