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251. Realistic Idealism: An Aristotelian Alternative to Machiavellian International Relations

Author:
Pedro Alexis Tabensky
Publication Date:
08-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
In this paper I criticize political realism in International Relations for not being realistic enough, for being unrealistically pessimistic and ultimately incoherent. For them the international arena will always be a place where a battle of wills, informed by the logic of power, is fought. I grant that it may be true that the international political domain is a place where such battles are fought, but this alleged infelicitous situation does not in and of itself entail the normative pessimism informing their assessments of the international domain, and it does not entail the recommendations offered by political realists, particularly relating to balance of power concerns. Their lack of realism stems from total or partial blindness to the proper and coherent ideals that ought to be informing their analyses of the international domain. Such blindness does not allow them properly to grasp what actually is the case. As we can only properly understand what an eye is by knowing the ideal that defines eyes — proper vision — so too we can only properly identify the movements of the international political arena in relation to ideals that ultimately define this arena, ideals that stem from a proper understanding of the human person. Following an Aristotelian teleological technique of analysis, I show that ideals are a constitutive part of the international domain and I recommend an alternative to political realism, namely, realistic idealism (or, if you prefer, idealistic realism).
Topic:
International Relations
Political Geography:
Europe

252. The Strategic Benefits of Turkey's Admission Into East Asian Summit

Author:
Kim Beng Phar
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
To fulfill Turkey's mission as a ʺcivilizational connectorʺ between Europe and Asia, Turkey must be a full member of the East Asian Summit. The path towards this goal, among others, requires Turkey to be a Dialogue Partner of ASEAN. Once ASEAN sponsors Turkey's membership in East Asian Summit, Turkey would then be strategically positioned to be a key member with some of the world's most monumental economic and political powers in its midst. Indeed, if Turkey is a member of East Asian Summit, ideally by 2010, Turkey would be in a better position to realize its strategic, civilizational, and historical depth.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Middle East, Israel, and East Asia

253. An Italian Strategy for Relaunching the EU Constitutional Treaty

Author:
Gian Luigi Tosato and Gianni Bonvicini
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The subject of the European Union's institutional future is once again at the top of the European agenda – the European Council at the end of June 2007 will be dedicated to it – and a deadline has been set (the 2009 European Parliament elections) for the entry into force of the new rules.
Topic:
International Relations, Government, International Cooperation, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe and Italy

254. A Collapsing Façade – The Russian Duma Election in perspective

Author:
Sinikukka Saari
Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The Duma election and its results reinforce the prevailing undemocratic trends in Russia. The changes in electoral laws, the election campaign and its biased coverage in the Russian media, the Russian authorities' hostile attitude towards international election observation and the so-called Putin's Plan leave very little hope of democratic pluralism developing in Russia anytime soon. Russia's political system has been built gradually over the years. The system aims at controlling the competition for power and securing the political elite's interests. The system is characterised by non-transparent and manipulated political processes, misleading doublespeak on democratic norms, and the misuse of soft and hard administrative resources. Putin's overwhelming popularity does not compensate for the lack of democratic accountability. Likewise, his possible premiership would not strengthen parliamentarism in Russia because the decision is driven by instrumentalism towards political institutions. Instead, it would create a dangerous precedent for an ad hoc separation of power. Western actors should be more aware that the stability that Putin is often praised for bringing about is not build on solid ground, and they should change their policies accordingly. Promoting democracy – and thus longterm stability – in Russia is in western actors' interests.
Topic:
International Relations, Democratization, and Politics
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

255. Switzerland is reduced to tennis: Switzerland's image in the foreign media

Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Media Tenor International
Abstract:
The wounds have healed slowly. At the turn of the millennium, the country of the Alps, of lakes and chocolate was faced with a media storm on a part of its history, which the Swiss themselves would have preferred to ignore: What role did their politicians, entrepreneurs, scientists, teachers and others actually play during the Hitler period? The neutral image, passed on for decades in schoolbooks, rhetorical speeches and media coverage, had cracked in view of an international wave of litigation that was caused by American lawyer Ed Fagan, representing Jewish victims of the Holocaust. He tried to publicly demonstrate that Swiss banks, in particular, but also other companies, as well as the Federal Council of Bern had profited from the victims' suffering.
Topic:
International Relations, International Law, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
America, Europe, and Switzerland

256. Much Ado about Pluto? The 'Unity of the Legal Order of the European Union' Revisited

Author:
Christoph Herrmann
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Research Papers Archive
Abstract:
The European Union is commonly described as a temple-like construction resting upon three pillars. Whereas the first pillar, Community law, constitutes a “new legal order” of supranational character, the second and third pillar are considered to be of intergovernmental kind, i.e. traditional public international law. However, some commentators have advocated a more integrated view, claiming the “unity of the legal order of the European Union”. The more recent case-law of the European courts has increasingly to deal with the relationship between the pillars as well as the legal nature of Union law. The present paper analyses this case-law and takes the opportunity to revisit the “unity thesis” as put forward in learned writings, the overall conclusion is that the claim of unity is poorly suited to solve interpretative questions that concern the aforementioned questions.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and International Law
Political Geography:
Europe

257. New Modes of Governance in the EU: Common Objectives versus National Preferences

Author:
Martin Rhodes and Manuele Citi
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Research Papers Archive
Abstract:
The emergence in the European Union of new modes of governance (NMG) such as the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) has produced an enormous literature that falls into four broad categories: a theoretical approach seeks to explain why such methods emerged and locates them in existing theories of European integration, policy-making and institutional change; a strongly normative approach extols the nonhierarchical, deliberative virtues of NMG and 'soft' law and prioritizes the potential of the OMC as a font of 'social learning'; a more empirical approach assesses new modes in operation across different policy areas and countries; and a more critical approach assesses the claims made on the OMC's behalf as an effective instrument of policy making. Apart from our concern to critically review this literature, our aim is also to focus in on one of its greatest deficiencies: the absence, hitherto, of a comprehensive, multi-level framework for analysis, capable of specifying the conditions under which OMC practices are likely to produce a convergence of member state policies on common objectives. In doing so we also bring into our account a parallel literature – on policy diffusion and learning – that is frequently referred to by studies of the OMC and other new modes of governance but is rarely integrated systematically into their analysis.
Topic:
International Relations, Nationalism, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe

258. Exploring the EU's social constituency: Patterns of public claims-making in constitutional debates in France and Germany

Author:
Hans-Jörg Trenz, Erik Jentges, and Regina Vetters
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Research Papers Archive
Abstract:
This article explores public voice formation and its potential impact on EU constitution making. A comprehensive perspective is introduced which analyzes the constitutionalization of the EU as a simultaneous and interacting process of polity building and constituency building. The EU's social constituency is referred to as a particular constellation of public voice and resonance in the media in relation to European constitution making. Mass media are analyzed as the principal arena for amplifying 'constitutional voice' in the member states. Starting from a comparative outline of constitutional claims-making in quality newspapers in France and Germany between 2001 and 2005, the article focuses on ratification as a period of intense politicization on EU constitutional affairs. The article systematically compares how the signal for participation in the ratification process is taken up and transformed into plural voices and debates, and what kind of concerns and demands are put forward by different actors and affected parties within such debates. Finally, justificatory practices of defending particular visions of the EU as a legitimate order will be categorized. The main findings point to a domestically focused French media sphere in which the constitutional debate turned into a prime example of 'contentious politics'. In contrast, German media took the position of an alert but passive observer of the debates in other member states. In this sense, the French debate assumed, at least partially, a substitute function in the German media.
Topic:
International Relations and Civil Society
Political Geography:
Europe, France, and Germany

259. Europe: Crises of Identity

Author:
Shada Islam
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The European Union's emergence as a leading global political and economic actor is an important, exciting and inspiring development in modern history. The signature in 1957 of the EU's founding Treaty of Rome, creating the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) and the European Economic Community (EEC) has been followed rapidly by a spate of initiatives designed to draw EU members into an ever closer economic and political union.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Europe and Rome

260. The Politics of Antitrust and Merger Review in the European Union: Institutional Change and Decisions from Messina to 2004

Author:
Gabriel T. Swank and Tim Büthe
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
Antitrust regulation and the related merger review are essential for making a market economy work. Merger review is also among the most prominent powers of the European Commission in the Common Market of the EU. How did this supranational actor come to acquire such power? And what explains the variation in the Commission's decisions in some of the trans-atlantically most controversial merger review cases in recent years? In this paper, we develop a modified neofunctionalist theory as a historical institutionalist theory of institutional change that integrates elements of rational choice and social constructivism. We argue that it provides a superior explanation of (1) the institutional development of the European Commission's competence over antitrust matters and merger review from the 1950s negotiations over the Treaty of Rome through the changes of 2004 and (2) the Commission's decisions in some of the most prominent cases, where a high level of politicization makes a neofunctionalist explanation least likely.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, and Markets
Political Geography:
Europe