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5231. Foreword

Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
In the current context of the "global war against terrorism", the doctrines of national security are being extended to the whole of the world. They are one of the dimensions of the new dynamics of exception putting security in the forefront as the most central value, thus relegating liberty and justice to past times. Through the presentation of the research initiated by three teams of the European programme ELISE (European Liberty and Security), this new issue of Cultures Conflits tries to shed new light on these security dynamics. It tries to rearticulate the relations between practices of exception and logics of enmity and suspicion. This issue replaces the current focus on the analysis of the 9/11 attacks and the finding of an easily accessible explanation by a focus on the understanding of antiterrorist policies and of their consequences on social cohesion. Thus the contributions of this issue shed new and more critical light on these political “responses” that lead some to present as “new” what is not. They show that by adopting a very broad definition of emergency, these responses transform suspicion into a “certainty” and this “certainty” into a proof of guiltiness.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Europe

5232. Foreword: Franco-Brazilian Dialogue on Violence and Democracy

Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
In France as in Brazil, violence and its modes of usage are thesubject of vivid and intense debates. The acts of violence inquestion have, however, little in common. The authors of this newissue of Cultures Conflits propose to examine the terms of thesedebates that feature and combine in complex shapes myths of nationaldemocracies, media representations, and the (in)abilities of thestate to effectively regulate the social sphere. These Franco-Brazilian dialogues on violence and democracy are part of a largercultural exchange linking since long Latin America and Europe - as Glauber Rocha and Roberto Rossellini remind us. An asymetricexchange, if any, marked by the feeling of being perpetually trappedin an unfinished development. This has, however, never prevented themto show significant inventive capacities, .Confllictual dialogue, useful when the (re)discovery of self isdeveloped through the mirror of the other.
Topic:
Development
Political Geography:
Europe and Brazil

5233. Latin American Religious Responses to Socio-cultural changes of Globalization

Author:
Alice Hamui Sutton
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
At the beginning of this third millennium, we are witnessing the end of an era marked by the hegemony of European Christianity and the globalization of a deterritorialized and decentered Christianity. Evangelical Pentecostalism and the Catholic Charismatic Renovation Movement are examples of this type of individual salvation spiritualism in Latin America. This article illustrates how these movements base their success on their ritual pragmatism with regard to personal crisis situations and the image of a near and accessible God. Moreover, the success of these movements is because of the adjustment to new conditions of the global market, the adaptation to the new processes of citizenship typical of modern democracies, and the satisfaction of spiritual and affective needs in a context of intense shifts trying to create new identities to reestablish the social framework of society.
Topic:
Civil Society, Government, and Religion
Political Geography:
Europe, South America, and Latin America

5234. Belarus : Is a Peaceful Turn Towards Democracy Possible?

Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
Described as the last remaining dictatorship in Europe, Belarus is scheduled to have a presidential election in 2006 that could prove crucial to the future of the country. After nonviolent democratic revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, questions arise about similar changes in Belarus: Is a peaceful transition to democracy in Belarus possible? And if so, what would be needed to make that happen?
Topic:
Democratization, Development, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Europe, Ukraine, and Georgia

5235. The EU as a Security Actor - "security by being" and "security by doing"

Author:
Bjørn Møller
Publication Date:
10-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
In the present report, the focus is placed on the European Union (EU) and its security policy. It commences with some context-setting, i.e. with clarifying the EU's place in the global and European security “architecture” and its relations with the United Nations, the OSCE and NATO, finding the latter to be more controversial than suggested by official declarations. It then proceeds with the analysis of the EU, finding its main contribution to regional security to be related to what the EU is and represents rather than to what it is andre presents rather than to what it is does. An analysis of the latter, i.e. the directly security-related institutions and activities of the EU under the auspices of the CFSP (Common Foreign and Security Policy) and the ESDP (European Security and Defence Policy) is also provided as well as an account of the “neighbourhood” programmes of the EU.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and NATO
Political Geography:
Europe

5236. EU's Neighbourhood Policy: A Question of Space and Security

Author:
Ulla Holm
Publication Date:
11-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Terrorism and immigration stemming from the Southern Mediterranean have made it to the top of the European security agenda since 11 September 2001. This paper analyses the European Neighbourhood Policy in the light of European security perceptions. It suggests that the reason why the EU has difficulties in coming up with a coherent policy towards the Southern neighbours are due to fact that the EU and its member states are in an immense internal and external crisis of identity. This crisis has been further aggravated after the French and Dutch 'no' to the European Constitution. The paper makes the argument that the tension between modernity and post-modernity, between the European model of export of universalism and the increasing tendency to close the borders towards the 'others' further aggravates the identity crisis. The paper concludes that these tensions are increasing thus making it still more difficult for the EU to behave as an exporter of European values.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

5237. A Special Part of Europe: Nation, State and Religion among Orthodox Slavs

Author:
Biljana Vankovska and Håkan Wiberg
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The paper studies how nation, state and religion – in particular: churches – are related among Orthodox South Slavs: Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians and Montenegrins. The close relations between (self-conceived) nations and churches go back to the Ottoman Empire, and seem to have been strengthened by the conflicts in Former Yugoslavia since 1990. The close relation between state and nation go back to how the Ottoman empire was dissolved and have also been strengthened by the same conflicts, even though all states proclaim themselves as non- discriminatory in this respect. The close relation between church and state also has long historical roots, but is more ambiguous today, with elements of competition as well as cooperation – and the latter is seen by many as having gone too far under communism. It is notable that where there are attempts to stabilise a separate identity – in Macedonia and Montenegro – establishing separate churches is a part of this on par with defining separate languages, rewriting history, etc. and the churches are seen as important national symbols even among quite secularised groups; and the same is true for the resistance against separation from the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Topic:
Development, Government, and Religion
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Montenegro

5238. The U.S. and Transatlantic Relations: On the Difference between Dominance and Hegemony

Author:
David P. Forsythe
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
It is important to distinguish hegemony from dominance, as various authors like Machiavelli, Gramsci, and Nye have argued. This distinction allows one to appreciate that the first Bush Administration attempted to be a dominant power rather than a hegemonic one. A long list of assertions of essentially unilateral dominant power projections is actually buttressed by two pillars: primary of hard power but also American exceptionalism. By comparison to Europe, the George W. Bush version of American exceptionalism emphasizes traditional and absolute U.S. state sovereignty, a corresponding depreciation of international law and organization, parochialism, and non-muscular multilateralism. Because of all this the U.S. is largely responsible for the crisis in Atlanticism. The Europeans, however, have made their own contributions to this crisis. The crisis needs to be resolved, as the management of various international problems requires trans-Atlantic cooperation. Fortunately there are signs of movement toward this cooperation, although the signals are mixed on the U.S. side.
Topic:
International Relations, Diplomacy, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

5239. Farewell to Conscription? The Case of Denmark

Author:
Pertti Joenniemi
Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This contribution probes the essence of Denmark as a political project by using conscription as an inroad and employing it as a lens that provides insight into the way some of the key constitutive relationships underpinning Denmark have been unfolding over time. Conscription is approached by focusing on its discursive features, those furnishing it with – or depriving it of – ideational power.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe and Denmark

5240. A Perilous Democratic Exercise: The Referendum on the Constitutional Treaty in Denmark

Author:
Catharina Sørensen and Anne Mette Vestergard
Publication Date:
05-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The Danish vote on the EU\'s Constitutional Treaty will take place on September 27. The Danes have been there before, but the referendum is a difficult discipline to master. Various aspects play a role and make predictions volatile. The present brief, updated regularly, takes a closer look at the Danish debate and its context.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe