The Voting Practice of the Fifteen in the UN General Assembly : Convergence and Divergence

The EU has, since the early days of the Community, had the ambition to speak with 'a single voice' in international fora, in particular in the United Nations' General Assembly. This aspiration, which has become more pronounced since the inauguration of the CFSP, has not always been easy to achieve due to domestic or international level factors affecting the EU member states. However, in the last decade there has been a dramatic increase in convergence in the Fifteen's voting record. This paper contemplates the underlying reasons for such a convergenceLa UE, des dels primers dies de la Comunitat, tenia l'ambició de parlar amb "una sola veu" en els fòrums internacionals, en particular a l'Assemblea General de Nacions Unides. Aquesta aspiració, que s'ha accentuat des de la inauguració de la PESC, no sempre ha estat fàcil d'aconseguir a causa dels factors a nivell nacional o internacional que afecten els estats membres de la UE. No obstant això, en l'última dècada s'ha produït un augment espectacular de la convergència en l'historial de votació de Quinze. Aquest document contempla les raons subjacents d'aquesta convergènci

Per què és tan difícil la construcció de la identitat política i cultural europea?

La consolidació i l’extensió de la integració és lenta i atzarosa ateses les nombroses dificultats a les quals ha de fer front una Unió Europea en procés de canvi constant. Dins del context general d’ampliació a l’Europa central i oriental, és necessari que Europa articuli la seva identitat política i cultural; consolidi i racionalitzi una política exterior i de seguretat comuna; aporti solucions a la complexitat que suposa l’establiment d’una política social europea; resolgui l’encaix de les regions dins l’organigrama de les institucions i polítiques comunitàries; i, finalment, gestioni de manera eficaç i humana els nous fluxos migratoris

European union leadership in biofuels regulation: Europe as a normative power?

The rapid emergence of the European Union (EU) as a leader in global environmental politics has led many scholars to argue in favour of the EU being a ‘normative power’ in international relations. This paper critically examines the EU's biofuels policy and evaluates whether its attempts to lead by example and shape international practice in this field could support such arguments. Europe's biofuel policies are evaluated through a sustainable development lens, so as to determine the extent to which it has embraced a holistic approach to sustainability. While not dismissing that the identity of the EU is indeed an explanatory factor and that normative intentions may well be regarded as a motivating force, this study argues that an interest-based perspective on international environmental regulation offers a supplementary view of how an actor's preferences for an international regime are shaped. By erecting barriers aimed at shielding its own inefficient domestic biofuels production the EU is in essence placing trade competitiveness and economic growth above environmental protection, thus permitting sustainability concerns to be addressed only in part

2D to 3D crossover of the magnetic properties in ordered arrays of iron oxide nanocrystals

The magnetic 2D to 3D crossover behavior of well-ordered arrays of monodomain gamma-Fe2O3 spherical nanoparticles with different thicknesses has been investigated by magnetometry and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Using the structural information of the arrays obtained from grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering and scanning electron microscopy together with the experimentally determined values for the saturation magnetization and magnetic anisotropy of the nanoparticles, we show that MC simulations can reproduce the thickness-dependent magnetic behavior. The magnetic dipolar particle interactions induce a ferromagnetic coupling that increases in strength with decreasing thickness of the array. The 2D to 3D transition in the magnetic properties is mainly driven by a change in the orientation of the magnetic vortex states with increasing thickness, becoming more isotropic as the thickness of the array increases. Magnetic anisotropy prevents long-range ferromagnetic order from being established at low temperature and the nanoparticle magnetic moments instead freeze along directions defined by the distribution of easy magnetization directions

Hymen reconstruction as pragmatic empowerment? Results of a qualitative study from Tunisia

Hymen reconstruction surgery (HR), while ethically controversial, is now available in many countries. Little clinical evidence and hardly any surgical standards support the intervention. Nearly as scarce is social science research exploring women's motivations for the intervention, and health care professionals' justifications for its provision. In order to better understand decision-making processes, we conducted semi-structured interviews in metropolitan Tunis, in 2009, with six women seeking the procedure, four friends who supported such women, four physicians who perform the operation, and one midwife. Health care professionals and patient companions expressed moral ambivalence about HR: although they could comprehend the individual situation of the women, they expressed concern that availability of the procedure might further entrench the patriarchal norms that compel the motivation for seeking HR in the first place. Some women seeking HR shared this concern, but felt it was not outweighed by their personal aims, which were to marry and become mothers, or to overcome past violent sexual experiences. The women felt HR to be uniquely helpful in achieving these aims; all made pragmatic decisions about their bodies in a social environment dominated by patriarchal norms. The link between HR and pervasive gender injustice, including the credible threat of serious social and physical harm to women perceived to have failed to uphold the norm of virginity before marriage, raises questions about health care professionals' responsibility while facing requests for HR. Meaningful regulatory guidance must acknowledge that these genuine harms are at stake; it must do so, however, without resorting to moral double standards. We recommend a reframing of HR as a temporary resource for some women making pragmatic choices in a context of structural gender injustice. We reconfirm the importance of factual sexual and reproductive education, most importantly to counter distorted beliefs that conflate an “intact hymen” with virginity

The Voting Practice of the Fifteen in the UN General Assembly : Convergence and Divergence

The EU has, since the early days of the Community, had the ambition to speak with 'a single voice' in international fora, in particular in the United Nations' General Assembly. This aspiration, which has become more pronounced since the inauguration of the CFSP, has not always been easy to achieve due to domestic or international level factors affecting the EU member states. However, in the last decade there has been a dramatic increase in convergence in the Fifteen's voting record. This paper contemplates the underlying reasons for such a convergenceLa UE, des dels primers dies de la Comunitat, tenia l'ambició de parlar amb "una sola veu" en els fòrums internacionals, en particular a l'Assemblea General de Nacions Unides. Aquesta aspiració, que s'ha accentuat des de la inauguració de la PESC, no sempre ha estat fàcil d'aconseguir a causa dels factors a nivell nacional o internacional que afecten els estats membres de la UE. No obstant això, en l'última dècada s'ha produït un augment espectacular de la convergència en l'historial de votació de Quinze. Aquest document contempla les raons subjacents d'aquesta convergènci

The construction of an EU foreign policy identity: Identitarian resonance and dissonance in the European Union's relations with the Mediterranean, Northern European and Western Balkan borderlands

La UE ha desarrollado desde el final de la Guerra Fría un modelo distintivo de la política exterior hacia los países socios en el Mediterráneo, en el norte de Europa y en los Balcanes occidentales basado en el multilateralismo regional, la cooperación multisectorial, el intervencionismo, así como una narrativa en torno a la noción de que la Unión tiene una "responsabilidad" hacia los países en estas áreas. Este modelo representa una proyección de la identidad internacional de la UE en relación a estos países vecinos. No obstante, al mismo tiempo la UE ha experimentado dificultades en tener un impacto decisivo y positivo en estas mismas zonas y se podría incluso argumentar que los países socios de la UE desconfían del modelo que la UE les ofrece. La presente tesis doctoral pretende examinar la falta de resonancia del modelo de política exterior de la UE en zonas colindantes. Con este fin nos proponemos responder a las siguientes preguntas de investigación: ¿qué es identidad internacional de la Unión Europea? ¿Cómo se construye? ¿Cómo impacta la identidad internacional de la UE en su relación con terceros países, en particular, con tres áreas muy priorizadas por la UE como el Mediterráneo, el norte de Europa y los Balcanes occidentales? La primera parte de la tesis examina los diferentes nodos cognitivos sobre los que la UE construye su identidad internacional y estudia la evolución histórica de la política exterior de la UE en términos de su identidad internacional hacia el Mediterráneo, el norte de Europa y los Balcanes occidentales. La segunda parte analiza las relaciones entre la UE y cada una de estas áreas en profundidad por vía del Proceso de Barcelona, la Dimensión Septentrional y el Proceso de Estabilización y Asociación y políticas asociadas. La tercera parte de la tesis analiza como el modo en que la UE construye su identidad causa resonancia y disonancia en relación con los países socios en las mismas zonas.The EU has developed a distinctive foreign policy model towards partner countries in the Mediterranean, Northern European and Western Balkans since the end of the Cold War based on regional multilateralism, multi-sectorial cooperation, interventionism and a strong narrative around the notion of the Union having 'responsibility' toward the countries in these areas. This model represents a projection of the EU's burgeoning foreign policy identity vis-à-vis neighboring countries. Nevertheless, the EU has had a hard time since the fall of the Berlin Wall to make a decisive positive impact in these same areas and one could even argue that partner countries in the EU borderlands are becoming wary of EU's model. The present doctoral dissertation aims to explore the lack of resonance of the EU model in the Union's borderlands. For this purpose we aim to respond to the following research questions: what is the EU's foreign policy identity? How is it constructed? How does the EU's international identity play out in relation with third countries, in particular with three by the EU highly prioritized areas such as the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and the Western Balkans? The first part of the dissertation will examine the different cognitive nodes upon which the EU constructs its international identity and survey the historical evolution of the EU's foreign policy identity in terms of the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and the Western Balkans. The second part will explore the relations between the EU and each one of these areas in depth by ways of the Barcelona Process, the Northern Dimension and the Stabilization and Association Process and accompanying policies. The third part of the dissertation intends to analyze how the EU's foreign policy identity causes resonance and dissonance in relation to its partner countries in the same areas

Russia’s hybrid interference campaigns in France, Germany and the UK: a challenge against trust in liberal democracies?

This article examines the Russian government’s use of the cyber and information domains as arenas to challenge liberal democracies. Previous studies have examined the technical or military-strategic aspects of Russian cyber activity or (dis)information. This article builds on these efforts and extends the scope of analysis to examine the socio-political challenges of Russian ‘hybrid interference’ for liberal Western democracies such as France, Germany and the UK. Our case studies highlight Russia’s growing use of cyber operations combined with (dis)information to foment or exacerbate tensions between government and society and/or among different societal groups. Our findings suggest that while Russia utilises hybrid interference to create or augment inter-societal turbulence in the short-term, the longer-term effect might serve to erode horizontal and vertical trust in such societies

Fabricating a war? Russian (dis)information on Ukraine

Propaganda has been an age-old part of warmongering. It is thus no surprise that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was preceded by, and continues to be fuelled by, propaganda transmitted by state-controlled Russian media. What is more unusual about the Russian (dis)information campaigns is the sheer volume of distorted narratives or complete fictional accounts about the conflict. This article explores the content and technologies of Russian information manipulation of domestic audiences in the context of the invasion of Ukraine. We also examine the bases for the sustained robust public support for the war within Russia during the first 12 months of the conflict, despite being based on mostly fabricated (dis)information. Relying on political psychology and communication theory we explain how emotions and associative memories have played an important role in the Russian public's sustained approval to the war. Our findings point to that in the absence of contrasted and independently-verified information, the volume, frequency, emotional intensity of slick, plug-and-play media packages on Ukraine have acted to displace and distort the average Russian's associative social monitoring processes.The authors wish to acknowledge the funding by ‘Institutional responses to the changing European security order’ (inRESPONSE) [grant number PID2022-140133NB-I00], Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain. Elena Şimanschi completed this work in the context of the PhD programme in Politics, Policies and International Relations of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), supported by the Catalan Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) grant 2022FI_B_01071

Beyond the enlargement

Con la Europa del 2004 acercándose rápidamente, esta obra no pretende re-explorar el proceso de ampliación una vez más. Este trabajo pretende aportar una perspectiva aproximativa de aquello que le espera a la Unión Europea tras su ampliación. El acento se pone en las distintas oportunidades y desafíos que la acción exterior de la Unión tendrá que afrontar en su futuro ampliado, centrándose especialmente en la UE-25 como una actor en política exterior a la vez que un proveedor de seguridad. El objetivo de los capítulos de la primera parte de este volumen es reflejar cómo se producirá la adaptación de los nuevos miembros a las cuatro áreas de impacto exterior de la UE (PESC, PESD, minorías y asilo), y consecuentemente, de qué modo influirán éstos nuevos actores. En la última parte de la obra, se explora la naturaleza de las nuevas fronteras de la UE-25.Amb l'Europa del 2004 acostant ràpidament, aquesta obra no pretén re-explorar el procés d'ampliació un cop més. Aquest treball pretén aportar una perspectiva aproximativa d'allò que l'espera a la Unió Europea després de la seva ampliació. L'accent es posa en les diferents oportunitats i desafiaments que l'acció exterior de la Unió haurà d'afrontar en el seu futur ampliat, centrant-se especialment a la UE-25 com una actor en política exterior al mateix temps que un proveïdor de seguretat. L'objectiu dels capítols de la primera part d'aquest volum és reflectir com es produirà l'adaptació dels nous membres a les quatre àrees d'impacte exterior de la UE (PESC, PESD, minories i asil), i conseqüentment, de quina manera influiran aquests nous actors. En l'última part d