Licensing agreements are commonly used when, for instance, exploiting new areas or countries. Trade mark licences are one such example. A trade mark licence gives the proprietor the opportunity to keep its exclusive rights at the same time as another party uses the trade mark in commercial purposes. When licensing an EUTM to a third party, it is possible to include quality control clauses in the agreement in order for the licensor to control that the licensee uses the trade mark correctly. The possibility to include quality control implies that there is no such obligation within EU trade mark law. Yet, in the US, quality control is not only a possibility but also an obligation in order to keep the trade mark registered. Therefore, it is of interest to examine European trade mark law in relation to quality control in licensing. The American view of quality control is examined for illustrative purposes. Within the EU, the essential function of an EUTM means the ability to identify the origin. In addition, one single undertaking is responsible for the quality that is needed for the trade mark to fulfil its essential role in the system of undistorted system. Quality is seen as an economic function of the trade mark and therefore it should not be an obligation to include quality control in trade mark licences. The proprietor should bear the responsibility him- or herself when not including quality control. As a contrast, in the US, the consumers must be protected from deception and therefore it is a requirement for the proprietor to control and maintain the quality by including quality control in trade mark licences. If a trade mark licence does not include quality controls, the licence is considered invalid and the trade mark is considered abandoned. Furthermore, a law and economics perspective is included in the thesis and specifically the theory of TCE and the belonging terms or bounded rationality, opportunism, uncertainty and trust. While the EU seems to value trust more when settling licence agreements, the US seems to value opportunism and uncertainty more due to de fact that consumers must be protected from the proprietors. Since quality control within trade mark licensing appears to lock the proprietor into a situation where it is difficult to differentiate and change the direction of the trade mark, it should not be an obligation to include quality controls in trade mark licences. It should be a privilege for the proprietor to decide on whether to use or not and bear the consequences of that choice.

In recent years, some scholars have turned their attention towards the problem of multiple simultaneous peace operations (MSPOs), but with little focus on state motivations for their initiation. This thesis examines the case of the conflict in Mali and the high amount of operations deployed there by different actors. It does so through an instrumental case study of the establishment of these operations and of the French role in this process. The thesis finds that France was at first eager to deal with the conflict by supporting regional actors, but with the crisis deteriorating, becoming ever more involved. Next to its own intervention, it led various international organizations to operate alongside it in order to share the conflict management burden while remaining critically influential and securing its goals. This approach allowed France to balance the interests of its domestic audience, western allies, as well as those of the governments in the region. Based on the analysis, the thesis suggests that the proclaimed logic of division of labor between different organizations deploying MSPOs might be a justification for primarily generating as much resources as available while reducing various kinds of costs, although without any explicit evidence for it being a conscious effort of using the...