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511. The International Security Involvement of Federated States: Comparing Massachusetts, Illinois and Flanders

Author:
Bruno Coppieters
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Application of the federal principle of shared sovereignty to external security policies directed against foreign states can easily give rise to a situation in which the federation ceases to be an indivisible subject in an international setting. This can in turn lead to conflicts between the two levels. A comparison of three instances of sanctions adopted by federated states - the sanction policies of Massachusetts in support of the democratisation of Myanmar/Burma (1996-2000), the divestment policies of Illinois in opposition to the governmental policies of Sudan (2006- ), and the participation by Flanders in Belgian and European sanctions in protest against the Freedom Party's participation in the Austrian government (2000) - confirms this thesis.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Europe, Sudan, and Burma

512. Greek-Turkish Rapprochement under New Democracy

Author:
James Ker-Lindsay
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
New Democracy's victory in the March 2004 Greek elections immediately raised questions about the continued development of the process of rapprochement between Greece and Turkey, which had started five years earlier in 1999. However, concerns were misplaced. The incoming administration made it clear that it intended to maintain the policy of détente. Like the previous PASOK government, it sought to minimise the role of Cyprus as a factor in bilateral relations and continued to support Turkey's membership of the European Union. Where differences did arise between New Democracy and PASOK, they appeared to be more a result of the differing styles of George Papandreou and Petros Molyviatis, the two foreign ministers, than as a result of any significant disparity in basic foreign policy principles.
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Jayapura

513. How to Relaunch Europe - The Reasons for Flexibility

Author:
Gian Luigi Tosato
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The European Union's difficulty in functioning is a result in large measure of its decision-making mechanisms, which expose any measure to a veto by a scant minority or even a single state. The flexible model of Europe, and that is of differentiated integration, attempts to overcome this deadlock. The flexible model is based on the simple and reasonable idea that a member state which dissents is not obligated to associate itself with a certain initiative, but cannot block the others from carrying it out. In certain "virtuous" conditions, flexibility does not imply a risk of breaking up the Union. On the contrary, it offers a dynamic instrument to reconcile the requirements of unity and diversity and promote the process of European integration.
Political Geography:
Europe

514. Growing without a Strategy? The Case of European Security and Defence Policy

Author:
Gianni Bonvicini and Elfriede Regelsberger
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Since its inclusion in the treaties of the European Union (EU) with the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) has drawn considerable interest from both the European public and all participating states. The collective framework offers the EU member states a unique chance to play a role in world politics which none of them would be able to play individually. No member state has ever fundamentally questioned participation or even left the system. On the contrary: all EU members – big or small, ''old'' or ''new'' – are keen on improving the procedures and the institutional set-up of their collective endeavours as the reform proposals put forward from the time of the Maastricht Treaty onward, through the Amsterdam and Nice Treaties, up to the European Convention and the Constitutional Treaty in 2003, have shown.
Political Geography:
Amsterdam

515. In Search of Coherence in EU Foreign Policy

Author:
Cesare Pinelli
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
While attributing the main tasks relating to CFSP to various institutions, the EU Treaty mirrors the traditional EU structure, which does not appear to be able to provide the coherence and efficiency needed in the foreign policy field. The Constitutional Treaty attempted to achieve coherence by introducing important changes, including an EU Minister for Foreign Affairs (the "double-hatting" solution). After the CT ratification failures, however, thinking must be directed at finding steps that lead towards the CT solutions but are at the same time compatible with the TEU. While double-hatting is difficult to reconcile with some of the TEU's provisions, other measures and devices could to some extent anticipate the CT's perspective without contravening the treaties in force.
Topic:
Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

516. A New Bi-continental Approach to Transatlantic Defence Cooperation

Author:
Michele Nones
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The prospect of transatlantic cooperation in the field of defence systems depends on reaching an acceptable point of equilibrium. Without it, Europe would find the strategic, political, economic, and industrial risks of total American predominance in this field (with the consequent loss of technical and production expertise) unacceptable. The reduction of the gap between Europe and the United States depends on the integration of the European defence market. This must not be seen as a risk for transatlantic collaboration, but as an opportunity. Building up a transatlantic market could also improve the efficiency of the American market by increasing competition. This collaboration, based not on bilateral, national, or multilateral agreements, but instead on bi-continental cooperation, is the challenge that Europe and the United States must face and meet together.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Europe

517. The US: Dangerous to the World or to Itself?

Author:
Emiliano Alessandri
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Review of: Dangerous nation, Robert Kagan, Knopf, 2006
Political Geography:
United States

518. The Unpredictability of the Global Oil Market

Author:
Arianna Checchi
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Review of: The age of oil : the mythology, history, and future of the world's most controversial resource, Leonardo Maugeri, Praeger, 2006 and The global oil market : risks and uncertainties, Anthony H. Cordesman and Khalid R. Al-Rodhan, CSIS Press, 2006

520. New Security Dynamics in the Asia-Pacific: Extending Regionalism from Southeast to Northeast Asia

Author:
Christopher Hughes
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
This article explains the emerging security dynamics in the Asia-Pacific in the context of the project to establish an "Asian Community". Although the model of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been constrained by a post-colonial attachment to sovereignty, new processes of domestic democratisation, taking in new members and dealing with non-traditional security threats have led to an acceptance of the need to deepen its social and political pillars. The real test for this project, however, will be whether it can be extended to Northeast Asia, where relations between states are still characterised by traditional power-balancing and rising nationalism.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Northeast Asia and Asia-Pacific