Volume 27, Number 4, 1996

EN:

Economic and financial relations between the European Union and « new » South Africa were characterized by a rapid process 0} normalization following the general elections of27 April 1994. Much more problematic has been the process of negotiating a long term relationship which should result in the implementation of a Eu-South Africa free trade area over a ten year transition period, and a qualified membership of South Africa in the Lome Convention. The analysis 0} current negotiations reveals how the parties' mutual concern for the World Trade Organisation principles is constantly tempered by their equally strong commitment to Systems of regional preferences. At a time when the future of the Lome Convention has become a matter of official discussion by the EU and the ACP states, the revival of regional integration programmes in Southern Africa confers to the negotiations between the EU and South Africa a special value. Indeed, they prefigure as a test on the capacity to integrate the realities of new trade regionalism in euro-African relations.

EN:

What place does Europe reserve for culture? In particular, does the legal framework make it possible for the cultures of member states to develop in the respect of their diversity, as stipulated in the Union Treaty ? We can, of course, prefer a generous vision of a composite Europe, where ideas circulate freely, as well as their creators and the latter's works. Given the European community's founding principles, we are tempted to see the EU'S legal order as the natural setting for the diffusion of European cultures. But the EU'S rationale mainly focusses on building a single market in a single space. From this angle, the perspective is not so idyllic. Although certain cultural goods can also be seen from an economic viewpoint (in that they are intended for circulation in commerce), their cultural value should not be overlooked. How does EU law handle this question ? Economic and cultural interests are not always compatible with each other. Under what circumstances does cultural specificity require a solution different from an economic one ? Does EU law really take into account the dimension of culture in the pursuit of its principal objectives ? All these questions receive different answers depending on the type of legislation (whether about taxation, authors' rights, the circulation of works of art). Given current legal texts, we can but hope for more awareness whenever cultural interests are at stake.

EN:

Twenty-five years ago, Graham T. Allison brought to the political scientists community a new tool to help us to understand questions in the domain of Foreign Policy : the Bureaucratic Politics Model. Since then, his Essence of Decision has been one of the most read books in Universities and one of the texts most referred to in scholar works. However, it is of interest to analyze if, beyond the framework's reputation and despite the numerous criticisms addressed to it, the bureaucratic politics is still useful for someone who wishes to do analysis based on Us elements. How bureaucratic politics can still help us to better understand the decision-making processes ? Are there avenues, questions or problems that still can be better explained by referring to this scheme ? The answer we offer to these questions refers to the model's components, to an update of the evaluation several scholars made of it, and, finally, to a dynamic orientation that puts forward the paradigmatic dimension of the theory and an application to a specific question.

EN:

Canadian trade policy is largely one 0} compromise between the interests 0} Us main partners and a constant search for improved access to foreign markets. The establishment 0} GATT permitted the Canadian government to multilaterally pursue the principle of free trade on a basis of non-discrimination. Nevertheless, this policy 0} market diversification conflicted with three economic events, namely : entry of United Kingdom to the EEC, the breakdown of the Bretton Woods System, and the emergence of protectionism in the United States. Canada has decided to sign the FTA in 1989 with the United States, which now is extended to include Mexico. This regional block, similar to the EEC, does not signify the limits of a Worldwide utopia, but is very well a step toward market globalisation.

EN:

On November 8,1994, the Security Council of the United Nations adopted Resolution 955 creating an ad hoc international criminal tribunal to judge individuals responsible for violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 1994. In its form and structure, the Tribunal does not respect basic legal requirements required of a tribunal set up in international law. Us mandate - limited in time, in scope of potential indictment, and in jurisdiction to violations of international humanitarian law - mil prevent any light from being shed on the real issue raised by the Rwandan conflict, namely that of armed military intervention in Rwanda from Uganda. It will likely lead to the reinforcement of a one-sided view of the crisis in Rwanda and legitimate further unilateral interventionist policies in Africa and elsewhere. The Tribunal will institutionalize the de facto impunity for the members and supporters of the present government of Rwanda who undoubtedly committed many serious crimes between October 1, 1990 and the present.

EN:

Human rights have been seen as basic to the ethical distinctiveness and legitimization of states. They also contribute to the international culture of state moral standards. Interdependence between states is based on a minimum of shared values or accepted rules, including human rights, which symbolically constitute a universe of constraints. The codification of human rights through the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Africa's experience in the area of international ethics support the hypothesis of an international culture of moral standards.