*** ALFONSO MARTINEZ ARRANZ, NATALIE J. DOYLE, PASCALINE WINAND (Editors): New Europe, New World? The European Union, Europe and the Challenges of the 21st Century. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "European Policy" series, No. 47. 2010, 283 pp, €33.50. ISBN 978-90-5201-604-7.
During the past twenty five years, Community Europe has changed enormously and so has the world at large. At an internal level, the Union was radically transformed following the fall of the Berlin Wall. After which, it soon began to count more small and medium-sized member states, with more diverse political systems, within its sphere. It is also confronted by a permanent challenge of winning recognition from its citizens, as a political project rooted in popular legitimacy rather than as an economic, institutional and elitist undertaking” “. The editors of the book point out in their introductory “paper” that this is indeed even more the case because although the successive treaties have not ceased to expand and reinforce the competencies of the Union (single currency, internal and legal affairs, security and defence etc.), Community Europe has “seemed to go hand in hand with an increasingly apolitical management of the European economy and the dismantling of labour law or social legislation in a context of growing unemployment”. The economic and financial crisis of recent years has obviously done nothing to improve matters. In addition to these internal tensions, there have been external challenges such as energy dependency, global terrorism, organised crime, regional conflicts, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction etc. It is clear that the Union has had no other choice - it has been obliged to adapt to the situation.
This entire book revolves around the question of whether it has succeeded in this enterprise. Although the Union is undeniably a trade partner to be reckoned with and that it is increasingly perceived by certain actors that it plays an essential role in enhancing security and well-being throughout the world, the authors of this book seek to verify whether it is a giant with feet of clay. Has the Union succeeded in convincing its citizens and the world outside the EU that it really does support the values it is seeking to promote, namely, human rights, social justice, democracy, development cooperation, environmental protection and multilateralism? In practice, is it perceived as a model of peace and prosperity that can be emulated in other regions of the world? Or is it seen more as a "Fortress Europe", as a club of prosperous countries bent on protecting their own borders from immigrants, and denying accession to new countries from the South and the East? In other words, “is the EU perceived as having an exclusive or an inclusive identity?” The authors of this book come from a very diverse intellectual horizon and seek to bring some sort of clarification to these questions. The book is structured into three parts. The first focuses on values, culture, migration and identity. Several contributions aim to assess to what extent attempts to redefine the Union and identify the values, which are at the heart of the integration project, have been crowned with success. In the second part of the book, the Union is examined in the light of the new role it has on the world scene and on which it oscillates between “Soft and Hard Power”. Finally, the third part of the book particularly evaluates the way in which the Union is perceived in the Asia-Pacific region. The book has in fact received support in its efforts from Monash University and the Commission delegation in Australia. Ultimately, the image depicted in this book is that of a, "civilian power" intent on spreading peace, stability, sustainable development and democracy beyond its own borders, an EU which is not an economic "club of the rich" but rather a force for social justice, democracy and generosity within its own borders and beyond”. Nevertheless, the editors of this book indicate that it would be to the advantage of the Union in its quest for reconciliation with its citizens to set about “rediscovering the European social project”, improving the integration of its immigrants and, “promoting an inclusive multicultural citizenship”, in addition to providing a more precise definition of its ultimate goal.
Pierre Bouvier
*** BRIGITTE KRULIC (Editors): Raison(s) d'État(s) en Europe. Traditions, usages, recompositions. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, BP 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). « Travaux Interdisciplinaires et Plurilingues » series, No. 13. 2010, 261 pp, €45.80. ISBN 978-3-0343-0419-1.
In the 17th century, the great thinker Charles de Saint-Evremond dared to utter the following sentence, “the reason of state is a mysterious reason invented by politicians to authorise everything unreasonable they do”. It is true that the “reason of state” has always had few overt defenders, with, perhaps, the exception of Charles Pasqua, who, when he was Minister for the interior in 1994, made the astonishing claim that, “the rule of law ends where the reason of state begins”. The notion of the reason of state has always provoked many different responses associated in the European political imagination with policies (secrecy and cynicism) and controversial figures ( Machiavelli, Richelieu, Bismarck). This book is there to prove that the source may actually have positive properties. The book is an extension of an international multidisciplinary colloquy. This event brought together specialists from a number of different disciplines ranging from modern and contemporary history, legal experts, political scientists and philosophers. It begins with an observation and analysis of the conditions leading to the emergence of the notion of reason of state during the 16th and 17th centuries, namely at the moment when the modern state was coming into fruition, as interpreted by Machiavelli and his compatriot François Guichardin (the French translation of the name Francesco Guicciardini). The second part of the book contains a number of examples for contextualising the notion of reason of state in the European area, as described by Plato through his elegy to lies, concocted by different authoritarian figures advocating the reason of state in Germany between 1871 - 1933. Some of these figures include the anti-Machiavellian thinking of Frederick II and Voltaire and Republican readings of the reason of state in the Dreyfus Affair. In this part of the book, there is also a contribution by Gius Gargiulo on a number of figures who wrote a preface to the Prince: Mussolini, Craxi and Berlusconi. The latter affirmed in his preface that, “if it is necessary, one must operate outside of the domain of morality”. No one would judge that this precept was applied to the letter by the Italian Council… the final part of the book is mainly in French, apart from one contribution in English and the other in German. It focuses on contemporary renderings of the notion of the reason of state, namely that the rule of law has to confront the state of emergency and other exceptional circumstances. (MT)
*** L'Europe en formation. Revue d'études sur la construction européenne et le fédéralisme - Journal of Studies on European Integration and Federalism. Centre international de formation européenne (10 av. des Fleurs, F-06000 Nice. Tel: (33-4) 93979397 - fax: 93979398 - E-mail: europe.formation@cife.eu - Internet: http: //http://www.europeenformation.eu ). 2010, No. 357, 223 pp. €20. Subscription €50.
The main theme in this edition of this publication (set up by the committed federalist Alexandre Marc) is quite astonishing insofar as it makes a clean break with the themes usually dealt with in this publication. In these pages the reader is effectively invited to share different reflections on collective violence. This theme, as well as the massacres committed in the past, are beginning to surface after having been concealed so long by totalitarian violence (twenty years after the end of the Cold War). Contributions cover Nazi Germany and more recent conflicts such as those that occurred in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. A very interesting study was carried out by the political scientist Eddy Fougier on European journalism and subsequently on how European news is conveyed. He is a senior official at the Observatoire géostratégique de l'information à l'Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques and frequently refers to Agence Europe as a model of an ultra-specialised press agency but also points out that, “the natio- centric popular press… leaves the great majority of the public entirely in ignorance about European affairs”. Subsequently, he considers that, “the creation of a popular European orientated media would undoubtedly constitute a good way of democratising” the European public arena. (MT)
*** The Federalist Debate. Papers on Federalism in Europe and the World. Einstein Center for International Studies (26 via Schina, I-10144 Torino. Tel./fax: (+39-011) 4732843 - E-mail: federalist.debate@libero.it - Internet: http://www.federalist.debate.org ). 2010, No. 3, 64 pp. Annual subscription: €15.
This edition of this well-known federalist publication begins with an editorial in which Lucio Levi affirms that the federal model is the formula that will provide the world with governance on a variety of different levels that respect the plethora of different interests. Given that this claim will surprise some parties, he argues that the nation state, as is the case with the former Yugoslavia and Somalia, has shown that its implosion can lead to barbarism and ethnic or religious tribalism and consequently calls for its transformation. There are also several articles on how to help Europe find an exit-strategy to the economic and monetary storms in which it finds itself. There is, notably, a profession of faith by Ferdinando Riccardi with regard to the durability of the Community method. (MT)
*** BIRTE WASSENBERG, GIOVANNI FALEG, MARTIN W. MTODECKI (Editors): L'OTAN et l'Europe. Quels liens pour la sécurité et la défense européenne ? Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (see address attached). "Euroclio", No. 55. 2010, 156 pp., 26,90 €. ISBN 978-90-5201-599-6.
This book looks at the achievements of the Academic Forum on Security in Europe. This event brought together experts from a variety of different specialist areas - military, university, senior civil servants - to examine in November 2008 the state of relations between the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and European defence bodies, which were just in their embryonic stages. This took place at the Institut des hautes études européennes de l'Université in Strasbourg. The goal of the conference organisers and the objective of this book (which provides a report on the conference), is to develop exogenous and endogenous factors capable of uniting or dividing the EU 27 and the US in the security arena, given that this subject is now on a global and not exclusively regional level. The lightning conductor of this book is therefore to verify whether relations between NATO and the Union are, “still a common vector for global security”. The first part of the book focuses on the origins, resources and the concept of security and defence in Europe since 1945. Birte Wassemberg points out to what extent the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was, previously under US leadership, whilst European defence modalities were, above all, determined by external factors. The book also examines cooperation in the field of armaments production from the distant past to the current period. In the second part of the book, other authors more specifically tackle relations between NATO, the European Union and Russia. Finally, the last part of the book explores both the Balkans and Afghanistan as European defence case studies. (MT)
*** MARCO OVERHAUS: Zivil-militärisches Zusammenwirken in der Sicherheits- und Verteidigungs-politk der EU - Operative Erfahrungen, Defizite, Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten. Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Deutsches Institut für Internationale Politik und Sicherheit (3-4 Ludwigkirchplatz, D-10719 Berlin. Tel: (49-30) 880070 - fax: 88007100 - E-mail: swp@swp-berlin.org - Internet: http: //http://www.swp-berlin.org ). Collection « SWP - Studie», No. 10. 2010, 32 pp.
Putting together a common external policy remains an enormous challenge to the European Union and its elaboration has always been a source of tension between the member states. Under the umbrella of security and defence policy, Union action is more often than not been carried out in countries and territories with which the 27 member states have strong historical links, as is the case with Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Operations in this arena often include the despatching of police officers and, to a lesser extent, sending out soldiers. A third option involves co-operation between these two forces on the ground. This third option is analysed in this publication in light of two crucial problems. The first involves the lack of cooperation between the European Commission and the Council, when sending out police officers or soldiers into foreign territories. This problematic can create very real repercussions in the field. Secondly, the author of this publication provides a detailed analysis of the lack of cooperation prevailing between soldiers and police officers, whilst the major part of this study focuses on experiences gained in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in the Congo. Marco Overhaus also provides an insight into possible ways of rectifying these shortcomings, whose impact on European operations is so important. (JD)
*** UWE HALBACH: Ungelöste Regionalkonflikte im Südkaukasus. Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Deutsches Institut für Internationale Politik und Sicherheit (see address attached). Collection "SWP - Studie", No. 8. 2010, 36 pp.
The Southern Caucasus in Europe is one of the regions where repetitive conflicts have never been fully resolved. This was brought to the fore by the events in 2008 between Russia and Georgia. The external actors in this region, including the European Union, display extreme cautiousness when it comes to intervening in this area. This may be surprising, given that the Southern Caucasus is part of European Neighbourhood Policy, as well as the “Black Sea Synergy Initiative” and Europe's Eastern Partnership. In an effort to provide answers to a number of questions raised about this issue, the author of this study initially illustrates the geopolitical context of the region as a whole and then provides a more detailed picture of each individual conflict: conflicts involving secession, which affect Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, not to mention even older conflicts, such as those between Armenians and Azeris in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Secondly, Uwe Halbach identifies the different actors engaged in these conflicts and provides a thorough analysis of the respective roles played by Russia and Turkey. In this section of the publication, the author also highlights the conditions on the ground, more particularly, in light of the militarisation of conflicts in the Southern Caucasus. The final part of the book focuses on the role played by the Union and bases his analysis on the principle that this, indeed, represents a very real challenge to the Union and its common foreign and security policy. (JD)