Suchergebnisse

In his article, Ulrich K. Preuss illustrates deficits of the so-called European public. Chiefly, given that the European Union exists as a union of states and peoples, there is no European communication community. A European communication community could emerge if there were a European political sphere. This requires a transnational coding of politicizable societal conflict, and eventually a "transnationalization of social struggles". The author believes that these voices would not speak in their national accents, but from their "specific and distinct social origins". A European visibility in the public would thus allow commonalities to flourish even in a context of plurality. Adapted from the source document

Is Kosovo an international protectorate legalized by SC Res. 1244/1999? Or is it an independent state and as such a regular member of the international community? If the former assumption is accurate, how can permanent members of the Security Council recognize this entity as an independent state when Res. 1244/1999 unmistakably marked it as part of another sovereign state, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia? If the latter assumption is valid, how, then, can the presence of UNMTK and the powers of the International Civilian Representative in Kosovo be justified? Does not the term "interim" in this institution's title suggest that the transitory period should end once Kosovo has become an independent state? The article discusses these questions, starting with a brief account of the legal preconditions of recognition and continuing with an interpretation of Kosovo's particularities as a political entity. It then discusses the legal meaning of the international administration based upon Res. 1244/1999, as well as the relationship of Ahtisaari's status settlement proposal and Kosovo's declaration of independence. Finally, it discusses the question of whether trusteeship and neo-trusteeship are appropriate concepts for understanding Kosovo's present status. In conclusion, the article assesses Kosovo's status as sui generis. Adapted from the source document.

If it could be implemented, the UN's Kosovo-Plan would create a state with lesser sovereignty, & that would mean the end of the UN-system of sovereign equality of all states. Paradoxically, this could lead to a constitutionalization of the law of nations -- & burden the international community with even more responsibility. Adapted from the source document.

Examines America's quest for absolute security, which condones the use of military force against regimes that pose a threat, & explores different perspectives on international politics historically held by Americans & Europeans. Tensions between the US & "old" Europe that emerged during the Afghanistan crisis were greatly magnified by the Iraq crisis. The conflict did not focus on war vs peace but on whether it should be war according to the US criteria or according to the legality of the UN. Complex calculations of risk, the balance of interests, & human rights implications involved in declaring war against Iraq are examined to contend that the requirements for a justified intervention were not met. It is concluded that the US must be viewed as an empire determined to establish a new world order that links notions of human rights/democracy to religious ideas of the "chosen American people" & gives priority to America's "mission" to bring "democracy to the world.". J. Lindroth

The author argues that the transformation of the Eastern & Central European nations from communism to democracy has slipped into "ethnopolitics" due in part to the vacuum of rules & unified actors prepared to govern. The struggle is not so much about groups with different economic, social, or political goals, or about agreement on a constitution, as it is a struggle for the foundation of a shared polity based on a prepolitical identity. Postcommunist countries must perform two simultaneous steps: that of focusing their social energies on the building of an economic, social, cultural, legal, & political infrastructure & the need to overcome the state of nature, which is, in fact, to denaturalize those very pre-political resources. The 1989 revolutions differed from all previous revolutions in that they were more concerned with collective identity, the emergence of previously oppressed social groups as political entities. This is a divisive process, which is not expected to create the social & political structures of the West. L. A. Hoffman