Contenu du sommaire : Nouvelles recherches

A perpetual peace project − federalism and pacifism by Jacques Novicow
The sociologist J. Novicow (1849-1912) was a pacifist and federalist thinker somewhat forgotten today. Despising Social Darwinism, his work criticized war in a systematic and rational way. His thought was inspired by Kant, Liberalism, and the positivism of Comte. By targeting sovereignty as the main problem, he thought that eradicating it –i.e. establishing a federation– was the only solution to build viable peace. His pacifism and internationalism connected him to a number of Socialists.

Trade unions vs cooperatives? The international labour organization and the representation of civil society actors. Through the intermediary of Albert Thomas, the General Director of the International Labour Office, the International Cooperative Alliance expressed the desire in 1919 to see the International Labour Organization include representatives of national cooperative organizations. The ILO was barely set up and tripartism celebrated as a major innovation when they were already challenged. This article analyzes the conditions under which the cooperative movement was evicted from the ILO, and the simultaneous claim of the international cooperative movement for a « direct and separate representation » within the ILO. It looks at the setting up of various mechanisms from 1919 until 1948 which resulted in the establishment of a consultative relationship between the cooperative movement and the ILO, before the creation and the granting of the actual consultative status to the international cooperative movement.

French diplomacy and the making of public opinion during interwar period
How did French diplomats comprehend the notion of public opinion in the interwar period? They were familiar with the concept of a « public opinion » after the experience of the war, but they hardly theorized it. If it remains possible to understand how diplomats dealt with the notion, it is striking to notice that there was no reflection on the nature and few tools to understand it beyond the ordering of press reviews. Indeed, the desire to know what domestic opinion was outside press reviews, mobilized much less energy than the will to model it.

« Latin » friends and diplomatic pragmatism. Franco-Italian relations from 1936 to 1938Between the ending of the Ital-Ethiopian War in May 1936 and the autumn of 1938, Franco-Italian relations, which had greatly improved after the Rome agreements of January 1935, deteriorated. The diplomatic choices of the Popular Front, France's refusal to recognise the newly created Italian Empire, the Spanish Civil War and the German-Italian rapprochement made official talks increasingly rare. At the same time, the growing number of international crises increased differences. The concept of a shared « latin identity », used for a long time by both countries to justify an alliance, was no longer appealing. Thanks to the efforts of organisations in favour of reconciliation between the two countries, contact was never broken off. However the obsessive fear of a breakdown in relations remained ever-present during a period when the collapse of the Franco-Italian friendship favoured a change in alliances.

A French employers' delegation in communist China during the Cold War − the economic Rochereau mission of 1956In a tense international context, France, which did not recognize the People's Republic of China, had no global economic or financial frame for its exchanges with this State. In order to improve commercial exchanges, a delegation was sent to Beijing by French employers early in 1956. Managed by Henri Rochereau, it was the first commercial mission in communist China having the unofficial support of the French government. This article focuses on the preparation, the progress and the results of this mission, the merit of which, beyond its strictly commercial profits, was to lead to the signature of financial and trade agreements and to the implementation of new commercial rules with the RPC.

« I am more cautious than de Gaulle. » François Mitterrand and the American diplomacy, 1972-1981While Mitterrand did not seek Washington's imprimatur per se, he tried to convince American diplomats that Communist participation in the French government would not endanger Western security interests. This article argues that this proved relatively easy in Paris where the US embassy was mostly staffed by liberal Foreign Service officers who saw Mitterrand as the CP's grave digger. In Washington, however, the executive was most concerned about Communist participation in a West European government and was thus hostile towards Mitterrand's Union of the Left. In order to allay those fears, Mitterrand relied on individual initiatives by fellow Socialists traveling to the US who, without instructions from him, attempted to convince their American contacts of the CP's harmlessness. Under President Carter, the Socialists could count on pro-Socialist Party administration officials. Though such contacts had few short-term consequences, they eventually « paid off. »

The origins of European diplomacy − The nine and the European political cooperation, 1973-1980The establishment of the European Political Cooperation (EPC) in the 1970s was an important step towards political union, which has always been considered as the ultimate aim of European integration. The two Davignon reports, adopted in 1970 and 1973, served as the basis for the EPC which dealt with the sovereign domain of foreign policy, and used an intergovernmental mechanism. The EPC therefore took place between the member states of the European Communities, but outside the Community context. The development of the EPC was affected by several factors between 1973 and 1980: primarily by the actors, and in particular the nine countries involved in the EPC. Since State actors played a decisive role, there is a need to bear in mind the differences which originally existed between the Nine, in terms of their foreign policy, and also their political traditions and cultures. The different contexts in which the EPC evolved also had a significant impact on it; in particular the process of European construction and the world stage dominated by the United States and the Soviet Union. By taking these points into consideration, the article analyses Political Cooperation at the time of the Nine, in terms of its functioning as well as ability to assert Europe's role in the world notably through the declaration on European identity. The EPC also conveyed the Nine's messages on international issues, such as the CSCE and the Middle East.

One continent, two views. France, the United States and the Helsinki process
Two models of East-West detente dominated the West during the late 1960s and the early 1970s. While the United States gave priority to a military détente and negotiated measures of arms limitation with Moscow, France favoured political, economic and cultural détente, as Paris thought it was the only way to facilitate the overcoming of the bipolar order. According to President Georges Pompidou, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe was a good opportunity to implement Gaullist principles of « détente, entente, cooperation » and to work on European reunification by fighting the US–USSR hegemony. Whereas Washington was at first not interested in the CSCE, the events of 1973-1974 convinced Henry Kissinger that the United States could also benefit from the Helsinki process.

The ambiguous identity of Japan in international relations: the end of Pacific constitutionalism?
Since the Meiji Restoration (1868), Japan's identity in international relations has been steeped in ambiguity. This ambiguous identity has its origin in the difficult connection of two worlds: the West and the Orient. The Meiji oligarchs chose modernity but kept Japan's traditional system of authority. To understand the international system of their time, they relied on a cognitive scheme based on the power structure of the Edo bakufu (military government) that gave birth to a long « Kantian peace ». This article uses this cognitive scheme that has profoundly influenced Japan's political thought to transform it into an historical analogy capable to enlighten us on Japan's ambiguous identity in international relations, from Meiji until today. Japan has now to rethink its pacific constitutionalism in the face of the rising power of China.

Debating the political nature of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Is the Islamic Republic of Iran an ideological state, an Islamic democracy or a classic dictatorship? The heuristic dimension of the debate regarding the nature of the Islamic Republic has to be found in a better understanding of the decision-making process inside the regime. In other words, the choice of the criterion to define the political system of the Islamic Republic affects our analysis of its political functioning. It is therefore important to shed light on the diverging political classifications of the Islamic Republic as defined by scholars specialized in Iranian studies. Finally, this article challenges the relevancy of analyses underlining the « elective » or « republican » dimensions in the complex web of institutions of an Islamic theocracy.