Volume 6  Issue 3

May 2009

Bimonthly Electronic Newsletter

 

PRIORITIES OF THE CZECH PRESIDENCY (by Jan Bondy). In the highly changeable world of the 21st century, it is becoming clear that the European Union’s success depends upon having the ability to flexibly respond to current problems, and to take full advantage of its economic, cultural and human potential. With this in mind, from the very outset of its MORE


TURKEY AND NATIONAL SECURITY CHALLENGES FOR GREECE AND CYPRUS (by Theodore A. Couloumbis). From the days of the treaty of Westphalia (1648) the concept of “national security” was limited to the values of state sovereignty and territorial integrity. After World War II and the realization of European integration, the concept was qualitatively broadened with additional values such as consolidated democracy, MORE

 

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF MONETARY INTEGRATION IN THE EU AND IMPLICATIONS FOR CYPRUS (by Andreas Theophanous). The European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in many ways constitutes a unique experiment in economic history, representing a case of monetary union without a comprehensive political union, but with a single currency and a common monetary authority. The EMU had run ahead of fiscal MORE

 

PERPLEXING NEGOTIATIONS (by Michalis Firillas). As the negotiations between Greek and Turkish Cypriots continue, there is a growing sense that the former are behaving like the whales that lost their way and are heading for a beach to die. Negotiations, we are told, are about give and take; they are also about cost and benefit. As such, the Greek-Cypriot MORE

 

THE IDEA OF A STRONG CYPRIOT STATE IN THE POST-SETTLEMENT ERA (by Giorgos Kentas). A pervasive view on the Cyprus conflict seems to prevail across the international community. It is argued that Cypriots may only have one last chance to settle their political problem and reunite their country. Otherwise, there will be only one remaining option, namely partition. This line of analysis MORE

 

OBAMA AFTER 100 DAYS (by Monroe Newman). Ever since the epic first three months of Franklin Roosevelt’s first term as President in 1933, Americans have had the practice of passing judgment on a President’s first 100 days.  The judgments pronounced recently have been as diverse as the voters’ sentiments were last November, when Barack Obama MORE

 

EUROPEAN ENERGY SECURITY AND GREECE (by Petros Zarounas). Last January, the EU was faced with the most severe gas supply/transit crisis of its history. That crisis illustrated better than ever before, the importance of the Union’s energy interdependence with its East European partners.

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EUROPEAN ELECTIONS 2009 ‘DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT’ VS ‘PARLIAMENTARY DEFICIT’ A PROBLEM OF CAUSALITY (By Christina Ioannou). Thirty years have ensued since the first direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979. A total of nine member states voted that year in what was then the EEC, electing 410 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). This year (between 4th-7th June), an estimate of 375 MORE


A EUROPEAN UNION OF CITIZENS (By Kyriakos Demetriou). With the European Parliament elections looming at the beginning of June, and with the global economic crisis casting its shadow over the continent, one reasonably might ask what the future holds for the European Union. The specific issue has been discussed in extent by a number of scholars, politicians MORE


HOW DEPENDENT IS THE CYPRUS ECONOMY ON RUSSIA? (By Fiona Mullen). The Cyprus economy has been undergoing a silent transformation over the past few years as the relative importance of the tourism sector declines and the relative importance of the business sector increases. In 2008, balance-of-payments income from travel MORE

 

THE WELFARE STATE AND THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS (By Craig Webster). Whether the current economic crisis is a short-term downturn in the global economy or a depression is debatable.  Some will take the view that this is a depression that occurs because of the normal functioning of capitalist economies and the current crisis is just the unpleasant part of a Kondratieff MORE

 

INTERNATIONAL AGGRESSION AND VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS: THE CASE OF TURKEY IN CYPRUS (By Van Coufoudakis). My latest book was published on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Adopted in the aftermath of World War II, this declaration recognized the importance of human rights for international peace and stability. This declaration also reminds us of the road MORE


 

 

 

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