*** MICHAEL J. MAZARR: Unmodern Men in the Modern World. Radical Islam, Terrorism, and the War on Modernity. Cambridge University Press (The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK. Tel: (44-1223) 326050 - Fax: +44 1233 326111 -: directcustserve@cambridge.org - Internet: http://www.cambridge.org ). 2007, 290 pp. £13.99. ISBN 978-0-521-71291-0.
A lot of ink has been spilt on September 11 2001 and this does not look like stopping anytime soon. So much the better, if it leads to some penetrating analyses that really help towards better understanding what really happened on that tragic day and if it provides further clarification of how the US has managed things since. This is indeed the case with this wonderful book, which raises questions and provides incriminatory evidence. It is written by a professor in national security strategy at the US National War College in Washington , who also lectures at the University of Georgetown.
Michael J. Mazarr does not just think that those who caused the deaths on 11 September or the many who imitated them afterwards almost everywhere in the world, are “evil doers who hate freedom”, he thinks that they are rather, the messengers of the final rebellion against modernity of which the USA and the West are the ultimate symbols. According to Mazarr, the Middle East and certain parts of the Muslim world are incapable of adapting to cultural, social and economic evolution imposed on them by the modern world, this blockage manifesting in, “alienation, frustration, fear, humiliation, fanaticism and fury” and paves the way to xenophobia, authoritarian retrenchment, persecution, scapegoating and adventurist, annihilatory violence. In these circumstances can we openly declare an “open war on terror”, in the knowledge that the origin of this illness is bloody violence germinating in whole societies? President Bush himself provided one answer to this question in 2001, when he pointed out that radical Islamism constituted a murderous anti-modern ideology and it was up to all the world's modern nations, not only the US, to confront it but not by demonising Islam, or allowing ourselves to be drawn into a confrontation with the whole religion The problem, according to the author, is that the action taken by president Bush and his administration has not been inspired by these wise words. This is leading to the demonising of the West is some parts of the world, including countries which are open to modernity, and is also throwing fuel on the very psychological fires that created al Qaeda in the first place, “whatever the outcome of the invasion of Iraq, for example, seizing, subjugating and occupying an Arab nation was bound to deepen the sense of humiliation, powerlessness and rage so prevalent throughout the region”.
Faced with such a sorry situation, the author proposes that we look again at the challenge posed by radical Islamism and call it by its real name, “a violent, reactionary form of anti-modernism”, which does not just aim to destabilise some of the autocratic regimes of the region, it also aims to create a society that is, “capable of fighting off modernity's insults”. In this sense, it is true that the fight between the modern and ancient is an infinite combat and this contemporary phenomenon reflects three anti-modern movements of the previous century: German fascism, Russian bolshevism and Japanese imperialist nationalism. This backwardness shares many common points but also at least one crucial difference: even if Ben Laden became the new Hitler, he is not, however, the head of a national government. Therefore, to see radical Islamism as a force against which tanks and fighter planes should be launched, has confused a radical anti-modern ideology, in formation, with one that has become full formed and commands a state apparatus. Today, we are in fact at in a similar situation to the 1920s or the beginning of the 1930s and not in 1940! According to the author, there is serious confusion on this point. Why? Because the current resident of the White House and his acolytes are desperately seeking a “global threat” to replace the Soviet bear? Mazarr does not rule out this interpretation although he explains that radical Islam was and will still remain a rather fragmented movement even if the policy of the US and its allies has over recent years had the unfortunate effect of providing it with a credibility it did not enjoy before 2001. After discerning the fundamentals of the four anti-modern movements studied, the author suggests various psychological solutions for dealing with the issue at the roots, understanding the threat such as it really is rather than such as one hopes or would prefer it to be.
Michel Theys
*** THOMAS DIEZ, MATHIAS ALBERT, STEPHAN STETTER (Eds.): The European Union and Border Conflicts. The Power of Integration and Association. Cambridge University Press (see above). 2008, 265 pp, £17-99. ISBN 978-0-521-70949-1.
As the European Union comes under pressure from budget issues, referendum defeats and the so-called democratic deficit, we have reached a point where even its most determined opponents cannot challenge the EU's capacity to contribute to peace. In order to be convinced of this, all one needs to do is to look back to the origins of the EU and remember that the European Coal and Steel Community was specifically aimed at putting an end to Franco-German hostility over the fate of the Alsace and Lorraine regions, an aim fully achieved when one looks at the relations between the two countries since the end of the Second World War and the way they have been working together. This victory, unthinkable in the aftermath of WW2, stuck in people's minds and it has become easy since then to link integration and peace. Most literature on the issue, however, dates back to the mid-90s and there is little information about the mechanisms to be introduced into these processes, notably on the underlying logic and the extent to which integration irons out or, on the contrary, feeds into conflict. This is the aim of this collection of essays by university politics specialists who use five case studies to determine the impact of integration and association with Europe on border conflicts. We learn, for example, that EU intervention is not necessarily a positive thing in all cases and that in some cases, like the EU's relations with Russia and northern Europe or Cyprus, it only feeds into disputes or, worse, creates new ones. Fortunately, this is not the general rule because real progress is also made in cases like peace in Northern Ireland, progress influenced to an extent by EU intervention. At the end of the day, this research shows that European integration can be beneficial when it comes to settling border conflicts but the outcome of such conflicts is to a large extent outside the EU's influence because it is the people involved in the conflicts themselves and the use they make of EU instruments that will decide on how the process unfolds, favourably or otherwise…
(NDu)
*** ANNA K. JARSTAD, TIMOTHY D. SISK (Eds.): From War to Democracy. Dilemmas of Peacebuilding. Cambridge University Press (see above). 2008, 290 pp, £15-90. ISBN 978-0-521-71327-6.
Introducing democracy to a country emerging from civil war tends to be seen by the international community as the best way of ensuring lasting peace in that it allows the warring parties to bury the hatchet and continue their disputes (which never end) around a negotiating table, thereby safeguarding the safety of local people and infrastructure. However, if the transition to democracy makes peace possible in the long-term, it is also liable to have negative impact on short-term peace-making efforts. It appears that seeking peace is not very compatible with democracy because, for example, the compromises needed to strike peace may not be very democratic and progress in democracy can sometimes jeopardise peace. This book looks at the problems arising from the pursuit of peace through the democratisation process, which is analyses from the viewpoint of peace-keeping, managing violence, the transformation of political parties, power-sharing and civil society's reactions to democratic crises, in order to contribute to theoretical research, on the one hand, and find new practical solutions to the introduction of peace on the other. The authors review several conflicts, like Bosnia and East Timor, from the security and political viewpoint, also looking at the views of the international authorities involved.
(NDu)
*** SHU ZHISHENG (Ed.): Tibet: Past and Present. SDX Joint Publishing Company (Internet: http://www.bookuu.com ). 2008, 296 pp. ISBN 978-7-108-02955-3.
Written in English and Chinese, this book describes China's view of Tibet, past and present, and the political, economic, cultural situation in the country, along with Tibetan society. The book inclues tables, diagrammes and photos.
(MT)
*** ANNE CAMMILLERI-SUBRENAT, CLAIRE LEVALLOIS-BARTH: Sensitive Data Protection in the European Union. Etablissements Emile Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129842 - Fax: 5119477 - e-mail: jean@bruylant.be - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ). "Travaux du Ceric" series, No. 15. 2007, 250 pp, €55. ISBN 978-2-8027-2490-2.
The latest in this series of research from the 'Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales et Communautaires' (Ceric) looks at the protection of sensitive data in the EU, needed to ensure the highest level of protection of fundamental rights. Personal data, commercial information and defence data are studied here in a well-defined manner based on the existing rules issued by the EU, the Council of Europe, international organisations and a small selection of Member States. Firstly, the authors give a general definition of the term 'sensitive data', demonstrating that there is a real need to decide upon a better definition of sensitive data based on processing rather than the actual nature of the data itself. The various rules in force are then studied and their utility discussed. The authors conclude by drawing up a model of processing of sensitive data, mixing the legal measures from the treaty of the EU, the Council of Europe and the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. This involves describing all the problems encountered at EU level (incoherence among national approaches, lack of coordination among EU agencies, need for a common security culture, etc) and then discerning ways of improving on the existing mechanisms. A convincing piece of work.
(TBa)
*** HELMUT KOZIOL, BARBARA C. STEININGER (Eds.): European Tort Law 2006. Springer (P.O. Box 89, 4-6 Sachsenplatz, A-1201 Vienna. Tel: (43-1) 3302415 - Fax: 3302426 - e-mail: books@springer.at - Internet: http://www.springer.at ). "Tort and Insurance Law Yearbook", No. 6. 2008, 576 pp. ISBN 978-3-211-70937-5.
Recommending mutual recognition of European national legal systems with a view to harmonisation of European law, this book reviews changes in European tort law in 2006. The book is divided into two sections. The first has four essays look at unjustified death, compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary loss, and costs that can be generated for the liable parties. In the second part, twenty-three Member States are described, along with Norway, Switzerland and the EU as a whole. For each, new laws and the most recent case law are described and commented upon and there is a review of books on tort law published in 2006. Essential reading to keep up to date with developments in tort law.
(TBa)
*** Revue de droit monégasque (Palais de Justice de Monaco, BP 513, MC-98015 Monaco cedex). 2007, No. 8, 281 pp, €30.
Written by high-flying specialists from academia and the world of law, the first section of this collection of essays looks at Monaco's anti-terror laws and laws committing the country to combat international crime. Answering the question of what a judge is, Jean-Pierre Ancel, president of the first civil chamber of the Paris appeals court ends his essay with this tentative definition: a judge is a citizen recognised to be able to provide his/her knowledge and humanity for the service of all in order to solve disputes in line with the law and with the feeling that everyone can have of what is just. Other sections of the review comment on case law and there is a critical review of a book on Monaco's constitution by Prof. Costanzo of Genoa University in Italy.
(PBo)
*** Rapport 2007. Organe international de contrôle des stupéfiants (Centre international de Vienne, B.P. 500, A-1400 Vienna. Tel: (43-1) 26060 - Fax: 260605867 - E-mail: secretariat@incb.org - Internet: http://www.incb.org ). 2008, 137 pp. ISBN 978-92-1-248157-9.
The annual report of the United Nations body to combat drugs opens with a detailed examination of the way proportionality is applied to drugs crimes around the world. It then reviews the functioning of the international drugs control system (mind-altering drugs, psychotropic substances, precursors, etc) before analysing the situation region by region. It notes a rise in two worrying phenomena - criminal organisations taking advantage of gaps in control systems for chemicals in Africa to base drug production units there and cocaine smuggling routes in Africa and Latin America.
(PBo)