Analyses
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Critical analysis of the organization and implementation of the CSDP. Criticizing the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is easy. A brief look at Europe’s recent actions in conflict areas and failed states paints the picture very clearly: despite apparent ambitions in that direction, the EU still acts in the shadows of its member states, and has not yet proven itself as a convincing international ‘state-fixer’. Nothing showcases the dispersed European agendas better than the Iraq War in 2003. Admittedly, this was before CSDP was supposedly Common by name, but more recent examples such as Libya show little improvement by nature: the EU is stuck with...
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An exploration of the rise and fall of Chavez’s left-wing populism, not only in Venezuela but in the wider Latin America region. Latin America has a double penchant: for the past and for drama. Though the continent’s response to the world’s economic doldrums is today the envy of many countries, particularly in Europe, endemic inequality has always allowed populists a high hand in shaping politics. Hence the connection with drama: caudillos in Latin America – preferably with some kind of military outfit – appeal to the people by using dramatic rhetoric and gestures to get rid of the nation’s enemies, both internal and external. When by the very end of the...
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Charles A. Thiemele analyzes the potentially critical implications of Côte d’Ivoire’s recent election. Reading the current coverage of Côte d’Ivoire’s crisis and its outcome, it is easy to feel optimistic. From an outside perspective, the UN, the EU, France, and the United States restored democracy in a nation threatened by the so-called dictator, Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to step down after losing a UN-controlled election. One could thus be excused for assuming that all is now well in sunny Abidjan, and that the rest of the country will soon be the shining example of progress and liberty in Africa. However, despite a warranted...
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By Anna SchwanAnna Schwan comments on why the right communication strategy is so important to improve a country’s soft power. Images like the killing of Osama bin Laden, a pregnant Carla Bruni, London’s bid for the Olympics 2012 and Azerbaijan’s victory at this year’s European Song Contest make no sense at first sight. When one looks closer, one realizes that the one similarity between all these images is that they affect the image of the countries involved. As Paul Watzlawick once said, it is impossible not to communicate. When countries send out images they are invariably making statements about themselves. More and more countries are embarking on professional ways of...
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By James HenryJames Henry states that under current regulation, it is illegal to publish statements on the health benefits of naturally occurring foods. Drug and pharmaceutical interests directly benefit by having an exclusive monopoly on claims for the treatment of disease in the sale of their products. This is the first in a series of three articles on this and related subjects. Food and drug regulatory agencies in the United States and Europe act as competition police for the biggest pharmaceutical firms. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is no exception to this troubling tendency. The regulatory agency creates financial barriers that make entry impossible for all but the largest firms....
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Six months after the Egyptian Revolution, its endgame remains unclear. Worries abound about inter-communitarian tensions and the dismal state of the economy. At the same time, the Horn of Africa is reeling from the worst drought in sixty years, with millions threatened, once more, by the spectre of famine. What connects the food crisis in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia and Northern Kenya with political instability in Cairo is the urgent need to think differently about water in the Nile Basin. The good news is that the fall of Hosni Mubarak offers perhaps for the first time the real possibility of transforming the hydropolitical stalemate and pushing for greater regional integration to...
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A commentary on the future of democracy in Egypt, post-Mubarak. On July 8, 2011, in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, at least one million Egyptians gathered for the “Day of Determination.” They were joined by thousands of protesters in Suez, Sharm el Sheikh and Alexandria. In the view of the protesters, many of the promises of the January 25th Revolution had not been fulfilled. For example, Mubarak remains in a hospital, and no efforts have been made to put him on trial. Police officers who killed innocent civilians, making them martyrs of the Revolution, have been released back on Egypt’s streets. Corrupt ministers who helped Mubarak in his efforts to steal massive...
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On April 7th the Downtown gallery - Francois Laffanour opened a new exhibit in the new space dedicated to contemporary art, located n°. 33rd rue de seine, showcasing architect-designer, Junya Ishigami. The exhibit titled, "Picnic," takes the familiar and fairly uninspiring object of chairs and transforms them into creations of nature and light, nodding its head to a sense of minimalism and simplicity. The exhibit is both inviting and comforting, all the while leaving the viewer feeling that they have traveled through a land of magical creatures, rather than apartment furniture. Born outside of Tokyo, Japan in 1974, many have compared Ishigami's...
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By Omar FarahatOmar Farahat examines the social, religious and political structures in Egypt that allowed Mubarak to rule for so long, and that eventually led to his departure. Over several years of exposure to Western academia, I have let myself internalize one of its riskiest habits; namely, to recourse to Nietzsche whenever in doubt. This is precisely my position on the extent to which the occurrence of the Egyptian Revolution in January of 2011 was predictable. Of course, no self-proclaimed intellectual will admit that they completely failed to foresee this incredible turn of events. The same applies to attempts to analyze the event and its aftermath, and to situate them within fathomable sociological...