*** MAXIME LEFEBVRE: L'Union européenne peut-elle devenir une grande puissance ? La Documentation Française (29 quai Voltaire, F-75344 Paris Cedex 07. Tel: (33-1) 40157010 - Internet: http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr ). Collection « Réflexe Europe / Débats ». 2012, 177 pp. €9.
ISBN 978-2-11-008897-0.
Incontrovertibly didactic, the Réflexe Europe series aims to, “put the different controversies” that pepper the history of European construction “into perspective” and provide readers with a better understanding of the current stakes at play and challenges in the European Union. This noble and very useful objective has led to the publication of this book, which examines the position of the Union and its member states on the global chessboard. As Elisabeth Guigou quite rightly argues in her preface, the diplomat and lecturer (Sciences Po and Ecole nationale d'administration) Maxime Lefebvre, “provides a masterful conceptual dissection and precision of knowledge in a wholly robust style and consistent and piecemeal analysis of the European Union on the international scene, including its claims to possess the tributes of a real power”. This praise of the current president of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the National Assembly is indeed quite apt, particularly because the dynamic way in which the book is structured is full of boxes of text that explain one or other of the specific points included to help us understand the subject matter.
In the first part of the book, the author provides an historic backdrop, which, over the centuries, explains the initial reasons for rejecting a policy of power and the current chaotic implementation of a Common Foreign and Defence Policy that lacks political unity. The second part of the book examines the different challenges and divisions that need to be overcome (the role of small and big countries), the necessity of the Union being part of the globalization process and the necessity as perceived in certain member states of the Union being able to, “conquer its own strategic autonomy”. Maxime Lefebvre then analyses the most original features of current European leadership today: its trade policy; forms of coercion, such as sanctions, “power through norms”, a massive weapon of persuasion and the gradual timid affirmation of a diplomatic-military capacity in international crises. In the last part of the book, he places the European Union on the geopolitical scene and underlines its, “real power of attraction over its neighbours” due to its efficient enlargement policy (even though, “definitive Union borders will need to be definitively delineated at some time”) as well, to a much lesser extent, its neighbourhood policy, “its still imbalanced” transatlantic relationship and the diverse nature of its cooperation with countries such as Russia, China, India and other strategic partners.
Maxime Lefebvre therefore puts together a very comprehensive picture of the Union's strengths and weaknesses in the international arena. As Elisabeth Guigou again explains, this erudite book essentially seeks to examine the, “limitations to the traditional Westphalian state's capacity to intervene on the international stage” and brings certain elements of the answer to the question of whether the European Union, “is able to reconquer the margins of action lost by each of the national member states”. It is in this part of the book that a small defect is located because the French diplomat creates the impression of replacing the University professor on this question. For example, the author seems to be satisfied with the intergovernmental character restricting the European Union on the a scene of major international policy, arguing that, “the construction of a European super state would need to respond to much more difficult questions” than those that arise in the current European patchwork, “what would a federal Europe look like on the international scene? What would be its limitations? Who would like to be part of it and who would prefer to remain outside? Would it have to decide by majority voting on questions as important as taking part in external wars?” Are these questions simply big words? Obviously, some people, especially in Paris, would think so, particularly in politico-diplomatic quarters and who believe that European democracy, “does not work and could not work in the same way as a national democracy, due to the partitioning of national political areas”. Do we need to get hot under the collar about all this? No, but it is to be regretted that the inherited blinkers of a certainly glorious past can still distort our real perception of things and lead to the affirmation that because Berlin, Paris and… London have for centuries been, “the heart of economic and military power in Europe, it is there that a common European will needs to be crystallized”, which is as much an insult to one's intelligence as it is to political realism.
Michel Theys
*** MAURICE VAÏSSE, PIERRE MELANDRI, FREDERIC BOZO (editors: La France et l'Otan. André Versaille éditeur (Centre Dansaert, 7 rue d'Alost, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2133705 - fax: 2133642 - E-mail: information@andreversailleediteur.com - Internet: http://www.andreversailleediteur.com ). 2012, 660 pp., €59.90. ISBN 978-2-87495-132-9.
The history of relations between France and NATO have at the very least being both complicated and stormy from the creation of the Atlantic Alliance in 1949 to France's return to NATO in 2008-2009, including its decision to withdraw from the integrated military organization in 1966. It is precisely as a means to mark the 30th anniversary of this decision taken by General De Gaulle that a colloquy was organized in February 1996. This book provides an accurate account of what was discussed at this colloquy. All the different aspects of the question relating to the French relationship with NATO are tackled by eminent academic specialists, the majority of whom were historians. For example, in the first part focusing on the, “IV Republic”, Admiral Marcel Duval returns to the, “crisis of the EDC”, which he personally experienced at the Pentagon in the French delegation to the Nato Standing Group, which at the time was NATO's supreme strategic body. Different phases had been undertaken to prepare France's withdrawal and the consequences of this and relations developed between NATO and Paris since 1969 are the subject of other accounts. The period between 1996, the year the colloquy took place and 2011, which saw France's return to the integrated command structures in 2009, are examined at the end of the book by way of a bibliographic orientation that also takes into account the transformations that have occurred in NATO since 1996.
(MT)
*** QUENTIN MICHEL (Editor): Sensitive Trade. The Perspective of European States. 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 ). "Non-Prolifération" series, No. 5. 2011, 212 pp. €32.50. ISBN 978-90-5201-775-4.
Quentin Michel is a Professor of European studies at the faculty of law and political science at the University of Liège. He was responsible for editing this book, which looks at the work carried out by young researchers into legislative and regulatory mechanisms put in place in the European Union as a means to control the arms trade and other dual use material, civil and potentially military (or terrorist) and to this end to establish responsibility from the industries concerned. In an effort to check that member states are ready meeting their commitments, the authors describe the way in which the control system applies in each country examined, namely Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as Croatia.
(PBo)
*** PHILIPPE G. NELL: Suisse - Communauté européenne. Au cœur des négociations sur l'Espace économique européen. Éditions Economica (49 rue Héricart, F-75015 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 45781292 - fax: 53950201 - Internet: http://www.economica.fr ) et Fondation Jean Monnet pour l'Europe (Ferme de Dorigny, CH-1015 Lausanne). "Cahiers rouges" series. 2012, 414 pp. €33. ISBN 978-2-7178-6425-0.
Philippe G. Nell is an economist working at the Swiss Secretariat of State for the economy, who teaches at the universities of Fribourg and Basle. He participated throughout the process and negotiations that led to the creation of the European Economic Area. This began with a speech made by Jacques Delors in January 1989 until the signing of the agreement in May 1992. This book is based on its first hand experiences and personal sources, as well as meetings and research carried out at the federal archives in Berne, where he had access to documents that still had not been declassified. In this 213th edition of Cahier rouge he takes the reader through the daily process and provides accounts of his conversation with the main process protagonists, such as Commissioner Frans Andriessen, who wrote the preface. He also shows, as explained by Patrick Piffaretti, that even some of the Swiss leaders at the time considered access to the Community as a possible alternative to the European Economic Area, to which 50.3% of the Swiss population ultimately rejected on 6 December 1992. The director of the Jean Monnet Foundation Europe subsequently declared that the aim was for this book to, “enrich the reflection of all those seeking to examine these questions, which are now more appropriate than ever” …
(MT)
*** GRACIA MARÍN DURÁN, ELISA MORGERA: Environmental Integration in the EU's External Relations. Beyond Multilateral Dimensions. Hart Publishing (16C Worcester Place, Oxford, OX1 2JW, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 517530 - fax: 510710 - E-mail: mail@hartpub.co.uk - Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). "Modern Studies in European Law" series. 2012, 320 pp. £ 50. ISBN 978-1-84946-187-0.
This book is the result of work undertaken by students working on their theses at the European University Institute in Florence, supervised by the faculty of Law at the University of Edinburgh. It provides a scientific examination of environmental protection demands included in the Union's external relations. The authors specifically tackle the way in which Article 11 of the treaty on the functioning of the Union was translated into unilateral, bilateral and inter-regional action. This area had to a certain extent been neglected by the academic world, which chose to focus on the multilateral dimension of the Union's environmental policy. The study has strictly legal confines and does not seek to examine in any way this policy in third countries. It begins with a detailed textual and contextual analysis of Article 11 and the constitutional foundations of European environmental policy. The authors then proceed to a methodological analysis of the way in which the objective of environmental protection is actually translated into practical terms. A major part of the book provides a comparison of the different bilateral and inter-regional agreements negotiated by the Union with non-EU countries and regions, such as Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. The researchers also provide an insight into the instruments utilised unilaterally by the European Union as a means to influence the environmental behaviour of its external partners, such as the System of Generalised Preferences or technical and financial assistance. Other less legalistic tools are also analysed and which ultimately provide an effective study of the legitimacy and effectiveness of the action taken by the EU 27 in its relations with the rest of the world as a means to protect the environment.
(PBo)
*** ELLEN DESMET: Indigenous rights entwined with nature conservation. Intersentia (31 Groenstraat, B-2640 Mortsel. Tel: (32-3) 6801550 - fax: 6587121 - Email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.com ). « International law series ». 2011, 721 pp. €135, £128, $189. ISBN 978-94-000-0133-6
This thesis in law was defended in 2009 at the Catholic University of Leuven. It subsequently became a weighty tome that tackles a new paradigm: that of environmental protection and respect for the indigenous rights of local communities. In her book, the researcher, Ellen Desmet, fuses law with anthropology in a tableau that includes extensive work carried out in a field in Peru. What are the consequences resulting from the policy changes in the field of international human rights? How has the above-mentioned paradigm been interpreted and applied at national and local levels? These are the questions that serve as a number of red lines in the study, which seeks to analyse the interaction between the initiatives taken to protect the environment and the rights of the indigenous people and local communities, in an anthropological legal perspective based on human rights. The specificity of this book is that it provides a comprehensive insight into international law on human rights, in the context of environmental protection. In her book, Ellen Desmet, provides a critical evaluation of Peruvian legislation on environmental protection and focuses her research on a series of interviews and ethnographic fieldwork on the prevailing situation in the Peruvian region of the Upper Putumayo, inhabited by the Airo Pai. In her research, which includes no less than 2000 bibliographic sources, she also provides a number of different recommendations and asserts that by including social science methods in her legal research offers a number of advantages that are otherwise difficult to obtain and which largely compensate the downside that it is implied in this kind of research.
(MDV)
*** Politica Exterior. Editions Estudios de Politica Exterior (49 Nuñez de Balboa, E-28001 Madrid. Tel: (34-91) 4312628 - fax: 5777252 - E-Mail: revista@politicaexterior.com - Internet: http://www.politicaexterior.com ). July/August 2012, No. 176 pp. €13.
The summer edition of this well-known consistently high-quality Spanish journal contains several articles calling for a, “boost to be given to the planet” through the green economy and what position to adopt in a world where water is becoming much more scarce, etc.
(MT)
*** Rivista di studi politici internazionali. Casa Editrice Le Lettere (8 piazza dei Nerli, I-50124 Firenze. Tel: (39-55) 2342710 - fax: 2346010 - E-Mail: staff@lelettere.it - Internet: http://www.lelettere.it ). January/ March 2012, No. 79, 160 pp. €18 (Italy) or €21 (abroad).
This issue of the prestigious Italian journal contains contributions focusing on respect for international humanitarian law and the repercussions of “Arab Spring”.
(MT)