Volume 10, Number 3, 1979

EN:

The Berlin Congress would seem to have completed the historic sequence of Congresses begun in 1957 with the Moscow world congress of Communist parties. It represents a turning point in the history of the Communist movement, especially as it pertains to Europe. Its long and laborious preparatory phase as well as the density and contradictory nature of its proceedings provide a new image of European Communism in crisis by bringing together a diversity of governing parties. Certain among the latter are all-powerful in their countries, others, important opposition forces involved closely or indirectly in the process of governing, while others are either underground or represent an infinitely small portion of their respective electorates. The Berlin Congress was the theater of debates containing the potentialities of conflict that animate the European Communist parties. It confirmed and stabilized a major phenomenon whose origins are to be found at the world Communist Party Congress of 1969 - Eurocommunism.

EN:

Analyses et middle or « lesser » powers, unlike those of great and small powers, have not secured a distinctive place in the international politics literature and have generally not contributed to or borrowed from contemporary theoretical developments. The present study examines the foreign policy behavior of a lesser power (Canada) with an interrelated set of hypotheses drawn from theories explaining behavior as a function of the attributes of targets and actors. The four « relational » attributes employed here are status, salience, similarity, and proximity. Quantitative measures for these relational factors and for five categories of Canadian behavior across 51 (Canada to x) dyads are developed with particular attention being paid to questions of empirical-theoretical fit. Correlational analysis reveals many of the relational attributes and indicators explain a significant amount of variation in the behavior measures. Greater status, salience and proximity generally lead to more frequent Canadian activity. Status differences are particularly strongly related to all five types of dyadic behavior. Similarity appears a less influential factor. A further partial correlation analysis suggests that for Canada the relational attributes are interrelated with each other and with behavior in a patterned way. Greater proximity leads to increased salience, as do greater status and similarity. In turn, greater salience, status and similarity all lead to more frequent behavior of most types. These results tend to support some and refute other general hypotheses about target-actor attributes and behavior, and perhaps suggest some particular features of lesser power activity.

EN:

In the energy field and more specifically in the petroleum sector, several models have been developed with a view to determining long-term price strategies and supply and demand flows without considering the sector in question from an oligopolistic perspective : institutions have been excluded from these models. This study explicitly recognizes the importance of variables often characterized as extra-economic and proposes to examine the degree of OPEC's stability. Among the factors that could negatively influence this stability are bilateral oil agreements, the coalition of consumer countries within the International Energy Agency and rivalry among the members of OPEC. The respective weight of each of these factors has been carefully examined.

On the other hand, an oil price indexing formula accepted and respected by all parties concerned would ensure the stability of this organization. However, stability via indexing is unlikely as it is difficult to find a formula acceptable to all parties. It is therefore to be anticipated that the world energy and petroleum situation in the near future will be a function of the policies of the two poles : the United States, the largest consumer, and Saudi Arabia, the largest producer. The functions-objectives of these two countries have also been examined in order to derive a number of specific hypotheses relative to the eventual evolution of the energy and petroleum sector.

EN:

From its beginnings in 1922, the foreign policy of the Soviet Union has pursued one overriding objective : the preservation of the empire. This policy's dialectic is in conformity with the Soviet doctrine which holds that international relations are but relations of production. Soviet foreign policy has always sought international legal guarantees to protect the conquests of empire and socialism. Ideologically, the U.S.S.R. has always been opposed to the idea of European unity. European integration has traditionally been viewed by the Soviet empire as the ultimate endeavour of capitalism prior to the latter's final crisis. This basic policy option had been adopted by the socialist countries of Europe.

From 1922, when the Soviet Union had accorded the E.E.C. de facto recognition, several countries of Eastern Europe had expressed their respective attitudes with regard to European integration. The Helsinki and Belgrade C.S.C.E., the final result of which was only a diplomatic declaration, emphasized the idea of East-West cooperation. European cooperation, deriving from a compromise between economic "necessity" and political "illusion," should provide practical results rather than ideas. De jure recognition of the E.E.C. by the U.S.S.R. and the Eastern Europe countries also constitutes an important element of East-West relations. The 1980s will reveal whether or not the hostility of the countries of Eastern Europe with respect to European integration has definitely been replaced by cooperation free from ulterior ideological motives.

EN:

This article seeks to provide a first attempt at finding a way through the intricate jungle created by at least nine political Systems electing members for one Parliament. The analysis is divided into four steps. The first step considers the actors and the rules of the game and results in a clear conclusion : neither the rules (the electoral Systems) nor the actors (European political parties) allow for the expression of any kind of political will. The second step of the analysis deals with some generalizations about the so-called European trends of the election. The "nonvoters' party" appears as the clear winner. Moreover, this is the only common

pattern observed in the nine countries.

The third step is comprised of a country by country overview. Rather than referring to the European election, one should talk about at least elevent different elections each with a different set of issues. In terms of the issues, Denmark is the sole country where essentially European matters were in the forefront. In the other cases, the election of the MEP resembles an opinion poll designed especially to meet the needs of national leaders and parties. The article concludes by considering future developments. The real European elections will take place in 1984. What will happen from June 1979 until 1984 will be akin to rehersals for a play. The script seems well written and the dialogue is interesting. However, the actors (the parties) are untrained. The destiny of the performance will entirely depend on the actors.