Volume 26, numéro 1, 1995

EN :

With the end of the cold war, Europe, whilst avoiding the major threat of a global conflagration, has entered a period of uncertainty and instability, resulting from new risks which have appeared and from conflicts which have developed to the east of the continent. The institutions which were created in the context of the cold war, and which helped to manage it, are now forced to redefine their objectives and strategies, since they were not suited to deal with a profoundly different situation. This study evaluates the manner in which these new security challenges have been addressed through adaptation of the various institutions active in the field of security. The study shows that these various adaptations have been incapable of bringing effective answers to the new security problems which have appeared on the continent. Finally, based on this analysis, the study tries to identify the potential and limits of each of these institutions in the search for a European security System.

EN :

Aboriginal peoples of Canada have never limited themselves to the national scène in their struggle to obtain the recognition of their collective rights and powers. Since 1974, this phenomenon has increased noticeably and the international activities of Aboriginal peoples can be seen as a major event in Canadian external affairs. However, Aboriginal peoples of Canada are not a homogenous group. Their participation in the international Systems or institutions is as varied as the traditions and the expectations of each aboriginal nation towards political action. Beyond a typology of the external relations of Aboriginal peoples, the approach used in this article offers new perspectives over the extent and the meaning of their international personality : without being a condition of aboriginal self-government, the participation in the international arena is certainly promoting the realization of this ideal.

EN :

This paper attempts to explain the controversial, and politically risky, Canada-us Free Trade Agreement (CUFTÀ) as a by-product of political entrepreneurship in pursuit of electoral realignment. Upon becoming Prime Minister of Canada in 1984, Brian Mulroney harbored one overriding ambition : to engineer electoral realignment whereby his Conservative Party would supplant the Liberals as the dominant federal party in Quebec, and by extension, in Canada. Mulroney sought realignment by satisfying Quebec's fundamental institutional demands, which took the form of the Meech Lake constitutional Accord. This objective necessitated the construction of a coalition that married the trade and constitutional issues. Mulroney's brokerage skills ensured that CUFTA progressed in tandem with Meech Lake as a means to realizing his first-order objectives.

EN :

The article situates official French policy during the crisis in the general framework of its international relations. It was somewhat surprising to see a country close to Iraq join the coalition. The first part is a reminder that France was, after the United States, the most zealous of the coalition members, and that its stated objectives did not correspond to its real aims. The second part takes stock of Franco-Iraqi relations in order to assess their state in August 1990. Business dwindled after the 1970s and stagnation set in as a result of the war against Iran and the downturn in oil prices. On the eve of the crisis, relations were at a standstill while accords to settle arrears in payments went into effect. The third part puts Franco-Iraqi relations in the context of the general reorientation of the French economy. At the time of the Gulf crisis, France was turning the page on the era of megaprojects in developing countries and integrating more thoroughly in the developed economies. The article concludes that French policy during the crisis, a short-term political event, was in accord with economic changes occurring over the intermediate term, without being their direct consequence.

EN :

Although the entry of Central Europe's new democracies into the Council of Europe proceeded rapidly and met little resistance, the Soviet federation's breakup has provided an opportunity to specify the criteria for admission to this organization. In regard to new candidacies for membership, it is worth recalling that member states must be sovereign states that respect fundamental rights and freedoms. Here, we have states whose independence was open to dispute, lying at the outermost limits of Europe, and seeking to free themselves from seventy-four years of "socialist democracy". This being the case, the Council of Europe must arbitrate between the particularises of its status, the necessities of diplomacy, and its willingness to open it self up.