CIAO DATE: 04/03

The International Spectator

Volume XXXVI No.4 (October - December 2002)

 

IAI Library Notes
By Maritza Cricorian

 

Given the subject of the "core" of this issue of the journal, special attention has been given to books dealing with Europe and its neighbours.

Europe/EU

Una costituzione senza popolo? La costituzione europea alla luce delle concezioni del popolo come "potere costituente"/ Sergio Dellavalle. - Milano : Giuffrè Editore, 2002. - VIII, 328 p. - (Università del Piemonte orientale "Amedeo Avogadro". Memorie della Facoltà di giurisprudenza ; serie 2., vol.1). - ISBN 88-14-09444-6
This juridical-political essay sets out to clarify the conceptual ambiguity surrounding the new legal subject, the European Union, caught halfway between international law and public law. It starts out with a study of the normative premises for a European constitution, presenting the two historical/conceptual frames of reference: the idea of a European Union and the notion of a constitution. This exposes the difficulty in identifying a "constituent power", given the difficulty in identifying a "European people". In this context, the two opposing models for reading the concept of people - holistic and individualistic - are analysed, briefly going over the history of political thought and then concentrating on their conceptuality and specificity. As concerns the latter, particular attention is given to the idea of the nation state and the "theory of supranationality". Finally, a third hypothesis for the conceptualisation of a European constitution is put forward, one that goes beyond the dichotomy of holism-individualism: a communicative kind of paradigm. But the final chapter examines some concrete problems left unsolved by it.

The EU's enlargement and Mediterranean strategies : a comparative analysis / edited by Marc Maresceau and Edward Lannon ; preface by Willy De Clercq. - Basingstoke : Palgrave, c2001. - xx, 403 p. - ISBN 0-333-77281-4
The result of various research projects, this book stresses the need for "geopolitical consistency" on the part of the European Union towards its southern periphery, to counterbalance its opening to the east. In fact, European enlargement does not call only for the development of the EU's institutional structures and policies, but also a reflection on the role it intends to play on the global scene and especially in its periphery, above all Russia and the non-member Mediterranean countries. This essay examines and compares the EU's relations with its eastern and its southern peripheries, underlining differences and similarities. The various aspects of the emerging "pan-Euro-Mediterranean regional integration" are discussed by twenty different authors in sixteen chapters: politics and security - Part I; economics - Part II; social aspects - Part III.

Europe, its borders and the others / edited by Luciano Tosi. - Napoli : Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, c2000. - XXVIII, 581 p. - (Università degli Studi di Perugia ; 10). - ISBN 88-495-0184-6
Containing almost all the papers presented at an international conference of the same name held in January 1998 in Assisi, this book discusses the results of a research study carried out in the broader framework of the international project on "European identity and conscience in the twentieth century". In spite of the years that have passed, the substance is still of topical interest in that it focuses on Europe's borders and on the perception of it outside of Western Europe. The theoretical background is international relations. Analysis is based on the perceptions of some European communities in non-European countries, above all emigrant workers, foreign travellers and writers. Also analysed are the political and cultural borders between Europe and "other" countries: to the south/southeast the Islamic and Middle Eastern countries; to the east, Poland, Hungary, the Balkan countries, and above all Russia. Europe's Atlantic borders are also - amply - considered (the United States, Canada, Brazil and Australia). Finally, taken into consideration is the presence in Europe of people from outside its borders: Turks in Germany, North Africans in France, Muslims in Great Britain and Chinese and Moroccans in Italy.

L'identità europea alla fine del XX secolo / a cura di Maria Grazia Melchionni; presentazione di Giuseppe Vedovato. - Firenze : Rivista di studi politici internazionali, 2001. - VIII, 470 p. - (Biblioteca della "Rivista di studi politici internazionali")
The book presents the results of an interdisplinary research study promoted by the Jean Monnet-Luigi Einaudi European Centre of Excellence in Rome. It surveys the various ways in which the existence of an in fieri European identity concretely manifests itself today, revealing that it is the outcome of specific political decisions. The twenty-two contributions thoroughly cover all aspects of Europeology: globalisation, economy, finance, institutional reforms, social protection, consumer protection, etc. Essays are in the authors' original language - French, English, Italian - but an abstract in English for each is provided at the end of the book.

National parliaments on their ways to Europe: losers or latecomers? / Andreas Maurer, Wolfgang Wessels eds. - Baden-Baden : Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, c2001. - 521 p. - (Schriften des Zentrum für Europaeische Integrationsforschung ; Bd. 44). - ISBN 3-7890-7626-0
The final result of a research project entitled "PARLIAM: the European Parliament and the national parliaments after Amsterdam", this book is centred on the role of the national parliaments of the Union's member states after Maastricht. In particular, attention is given to their ability to adapt to an evolving common/community institutional and regional reality, but also to whether or not they can and should influence community policymaking. From an analysis of individual national cases, the authors, a team of international experts, try to determine the trends emerging at both the national and European level, as measured by various indicators: the evolution of the "precepts" of the treaties; expansion of the EU's field of action; the creation of new institutions; the growing procedural complexity and legal constraints. Each chapter is dedicated to one of the fifteen member states and tries to determine the potential and effectiveness of the respective parliaments, with particular attention to the ratification of the Treaty of Amsterdam and the relative parliamentary debate. This leads to the sketching out of realistic ways to reform and improve the role of national parliaments (see "Conclusions: beyond slow adaptation?", pp. 461-75).

Negotiating the new Europe : the European Union and Eastern Europe/ Dimitris Papadimitriou. - Aldershot : Ashgate, c2002. - xii, 215 p. - ISBN 0-7546-1865-X
This study looks at the association agreements between the European Union and the former Warsaw Pact countries from a community perspective: from the first wave to the second, with an aperçu to the Balkan countries. It does not pretend to be complete with respect to the more technical aspects of the negotiations and the historical details of the process, but it does deal with fundamental questions. In the first part, the author describes the framework and theoretical instruments of the study, presents the Union's initial answer to the requests from eastern Europe and shows the influence of domestic and international pressure (e.g. CAP reform and GATT negotiations) on the community's offer. The second part of the book deals with the second wave of association, analysing the policies of the Union member states and the response of the community institutions - above all the Commission and the European Parliament - to the requests of Bulgaria and Romania; the influence of "environmental" changes inside and outside of the EU on the European position during the negotiations, and finally the negotiating strategies adopted, also in relation to the first wave. The third and final part underlines the continuity in the characteristics of the European political strategy towards eastern Europe. The book is based mainly on primary sources and interviews with officials.

Political aspects of the Economic and Monetary Union : the European challenge / edited by Soren Dosenrode. - Aldershot : Ashgate, c2002. - xii, 282 p. - (The international political economy of new regionalism). - ISBN 0-7546-1951-6

Europe: government and money : running EMU: the challenges of policy co-ordination / edited by Iain Begg. - London : The Federal Trust for Education & Research, c2002. - 172 p. - ISBN 1-903403-35-9
Two books on the European Monetary Union, of which one can ideally be considered the continuation of the other, and not only for chronological reasons. The first, which starts out from the Danish referendum in September 2000, analyses the motivations and political aspects of EMU, from a Eurocentric point of view. The first, introductory, part of the book describes the birth, the initial steps and the institutional set-up of EMU. The second, dedicated to the integrational dynamics, analyses EMU's influence on European integration and its sustainability in the absence of fiscal union. This is followed by considerations on democracy in the EU and whether or not the EMU will have an impact on it and on the political framework of the economic politics within the EMU (Chap. 8). The fourth part examines the possible consequences of EMU for the Nordic welfare states. In the fifth and final part, the editor draws the conclusions of the preceding chapters, adding an analysis of statehood of the European Union today.

The second book provides an analysis of the emerging political apparatus for governance of the political economy in the Euro area. It assesses whether or not to extend policy coordination and speculates on the form it might take, with reference also to improving policymaking. The authors, of various extractions (academics, policymakers, practitioners) do not agree - as seems to be the tradition among economists - on the conclusions, but indicate the various options open. Eleven chapters: the first two, following the introduction, present the current structure of the political system. One proposes a selection of coordination tasks, while the other suggests setting up a counterpart to the ECB and the institution of economic management. The next two chapters present the arguments for and against greater macroeconomic coordination, The sixth and seventh chapters support the need to bridge the demand and supply sides of policymaking, extending the scope of policy coordination to fiscal and employment policies. The eighth and ninth chapters are once again on possible improvements of economic governance. The last two chapters call for structural economic change and public pension reform.

2004 Quaderni europei : dossier, giugno 2002 / Istituto Universitario Suor Orsola Benincasa; Centro Ricerche sulle Istituzioni Europee. - Soveria Mannelli : Rubbettino, c2002. - 416 p. - ISBN 88-498-0353-2
This book also consists of the proceedings of a conference, this time held in Naples on 26/27 September 2002 to discuss the European political system. The conference was composed of four sessions, represented in five chapters in the book: the first two were dedicated to taking an inventory of the results achieved till now by the community integration process, with particular reference to the influence exerted on national systems; the third and fourth sessions focused on the European Union's institutional and political problems and Italy's choices. Italian politicians participated in the latter, explaining their plans and proposals on the matter. Much of the dossier (pp. 143-416) is made up of fundamental preparatory documents for the future European constitution.

Towards a European Security and Defence Policy : military and political implications of the Helsinki Headline Goals / CeMiSS [Centro Militare di Studi Strategici, Rome]; CDS [Centre for Defence Studies, London]; scientific director Prof. Michael Clarke. - Gaeta : Artistic & Publishing Co., 2002. - 158 p. - ISBN 88-88391-10-X
These are the results of a research study undertaken by the two co-authors in 2001 with the aim of studying the process of building European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and, in particular, the political and military aspects of achieving the Helsinki Headline Goals (HHG) by 2003. The study was carried out in two phases: the first, which ended in June 2001, dealt with the topics more directly related to reaching the HHGs; the second, which came to an end in December of the same year, applied the information gathered in the first phase to some possible scenarios. In the final publication, the conclusions of the second phase, updated to March 2002, precede the interim report of the first.

Italy

Ethnicity and nationalism in Italian politics : inventing the Padania: Lega Nord and the northern question / Margarita Gomez-Reino Cachafeiro. - Aldershot : Ashgate, c2002. - viii, 233 p. - (Research in migration and ethnic relations series). - ISBN 0-7546-1655-X
Based on a PhD thesis for MIT, this study is the result of a 13-month field study carried out between 1995 and 1997 using various documents and sources, including 55 open-ended interviews with party representatives and activists. The book describes the birth of a new political party in Italy, the Lega Nord, and the political mobilisation of northern Italy demanding self-government and/on the basis of a "cultural distinctiveness". The author tries to show how political processes forge the definition and representation of the collectivity, and how political mobilisation, taken to mean party formation, style of mobilisation and party ideology, builds new territorial identities that are not exogenous, but endogenous, not already existent, but constructed. The thesis, carried out against a broad European background, is essentially broken down into two parts: an historical study of the structures providing incentives to political mobilisation and the formation of parties in the northern Italian regions, and a case study on the style of mobilisation, the party ideology and the politics of the Lega Nord.

The Italian yearbook of international law, volume X (2000) / Benedetto Conforti .... [et al.]. - The Hague : Kluwer Law International, c2001. - XVI, 464 p. - ISBN 90-411-1714-8
An annual overview of Italy's scientific and legal contributions to international law. Divided into three parts, the first presents articles and comments, mainly by Italian authors, either original or already published - but then translated and/or updated - in Italian publications; the second provides an overview of the Italian jurisprudence in the field (judicial decisions, diplomatic and parliamentary practice, agreements, legislation) produced during the year in question; the third part contains a bibliography of Italian publications on international public law that appeared in 2000, classified using the same method adopted in the second part of the book; and a selection of reviews of Italian monographs on aspects of international law (including the WTO).

Case studies

The EU & Belarus : between Moscow & Brussels / edited by Ann Lewis. - London : The Federal Trust for Education and Research, c2002. - 429 p. - ISBN 1-903403-02-2
Presenting the results of a seminar organised by TEPSA in Brussels in October 2001, the book offers an overall description of this small (10 million inhabitants) former Soviet republic. In case of further enlargement, the new European Union will share a 1000 km long border with it. The number of authors (29!), including some of the foremost experts on Belarus, guarantees a pluralism of views and multidisciplinarity. The book is divided into four parts dedicated to the country's current position, the prospects for development, Belarus' reactions to its neighbours, current and future European policy towards it. More closely, the first part analyses the political leadership, the 2001 elections, human rights and the situation of the mass media and the value system. The second examines the country's economy. The third looks at political, economic and military relations with Russia, western Europe, the OSCE and the Council of Europe. The fourth and final section focuses on the European Union's relations with Belarus, with particular reference to possible new strategies. Each section gives the positions of both Europeans and Belarussians.

Kosovo and the international community : a legal assessment / edited by Christian Tomuschat. - The Hague : Kluwer Law International, c2002. - x, 354 p. - ISBN 90-411-1704-0
Sixteen chapters by as many authors, representing the contributions to a meeting held in Berlin on 13/14 October 2000 on the problems raised by the Kosovo conflict, the third of its kind in the framework of the collaboration between the French, German and Polish associations for international law begun in September 1996. The book is not dedicated so much to the disputability of the NATO bombing as to the conflict in its entirety and its historical and political context, shedding light on its genesis and consequences, successes and failures. The fourteen central chapters (excluding the introduction and conclusions) deal systematically with the role of the OSCE; the limits of Art. 52 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties; the legitimacy of the NATO intervention; NATO's respect for ius in bello; the role of the International Criminal Court on the former Yugoslavia; the attribution of responsibility for actions in violation of humanitarian law (NATO or individual member states?); the Kosovars' right to self-determination; the aftermath of the conflict and the powers of the Security Council; proceedings undertaken by the FRY against the ten NATO member states; the Stability Pact. The conclusions invoke a joint Serb-Kosovar pacification effort to ensure the future of the region.

A legislature in transition : the Yemeni parliament / Ahmed A. Saif. - Aldershot : Ashgate, c2001. - xii, 273 p. - ISBN 0-7546-1702-5
This original monograph attempts to analyse the legislatures of Third World countries, and in particular, those in transition from a non-democratic regime to a democratic one, by means of a specific case study, Yemen. The study starts with the establishment of the Yemeni parliament after unification in 1990 and follows its development up to the end of the nineties, setting it in the context of the country's socio-political reality and examining its effectiveness and autonomy. The analysis shows that there are a number of factors that have influenced the institutionalisation of the Yemeni parliament: poverty and mismanagement of resources which make the state the main source of wealth and power; the "weblike" social structure with its personal and parental ties which relegate political ideologies and party affiliations to second place; a strong executive/presidency that influences the setting of the agenda without being subject to adequate pressure from the legislative power regarding the application of the laws passed. Essentially, the author demonstrates that assessment of the performance of any parliament, especially those of the Third World, has to be methodologically defined in relation to the country's socio-political context and, therefore, that the traditional view of Middle Eastern legislatures as poor imitations of western ones must be reconsidered ("exceptionalism of the Middle East").

New Labour and the European Union : political strategy, policy transition and the Amsterdam treaty negotiation / Stefano Fella. - Aldershot : Ashgate, c2002. - 259 p. - ISBN 0-7546-30870
A thorough study of the European policy of the British Labour Party under Blair. The time span considered goes from Blair's move to the head of the Labour Party in 1994 to 1997, the year of the UK general elections which brought the Labour Party to government (May) and of the Intergovernmental Conference-IGC in Amsterdam (June). Based on government and party documentary sources, the book is divided into seven chapters, including the introduction and the conclusions. The author shows the evolution of Labour's positions during the course of its move from opposition to government (from a Europoean social democratic position to a more economically liberal and politically pragmatic stance) and the factors, both internal and external, that influenced them, underlining in any case, a certain continuity with the preceding British and Labourite "European" tradition. Three phases can be distinguished: the first basically covers the work of the Leader's Working Group set up by Blair at the end of 1994; the second goes from the end of the working group to the general elections; the third and last from the electoral victory to the IGC negotiations.

Reconstituting sovereignty : post-Dayton Bosnia uncovered / Rory Keane. - Aldershot : Ashgate, c2002. - x, 158 p. - (The international political economy of new regionalism). - ISBN 0-7546-1859-5
This book, based on a PhD thesis, critically analyses the attempt - a failure according to the author - made by the Dayton Accords to provide a new form of governance and more specifically to create a nation state. The thesis unfolds in seven chapters: the first two are theoretical introductions - the author defines the concept of human security and introduces the theoretical models based on reconstruction of sovereignty; the third chapter tries to deconstruct the concept of sovereign nation state using a "geneological" approach (i.e. trying to understand how present concerns inform the past) and by means of a case study (Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia); the fourth to seventh chapters are centred on the Dayton Peace Accords, their implementation and how this involved a certain dismantling of nation state sovereignty, with particular attention (chaps. 5 and 6) to the weakening of ethno-nationalism and the creation of a state based on the unbundling of sovereignty (i.e. the disaggregation of central power).

The record of global economic development / Eric Jones. - Cheltenham, UK : Edward Elgar, c2002. - xviii, 226 p. - ISBN 1-84064-806-6
A collection of essays by an economic historian stimulated by an academic experience in Japan, this volume deals with economic development and cultural, institutional and structural change, correlating economic history and contemporary economic models. It is composed of four parts: the first on long-term economic development, above all in Europe and the west; the second on protectionist factors that halt economic growth; the third on the economic miracle and crisis in East Asia, underlining the similarities with the European experience; the fourth and last on adaptation to global competition, showing how some economies have performed below their potential (Australia). A number of transversal subjects of specific interest to the author are also found throughout the volume - agriculture, protectionism, culture - and analysed from different perspectives.

Regional politics in Russia / edited by Cameron Ross. - Manchester : Manchester University Press, c2002. - xii, 223 p. - ISBN 0-7190-5890-2
This book brings together almost all the papers presented at the conference "Regional politics and democratisation in Russia", held in Dundee on 13-15 May 2000. The twelve contributions deal with various aspects of the Russian democratisation process: the obstacles posed to federalism and democracy by statism/centralism; a possible regional dimension/factor in post-communist electoral behaviour; the decline and near disappearance of political parties from regional assemblies and therefore federal elections and the resulting personalism and oligarchism; the consolidation of the power of the regional and federal governors; the insufficient democratisation of regional political institutions and the trend towards "delegative democracy" and sometimes authoritarianism; problems of methodological approach to the study of Russian regions; central-periphery relations; prospects for a new regional regime; Putin's attempt to return to a unitary statute. Subjects on specific topics are alternated with case studies (St.Petersburg, Novgorod, Komi Republic, Volgograd Oblast, Bashkortostan, Tatarstan and three regions in the Russian Far East - Rossiiskii Dal'nii Vostok).

Troubled waters : the geopolitics of the Caspian region / R. Hrair Dekmejian and Hovann H. Simonian. - London : I.B.Tauris, c2001. - viii, 271 p. - ISBN 1-86064-639-5
This study provides a picture of the political, economic and cultural factors that define the Caspian region, and the internal and external interests that intersect there, examined using various theories of international relations. The book is divided into three parts: the first offers an historical introduction of the region and its resources; the second examines the political situation and the inter-relations of five countries lying on its shores: Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Finally, the third part considers the influence exerted on the region by external actors: neighbouring countries, broken down into an "inner circle" (Afghanistan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey and Uzbekistan) and an "outer circle" (another dozen countries ranging from the great powers, China and India, to minor states), industrially advanced countries (the US, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia) and non-state actors (nationalists, religious militants, criminal groups, businessmen/adventurers, multinationals, international organisations, NGOs, the agencies of Russian and Iranian provinces lying on the Caspian's shores). The last chapter, the eleventh, describes the region's prospects on the global market. The bibliography and the references are exceptionally voluminous.