European Foreign Policy

This article aims to explore emerging trends for the Sunni religious elite and the Islamic legal tradition in the new context of the Arab Uprisings by focusing on Yusuf al-Qaradawi, arguably the most prominent of these ʿulamāʾ alive today. The article will follow al-Qaradawi’s articulation, transmission and reconstruction of the Islamic legal tradition in his own discourse as he has attempted to negotiate the politically fraught contexts of the Arab Uprisings while also maintaining his horizontal commitments to a diverse base of supporters be they the wider Arab Muslim public, the Muslim Brotherhood or indeed the Qatari royal family. The article will focus on al-Qaradawi’s highly publicised interventions and fatwas in relation to Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, and Syria from the perspective of Islamic studies, and also draw on personal interviews with al-Qaradawi, his personal staff, as well as supplementary media. In so doing, the article will elucidate al-Qaradawi and his colleagues’ attempts, ranging from the highly creative to the markedly conservative, to respond to unfolding events through the legal tradition and play an increasingly active role in the public sphere while their own status simultaneously becomes ever more vulnerable and unstable.

The place of Europe in post-Cold War national mythologies of different countries varies widely. In three arguably most dramatic examples, Poland rethought itself as “the somehow decentred heart of Catholic Europe” (Dayan & Katz, 1994, p. 166), while Russia gave reasons to conclude it “leaves the West” (Trenin, 2006, p. 87) and Ukraine stuck with its view of Europe as a normative example (Orlova, 2010, p. 26). To what extent this remains true if one is to look empirically at the discourses that currently inhabit news media? This paper points out to how narratives of Europe are instrumentalised in political discussions in the three counties that followed very different paths since the collapse of the communist bloc. The presentation includes results of qualitative analysis based on an open coding approach; the focus rests on the most prestigious news outlets (Rzeczpospolita, Gazeta wyborcza; Izvestiya, Kommersant; Dzerkalo tyzhnia, Korrespondent) but also includes important online blog platforms.

"The scholars of Central and Eastern Europe have long noticed that the place of Europe in post-Cold War national mythologies of different countries varies widely if not wildly. In three arguably most dramatic examples, Poland rethought itself as “the somehow decentred heart of Catholic Europe” (Dayan & Katz, 1994, p. 166), while Russia gave reasons to conclude it “leaves the West” (Trenin, 2006, p. 87) and Ukraine stuck with its view of Europe as a normative example (Orlova, 2010, p. 26). However, to what extent this remains true if one is to look empirically at the discourses that currently inhabit news media and public discussion? This paper points out to how various narratives of Europe are instrumentalised in internal and regional political discussions in the three counties that followed very different paths since the collapse of the communist bloc to which they once belonged, and whose relations have always remained defining to the structure of the region(s). The presentation includes results of qualitative analysis based on an open coding approach that discerns different narratives of Europe in the media discourses of the Polish, Russian and Ukrainian press. The focus of the analysis rests primarily on the most important and prestigious news outlets (Rzeczpospolita and Gazeta wyborcza in Poland; Izvestiya and Kommersant in Russia; Dzerkalo tyzhnia and Korrespondent in Ukraine) but also includes the most prestigious online blog platforms where opinion leaders set the principal frames for narrating Europe; such as Ukraine’s most read blogs section at Ukrayins’ka pravda or Russia’s Snob.ru. This will arguably give a more valid and up-to-date overview of what could be thought of as the three countries’ public spheres and Europe’s place in them.

Keywords: Europe, public sphere, Poland, Russia, Ukraine"

"The recent war in Iraq was a turning point in Transatlantic relations. It showed the full scope of differences that have arisen over the last fifteen years between Unites States and their
European allies. The different visions of post Cold War order and different approaches to the world’s security system were revealed by the attitude to the possible conflict in Iraq. United
States and few European states were pushing for war while most of European countries were against it.

As the conflict over the war in Iraq was progressing, questions on the future of the Transatlantic Relations were raised again. Is it possible for the transatlantic community to stay unchanged after the war in Iraq? In what possible way could the cooperation between members of the transatlantic world evolve? Is the break inevitable or will new solutions be born that would preserve Euro-American links? Is preserving of this cooperation really
necessary for any of the actors?"

"Cette édition spéciale aborde deux problématiques majeures de la gouvernance mondiale de la culture : l’interface « commerce-culture », et les liens entre la culture et le développement, offrant ainsi un tour d’horizon des enjeux qui ont dominé le débat international sur les industries culturelles et créatives durant l’année 2013.
Nous revenons dans un premier temps sur les négociations commerciales en cours (Partenariat transpacifique et Partenariat transatlantique de commerce et d’investissement entre États-Unis et Union européenne), le multilatéralisme à la carte des États-Unis, l’importance du numérique pour l’administration des États-Unis, le contexte inégal des échanges audiovisuels mondiaux, ainsi que sur la conclusion de l’ALE entre le Canada et l’UE, la nouvelle approche d’exception culturelle et ses effets. Dans un deuxième temps, nous abordons le débat international sur l’inclusion de la culture dans les objectifs de l’agenda du développement mondial post-2015, les rapports de force et les perspectives institutionnelles. Un tableau récapitulatif des principaux évènements qui ont marqué 2013 vient compléter ce tour d’horizon.
Bonne lecture."

"The European Union is one of the world’s most important actors in assisting fragile and conflict-affected countries, and has made engagement with ‘fragile states’ a top priority for its development policy. At the policy level, the EU’s approach is in line with international best practices defined by the OECD’s 2007 Principles and the 2011 Busan ‘New Deal’ for fragile states. At the operational level, the EU is developing a ‘comprehensive approach’ to the implementation of its policies. As is the case with most international actors that engage with fragile and conflict-affected countries, a multidimensional gap exists between the
intentions expressed at the policy level and the reality of operations at the country level. This paper argues that three sets of factors intervene between the policy and the operations
level: cognitive factors related to turning knowledge of partner-country political processes into appropriate actions; issue-related conflicts of interest and trade-offs; and actor-related factors concerning coordination and capacity. This paper discusses how these factors affect the implementation of the EU’s policy frameworks with reference to three fragile and conflict-affected countries: South Sudan, Nepal and Liberia."

""During the "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine, the second largest country in Europe came close to a violent break-up similar to that in neighboring Moldova, which witnessed a violent secession of the Transdniestria region. Numerous elections, including the hotly contested 2004 presidential elections in Ukraine, and surveys of public opinion showed significant regional divisions in these post-Soviet countries. Western parts of Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the Muslim Crimean Tatars, were vocal supporters of independence, nationalist, and pro-Western parties and politicians. In contrast, Eastern regions, as well as the Orthodox Turkic-speaking Gagauz, consistently expressed pro-Russian and pro-Communist political orientations. Which factors ? historical legacies, religion, economy, ethnicity, or political leadership ? could explain these divisions? Why was Ukraine able to avoid a violent break-up, in contrast to Moldova?
This is the first book to offer a systematic and comparative analysis of the regional political divisions in post-Soviet Ukraine and Moldova. The study examines voting behavior and political attitudes in two groups of regions: those which were under Russian, Ottoman, and Soviet rule; and those which were under Austro-Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, and Czechoslovak rule until World War I or World War II. This book attributes the regional political divisions to the differences in historical experience. This study helps us to better understand regional cleavages and conflicts, not only in Ukraine and Moldova, but also in other cleft countries.""

While Croatia joined the EU in 2013, progress toward the accession of the other non-EU states in the Western Balkans has varied from country to country. Milenko Petrovic and Nicholas Ross Smith provide an overview of developments in these states along several dimensions including democracy, economic transition and corruption. They note that Western Balkan states can essentially be split into two groups: Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, who are close to EU accession standards; and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo*, who are still some way off meeting these standards. Nevertheless, they argue that the EU should continue to pursue close engagement with the ‘bottom three’ to help facilitate their reforms.

This article analyses the extent to which and the way in which the European Union has acted as a security provider in its eastern vicinity since the European Neighbourhood Policy  was launched. The EU’s capacity to emerge as a security provider and the approaches developed in this purpose are gauged against three major EU objectives in the eastern neighbourhood : conflict resolution, control of migration flows and good governance. The article sustains that EU efforts to reach objectives which it considers important for regional security are undermined by a lack of coherence in policy implementation across the eastern neighbourhood .