Editorial Note

Opinions

The UN Reports: Addressing the Gnarled Issues of Our Time
Tom Farer
With a candor rarely encountered in UN documents, the two reports diagnose the ills of the present UN system as an instrument of global governance and a vehicle for protecting human security. Their prescriptions, if followed, would effect major changes in norms and structures while also reaffirming some elements of the status quo. With respect to the issue of terrorism, their call for a general convention incorporating existing international agreements focused on particular acts is generally persuasive except in their refusal to see the term applied to regimes that sustain themselves by terrorizing their populations. On the use of force, the reports manage at one and the same time to reinforce the position of those scholars who claim that the Charter's restraints have been demolished by the accumulated weight of deviant behavior while insisting that the overwhelming majority of UN members favor their essential elements. Their call for collective humanitarian intervention is welcome. 

Essays

Vladimir Putin and the Chechen War
Paolo Calzini
While the question of separatism remains at the core of the Chechen conflict, the Russian government has instrumentally underlined the separatism/terrorism equation to generate domestic and international support. The Beslan tragedy in September 2004 brought to a halt Moscow’s policy of granting Chechnya a measure of autonomy. At the same time, it was used in Russia to legitimate an unprecedented increase in defence budget resources and the consolidation of central state structures in keeping with a strong centralising reform that had already been begun. This development has reduced the margin of interaction between local communities and the Moscow administration, weakening the latter’s base of legitimacy and making it more difficult to stop the vicious circle of violence.

The Transatlantic Dimension of Security

Power and Bleakness? The Dilemma of US Foreign and Security Policy
Julian Lindley-French
As the Global War on Terror becomes the new Thirty Years War, inspirational America has been replace by mighty America. Shock and awe has replaced hearts and minds. At the same time European weakness forces a dependence on the US, like it or not. In this dangerous world success will require Americans to understand legitimacy and Europeans to understand coercion. If not, both will fail. The strategic vacation is over, it is time to get serious. A new transatlantic partnership is vital and it has to be founded on an open America and a strong Europe. When viewed from Washington the world is bleak, from Brussels it is merely abstract. Only in partnership can that change.

Back to Transatlantic Pragmatism
Jean-Yves Haine
In the last couple of years, the divide between the United States and Europe has widened to the point of fracture. This new transatlantic divide reflects the changing nature of NATO and the transformed role of the Atlantic Alliance, which has passed from collective defence to collective security. In this new context, the Alliance no longer reflects the mutual interests of the EU and the US, but mirrors their agreements and disagreements. Both actors have to learn how to disagree and, in particular, they have to adopt a more pragmatic approach to deal with those differences.

The United States, Europe and the Interoperability Gap
Jeffrey P. Bialos
The capabilities gap revealed in the nineties is likely to last as European countries have neither the resources nor the political will to put more money into defence spending. Yet, forces must be made interoperable if coalition warfare remains a real objective: it is interoperability that allows the partners to communicate. This goal is economically more feasible for Europe than matching the US in raw combat capabilities. But the only way to achieve it is by pursuing ESDP and formulating a European grand strategy with a single European procurement agency and R&D agency. The United States would be well counselled to encourage it to do so. 

The Growing EU-NATO Relationship: Beyond Berlin
Graham Messervy-Whiting
Between March 2000 and March 2003, the EU set up its military structures and brought into effect the "Berlin plus" arrangements, launching its first-ever military operation. Military-to military relations between the EU and NATO focused mainly on six issues: liaison; intelligence, geographic, command, control and communications; capabilities; security; exercises and training; policy; and operations. The EU-NATO relationship will be crucial in further developing a strategic culture in Europe favouring early, rapid and where necessary robust intervention.

The Transformation of Turkey’s Security Considerations
Thanos Veremis
Turkey has recently reconsidered its policy towards its neighbours while still actively seeking EU membership. The main factor behind this change has been the 2002 Islamic election victory. Erdogan’s followers are attracted to Europe because they hope it will free them from the oppressive vigilance of the system’s military guardians. At the same time, the recent war on Iraq altered Turkey’s privileged relations with the US in that Turkey fears a Kurdish drive for independence. Given the strain on US-Turkish relations, Turkey is concerned that if EU accession negotiations fail, the country could remain on the fringe of Europe with no formal security tie to the EU. It is thus doing everything it can to secure its membership in ESDP while making sure that NATO is maintained as the primary organisation for European defence.

Barcelona + 10: Spain’s Relaunch of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
Esther Barbé and Eduard Soler i Lecha
Several important changes in the global, Mediterranean, European and Spanish context have influenced the development of the EMP in the last ten years. Yet, today’s drastically changed environment could both restrict the margin of manoeuvre for advances in the EMP and open up new opportunities for progress. These are the considerations that convinced the Spanish government to undertake hosting a second Barcelona conference, known as Barcelona + 10.

Book Reviews and Notes

Democracy Promotion in the Middle East. Business as Usual?
Giacomo Luciani

IAI Library Notes
Maritza Cricorian