Democracy

Democrazia e sicurezza : l'istituzione parlamentare e le sfide del nuovo scenario internazionale / Antonio Casu. - Soveria Mannelli : Rubbettino, c2005. - 160 p. - ISBN 88-498-1209-4
At a time when the concept of security and relations between democracy and globalisation are changing, this volume intends to offer a frame of reference for the functions of parliament in a civil society, also by comparing the Italian experience with that of other countries. The analysis starts out by illustrating the new perceptions of security and goes on to identify some gaps in the Italy's constitutional order; it then reconstructs the main pillars of the Italian parliament's security model. The author argues that "just as security can be a guarantee of democracy, so the expansion of democracy is an inseparable premise for security", in other words, "the real guarantee of proper security is the expansion and consolidation of the democratic method and, in the final analysis, the affirmation of democracy". On the other hand, if parliamentary institutions are not open to civil society, if citizens are alienated from politics, if there is no trust between voters and the elected, this can result in the non-democratic or anti-democratic use of security in politics.

The frontiers of democracy : challenges in the West, the East and the Third World / Robert Pinkney. - Aldershot : Ashgate, c2005. - xii, 213 p. - ISBN 0-7546-3723-9
This research study on the problems of democracy in the world was carried out "in the field" by means of more than one hundred interviews with "insiders" (diplomats, officials, etc.). The author's objective was to point out the interconnections between the different democracies in the world and to discover their problems rather than provide solutions. The book has eleven chapters, including the introduction and conclusion. Chapter two describes the emergence and subsequent development of democracy. Chapters three and four analyse the challenges to the survival of democracy in the West and in the Third World, respectively, and show how the challenges are represented by the decline in participation, in the former, and by the limited resources and the dependence on external powers, in the latter. The fifth chapter examines attempts to promote democracy undertaken by foreign powers (from great powers to NGOs) and asks whether the West is promoting forms of democracy that the recipients desire or simply its own version of the concept. Chapters six to nine are four case studies - Tanzania, Uganda, Singapore and Malaysia - which illustrate the interaction between indigenous politics and global political and economic trends and show that current experiences orient the citizen towards the economic rather than the political arena. The tenth chapter deals with the international dimension of democracy and raises the question of the legitimacy of the international order: "How useful is it to advance democracy in individual countries when many of the major decisions affecting them are taken elsewhere by largely undemocratic means?" The closing chapter lays out some strategies for remedying the perceived democratic deficit: the author reiterates that the primary cause is the people's alienation from politics and therefore suggests turning "consumers back into citizens".

Lessons from Russia : Clinton and US democracy promotion / Lee Marsden. - Aldershot : Ashgate, c2005. - xii, 218 p. - ISBN 0-7546-4610-6
A courageous work on the so-called democratisation process in post-Soviet Russia. The focus is on the period 1993 to 2001 - the years of the Clinton administration - and in particular the shaping and implementation of US foreign policy. The author maintains that, contrary to general belief, Russia is less democratic now than it was at the beginning of the process. Using a quasi-rational model, the study shows that Clinton took some non-optimal decisions, which may have seemed rational, but in reality served only to strengthen US security and markets rather than democracy in Russia. In fact, promoting the personal fortunes of the preferred reformers (e.g. Yeltsin), the Clinton administration in reality tolerated - if not actually encouraged - the use of anti-democratic means, by-passing Congress whenever possible. This thesis is developed in seven chapters: the first gives the theoretical and historical context of Russia-US relations; the second examines Clinton's policies towards Russia in the initial period of his first term; chapter three describes the rest of the first term; chapter four is dedicated to the second term and points out the change in priorities; chapters five and six are respectively an empirical description and a critical analysis of the bureaucratic organisation that implemented the policy of democracy promotion, demonstrating that it was more attentive to its own well-being than to the pursuit of democracy; the final chapter draws some lessons for the future, above all with regard to the Middle East.

The role of Parliaments in European foreign policy: debating on accountability and legitimacy / Esther Barbé and Anna Herranz (Eds.). - Barcelona : Oficina d'informació del Parlament Europeu, 2005. - 121 p. - ISBN 92-823-1945-8
This book is the outcome of a research study and a meeting in Barcelona in March 2005 conducted by the Foreign Policy Governance in Europe Research Network (FORNET) on the impact of the European Parliament (EP) on Europe's common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and the European security and defence policy (ESDP).
The book is divided into two parts, of which the first deals with the accountability of European foreign policy and its institutions, and the second the legitimacy of European policies and the role of the EP in the various sectors. More in detail, the two chapters of part one look at 1) the EP's powers in CFSP by means of a comparison with the experience of the Common Commercial Policy; 2) concrete cases of scrutiny/oversight of ESDP by national parliaments (namely in France, Great Britain and Italy). The second part of the volume analyses national and political cleavages in the EP with particular reference to Turkey's membership; the national and political priorities of EP members, specifically the Polish, Spanish and German delegations; inter-party cooperation and relations between the EP and the Council. The volume aims to contribute to the debate on the nature and the importance of the role of the European Parliament in European foreign policy.

European Union

Communicating Europe to the world: what public diplomacy for the EU? / Dov Lynch. - Brussels : European Policy Centre, 2005. - 38 p. - (EPC working paper ; 21). - ISSN 1782-2424
An original pamphlet on the European Union's difficulty in adequately communicating what it is doing to its citizens. The author provides a definition of the concept of "public diplomacy", a brief survey of the contemporary debate in the United States on the subject, an analysis of EU activity in the field and some proposals for solving the problems.

The European security strategy : a global agenda for positive power / Sven Biscop. - Aldershot : Ashgate, c2005. - xiv, 152 p. - ISBN 0-7546-4469-3
After the adoption of the first official document on the European Security Strategy (Brussels, December 2003), this research study, undertaken a year earlier, attempts to provide an unambiguous interpretation of the Strategy in the broad sense of the term, that is, one that includes all aspects of the EU's external action in a long-term perspective. In light of this interpretation, a look is then taken at the Strategy's impact on European policies. Particular attention is given to the Neighbourhood Policy, especially Euro-Mediterranean relations; multilateralism in the United Nations security system and the non-political and non-military aspects of global governance; the necessary coherence between the various European foreign policies, the possibility of improving military capabilities and the future of relations with the United States. The last chapter, the sixth, contains recommendations for use - "positive" use - of the Strategy as a policy-making instrument for all aspects of the EU's external action, not only the political-military ["it claims effective power to achieve positive objectives", p. 136].

The European Union in 2005: candidate countries' perspectives : a Jean Monnet doctoral volume / edited by Georgy Genov, Julia Zaharieva and Krassimir Y. Nikolov. - Sofia : Bulgarian European Community Studies Association, 2005. - 435 p. - ISBN 954-9543-07-2
This original volume is the result of a European Commission project, "Young Scholars from the Candidate countries for an enlarged EU" and therefore brings together contributions from young Bulgarian (11), Romanian (6) and Turkish (9) researchers on various subjects, under the aegis of three regional academic European studies associations: the Bulgarian European Community Studies Association, the Romanian European Community Studies Association and the Turkish University Association for European Community Studies.
The book is composed of four parts: the first deals with legal aspects and in particular the harmonisation of national legislations (Luxembourg Court, competition law, company law, intellectual property, international trade); the second part is centred on the political systems of the Union and candidate countries; the third on sectoral policies and, in particular, economic integration; the fourth part is devoted to the problems of enlargement - seen from the national points of view of the central and eastern European candidate countries - and to the main European foreign policy issues. Each chapter has a theoretical-methodological introduction, a critical apparatus and a specific bibliography.

La forma di stato dell'Unione Europea : per una teoria costituzionale dell'integrazione sovranazionale / Francesco Palermo. - Padova : Cedam, 2005. - XII, 285 p. - (Dipartimento di scienze giuridiche. Università di Trento ; 53). - ISBN 88-13-25836-4
An empirical and comparative study of the legal nature, the affirmation and the guarantee of "superior values" of the form of state of the European Union, in particular as concerns the practice of prescription. In other words, the work's objective is to survey the functions and the modus operandi of constitutional values in the context of the European supranational form of government, in order to contribute to a more thorough understanding of the extent to which the reciprocal obligations of the member states and the European Union intertwine and to analyse the forms of post-state power. The author underlines that the form of the state in the community system continues to be prescriptive but changes - as a result of the principles of participation and collaboration - the way in which it imposes and obeys, in that it has to convince rather than impose, seduce rather than conquer and accept rather than endure.

The political system of the European Union / Simon Hix. - 2. ed. - Basingstoke and New York : Macmillan, 2005. - xxii, 490 p. - (The European Union series). - ISBN 0-33396182-X (pbk)
This is the second edition of a guide of EU political processes for students and scholars, first brought out in 1999 - a hefty synthesis of EU government, politics and policy-making, basically of how the EU functions. The author starts out from the assumption that the EU is a complete political system and, therefore, that the parameters of general political science apply to it. The book is broken down into three parts, corresponding to 12 chapters: in the first part, the author presents the various branches of European government (the executive, the legislative and the judiciary) covering developments up to the recent constitutional process; the second part analyses the political aspects (parties, public opinion and representativeness); the third part reconstructs policy-making in the various sectors (economy, monetary, civilian and foreign policy). The thirteenth chapter contains the conclusions. The book is completed by an appendix and a substantial bibliography (p. 422-474).

Soft or hard borders? : managing the divide in an enlarged Europe / edited by Joan DeBardeleben. - Aldershot : Ashgate, c2005. - x, 204 p. - ISBN 0-7546-4338-7
A collective volume of nine chapters on relations between the EU and its new "neighbours", above all to the east and the south. The authors analyse the extension and especially the new kinds of borders, distinguishing them into "hard" and "soft", meant in terms of hostility, that is closed in the first case and open in the second.
The first chapter is an introduction, defining the object of the study. The following chapters are divided into three parts. The first is dedicated to the consequences of the EU enlargement process (the Union's strategy towards independent Ukraine; the European Neighbourhood Policy towards Russia, with attention to the Kaliningrad enclave; the shaping of hard/soft borders in the case study of Romania). The second part deals with the Union's border policies (the necessary coexistence between integration and security requirements and the socio-economic repercussions of the new rules, particularly with reference to migration; inclusion/exclusion policies towards neighbouring countries, particularly with reference to Justice and Home Affairs; potential and limits of integrated external border management, and especially of a possible European Border Guard. The third part revolves around specific problems on the Russian border (the need to reconcile the inclusive and exclusive functions of the new external borders and to establish a "friendly Schengen border policy"; the effects and opportunities of enlargement on relations between Latvia and Russia).

Globalisation

Globalization and antiglobalization : dynamics of change in the new world order / edited by Henry Veltmeyer. - Aldershot : Ashgate, c2004. - x, 224 p. - (The international political economy of new regionalisms series). - ISBN 0-7546-3489-2
A solitary voice, this book on the macrodynamics of so-called globalisation (the authors prefer the term "imperialism" or "new imperialism") attempts to make both an analytical and theoretical contribution to the understanding of it.
The volume is divided into three parts, ten chapters. The first part, a theoretical and political introduction, discusses among other things the dynamics of development in relation to overseas development assistance (ODA) and the role of the World Bank, providing a view of globalisation - after 9/11 - as a political and ideological policy for projecting the economic and political interests of the United States on the world system. The second part of the book focuses on some case studies, namely: the programme for structural adjustment of the oil industry in Mexico; the World Bank's campaign for labour reform as an ideological instrument of a transnational capitalist class; the influence of globalisation on health conditions and policies in Venezuela and Cuba in the crisis years, the eighties and the nineties; the response to globalisation of some East Asian countries and China. The third part analyses anti-globalisation policies and in particular the dynamics of power in the United States after 9/11, the prospects for opposition to globalisation; the (remote) possibility of unifying anti-global forces.