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This article analyses more or less 200 Concluding Observations adopted by the United Nations Committee of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). It covers a period that encompasses the work of the Committee between its 8th and 40th working sessions. The research is aimed at identifying the contribution of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to those Concluding Observations. Accordingly, only the part of such observations relating to fundamental workers' rights has been considered. Those rights are guaranteed by articles 6 to 10 of the Covenant. The authors come to the conclusion that input from the ILO to the UN ICESCR Committee monitoring work is essential and useful. They constitute a case for best practices in the land of inter institutional collaboration. The impact of the collaboration is namely, but not exclusively, apparent when one considers the evolving situation of atypical and marginal workers. The study also shows that inter institutional collaboration does not mean that each monitoring body has to renounce either to its specificity or explicit jurisdiction. On the opposite, such specificity promotes and increases the capacity of a monitoring body to tackle different aspects of fundamental workers' rights systemic violations. The study confirms the necessity to preserve intact the existence and the jurisdiction of different international law human rights monitoring bodies in order for them to contribute differently, although sometimes in a converging manner, to the protection of workers' labour rights.

Keywords: Organisation internationale du travail, Pacte international relatif aux droits économiques, sociaux et culturels, droits des travailleurs, collaboration interinstitutionnelle, suivi des traités, violations systémiques des droits des travailleurs, cycles de contrôle des traités de droits de la personne, International Labour Organization, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, workers' rights, Inter institutional cooperation, monitoring of human rights treaties, systemic violations of workers' rights, cycles of control of human rights treaties

Japan's foreign policy is often interpreted in light of three contradictory paradigms : weakness, strength, and difference. This leads observers to speak of an « enigma ». The many constraints that weigh down upon Japan and the many views expressed about this country indeed make it a complex object for analysis. By considering a few simple facts, however, we can see that the "strength-weakness" contradiction is chiefly due to inadequacies in the realist theory and its manipulation for political purposes. Without denying the powerful realist reflex that prevails in Japan, this article offers an alternative approach to understanding Japan's relationship with the world. The relationship with the United States, which is the axis of its foreign relations, fulfills all of the "regime's" criteria. An approach based on cognitive interests is hazardous and suggests a new paradigm: a three-circle one. An historical approach reveals the continuity of Japan's positioning as a "regional power" and the constraints that flow from this positioning. Better than the realist approach, a combination of these factors could account for the way Tokyo will manage the current situation brought about by the end of the Cold War and the Asian Crisis.

AbstractThis article offers an analysis of China's Africa policy that, while maintaining the connection with economics, emphasizes China's concern with its reputation, soft power and other international players' competition in Africa. Also, Chinese-African relations can be properly understood only by adopting a “longitudinal perspective”. This allows one to understand their specificities as well as why African governments have responded so positively (in general) to China's presence. Also, this perspective focuses on the current, rejuvenated ‘scramble for Africa' in order to explain why China's Africa policy today is so accommodating. For given the competition between international powers on the continent, China faces constraints and its dominance on the continent has been much exaggerated.

Keywords: Chine, Afrique, focac, coopération, aide chinoise, soft power, China, Africa, focac, cooperation, Chinese aid, soft power

After identifying the role of the Australia Group which is a multilateral body designed to control export of sensitive chemicals, as well as « equipment » and « technical data » designed to fabricate chemical or bacteriological weapons, this study briefly overviews U.S. policy in terms of export controls, and then attempts to review the current U.S. regulations on chemical and bacteriological weapons. With regard to chemical weapons, the analysis goes back to the Iran-Irak war and traces the evolution of the various controls imposed on chemicals. With the March 13, 1991 decision, export controls exist on 50 chemicals and the warning list has now been reduced to zero. With regards to biological weapons, a whole new list of controls is now being discussed within the Australia Group. A list of 29 countries has been drawn up and the U.S. hope that the Australia Group will adopt similar controls when it meets in December 1991. The article also contains five annexes : the classification of groups countries for export control reasons ; a list of countries under foreign policy controls ; the classification of microorganisms according to their class and degree of pathogenicity; a list of the fifty precursors under control; and the chronological evolution of the U.S. controls imposed on chemicals.

One of the most intractable debates in the field of world politics concerns the linkage of systemic structure to international conflict. The dialogue has focused on the relative merits of bipolar versus multipolar and, more recently, polycentric structures. Advocates of each System have their adherents and, for some time now, have agreed to disagree. Most of the debate over structure and conflict thus far has been cast in terms that do not facilitate its resolution. The objective of this study is to work toward a more compelling empirical judgment of the competing claims. Specifically, that involves revision of the central concepts. Structure cannot be assessed only in terms of distribution of power; the concept also should incorporate the notion of autonomous decision centres. With respect to conflict, most commonly referred to as instability, war is held to be a less comprehensive measurement than international crisis. Renewed testing focuses on the linkage of structure to conflict as so defined. Data from the International Crisis Behaviour Project on 280 cases from 1929 to 1979 provide the evidence to compare the phases of structure. The differences that emerge among multipolarity, bipolarity and polycentrism with respect to patterns of conflict are generally consistent with theoretical expectations.