*** ROMAN HAUSER, MAREK ZIRK-SADOWSKI, BARTOSZ WOJCIECHOWSKI (Editors): The Common European Constitutional Culture. Its sources, Limits and Identity. Peter Lang (42-50 Eschborner Landstraße, D-60489 Frankfurt. Tel: (49-69) 780700 – fax: 78070550 – Email: frankfurt@peterlang.com – Internet : http://www.peterlang.com ). "Dia-Logos serie", No. 21. 2016, 208 pp. €49.50, £40, $64.95. ISBN 978-3-631-65991-5.
This book is the work of academics juggling with the concepts of the theory and philosophy of law. Obviously, it is aimed at those already well versed in these domains. On the other hand, it will be very much welcome to those concerned with the constitutional future of the European Union and member states and the question of respecting national identities at the same time. Those who read this publication will also be more exposed to East European ideas about a number of key questions are currently up for debate.
In their introduction, Roman Hauser (professor of administrative procedure at the Adam Mickiewicz University, President of the Polish Supreme Administrative Court, Marek Zirk-Sadowski (professor of theory and philosophy of law at the University of Lodz and Vice President of the Polish Supreme Administrative Court) and Bartosz Wojciechowski (professor at the faculty of law at the University of Lodz and judge at this court) immediately point out that the Lisbon Treaty’s fundamental aim was to “to make ‘an ever closer Union among the peoples of Europe’ and empower its citizens to participate in processes of will-formation because the rule of law and the principle of democracy have the same source of their legitimacy, notably, public spheres”. They point out, however, that in actual fact it is the processes of Europeanization that has been consistently gaining ground and the European Court of Justice playing a “key role” in the processes, together with “intergovernmental decision-making”. Consequently, although the Union is indeed based on law and an entity that seeks to the redress difficulties it is also quite apparent that “the emergence of the valued-based community has been stymied and the transnational public spheres are rather thin”. There is therefore nothing surprising that if the ethical fabric has been somewhat frayed during the adventure over time and intergovernmental governance has helped create the democratic deficit and what certain quarters perceive as a post-democratic entity. Nonetheless, the editors of this book consider that there is evidence that “Eurocitizens, in their post-sovereign states, lost, in extreme Hegelian terms, universal-formal rights (...) and individual interests, which made them particularly exposed to the shocks of economic crisis”
It is in this far from favourable context that the authors contributing to his publication launch a quest for a new paradigm in which European law and a common European legal culture could help reconcile “the sense of individual and national identity” within the Union. This could develop through an enhanced concept of European citizenship, which will confirm additional legitimacy on the legal system of the Union, whilst providing new recognition within the state framework. Roman Hauser, Marek Zirk-Sadowski and Bartosz Wojciechowski, however, assert that they are unable to identify a federal future for the Union and which should, in their view, include “a form of co-operation between united independent states to jointly tackle the questions selected”. This cooperation would not necessary have a “supranational character” because the European Council and the Council of Ministers are “the most important” institutional bodies, together with the Commission and in the connection, the European Parliament is not even mentioned. This would have a damaging impact on a maximum level of representation for citizens and their specific interests, which, according to the authors, means that their endeavours and book should be aimed at helping to establish a genuine community of values in the future. Pierre Bouvier
*** MATEVZ TOMSIC : Elites in the New Democracies. Peter Lang GmbH (42-50 Eschborner Landstraße, D-60489 Frankfurt. Tel: (49-69) 780700 – fax: 78070550 – Email: frankfurt@peterlang.com – Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2016, 140 pp. €32.70, £26, $42.95. ISBN 978-3-631-67504-5.
When the countries of Central and Eastern Europe were finally able to free themselves from the Soviet tutelage imposed by the communist leaders, who were the key players involved in the rapid implementation of the democratic institutions based on Western models? Who were the respective individuals and milieu able to influence the direction of the social change occurring? It is in response to these questions that the Slovenian sociologist, Matevz Tomsic, provides a scientific analysis of the way in which the elites in these countries, as well as their positions and roles in the context of the post-Communist transition, had a particular impact on a course of systemic changes characteristics of the new societal framework. Even though this transition also caused cataclysmic changes to the economic and social systems, the author, who teaches at the School of Advanced Social Studies in Nova Gorica and the faculty of media in Ljubljana – focuses on the political elites insofar as they played an essential role in these changes to the previous paradigm. The first part of the book therefore concentrates on making a distinction between the different categories of individuals included in the generic term “elites” and the way in which the political elites unavoidably found themselves as the major players in the time of profound social change to the point that they were able to determine the character of the new regimes being constructed. In the second part of the book, the author more specifically examines what their role was in the process that led to these formerly Communist camp countries develop into societies built on the western institutional systems’ model. Finally, the third part of the publication involves a contribution in which Matevz Tomsic dissects the way the different elites were shaped in the post-Communist societies and how they developed relations between themselves and other segments of society. It also involves an insight into the communist and pre-communist historic heritage that subsequently influenced their behaviour. In this regard, the author points out that the former Communist countries varied significantly from one country to another, which explains how the reproduction and circulation of all the different elites occurred in very different ways as well. The author shows the way in which these countries sought membership of the European Union and how the political elites were both the representatives of the respective national interests at the same time as being vectors for the Europeanization of their respective societies. (PBo)
*** FRANCOISE PONS: Hongrie. L’angoisse de la disparition. Editions Nevicata (42 av. du Général de Gaulle, B-1020 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 6270961 – Email: info@editionsnevicata.be – Internet: http://www.editionsnevicata.be ). « L’âme des peuples » series. 2016, 90 pp. €9. ISBN 978-2-87523-085-0.
This series of small originally printed books seeks to help develop our knowledge of the citizens in different countries so that we can decode ancient history and explain who they are and what their countries are too. This mission is perfectly accomplished and the journalist Françoise Pons provides an elegant account of the external as well as internal shape of Hungary and its citizens that goes beyond the negative portraits created by the country of Viktor Orban. The author has a talent for explaining in clear and balanced words why “the Hungarian people live in an existential solitude”, which has led to an eternal cultivation of “the anxiety of disappearance” regarding its unique language in Europe, as well as the disappearance, with the Treaty of Trianon in 1921, that ultimately dismantled “Greater Hungary” of which many households still today “possess a map hidden in a drawer or hanging on a wall”. This is a country that also sought to be a “model pupil in Europe” when it became member but which has experienced the “humiliation” of moving forward less quickly economically than other countries such as Poland and Slovakia, when entering the Eurozone. The writer points out that the relationship of student teacher exploded into smithereens when the crisis struck in 2008. This opened the doors wide open to the ideas expressed by Viktor Orban, who called on the Hungarian people not to confer their defence on “a Europe of zero growth, economic and democratic crisis, incapable of reform and which doubted itself”.
This well crafted and proportionate analysis includes interviews with intellectuals: the historian Balázs Ablonczy returns to the Treaty of Trianon, “the scapegoat for our mistakes and deficiencies”, while the writer János Lackfi demonstrates how Hungarians have cultivated pessimism. The political scientist, Eszter Petronella Soós, explains how Orban is considered not as a mystery or danger but as a “stratagem” for the defence of identity and national independence. This all suggests that this book is an urgent read for citizens from the “Old Europe” if they want to understand this complex country better! (MT)
*** ALEXANDER MALLIAS : Visions et chimères. Les parcours d'un diplomate. Editions Sideris Editions Sideris (116 rue Solonos, GR-10681 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3833434 – fax: 3832294 – Email: contact@isideris.gr). 2016, 418 pp. €20. ISBN 978-960-08-0730-1.
Alexander Mallias served as ambassador to Greece for more than 30 years and held this post in Washington from 2005 to June 2009. In this book he analyses the causes of the deep crisis in his country in the context of the heavy responsibilities borne by his generation in relation to the younger generation. He regrets that “never has a generation previously sacrificed its children and grandchildren to save itself”. In this connection he proposes a number of institutional and constitutional changes that he believes possible antidotes to the current collapse. He believes that the consultation of political forces and their consensus on fundamental questions are the factors of power and are therefore indispensable. He subsequently suggests the creation of a National Security Council. He also highlights the disappointing character of the divided Europe of today and believes that the lack of political will the Union demonstrated to correctly diagnose the tectonic and fundamental changes in the Middle East and North Africa in time have led it once too many times to accept the lowest common denominator. In his eyes everything suggests that they need to urgently proceed to a revision of the Union’s treaties. With regard to the Pandora’s box of the Middle East, he points out that the Syrian chaos is mainly the consequence of a conflict between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, even though the interests and involvement of the regional actors (Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt) have further complicated things. With regard to its mandate in Libya, He retains the wish expressed by Greece at the time to make friends with the Gaddafi regime. The diplomat also looks at the prevailing tensions involved in relations between Greece and Albania and in this context asserts that nothing is intractable. He also focuses a number of pages on the relationship between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and adds a few notes taken during his visits to Turkey and Cyprus. (AKa)
*** GEORGIOS PAGOULATOS: L’île qui part. 121+1 textes pour la crise grecque. Editions Papadopoulos (9 Kapodistriou, GR-14452 Metamorphosi, Greece. Tel: (30-210) 2846074-5 – fax: 2817127 – Email: info@epbooks.gr – Internet: http://www.epbooks.gr ). 2016, 352 pp. €16. ISBN 978-960-569-632-0.
Why is Greece experiencing the deepest economic crisis it has ever known since the Second World War? Why has this crisis led to failure and condemned to the country to being “saved” by the memoranda? How is it possible that failures of the state and in the economy, as well as by the European Union’s political system, have ultimately led to a great depression? Was there an alternative? Why did the Syriza political party of Tsipras fail in avoiding a third memorandum for his country? What are the lessons to learn from this disaster? George Pagoulatos is a professor of European politics and economy at the University of Athens and a Guest Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges. In this publication he brings together the articles published in the press between 2007 and 2015, particularly those in the newspaper Kathimerini, to which he is a regular contributor. The book is divided into five sections that provide a summary of the different organisations, paths previously available and the options that characterised the dramatic years after the breaking out of the global financial crisis that began in the US in 2007, unfurled in Europe and which revealed in the cruel light of day, the false prosperity of Greece, as the weakest link. The author provides a detailed analysis exposing the many problems undermining the Greek state, as well as the economy and society. He says that the siren calls of populism must be resisted and also provides a harsh criticism of successive Greek governments and the deficiencies of the Eurozone. This book helps the reader gain awareness about the problems that condemned his country to follow this painful trajectory but it is also an appeal to resist giving in to despair. (AKa)
*** ANASTASIOS-IOANNIS METAXAS (Editor): La science politique, enquête interdisciplinaire et transversale sur le fonctionnement de la politique. La méthodologie politique: les délimitations et les déverrouillages (Vol 9). Editions Sideris (116 rue Solonos, GR-10681 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3833434 – fax: 3832294 – Email: contact@isideris.gr). 2016, 358 pp. €25. ISBN 978-960-08-0723-3.
This new volume in a10-part study edited by Anastasios Metaxas, emeritus professor at the University of Athens and the Peloponnese, includes contributions by no fewer than 15 academic specialists. They subsequently provide a detailed dissection of the possibilities and limitations contained within political methodology as well as a critical assessment of the conceptual categories organised into different standards on the basis of which policy is most often advocated, despite these being just secondary structures. This book, like the others, are a part of a series and it is obviously mainly addressed to experienced political scientists. (AKa)