Showing papers in "International Affairs in 1992"

National identity and the idea of European unity

Abstract: Since the project of European integration began, at issue has always been whether a European political identity could develop to underpin political unification. Is a genuine European identity possible? Anthony Smith takes up the question from the standpoint of his work on nationalism. Why is it that we are witnessing a revival of nationalism even as the globalizing trends of post-industrial society become clearer? Established cultures are essentially antithetical to the development of a cosmopolitan culture, he writes, which poses problems for a European identity. If this is to do more than coexist weakly alongside national and subnational identities, it may come at a dangerous price only if Europe defines itself exclusively against other world actors.

States, Firms, and Diplomacy

Abstract: Susan Strange reports on her recent work on relations between states and firms, and proposes a new research agenda in international relations: the study of firms as actors in world politics and of state-firm and firm-firm bargaining as two new dimensions to diplomacy She argues that governments, like academics, must wake up to the structural changes in world politics and pay proper attention to the increasing importance of firms

Latin America in the New World Order: a regional bloc of the Americas?

Abstract: The emergence of regional blocs is seen by many as a central feature of the developing 'New World Order'.' The argument goes that the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union have reduced the incentives for superpower intervention, while the lifting of the pattern of global Cold War alliances that used to cut across regions has allowed more autonomous 'regional spaces' to emerge, freed from the distorting impact of the East-West confrontation. The decline of American hegemony and reduced American capacity and willingness to play a global role have made space for regional power systems to develop, in Europe around the European Community and in Asia aroundJapan. Economic trends-the success of the European Community, continuing difficulties in the GATT Uruguay Round, and structural changes in the world economy-are pushing in the same direction, pressing both states and firms towards expanded collaboration within regions. The apparent trend to regionalism has aroused mixed reactions. Some have welcomed it as a force for strengthening stability and world order at both the regional and the global level. They argue that the benefits are of two kinds: regional frameworks are the most effective ones in which to achieve order and stability within particular regions,2 and they are likely to facilitate order at the global level as well.3

Testing times for European political cooperation: the Gulf and Yugoslavia, 1990–1992

Abstract: During the past 20 years European political cooperation has evinced a mixed record of success andfailure on consensus among EC members. A 'reflex' of cooperation has been established on second-order issues. Trevor Salmon explores the tension between the centripetal and centrifugalforces on issues of major importance, namely the Gulf and Yugoslavia, and concludes that perceptions of national interest and domestic politics prevailed.*

The international politics of climate change

Abstract: The signing of a convention which would begin to tackle the threat of humaninduced climate change is expected to be a centrepiece of theJune 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development. Negotiations to date have already revealed serious divisions of interest, of which those dividing North and South still predominate. This article suggests that the best prospectsfor building an effective long-term regime will arisefrom seeking to develop non-traditional alliances across the North-South divide, so as toform a central coalition that more reluctant states will ultimately have to accept. The convention to be signed at Rio will not solve the greenhouse problem, but it couldform the basisfor negotiations that can start effectively to address it.

The new Macedonian question

Abstract: All Balkan territorial disputes have their mythologies; that of the Macedonian question is that of the most bloody, complex and intractable of all, in a small peninsula already well burdened. But it was also the conflict that, perhaps more than any other, socialist Yugoslavia seemed to have superseded. So what gave rise to some of the most acute political turmoil of the inter-war period, particularly the recurrent Macedonian assassinations and bombings, seemed to have been ‘solved’ by Tito’s creation. It is in its way appropriate, then, that it is only with the final demise of Yugoslavia, symbolised by international recognition of the independent Croatian state, that the new Macedonian problem is emerging.

Turkey, the Middle East and the Gulf crisis

Abstract: Ever since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, it has been a generally accepted judgement that Turkey is in the Middle East, but not fully part of it. Culturally and politically, Turkey and the other Middle Eastern countries have tended to follow separate paths. By the I99os, and in comparison with the rest of Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Turkey has become economically successful, democratic and stable. Hence, its position has sometimes been compared to that of Japan-as a potentially powerful actor which prefers not to play a commensurate regional role and stays on the edge of a regional subsystem. The events of the last three years have undermined some of the assumptions on which this policy of aloofness was based. On one hand, the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union have made it possible for Turkey, like other former Soviet neighbours, to consider more flexible regional policies. On the other hand, the Gulf crisis of I99o-9I demonstrated that, even if the superpower conflict has ended, the Middle East is still a prime source of global instability. During the last two years, Turkey has also emerged as an important actor in the politics of Transcaucasia, Central Asia, the Black Sea region and the Balkans. A full discussion of Turkish policy in all these areas would require far more space than is available here. This article therefore restricts itself to examining Turkey's relations with its Middle Eastern neighbours, by considering first some of the factors which shaped Turkish regional policy in the postwar era, and then the implications of Turkey's experiences during the Gulf crisis of I990-9I.