Passage au crible
A short Critical Analysis of International Current Affairs
The intention of the critical analysis reports Passage au crible on international current affairs is to encapsulate and clarify the mechanisms of world affairs. Using a transnational approach, the reports are delivered in a concise and educational format each week proposing:
1) A brief and factual reconstruction of a significant event;
2) Historical context;
3) A theoretical framework which gives the non-specialist, with an interest in international relations, access to an approach which goes further than the simple empirical descriptive approach.
4) A specialist’s analysis;
5) A short bibliography providing key references – official documents, books, articles – by recognised specialists on the matter.
PAC 152 – A Conformist Transgression The Nobel Prize in Literature Awarded to Bob Dylan
By Josepha Laroche. Translation: Lea Sharkey
In a surprise move, on October 13, 2016, the Swedish Academy awarded the Nobel Literature Prize to the musician and poet Bob Dylan, « for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition ».
PAC 151 – The Inertia of the Climate Arena The 22nd Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, November 7-19, 2016 in Marrakesh
By Simon Uzenat. Translation: Lea Sharkey
The 22nd CoP (Conference of the Parties) to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) was held in Marrakesh from November 7 to 19, 2016. More than 22000 participants gathered – 40% less than for the Paris Conference – with nearly 16000 governmental representatives, more than 5000 representatives of UN organisations, IGOs (Intergovernmental organisations) and NGOs (-50%), and 1200 media representatives (-66%)…
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PAC 150 – The APD’s Role in China’s Conquest of Africa How Chinese Companies Dominate the Construction Industry
After a four-year construction period, Ethiopia inaugurated a railway line connecting its capital city Addis-Abeba with Djibouti. Built by Chinese companies, this new access to the Red Sea should boost the Ethiopian economy…
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PAC 149 – The Famous Traders of Philanthrocapitalism The Clinton Foundation Controversy
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 US Presidential elections marks the end of a particularly fierce and conflictual electoral campaign. As a matter of fact, the campaign of its rival Hillary Clinton has been stained with various controversies, such as the email affair – related to the use of a private mailbox server when she led the US State Department…
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PAC 148 – Sovereign States Face Global Warming The COP22 in Marrakech
The COP22 was held in Marrakech from 7-18 November 2016. Its aim is to implement the principles established during COP21 into practical steps. This summit is happening against a backdrop where most of the climate change skeptics have disappeared from the scientific field…
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PAC 147 – A Partial Reconfiguration of the Climate Arena The First Climate Chance Summit for Non-state Actors, Nantes, November 26-28, 2016
By Simon Uzenat. Translation: Lea Sharkey
On October 5, 2016, the conditions have been reunited to bring the Paris Agreement into force, as it has been ratified by at least 55 countries accounting for an estimated 55% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. Thirty days later, on November 4, 2016, the Paris Agreement is made effective…
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PAC 146 – Countering Illegal Fishing: the Failures of a Normative Framework The African Union Summit on Maritime Security and Safety and Development, Lomé, Oct. 10-15. 2016
By Valérie Le Brenne. Translation: Lea Sharkey
From October 10 to 15 2016, the African Union Summit on Maritime Security and Safety and Development took place in Lomé (Togo). At the end of the meeting, thirty-one States adopted a charter to combat maritime piracy and IUU fishing (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing)…
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PAC 145 – Tunisia to Bear the Brunt of the Free Trade Model The Asymmetric ALECA Project between the European Union and Tunisia
By Moustafa Benberrah. Translation: Lea Sharkey
On September 14, 2016, was held the second meeting of the EU-Tunisia Joint Parliamentary Committee. At the end of the meeting, a non-binding resolution was adopted, advising European institutions to set up a « Marshall Plan »…
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PAC 144 – Asylum: a Questionable Externalization by the EU The European Union-Turkey Agreement
On April 4, 2016, the agreement between Turkey and the European Union took effect. It complements a series of bi and multilateral treaties that the European Union has signed with its Southern neighbours, transforming them into border guards for Europe…
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PAC 143 – The WTO Stalled by Multilateralism The Tenth Ministerial Conference, Nairobi, December 15-19, 2015
By Valérie Le Brenne. Translation: Lea Sharkey
The WTO’s 10th Ministerial Conference was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from December 15 to 19, 2015. On this occasion, the organisation welcomed a new member, Afghanistan, increasing the number of member States to 163. The meeting culminated in the adoption of six measures on agriculture, cotton and issues related to least-developed countries (LDCs).
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PAC 142 – The Low-key Trajectory of a Major Health Risk The Zika Virus Epidemic Disease
By Clément Paule. Translation: Lea Sharkey.
On March 4, 2016, a study published in the Cell Stem Cell Review specified the relation between the Zika virus and specific neurological disorders, such as GBS (Guillain-Barré Syndrome), characterised by progressive paralysis…
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PAC 141 – A Political Ambition without Legal Constraints The COP21 Outcomes
By Weiting Chao. Translation: Lea Sharkey
The Paris Climate Conference (COP21) opened in Le Bourget on November 30, 2015. The conference reunited 147 State Leaders, negotiators representing 195 countries and 50 000 participants. On December 12, a global agreement replacing the Kyoto Protocol has been adopted…
read morePAC 140 – Striking the West by Attacking Burkina Faso The Ouagadougou Attacks on January 16th, 2016
By Philippe Hugon. Translation: Lea Sharkey
Originally a hallmark of democratic transition, Burkina Faso was hit by major attacks in Ouagadougou, on Friday 16th, January 2016, resulting in at least 30 killed of more than 14 nationalities. These attacks took place two months after the Bamako attacks at the Radisson Blu Hotel…
PAC 139 – The International Reorganisation of an Emerging Economy The Chinese Loans to Algeria
By Moustafa Benberrah. Translation: Lea Sharkey
On Saturday, October 18th 2015, the Algerian Minister of Commerce, Bekhti Belaid, announced that his government applied for external financing from the PRC (People’s Republic of China)…
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PAC 138 – Oceans Issues: a Marginal Priority The Restricted Scope of COP21
By Valérie Le Brenne. Translation: Lea Sharkey
From November 30 to December 11, 2015, the 21st Convention of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21). Following intense talks, the negotiators compromised on a 40 pages agreement, aiming to restrict the global warming to 2 degrees Celsius…
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PAC 137 – The Nobel Prize, a Commitment against Islamism The Tunisian Quartet, Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2015
By Josepha Laroche. Translation: Lea Sharkey
The Nobel Committee, reunited in Oslo, awarded this year (on October 9, 2015) the Nobel Peace Prize to the quartet who has been leading the « national dialogue » in Tunisia for more than two years. The committee pays here a tribute to « its decisive contribution in the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the ‘Jasmine Revolution’ of 2011 » This group is formed of four civil organisations…
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PAC 136 – A Political Censorship of Industrial Risks Tianjin Explosions, August 12 to 15, 2015
By Clément Paule. Translation: Lea Sharkey
On the evening of August 12, 2015, a blast shook off Tianjin City, the fourth most populated urban area of the People’s Republic of China. According to Chinese media, the incident had been caused by accidental fire of a storage station containing ethanol and alcohol based products…
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PAC 135 – The Outbreak of a Criminal Ecosystem Dark Web and Bitcoins, Tools of Cybercriminality
By Adrien Cherqui. Translation: Lea Sharkey
The American financial regulation organisation CFTC (US Commodity Futures Trading Commission) has made public on September 17th 2015 that any virtual currency may now be considered as a commodity…
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PAC 134 – WHO: an Arduous Redeployment The Ebola Outbreak Case
By Clément Paule. Translation: Cécile Fruteau
On September 14, 2015, the health authorities of Sierra Leone reported the death of a teenage girl infected with Ebola in Bombali, a district located in the Northern Province. Yet, during the previous six months, the area had not registered any new cases and the country had hoped to reach the forty-two days threshold without any new infections – i.e. twice the normal incubation period of the virus – that would have meant the transmission of the disease had stopped…
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PAC 133 – Broadening the Scope of Global Climate Talks What Must Be Done for CoP21 to Cope with Environmental Issues?
By Stefan C. Aykut. Translation: Cécile Fruteau
In December 2015, Paris will host the 21st Conference of the Parties to the Climate Convention (CoP21). Great expectations surround what is advertised as the global governance’s major environmental event since the conference is supposed to secure an international agreement to cope with global warming. More than twenty years of discussions since the subject had been first broached at the Conference of Rio in 1992 were necessary to enable this issue to get its own given place on the international agenda…
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PAC 132 – The Illusory Rampart of State Sovereignty The Damaging Lack of Harmony of European Asylum Law
By Catherine Wihtol de Wenden. Translation: Lawrence Myers
In 2014, the EU received 625,000 asylum seekers, a figure not seen until then. Previously, the yearly number remained around 200,00 applications. In 2015, 300,000 people from around Europe (Libya, Syria, Iraq, the Horn of Africa) were forced to migrate due to the chaos facing their countries. Besides these facts, the drowning deaths of two thousand people at the borders of Europe are also deplored. Yet, the data continues to worsen. Between 2000 and 2015, an estimated 30,000 people perished in the Mediterranean. The overall number since 1990 stands at 40,000. At the same time, Angela Merkel’s speech in September 2015 was an unprecedented turning point. The German Chancellor announced that Germany was ready to host 800,000 asylum seekers in the coming months.
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PAC 131 – A Multilateral Bank Between Cooperation and Predation The signing of the AIIB articles
By Justin Chiu. Translation: Lawrence Myers
On June 29, 2015, the signing ceremony of the statutes of the AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) was held in Beijing. Bringing together 57 countries worldwide, this new multilateral bank has established a $100 billion fund of which 30% comes from China. Considered a diplomatic success of the Chinese state, the creation of the AIIB marks a turning point in global finance.
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PAC 130 – Energy Transition Controlled by the Majors The 26th World Gas Conference
By Weiting Chao. Translation: Lawrence Myers
Six months before the Climate Conference (COP21), the 26th World Gas Conference (WGC2015) was held June 1-5, 2015, in Paris. Organized by the IGU (International Gas Union), the event brought together more than 4,000 representatives from 83 countries from the biggest global industry players including BP, Total, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, ENI, BG Group, Statoil, Qatargass, PetroChina, etc. Climate change, which now takes center stage, incited these actors to discuss themes linked to energy transition…
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PAC – 129 Strike Kenya, Terrorize the Globe Transnational Terrorism by the Somali Al-Shabaab
By Philippe Hugon. Translation: Lawrence Myers
On March 23, 2015, Al-Shabaab (“the youth” in Arabic) attacked Garissa University in Kenya, leaving more than 150 dead. These actions, targeting Christian students, were committed in an extremely violent manner in a symbolic place known for dispensing knowledge. They occurred one month after Al-Shabaab pledged its allegiance to Al-Qaida and threatened shopping centers of western origin…
PAC 128 – The Globalization of Fanaticism The Cultural Destructions of the Islamic State
By Alexandre Bohas. Translation: Lawrence Myers.
With the capture of Palmyra by Islamic State troops in Iraq and in the Levant (ISIL or Daesh in Arabic) in May, one of the most prestigious sites of antiquity is now threatened with extinction. This event testifies to ideological motives of this self-proclaimed caliphate against cultural buildings.
