Introduction

Highlights

Now online

Special Issue: The Islamic World Between Europe and the United States
Guest Editors: Luca Anceschi (La Trobe University, Australia), Joseph Camilleri (La Trobe University, Australia) and Fabio Petito (University of Sussex, UK)

The complex relationship between Islam and the West has come to occupy centre stage in the analysis of contemporary international relations, especially since the events of September 11. However, little attention has been paid to the juxtaposition of Europe and the United States in relation to Islam, and what this has to tell us about the current political and cultural trajectory of the West. This is precisely the focus of this Special Issue.

The diverse contributions explore the complex interplay of three sets of variables: culture, politics and security; the state, regional institutions and civil society; and the two poles that constitute the transatlantic community. How these variables interact in the coming years will largely shape the relationship between the West and the Islamic World and conversely will influence the prospects for social and political stability in Europe, the capacity of state and civil society to interconnect in mutually beneficial ways, and for the transatlantic relationship to develop in new directions that are conducive to regional and global security.

For a limited time, you can read the article Europe and the Arab World: The dilemma of recognising counterparts by François Burgat  FREE

Special Issue: The Negotiation of EU Foreign Policy
Guest Editor: Daniel C. Thomas, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin

This special issue is a systematic attempt to understand why and when European Union Member States succeed or fail in negotiating common policies for the world stage. It highlights the EU’s lack of automatic unity in world affairs, and focuses on the process by which Member States negotiate their differences in the quest for common policies.

For a limited time, you can read the article Explaining the negotiation of EU foreign policy: Normative institutionalism and alternative approaches by Daniel C. Thomas  FREE

Special Issue: "Beyond Bush: A New Era in US Foreign Policy?"
Guest Edited by Timothy J. Lynch (Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London) and Trevor B. McCrisken (University of Warwick)

Barack Obama was elected 44th President of the United States on an agenda of change. In foreign policy, there is immense expectation both within and outside the US that the new Obama administration will move beyond many of the objectives and particularly the methods of the administration of George W. Bush.

The Bush administration has had profound and potentially long-lasting effects on the way US foreign policy is conducted. The incoming president has inherited two intractable wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq, that are at the centre of the organising framework of a global ‘war on terror’ – a campaign that Obama has not repudiated but intends to fight more effectively.

The articles in this Special Issue address the multiple legacies for President Obama of the last eight years. What exactly has George W. Bush bequeathed to his successor? Can we expect more continuity than change in US foreign policy? How much of the Bush legacy will Obama embrace– implicitly or explicitly – and how much will he reject? Finally, how far will international politics be amenable to the strategy he adopts?

For a limited time, you can read the article Coming face to face with bloody reality: Liberal common sense and the ideological failure of the Bush doctrine in Iraq by Toby Dodge FREE.