Our bi-monthly supplement devoted to books and periodicals, concerning politics and economics, focusing in particular on European integration, as well as on international policy, is also available to non-subscribers, except for the latest edition, which is reserved for subscribers.
L’Union européenne, puissance globale
With the war in Ukraine rumbling on and the rest of its neighbourhood seeing a resurgence of other conflicts, the European Union is still trying to get its diplomacy up and running and find a way to a relative degree of strategic autonomy. This multi-disciplinary book, bringing together some 40 academic contributions, paints a picture of this up-and-coming global power struggling to establish itself on the international stage, even though it [...]
L’Union européenne et la paix
Beyond question, this work will be of great interest not only to lawyers, students of political science and researchers, but also the institutions and bodies involved in the definition or concerned by the evolution of European policies such as international relations. It is a compilation of 25 contributions from various universities that were updated between the end of 2022 and the start of this year, to reflect the most recent developments, prior to its [...]
La guerre des intelligences
This book is well worth a read for some insight into how artificial intelligence is going to affect our lives and the history of humanity. It poses all the most fundamental questions concerning the future of our societies. It supplies well-argued answers, not entirely lacking in objectivity, for some of these questions; it also supplies scenarios which, despite the author’s optimism, highlight the dangers stemming from the inevitable introduction of this [...]
The Impact of the War in Ukraine on the European Defence
In his study on “The Impact of the War in Ukraine on the European Defence”, the deputy director of IRIS, Jean-Pierre Maulny, highlights the increase in acquisitions of military equipment from outside Europe, mostly off the shelf.
Since Ukraine was invaded by Russian troops, defence budgets have risen, particularly in Austria, the Baltic countries, Finland, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and, in spectacular fashion, [...]
Partis politiques européens – Des objets politiques mal identifiés?
In this study published by the European Parliament Political Observatory of the Jacques Delors Institute, Nathalie Brack (ULB) and Wouter Wolfs (KU Leuven) take a deep dive into the evolution of European political parties, their financing, their status and the place they occupy within the European architecture.
“These days consolidated and enjoying both legal recognition and long-term financing, the European parties [...]
Au commencement était la guerre
In creating this 482-page long book, packed full of biblical references, the criminologist Alain Bauer, lecturer at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, departs from his usual field of expertise – yet temporarily inhabiting one with which he is very familiar – to remind us that there is nothing exceptional about war in the whole of history. The verses he quotes from Ecclesiastes 3 have always been true and always will be: “there is a time [...]
Europe, les trois menaces
In this article, the Reflection Group on the Future of the European Civil Service (GRASPE) explains why the “future of the European Union appears to be seriously compromised by a combination of internal and external threats” (our translation throughout).
On the internal front, the article expresses concern at the “general move to the right of European public opinion”. “Social democracy is receding everywhere and the Greens are simply treading water. [...]
La souveraineté, l’Europe et le peuple
It might seem a bit paradoxical for a committed European to take a deep dive into the universe of sovereignists who, to a greater or a lesser extent, see the nation state as a line that can never be crossed. Even more so for a federalist – such as me – when faced with narratives which tend to limit sovereignty to nothing more than a political community set in stone for eternity. This is to disregard history.
“The people” to whom the [...]
Le droit d’auteur européen en transition numérique
Over the course of this book, the lawyer Alain Strowel presents us with a fascinating history of copyright, enriched with many examples of case-law from the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights and the national courts of various states. With his outstanding writing skills, Strowel, a lecturer at the University Saint-Louis and UCLouvain, pulls off the rare feat of proving that law books do not need [...]
War for Ukraine and the Rediscovery of Geopolitics
In this analysis paper, Sven Biscop highlights the need for the European Union to rediscover a form of geopolitics that goes beyond the declaration of political intentions, along the lines of the commitment of President von der Leyen to lead a “geopolitical” Commission, but that results in a proper geopolitical analysis before making any decisions that require it.
The author argues that “so many EU leaders today see only the land [...]