Le régime de sécurité de l'Europe centrale et orientale postcommuniste : mise en place et fonctionnement

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

"The Geography of the Eastern Enlargement: Present and Future Limits"

[From the introduction]. On January 1st, 2007 the accession of Bulgaria and Romania completed the enlargement of the European Union (EU) to ten Central and Eastern European (CEE) states. The same countries have also become NATO members. Other former Communist states, however, are far from sharing this privileged position. While the Western Balkans might, sometime in the future, join EU, chances are slim for Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) republics. European Union's present Eastern border will probably remain unchanged for a very long time. The reasons of this division are explored in the following sections with an emphasis on the close association between democratization and EU accession. Unlike most research in the field, however, the analysis combines an International Relations institutionalist approach and transitology. Section 2 uses Freedom House evaluation of political rights and civil liberties to illustrate the completely different degrees of democratization of states within and outside EU's enlargement process. Section 3 builds an International Relations explanation of the post-Communist democratization process based on Alexander Wendt's constructivism. Section 4 adds transitology elements to explain the regional success or failure of democratization mechanisms. The Conclusion summarizes this paper's main findings and evaluates the perspectives of further EU enlargement

The reciprocal constitutive features of a Middle Eastern partnership: The Russian–Syrian bilateral relations

Using the concept of reciprocal socialization, this article argues that the Damascus–Moscow partnership has been since 1970 a reciprocal constitutive relation that has influenced considerably the actions, interests, and identities of the two partners. During the last two decades of the Cold War it represented an almost ideal-type example of a relationship between a super-power and its regional ally that, through its complex consequences, shaped significantly the two partners themselves, the Middle Eastern political and security environment, and the international system as a whole. Post-2003 developments and especially the present Syrian crisis also have influenced considerably the two states' identity-building processes. After the US invasion of Iraq, the patterns of renewed bilateral cooperation have mirrored, at least in part, the Cold War ones. The Arab Spring enforced this trend. Yet, today the International Relations identity of Russia is quite different from the Soviet era one. The main consequence is that Moscow's new identity prevents it from supporting the regime in Damascus at any cost. If military operations take a turn threatening seriously the survival of that regime, it is likely that the Kremlin will not escalate its pro-al-Asad involvement, thus accepting the possible fall of its Middle Eastern ally

The Changing Patterns of Romanian Immigration to Canada

This article examines the largely neglected post-1990 Romanianimmigration to Canada. During the 1990s, most Romanians selected by Canadian immigration offices were highly skilled, university-educated professionals. As they ignored important details of the Canadian labor market, about three quarters of them became kindof lumpen-intellectuals. In recent years, however, Internet-based networks have improved the quality of information available to potential migrants. This and structural changes in the home country are preparing a major shift of Romanians' migratory flow to Canada. In the years to come, it will progressively take the form of circulatory migration currently characterizing Romanian immigration to Western Europe