Volume 12, numéro 4, 1981

EN :

Following a few studies published in the United States and Canada, the author examines formal relations between some American states and Canadian provinces to assess their effect on the conduct of relations between both federal governments. She studies the regional "summits" where American governors meet Canadian premiers, particularly the annual Conference of New England Governors and Quebec and Maritime premiers, with some references to similar organizations just beginning in the West, and in the South with Mexican states. She concludes that federal governments keep substantial control over this "regional diplomacy". Washington and Mexico retain control more directly, and Canada indirectly via major subsidies to some provincial programs, and rulings on international economic relations. As a political instance, the regional Conference has gone from a goal of « integrated regional development » in 1974, to a simple « agency for mutual information » today. Its decisions do not seem to contradict federal policies in any significant way. In Canada, it may nevertheless induce a vague for m of continentalism, going contrary to Ottawa's new nationalism.

EN :

This article examines the performance of the U.S. National Security Council as a policy-making body vis-à-vis the southern African conflict under the Nixon and Ford Administrations. It discusses and verifies the hypothesis that the institutionalized System of the NSC gives the President a way of seriously improving his policies, by analyzing (within a structured and formalized framework) the range of options and alternatives, free of negative bureaucratic influences. Furthermore, it shows the impact that the presidential decisions had over the orientation of the southern African conflict from 1969 to 1976.

EN :

The Middle East is generally perceived in the West, often in simplistic terms, as an area which is crucial to the West's economic and strategic interests. Given the complexity of this new « Eastern question », the Western perspective is important because it counts for a lot in determining the future of this region and in defining the position the Middle East holds in the world System. This dominant perspective has nonetheless the defect of putting on the back burner the interests of the peoples of the Middle East and the possibilities of a different scenario which corresponds less with the designs of the great powers today and more with the needs of the Middle Eastern countries.

The present and future position of the Middle East in the world System should thus be examined from an internal viewpoint as much as from an external one. Seen from the outside, the region appears essentially as a pawn. From this perspective, the deterioration of the Palestinian question permits the great powers (particularly the United States) to keep the Arab governments divided and thus blocks the way to regional cooperation susceptible to putting the energy resources of the oil producers at the service of self-directed development in the region. Seen from the inside, however, this cooperation, beyond its economic advantages, has interesting social and cultural possibilities, It is thus a question of knowing which conditions would develop these possibilities. The question is important because, to a certain extent, the outcome of the Middle Eastern situation will serve as an example to the Third World as a whole to the extent that the Middle East develops a strategy for a new kind of development defined and carried out free from dependency on external powers. The precondition to this effort is clearly the formulation and effective maintenance of a common Arab position which is coherent and realistic on the Palestinian question ; inevitably this is central to all Middle Eastern policy.

EN :

The difficulties experienced by the Western economies since the middle seventie have given rise to considerable debate among economists. Some, referring to structural changes in the way the economy functions, have no hesitation in speaking of an economic crisis, while others, less pessimistic, consider that the present economic problems are due to the concordance of particular circumstances. The latter, evidently, belong to the dominant current of thought. Within this group we find some old ideas being put forward once more, challenging the various means of State intervention to regulate the economy.

The relevance of treating the present situation as one of economic crisis is dealt with here in the light of four inter-related factors : the fall in labor productivity, the slowdown of the impact of technology, fordism, and the profitability of capital. A reconsideration of traditional economic policies brings out the need to accept the requirements of slower economic growth. Many persons have already adopted their consumer behavior to this new situation.

EN :

The "golden age" in East-West trade is over since 1975. However, the period following the beginning of the world crisis, up to 1980, was not so gloomy as it was expected in the mid seventies. Although at a reduced rate, compared with the previous period, there was a significant increase in trade and especially exports of Eastern Europe to the West. Apart from the Polish case, indebtedness of Eastern Europe did not soar in dramatic proportions, and some countries achieved a stabilization of their trade balance with the West at the end of the decade; East-West industrial cooperation developed; the adverse political climate, which deteriorated sharply in 1980, did not stop trade flows and did not entail a reorientation toward Comecon of East European trade ; notwithstanding the standstill of Comecon EEC negociations, several important arrangements were signed between the Common Market and individual Comecon member countries.

The prospects up to 1985 are not very bright, especially when considering the recession in Western economies, the structural difficulties impeding the reform movement in the East European economies, the Polish crisis, the financial difficulties of some other countries. The future of East-West trade is linked to the energy constraints of the Eastern bloc, its agricultural situation ; it may benefit from the developments in the socialist integration process.