The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive has been one of the most significant developments in European Consumer Law. It introduced provisions on aggressive commercial practices for the first time on a European level and provides the key definition of consumer vulnerability in European Consumer Law. This thesis draws attention to the previously overlooked topics of aggressive commercial practices and vulnerable consumers. It shows that the UCPD fails to ensure a high level of protection from aggressive practices for vulnerable consumers. The main reason for that is that the system of the UCPD which focuses on information and the average consumer is not well suited for aggressive practices and vulnerable consumers, which require a broader consideration of factors. Furthermore, it is argued that the vulnerable consumer standard in the UCPD is too narrow to adequately protect vulnerable consumers. A conceptualisation of consumer vulnerability based on the understanding that vulnerability is universal and can be experienced by anyone is suggested. The aggressive practices provisions are analysed and it is argued that inequality of power is at their core. The aggressive practices provisions suffer from lack of clarity that makes their application difficult. A key problem is that the average consumer is unsuitable for aggressive practices. This can be addressed with the introduction of the concept of resilience to pressure. Finally, it is argued that the use of empirical evidence in interpreting the UCPD can be beneficial for the protection of vulnerable consumers.

My purpose throughout this paper is to define the importance of the fountain, both as an artifact and an image found throughout Medieval Western European Art. I intend to show by means of architectural and graphic variations, how this motif becomes an identifiable object artistically and functionally inherent in the art of the latter Middle Ages. The destruction, displacement or disappearance of the majority of Medieval fountains dictates a study of a relatively small number which have survived, with particular attention to manuscripts, to literature and to any extent drawings and engravings. In a number of instances I deemed it necessary to select only a few examples to illustrate any given aspect. Chapter one defines the variations of fountain types, clarifying the formation of a tradition embedded in Biblical or literary manuscript pictorial imagery. Chapter two deals with the role of the fountain in relation to the community. The Fonte Maggiore at Perügia stands as a supreme example of how the civic fountain not only functions as a source of water supply, but also by means of its encyclopedic sculptural program, becomes a communicative medium expressing the social, the political and the historical content of a Medieval Italian commune. Furthermore, the highly sophisticated sculptural program clearly defines the direction in which Italian thirteenth century sculpture was to progressively develop. The third chapter deals with the fountain as a symbol. Again, literary tradition construes the pictorial function of the image. The most important literary source finds the fountain symbolically functioning as the Fountain of Life. Two fifteenth century paintings of the Fountain of Life, capitalize the importance of this image in the closing generations of the Middle Ages. Deeply impregnated in Biblical tradition, the Fountain of Life demonstrates the artists' ability to formulate iconographic concepts into a clear, cohesive pattern. No matter what form the fountain may take, there does exist a similar function in each case - that of satisfying man's desire, either physically or through the mental image. One may assume therefore, all Medieval fountains exist for a particular function. The fountain as an image of any given society maintains its primary function, that of satisfying our physical desire for water. It is not surprising to find our modern fountain designers replacing the human, physical relationship with a less functional aspect, that of an entirely aesthetic motivation. Therefore, perhaps the major difference between Medieval and Modern fountains tends to be in their nature of functionalism, the former acting as a catalyst of a society, the latter becoming visually, aesthetically oriented in a new tradition. The fountain as an image defines the importance of art as a transmitter of images in the realm of values and beliefs, therefore, defining the key role of the artist as an agent of image formulation. Hence, this study functions as an exercise in the examination of imagery operative in the creation of an artifact for a better understanding of its significance. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

L’exil, au XXe siècle, devient une véritable condition humaine. Il ne s’agit plus d’une peine réservée à certaines personnalités comme par le passé. Pourtant, l’état de l’art sur le sujet a tendance à omettre cette nouveauté et à confondre exil et émigration, cette dernière étant non pas condition, mais trajet, parcours, cheminement que l’on peut suivre sur une carte. La géographie demeure ainsi la métaphore d’une condition dont l’essence échappe en conséquence à l’analyse. C’est à travers les expériences respectives de quatre hommes de lettres d’Europe de l’Est que nous cherchons à contribuer à la recherche contemporaine sur l’exil. Exil et émigration vont souvent de pair. Les deux concepts étant distincts, ils forment un couple conceptuel. Il s’agit, à l’aide de ce couple conceptuel exil-émigration, de travailler les articulations entre géographie et condition et de dégager la pertinence contemporaine des expériences du XXe siècle : en quoi les expériences spécifiques à l’Europe de l’Est, dont la nostalgie de l’Europe centrale qui caractérise nos quatre hommes de lettres, permettent-elles de mieux comprendre nos questionnements actuels les plus urgents ? / Exile, in the twentieth century, becomes a genuine human condition. It is not a punishment reserved to well-known individuals. Nonetheless, bibliography tends to omit this novelty and confounds exile with emigration. Emigration is not a condition, but a route, a journey, a movement one can follow on the map. Thus geography remains the main metaphor of a condition, and the very essence of exile continues to be evasive within research on the topic. It is by thinking through the respective experiences of four East European intellectuals that I propose to contribute to current research. Exile and emigration often go together. The two concepts being distinct, they form a couple of concepts. My aim is to use this couple, exile-emigration, to analyse connections between geography and condition and to shed light on the contemporary relevance of past experiences: these experiences, peculiar to Eastern Europe, nostalgic about Central Europe – nostalgy that the four intellectuals actually share – allow us to specify in a more accurate way our more than contemporary questionings.

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Texte remanié de: Staatsexamensarbeit--Universität Hamburg. / Bibliogr. p. 159-173. Index.

Dissertation--Würzburg, 2001. / Bibliogr. p. 209-234.

Texte remanié de: Doctoral dissertation--Department of Government at Uppsala University, 1997. / Bibliogr. p. 405-429.

Diss.--Bamberg--Otto Friedrich Universität, 2003. / Bibliogr. p. 717-768. Index.

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