A Cold War before the Cold War: Early Soviet Relations with the West

The field of international relations has seen considerable debate about the reasons for conflict between revolutionary states and status quo powers. The two works reviewed here deal with the early years of the Soviet regime. The material presented indicates that tensions were largely the result of Bolshevik attempts to “export the revolution.” This indicates that it is the nature of a revolutionary state and its desire to challenge the international status quo that leads to tension with other powers.     

Setting a new framework for co-operation between the Commonwealth and the European Union

This paper proposes a new approach to understanding the relations between the European Union (EU) and the Commonwealth. There has been a long-standing lack of mutual insight between the Commonwealth and the EU, chiefly due to a general lack of knowledge of the modern-day Commonwealth and its role on the international stage. The relations between both organisations are currently limited, despite the fact that there are areas of common interest, where cooperation would not only be feasible, but also beneficial. An agreement, such as that proposed in this paper could contribute significantly in the fight to eradicate poverty and uphold human rights.     

The political participation of disabled people in Europe: Rights,accessibility and activism

This paper provides the first systematic cross-national assessment of disabled people's electoral and political participation, based on research in the 28 Member States of the European Union and in the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. A mixed methods approach included policy analysis, information requests to national experts and secondary analysis of European survey data. The evidence populated indicators which suggest four lines of action: (a) lifting legal and administrative barriers; (b) raising awareness; (c) making political participation more accessible; (c) expanding participation opportunities in public life. Civil society organizations as well as public institutions have an important role to play as change agents in this regard.     

Who's European? Scotland and England Compared

In the Brexit referendum in 2016, Scotland voted 62 per cent Remain, and England 53 per cent Leave. This article explores whether this came about because more people in Scotland considered themselves ‘strongly European’ compared with people in England. Analysis of Scottish and British Social Attitudes survey data for 2017 shows that people in Scotland are significantly more inclined to say they are ‘strongly European’ (45 per cent) than in England (34 per cent), a finding that holds true across the spectrum of socio‐demographic and political variables. Nevertheless, the key predictors of being strongly European are similar in both countries: having liberal values, high levels of education, political party support, as well as being British, while in Scotland supporting the Scottish National Party and being in favour of independence are important. ‘Being European’ has taken on different meanings in Scotland and England as the aftermath of the Brexit referendum works its way through the political process.     

承载利益认同与价值认同之重的欧洲认同研究

承载了利益认同与价值认同之重的欧洲认同究竟给我们提供什么?从欧洲认同的前世与今生说明,欧洲认同的实质还只是一种利益认同,资本主义所谓的普世价值看上去是欧洲认同的原因,实际上恰好成为了欧洲认同的最大障碍。欧洲认同正反两面的镜像,为21世纪中华民族的伟大复兴提供了一些值得我们反思与借鉴的重要理论与实践资源。     

System Analysis of the Banking Systems of the USA and the EU

The article compares the banking systems of the USA and the EU employing the system analysis. The functions of the Executive Board and the Board of Directors are considered, there is also a comparison of the bank authorities, responsible for the decision-making： the features and interrelation of the parts of the system and their alternative within another bank system. The special attention is paid to the efficiency of the system construction on the basis of bank authorities and the degree of the power decentralisation. The article considers in details the efficiency of bank systems exposure to the countries＇ monetary policy. In particular, the tools of the monetary policy implementation are considered. The article also presents comparison of the methods of influencing the monetary policy, the frequency of their employment, the degree of their impact, and the way of implementation. In the process of analysing the banking systems of the USA and the EU, there is the conclusion on the high efficiency of the system with higher level of decentralisation since this system is accomplished formation.     

Local Ownership and International Oversight: Police Reform in Post-Yugoslav States

ABSTRACT

This article compares the results of police reform in three post-Yugoslav states that vary in terms of local ownership. Using survey, focus group, and interview data gathered in Kosovo, Serbia, and Macedonia, we find that the public perceives the police force created and trained by international oversight as more capable and legitimate when compared to police forces that grew under local ownership. Insulation from political and societal influence led to a more capable and legitimate police force in Kosovo, while the politicization of the police force under local ownership undermined its capacity and legitimacy in Macedonia and Serbia.     

Turkish transformation and the Soviet Union: navigating through the Soviet historiography on Kemalism

Being founded in the wake of the First World War, both Turkey and the Soviet Union followed revolutionary modernizing pathways. At the outset, one could trace many similar patterns in their radical modernization paradigms; however, their development models as well as political and social orders were radically distinct, which became more obvious with the passage of time. The paper discusses the external interpretations of Kemalism by observing the Soviet perspectives on the inception and evolution of Kemalism. Paying more attention to diplomatic, geopolitical and economic complexities of the Turkish-Soviet relations, scholars have rarely problematized the Soviet Union perceptions of Turkish ideological transformations. In reality, since the early 1920s, different state institutions, intellectual schools of thought and research in the Soviet Union closely observed the domestic transformations in Turkey by providing valuable insights on the perspective and the implications of the Kemalist transformation. The article also looks at the question of how the incorporation of Soviet perspectives can enrich the historiography and our understanding of Kemalism.     

Inter-parliamentary European Union–Latin American Caribbean (EU-LAC) relations and the increasing political convergence among Latin American regional parliaments (2006–15)

Europe and Latin America present a long-standing tradition of parliamentary diplomacy and particularly in the development of regional parliaments. Since the 1970s, inter-parliamentary relations between the two regions have been institutionalized, first by the regular dialogue of the European Parliament with the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) and more recently, in 2006, with the creation of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat). Apart from representatives of Parlatino, EuroLat includes in the European Union-Latin American Caribbean (EU-LAC) parliamentary dialogue members of other regional assemblies created in recent decades, such as the Andean Parliament, the Central American Parliament and the Mercosur Parliament. However, recent EuroLat meetings have made evident a polarization of positions on regional politics between European and Latin American sides, especially regarding the political and human rights situation in Venezuela. In this sense, the present paper analyzes the impact of EU-LAC relations on the political convergence of Latin American parliaments concerning regional political issues. The aim is to discuss how institutionalized relations with the European Parliament, through EuroLat, increased convergence among Latin American parliamentarians. This argument is exemplified by the joint defensive position on the Venezuelan political situation adopted by Latin American parliamentarians vis-à-vis the European Parliament's condemnatory position.     

超国家主义与政府间主义融合：欧盟新防务建设举措及前景

二战结束以来的欧洲一体化建设贯穿着超国家主义和政府间主义的博弈,而将超国家主义引入防务这一高政治领域一直是一体化进程的禁忌。然而,2016年以来,欧盟自主防务合作中出现了引人注目的超国家主义成分。这与欧洲面临的日益严峻的安全形势,以及在此背景下形成的新安全观有着重要的关系。欧洲面临的新的重大安全挑战呈现出非传统安全威胁与传统安全威胁共振、内部安全挑战与外部安全挑战交织的特征。同时,欧洲与其传统军事盟友美国的利益分化增大。在这些因素的综合作用下,欧盟成员国产生了加强自主防务合作的强烈意愿。欧洲防务基金的成立、"永久结构性合作"等举措的出台和实施,均体现了超国家主义与政府间主义两种合作方式的结合,这也成为近年来欧洲一体化的一大突破。未来,欧盟防务合作还难以摆脱决策机制、资金以及与北约的关系等因素的制约。但作为欧洲一体化两大"发动机"的法国和德国,将会从实现战略自主的高度继续推动欧盟框架内的防务合作,而欧盟委员会的"卷入"以及英国"脱欧"也将有利于欧盟防务建设的不断发展,欧盟在欧洲安全力量结构中的地位将愈益重要。