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10891. The Rhetorical Presidency In Retrospect

Author:
Jeffrey K. Tulis
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Critical Review
Institution:
Critical Review Foundation
Abstract:
The Rhetorical Presidency is not, principally, a book about rhetoric or the presidency. Rather, rhetoric and the presidency are windows on the American constitutional order as a whole. Critics have greatly enhanced the historical narrative but have not undermined the principal historical and theoretical claims. Recent changes in the American polity are best understood as exacerbations of problems described in the book, rather than as fundamental alterations of our political world. Contemporary political pathologies can still be diagnosed as a product of the contending imperatives of the new constitutional order that has been layered on top of the old one. And while problems may be attenuated by a creative melding of the old and new orders, they cannot be solved within the confines of American constitutionalism, as it has been traditionally understood.
Political Geography:
America

10892. The Writer's Responsibility in France: From Flaubert to Sartre

Author:
Gisèle Sapiro
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
As Michel Foucault observed in his famous essay, “Qu'est-ce qu'un auteur?” before discourse was a product, it was an act that could be punished. The author's appropriation of discourse as his personal property is secondary to its ascription to his name through penal responsibility. In France, authorial responsibility was introduced in 1551 through royal legislation directed at controlling the book market. The Chateaubriant edict made it compulsory to print both the author's and the printer's names on any publication. The notion of responsibility is thus a fundamental aspect of the emergence of the figure of the modern writer. The state first imposed this conception of responsibility in order to control the circulation of discourses. But after writers internalized the notion, they deployed it against the state in their struggle to establish their moral right on their work and to have literary property recognized as individual property, a struggle that culminated in 1777 with a royal decree recognizing literary compositions as products of labor from which authors were entitled to derive an income. This professional development reinforced the writer's social prestige and status, in Max Weber's sense.
Political Geography:
France

10893. Russia and the EU Ten Years On: A Relationship in Search of Definition

Author:
Maurizio Massari
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Almost ten years have passed since the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between Russia and the EU entered into force. The PCA, signed on June 1994, went into effect in December 1997 and will expire on 30 November 2007. Brussels and Moscow are now expected to take stock of what has been achieved in their relationship and agree on whether and how to update the PCA. While there has been significant progress in several areas of technical cooperation, the relationship has suffered from too many political ups and downs and a growing and mutual distrust. The failure at the 24 November 2006 Summit to agree on the launching of negotiations for a new comprehensive agreement – even though this was mostly due to a Polish veto – is however indicative of the patchy character of the EU-Russia relationship.
Political Geography:
Russia, Moscow, and Brussels

10894. Small is Feasible: Pondering the Future of EU-Russian Relations

Author:
Fabrizio Tassinari and Marius Vahl
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The European Union and Russia are preparing to negotiate a new comprehensive agreement at a time when their bilateral relations have become increasingly prickly. On the one hand, Vladimir Putin's Russia is perceived as having gone undesirably far in reverting to a semi-authoritarian state and in exerting economic and political pressures on some pro-Western, former Soviet states. On the other hand, the EU's Russia policy remains ambivalent because of the continuing deference towards Moscow of a number of large European countries and the confrontational posture of some new EU member states. Other factors add to this deteriorating state of affairs. For one, there are a number of legal complications coming from the shape and scope of the new agreement. Perhaps more importantly, there are several political uncertainties, first and foremost the definition of those "common values" upon which the new treaty should be based. To get out of this quandary, the two sides will have to scale down their ambitions on the new agreement. A mutually acceptable formula might imply the negotiation of a concise "framework" treaty, accompanied in due time by sector-specific agreements.
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Soviet Union

10895. The Turn to Statism in Russian Economic Policy

Author:
Philip Hanson
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Since 2003, state control in the Russian economy has increased significantly. This has affected mainly but not only the oil industry. This policy development gives some grounds for concern about Russia's long-run growth. Its origins lie in power struggles within the political elite, in efforts by members of that elite to enrich themselves and in a profound distrust on the part of that elite of any sources of power that they do not themselves control. One result is that business confidence has been dented, the growth of oil output has slowed, and future GDP growth depends more heavily than before on further growth in oil prices.
Topic:
Economics and Oil
Political Geography:
Russia

10896. Return to Heartland: Russia's Policy in Central Asia

Author:
Anna Matveeva
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Reversing the retreat of the Yeltsin era, Russia has returned to Central Asia proactively. Its presence is increasingly felt in the traditional - that is, security - field and in new fields of engagement, such as strategically-placed investment or construction of regionalism. The cultural and "civilisational" role has also gained more prominence. Moscow's policy reflects pragmatic opportunism, aimed at getting the utmost benefits for Russia from a region in which it holds many assets rather than at a revival of the former empire. There are limits however as to how far its engagement can go due to constraints posed by Central Asian realities and Russian domestic developments. So far, the advance has been greatly facilitated by the West's retreat, giving rise to perceptions of an unfolding "great game", while in reality a record of both competition and cooperation between Russia, China and the West is a normal state of affairs. Although Central Asian elites find it easier to deal with Moscow in the current political climate, they view its assertive role with caution and may turn to a rival suitor should the price for the relationship with Russia become too high.
Political Geography:
Russia, China, and Central Asia

10897. The German Presidency and the EU's Constitutional Malaise

Author:
Andreas Maurer and Daniela Schwarzer
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The "pause for thought" decreed by the heads of state and government for themselves and their citizens after the voters in France and the Netherlands rejected the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe has been extended for at least another year. By the end of 2008, decisions will have to be taken on how to continue the reform process, yet a concrete strategy for implementing the Constitutional Treaty or an alternative treaty still appears out of reach. Before even beginning to agree on how to move forward, all 27 European Union member states will have to state clearly what goals they are pursuing in the process of institutional reform (a process which all sides agree is necessary) and what steps they believe are required for achieving these goals. In this context, clear statements on the importance of the Treaty and its fate are needed. Consensus on these issues among all 27 member states is unlikely to be achieved. In order to foster a constructive discussion, the German EU Presidency could move member states to agree on shared criteria for assessing the reform proposals that are on the table, and on the options for resolving the constitutional crisis.
Political Geography:
Europe, France, Germany, and Netherlands

10898. An EU Outlook on the Future of the Kyoto Protocol

Author:
Thomas Legge
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The European Union has low expectations for the international climate regime after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol effectively expires. The United States is not thought likely to sign up to new binding international commitments, whereas EU countries have experienced unexpected difficulties in implementing existing commitments. As a consequence, the European Union may be prepared to settle for a surprisingly weak follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol. At the same time, the European Union will pursue bilateral and regional climate agreements with like-minded countries, parallel to the UN framework and possibly independently of it. Collectively, such agreements could produce an international climate regime that is more robust than what could be agreed at the consensus-based UN level. Nevertheless, the European Union will continue to support the UN process as the only legitimate forum for international negotiations on climate change.
Topic:
United Nations
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

10899. The Development Dimension of IMF Lending Policies

Author:
Domenico Lombardi
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The debate on the role of the IMF in low-income countries has recently gained strength in light of the commitment by the international community to support achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The IMF fulfils an important role as an information provider to low-income aid-recipient countries and their bilateral donors, who consider Fund signals as a useful device in their allocation decisions. The IMF also provides lending to low-income countries through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), established in 1999. The PRGF was designed to address earlier criticism claiming that IMF lending programs to low-income countries had privileged stabilisation over poverty-reducing growth through financial arrangements that had shown little ownership by those countries. The PRGF was meant to support a balanced macroeconomic framework in which low-income economies could pursue growth-enhancing measures with relevant poverty-reducing effects, reflecting policy priorities put forward by the countries themselves. Based on the available evidence, PRGF-supported countries have recorded a favourable growth performance vis-à-vis non-PRGF-supported countries, although the extent to which this outcome has translated into poverty reduction has yet to be assessed.

10900. Analytical Perspectives on the War in Lebanon

Author:
Volker Perthes
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The summer 2006 war in Lebanon can be perceived through at least five different frames of reference. The US administration saw the war in Lebanon as a local manifestation of the global war on terror. According to this framework, Hezbollah is an Al Qaeda-type enemy, not a national group with a local agenda and constituency; bargaining with Hezbollah is not possible. This point of view makes fighting global terror more difficult and jeopardises the search for stability and peace in the region. Many Israeli and European politicians saw the war as a confrontation between radical Islam and a modern Israeli state, a clash of cultures between Islamic fundamentalists and Western civilisation. This frame of reference, however, fails to recognise the fault line within the Muslim world itself, between those who want to integrate their societies into a globalised world and those who do not. The conflict in Lebanon can also be interpreted as a consequence of the weakening of a state, a framework which underlines the need to strengthen Arab institutions, or as an asymmetrical war between an armed nation state and a guerrilla movement. Finally, the war in Lebanon can be seen as a conflict over power, land, resources and sovereignty - the classic realist perspective. If the international community fails to work toward a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East, another framework will gain strength in the Arab world: one that interprets events according to a theory of non-negotiable conflicts between Western imperialism and radical Islamic resistance.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Middle East, Israel, Arabia, and Lebanon