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La recomposición de las relaciones transatlánticas: Obama y la UE en la Cumbre de Lisboa
Get PDFTras la Cumbre de la UE-EEUU de 20 de noviembre es momento de analizar si ha servido para recomponer las supuestamente deterioradas relaciones transatlánticas.
La Cumbre de Lisboa entre EEUU y la UE ha levantado una serie de expectativas con respecto a la recuperación de una relación transatlántica que, conforme a las percepciones de académicos, medios de comunicación y líderes políticos, no pasa por su mejor momento. La atención del presidente Obama a las potencias emergentes, ejemplificadas en su reciente gira por Asia y las renacidas percepciones sobre la irrelevancia de Europa tras los rescates de Grecia e Irlanda y los problemas estructurales de la política internacional de la Unión tras la entrada en vigor del Tratado de Lisboa, han contribuido a esta situación. Tras los acontecimientos de los días 19 y 20 cabe concluir que, una vez más, la atención otorgada a la Cumbre de la UE –en parte por la propia atención recibida en la Cumbre de la OTAN– no ha cumplido con las expectativas de los líderes europeos. Por todo ello, es posible afirmar que los problemas derivados de las percepciones en relación a la irrelevancia de Europa frente al ascenso de las potencias emergentes derivan más de la falta de voluntad política de los líderes y Estados que conforman la UE para solventar los problemas estructurales de su política internacional y no de supuestos datos empíricos que justifiquen su declive. Estos cambios deberían acometerse cuanto antes para adaptar la política internacional de la UE y su relevancia como actor global a un mundo más realista y competitivo
The Slow Pace of Reform Clouds the Libyan Succession
Get PDFIn the uncertain and shifting dynamics of Libyan politics, effective power today rests in the hands of the Leader and a few trusted advisors in a system firmly grounded in family ties and tribal loyalties and buttressed by the military and various security organisations.
Over the last decade, Libya has undergone a remarkable international transformation, re-establishing commercial and diplomatic relations with the world’s leading powers. Domestically, Libya has also attempted to move in new directions; unfortunately, internal reforms have not been as speedy or as far-reaching as Libya’s international make-over. Several factors have contributed to the sporadic and incomplete reforms implemented to date. However, the most significant one remains the gulf that exists between the myths, ideas and beliefs of the One September Revolution and the social, economic and political realities they profess to explain. Conservative and progressive forces in Libya continue to struggle over the direction and pace of internal reform, a fight whose outcome will likely influence, if not determine, the eventual successor to Muammar al-Qaddafi
New Changes and Old Challenges in the Economic Governance of the Eurozone
Get PDFThe tenth anniversary of the creation of the euro coincided with the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. And it did so amid uncertainty over the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. Its entry into force will allow for some improvements, such as greater economic coordination, but some of its weaknesses will remain. Despite this, as a whole the eurozone will probably emerge strengthened from the crisis.
This article analyses criticisms and proposals for improved European economic governance, including those that remain up for debate after these ten years, those which will probably be applied following the entry in force of the Lisbon Treaty, and those which might arise as a result of the crisis. The crisis has focused much interest on the following two questions: who ser ves as the voice of the euro in the world, and which countries are going to join the eurozone and which ones are to be left out. We will address these two issues first, then the three traditional pillars of EU economic policy (monetary, fiscal and supply policy), and finish with a section on changes in the distribution of power caused by the crisis and the Lisbon Treaty
Frontex: Successful Blame Shifting of the Member States?
Get PDFFrontex has been often criticised for failing to take action against the deaths of asylum seekers and migrants trying to reach Europe by crossing the sea.
The EU’s border agency Frontex is an easy target for criticism regarding the way in which the EU’s southern maritime borders are controlled. However, a closer look at the Agency’s tasks reveals that its powers are limited and that the responsibility for operational activity at sea continues to lie largely with the Member States. The EU should speak out against Member States’ practices that are in breach of international refugee law and use Frontex as a tool to increase the awareness of protection issues amongst national border-guard authorities
Electoral Blow to the Reunification of Cyprus
Get PDFThe defeat of Mehmet Ali Talat in the presidential election of 18 April in the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and the victory of Dervish Eroglu, the Prime Minister, dealt a potentially severe blow to the chances of reunifying Cyprus, the only divided country in Europe.
Talat was more disposed to reach an agreement for a unified state than Eroglu, who, at least in public, favours separate states. But his 70 rounds of talks over two years with Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader and President of the Republic of Cyprus, did not produce a comprehensive settlement. Cyprus has been split into Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities since Turkey’s invasion in 1974 in response to inter communal strife and a military coup backed by the junta ruling Greece at the time (see Figure 1). The Cyprus issue has a direct bearing on Turkey’s ailing bid to become a full EU member
The Belgian EU Presidency Setting Europe Back into Action and Laying the Future Institutional Groundwork
Get PDFBelgium took over the Presidency of the EU on 1 July 2010 from Spain and began it in the midst of a national political crisis.
Belgium took over the Presidency of the EU on 1 July 2010 from Spain and began it in the midst of a national political crisis. Following the examples of the Danish (1993), Italian (1996) and Czech (2009) Presidencies, it is Belgium’s turn to preside over the Union with a government in resignation. The Presidency comes in a context of European economic, financial and social crises and at the end of a transitional period for the implementation of the new Lisbon Treaty. In this difficult context, will Belgium be able to confront the double challenge of managing the EU Presidency in this crucial period while at the same time overhauling its own national constitutional foundations
The Criminalisation of an Immigrant Population
Get PDFArizona’s Senate Bill 1070, that goes into effect on 29 July, criminalises the failure to carry immigration documents.
Arizona has taken up the cause of immigration enforcement with a law requiring police to arrest persons suspected of being undocumented, and by criminalising activities associated with immigration. This has brought new life to the long-simmering debate about how to respond to the nation’s estimated 11 million unauthorised residents. The law is often described as an outgrowth of frustration with the federal government’s ‘broken’ immigration system. This broad characterisation is somewhat misleading. Arizona does not want the federal government to establish ‘a path towards citizenship’ or to regularise resident immigrants as it did in 1986. Rather, SB 1070 is designed to shift the national debate in a more restrictive direction. Arizona’s policy of ‘attrition through enforcement’ provides a rallying point for opponents of comprehensive immigration reform within parameters that appear legal and possibly appropriate in light of federal inaction. It was designed as a test case. Locally, SB 1070 signals the state’s unrelenting hostility towards its unauthorised residents and its indifference to those who must carry papers to prove their right to remain. To local police agencies, the state sends a warning: either prioritise immigration enforcement or risk a citizen-initiated lawsuit
The Policy Challenge for Sub-Saharan Africa of Large-Scale Chinese FDI
Get PDFThe existence of large state-owned Chinese firms and private investors engaged in investing primarily, but not exclusively, in resource and infrastructure sectors in SSA (Sub-Saharan Africa) is a major preoccupation in economic and political circles. In order to understand it, Chinese investment has to be differentiated into four different types, and its distinctive characteristic unpacked –ie, the bundling together of aid, trade and FDI (foreign direct investment)–. This has major policy implications for how SSA should relate to Chinese investors in order to maximise available opportunities.
There is widespread economic and political interest in the impact of Chinese investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper distinguishes between four different types of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI), primarily focusing on SSA’s engagement with large state-owned Chinese firms investing in SSA’s resource and infrastructure sectors. Although there is a paucity of published research, it also provides evidence on private Chinese FDI in wholesale/retail, manufacturing, and services. The available evidence drawn from a variety of sources –macro, micro, firm surveys and country reports– on the extent of different types of Chinese investment is discussed. The distinctive character of large-scale state-owned Chinese investors is summed up in the bundling together of aid, trade and FDI, in contrast to traditional western trends which seek to unbundle these factors. The paper concludes that SSA countries should maximise the opportunities opened to them by their resource-base by adopting a similarly integrated and focused response to Chinese (and other large) investors who seek to draw on the continent’s natural resources
Links between Resource Extraction, Governance and Development: African Experience
Get PDFThis ARI addresses the analytical and empirical links between resource extraction, governance and development, with a focus on the resource-curse thesis. The rent curse is rooted in policy failure, which the theory of rent cycling attributes to the impact of rent on elite incentives and also on development trajectory. The paper provides some examples of conditions that have facilitated this process in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The so-called resource curse is part of a broader rent curse that can be triggered by regulatory rent and foreign aid (geopolitical rent) as well as by natural resource rent. Although resource-driven growth challenges macro management due in part to commodity price volatility, the policies required to limit adverse impacts such as the Dutch disease effects are well known. Consequently, the rent curse is rooted in policy failure, which the theory of rent cycling attributes to the impact of rent on elite incentives and also the development trajectory. The theory argues that high rent incentivises the elite to deploy rent through patronage channels for immediate personal enrichment, but this represses markets and distorts the economy, which lowers investment efficiency and triggers a growth collapse that is protracted because rent recipients resist economic reform. The risk of the economy falling into this ‘staple trap’ development trajectory increases in the presence of point source resources (notably minerals), statist policies, ethnic tension and democracy that is youthful. This implies that initial conditions were unpropitious for most African countries (especially the mineral economies) at independence because they were typically ethnically-mixed, resource-rich, new democracies with a predilection for fashionable state control. Most African economies did experience protracted growth collapses from the 1970s but some, like the Ivory Coast and Kenya collapsed later than most. Just two economies, Botswana and Mauritius, evaded the curse. Botswana’s conditions appear unique but Mauritius’s pursuit of a dual-track growth strategy offers a useful model for other African governments
La Conferencia de Copenhague sobre el Clima y la Declaración Interreligiosa sobre el Cambio Climático: un acercamiento a la aportación de las religiones a la crisis atmosférica
Get PDFEn la Convención de Copenhague sobre el Clima (COP 15) no ha existido la necesaria voluntad política para lograr un acuerdo internacional de alto alcance que afrontase con decisión y hondura, desde la responsabilidad propia de cada país, los graves problemas que amenazan la vida en la Tierra a causa del cambio climático. En los primeros pasos de este Documento de Trabajo se expone este hecho, que es analizado en la segunda parte del trabajo desde la perspectiva y el contenido de la Declaración Interreligiosa sobre el Cambio Climático (2009). Este análisis pone de relieve las carencias pre-políticas que padece la política en la actualidad, y la falta de esta base deja el quehacer político, cuya misión es promover todo bien común de la entera familia humana, bajo el dominio de intereses particulares y espurios. La tercera parte del Documento constituye un acercamiento a acciones concretas y puntos críticos de las tradiciones religiosas de la humanidad respecto del cuidado de la atmósfera y del medio ambiente como contexto de la vida. Las religiones tienen una gran relevancia humana y espiritual en el seno de la humanidad: desde sus creencias y desde su compromiso con los hombres, las tradiciones religiosas se hacen también responsables ante la crisis medioambiental que sufre el planeta como casa común. Para afrontar los efectos del cambio climático en un mundo global e interdependiente, se requiere el diálogo, la cooperación y la solidaridad entre todas las personas, instituciones, pueblos y cosmovisiones. Escuchar, examinar, discernir y aprender la sabiduría de las religiones respecto de la compleja problemática del medio ambiente es una exigencia para la recta razón que busca tanto el bien de todos y cada uno de los hombres como vivir en alianza con la naturaleza