Book Reviews

Making Sense of Euro-Mediterranean Relations
Nathalie Tocci
Review of: European foreign policy making toward the Mediterranean / Federica Bicchi. - New York ; Basingstoke : Palgrave MacMillan, 2007. - x, 252 p. - (Europe in transition ; 12). - ISBN 978-1-4039-6864-7
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An Empire of Liberty? (see also a review by E. Alessandri, in Italian)
James Edward Miller
Review of: Libertà e impero : gli Stati Uniti e il mondo, 1776-2006 / Mario Del Pero. - Roma ; Bari : Laterza, 2008. - xiv, 559 p. - (Storia e societa`). - ISBN 978-88-420-7438-0
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Crisis Does Not Mean the End: the Atlantic Alliance in the 21st Century
Emiliano Alessandri
Review of: The end of the West? : crisis and change in the Atlantic order / edited by Jeffrey Anderson, G. John Ikenberry, Thomas Risse. - Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2008. - viii, 298 p. - ISBN 978-0-8014-4639-9 ; 978-0-8014-7400-2 (pbk)
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The Foundations of American National Security
Francesco N. Moro
Review of: Creating the national security state : a history of the law that transformed America / Douglas T. Stuart - Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2008. - xiii, 342 p. - ISBN 978-0-691-13371-3
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Recent Publications

Security and Terrorism

Bioviolence : preventing biological terror and crime / Barry Kellman. - Cambridge [etc.] : Cambridge University Press, 2007. - xxviii, 362 p. - ISBN 978-0-521-88325-2 ; 978-0-521-70969-9 (pbk)
In this book, bioviolence is taken to mean "the infliction of harm by the intentional manipulation of living micro-organisms or their natural products for hostile purposes". This definition is deliberately broader than that of non-state bioterrorism or the development of biological weapons in state programmes, yet it is not certain whether this has any tangible impact on the kind of analysis proposed.
The study is made up of two parts. The first describes the typical characteristics of bioviolence with respect to other kinds of threats - for example, the fact that it is cross-border - and the possible methods of activation, including detailed references to the main typologies of aggressive biological agents, the degree of difficulty in finding them and the feasibility of weaponisation.
The classification is thorough and full of technical specifications, and includes evaluations of the roles of the technological developments underway, in such areas as nanotechnologies.
The last chapter provides a survey of past and present biological warfare programmes and an assessment of their possible use by terrorist groups today. No less important, it underlines the importance - international statistics at hand - of not underestimating the role of deviated individual actors who have nothing to do with the more well known dynamics of fundamentalist groups.
The second part advances possible solutions for response management emphasizing two points: cooperation between the various administrations/actors and an adequate legal framework. One has to agree with both: operational capacities are not as important as an appropriate political/institutional/legal framework.
The author underlines the need for close coordination/communication between the various sectors, above all, public health and law enforcement but also other sectors such as bioscience and private enterprise. An inter-disciplinary approach has to be implemented at the national and international levels.
In addition, he clearly emphasizes the need for global governance for threat management. To that end, he proposes that three new UN institutions be set up: a Commission on Bioscience and Security (to promote secure bioscience worldwide), a Bioviolence Prevention Office (inside the UN Secretariat, as the coordinating hub of the prevention strategies of the relevant services of the UN system, of international and regional organisations and of the networks of experts), and a Bioviolence Committee of the Security Council (with capabilities for monitoring and investigation and for coordination in case of B-events). The detailed proposal is interesting but leaves a few doubts about its feasibility, given the usual problems of political willingness, state sovereignty and new ways of sharing intelligence.
In addition to the debatable feasibility of this solution, the author does not take sufficient account of the fact that many administrations tend to merge intentional/terrorist and natural/accidental crisis management models for bioevents. Certainly, this merger does not cover key sectors such as intelligence, forensic investigation, police aspects, public perceptions and particular countermeasures related to the types of agent/of spread and is perhaps more realistic in the United States than in Europe. But this must be taken into consideration if the approach is to be international.
The book provides an excellent overview of problems and possible solutions. In that sense, its thoroughness will certainly make it an important reference work. It will also hopefully help awaken policymakers' interest in and make them more knowledgeable of the problems related to bioviolence - a first step towards defeating it. (F.D.C.)

Comparative legal approaches to homeland security and anti-terrorism / James Beckman. - Aldershot ; Burlington : Ashgate, c2007. - xiv, 185 p. - (Homeland security series). - ISBN 978-0-7546-4651-8
Events are forcing international organisations at all levels to seek and experiment with new norms that are in tune with the historical changes taking place in order to ensure both their own survival and citizens' security.
In the field of Homeland Security as well as that of International Relations, 9/11 brought about a turn towards realism. The states recentred their power, introducing issues into the security sphere that had not been considered a part of it in the nineties, and adopting exceptional measures to face what was considered an exceptional challenge. But each state is the reflection of a different society and culture, just as culture is the product of a people's geopolitical history and evolution.
This essay presents different fields of application, different normative systems, and different examples of ways in which a state can react or legislate to cope with the same terrorist threat which is, simplistically, limited here to its "international" dimension. They are definitely emblematic responses generated by a variety of factors such as:
  - Having suffered a terrorist act by an international terrorism group on one's own territory
  - The perception of the "terrorist act" by public opinion
  - The regime, geographic position and geopolitics of the state
  - The kind of terrorism active in the area and the power that enemy of the state's institutions is able to exert on society.
These factors have led states to take different postures and orientations in the homeland security sector and in relations with other states in the fight against terrorism. Consequently, the legislation that has been passed as a result of these various interactions and which shapes the normative response differs.
Israel has adopted laws to eradicate the terrorism of Hamas and Hezbollah that are similar to those adopted by the United States in 2001. Germany and Spain have adopted legislation mediated by national positions and European directives, while Great Britain has followed an approach closer to that of the United States. The homeland security laws of Russia, on the other hand, seek to establish rather than confirm a new European geopolitical role for that country, albeit in a "Eurasian" key, as well as to justify the repressive measures used in Chechnya and the subsequent waves of terrorism. Japan has passed legislation with a domestic emphasis aimed at dealing with dangerous forms of "symbolic terrorism" that could find new motivations for action after 9/11. The last chapter on the European Union provides an example of a new "systemic response" that nevertheless comes up against the limitations imposed by the member states, which paradoxically sometimes turn into antagonists of the organisation to which they belong.
The book is by no means simply a list of norms. It looks at the legislative problem from a multi-dimensional point of view, comparing the diverse responses that the states have adopted since 2001, highlighting variations and innovations with respect to the approaches of the past, on the one hand, and the drivers that have pushed states to adopt more restrictive measures in certain fields, on the other. Thus, it identifies guidelines, the thread that links the "domestic" responses of the states examined in their attempts to deal with the problems of "international" terrorism. (R.T.)

Europe

EU enlargement and the transatlantic alliance : a security relationship in flux / edited by Sven Biscop, Johan Lembke. - Boulder ; London : Lynne Rienner, c2008. - xi, 215 p. - ISBN 978-1-58826-578-4
One of the greatest challenges facing the EU today is enforcement and implementation of ESDP. This volume is a collection of essays by different authors that focus on the relationship between the enlargement of the European Union and the changes in the transatlantic security relationship. Given that NATO, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, has been reorienting its functions and that the EU has started to play a fundamental role as a major strategic actor, the transatlantic security relationship today is considered "a relationship in flux".
The book is broken down into four parts that examine single aspects of the issue. The first part is dedicated to the European Security Strategy. In addition to the oft treated issue of the complementary/competing relationship between NATO and ESDP, this section gives a detailed description of the main functions of the European Defence Agency. Essentially, the EDA takes account of the potential offered by technology and research for improving EU capabilities.
In the second part, the book analyses the contributions that new member and candidate states could make to the European Union's collective security system. The countries taken into consideration - each in a separate essay - are Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Turkey. In the third part, transatlantic security relations are analysed from the perspective of what is called "the new strategic triangle", composed of the United States, the European Union and Russia. It looks closely at the role played by Russia in security relations as well as the transformation of its relations with Washington and Brussels in recent years. It also takes into consideration the European Neighbourhood Policy which, by strengthening the EU's role in the eastern neighbourhood, provides an opportunity to develop "a mutually beneficial division of labour across the Atlantic" in the security field.
Finally, in the last part of the book, the editors draw their conclusions concerning the future of the changing transatlantic security relationship. In their opinion, NATO still plays a pivotal role in guaranteeing stability and security in Europe and is still the main vehicle available to the US for influencing EU security affairs. At the same time they propose a more flexible alliance, in order to reconcile it with the EU's aspiration for a more autonomous role.
Although different positions among member states inside the EU inevitably undermine the effectiveness of the European security system, the ESDP has seen rapid progress in the last few years and the states that entered the EU in 2004 and 2007 will certainly play an important role in directing the ESDP's future evolution. On the one hand, these countries support the idea of a stronger EU, but, on the other, they want to maintain NATO as the central collective security organisation for the Euro-Atlantic community.
Biscop and Lembke provide an interesting and useful analysis of the impact that EU enlargement is having and may have on the future of transatlantic security relations. Both the changing nature of NATO and the issue of the European Union's enlargement have already been exhaustively covered by many authors, yet this book contributes to deepening these two subjects by finding connections between them and setting them in a broader framework. Although the essays are written by authors with different backgrounds, the editors have succeeded in giving the volume a coherent and consistent structure. (M.L.P.)

L'Europa sicura : le politiche di sicurezza dell'Unione europea / a cura di Serena Giusti, Andrea Locatelli. - Milano : Egea, 2008. - 280 p. - (I manuali). - ISBN 978-88-238-2097-5
The European Union is a hybrid and mutant actor, characterised by a mixture of intergovernmental and supranational elements. Its external action is driven by a plethora of interlocking institutions with a broad range of policies and instruments combining soft and hard power. Over the years, the EU has evolved and can now be considered an international security actor. Initially, the EU mainly used its instruments of "civilian" or "normative" power: trade, political dialogue, regional cooperation, humanitarian aid and development cooperation, enlargement. More recently, and especially since the definition of a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), the EU has equipped itself with military and defence structures and capabilities, starting a new operational phase in its international security actorness.
This is the picture of the EU painted by this book, which includes contributions from a dozen academics and experts on EU security policies. The aim of the work is to contextualise the EU in the current international security environment, identifying the new challenges that have to be faced and the new partners to work with. The fluidity of the international system and the new dynamics of globalisation (economic, demographic, energetic) could have a marginalising effect on the EU and pose a threat to the wellness and security of its citizens. The response to this, however, cannot be a "fortress Europe", but must be a strengthening of the EU's external action.
The book is divided into three main parts. The first part deals with the nature and evolution of the EU as a security provider. Beginning with an analysis of the EU's role in the world through the classic approaches to European integration studies and international relations, it then offers an assessment of the main steps in the European integration process in security and defence, defining the EU as a "civilian power", both for the instruments it uses and the values and norms it promotes in its external relations. It ends with an overview of the limits and potential of the EU's capability development process in the military field. The second part analyses the role of the EU in the regional and international security context, starting with a conceptualisation of security in terms of threats, identities and institutions, and assessing the EU's response in terms of promotion of democracy, the fight against terrorism, conflict prevention and crisis management, security of energy supply. The third and last part of the book is dedicated to the geopolitics of European security and looks at EU relations with both traditional (United States) and emerging powers (China, India), as well as with its eastern and southern neighbours through the policies of enlargement, neighbourhood and partnership.
This publication has the characteristics of a university textbook, with questions and web links at the end of each chapter. The editors' introduction points out the threads that link the different parts of the book, but there is no final chapter underlining the conclusions, results or prospects for research. Nevertheless, the various chapters clearly reveal the authors' assessments of the EU's achievements and shortcomings in its external action. Achievements include, above all, the enlargement process, mixed results can be considered to have been obtained with the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Mediterranean policy, and shortfalls are evident in the integration process in the defence and energy sectors. To sum up, as Mario Telò affirms in his contribution to the book, the future of the EU will be determined by both internal and external variables. The EU's capacity to respond to the new security challenges will depend on internal institutional developments (affected by the uncertainty of ratification of the Lisbon Treaty) and external factors, such as the changing balance of power at the global level. The EU's task is to rethink its instruments and its ability to impact on this new scenario. (N.P., also in Italian)

Europe as empire : the nature of the enlarged European Union / Jan Zielonka. - Oxford [etc.] : Oxford University Press, 2007. - xi, 293 p. - ISBN 978-0-19-929221-9 ; 978-0-19-923186-7 (pbk)
The nature of the European Union, particularly following the Eastern enlargement, is difficult to understand and theorise. Most political scientists have looked at the EU through the lens of state, applying the concepts and theories worked out to explain it. This book by Jan Zielonka, a leading scholar in European politics and professor at Oxford University, aims to be "a polemical response to the mainstream literature on European integration" that explains and theorises the EU by resorting to statist assumptions. According to the author, the enlarged European Union can best be understood as an example of a neomedieval empire rather than a classic Westphalian state. While the latter is characterised by a central hierarchical government with hard and fixed external borders and a single army and police force, the former is characterised by sovereignty divided along different functional and territorial lines, the inter-penetration of various types of political units and loyalties, soft and porous borders, and a multiplicity of various overlapping military and police institutions. In the first three chapters, the author argues that the Eastern enlargement strengthened these neo-medieval features of the EU. In the following three chapters, he analyses the functioning of the enlarged Union in three critical fields: economics, democracy and foreign affairs. While some developments, such as the single currency or ESDP, might lead one to think that the EU is making progress towards the construction of a Westphalian state, the author argues that the pattern is indeed that of a neo-medieval empire.
In the final chapter, the author examines the implications of neo-medievalism for the EU's geostrategic position, governance capacity and political legitimacy, arguing that there is a case for optimism. In his opinion, a flexible neo-medieval EU is better than a European superstate in coping with the impact of modernisation and globalisation. Also, it is able to compete more effectively with the other great powers in that it pulls together European resources while ensuring pluralism and diversity. A neo-medieval EU is also better equipped to prevent conflict in its neighbourhood in that it can use the well-tested mechanism of membership conditionality. Finally, it is in a better position to bring governance structures closer to citizens, making the whole system more transparent and open, thereby resolving the difficult issue of the so-called democratic deficit.
The case for a neo-medieval European Union may not be convincing in many respects: to mention only one, a Westphalian state would probably be better suited to preventing and solving conflicts in its neighbourhood, considering that EU enlargement - contrary to the author's claims - cannot go on forever and that instruments other than membership conditionality are required. Nevertheless, the book is a very worthwhile read. Comparing the EU with a medieval empire may have shortcomings, but it is certainly fascinating. Also, the argumentation is very clear and covers many of the most salient issues of the European construction, such as democratic legitimacy and foreign and security policy. Even more remarkable is the author's success in combining solid theoretical reasoning that refrains from indulging in overly complex theory with a huge amount of empirical data. (M.C.)

Europe for the Europeans : the foreign and security policy of the populist radical right / edited by Christina Schori Liang. - Aldershot ; Burlington : Ashgate, c2007. - xvi, 318 p. - ISBN 978-0-7546-4851-2
The rise of populist radical rightwing parties in Europe has spurred the interest of scholars, but, as the editor underlines, their foreign policy agendas have hardly been analysed, even though some of them were founded on foreign policy platforms. For most of them, instead, international and European affairs are not a priority but have been opportunely adopted as battle cries in relation to national core issues. By mobilising public opinion on these issues, particularly the European Union, many of these parties have grown "from the margins to the mainstream", also conditioning the action of governments and causing a shift towards the right in other political forces. Some of the experts who contributed to this book are concerned about the influence these parties have on the public debate in Europe, especially when they function as catalysers of sentiments that are widespread throughout society and, at times, are shared by the majority parties.
The book springs from a seminar organised by the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva in 2004, which brought together European academics and researchers specialised in populism and the extreme right. The aim was to examine the foreign policy agendas of the most important populist radical right parties in 11 European countries, their campaign use of foreign policy issues and their attempts to cooperate with one another. The analsyes of the individual countries, broadened and updated, are presented in this interesting volume, preceded by an introductory chapter (Liang) and a discussion of certain concepts common to the political discourse of the entire populist radical right (Betz). Winding up the book is a brief analysis of the behaviour of rightwing parties during the 2004 European Parliament elections.
A definition of the characteristics of the parties studied is provided in the first chapter: even if the populist radical right includes the old right and regional separatists, rightwing populists and post-fascists, Liang emphasizes that all the parties taken into consideration share exclusionary identity politics (nationalism or ethnonationalism), authoritarianism and populism. She then lists the foreign policy issues that are central to discussion in these parties: globalisation and the role of the United States, EU integration and enlargement, European defence (CFSP and NATO), immigration, Islam and anti-Semitism. It is on these subjects that the authors are then called upon to compare the agendas of the various parties, basing much of their analyses on more or less official declarations of party representatives. This approach highlights the recurrent ambiguity and contradictions in the political discourse of many of these parties, often marked by drastic about-faces on certain issue (for example, the enthusiastically pro-European Front National and Lega Nord became Eurosceptical). The authors devote particular attention to illustrating the origins of these oscillations, due only in part to anti-systemic rhetoric and opportunistic behaviour aimed at taking advantage of popular resentment. In fact, the analyses show that these U-turns are linked above all to developments in the national political context (that is, collaboration with government which forces them to change track) and on the international scene. Three international developments seem to have been decisive: the perceived economic and social fall-out of globalisation since the mid- 1990s; acceleration of the EU integration process and the "big bang" enlargement from the end of the 1990s; and finally the war on terrorism after 9/11.
Betz' analysis of the effects that the war on terrorism has had on populist radical rightwing parties is particularly fascinating. The author observes that Islamophobia in Europe uses virtually the same arguments as nativism in the United States and as the propounders of the "clash of civilisations". But Betz is interested above all in the interaction between these identitary discourses: he emphasizes the enthusiasm with which the European right adopted Huntington's arguments, and then - after 9/11 - made anti-Islamism a central issue, substituting it, or putting it alongside anti-Semitism - a successful move for legitimation (to avoid the accusation of inciting racial hate) and for political recognition. Yet, he points out, above and beyond strategic considerations (to gain legitimacy for clearly racial ideologies), this move is justified by the fact that Islamophobia fits perfectly into the larger identitarian political agenda pursued by these parties. (A.B.)

Harmonizing foreign policy : Turkey, the EU and the Middle East / Mesut Özcan. - Aldershot ; Burlington : Ashgate, c2008. - xiv, 193 p. - ISBN 978-0-7546-7370-5
Relations between Turkey and the EU have been among the most widely discussed issues in the last ten years, thanks also to the accession talks begun in 2003. This book, in a fresh vein, compares the foreign policies of the two players towards Middle East issues, mainly regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The book is divided in two parts. The first part deals with the convergence of the EU members' national foreign policies, while the second describes Turkish foreign policy and how it has changed in the recent past. Özcan's main claim is that Turkey has harmonised its foreign policy with that of the EU, as all European countries have done throughout the so-called Europeanisation process.
The first chapter focuses on the theories of integration used to analyse EU dyamics. The next chapter supports the thesis that "several years of cooperation have transformed the making of national foreign policies within all member states". In the author's opinion, this process of Europeanisation has also affected candidate countries like Turkey because accession negotiations requires them to comply with the conditions set by the EU. While Chapter Three is dedicated to the Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP), the fourth chapter is the key point of the book. It examines the reasons for the EU's interest in the Middle East and analyses European policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ever since the 1980 Venice Declaration, which recognised the Palestinian Liberation Army as the legitimate representative of the Palestinians. In Özcan's opinion, the lack of military capabilities in Europe has led the EU to focus its policy on economic issues. As a result, the EU became the main donor to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the 1990s. Moreover, European action has always fallen within the general framework established by the US, even though the EU has balanced American support for Israel with its support for the PA. The author maintains that Turkish foreign policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is close to Europe's: both Turkey and the EU stress the importance of international law in solving the problem and that the Palestinians' conditions must be taken into consideration.
The second part (Chapters 5, 6 and 7) is focused mainly on Turkish foreign policy during and after the Cold War and how the EU influenced it. In the last chapter, Ozcan asserts that some degree of Europeanisation of Turkish foreign policy has already occurred. He quotes the European Commission's 2006 Progress Report on Turkey which stresses how "the harmonization of Turkey with the EU in terms of foreign and security policy is around 96 percent". It is evident that supporting Turkey's accession to the EU is one of the author's main goals. Much of the book aims to demonstrate that Turkey can contribute appreciably to European efforts to build an effective CSFP. (A.M.)

L'Unione europea : una storia non ufficiale / di Riccardo Perissich ; prefazione di Giorgio Napolitano. - Milano : Longanesi, 2008. - 327 p. - (Il cammeo; 491). - ISBN 978-88-3042-530-9
People often think that the European Union is a boring subject, of interest only to a small circle of technicians who speak in a bureaucratese that is almost impossible to understand. Even the journalists living in Brussels find it difficult to have their pieces accepted for publication in national newspapers because their articles lack the conviction and passion that the great European adventure deserves. Consequently, the vivacity of this book, a chronicle of the experience of a former EU official in Brussels, full of acute insights and intelligent reflections, comes as something of a surprise.
But behind the fac¸ade of an overview of thirty years in the Commission, the book's real strength lies in its questioning, throughout, of the irreversibility of one of the greatest and most innovative undertakings in history: integrating countries that had fought each other for centuries. That this question is posed at a time when the integration process is going through a period of crisis, marked by the demise of the Constitutional Treaty and the suspension of the Lisbon Treaty, only makes the reading more topical. The author's answer is that only political integration can make the unification of the Old Continent irreversible.
The limits of the Monnet method have now emerged and it seems unlikely that political union can be achieved without drastic change. "The lack of a common vision," the author notes, "is all too evident." But a drastic change can only be brought about if people get to know Europe better, "demystify the stereotypes and bring rationality back into the debate"; otherwise the adventure will remain a dream.
Consequently, the objective of the book is to demystify the history of Europe and to distinguish between governmental tactics and the substance of the problem: the important progress made and what still has to be done. Small but important matters are put into perspective, such as the role of that microcosm of Commission officials living in Brussels and contributing to the growth of a European corpus. But it also looks at the Commission's attempt to act as a "quasi government", a role the treaties theoretically attribute to it, but which some governments and national leaders have tried to limit or negate (even very recently). This matter has still not been solved and embodies the struggle between the supranational and the intergovernmental methods which have, from the beginning, determined the zigzag course of European integration.
Perissich believes that the river has been forded halfway, but that there is still a very real risk of being washed away, much like what happened to Italy at the end of the Rinascimento. Indeed, the author reserves his most bitter comments for Italy: the country suffers from an inferiority complex, which is the real obstacle to its playing a credible role in Europe. A complex that could infect the entire Union, increasingly inward looking and lacking that strategic vision that characterised the great and indubitable success of the last decades. (G.B., also in Italian)

Russia

Russia watch : essays in honor of George Kolt / edited by Eugene B. Rumer and Celeste A. Wallander. - Washington : The CSIS Press, c2007. - vi, 100 p. - (Significant issues series ; 29, no. 6). - ISBN 978-0-89206-507-3
This volume is meant to acknowledge and carry on George Kolt's work. For many years, George Kolt served in key positions in the US intelligence community, working on Europe and the former Soviet Union and linking the policy sphere in Washington to the academic world in the United States and abroad. He provided both with an indispensable service, helping them enrich their understanding of these countries, especially Russia.
In his memory, the book explores the core issues of Russia's politics and economy by means of contributions from experts from the academia, business, NGOs and government. The first chapter tackles the question of ideology in Russia's political development. In particular, analysis of recent developments leads to a comparison with Germany's transformation in the late 1920s and early 1930s: even if the stabilisation of political life achieved by former President Putin seems to confirm the view that Russia has passed the moment of Weimar-like vulnerability, this historical analogy still deserves attention.
The second contribution takes the same perspective. In the author's opinion, the interweaving of two contradictory aspects of Russian politics - delusions of grandeur and a persecution complex - have increased nostalgia for the Soviet era, when Moscow's power was at its peak. Foreign influence is thought to weaken Russia's domestic revival and international resurgence and so foreign actors have been warned to be cautious in dealing with Russian politics. At the same time, as suggested in the third chapter which deals with the role of civil society in Russian politics, the West can help Russia's emerging civil society by increasing information available to it and its understanding of best practices.
A critical aspect of the West's economic engagement in Russia is addressed in the fourth chapter. Declining industrial production as well as widespread and growing doubts about Russia's ability to sustain and expand its output of oil and gas are undermining its overall economic performance. In this context, foreign ownership of assets, deemed to be of strategic importance especially in the mineral resources sector, is still uncertain. Corruption and bureaucratic inertia further discourage foreign and domestic investment.
In the following chapters, the energy issue is tackled from a geopolitical point of view. Even if gas could be the instrument for expansion of Russia's influence in the international arena, the uncertain investment climate casts doubts on the feasibility of any new pipeline projects or exploitation of new fields.
In conclusion, the volume presents a paper written by George Kolt in April 1991, during the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Providing a concise assessment of Soviet decline, this memorandum serves as a reminder of the distance Russia has covered in the last years and how Western expectations have changed. It also highlights critical questions about Russia's transition, most of which remain unsolved. (G.N.)