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11. Toward a Secure, Stable and Prosperous Afghanistan

Author:
Marc Grossman
Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Council of American Ambassadors
Abstract:
After a decade of effort and tremendous sacrifice by Americans, Afghans, allies and partners, we have made progress toward the goal of disrupting, dismantling, and defeating al-Qaeda. Osama bin Laden is dead. Al-Qaeda is weaker. As a result of this effort and sacrifice, we can now enter a new phase of our en¬gagement in Afghanistan defined by the plan set out at the NATO Lisbon Summit in November 2010. The Afghan government is systematically taking responsibility for Afghanistan's security; half of the Afghan population today lives in areas where the Afghan government has the lead responsibility for security. By the end of 2014, all of Afghanistan will have transitioned to Afghan security lead.
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Lisbon

12. Humanizing security? The EU's responsibility to protect in the Libyan crisis

Author:
Marlene Gottwald
Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The European Union's response to the Libyan crisis, ranging from the use of humanitarian aid to the option of a military intervention, can be regarded as a first test case for the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) after the Lisbon Treaty. Although aimed at improving the coherence and effectiveness of the EU's foreign and security policy, it has come as no surprise that the expectations shed by the Lisbon Treaty and its newly created institutions such as the European Union External Action Service (EEAS) were premature. As a consequence, a gap opened up between the EU's rhetoric and the actual actions taken during the Libyan crisis.
Topic:
Regime Change
Political Geography:
Europe, Libya, Arabia, North Africa, and Lisbon

13. Pax or Pox Europeana after the Lisbon Treaty?

Author:
Simon Duke
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The time is nigh for the EU to think more strategically about its global role. This is suggested by the confluence of changes in the international system itself and the internal changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. When approached via a geopolitical prism, the EU's main interests lie in its neighbourhood, to the east and south, central Asia and the Gulf. These are regions where the EU enjoys the most influence. The EU should therefore engage with other international actors, both traditional and emerging, in an intensified dialogue concentrating in particular on these areas. A Union with a clearer idea of what it is trying to accomplish on the world stage, backed by the means and determination to succeed, could herald a regional pax Europeana, while a continuation of the EU's current drift will condemn it to increasing irrelevance - a pox Europeana.
Political Geography:
Europe, Central Asia, and Lisbon

14. The CSDP after Lisbon: Lost Opportunities or Changed Interests?

Author:
Antti Kaski
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
The purpose of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty was to enhance the unity of the member states' foreign policies and the coherence of the external action of the European Union (EU). As manifested recently by the lack of unity and delayed action in the wake of the Arab revolutions, the EU still has considerable work to do before it can claim to have become a global heavyweight in foreign and security policy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Regional Cooperation, and Regime Change
Political Geography:
Europe, Arabia, and Lisbon

15. Armin von Bogdandy and Jürgen Bast (eds). Principles of European Constitutional Law

Author:
Birgit Schlutter
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
After the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty on 1 December 2010, and right in the middle of the European response to the recent financial and economic crisis, the review of the second edition of Armin von Bogdandy's and Jürgen Bast's Principles of European Constitutional Law appears to be a timely and anything but anachronistic or cynical enterprise. The European effort to combat the financial crisis and set up a joint framework to regulate the banking sector shows the constant need for research on the 'founding principles of the polity' and the sources of its legitimacy (at 1). And indeed, the second edition of the book, too, provides a thorough examination of the main themes underlying a more closely connected Europe.
Topic:
Law
Political Geography:
Europe and Lisbon

16. Rehashed Commission Delegations or Real Embassies? EU Delegations Post-Lisbon

Author:
Michele Comelli and Raffaello Matarazzo
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) have transformed the delegations of the EU abroad which are the face of the EU in third countries and in international organisations. Previously they dealt with trade and aid only, now they also deal with foreign and security policy, coordinating and representing the positions of the EU in third countries. This is an important innovation, but one which poses new challenges. In addition, EU delegations to international organizations are confronted with specific problems: the member states' reluctance to recognize the new competences conferred by the Treaty to the EU and the discrepancies between the new provisions of the EU's external representation and the internal procedures of international organizations themselves. In order to use all the space for manoeuvre provided for by the Treaty EU delegations must pursue a double objective: further adapting the EU's external representation to the procedures of the main international organizations; and promoting deeper coordination between the EU and the member states, particularly when shared competences are at stake.
Topic:
International Organization, Regional Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe and Lisbon

17. A European Strategy for Democracy, Development and Security for the Mediterranean

Author:
Stefano Silvestri
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The European Union urgently has to work out a new strategy towards the Mediterranean and the Middle East. It has to back the democratic transformations of Arab societies, but also assert the need for new cooperation in the field of security so that the inevitable changes do not produce new international crises and do not generate new threats. The EU can take advantage of a favourable situation which, however, may not last long. This is a crucial test for the Union's common foreign and security policy after Lisbon.
Topic:
Security, Democratization, and Development
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, and Lisbon

18. Italy's Love Affair with the EU: Between Continuity and Change

Author:
Michele Comelli
Publication Date:
04-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Once a renowned Euro-enthusiastic country, Italy has experienced a decrease in public support for European integration. Many are the reasons, including the emergence of a less idealistic vision of the EU, a general disaffection vis-à-vis politics, particularly at the domestic level, and the increasingly more vocal Euroscepticism of some political forces within the centre-right ruling coalition. The current Berlusconi government does not show the same degree of interest for European integration as previous centrist and centre-left governments. This is not to say that Italy's love affair with Europe has come to a bitter end. Italians continue to trust European institutions significantly more than national ones and would like the EU to acquire more competences. In addition, the vocal anti-EU rhetoric of some political forces within the governing coalition, and especially the Northern League, is often not matched by deeds, largely because EU policy-making is generally used as a source of leverage to obtain concessions in other policy domains. Tellingly, the Treaty of Lisbon was speedily ratified by the Italian parliament by unanimous vote - something unthinkable in most EU countries.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Italy, and Lisbon

19. Sleeping Beauty Awakens: The Italian Parliament and the EU after the Lisbon Treaty

Author:
Raffaello Matarazzo and Jacopo Leone
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
More direct involvement in the EU decision-making process has traditionally been an ambition of the Italian parliament. The implementation of the Lisbon Treaty has prompted parliament to maintain tighter scrutiny of the EU legislative process, not only through the use of the new subsidiarity control mechanism, but in particular by exerting a stronger influence on the government on EU affairs. The latter will be the key challenge in the post-Lisbon era. It is too early to say, however, whether this will have a positive or negative impact on the EU's democratic legitimacy.
Political Geography:
Italy and Lisbon

20. Between consensus and confusion: Institutional changes and policy challenges in the EU's development policy Post-Lisbon

Author:
Marikki Stocchetti
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The Lisbon Treaty anchored the EU development policy at the forefront of the Union's external relations. For the development policy, this provides an opportunity to improve its own role and functions in relation to its own targets, as well as in relation to the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the trade policy. To take this opportunity, the EU development policy actors need to find a means and a vision in the context of the changing institutional landscape and the EU development policy overhaul. A stronger EU development policy as a part of the external relations equation depends on the EU development actors' capability to act jointly in the area of shared competency, and to define the policy's focus and content vis-à-vis the other branches of the EU's external relations. This is of utmost importance in the new institutional context that was formed to implement the Lisbon Treaty. Most notably, the European External Action Service (EEAS) risks inheriting the previous organizational challenges of the EU development policy and creating new ones. The EU Commission proposal 'Agenda for Change' (October 2011) still passes up the opportunity to present a strong vision for the development policy in the EU's external relations along the lines of the Lisbon Treaty. While enhancing the common agenda for the CFSP and the development policy is conducive to development policy objectives, it is alarming that the policy proposal turns a blind eye to the role of the EU trade policy.
Topic:
Development, International Trade and Finance, Regional Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe and Lisbon