*** ROBERTO DOMINGUEZ (editors): The OSCE: Soft Security for a Hard World. Competing Theories for Understanding the OSCE. 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 ). "Euroclio" series, No. 76. 2014, 193 pp. €44.90. ISBN 978-2-87574-108-0.
This book brings a book back to life, an organisation that can no longer claim the title of "sleeping beauty". This title was given to the defunct Western European Union long ago and but which was in fact, in the defence domain, also a victim of a profile deficit. Nonetheless, as explained by those who are behind this academic initiative and publication, the history of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe warrants the attention of those who, in Europe and the wider world, are interested in the way in which security can be improved in the context of relations between fully sovereign states. Therefore, as emphasised by Professor Roberto Dominguez (University of Suffolk and the European University Institute of Florence) in his introductory chapter, this organisation that came about at the Helsinki Conference, when relations between the East and West were beginning to thaw in the middle of the 1970s, undoubtedly does not have the political influence acquired since then by the European Union or the military weight of NATO. Nonetheless, it did rise to the rank of "regional security provider". It also increased in number from 35 member countries to far more than 50 today and which has been active in no fewer than 21 different terrains since it was set up, as well as 16 current fields of intervention in South East Europe (six operations), Eastern Europe (two), the Southern Caucasus (three) and Central Asia (five). Sufficient reason, alone, to study this organisation and look at how it operates.
The specialists that contribute to the nine chapters of the book seek to see how the central organs are functioning by dissecting the main body with scalpels of different political theory, such as those linked to the Realist School, obviously, as well as other sociological theories: liberal institutionalism, social constructivism, poststructuralism and other theoretical tools that are used in this book to assess this organisation. Judging by the evidence, this organisation does not tackle the issue of security in exclusively defence terms but also looks at dimensions such as the economy, the environment and… human rights. It is therefore in a particularly broad context that the issue of security is tackled and framed within this organisation. One important benefit of this book is that it sheds light on the contributions made to a world where the balance of forces between sovereign states are not the only ones that reign.
Pierre Bouvier
*** NICOLE GNESOTTO: Faut-il enterrer la défense européenne ? La Documentation française (29 quai Voltaire, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40157010 - Internet: http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr ). « Réflexe Europe - Débats » series. 2014, 152 pp. €9. ISBN 978-2-11-009463-6.
In this essay Nicole Gnesotto looks at the inconsistent progress and mixed results achieved in the area of European defence, which certain people would like to unceremoniously bury. How is it that with the current stagnation affecting this high-added political value project there is no attempt to bury it before it is too late? The whole genesis of European defence is testimony to the spiral of European construction and small joint operations instead of the common implementation on the lines of coal and steel. The key to this is a common defence that would definitively seal political union, to the great displeasure of those ardently defending the nation state or transatlantic partnership and who have been uncovered as the common enemy. Their resistance is all the more facilitated given that, as opposed to the common market, which became the Community then the European Union, defence does not benefit from the same support dynamic of economic operators participating in a sector characterised by fragmentation and the respective weight of individual states. In these conditions, what are the chances of succeeding with the method of aggregating the different modules of force in small external crisis management operations or even more sensitive operations involving capability (tactical groups, multinational forces, which for the most part are never employed; pooling and sharing of EDA; capability projects and support for research and industry alongside the Commission) in the absence of a genuine common foreign policy, strategic reflection and the political determination to put them into place?
Nonetheless, as explained by the holder of the European Union Chair at CNAM and former director at the European Union Institute for Security Studies, the arguments, beginning with the threats accumulating in our immediate "backyard" are not in short supply to justify the need to increase the power of the Union as an international actor on the world stage. The context of instability that can considerably affects the prosperity and solidarity of Europe and in which "the US is perhaps Europe' final political illusion because the US has a broad outlook, whereas Europeans are hung up on looking at the US". In brief, there is no doubt at all that Europe cannot do without a strategic reflection and common defence. To achieve this, is it still necessary to dare to go beyond the point of no return in the semantic ambiguities that allow politicians and diplomats the space they need to build gas producing factories (articles in the treaty that remain inapplicable, such as the procedures that transform themselves into the birth, by forceps, of a multitude of eclectic micro-operations).
All this, quite naturally, begs the question of how should British participation in a context of increasing Euroscepticism in Great Britain be perceived? If we are to make any progress in European defence, do we have to wait for the United Kingdom as if we are "waiting for Godot"? Certain quarters, as pointed out by Nicole Gnesotto, believe that the United Kingdom is one of the few genuine defence players in Europe that have the capability and are ready to engage on the international scene. Nonetheless, it has never actually contributed to European Union operations. There is also the question of the approaching referendum in 2017 and after the "splendid isolation" speech of David Cameron, when he opposed the appointment of the current President of the European Commission, would it not in fact be more judicious if we took the British seriously, "when they reject the idea of European defence" and "move forward without them, while leaving the door open to them coming back later"? As emphasised by the author, permanent structured cooperation provides this opportunity. The dynamic of adapting Europe to the new strategic context is, "painful, insufficient and unsatisfactory" but "faced with the global economic crisis and the US strategic revolution, the Europeans do not have any other choice but to take their destiny in hand", concludes Nicole Gnesotto.
(EDD)
*** ODETTE JANKOWITSCH-PREVOR, QUENTIN MICHEL, SYLVAIN PAILE-CALVO (Editors): Modelling Dual-Use Trade Control Systems. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see address attached). "Security and Non-Proliferation" series, No. 10. 2014, 262 pp. €41.70. ISBN 978-2-87574-203-2.
Since 2010, the Chaudfontaine Group, named after the small town in Belgium, regularly meets up to exchange ideas on the theme of trade in sensitive products, such as those used for civil and military use. This book provides a report of a meeting of this group, which brought together legal experts, economists and political scientist, as well as civil servants and different practitioners. This took place in December 2013, with experts from Africa, in view of examining how African countries can control the trade in dual use goods as well as the challenges they need to confront. In practical terms, the contributions focus on the question of whether international standards can help African countries meet the challenge involved in this kind of trade. The answer to this question provided in this book is very largely in the affirmative, even though the authors refuse to envisage any kind of universal standard in this respect.
(PBo)
*** THEODORE KARYOTIS: La zone économique exclusive (ZEE) de la Grèce. Editions Livanis (98 Solonos, GR-10680 Athens. Tel: 30-210) 3661200 - fax: 3617791 - Email: webmaster@livanis.gr - Internet: http://www.livanis.gr ). 2014, 240 pp. €14.50. ISBN 978-960-14-2907-6.
Theodore Karyotis has for a long time relentlessly attempted to correctly document the situation in Greece within the concept of the Maritime Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This book is testimony to this determination, as well as an invaluable insight into Greece. The author is a professor of political economy at the University of Maryland in the US and is considered the father of the Greek EEZ. This publication clearly explains the legal characteristics and international conventions governing these maritime zones. In light of the geopolitical upheavals that have occurred in the southern Mediterranean, he explains the challenges and stakes at play in this domain. He particularly scrutinises the question of the demarcation of the Exclusive Economic Zone in Cyprus, an explosive subject that the author masters better than anyone else because he himself participated as a key negotiator on behalf of the Republic of Cyprus, at all the different stages of the discussions for the conclusion of agreements with Egypt, Lebanon and Israel. He believes that the model of the agreement and methodology used in these cases could be possible sources of inspiration for Greece. He is an unconditional supporter of the peaceful demarcation of maritime borders and makes a heartfelt appeal to Greece to go down this path. (AKa)
*** JÜRGEN ELVERT, ENRIQUE MORADIELLOS (editors): Memoria e identidad del Mediterráneo / Memory and Identity of The Mediterranean. Las relaciones exteriores y politicas de la Unión Europea y la cooperación en el Mediterráneo / European Union Foreign Relations and Foreign Policy and the Cooperation in the Mediterranean. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see address attached). "Cuadernos de Yuste / Notebooks of Yuste" series, No.8. 2014, 251 pp. €50.30. ISBN 978-2-87574-170-7.
This book presents the different acts from a Ph.D. seminar on European Union Foreign Relations and Foreign Policy and the Cooperation in the Mediterranean. It was organised by the European Academy Foundation of Yuste at the Royal Monastery of Yuste and the Charles V Palace, just over three years ago in Extremadura. It is published in Spanish, English and in French, with contributions from young historians and begins with a short article by Javier Solana, who was in fact awarded the European Charles V prize in 2010. All the different contributors are convinced of the unceasing importance of the Mediterranean as a context for establishing European policy and developing the integration process. The different themes tackled include European migration policy, cooperation with North African countries, Italy as a particular profile, the different discourses and representatives of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, territorial tension created by the Spanish enclaves in North Africa, Common Foreign and Security Policy put to the test, particularly in the context of the Libyan crisis …
(PBo)
*** PETR DRULÁK, SÁRKA MORAVCOVA (Editors): Non-Western Reflection on Politics. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2013, 259 pp. €49.95. ISBN 978-3-631-64354-9.
Greek philosophy, Roman law, Christian religion and the Enlightenment compose our cultural heritage and which, over the centuries, has fashioned the sovereign state and state system, which the West has, for a long time, been able to export and impose throughout the whole world. Due to globalisation, those times are now over and giving way to an Epoque when non-western sensibilities have to be taken into account so that the now indispensable global dialogue can produce a fruitful result. This book is the end result of a scientific research project that originated in the Czech Republic, with financial support from the European Commission. It seeks to promote this dialogue by highlighting the political concepts that have no currency in the West, as well as the way in which Western concepts are (re) interpreted in other parts of the world, such as Latin America, Africa, East Asia and the Islamic world. The different contributions therefore shift from the Cameroon to Mexico, from China to Ghana, from Egypt and Tunisia to Japan. Particular attention is paid to the way in which democracy and human rights are approached in the Islamic world.
(PBo)
*** VENELIN TSACHEVSKY: The Swiss Model - The Power of Democracy. Peter Lang (see address attached). 2014, 405 pp. €69.95. ISBN: 978-3-631-65060-8.
This book describes and analyses the specificities of the Swiss political system, which is characterised by a particularly developed form of direct democracy, notably through the use of referenda (voting) in the decision-making process and a policy of neutrality abroad. The potential of its unique system results from the fact that, according to the author, it was created and has constantly evolved in a close relationship with democratic values, on the basis of a recognised need for national unity and respect for consensus, through dialogue and compromise, in the name of common projects and interests, whilst fully recognising and executing the will of the majority of citizens. In this respect, the country has had to come a long way before it has been able to develop its current provisions for establishing a stable and efficient model of governance. It is on the basis of this premise that the author describes the "Swiss model" and its specificities and analyses the historical evolution and modern provisions of the Swiss system, by applying his politico-historic and comparative study method. The author also focuses on Switzerland's external policy and principle of neutrality. In his conclusion, he looks at the question of applying the "Swiss model" to other European countries, particularly in light of the case involving Bulgaria.
(CDe)