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 25 – The Unachieved Integration of the Economic and Monetary Union The Crisis of the Euro Zone
By André Cartapanis
Translation by: Davina Durgana
Passage au crible n°25
Since the onset of the Greek Financial Crisis, controversy has multiplied in Europe. A policy of financial solidarity must be implemented to the benefit…
PAC 24 – The Practitioner’s Treatment of a Global Scourge The Third Malaria Awareness Day, April 25th 2010
By Clément Paule
Translation: Brad Pizzimenti
Passage au crible n°24
Instituted in May 2007 by the World Health Assembly, Malaria Awareness Day was celebrated on the 25th of April, 2010. This event united together the actors involved in the struggle against parasitic…
PAC 23 – The Transnational Future of Nuclear Terrorism Nuclear Security Summit, Washington D.C., April 12-13 2010
By Jean Jacques Roche
Translation: Melissa Okabe
Passage au crible n°23
On April 12-13 2010, United States President Barack Obama welcomed 47 heads of State and government to the Washington Summit on Nuclear Terrorism. This summit took…
PAC 22 – The Global building of Scarcity The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Project
By Alexandre Bohas
Passage au crible n°22
After secret negotiations, the European Union, the United States and Japan, joined by a dozen of other states elaborated in April 2010 a treaty entitled ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). The aim was to impose more restrictive norms in the field of intellectual property…
PAC 21 – The Power of China Enthroned The Shanghai World’s fair, 30th April-31 October 2010
By Jenna Rimasson
Passage au crible n°21
On 30th April 2010, the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, inaugurated the Shanghai world’s fair which will remain open until 31st October 2010. After the inauguration of the Olympic Games in August 2008, the eyes of the world are once again directed at the People’s Republic of China. Nearly 72,000…
PAC 20 – The American Influence on Humanitarian Cooperation The Negotiations Concerning the Reconstruction of Haiti
By Clément Paule
Translation: Davina Durgana
Passage au crible n°20
The International Conference of Donors for Haiti has taken place on March 31st, 2010 in New York. 9.9 billion dollars have been promised, mid-term, for the reconstruction of this Caribbean state…
PAC 19 – State control of Humanitarian Action The Calling into Question of NGOs after the earthquake in Haiti
By Philippe Ryfman
Passage au crible n°19
Measuring 7.0 to 7.3, the earthquake that occurred in Haiti on 12th January 2010 already appears to be one of the most severe in the last twenty-five years. The human toll has reached at least 230,000 dead, 300,000 wounded and 1.2 million homeless in the capital and neighbouring towns…
PAC 16 – A Foreign Policy between Innovation and Procrastination The European Union Summit of 11th February 2010
By Elsa Tulmets
Passage au crible n°16
After the failure of the Copenhagen climate conference in December 2009, the new president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, summoned the representatives of the member states of the EU (European Union) to a special summit on 11th February 2010, a summit devoted to boosting the economy. This was the first publicized event…
PAC 15 – A Multilateralism without Constraints The Commitments of the States within the Copenhagen Framework
By Simon Uzenat
Passage au crible n°15
Organised under the aegis of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), the aim of the negotiations was to reach a legally binding agreement at the 15th CP (Conference of the Parties), held at Copenhagen from 7th to 19th December 2009. The objective was to prolong and intensify the efforts programmed at Kyoto, which reach their term…
PAC 14 – Public Health at the Hour of Philanthropic Capitalism Financing of Developing Countries by the Gates Foundation
By Clement Paule
Translation: Melissa Okabe
Passage au crible n°14
On January 29, 2010, during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Bill and Melinda Gates announced that their foundation would finance the research, development and distribution of new vaccines in developing countries…
PAC 13 – When Needs Must The Conference on National Reconciliation for Afghanistan Held in London on 28th January 2010
By Hervé Pierre
Passage au crible n°13
“We must reach out to all of our countrymen, especially our disenchanted brothers, who are not part of al-Qaida, or other terrorist networks”, Hamid Karzaï declared before the delegates from 70 countries assembled in London on 28th January 2010. The reconciliation option was announced by the Afghan president as early as 2003, when it already distinguished between the good…
PAC 12 – Dissenting From Academics and Politicians Global Dividends and Suspicions around Immunization Policies
By Clément Paule
Passage au crible n°12
The PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) should begin an investigation into the threat of false pandemics end of January 2010. In a motion voted on December 18, 2009, the Health Committee of this institution accuses the pharmaceutical industry and WHO (World Health Organization) experts of…
PAC 11 – Between Global Solidarity and Strategic Donor Competition The Catastrophe of Torrential Floods in Pakistan, July 2010
By Clément Paule
Translation: Davina Durgana
Passage au crible n°11
On October 29th, 2010, many spokespeople for the humanitarian agenci…es of the United Nations have reaffirmed their worries regarding the fragile situation of millions
PAC 10 – Towards a World Governance of Migrations The Global Forum on Migrations and Development (Athens, November, 2009)
By Catherine Wihtol de Wenden
Passage au crible n°10
During the first week of November 2009, the 3rd Global Forum on Migration and development took place in Athens, after Brussels in 2007 and Manila in 2008, on the same topic. It means a project of World Governance of Migration, associating departure and arrival countries, IGOs, NGOs, associations, trade unions, employers…
PAC 9 – Towards an Infra-State Governance of Global Public Goods Regions in International Negotiations on Climate Change
By Simon Uzenat
Passage au crible n°9
Between 7th and 19th December 2009, Copenhagen was the scene of the 15th CP (Conference of the Parties) under the aegis of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). The aim was to adopt an internationally binding judicial instrument in order to 1) reduce global production of greenhouse gases…
PAC 8 – Microfinance as a Vector of Social Development FOROLAC International Seminar Fortaleza, Brazil, December 7th-9th 2009
By Florent Bédécarrats
Passage au crible n°8
FOROLAC (Latin American and Caribbean Forum on Rural Finance) brings together roughly 350 microfinance institutions (MFIs) that together serve over 2.5 million users on the continent. In partnership with the Brazilian government, FOROLAC organized a seminar in December 2009 entitled Family farming, food sovereignty and rural financial systems: challenges and opportunities during…
PAC 7 – A Globalized Fear The Fight Against the Influenza A virus (H1N1)
By Simon Uzenat
Passage au crible n°7
So far, the WHO (World Health Organization), has counted nearly 8.000 deaths – 650 of them in Europe – caused by the influenza A virus (HINI). For its part, France has recorded 750.000 medical consultations merely for the period from November 16 – 22, 2009, an increase of 72%…
PAC 6 – A Child Labour, an Instance of North-South Violence 20th Anniversary of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child
By Josepha Laroche
Passage au crible n°6
The international Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted on November 20, 1989 and has since been ratified by all the countries of the world excepting the United States and Somalia. This text recognizes “the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to…
PAC 5 – Digital Coup, symbolical domination Google and the commercialization of digitized books
By Alexandre Bohas
Passage au crible n°5
Located in Mountain View, California, the Google Company imposed the supremacy of its search engine on the Internet within a few years. While it launched a mass digitization of books five years ago, it declared in October 2009 that it would commercialize them with the support of…
PAC 4 – A Global Re-Distribution of Political Authority 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, November 9, 1989 – November 9, 2009
read morePAC 3 – Is Security a Commercial Good? Summit of the International Peace Operation Association, Washington, October 25th-27th 2009
By Jean-Jacques Roche
Translation: Davina Durgana
Passage au crible n°3
The annual summit of the International Peace Operation Association (IPOA) brought together in Washington from October 25th through 27th more than 400 participants on the topic of
PAC 2 – The ICC’s normative authority Crimes committed at Conackry under preliminary examination
By Josepha Laroche
Translation : Naïma Carthew
Passage au crible n°2
On 14th October 2009, the prosecutor of the ICC (the International Criminal Court seated in The Hague) decided to initiate “a preliminary examination” of the brutally deteriorating situation in Guinea…
PAC 1 – A symbolic injunction The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Barack Obama
By Josepha Laroche
Translated by Emily Normand
Passage au crible n°1
The 44th president of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, by the Nobel Committee…
