Archive for the ‘Europe’ Category

Vittorio Grilli, Italy’s Minister of Economy and Finance, is interviewed by Dr. Arantza de Areilza, Dean of IE School of International Relations, on European Economic and Monetary Policy.

Dr. Arantza de Areilza, Dean of IE School of International Relations, interviews former Prime Minister of Poland, Jan Bielecki, on Poland’s recent national history and its place within International Organizations.

March 2013

By Rowan Palmer, Master in International Relations Candidate

After five and a half grueling months of classes and a week of final exams and papers, the MIR trip to Brussels couldn’t have come soon enough, and promised a welcome break from classroom studies, as well as a chance to experience first hand many of the institutions and organizations about which we had been learning.

With the MIR’s focus on the European Union as a model for international organization, our trip was centered around visits to some of the EU’s institutions, as well as to NATO headquarters.  After a snowy arrival on the Thursday night, our itinerary began Friday morning with a visit to the European Economic and Social Committee, where we were given two presentations on the Committee’s work and its role within the EU, the second of which, by Charis Xirouchakis, Head of Visits and Publications Unit, involved a spirited discussion and was one of the highlights of the trip. A group dinner that evening provided the perfect lead-in to the weekend, when many students took the opportunity to do a bit of traveling and sightseeing in the area, including trips to Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and Amsterdam.

On Monday we spent the day at the European Commission, and had presentations on an assortment of topics, including the EU’s climate change policy, the current sovereign debt crisis, industrial competitiveness, and the External Action Service.  On Tuesday we changed gears with a visit to NATO headquarters; the difference between visiting a defense organization and visiting government institutions (as we had so far done on the trip) was immediately evident in the security procedures required to enter the building! Once inside, it was fascinating to gain a number of different perspectives on NATO’s changing role, including those of a policy analyst, a communications specialist, and a member of Spain’s diplomatic representation to the transatlantic alliance. That evening we were hosted by Belgium’s permanent representative to the EU, a man who has the distinction of being the only diplomat posted to an embassy in his own country!

We wrapped up the trip on Wednesday morning by visiting the European Parliament. Here, as was to be expected, things took on a more political tone as we met with several MEPs and had a chance to hear their views on some of the current “hot topics” in European politics. We were then left with time for one final meal out in Brussels, as well as a chance to make any last minute chocolate purchases before catching the airport bus, again amidst snow flurries, for our flight back to Madrid.

By Daniel W. Drezner

Margaret Thatcher has passed away. I could try to talk about Thatcher’s place as a world historical figure, but let’s face it, there’s going to be an orgy of columns on that very point over the next week or so — anything I write on the topic would be second rate at best. I could write about my own memories of living in London during the late Thatcher era, but to be honest, that’s not terribly interesting — it’s a tale of fading political popularity and really strident left-wing art. 

So, instead, consider the following two ways in which Thatcher has left a legacy in international relations theory:  

1) Diversionary war. There’s a large literature in international relations on the notion of using war against a foreign adversary as a way to distract domestic opposition and/or bolster domestic support for a leader (see Chiozza and Goemans for the latest iteration of this literature). It’s a little-known fact, but International Studies Association rules prohibit any paper on this topic from being published without a Thatcher reference.  

I kid, but only barely. The Falklands War represents the paradigmatic case of diversionary war theory for two reasons. First, almost every analysis of the conflicts attributes the Argentine junta’s growing domestic unpopularity as a key cause of their decision to launch the conflict (though, of course, it’s a bit more complicated than that). Second and more importantly, absent the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher would be remembered as a failed one-term prime minister. Victory over the Argentines in the South Atlantic enabled Thatcher to win re-election.  

In truth, it’s far from clear that diversionary war is all that common a practice (if it was, we’d be drowning in conflicts since 2008). The Falklands War, however, does provide the paradigmatic case.

2) The spread of ideas. It’s fitting that the New York Times ran a story over the weekend about the boomlet in history about studying the growth of capitalism. Thatcher’s role in advancing the spread of free-market ideas to other policymakers was crucial. To explain why free-market capitalism became the pre-eminent idea in economic policymaking over the past few decades, you have to look at Thatcher. She preceded Reagan, becoming the first leader in the developed world to try to change her country’s variety of capitalism. Even after Reagan came to power, one could persuasively argue that Thatcher mattered more. As some international political economy scholars have noted, ideas and policies spread much faster when “supporter states” embrace them vigorously rather than reluctantly. Thatcher embraced capitalism with a near-religious fervor, acting as a vanguard for the rest of Europe on this front. For more on the role that Thatcher and her advisors played, see Yergin and Stanislaw’s The Commanding Heights, or Jeffry Frieden’s Global Capitalism. Read more…

Daniel W. Drezner is professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

As published in www.foreignpolicy.com on April 8, 2013.