Protection and Identification of Stateless Persons Through EU Law

A number of recent studies confirm that statelessness is a widespread phenomenon in the EU, which is not receiving adequate attention. The lack of well-functioning statelessness determination procedures is at the root of many problems associated with statelessness in the EU. These are, in particular, the inadequate protection of stateless persons and deficiencies in the prevention and reduction of statelessness. This paper argues in favour of common EU action on the identification and protection of stateless persons by analyzing the EU competence to pass relevant legislation, and explaining the desirability for such legislation

The Analysis of Coordinated Effects in EU Merger Control: Where Do We Stand after Sony/BMG and Impala?

The recent Impala Judgment by the CFI on the Sony/BMG Decision by the Commission represents the most important ruling on collective dominance since Airtours. We review both the Decision and the Judgment and derive implications for the institutional and substantive development of EU Merger Control. Firstly, Impala introduces an ambitious symmetric standard of proof for prohibition and clearance decisions by the Commission. While alleviating fears of an increasing number of false positives in the aftermath of Airtours, this entails the problem of how to deal with cases in which neither the existence, nor the absence of anticompetitive effects can be proven to the required standard. Secondly, the ongoing process of increasing the role of third parties in European Merger Control is fuelled. Thirdly, Impala has the potential to herald a comeback of coordinated effects analysis, further precising the conditions for establishing this kind of anticompetitive effect. Additionally, given the characteristics of the music industry, we criticise a lack of in-depth economic analysis of non-price competition issues, such as innovations and product diversity

Can Video-based Qualitative Analysis Help Us Understand User-algorithm Interaction?

There is growing debate in contemporary life over the roles played by algorithms when we browse online. In particular, concerns are raised that algorithmic processes to index, filter and personalise content can ‘manipulate’ user behaviours in ways that lead to detrimental outcomes both online and offline. This short paper reports on ongoing work to examine how users interact with algorithms when undertaking browsing tasks online. Drawing on insights from ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, this video-based approach produces rich and detailed observations of user behaviour and reveals several relevant patterns of interest. Our findings highlight that both user-algorithm interaction and users’ own practical reasoning play key roles in shaping the browsing experience

Managing Uncertainty: Hierarchies, Markets and 'Networks' in the Russian Timber Industry - 1991-1998

The paper investigates institutional development in the Russian forestry sector after 1991.As it argues, while there has been a great degree of decentralization, original market-oriented reform blueprints for the industry, were only partially implemented.The reasons for this can be found largely in the failure of weak state institutions to standardize and universalize transactions.Attempts to restore topdown, Moscow-centered branch administration in the form of a state committee have equally failed.The paper asks how best to describe the highly personalistic transactional landscape that has emerged from the failure of hierarchies and markets.It argues that there is little evidence of "clan"-style "directors' networks" based on direct personal trust.Rather, economic actors prefer a two-pronged strategy of dealing with environmental uncertainty: While attempting to minimize environmental exposure by establishing forms of vertical integration, they also they hedge their exposure by maintaining multiple, often loose outside affiliations.This, it is argued, applies to both the horizontal, business-to-business level and to vertical clientelistic relations with state actors