Measurement of D*±, D± and Ds± meson production cross sections in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The production of D∗±, D± and D±s charmed mesons has been measured with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at √s= 7 TeV at the LHC, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 280 nb−1. The charmed mesons have been reconstructed in the range of transverse momentum 3.5 <pT(D) <100 GeV and pseudorapidity |η(D)| <2.1. The differential cross sections as a function of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity were measured for D∗± and D± production. The next-to-leading-order QCD predictions are consistent with the data in the visible kinematic region within the large theoretical uncertainties. Using the visible D cross sections and an extrapolation to the full kinematic phase space, the strangeness-suppression factor in charm fragmentation, the fraction of charged non-strange D mesons produced in a vector state, and the total cross section of charm production at √s= 7 TeV were derived

New logics of Integration in European Security and Defence Policy: Change in Conflict-Resolution Mechanisms in the Intergovernmental Decision-Making Process.

The EU is undertaking important developments in the area of European security without asserting new fundamental goals. This paper proposes a conceptualisation of new logics of integration in the ESDP, by focusing on the transformation of conflict-resolution mechanisms in the adoption and implementation of policy provisions in the area. I argue that since 1998, pressing external events have led to an integrative policy change in the area of European security, manifest in an increasing use of expert incrementalist methods within the intergovernmental framework of the EU. The urgency of collective decisions adopted in substantive negotiations at a high political level combines with the incrementalist “filling-in” in the operational phase. While bargaining is highly determinant in the adoption of key compromises, the operational phase has become infused with administrative management and expert consultation, corresponding with the proliferation of newly created specialized agencies and think tanks, thus creating dynamics for the introduction of novel program specifications. Integrative outcomes are manifest in the progress in military operational capacity, the actual accomplishment of EU-based “Petersberg” operations, the focus on a more pragmatic understanding of the relationship with NATO and the proposals for coordination and flexibility envisaged in the draft of the Constitutional Treaty. The focus on conflict-resolution mechanisms provides theoretical determinants to explain integration logics in the ESDP, as a process of development of practical goals

Between ‘soft power’ and a hard place: European Union Foreign and Security Policy between the Islamic world and the United States

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in International Politics. The definitive publisher-authenticated version SMITH, M., 2009. Between 'soft power' and a hard place: European Union Foreign and Security Policy between the Islamic world and the United States. International Politics, 46 (5), pp. 596 - 615 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/ip.2009.15This paper explores the pressures operating on European Union Foreign and Security Policy in the ‘triangle of forces’ created by the European integration process, developments in the Islamic world and the responses of the United States. In the first section, the paper explores ideas about foreign policy and power in the European Union (EU), as exemplified in debates about the Lisbon Treaty and the future role of the Union. The second part of the paper sets out three logics inherent in the development of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, distinguishing between the ‘internal’ logic of the European integration process, the ‘external’ logic reflecting the opportunity structure in the world arena, which creates challenges and opportunities for the EU and its Member States, and the ‘identity’ logic, which creates a move towards self-realisation and ‘self-recognition’ on the part of the EU in international politics, and relates this to recent developments in European foreign and security policy. The paper then argues that the multi-dimensional ‘triangle of forces’ between European integration, the Islamic world and the United States has played a key role in focusing these developments, by posing challenges to the three logics and creating complex linkages between them. The Conclusion asks whether as a result EU foreign policy has been ‘catalysed’ (given new impetus and direction) or ‘constrained’ (subject to a process of external or self-limitation), and points to some early indications of the impact of the Obama Administration in the United States