Contenu du sommaire : Relations internationales. La tentation d'exister

From Forced Privatizations to Imposed Democracy : What Criteria for Accession to the European Union ? The incorporation of Eastern European countries into the European Union (EU) does not follow a cooperation process, but rather a one-way policy whereby applicant States must comply with the demands of the EU. At first, the recommended enlargement process suggested an integration of groups of new States in successive « waves ». Specific criteria would determine which States would form the first stage of the enlargement of the EU. However, in fact, geo-strategic considerations prevailed over the EU policy. In spring 1999, the need to stabilize the Balkan region led the EU to abandon the tiered-process of incorporation. In December 1999, the Helsinki summit decided to enter into negotiations with all applicant States, reneging on guarantees related to the calendar of integration. Now, the Eastern European countries must allow the rules of competition to operate on their markets in order to fulfill the requirements imposed by the integration criteria. But the weakness of their economies invalidates the presupposed efficiency of liberal precepts. The EU, however, continues to promote this type of policy, thus wrongly confusing democratization with privatization.

NATO's Expansion : How far should it go ? The coming NATO summit, scheduled for November 2002 in Prague, will address two major issues regarding the future of the organization : its enlargement and the reduction of military disparities between the defense capacities of the United States and of its allies. In addition to these two issues, the new demarcation of the NATO frontiers is strongly related to the changing status of the organization. Long dedicated to the collective defense of Western Europe against the Soviet threat, the question today is whether NATO, originally created as a regional organization with military purposes, has turned into a political organization whose aims are directed towards expanding democracy and whose field of operation extends the world over. The answer to this question depends on the continued interest of the United States in the organization and on the strengthening of the European project.

« Women's Rights » : Constructing an International Issue The introduction of a « Sub-Commission on the Status of Women » within the United Nations has led to the progressive development of legislation designed to promote women's rights and to heighten the awareness of the international community on the subject. Indeed, the international community now includes the gender issue in its thematic conferences. The creation and the purpose of the new Sub-Commission are however strongly debated : its detractors protest against this « particular » right (granted only to women), considering it to violate the principle of universality of human rights. Its supporters retort that the « issue of women's rights » would never have been considered in the international debate had specific institutions not been created. Also, the promotion of women's rights has provoked other pre-existing divisions, which started during the Cold War between the opposing « blocs », as well as between the North and the South. Since the nineties, however, the traditional structure of this debate, the theme of which is central to national policy in numerous States, has broken apart as dissension has emerged between traditionalist States and more progressist ones, notably on the issue of « procreation rights ».

Towards a Systemic Approach to Geopolitics Now that interests, values, symbols, perspectives on past and future history are brought face to face on a world scale by the globalization process, a new conscience of our living space in all its dimensions and heterogeneity is born. This is even more emphasized as cultural differences regularly question regulating processes in favor of a uniform and preconceived idea of the world. The increasing use of the prefix « geo » in front of numerous nouns, each relating to a different field of activity, demonstrates the growing need to integrate regional and local differentiation in the unification process of the world. Thus, in order to contain the inflated use of the aforementioned prefix, it would be better to accept, once and for all, that geopolitics is systemic. As such, it should embrace all interactive and related fields of activity.

The New US Nuclear Doctrine : Revolution in Strategic Concepts ? With the end of the Cold War, it was largely hoped that States would enter into a phase of disarmament. From this perspective, the nuclear deterrence and the concept of balance of powers seemed outdated. However, today the United States is facing new threats ; in order to combat them, the new nuclear policy, praised by the American army, recommends that the nuclear arsenal be modernized so that the president may have at his disposal a complete set of weapons, allowing him to deter all attempts of assault. Therefore, the eventuality of the use of nuclear weapons is trivialized, and efforts at deterrence are weakened. Although the Russian-American agreement, signed in Moscow on the 24th of May 2002, looked like a disarmament agreement, it does not prevent the two countries from continuing to developing their arsenal. Thus, in the century to come, the American arsenal will be maintained at the same level as that reached by the end of the Cold War.