Safe Seas: Developing a Common Policy Against all Odds

This article analyzes the role of the European Union (EU) and Canada in the promotion of Security Sector Reforms (SSR) activities in two regional organizations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The concept of SSR seeks to address the effective governance of security in post-conflict environment by transforming the security institutions within a country in order for them to have more efficient, legitimate and democratic role in implementing security. Recent debates within the EU have led to the adoption of an SSR concept from the Council and a new strategy from the European Commission on the SSR activities. Within the framework of the ESDP, the EU has positioned itself as a leading actor, in this domain, including in its crisis management operations. On the other hand, Canada, through its whole-of government and human security programs has also been an important actor in the promotion of SSR activities. Yet, even though several international organizations (including the United Nations, the OSCE and NATO) are effectively doing SSR activities on the ground, there does not exist a common framework within any of these organizations despite the role of the EU and Canada. As such, it is surprising to found no global common policy for SSR while this approach is precisely holistic in its foundations. Taking these elements into consideration, this paper analyzes two specific aspects : a) the absence of a common policy framework within international organizations and b) the major differences between the approaches of the OSCE and NATO in the domain of SSR and the implications for the EU and Canada’ roles. Full extt available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v3i2.186

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Common Visa Policy: Bordering from Abroad—Applying Admission Criteria before Departure

10.1093/oso/9780198701002.003.0004 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Violeta Moreno-Lax

Keyword(s):

Information System ◽

Final Section ◽

Admission Criteria ◽

Member States ◽

The Common ◽

Key Features ◽

Visa Policy ◽

Migration Flows ◽

The Eu ◽

Common Policy

Visas are specifically aimed at controlling admission at the stage of pre-departure and constitute one of the essential requirements for entry under the Schengen Borders Code. This chapter examines the common policy of the EU, conceptualizing them as pre-authorizations of entry granted before arrival in the territory of the Member States. Visa requirements, as introduced in the Visa Regulation, are perused at the outset, taking account of periodic revisions of the visa lists and the criteria for amendment considered relevant by the EU legislator. The key features of the uniform visa format and the Visa Information System (VIS) are briefly presented, highlighting their contribution to the securitisation of migration flows. Then, the visa issuing procedure, as governed by the Community Code on Visas (CCV), is examined. The final section is reserved to the analysis of the implications of the different components of the policy regarding access to asylum in the Member States.

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Fully distributed actor-critic architecture for multitask deep reinforcement learning

The Knowledge Engineering Review ◽

10.1017/s0269888921000023 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 36 ◽

Author(s):

Sergio Valcarcel Macua ◽

Ian Davies ◽

Aleksi Tukiainen ◽

Enrique Munoz de Cote

Keyword(s):

Neural Network ◽

Reinforcement Learning ◽

Duality Theory ◽

Deep Neural Network ◽

Original Problem ◽

Almost Sure Convergence ◽

Continuous Control ◽

Access Data ◽

Central Station ◽

Common Policy

Abstract We propose a fully distributed actor-critic architecture, named diffusion-distributed-actor-critic Diff-DAC, with application to multitask reinforcement learning (MRL). During the learning process, agents communicate their value and policy parameters to their neighbours, diffusing the information across a network of agents with no need for a central station. Each agent can only access data from its local task, but aims to learn a common policy that performs well for the whole set of tasks. The architecture is scalable, since the computational and communication cost per agent depends on the number of neighbours rather than the overall number of agents. We derive Diff-DAC from duality theory and provide novel insights into the actor-critic framework, showing that it is actually an instance of the dual-ascent method. We prove almost sure convergence of Diff-DAC to a common policy under general assumptions that hold even for deep neural network approximations. For more restrictive assumptions, we also prove that this common policy is a stationary point of an approximation of the original problem. Numerical results on multitask extensions of common continuous control benchmarks demonstrate that Diff-DAC stabilises learning and has a regularising effect that induces higher performance and better generalisation properties than previous architectures.

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A Case for In-Kind Transfers

Economics and Philosophy ◽

10.1017/s0266267100000791 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 55-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Steven Kelman

Keyword(s):

Medical Care ◽

Government Policy ◽

Good Deal ◽

Food Stamps ◽

Policy Tool ◽

The Poor ◽

Do So ◽

Common Policy

One of the most common policy-related messages that economists present to non-economists is the superiority of cash over in-kind transfers as a policy tool. A good deal of government policy on behalf of the poor consists, of course, of various forms of in-kind assistance, such as medical care or food stamps. However, if we wish to help the poor, the argument goes, in-kind transfers are an inferior way to do so.

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Le telecomunicazioni dagli anni Cinquanta agli anni Novanta. Tra concorrenza e armonizzazione: genesi di una nuova icona dell'Europa integrata

MEMORIA E RICERCA ◽

10.3280/mer2009-030009 ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 89-97

Author(s):

Léonard Laborie

Keyword(s):

Historical Perspective ◽

Common Market ◽

Telecommunications Networks ◽

European Cooperation ◽

Operating Rules ◽

Telecommunications Sector ◽

Long Time ◽

Common Policy

- This article aims at placing in an historical perspective the changes that gave birth in the Eighties and Nineties to the contemporary "transnational and liberalized" European telecommunications landscape. Telecommunications networks are articulated around a triangle linking operators (services providers), manufacturers (gears providers) and regulators (providing operating rules). In Europe, this triangle formed strong national monopoly till the Eighties within each nation: a compartmentalized organisation highly contrasting with the idea and prospect of a common market. This landscape was swept away from the Eighties on, the telecommunications sector becoming an icon of an integrated and dynamic Europe, around a common policy combining technical harmonisation (the GSM standard for instance) and deregulation. This article addresses the questions of the origin, goals and stakeholders of a common policy for a long time impossible to achieve, redefined at several occasions, and, at the end, emblematic.Parole chiave: Telecomunicazioni, Cooperazione europea, Armonizzazione tecnica, CEPT, CEE, GSM Telecommunications, European cooperation, Technical Harmonization, CEPT, CEE, GSM

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A Common Policy for Education

British Journal of Educational Studies ◽

10.2307/3121363 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 84

Author(s):

John D Turner ◽

Mary Warnock

Keyword(s):

Common Policy

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EAC – an Answer for Regional Problems or Failed Solutions in East Africa?

Politeja ◽

10.12797/politeja.15.2018.56.15 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (56) ◽

pp. 267-277

Author(s):

Anna Cichecka

Keyword(s):

East Africa ◽

Regional Identity ◽

East African ◽

Integration Model ◽

East African Community ◽

Intergovernmental Cooperation ◽

African Community ◽

Regional Problems ◽

Common Policy

One of the definitions states that regionalism means a common policy or project aimed at increasing informal links and economic, political and social transactions which strengthen integration processes, intensify intergovernmental cooperation and create regional identity among the community. According to the above, it was assumed that firstly, states in a group are stronger and more effective and secondly, that regionalism and regionalization may be regarded as a way to solve some regional problems and to contribute to the development of individual states. This narrative became especially attractive for underdeveloped and dysfunctional regions as it offered an opportunity for changes. As a result, a quantitative increase in regional initiatives started. The article is dedicated to the integration processes in the East Africa region. The main aim of the paper is to examine the situation in East Africa, regarding the role that the East African Community has played in this area. Moreover, an attempt has been made to analyze the integration model adopted by the organization and find out if the EAC is able to solve the main regional problems or rather to propose a failed solution and maintain dysfunctional patterns in the organization.

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