*** SANTANDER: Le régionalisme sud-américain, l'Union européenne et les Etats-Unis. Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles (26 av. Paul Héger, CP 163, B-1000 Bruxelles. Tel: (32-2) 6503799 - Fax: 6503794 - email: editions@admin.ulb.ac.be - Internet: http: //www-editions-universite-bruxelles.be). Collection "Etudes européennes". 2008, 280 pp, €25. ISBN 978-2-8004-1415-7.
Arising from a long period of reflection, this pithy book looks at regionalism at the state level, focussing on its external dimension against the backdrop of free-trade globalisation and the post-Cold War period. A researcher with knowledge of domestic life and the socio-political situation in several Latin American countries, the author is also an expert in European Union studies and international relations at the 'Institut d'études européennes' of the 'Université Libre de Bruxelles' in Belgium. This enabled the author, in this distinctly inter-disciplinary work, to make use of comparative research, international relations and Latin American and European studies. The book makes a serious contribution to the modern world that is panning out before us today, unbeknown to most observers, since there is a big temptation to look at the future by considering the past…
A preface to the book has been written by Mario Telo, President of the 'Institut d'études européennes' at the ULB university in Brussels. The only way to sum up this book would be by jeopardising the scientific spirit and nuances but the preface's author is the best guide to encourage readers to take the plunge. Prof. Telo starts by observing that Santander decided to focus research on external, exogenous factors of Latin American regionalism in the light of Latin American countries' relations with Europe and the United States. He also choose to take the international political economy approach as his starting point, looking into the interaction between the political and the economic, which enables him to highlight the deep connection between regionalism and free-market globalisation (adaptation policies, ideas, a break with state economics traditions, etc) and focus his research on domestic and external political factors, particularly exogenous factors explaining the emergence of a "strategic regionalism," with an institutional dynamic that contributes to the affirmation of a multi-regional world in the making. At the heart of this new regionalism, the author takes a particular look at the contradictory dialectic of MERCOSUR and the free trade zone of the Americas and the EU's support for South American groupings through the European Union's inter-regional policies. He demonstrates that the strategic political neo-regionalism approach is necessary due to the instability and heterogeneity of the post-Cold War international system, the fragility of globalisation, the stagnation of the World Trade Organisation and transatlantic geo-political tensions that have been pitting the EU and Latin America against the United States since the 11 September attacks. In this connection, Prof. Mario Telo notes that "the collapse of the grand pan-American project, the blocking of the neo-conservative inter-regionalist and anti-regionalist plan (in connection with which the Bush Presidency has transformed the potentially hegemonic idea of Bill Clinton's on emerging markets into a political plan to dominate and keep Europe out of Latin America) is a turning point". He adds that President Bush's visit to Latin America in 2007, although illustrating the potential for a change in US policy, actually confirmed deep disappointment and hostility vis-à-vis what the Foreign Affairs review described as a 'lost continent' following the election of a raft of governments opposing the United States and supporters of the United States (Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Venezuela and Bolivia).
Currently senior lecturer at the international relations research unit of Liège University in Belgium, Santander then clearly demonstrates that the decline in the United States' presence has not actually led to a political snowballing of Latin American regional cooperation. However, by making an unblinkered analysis of the limits and problems of the regional processes currently under way, the author confirms above all the sustainable, multi-dimensional and structural character of American regionalism. Above all, points out Prof. Telo, he clearly hints at progress in inter-regional cooperation between the European Union and Latin America, "irrespective of the domestic problems or stagnation of the two blocs". Two elements encourage this view. Firstly, after the defeat of their neo-conservative strategy, the United States will have to choose between neo-isolationism and neo-Clintonism, implying multilateral economic commitment. Secondly, the damage caused by eight years of the Bush Presidency will leave traces, "with the strength of emerging economies and the proven capacity of regional bodies and Europe to resist the pressures of the period 2001-2004" being in this connection a new phenomenon. Clearly, inter-regional relations will be at the heart of the globalised world, according to Santander, although the mushrooming regionalism around the world will certainly not always be a carbon copy of European integration.
Michel Theys
*** HARLAN KOFF (Ed.): Deceiving (Dis)Appearances Analyzing Current Developments in European and North American Border Regions. Editions 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 ). "Regionalism & Federalism" series, No. 12. 2007, 232 pp, €35.50. ISBN 978-905201-369-5.
Sometimes described as "the place where politics is done," border regions have long attracted the attention of leaders, in terms of protecting themselves and differentiating themselves from 'barbarians' at the time of the Roman Empire and in connection with national sovereignty today. Since the 1990s, study of these regions has changed from predominantly geo-political analysis to an investigation taking a closer look at socio-economic issues. The redefining of the latter under the impact of globalisation has changed matters, creating new threats in the process for the territorial sovereignty of nations. Several researchers have noted that the characteristics of the cross-border areas between two or more countries were in many ways similar to the characteristics of an autonomous region. These border communities, which are reported to have been given (re-given) a new lease of life in recent years, have developed a degree of cross-border cooperation at regional level that does not always exist nationally, encouraging the researchers to ask which factors encourage trade, like at the border between Austria and Hungary, or hinder trade, like at the border between Germany and Poland. These interactions are not only played out in terms of trade, as one might expect, but also in terms of resource management, like the management of water resources on the border between the United States and Mexico. It is difficult these days to talk about borders without discussing security risks and this book is no exception to the rule. It mentions the risk of organised crime (drug trafficking and corruption among police forces) and terrorism in border regions of Europe and North America. It also discusses the way such threats have been managed by the European Union since the disappearance of its internal borders. The situation in the Basque Country straddling France and Spain is discussed, revealing the problems encountered by the Basque Country when it comes to cooperating with France and Spain (often due to lack of political will by the two countries) and the European Commission's efforts to shake up the situation and help the region develop. In all, an interesting book for anyone interested in the European project because it does not only identify problems arising from border changes but also discerns the underlying mechanisms.
(NDu)
*** YONG DENG: China's Struggle for Status. The Realignment of International Relations. Cambridge University Press (The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK. Tel: (44-1223) 326050 - Fax: 326111 - email: directcustserve@cambridge.org - Internet: http://www.cambridge.org ). 2008, 300 pp, £15.99. ISBN 978-0-521-71415-0.
In this book Yong Deng provides a highly comprehensive analysis of China's post-Cold war foreign policy and China's staggering rise in power on the global scene. This rise, which he describes as the most important reality in contemporary global politics, is dissected here in a manner which escapes from the framework of Western theories of international relations, which the author feels are ill-adapted to the Chinese situation. He argues that what is special about China is above all its ambivalence and constant hesitation between a role as a big global power and a role as a developing country. Yong Deng argues that the process which enabled China to move from the periphery to the heart of the global chessboard (while answering colossal domestic challenges) can be boiled down to the struggle for status (status being defined as a state's interest in material well-being and international recognition). In other words, international status - to which China is described as being particularly attentive because the author describes the country as being highly aware of the importance of its status in the world.
Questions as varied as human rights, theories of the 'Chinese threat,' partnerships with India, Russia and the European Union, China's policy in Africa and Asia and the role of Taiwan in China's growth strategy are reviewed against a backdrop of an analysis of China's relations with the United States. The most European part of the book, which is unfortunately very brief, looks at the remarkable change in relations between the EU and China since the Second World War, and the inevitable subject of the negotiations to end the embargo of the EU in China, which revealed both the strengths and the weaknesses of the strategic partnership between China and the EU. The author's aim in this book is to provide a clearer description of the special nature of China's individuality and uncertainties surrounding China's intellectual trajectory and to provide serious reflection on the option of an alternative road for obtaining the status of a big power. He admirably achieves his aim.
(TBa)
*** JOSEF SCHROLD (Ed.): Political Asymmetries in the Era of Globalization. Presses Interuniversitaires Européenne/Peter Lang (see above). 2007, 205 pp, €38-40. ISBN 978-3-631-56820-0.
"War isn't what it used to be!" said a veteran of the Second World War when asked for his opinion of the war in Afghanistan. It would be difficult to put it more accurately. Since WW2, only a third of international wars have corresponded to the classic, symmetrical definition of war, the remainder being asymmetrical with one side having the military advantage and the other deciding to go to war all the same to try and win despite the imbalance. The repercussions of this new way of thinking about war are felt in international relations, which are often fashioned as a function of these potential 'accidental' wars, and also at military level, in that many of the tactics and rules in force suddenly become obsolete, forcing military academies to revise their syllabus. Aware of the academic vacuum in this area, the 'Institut pour les Sciences Humaines et Sociales' looked at the issue from the social, humanist and political-military viewpoints. Colonel Josef Schröld, "spiritus rector" on the topic of asymmetry, organised a symposium on asymmetrical threats in the age of globalisation in 2005, which is reported upon in the book. All the discussions focussed on asymmetrical wars and relations in America, Europe, Asia and Africa, including the case of Thailand where, in order to avoid the colonial threat and better adapt to the Western system, a series of economic reforms were carried out which made the country a highly capitalist country. The 1997 financial crisis and the special sensitivity of Thailand to economic shocks plunged the country and some of the region into turmoil and encouraged the emergence of various asymmetrical threats such as organised crime, terrorism in the south of the country and the advent of China as an economic power. The conference participants also discussed the highly uneven relation between Mexico and the United States, the unstable situation in democracies in Andean countries, failed states in Africa (one of the main sources of problems in Africa) and laws passed in Europe after 11 September. There are also some theoretical essays where the authors draw up a psychological profile of a lambda terrorist. An extremely interesting book both in terms of the detailed information contained within it and its determinedly security-oriented style.
(NDu)
*** GUILLAUME LE FLOCH: L'urgence devant les juridictions internationales. Editions Pedone (13 rue Soufflot, F-75005 Paris). 2008, 517 pp, €52. ISBN 978-2-233-00533-5.
Senior lecturer at Cergy-Pontoise University in France, Guillaume Le Floch makes a comparative analysis of case law from European and international courts in this book in order to discern whether there is a logic of urgency in the domain of international disputes. From this legal study it emerges that over and above the highly diverse approaches of the various courts, all case law policy implicitly converges on the same judicial policy, aiming to consolidate the role of the judge within the system in which the judge operates.
(PBo)
*** MINA KLEICHE DRAY, ROLAND WAAST (Eds.): Le Maroc scientifique. Editions Publisud (15 rue des Cinq Diamants, F-75013 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 45807850 - Fax: 45899415 - email: publisud.editions@cegetel.net - Internet: http://www.editionspublisud.hautefort.com ). "L'Observatoire des sociétés" series. 2008, 312 pp, €48. ISBN 978-2-86600-861-8.
Mina Kleiche Dray is a biochemist and science historian, while Roland Waast is a sociologist and an engineer from the 'Ecole Polytechnique de France'. Both headed the European assessment of the Moroccan research system commissioned by Morocco at the start of this century. In the book, they detail the preparatory tools and outcomes obtained during visits to leading laboratories by nearly two dozen scientists. The suggestions set out relate to Morocco, of course, but also have a wider remit.
(PBo)