*** JEAN-FRANCOIS AKINDJI-KOMBE (Editors): L'homme dans la société internationale. Mélanges en hommage au Professeur Paul Tavernier. Editions Bruylant (39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5480713 - fax: 5480714 - Email: commande@larciergroup.com - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ). 2013, 1.624 pp. €195. ISBN 978-2-8027-3905-3.
More than eighty different authors pay homage to Paul Tavernier, a lecturer in law and a specialist in human rights and humanitarian law, in this publication. Their contributions are included in a book of more than one thousand five hundred pages, edited by Jean-François Akindji-Kombé, a professor at the Faculty of Law at the Sorbonne. In his preface to this collectively written book, which he explains was inspired by the humanism of Paul Tavernier, Akindji-Kombé asserts that, “humanism and devotion are undoubtedly essential characteristics of this legal book”. Renowned figures from European and international universities are included in this wealth of contributions to this weighty tome that describes the contribution made by Professor Tavernier to humanitarian law related subjects, a theme he constantly sought to explore throughout numerous studies, memoirs, articles and other publications, the list of which is included in the annex. The book also offers a number of reference sources that are extremely valuable, according to the editor, half of which focus on Europe and relatively recent legal practices in this arena. Different figures contribute to this “mixture” and subsequently add to this, “bouquet of perspectives, themes and reflections” to help establish more clearly “the legal doctrine” linked to humanitarian law. In the forward, Professor Akindji-Kombé affirms that, “those that had the opportunity to talk to Professor Paul Tavernier and work with him know to what extent the human being and international society are at the heart of his legal approach, in addition to his relentless, demanding and generous activities in the field of training, educating and guiding research and studies in this field”.
In his studies on the European Union and its steady construction in the area of individual rights, Paul Tavernier focused his writing on, “the legal system of human rights” in the Union and its member states, as well as specific agreements that are still currently applied. The notion of sovereignty in the Union and at NATO in connection with these rights is also tackled and a number of responses are given to the question of, “What Kind of Europe of Human Rights?” The United Nations also provides him with another field of study, including security related questions, disarmament and conflicts between China and India, in the Middle East and Iran, Iraq and Kuwait, with the US, Ethiopia and Eritrea and ultimately, those linked with law of the sea. In this book, several themes identify a need to establish a better defined and targeted definition of law on the sovereignty of states and the practices of the international community, about which Professor Jean Charpentier, seeks to clarify whether this is, “a myth or reality”. The tasks sometimes facing nation states are covered by the UN Security Council or different international jurisdictional bodies and include the practice of the “Interests of the State” and the legal immunity of states that invoke it. Obviously, these provide much food for thought, such as reflections provided in the book on whether prevention is in fact the best cure. The European Court of Human Rights is also at the core of these studies.
This book does not reach any definitive conclusions and readers are able to see the difficulty of defining human rights that, nonetheless, figure in the preamble to several international agreements such as the Founding Charter of the United Nations Organisation. Professor Madjid Bencheikh explains that, “no one is thinking of denying their existence” and states are always confirming the way in which they believe in them but the practice, however, reveals sharp differences on their meaning and scope for the rules governing them.
Fathi B'Chir
*** IAN ROBERGE (Editor): Europe et sécurité après le Traité de Lisbonne. Éditions Bruylant (see address attached). « Études Stratégiques Internationales » series. 2013, 151 pp. €30. ISBN 978-8027-4061-2.
As Europe fully enters the 21st-century, what kind of security policy should it have? This question is posed by a number of different writers in this book edited by Professor Ian Roberge of the University York of Toronto. It comes at the very time that the European Union is at a crossroads and undergoing significant institutional change. All the different contributors hope to provide a new and critical look at security challenges. This examination also has the benefit of being provided by outside sources, such as the Association France-Canada d'Études stratégiques. What kind of policy should be employed to tackle security threats? The link between Europe and security has never been easily defined, explains one of the contributions. This is because of the heterogeneous nature of threats and the diversity of responses and institutional developments affecting the European Union, such as the Lisbon Treaty. Nonetheless, the authors warn that Europe is not the EU and the latter is not Europe, which means that the challenge ahead will be even broader.
The European Union, however, remains the focal point, with its unique experience of integration and, at the same time, a mass of “paradoxes”. Its initial goal was economic but it has moved towards political Union. It is committed to ever-greater integration and suffers the subsequent effects, given that the euro is also in a certain way and one of the main causes of the range of problems currently affecting the continent. The single currency provided a number of countries such as Greece, with assurances that they could live above their means and take advantage of easy credit. The third paradox is that governance has impacted on its response to security challenges: institutionally it is united but diverse within the hierarchy of its decision-making and remains subject to asymmetrical pressures. It is therefore its fourth paradox with Germany and France and the Eurogroup that provide an example of this distortion. As a whole, governments only relinquish their remit grudgingly to the Community and appear to be satisfied with a “weaker Europe”. The Lisbon Treaty only “very partially changed things” and the “panoply of other institutions that currently exist are unable to replace a clear political determination that is expressed unambiguously”. The book then looks at a number of other security threats: the Balkans, Russia, the relationship between demographics and security, the role within the UN, etc. The most striking thing in the book is the absence of the two current major challenges in the Mediterranean, namely, the “Arab Spring and the peace process. This region was only tackled in an article nebulously described as AQIM (Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb) but without making any link with the global political upheavals occurring in this area. (FBc)
*** GIOVANNI FINIZIO, ERNESTO GALLO: Democracy at the United Nations. UN Reform in the Age of Globalisation. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). « Federalism » series, No. 1. 2013, 359 pp. €44.40. ISBN 978-90-5201-894-2.
Headed by Professor Giovanni Filipino, who teaches European Union foreign policy at the University of Turin and Ernesto Gallo, who holds a doctorate in political science from the same university, this book includes fourteen specialists analysing the reforms and changes the United Nations needs to undergo, in addition to the U.N.'s relationship with the political world. First of all, they examine the possibility of creating a democratic assembly in which citizens from the world would be represented in order to adapt democracy to the challenges created by globalisation. Secondly, the book examines the issue of strengthening the Security Council through democratisation and introducing a greater regional emphasis. The authors also look at what role the UN should play in the globalised world. How should the United Nations support and embody international democracy? It is the only organisation that has the relevant major political objectives and jurisdiction in the whole world and according to the authors, the UN also has the potential for managing democratic globalisation and promoting humanity's common good. Nonetheless, it is still controlled by the nation states and functions according to typical balance of forces in the pre-globalisation epoque, which is why reform is more crucial and urgent than ever. (AKa)
*** Politica Exterior. Editions Estudios de Politica Exterior (49 Nuñez de Balboa, E-28001 Madrid. Tel: (34-91) 4312628 - fax: 5777252 - Email: revista@politicaexterior.com - Internet: http://www.politicaexterior.com ). November/December 2013, No. 156 pp. €13.
This issue includes a feature article on defence in the 21st century at the time of blatant war weariness in developed countries. (MT)