Critique internationale - Content
No Abstract
[The new Swedish exception ? The 2003 referendum on the Euro]
After a long period of hesitation, the Swedish Social Democratic government eventually resolved to organise a referendum on the Euro in September 2003. In spite of the consultative nature of the vote, the strength of the popular rejection of the currency (and the high turnout) could not but force Sweden into postponing the third phase of the EMU even though no exemption clause had ever been negotiated on her behalf (contrary to what was done for Denmark and the UK). This result may be better understood as a follow-up to the 1994 referendum on joining the EU and in the context of strong demands for popular sovereignty, frustrated by the kind of intergovernmentalism and remoteness that characterize power in the EU.
[Northern Ireland: radicalism as the price of peace ?]
Polls on 26 November 2003 in Northern Ireland were supposed to get power-sharing between Protestants and Catholics rolling again, in line with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement; however, these elections saw the victory of the hard-line Democratic Unionist Party, on the Protestant side, and of Sinn Féin, the political wing of the IRA, on the Catholic side. As the DUP is vigorously opposed to forming a government with Sinn Féin, these electoral results have shattered hopes of a speedy return to power-sharing. But if the rise of DUP, which is opposed to the 1998 agreement, reveals growing discontent among Protestants, support for Sinn Féin among Catholics should rather be understood as a desire for further implementation of the peace plan. These election results therefore do not really indicate a polarisation of the political landscape in Northern Ireland. They do, however, point to failures in the current peace process.
[Yabloko or the defeat of Russian political liberalism]
Rather than marking the failure of the proponents of liberal economic reform, the defeat of the Yabloko party at the Russian general elections in December 2003, provides an illustration of the problems being encountered by political liberalism in Russia. Punished for its criticism of the system and its lack of administrative resources, Yabloko has now come face to face with the new political grammar of the Russian regime, which, though officially democratic, is by no means liberal and places a higher value on unity than on pluralism.
[Facilitation, surveillance and mediation: failures in the peace process in Sri Lanka]
The peace process in Sri Lanka, which got under way in 2002 under the patronage of Norway, aimed to bring an end to the conflict between the government and the armed rebels known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. After one year, the process came up against the types of difficulties which are inherent in the complex, specific nature of such negotiations. These difficulties are due, notably, to the ambiguous role played by international players – who are now facilitators, now mediators, now arbitrators – and to the particularities of Sri Lankan political culture.
[The Dark Side of the Force. The use of the political in the economic theory of an independent central bank]
The contradictions noted by the critics in the theoretical model of an ICB reveal a gradual disconnection between the theoretical tools and the problem being analysed. This disconnection is seen here as the logical consequence of an ontologico epistemological inherent character which establishes the existence of independent political and economic spheres acting in accordance with methodological individualism. The manicheistic standpoint imposed by the ICB theorists shows politicians as not playing according to the rules. They are seen as cheating out of opportunism in order to win elections, destroying their own reputations and undermining the trust which they should inspire in the field of monetary policy. The economist, on the other hand, confirms his “good” reputation by means of his deep respect for the rules and his ability to predict politicians’ cheating. However, in placing the political on the dark side of the force, the theoretical model of an independent central bank loses much of its heuristic value.
[Is hegemony soluble in multilateralism? The case of the WTO]
The World Trade Organization is analysed in the light of a variety of theories of international relations concerning multilateralism. It is now obvious that the WTO invalidates the realistic theory of “hegemonic stability”, since it does not, itself, operate under the domination of the United States. The vision advanced by neomarxists and alterglobalists of a WTO instrumentalised in the North-South relationship must also be re-examined, in the light of the increasing strength of the emerging countries, whose influence and blocking capability may well be used, at some point, to paralyse the Organization. In the final analysis, it is the liberal theory of multilateralism, grounded in the possibility of a pooling of benefits for all participants, that is best exemplified by the WTO. Even if account must be taken of the fact that its working still falls short of what is required by the liberal ideal of multilaterism, the WTO is, nonetheless, a forum for multilaterism which has remained relatively intact since the end of the cold war
No Abstract
[Neopentecostalism in Guatemala : privatisation, market and networks]
Protestantism was transplanted from the United States to Guatemala in the late 19th century, and has developed very rapidly, at the expense of Catholicism, in the last thirty years. Among the Protestant churches, neopentecostalism has grown most vigorously by following a very specific pattern whereby individual preachers, acting as true entrepreneurs, use the media, establish new churches and create networks by joining hands with alter egos. The local population is particularly attracted by the socio-economic dimension of their message and converting to this brand of Protestantism is seen as the best means of achieving success in life – and being seen to achieve it
[Contemporary trajectories and challenges related to Pentecostalism in West Africa]
The expansion of Pentecostalism in West Africa is examined through the prism of endogenous dynamics and local habits, with a view to arriving at an understanding of the contemporary – and notably political – challenges which it engenders. The processes through which religion is transmitted and transformed and undergoes modification have made Africa a player in the area of Pentecostal revival. The success encountered by this movement runs parallel to the social change and modernisation sweeping through local societies, and which can be observed even in the uncertainty and fragility affecting these churches. Pentecostalists participate increasingly in local political struggles, with the intensity and precise nature of their interventions in the public arena varying from one country to anot
[The development of Protestant movements in South Korea:an ambiguous relationship with modernity]
The development of Christianity is due, essentially, to conservative Protestant churches sympathetic to the policies of the military governments. By adapting to their own purposes a theodicy developed during the first decade of Japanese colonisation, these Protestant movements succeeded in creating a perception of North Korea as a satanic enemy against which constant battle must be waged. That struggle was at once political and economic, with South Korea citing its economic development as a sign of God’s favour. However, this mobilisation slowed the modernisation of the country, since the churches orchestrating it also managed a wide variety of institutions which were active in the areas of health, education, family affairs and even trade unionism, and which acted as a brake on the secularisation of society. In addition, the churches fostered a golden vision of the country’s history which made Koreans less likely to engage in a personal quest for meaning or to embark on a process of individualisation. Modernisation, nevertheless, gradually came about, helped by the Asian crisis which weakened the galvanising effect of the Protestant theodicy.
[The Evangelical world in Russia: from the foreign mission to more native than thou]
With the opening of the borders in 1991, Russia saw an influx of Western evangelical movements. However, these groups are finding it difficult to develop in a highly-secularised country where the Russian orthodox identity is now stronger than ever and where laws governing freedom of conscience are highly restrictive vis-à-vis non-traditional movements. Moreover, the Western evangelical movements are finding themselves in conflict with their Russian counterparts, most of which tend to emphasise their Russian credentials (the more recent essentially in order to gain legitimacy in a context which is increasingly hostile to religious pluralism, and the longer-established in order to affirm their distinctiveness from the new forms of Protestantism). While many of the new evangelical movements transmit Western values, they are also tending to acculturate. In Russia, as elsewhere, the meeting of religious globalisation and the national context leads to culture shock.
Toby Dodge, Inventing Iraq : The Failure ofNation Building and a History Denied, Londres, C. Hurst & Co. / New York, Columbia University Press, 2003, 260 pages.
Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu, Jing-Dong Yuan, China and India : Cooperation or Conflict ?, Boulder, Londres, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003, 205 pages
Pascale Laborier, Dany Trom, dir. Historicités de l’action publique, Paris, PUF, 2003,540 pages
