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The UN’s Unnecessary Crisis
Mats Berdal
As heads of state and government prepare to mark the 60th anniversary of the UN with a grand meeting in New York in September 2005, the sense of crisis and uncertainty that has surrounded the world body since the start of the war in Iraq is still very much present. The enduring nature of the crisis has contributed to the widely held impression – both mistaken and profoundly unhelpful – that a truly critical moment in the history of the organisation has been reached and that ‘make or break’ decisions must be made this year. This impression has been powerfully encouraged by Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s own insistence that member states are faced with nothing less than ‘a new San Francisco moment’, requiring far-reaching institutional change, including of the Security Council. To present the challenge facing the UN in such stark terms has been a major strategic error and one of its more predicable consequences has been an unseemly and ugly fight among key members about Security Council enlargement. This has diverted attention away from real and more pressing issues. It has also done much to diminish the prospects for a successful summit meeting in September. Buy this article online
The Lost Meaning of Strategy
Hew Strachan
Strategy is a word which has lost its meaning, too often being used as a synonym for policy. Between the late eighteenth century and the end of the First World War, it described the conduct of war as exercised at the level of the military commander. But the scale of the two world wars and the influence of maritime powers, like the United States and Britain, prompted the evolution of ‘grand strategy’ to enable the coordination of allies in different theatres of war and to mobilise all national resources for the prosecution of war. Since the end of the Cold War the vocabulary of war-making has lost definition, making lesser conflicts seem larger than they are, ‘militarising’ foreign policy and robbing the nation state of an important conceptual tool for adapting military means to political objectives. The results have been evident since 11 September. Buy this article online
The European Disunion
Nicolas de Boisgrollier
In the wake of French and Dutch voters’ ‘no’ to the European Union’s draft constitutional treaty, European leaders have so far failed to rise to the occasion. Rather than struggle to define a reasonable way forward at the June 2005 summit in Brussels, European governments fiddled over relatively trivial budget issues while the EU burned. Ironically, the draft EU constitution has died – or at least has fallen into a deep coma – in France, where the European project was initiated more than half a century ago. The endeavour is now stalled. A battle of visions has started amidst widespread confusion about what to do with the constitutional treaty. The time has come to clarify the institutional nature, as well as the ultimate goal, of the European Union. Buy this article online
Jihad in Europe: The Wider Context
Fidel Sendagorta
A year or more on, and following new terrorist outrages in London, the Madrid bombings of 11 March 2004 can now be revisited from a broader perspective. Three fundamental factors stand out: the emergence of jihad terrorism in Europe, Muslim immigration and Spain’s proximity to Morocco. It is this intersection between jihadism and immigration that makes jihadism a formidable threat in European countries, firstly because young Muslims may be swayed by a doctrine that rejects integration, advocating in its place unremitting hostility towards the ‘infidels’ and even their annihilation through attacks such as the 11 March bombings; and secondly because, if European societies identify terrorism with Islam, a rift of mistrust between communities could open and eventually lead to a divided society. Buy this article online
Terms of Estrangement: French–American Relations in Perspective
Simon Serfaty
The United States and France have many good reasons to be exasperated with their difficult partnership. Over the years, each often found the other to be a predictable obstacle to the other’s leadership or aspirations. During the Cold War, however, their bilateral crises never had serious or lasting consequences, and both countries repeatedly proved to be reliable and proactive partners whenever crises reached a danger point. But with the Cold War over, haunted by the daunting legacies of 11 September 2001, and in the midst of the uncertainties surrounding European institutions, the reciprocal visions that shape the US–French ambivalence ought to be adjusted. However French policies are (mis)represented in the United States, and whatever is thought of US policies in France, understanding them for what they are, and why – and what they do, and how – would be more constructive than the over-simplified, and occasionally offensive, caricatures that became commonplace during the harsh and flawed debate over Iraq. Buy this article online
Rethinking the EU: Why Washington Needs to Support European Integration
Ronald D. Asmus
It is time for the United States to rethink its policy toward the European Union and European integration more broadly. The new challenges of the twenty-first century and America’s changing priorities and strategic needs are making America more rather than less dependent on the European Union and its success. The United States’ ability to reach its own top foreign policy objectives – defending the US homeland, winning the war on terror and promoting the spread of freedom and democracy around the world – increasingly require a strong, politically cohesive and outward-looking Europe that can act as a partner around the world. Today America needs a functioning EU as much as an effective NATO. Buy this article online
India–Pakistan Deterrence Revisited
Michael Quinlan
Since the 1999 Kargil conflict and the 2002 confrontation political relations between India and Pakistan have eased considerably, with leaders on both sides spearheading a drive to improve the climate and to do practical business together, including on Kashmir. Nuclear-weapon concepts and doctrines seem to have evolved prudently, though information is limited. The build-up of armouries, slower than some observers foresaw, does not at present threaten deterrent balance, though worries about ballistic missile defence may lie ahead. Further cooperation on confidence-building measures, and dialogue on entrenching stability, remain important. Both countries, but especially Pakistan after the A.Q. Khan scandal, have global responsibilities in the non-proliferation context. Overall, the scene is more reassuring than five years ago, though improvement is not irreversible. Buy this article online
France’s Evolving Nuclear Strategy
David S. Yost
France’s revised nuclear strategy, announced by President Jacques Chirac in June 2001, represents a move away from the Cold War ‘anti-cities’ strategy to one based on a more extensive range of options, including more precise and discriminate capabilities, intended to reinforce deterrence with choices beyond ‘all or nothing’. Neither of the main rationales for the nuclear posture – the long-standing hedge against potential major power threats and the current emphasis on being able to deter regional powers armed with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons – has provoked much open debate or critical analysis in France. To proponents of reduced nuclear spending, both contingencies seem improbable and not worth the current and projected costs. The thesis that France’s nuclear forces constitute an indispensable contribution to the European Union’s future deterrent posture appears an even less plausible justification to sceptics, who maintain that France could retain options for the EU and obtain approximately the same amount of security insurance with redefined nuclear posture requirements. Buy this article online
China in Africa
Chris Alden
China’s growing presence in Africa introduces a new dynamic in the continent’s relations with the outside world. Motivated by vital resources and new markets to fuel its economy, coupled to a commitment to multilateralism, Beijing has embarked on a comprehensive trade and diplomatic offensive that is challenging Western pre-eminence in the region. African governments have responded enthusiastically to this new source of investment and aid as well as China’s professed willingness to ignore political conditionalities. Chinese–African cooperation, however, remains constrained by the asymmetric nature of relations and Africa’s changing attitude towards issues such as humanitarian intervention. Buy this article online 
