European views on Turkey’s membership in the EU have been split between those in support of its full integration and those advocating a privileged partnership. To the extent that many of the latter proposals imply that Turkey will be partially integrated within Europe in certain areas, the question of Turkey’s accession is probably not about ‘if’, but about ‘how much’ integration there will be within the Union’s structures. The purpose of this book is not to offer a definitive response to this question. The book aims instead to examine the complexity of the issues pertaining to Turkey’s prospective EU membership by presenting several, often divergent, accounts of the political, security and socio-economic dimensions of the entire process. The book provides a forum for an exchange of views among distinguished scholars and researchers from different national backgrounds in order to contribute to the ongoing public discussion of Turkey’s accession. Sophisticated, informative and refreshing in its argumentation, the book provides an excellent overview of the complexities of Turkey’s accession to the EU membership. Professor Mustafa Aydin, TOBB University of Economics and Technology A refreshing view from the European periphery, an original mirror of the Union's central challenges. Professor Georges Prevelakis, University of Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne

Analyses anti-corruption policy within EU Member States and the evolution of anti-corruption policy during the accession process.

Although Turkey has a long-held aspiration for European Union membership and has been a candidate for more than a decade, relations between the EU and Turkey have not received the attention it deserves from non-Turkish researchers thus far, and consequently the international literature on EU-Turkey relations is rather limited. In light of recent global economic and political challenges for the EU and Turkey, a need has emerged for an interdisciplinary approach to study EU-Turkey relations within the wider international political and economic context. Turkey's Accession to the European Union: Political and Economic Challenges, edited by Belgin Ak ay and Bahri Yilmaz, provides a timely overview of some of the most important issues and debates in the changing context of Europe, the change in domestic politics and foreign policy in Turkey, and the likely implications of these changes and developments for EU-Turkey relations. Within this framework, this collection includes articles emphasizing Turkey's reform process with a view to EU accession, despite EU's reservations about "absorbing" Turkey and the eventual decoupling of the Turkish reform process from European integration, as well as searching for alternative forms of cooperation or transitional arrangements which may be possible for Turkey at the time of accession.

Provided for under the Treaty of Lisbon, the accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights is destined to be a landmark in European legal history because it will finally make it possible for individuals and undertakings to apply to the European Court of Human Rights for review of the acts of European Union institutions, which unquestionably play an increasingly important role in our daily lives. After nearly three years of negotiations, a draft agreement on European Union accession was adopted on 5 April 2013. In the light of the draft agreement, this publication offers a concise analysis of the reasons for European Union accession to the Convention, the means by which this is to be achieved and the effects it will have.

This detailed and perceptive book examines the extent and scope of how rules for accession to the WTO may vary between countries, approaching the concerns that some countries enter with a better deal than others. Dylan Geraets critiques these additional ‘rules’ and aims to answer the question of whether new Members of the WTO are under stricter rules than the original Members, whilst analysing the accession process to the multilateral trading system.

This book reviews how China's accession to the WTO has impacted upon its education, environment, economic and social outcomes in recent years. It has been argued that China's rapid growth in output and exports and subsequent accession to WTO has significantly increased income and therefore the well-being of the Chinese population. However, doubts are now being raised that higher income is generated at the cost of deteriorating environmental and social standards which has increasingly affected the health of the Chinese people, especially those who live in major industrial cities. Also, there is a widespread perception that its accession to WTO has significantly increased social shocks, especially among the farming community, and contributed to poor health outcomes among the rural population. These issues are critically analysed in this book by experienced academics from China and Australia. Includes contributions from Australian and Chinese scholars and thus, brings together ideas and suggestions from a broad range of perspectives Analyses China's socio-economic challenges from a multi-dimensional focus A very useful reference in WTO issues in general and China in particular