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CIAO DATE: 02/01
Volume XXXV No. 2 (April-June 2000)
Opinions
As a result of globalisation, the public expects less from politics than from the market and market forces. But the state is also at its lowest ebb. Are sovereignty and territoriality anachronistic concepts describing spent realities, especially in the land of the euro? This article argues that they are not. But what civil society wants is a more efficient and transparent state, one that carries out its functions in a modern way, putting the emphasis on honesty, modesty and accountability.
TEPSA Europe Forum
The article argues that despite the current weaknesses of the EU’s defence dimension, it is clearly now abandoning its civilian power image. The article questions the assumptions lying behind such a move — especially that the EU will be unable to act effectively in international affairs unless it can use military instruments. The security threats facing the EU are not necessarily ones best confronted with military instruments, and the EU risks generating a "security dilemma" itself, if outsiders feel threatened by the development of its defence dimension. The EU is renouncing its contribution to a different kind of international relations, based on civilian power. This shift should be cause for more thought than currently seems to be the case.
Essays
Italian Foreign Policy Survey
Since the mid-seventies, Western Europe has increasingly become a unified space from a migratory point of view. Thus, "migration crises" in Italy resulting from the peaks of political instability that occurred in Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean during the nineties have generated a complex process of cooperation, directed essentially at setting up strict, homogeneous standards primarily in visas, border control, expulsion and asylum. The article retraces the most important recent steps taken by Italy to meet this new challenge.
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The European role in the peace process is indeed complementary to that of the US: while vital interests of the US and Europe with respect to the region are not in conflict, they have different priorities and use different instruments. Domestic political structures, geography, and the social and economic links between the Mideast and Europe or the US, respectively, play a role in defining what either side can, or cannot, do to further peace in the Middle East. European policymakers will have to accept that most of Europe’s less highly visible contributions to the process are nevertheless highly political. US policymakers will have to acknowledge that the European contribution is essential enough to necessitate regular consultations and coordination. And both European and Americans will have to be aware that their influence on events in the Middle East is limited.
Globalisation and the future of the WTO
The purpose of the article is to draw attention to the risks that a renewed, inward-looking attitude on the part of states, political parties and social partners would entail for the growth of nations and the well-being of peoples. Following a review of the stages and forces of globalisation, the accent is put on the role of trade as a factor of growth and structural change and of trade negotiations as an instrument for increasing social welfare.
Attempts to launch a new round of multilateral trade negotiations to address the issues left unsolved by the Uruguay Round as well as new trade issues have failed so far. The article focuses on developing countries’ interests in new trade issues, showing the opportunities and risks associated with each. It also examines the institutional reforms needed to strengthen the WTO further and increase the involvement of developing countries. The challenge is to reconcile multilateral promotion of open contestable markets with the interests of the developing world in following effective independent growth strategies characterised by various forms of domestic regulations and policy actions.
Kosovo: the Aftermath
As a contribution to the debate on the viability of Kosovo, this article reviews some of the arguments about viability in the economic sense of the word and especially that of small states. It then develops some criteria of viability and checks these against the description of the economic situation in Kosovo. Finally, it discusses some of the economic consequences of the various political arrangements that could come into being in Kosovo in the future.
After examining a number of legal points which should be considered in deciding upon the final status of Kosovo, the article offers a list of possible solutions to that dilemma and, in addition, some criteria that must be taken into account for achievement of a peaceful solution.
The Kosovo crisis has influenced Russia’s ideas on its relations with the outside world in a more fundamental way than any other event during the last decade. The article explores Russia’s policies during the conflict itself, its attitudes towards military security and the use of force after the NATO campaign. It also examines its search for a future agenda since the beginning of the UN administration of the province and the completion of the post-Yeltsin succession.
Book Reviews and Notes