Critique internationale - Content
No Abstract
[Spain and the war in Iraq]
After the events of 11 September, the decision by the Spanish government to align itself with American policy regarding Iraq and contribute troops to the international coalition led to a radical break from the traditional consensuses which had characterised Spanish foreign policy since the Transition period. Analysis of the key moments in this radical shift and the motivations behind it shows that the ideological driving force is to be found in the neo-conservative plan to reconfigure the world order. However, the government of José Maria Aznar made several miscalculations and underestimated the potential political cost of this shift which was to affect Spain’s relations with its EU partners and generate clear opposition on the part of Spanish public opinion. The Partido Popular’s election defeat in 2004 resulted, essentially, in a return to the foreign policy that Spain had known in the pre-Aznar years.
[Iran from post-Khomeini to post-reformism]
The Islamic revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini until 1989 resulted in the development of a new elite and a political system the keystone of which was Velayat Faqih, i.e. the sovereignty of the Islamic jurist. The two ensuing periods were marked, respectively, by the Realpolitik of Hodjatoleslam Rafsandjani until 1997 and the reformism instigated by President Khatami until 2004. This latter period in particular saw the conflictual – albeit limited – opening up of the political system and the expression of the new generation’s democratic aspirations. The defeat of the reformers at the parliamentary elections in 2004 enabled the neo-conservatives to take control of the legislature. Their length of tenure will depend on their capacity to deal with the economic and cultural problems facing Iranian society
[Turkey: an unsettling longing for Europe]
La Turquie ne cesse de donner la preuve de sa détermination à faire partie de l’Union Turkey is constantly showing its determination to become a member of the European Union. However, despite the country’s undertaking to adopt and enforce a set of reforms illustrating its longing for Europe, the debate surrounding the initiation of negotiations concerning its membership is the focus of growing controversy. Turkey, which once went through a process of westernisation without having been colonised by western countries, is now in the process of Europeanisation although it is not a member of the European Union. However, this European influence on a Muslim society is by no means seen as proof of the universal success of the European project. On the contrary, it has led to suspicion and to fear that, if Europe no longer has clear boundaries, its identity will be threatened by erosion. By revealing the tensions that characterise relations between Islam and Europe, between two Wests and between various Islams, Turkey exercises an unsettling influence and has ended up becoming a domestic issue in European countries.
[Unease in the struggle against nuclear proliferation]
The last two years could be considered extremely successful in terms of the struggle against nuclear proliferation. During that time, Iran agreed to a moratorium on the enrichment and reprocessing of uranium; Libya abandoned its non-conventional programmes; Pakistan was forced to dismantle a highly active clandestine proliferation network; and North Korea was placed under strict surveillance. However, despite all these developments, this article presents a very different perspective on events, showing that nuclear-related dangers are once more on the increase and that international cohesion is insufficient to contain the threat.
[The reconciliation of Druze and Christians in Mount Lebanon or the return to customary law]
Why, in a society traumatised by fifteen years of civil war and where the threat of eye-for-eye responses remains real, has the state – which values the notions of modernity and reform – opted for reconciliation, which is the traditional approach to conflict resolution? What is the mechanism for this pacification process? Which players are involved, and what problems does case-by-case application pose? The reconciliation of the Druze and the Christians in Mount Lebanon – which was brought about within the framework of the policy designed to ensure the return of Christians to devastated villages – forms part of a broader plan to restore the authority of the state and reconstitute the social fabric while taking into account multiconfessional traditions.
No Abstract
[Facing the European question. The issue of postnational integration]
Modern republican nations have resulted from the one-language policy of the state and the government promotion of a centralised education system. The nation-states that took shape based on this pattern in the 19th century are now affected by the rise of ethnic brands of nationalism. However, alongside the development of such closed-mindedness, cosmopolitanism is also on the rise, as is evident from the commitment of an increasing number of citizens to transnational causes (regarding the environment, humanitarian issues etc.). The development of the European Union is gaining momentum in the same perspective, on the basis of constitutional patriotism, a doctrine whereby a political community can develop independently of ethnic ties through universalistic values and a deep commitment to the rule of law. Critics of constitutional patriotism argue that it is too abstract, ahistorical and elusive to serve as an identity, but this is the best route to the making of a European Union that can embody an alternative to American hegemony
[The myth of transnational citizenship]
While many social scientists now maintain that transnational phenomena like migrations, the development of networks of NGOs and mobilisations on behalf of human rights are challenging the nation-state, including its liberal-democratic variant, this political construct remains the most relevant framework for citizenship, as is evident from European societies’ lack of trust in the European parliament – the most developed attempt to promote international democratic institutions. In fact, the citizens of liberal democracies will cope with globalisation more effectively not by using transnational channels but by using their own national parliaments and governments, all of which contribute to international organisation
[Nationalism and multiculturalism]
In order to assess the different argumentative strategies designed to reconcile nationalism and multiculturalism, this article considers in turn the two following possibilities: to take as a starting-point the civic-vs.-ethnic-nationalism division and settle for the civic/political variety supposedly embodied by the U.S. and French models of citizenship and their - otherwise sharply distinct - ways of managing cultural heterogeneity; or to disaggregate the notion of ‘multiculturalism’ by demonstrating that in fact, the political claims generally advanced under this rubric either aim at promoting the integration of ethnocultural minorities into mainstream national institutions, or can best be understood as competing, nationalist demands. It ends up concluding that for as long as national identity alone may provide the sense of common membership on which the antidiscrimination project and, more generally, the promotion of social justice ultimately rest, defenders of ‘multiculturalism’ probably ought to refrain from denouncing the uniformity-enhancing, oppressive nature of nationalism - if only on strategic grounds.
[The resilience of nationalism in the face of globalisation and regionalisms]
At a time when the nation-state is affected by globalisation, with its surge of transnational flows and by growing regionalism, nationalism is showing strong resilience. The propagation of Western lifestyles has not really challenged national identities because of the indigenisation of these foreign patterns by local societies. Similarly, the growth of diasporas has not created deterritorialised communities, mainly because of the attachment of migrants to their mother countries – which may even translate into “long-distance nationalism”. So far as regionalisation is concerned, neither “pan-ism” movements nor the regional zones of cooperation have eroded national identities. The making of the European Union itself – though it represents the most elaborate transfer of sovereignty to the supranational level – has neither given rise to a new European identity nor durably weakened national identities.
Gabriel Sheffer, Diaspora Politics. At Home Abroad, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2003,290 pages
Abigail C. Saguy, What Is Sexual Harassment ? From Capitol Hill to the Sorbonne, Berkeley, University of California Press, 2003,252 pages
Thierry Pech, Marc-Olivier Padis, Les multinationales du cœur : les ONG, la politique et le marché, Paris, Le Seuil, coll. « La République des idées », 2004, 96 pages
