*** JOHN MCCLINTOCK: The Uniting of Nations. An Essay on Global Governance. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2007, 281 pp. ISBN 90-5201-049-6.
C'est un fait, le multilatéralisme et la gouvernance à l'échelle planétaire - pour aussi imparfaits qu'ils étaient déjà dans le passé - ont pris de sérieux coups de boutoirs ces dernières années et l'espoir que certains avaient pu entretenir de voir le monde évoluer vers une ère plus pacifique après la fin de la guerre froide a fondu comme neige au soleil. Pourtant, il en est qui veulent continuer à croire qu'un autre monde est possible. John McClintock et Xavier Guigue, qui a collaboré au présent ouvrage, sont de ceux-là. John McClintock, agronome et économiste de formation, a vécu une dizaine d'années en Afrique dans les années 90, dont quatre au service de la Commission européenne en Sierra Leone. "Je pense avoir été témoin de l'enfer dans ce pays à cette époque", explique-t-il en se remémorant les mois de guerre civile dont il a été témoin. Il fut par la suite envoyé en poste pour quatre ans en Pologne dans le cadre de la préparation de ce pays à l'adhésion, ce qui l'a amené à s'interroger sur le sens des efforts consentis: "J'ai réalisé que la Pologne travaillait pour ne pas être happée par ce qui a happé la Sierra Leone", commente-t-il. De là est née une réflexion sur la place unique de l'Union européenne dans le monde et sur la gouvernance mondiale car, pour reprendre les mots de l'auteur, "pourquoi ce qui a été offert à la Pologne ne pourrait-il pas être offert au monde?".
Que ceux qui tremblent à l'idée d'une adhésion de la Turquie se rassurent, John McClintock et Xavier Guigue ne plaident pas pour un élargissement tous azimuts de l'Union, mais plutôt pour prendre des éléments de cette dernière comme modèle pour une nouvelle gouvernance mondiale. Pour aller quelque part, mieux savoir d'où l'on part et John McClintock se propose donc, dans un premier temps, de brosser le tableau général de l'état du monde. Un tableau plutôt impressionniste qui ne prétend pas à l'exhaustivité: il s'agit plutôt d'identifier les dysfonctionnements du système de gouvernance mondial actuel et de rappeler les menaces qui pèsent sur l'ensemble de l'humanité, cette humanité où, comme le disait Jean-Paul II, "tous sont responsables pour tous". John McClintock est conscient que ces menaces "sont fréquemment abordées - de fait, certaines d'entre elles ont été discutées, débattues et mastiquées ad infinitum", mais juge qu'elles le sont de manière peu concluante. Le livre continue ensuite le diagnostic en jaugeant notamment la capacité de gouvernance des systèmes internationaux et des Etats (dont les Etats en échec, les "failed States") et en évaluant et en comparant les "performances" de l'Union européenne et de l'Onu.
Ce tour d'horizon accompli, vient l'essentiel de l'ouvrage, c'est-à-dire la formulation de propositions concrètes basées sur les options possibles. En étant très réducteur, disons que l'idée générale est de s'inspirer du succès de l'Union européenne à réguler les relations de ses vingt-sept Etats membres pour mettre sur pied une nouvelle organisation, une union mondiale des démocraties pour répondre aux problèmes mondiaux et encadrer la quête de puissance des nations. En fait, il s'agirait plus précisément d'une union mondiale des entités gouvernantes démocratiques, l'idée étant d'arriver à terme à une sorte d'union des unions, inspirée du modèle de l'Union européenne. Bien entendu, une telle union ne se ferait pas du jour au lendemain et l'auteur ou plutôt les auteurs, en y incluant Xavier Guigue, plaident pour un début modeste, qui pourrait être suivi d'une croissance lente et continue comme celle qu'a connue l'Union européenne au cours de ses près de soixante ans d'existence. Le livre ne se contente pas de jeter cette idée sur la table mais propose, entre autres, une architecture et tente de prédire quelles pourraient être les retombées de ce système en matière de gouvernance mondiale, notamment en "simulant" l'efficacité du concept sur deux thèmes concrets, la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique et la pauvreté endémique dans le monde.
John McClintock and his acolyte are not the first to study this vital issue. In a brief description of the various currents of thought he considered, John McClintock recognises that for centuries, the search for peace, justice and order have occupied the minds of analysts of international relations. He has taken elements from various theories, not wanting to restrict himself to a single theoretical perspective, although the book's aim is based on both constructivist and functionalist elements. This is certainly an ambitious approach which some might describe as a pipedream, but nothing ventured, nothing gained and many ideas now taken for granted were described as utopian when they were first mooted, even by the people who actually came up with them. John McClintock and Xavier Guigue jump a step and submit the idea for public discussion. People not taken with the recommended solution will nevertheless be interested in the book's analysis of the state of the world.
Frederik Ronse
*** The Federalist Debate. Papers for Federalists in Europe and the World. Einstein Center for International Studies (26 via Schina, I-10144 Turin, Italy. Tel/Fax: (+39-011) 4732843 - E-mail: federalist.debate@libero.it - Internet: http://www.federalist.debate.org ). 2007, No. 1, 64 pp.
This issue of 'The Federalist Debate' looks at the United Nations following the appointment of the new Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon. Sir Brian Urquhart argues for the setting up of a UN emergency force and another article looks at the legal bases that made it possible to rehash the San Francisco Charter in order to turn the EU into a 'World Federation of Nations'. In the editorial, Lucio Levi defends the idea of the EU being the vehicle for reforming the UN - if the EU manages to speak with one voice and unifies its presence at the IMF, the World Bank and the UN Security Council.
(PBo)
*** CHRISTIAN WICKER: The Concepts of Proportionality and State Crimes in International Law. An Analysis of the Scope of Proportionality in the Right of Self-Defence and in the Regime of International Countermeasures and an Evaluation of the Concept of State Crimes. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.de ). "Schriften zum internationalen und zum öffentlichen recht" series, No. 69. 2006, 177 pp. ISBN 3-631-55884-8.
Ever since the 'Just War' theories penned by Christian philosophers in the Middle Ages and the laws of chivalry until the formation of the United Nations in the modern age, human beings have tried to limit the use of force and 'collateral damage' to use a modern term. The principle of proportionality is important in this difficult exercise, both in terms of assessing a country's legitimate right to self-defence and in terms of establishing how severe any self-defence measures should be. Proportionality is a central part of both the right to go to war (jus ad bellum) and the right of war (jus in bello). Christian Wicker provides a detailed analysis of the concept in this book, along with areas of uncertainty in application of the law and how it has changed over time. He explains, for example, that terrorist attacks were not in the past viewed in themselves as armed attacks and therefore could not be used to justify military action against sovereign states, but current opinion ranges from acceptance of highly targeted responses limited to the territory of the country under attack to acceptance of post facto attacks on countries with only vague connections with the attackers. The book also looks at the concept of state crimes, meaning crimes committed by a state, starting off by answering the question of whether the term 'crime' can actually be used to describe action by a country.
(FRo)
*** BORBALA E. BALINT: Determinants of Commercial Orientation and Sustainability of Agricultural Production of the Individual Farms in Romania. Peter Lang (see above). "Development Economics and Policy" series, No. 50. 2006, 145 pp, €31-80. ISBN 3-631-54653-X.
Some countries of the former Communist bloc, like Romania, still have a huge subsistence farming industry. One of the main aims sought in the process of EU accession for Romania is to make subsistence farming more commercial and competitive while ensuring sustainable development. Romania already had a vast, poor rural population, and this got worse following the exodus to the countryside of workers laid off from state factories in the 1990s. Borbala Balint makes an econometric analysis of the connection between trade-oriented farming and ecological sustainability in Romania - the results sometimes contradict received ideas and assumptions. The author also looks closely at barriers to commercial orientation in Romanian farming like the cost of trade and transport and lack of cooperation among farmers.
(FRo)
*** ROMAIN YAKEMTCHOUK: L'Iran face aux puissances. L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole-Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40467920 - Fax: 43258203 - Internet: http://www.editions-harmattan.fr ). 2007, 400 pp, €32. ISBN 2-296-02768-8.
To properly understand the present and as far as possible try to understand the possible future, it is absolutely vital to know where one is coming from, although we tend to forget this at times. Everybody is aware that Iran's current political configuration makes it one of the most predictable potential trouble-makers and one of those which cause the greatest concern. But when you ask why this is, few people are able to shed light on the situation in a nuanced and balanced way. It is to Romain Yakemtchouk's credit that he meticulously explains all the facts in this austere book, rather like a clinical examination, which from the feudal period in Iran in the nineteenth century onwards enable us to explain and decode, if not actually justify, the current posturing by Iran's leaders in Tehran. Emeritus professor at the University of Louvain in France and former Editor-in-Chief of the publication Studia Diplomatica, scientific advisor at the 'Institut Royal des Relations Internationales' in Brussels and expert working on the European Union's Tacis programme, the author explains various factors which enable readers to understand the arguments behind the nuclear issue.
(MT)
*** ROMAIN YAKEMTCHOUK: Le conflit de Tchétchénie. L'Harmattan (see above). 2006, 152 pp, €14-50. ISBN 2-296-00116-5.
Of all the communities in the Caucasus, the Chechens are those which have most bitterly, resolutely and persistently opposed Russian occupation of their land since the end of the eighteenth century. It is to Romain Yakemtchouk's credit that he returns in this book to the historical and cultural sources of the conflict which cannot only be seen from the prism of counter-terrorism because it is part of a problem of respecting the national aspirations of the peoples who inhabit the Caucasus and raises the question of the legitimisation of colonialism by force, even if the colonisation brought benefits to a society that was very backward for so very long. The author argues that only a political solution can bring an end to the violence, which is a black mark against Vladimir Putin. A highly useful book for understanding the roots of a conflict that is both omnipresent and yet distant at the same time …
(MT)
*** ROMAIN H. RAINERO: La politique arabe de Mussolini pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Editions Publisud (15 rue des Cinq-Diamants, F-75013 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 45807850 - Fax: 45899415 - E-mail: publisud.editions@cegetel.net - Internet: http://www.editionspublisud.hautefort.com ). "Espaces Méditerranéens" series. 2006, 280 pp, €32. ISBN 2-86600-920-7.
Professor of modern history at the political science faculty of Milan University, the author has delved into secret and little known Italian documents to explain fascist Italy's Arab policy under Mussolini, which gave rise to certain events in the Middle East. He describes Mussolini's unequal relations with the Arab world.
(PBo)
*** JEAN-PAUL PANCRACIO: Droit et institutions diplomatiques. Editions Pedone (13 rue Soufflot, F-75005 Paris). "Ouvertures internationales" series. 2007, 268 pp, €28. ISBN 2-233-00506-9.
With thousands of agents posted around the world, diplomatic missions and consulates have the job of weaving links among nations, explains the author of this book, going on to describe diplomatic bodies and the law governing them in a lively and useful manner. Professor of law who is currently on secondment to the Directorate of Military Education in Paris, the author makes use in the book of both theory and practice, history and the current day, along with plentiful examples, mainly from French diplomacy but also covering other major diplomatic players, which makes the book accessible to the man in the street. Jean-Paul Pancracio starts by reviewing the various categories of diplomats, noting for example that the countries of the EU have extended cooperation and solidarity to such a degree that they can no longer be considered as working among themselves under a foreign policy framework but rather under an external relations framework. He also explains the differences between bilateral and multilateral diplomats, diplomatic and consulate services, representation by permanent missions or special missions and direct representation. The organisation of diplomatic exchanges is studied in the second part of the book, after which the author decyphers diplomatic work (representation, negotiations, information, protection etc). He ends by looking at diplomatic privileges and immunity.
(MT)