The Law: The Boon and Bane of IT-enabled Peer-to-Peer Sharing and Collaborative Consumption Services

IT-enabled peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing and collaborative consumption services (SCCS) allow private persons to provide access for others to their cars, accommodation and other physical assets. Together they constitute the so called Share Economy. These services often operate in a legal gray area. The relationship between the law and SCCS is bidirectional. On the one hand, the development of new SCCS offerings has to comply with a broad body of existing regulations. On the other hand, new P2P SCCS businesses often discover legislative loopholes, thereby forcing the law to react. This article conceptualizes the complex relationship between the law and IT-enabled P2P SCCS by means of a framework. The applicability of the framework is demonstrated by analyzing a specific SCCS in the electric vehicle charging infrastructure domain. The framework should constitute an effective tool in the design of new and legal P2P SCCS offerings

Gender Equality in the European Union: A Farce?

While the European Union´s accession process for Central European countries continues and Gender Equality develops to a controversially discussed topic in society, the influence of the European Union on present and potential member states remains unclear. New Institutionalism theory provides a framework based on Institutions, Interests and Ideas highlighting tools and channels of the European Union for the exertion of its influence. Case studies on Hungary, Lithuania and Poland demonstrate the trends of gender (in-) equality indices developed by the United Nations and World Economic Forum between 1999 and 2009. The European Union influenced Gender Equality positively in Central Europe mainly through Legal Framework and Positive Conditionality. While Institutions and Interests rather introduce Gender Equality, Ideas anchors it in society through norms and values. Even better results for the development of Gender Equality in Central Europe could be reached if the European Union could achieve a higher degree of supranationality