*** MICHELE BACOT-DECRIAUD (Eds.): Le multilatéralisme, mythe ou réalité. Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129842 - Fax: 5119477 - email: jean@bruylant.be - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ). "Etudes stratégiques internationales" series, No. 5. 2008, 218 pp, €35. ISBN 978-2-8027-2554-1.
With Barack Obama's arrival at the White House, multilateralism has been picking up after stagnating for years during the Bush era of unilateralism. But did the United States really take on the role of unilateralism in the Bush epoch? And what do unilateralism and multilateralism mean exactly? They have entered common parlance but, as Paul Bacot explains at the start of the book, multilateralism only entered the standard French dictionary ("Robert") in 2005. A systematic exploration of the word and its interpretation is therefore highly appropriate. This was the aim of a group of French and Canadian researchers at a conference organised by the 'Association France-Canada d'Etudes Stratégiques,' the proceedings of which are reported in this book. Lawyers, political analysts and economists study the role of multilateralism in international institutions, how it is viewed and approached in various countries and regions of the world and how it meshes with security and arms policy.
In the first section, which examines international institutions, Prof. Daniel Colard (of Université de Franche-Comté in France) looks at the Helsinki Final Act which, in 1975, marked the rise of multilateral diplomacy in the middle of the Cold War, against a backdrop of a bi-polar international system in the midst of which was germinating the solidarity among players in the inter-dependent post-Communist globalised world of today. Analysing the United States' approach to the International Criminal Court, Prof. Frédéric Ramel (of 'Université Paris-Sud 11') sheds light on "an increasingly inconsistent hegemon". Two other essays look at the nation of multilateralism in NATO's partnership policy and the Arab and Muslim world in the light of the D8 (Egypt, Iran, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Nigeria). Prof. Josiane Tercinet (of the law faculty of 'Université Pierre-Mendès-France de Grenoble' in France) examines the difference between "open multilateralism" and "restricted multilateralism" in the peace-keeping cooperation of the UN and the European Union. A global body par excellence, the author explains that the UN is attracted by the EU's "ability to react" and "know-how" while the EU "uses its new role to assert itself both militarily and politically," and "position itself as a global actor." The European Security Strategy adopted in December 2003 shows the rising power of an "ambitious Venus (…), anxious to encourage multilatéralisme ruled by law". Through the medium of the United Nations, the EU is testing out its European Security Strategy and "proving it can operate by using it in practice".
The second part of the book looks at multilateralism in the light of armament and disarmament, while the third section examines multilateralism in relation to countries' security, particularly in Central Asia and Canada, and the "avatars of American multilateralism" under George W. Bush's two terms of office as US President. For the part of the world that more directly concerns us, I recommend the essay by Stanislav J. Kirschbaum on what multilateralism means for Central Europe. Professor at Glendon College of York University in Toronto, Kirschbaum starts by pointing out that the long-term history of Central Europe has never been an incentive for trying out multilateralism, not to mention the fact that the Kremlin imposed a particularly repulsive form of multilateralism on them in the last century. When the Iron Curtain came down, however, Central European countries were quick to choose a multilateral approach with NATO over security, and with the European Union for politics and the economy. The EU was, he explains, the only multilateral organisation "able to directly help them" in political and economic matters. Does this mean that Central European countries are now wedded to the idea of multilateralism? Looking at the specific case of Slovakia, the author gives a nuanced positive answer to the question (depending on the country), arguing that the main interest of Central European countries these days is to "ensure that the institutions they belong to will not be eaten up by the unilateralism of the great powers in the world."
Pierre Bouvier
*** PHILIPPE MOREAU DEFARGES: L'ordre mondial. Armand Colin (21 rue du Montparnasse, F-75006 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 44395111 - Fax: 44395120 - Internet: http://www.armand-colin.com ). The "U" series. 2008, 251 pp. ISBN 978-2-200-35345-2.
Human beings make history but are they aware of exactly what kind of history they are making? This is far from certain, particularly in the shifting sands of the globalised world of the twenty-first century, which seems to have lost its way. At the outset, the world order was the business of Empire. Until the time of the First World War, this shifted and the world was ruled by European powers. From the end of the Great War until the collapse of the Soviet Union and its dominance over Eastern Europe, it was the time of a world order based upon a balance between East and West. At present, we are living in an uncertain epoch in search of a world order. In this book (already in its fourth edition), prolific author Philippe Moreau Defarges makes use of his consummate skill as a pedagogue to explain the idea of a world order over the course of history until the uncertain times we are living in. Professor of politics in Paris and active at the 'Institut Français des Relations Internationales,' he describes the backdrop and explores the idea of a world order, comparing and contrasting it with domestic order and painting a picture of the various models of international order. He then sets international relations and the various types of world order against the backdrop of a long view of history, before examining the 'collective security' model that haunted the twentieth century, explaining in a very clear manner why weapons can be a factor of both stability and instability. Likewise, order is not possible without economic and social components and, from this perspective, the twentieth century was a time when leaders became aware that peace could not last long without prosperity and justice. Finally, in the last part of the book Philippe Moreau Defarges discusses world order in the light of the genesis and rising power of the 'global village,' examining what global society is exactly, how it took shape, how it materialises and how it interacts with the world order. This book is a genuine Open Sesame for greater understanding of the planet at the start of the new millennium!
(MT)
*** PETER BAK (Ed.): Young, inspired and committed. The chronicle of a European venture 1962-1968. Editions Peter Bak (First Edition UCL). 2008, 112 pp. ISBN 978-0-9557-439-24 (original Dutch version: ISBN: 978-90-351-2986-5).
This book tell the story of the European workgroup set up in 1962 when Princess Beatrice of the Netherlands, fed up with the apathy in Europe, called on young Europeans to dedicate themselves to and take ownership of the European ideal. The group sent young people into developing countries to turn the European ideal into tangible action. It led several development projects, like rebuilding the village of Dousadi in Iran, but was disbanded a few years later, falling victim to a political environment too concerned with the Cold War to even consider the possibility of a third way. The movement's desire to get involved in joint action with developing countries and particularly the possibility of creating a 'Europe' beyond the Iron Curtain was ruffled many feathers at the time, leading to the imminent demise of the project. The book looks back at the 'macro-history,' of this pioneering group, which lasted less than six years, and the way they moved against the stream and committed themselves to a path that Europe today sees as feasible and necessary even.
(NDu)
*** CHRISTIAN CHESNOT, ANTOINE SFEIR: Orient-Occident, le choc? Les impasses meurtrières. Calmann-Lévy (31 rue de Fleurus, F-75006 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 49543600 - Fax: 45448632 - Internet: http://www.calmann-levy.fr ). 2009, 307 pp, €18. ISBN 978-2-7021-3970-7.
Readers will react to this essay very strongly! Two talented journalists specializing in the Middle East (Christian Chesnot works on the overseas desk at 'France Inter' while political analyst Antoine Sfeir edits the "Cahiers de l'Orient" and is the president of the 'Centre d'Etudes et de Réflexions sur le Proche-Orient') make un uncompromising traditional examination of the deeply-rooted crises in the Middle East, examining their historical and current origins and key players. They recount and explain the interminable decent of the region into hell, a region extending from the Mediterranean to the Mesopotamian, explaining the various powder kegs threatening the stability of the neighbouring Europe and the world in general. Nobody is spared in the authors' "J'accuse," whether the Arab leaders of states that are more than anything else security tools in the service of the leaders, or the West which, under the helm of the United States which, wholly concerned with defending the free world against the Soviet bloc, sacrificed a man who preached secularism, Nasser, in order to sign a deal with the Wahhabi Islam of Saudi Arabia, thereby lighting the Islamist wick that like it or not, one would have to get used to living with, as the authors explain. They point an accusing finger at both the leaders of Israel and their Arab counterparts, including the Palestinians and the rest. "Whatever the Western powers (the United States and the European Union) say, innocently or hypocritically, the peace process is on its deathbed," explain the authors, warning that it will take years to get it back on track and the only way of getting the peace process up and running again is to abandon the epoch of "fine speeches" and to turn instead to international law. The authors make an equally implacable examination of the "silent war" over water resources being played out between Israel and the Arab States, along with oil, which has been "manna for the Islamists," the United States' hoisting of the "Bin Laden scarecrow," the "Al Jazeera generation" and Iran under the Shia. They make a compelling argument that no less than an initiation into citizenship and secularism in the countries in the region will make it possible, one day, to escape from the power keg. A fascinating and enlightening book!
(MT)
*** LAURENT TESOKA, JACQUES ZILLER (Eds.): Union européenne et outre-mers unis dans leur diversité. Presses universitaires d'Aix-Marseille (3 av. Robert Schuman, F-13628 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 1). 2008, 455 pp, €33. ISBN 978-2-7314-0658-0.
Guadeloupe, the Canary Islands, Madeira, the Dutch Antilles… Such evocative names. How many people are aware that these regions are connected with the European Union because they were linked with a Member State at some point in their history and have a legal status similar to the French overseas territories? Hence the interest of this publication following on from a conference held at the 'Institut de Droit d'Outre-mer' connected with 'Université Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille' in France and the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, backed by the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions. Prof. Jacques Ziller (of Florence) paints the backdrop in the introduction, explaining the origins in the mists of time of the connections with colonial empires that were later adapted to fit in with the various phases of the European project. The first section of the book looks at plural identity and citizenship, ranging from European citizenship to the constitutional status of people from these overseas territories and dependencies via the European view of these special identities. In the second part of the book, the authors (mostly law lecturers) dissect the various statuses of the regions, countries and dependencies connected with the European Union, going on to look at the EU's relations with the overseas territories reviewed in the book. Prof. Louis Dubouis looks at their presence in EU Court of Justice case law, and other essays look at how their interests are represented within the Member States that act as their umbilical cord. The last part of the book look at EU policies for these overseas regions, whether in terms of markets, subsidies, the impact of the single currency, trade and the Antarctic, which might prove to be Europe's 'final frontier'.
(PBo)
*** ERICA E. EDWARDS: Products of Their Past? Cleavages and Intra-Party Dissent over European Integration. Institute for Advanced Studies (56 Stumpergasse, A-1060 Vienna. Tel: (43-1) 59991-237 - Fax: 59991-555 - Internet: http://www.ihs.ac.at ). "Political Science Series", No. 118. 2009, 36 pp, €8.
This new publication by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna, Austria, sheds light on various historical reasons that might explain the splits that European issues can generate within political parties. Erica Edwards argues that the reasons behind these splits are to be sought in the roots of the parties and the European project has to be examined in relation to the fundamental values upon which the parties are based. The author looks back at the origins of the various political wings in Europe, identifying the social and cultural divisions that existed at the time of their formation. Although they have changed over the course of time, political parties tend all the same to have their founders' ideology in their genes, which is what gives them their strength and identity but also their weakness, the author explains, in that this legacy imposes rational limits on how they address the European Union. Looking at the far left, for example, one finds that European integration is, in the author's view, the complete opposite of what they are aiming at in terms of public control over flows of capital, or state intervention in national industries. The EU requires them to wed their worst enemy. Depending on their history, all political parties have trouble espousing the European process, and even pro-European political leaders are extremely cautious in how they approach the issue. The author argues that they all rightly fear that in leaning too much towards Europe, they run the risk of seeing their party disintegrate or at least be greatly undermined, and they therefore doubt it is worth the effort. The author explains that this partly explains the notorious lack of political will demonstrated by political parties in the Member States vis-à-vis the European integration process.
(NDu)