*** ANDREW COTTEY: Security in the New Europe. Palgrave Macmillan (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England. Tel: (44-1256) 329242 - Fax: 842084 - E-mail: bookenquiries@palgrave.com - Internet: http://www.palgrave.com ). "The New Europe Series". 2007, 258 pp, £55. ISBN 978-1-4039-8648-1.
The hopes of a new era of greater peace and stability for planet Earth after the Cold War - the End of History as some termed it - did not take long to melt away. In fact, it is more the opposite that has been seen and the words 'security' and 'insecurity' rebound to a startling extent in political speech and have also, as Andrew Cottey points out, spread to other aspects of society. Leaving aside feelings of insecurity and how they are exploited, it true that the world - along with the European Union and its member states - is facing a raft of threats, some of which of a relative new nature, for which both states and international institutions how have to find innovative responses.
This book starts by describing how Europe moved from being a continent whose countries viewed their neighbours as the prime source of menace, to a safe community, 'a group of states between whom war and the use of force has become extremely unlikely, if not impossible'. However, while the integration process that had started in Western Europe but has now been extended to Central and Eastern Europe survived the Soviet threat it had to deal with, it now has to deal with other types of threat. The author therefore explains how Europe now increasingly has to face security challenges on the global scale, a role for which it is not yet quite equipped but will have to assume to an ever greater extent. Before describing responses to these new challenges, they need to be discerned in detail because, as the book shows, they tend to be multi-form and melt away in a mesh of causes and consequences from which it can be difficult to disentangle them
Andrew Cottey outlines both "hard security questions" and what are described as "soft" issues, meaning issues not directly concerning traditional armed threats but which may nevertheless prove to present a direct physical threat or jeopardise the stability of society (like environmental damage, the propagation of certain diseases, immigration pressures and economic polarity at global scale or within individual countries). The book therefore starts by identifying both threats and the policies to respond to them. Not easy because in addition to the fact that they depend on correct identification of threats, which is far from simple in itself, 'the problem of assessing the likely reactions of others to our actions multiplies the uncertainty inherent in security policy decision making'. This is similar to the study of the EU's general line as a global player also found in this volume. As the author explains, if the world situation has changed and Europe is playing an increasing role in the global system, this is not particularly due to its military might- far from negligible despite enduring fragmentation and often not sufficient to carry out the roles the EU has given itself - but rather through the multilateral method it favours, and efforts to use 'soft power' to counter the 'new' menaces. This preference for multilateral approaches contrasts with the policies pursued by other global players, particularly the US superpower. The question of tension in transatlantic relations following the US response to the 11 September terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq is, of course, closely studied in the book but the author also shows that Russia, the heir to the other side of the Cold War, remains a weighty player and, for the European Union, a neighbour which it will continue to have to factor in, sometimes rather uncomfortably, in the future. The book includes chapters studying some contemporary issues in more depth, like the danger of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, 'new terrorism' and the 'war on terror'.
All things considered, the book goes over the complex question of security in Europe with a fine toothcomb, shedding bright, measured light on various facets of the issue while rightly taking good care not to artificially separate out the ins and outs of the issue under discussion. The book will therefore make interesting reading for people considering the European responses to the new global security situation and will also interest many other readers because, as Andrew Cottey explains, this "relates to the wider issue of what role Europe (or perhaps more accurately Europeans, since Europe comes in many guises) can and should play in the world, and indeed of European identity and what it means to be European".
Frederik Ronse
*** ANDREA K. RIEMER: The international order at the beginning of the 21st century. Theoretical Considerations. Peter Lang (1 Moostrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.de ). "ISS - International Security Studies", No. 4. 2007, 249 pp, 42-50€. ISBN 978-3-631-55937-6.
After four years devoted to studying the world order, Andrea K. Riemer attempts in this book to provide foundations for the theoretical considerations about the international order at the start of the twenty-first century. Convinced of the need for a multi-disciplinary approach and aware of the fact that a universal formula is out of reach, she starts from the idea that big changes do not happen overnight but are announced by a raft of signals. The post September 11 changes, for example, could be foreseen, she argues. Alongside analysis of the current international order, her research decrypts changes in the international order which have already occurred and potential future changes, paying attention to the 'signals' and reactions to them. Incisive work combining international relations, history, sociology of history and political science…
(TBa)
*** FLORENCE AUTRET: L'Amérique à Bruxelles. Editions du Seuil (27 rue Jacob, Paris VIe. Internet: http://www.seuil.com ). 2007, 237 pp, €18. ISBN 978-2-02-083717-0.
In this book by a journalist with a lively and readable style, brimming with both detailed and corrosive information and anecdotes (including some received ideas), Florence Autret, well known in the microcosm of foreign correspondents at the Brussels-based European institutions, explores what she describes as an unknown dialectic despite it being in her eyes decisive for Europe. The recent affirmation of a confederate European power in Brussels and, more widely, the emergence of the European Union as a political and regulatory power arise, argues the author, from a permanent 'Atlantic dialectic' throughout a historic spiral alternating between entente, subordination and competition, because it is a fact that the shifting concept of globalisation gains its full essence and meaning with the 'transatlantic market' which accounts these days for some 60% of the world's GDP. The author uses this working hypothesis to demonstrate its complete pertinence by examining the arguments for and against. In the first part of the book, she examines some of the foundations of the 'alliance' of US companies which, according to AmCham boss Maja Wessels, are seen as 'the true European companies' (Florence Autret takes this argument on board by explaining that for Americans, Europe is foreign but they know that at the start. It is foreign for Europeans but it can take a long time for this to dawn on them); the Atlantic origins of Europe with the ECSC which is described as less a Franco-German deal than a German-US deal, although Washington ended up losing control over the European project; economic integration in return for military protection… The author then looks at the invention of European lobbying following the emergence of the Philip Morris iceberg, reserving a few pages, as heartfelt as they are well-documented on this issue, which is her specialist subject (she has already written a book on the subject called "Les Manipulateurs, le pouvoir des lobbys"). In a chapter entitled "l'Europe face au capitalisme mondialisé", she explains in detail the rising power of the Commission as a competition regulator, taking the case of Microsoft as a case study. Europe as a regulatory power is then examined in the light of questions like US resistance to the REACH chemicals legislation and the action of 'enterprise-friendly' Commissioner Verheugen. Florence Autret finally studies the 'Galileo exception' in a few pages providing an oblique explanation of the current budget issues faced by the Galileo satellite navigation programme which is supposed to demonstrate the EU's desire for autonomy from Washington. The author finally demonstrates that even US security impulses born of 11 September have had the paradoxical effect of helping boost consolidation of European power. She concludes that Europe's only immediate vital interest these days is to safeguard its decision-making autonomy, since US hegemony was finally only able to be deployed thanks to the vacuum left by disagreements among Europeans…
(MT)
*** BERND VON HOFFMANN (Ed.): Global Governance. Peter Lang (see above). "Legal Policy Symposium" series, No. 2. 2004, 199 pp, €36-40. ISBN 978-3-631-52770-5.
Bernd von Hoffmann has been lecturing in comparative law and private international law at Trier University in Germany since 1979, where he is a member of the management committee of the university's Legal Policy Institute. He was given the job of editing this book following the second workshop organised by the Legal Policy Institute to study global governance, along with its players and instruments, at a time when global governance was undergoing huge pressure for change, from issues like the US war on Iraq. The war on Iraq necessarily brings up the role of the United Nations, and unilateralism. Michael J. Glennon argues that unilateralism and multilateralism often mutually strengthen each other rather than oppose each other. Both themes are covered in the book, although the question of unilateralism versus multilateralism runs as a thread throughout the book or in the transcripts of discussions that took place following the presentation of contributions at the workshop, whereas the United Nations is given direct analysis in two special reports. The first report on the UN considers its pertinence, with Michael J. Glennon pointing out in passing that although the many validation systems for the use of force have been highlighted against the current backdrop of moralist rhetoric, "only law is truly universal". The other contribution takes a more general look at changes in the UN's role as a global player against the backdrop of globalisation.
The book does not restrict itself to these measures, however. It opens with a contribution - structured like a course of study - describing the European perspective on the status of international public law. Hans W. Maull studies the connection between globalisation, policies and states, underscoring that "at its core, globalisation is a political project". Moreover, governance is also an economic issue and Angelika Pohlenz calls for the introduction of international trade rules. She also describes the existing standardisation instruments. The last part of the book, on "Global Development Policy", considers the role of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) (which is not a development agency but does indirectly contribute to development through its focus on increasing wealth) in development policies. It reviews the results of a World Bank study of corporate governance in twenty-eight countries: "Corporate governance focusses on the ways in which the rights of suppliers of equity to corporations are protected in order to receive a fair return" on their investment. El-Shagi El Shagi provides answers to the question of whether globalisation is damaging to developing countries.
(FRo)
*** ANNE HAMONIC: L'Union européenne à l'ONU. Perspectives ouvertes par le Traité constitutionnel. Editions Apogée (11 rue du Noyer, F-35000 Rennes. Tel: (33-2) 99324595 - Fax: 99324598 - E-mail: apogee.rennes@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http://www.editions-apogee.com ). "Publications du Centre d'excellence Jean Monnet Universités Rennes I" series. 2007, 160 pp, €19. ISBN 978-2-84398-191-3.
Arising from a postgraduate thesis, this book on the EU at the United Nations provides detailed assessment of the innovations proposed by the EU's constitutional treaty with regard to the official objective of making the EU a proactive international player which can bring influence to bear within the United Nations. Welcoming various areas of progress reaped from the constitutional treaty which are likely to endure in the likely Lisbon Treaty, like giving the EU 'legal personality', Anne Hamonic argues that faint-heartedness was at play when it came to considering a more effective status for the EU at the UN or when improving how the EU determined and defended its views in order to make its messages more audible within the United Nations. A detailed, critical and committed analysis, which makes a very useful contribution to the question.
(PBo)
*** JEAN-PAUL MARTHOZ (Ed.): Où va l'Amérique latine? Tour d'horizon d'un continent en pleine mutation. Editions Complexe (24 rue de Bosnie, B-1060 Brussels) and Editions GRIP (33 rue Van Hoorde, B-1030 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2418420 - Fax: 2451933 - E-mail: admi@grop.org - Internet: http://www.grip.org ). "Les livres du GRIP" series, No. 290-291. 2007, 128 pp, €11-90. ISBN 978-2-8048-0139-7.
For nearly a decade, Latin America has been experiencing a genuine political revolution often described, rightly or wrongly, as a 'left turn'. Edited by Jean-Paul Marthoz, editorial director of the review 'Enjeux Internationaux', this book looks at the deep-rooted causes of the shift and examines its impact at global level. Rather than a country-by-country approach, the book has chosen a thematic study of the changes in Latin America as a homogenous bloc. The exact nature of the political and society-based movement, the global backdrop, immigration, the armed forces, the environment, etc. The book gives a genuine overview of the big issues surrounding the future of the Latin American continent. In terms of Europe, Jean-Paul Marthoz briefly considers the links between the two continents, once so fruitful but now openly described as 'disappointing'. This collection of essays is clearly an excellent tool for understanding the bubbling, modern-day cauldron that is Latin America.
(TBa)