This volume contains the papers presented at the annual Concurrences Journal conference held on 21 February 2014 at the French Ministry for the Economy. After the traditional « State of the Union », presented by Vice President Joaquín Almunia in the context of the « after » economic crisis, the papers adress four main issues:• Detection of anticompetitive practices: Should existing tools be revised or new tools introduced? Leniency, market surveys, financial reward…• Patent...

'Corruption' in public procurement typically involves procurement decisions taken in favour of preferred bidders in exchange for improper compensation (the acceptance of bribes, for example), while supplier collusion refers to a type of cartel activity, in which firms rig their bids in a tendering process. Although these practices are distinct, they frequently occur together in the public procurement context, reinforcing one another. Combatting Corruption and Collusion in Public Procur...

Reformers had high hopes that the end of communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union would lead to significant improvements in legal institutions and the role of law in public administration. However, the cumulative experience of 25 years of legal change since communism has been mixed, marked by achievements and failures, advances and moves backward. This book—written by a team of socio-legal scholars—probes the nuances of this process and starts the process to explain them. It...

Kakistocracy, a term that describes what our government has become, a government controlled by "leaders" who are the least able or least principled citizens. These leaders are labeled "kakistocrats."In Reform the Kakistocracy, Kovacs describes how the kakistocracy transformed our federal government from one of limited powers to one of immense power without any constitutional changes. This decades-long transformation revised the functions and powers of Congress, the executive, and t...

The Middle East and North Africa region has been plagued with civil wars, international interventions, and increasing militarization, making it one of the most war-affected areas in the world today. Despite numerous mediation processes and initiatives for conflict resolution, most have failed to transform conflicts from war to peace. Seeking to learn from these past efforts and apply new research, Fraihat and Svensson present the first comprehensive approach to mediation in the Arab world,...