Globalaffairs

Issue 26/January-April 2012
By Israel Rafalovich

The main problems of European security exists in the eastern part of the European continent as uncertainty continue to prevail in most of the regions of Europe that have thrown of the Russian yoke.

This has raised the question of which role could a European military force assume in the European resolution to build its own European security system. The other crucial question is whether those East European countries can either find protection in a European security system or mould a new kind of an European security architecture.

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Issue 23/January-March 2011
By David Criekemans

In January 2011, Belgium broke a record. It became the country in Western Europe that needed the most days ever in order to form a new federal government. Since the federal elections of June 2010, seven political parties are trying to form a new government and are attempting to reorganize the Belgian federation via a process called ‘state reform’.

In Flanders, the nationalist party N-VA of Bart De Wever won the elections, which is a centre right party. But in Wallonia, the socialist party PS of Elio Di Rupo won the elections. Both “big guys” today still try to reconcile ‘water’ and ‘fire‘, but until now this has only produced a lot of steam and a political impasse, instead of a political deal. The clock is already counting more than 215 days, and today it seems that the politicians are even much further away from a political deal than ever. What is happening? Is Belgium a non-government country? Is the Belgian federation about to break up?

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Issue 22/October-December 2010
By Erica L. Green

Several months ago, the French government enacted a controversial policy that will lead to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of people by year’s end. The fact these people are forced to leave is one reason for concern, the next is why the majority of the people, if not all, are from a specific ethnic group, the Roma or otherwise known as Gypsies. The French have received harsh criticism for this new policy that resembles ethnic cleansing and breaks European Union freedom of movement acts. However, EU lawmakers are backing off sanctions due to related public health and safety concerns.

The Roma are a nomadic people known for travel throughout Europe. Historical sources say this group’s ancestry came from what is now Pakistan around 900 AD, and have traveled throughout the continent ever sense. Upon entering Europe, the Roma were given special protection by the King of Hungary. This protection did not last long, which facilitated another move. For a period of time, many Roma worked as servants or slaves for Romanian aristocrats, but they were later freed in the 1850s. In time, large populations have congregated in Romania and Bulgaria, where the French Roma is believed to originate. Conditions have improved in post-Chauchescu’s Romania, but the economic conditions are still harsh, so the Roma continue to travel in search of a better way of life. In 2007, France received a surge of Roma immigrants when Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union.

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Issue 21/July-September 2010
By Glen Ruffle

The Earth’s orbit is quickly filling up with pieces of metal designed to help us talk to each other more or kill each other quicker! Alongside the United States Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia will soon have full global coverage from its own GLONASS system, and at least two more networks are being planned; the first, over-budget, late and already compromised, is the European Union’s Galileo Satellite System, and the second, China’s COMPASS programme, will be a long time coming.

GPS

GPS, established by the US Department of Defense in 1973, has become the default provider of civilian and military location, communication and guidance technology worldwide. The one downside, from the point of other sovereign nation states, is that GPS is essentially still owned and operated by the US government and military, and could be switched off should any conflict break out. Any potential enemy could find themselves without navigation capabilities if they faced US forces, while tight export controls limit the ability of other states to purchase GPS technology for military uses.

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Issue 20/April-June 2010
By Glen Ruffle

On 11th May 2010, the 53rd Prime Minister in Britain’s history, David Cameron, took power. Yet it was not in the way that nearly every other took power before him. Under the First Past the Post electoral system, Britain is usually given one strong party that wins and allows clear and strong leadership.

However, this time, despite an electoral system that helps produce winners, there was no single, victorious party. The Conservatives, 13 years in opposition, almost achieved the magic 326 seats to make a majority, but fell 20 short. This meant they could try and govern as a minority, constantly risking losing every vote, or try to forge an alliance to govern as a majority.

The outcome has seen a most unusual alliance emerge. The right-wing Conservatives, anti-European, market-orientated and socially traditional, have teamed up with the Liberal Democrats, the most pro-European party, which talks of social regulation and a liberal society.

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Issue 18/December- January 2010
By Daniel Puglisi

One day Silvio Berlusconi will be a name in Italian school history books alongside a timeline from beginning to end. His rule, which began for the first time in 1994 will be attributed the title of Berlusconism and university students will write final year theses upon him. His biography will be that of contemporary Italy.

As of 2009, after three separate national election victories he stands as the Italian Republic’s longest serving Prime Minister (1). Interruptions from government collapse, technocratic caretaker administrations and ineffective appearances by the Italian political left have featured in between. To date the billionaire media tycoon-net worth estimated at $6billion and football club owner turned right wing politician has in total only held his premiership for a little over 6 years (2). Yet such is the fragmentary nature of Italian politics that this is an impressive achievement; to date the country has had more than 60 governments since 1945 (3).

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Issue 17/ October-November 2009
By Niruban Balachandran

On the 2nd of October, the majority of the citizens of the Republic of Ireland voted “Yes” on the Treaty of Lisbon in a nationwide referendum, enabling the 27-nation European Union (EU) to play a more powerful role in international affairs. The Treaty’s creation of a full-time EU presidential post, a foreign policy chief and a diplomatic service will, for the first time in the EU’s history, allow for a singular representative on the global stage that will stand for a unified foreign policy for all 27 nations in the bloc.

The Treaty of Lisbon is intended to upgrade Brussels’ functioning by streamlining its decision-making and voting systems, since the previous system was an outdated throwback to the time when the EU consisted of only 15 nations. The Treaty will also replace the rotating-presidency system with a full-time 2 ½ year term presidency, empowering the EU Parliament with a broader legislative space of multiple new policy areas (including asylum issues and criminal justice), enacting the 2000 Charter of Fundamental Rights as legally binding for the first time, and finally, creating the equivalent of the EU’s own foreign minister and diplomatic service. (1)

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Issue 16/ August-September 2009
by Andrea Bonzanni

At a summit in Ankara on 13 July, the Nabucco consortium stroke an unexpected yet very important deal, securing gas supplies from Iraq and convincing Turkey to give up its project of buying 15% of the gas transiting on Turkish territory. The reaction of European media and the international networks has been mixed and it fluctuates with indecisiveness between the jubilant comments of politicians (Barroso declared that the project is now “inevitable, rather than just probable”) and the calmer statements of industry analysts.

Launched in 2002 by five gas companies (OMV of Austria, MOL of Hungary, Bulgargaz of Bulgaria, Transgaz of Romania and BOTAŞ of Turkey) [1] and officially backed by the European Union and the United States, the project has surely accomplished a giant leap forward and its completion has never been closer. However, as the declared objective of the pipeline running from Eastern Turkey to the Baumgarten hub in Austria is to reduce European dependence on Russian gas and to finally guarantee security of energy supplies, a lot more must be done and the construction of Nabucco may not even be the priority.

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Issue 15/June-July 2009
By Andrea Bonzanni

When Silvio Berlusconi and his People of Freedom (PDL) won his third non-consecutive term in office on 14 April 2008, Italian immigrants knew their life would get harder. Making Italian cities safer, along with the usual promise of a conspicuous tax cut, was an ace-in-the-hole during his electoral campaign. Italians generally feel unsecure and threatened by the fast growing foreign population and everybody was aware that Mr Berlusconi’s announced security policies were but a blow on immigrants.

Mr Berlusconi, taking full advantage of his well-known control on Italian broadcasts, was also able to launch a strong media campaign, which underlined daily misbehaviours and crimes of immigrants. Initially used as a weapon to point out the weakness and ineffectiveness of centre-left administrations at the national and local level, the campaign was so successful that kept fuelling fear and hatred in Italian society, augmenting demands for harsh policies [1].

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