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Begin New Search Political Geography Europe Content Type Journal Article Publishing Institution Istituto Affari Internazionali

81. Turkey's New Foreign Policy and the Future of Turkey-EU Relations

Author:
Emiliano Alessandri
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Turkey is not 'drifting' towards the east. It is in search of a new place and a new identity, given the many changes that have taken place in the domestic and international contexts, particularly since the end of the Cold War. This complex process of transformation does not in itself challenge Turkey's Western orientation, but it certainly puts it to the test. It is time for the debate on Turkey's drift to be replaced by a more serious and fruitful one on the reasons why Turkey is still important for the EU and the West and what Europe and the West mean for and can offer contemporary Turkey.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Cold War
Political Geography:
Europe and Turkey

82. From a Europe of Choice to a Europe of Necessity?

Author:
Michele Comelli
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Review of: The European Union in the 21st century : perspectives from the Lisbon Treaty, edited by Stefano Micossi and Gian Luigi Tosato, Centre for European Policy Studies, 2009
Political Geography:
Europe

83. Dilemmas of the 'Middle Continent': Russian strategy for Eastern Eurasia

Author:
David Kerr
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Russia did not join the West, nor did it join the East. Russia's commitment to its strategic autonomy and independent foreign and security policy requires the preservation of a 'middle continent' that bridges and transcends Europe and Asia. Russia pursues a restorationist strategy for Eurasia but faces a three-way struggle: for its own autonomy as a great power; for resistance to absorption within the US-centred system of common strategic space; and for management of the dynamics between the emergent powers through negotiation between strategic partnerships and regionalisms. This article examines these dilemmas in relation to Eastern Eurasia, and in particular the Sino-Russian relationship.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Eurasia, and Asia

84. The "Sovereign Neighbourhood": Weak Statehood Strategies in Eastern Europe

Author:
Nicu Popescu and Andrew Wilson
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The launch of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) marks the most significant change to the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) since it was launched in 2004. In the wake of the Georgia war in August 2008 and yet another gas crisis in January 2009, the EU clearly needs a more constructive policy towards Eastern Europe. But both the ENP and EaP are based on a contradiction. They offer only the remotest possibility of eventual accession to the EU, but are still based on "accession-light" assumptions, applying the conditionality model of the 1990s to weak states that are a long way from meeting the Copenhagen criteria. The priority in the eastern neighbourhood is not building potential members states but strengthening sovereignty, in the face of an increasingly assertive Russian neighbourhood policy. The game is playing the west off against Russia for geopolitical reward.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Georgia

85. The Lessons of Ancient History and the Future of Transatlantic Relations

Author:
Cesare Merlini
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
While a global recession of uncertain duration plagues the planet, the Atlantic countries are faced with an agenda of complicated, almost intractable international challenges. The surge of new protagonists on the world scene has been largely the result of a long period of relative stability and extraordinary economic growth thanks to the prevalence of Western paradigms. And yet they mark another step in the shrinking of the West's geostrategic relevance. Obama's America and half-integrated Europe should deal with this new multipolar world with a consistent and synergic approach, made up of a mix of traditional balance-of-power skills and systemic innovations. Over the past two decades, the US' solitary position at the apex of global power has made the analogy with imperial Rome common currency. While this is the wrong lesson to learn from classical history, the achievements and mistakes of ancient Greece and republican as well as imperial Rome may still help us, third millennium Europeans and Americans, sail through the stormy waters of today's planetary Mediterranean.
Political Geography:
America and Europe

86. New Patterns of Transatlantic Security: The Challenge of Multipolarity

Author:
Asle Toje
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Transatlantic relations are in flux: NATO's struggle for self preservation; the diminished importance of Europe in American geopolitics; the semi-failure of European foreign policy integration; and the absence of a grand bargain among Europe's leading powers. These four trends are making the current transatlantic order unsustainable. But if the international system becomes multipolar, will the "West" be one of the poles? These developments can be assessed by applying the "transatlantic bargain" as a conceptual lens through which to select and assess information. The result is that the dynamics of multipolarity could spell the end for the "transatlantic West".
Topic:
NATO
Political Geography:
America and Europe

87. New Actors on the Horizon: the International Outreach of Italian CSOs

Author:
Donatella Cugliandro
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Italian civil society organisations are holding more and more sway in the foreign policy arena, strengthening links with their counterparts both in the European Union and further abroad. Some well-organised groups are increasingly capable of wielding influence in the international scenario, mainly thanks to their initiatives directed at fuelling citizens' interests in sensitive issues and fostering transnational cooperation. In parallel with these global trends, Italian civil society is going through a period of change and reassessment, shaken by the need to protect some core values to which it is undeniably attached.
Political Geography:
Europe

88. Using Criminal Justice to Foster US-EU Cooperation on Counter-terrorism

Author:
Paul Wilkinson
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
EU and US political leaders and elites share the same overall threat assessment of terrorist networks but differ over the choice of strategy to defeat them. While President Bush's "war on terrorism" has relied on the military to suppress terrorism, incarcerating terrorist suspects in Guantanamo and refusing them access to US federal courts, Europeans have stressed a holistic and multilateral approach to the struggle, giving a greater role to the criminal justice system. Abandoning due process and violating suspects' human rights betrays the very values and principles upon which the democracies supposedly being defended are founded. Courts in Europe since 9/11 have demonstrated that it is possible to bring terrorists and conspirators to trial and to convict them on the basis of overwhelming evidence. Hence, the strengthening of national judicial processes and international judicial cooperation should remain the major objective of the transatlantic alliance.
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

89. Less Words and More Deeds in Constructing Europe

Author:
William Wallace
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
British politicians have two different motivations in strongly wishing for a long pause in the negotiations over institutional reform, after 20 years of revisions to the EU treaties. The first is their sensitivity to a domestic debate which presents "Brussels" as a determined assault on British sovereignty by unelected officials. The second is their scepticism about federalistic rhetoric, unsupported by commitments to implement common policies. British disillusion at the gap between promises and fulfilment has been sharpest over common foreign and defence policies, where those governments most actively committed to integrating national policies have also been the most frequent defaulters. Yet successive British governments are also to blame, both for failing to shift the balance of the Eurosceptic public debate within the UK, and for leaving it to other governments to set the EU agenda, for fear of arousing public hostility at home.
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

90. The AKP in Turkey: Off the Hook This Time

Author:
Senem Aydin Düzgit
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Against expectations, in July 2008, the Constitutional Court in Turkey ruled against banning the AKP. The decision of the Court needs to be interpreted against a background of closely intertwined internal and domestic constraints. While the risk of political and economic crises, lack of a credible political opposition, high public opposition to the closure of the party and prospects of further polarisation in society constitute the main domestic determinants, the implications of a potential ban on the country's relations, primarily with Europe, namely the EU and the Council of Europe, are also major external constraints behind the Court's final decision.
Political Geography:
Europe and Turkey