Studia Politica, vol. XV, no. 1, 2015
ARTICULI
ARMAND GOȘU, OCTAVIAN MANEA, The Consequences of the Militarization of Crimea for the Wider Black Sea Region (pp. 9-20)
Abstract
The article explores the contours of the new security environment created in Europe after the annexation of Crimea. Specifically, the authors are debating the impact of this territorial seizure for the Black Sea, while highlighting the danger of access-denial capabilities that Moscow is investing in. Overall, these trends suggest that Russia aims to build its own zone of exclusion designed to keep NATO’s presence at bay and that is becoming, step by step, a danger for the regional commons.
Keywords
Crimea, Black Sea, Russia, NATO, anti-access (A2), area denial (AD).
ARMAND GOȘU, Associate Professor, Faculty of Political Science, University of Bucharest, armand.gosu@fpsub.unibuc.ro
OCTAVIAN MANEA, Fulbright Junior Scholar at Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Italy, octmanea@yahoo.com
EDUARD RUDOLF ROTH, Romania’s Foreign Policy Towards the WiderBlack Sea Area in the Aftermath of the 2007 EU-Accession. A by-Product of Exogenous Influences, Colliding Interests and Energy Rivalries (pp. 21-37)
Abstract
This paper aims to uncover and assess the impact, the nature and the magnitude of exogenously articulated influences in the formulation and development of Romania’s foreign policy deliverables engulfing the Wider Black Sea Area during the first years of the post-EU accession period (2007-2010). In this context, the document will put an emphasis on the overlapped pattern of influences – shaped by EU, US and Russia – and which played a key role in the development of the regional geometry in terms of security, political and economical outcomes.
Keywords
Romanian foreign policy, Americanization, Russian, Federation, Wider Black Sea Area, energy security.
EDUARD RUDOLF ROTH, Lecturer, Faculty of Political Science, National School of Political Science and Public Administration, Bucharest, eduardroth@yahoo.com
LIANA ANDREEA IONITA, Is European Union Law a Fully Self-Contained Regime? A Theoretical Inquiry of the Functional Legal Regimes in the Context of Fragmentation of International Law (pp. 39-59)
Abstract
The fragmentation of international law has led to the emergence of specialized and (quasi) autonomous legal regimes – the “self-contained regimes” or special regimes. This article aims to investigate the degree to which European Union law could be a potential candidate for a “selfcontained regime” and questions the relationship between this special regime and general international law. The methodological approach consists in providing a critical analysis of the Report on Fragmentation of International Law of the International Law Commission, concluded in 2006 and the ECJ case law in order to identify and explain pro et contra arguments regarding the following assertion: although EU law is not totally decoupled from general principles of international law, the new legal order of the EU has taken a historical turn towards selfcontainedness. Embracing the European legal perspective, this inquiry will advocate a presumption in favor of the self-contained character of the EU legal order, based on the EU sui generis modus operandi, the establishment of its own constitutional legal order, accommodating its own norms, techniques, and features of modern law-making within its sphere of application, albeit the possible fallback on general international state responsibility and countermeasures mechanisms in case the mechanisms inherent in the EU system fail.
Keywords
EU law, fragmentation of international law, self-contained regimes.
LIANA ANDREEA IONITA, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Political Science, Univerisity of Bucharest, ionita.liana-andreea@fspub.unibuc.ro
MARIÁN SEKERÁK, Why Praying “Hail, Mary” Does Not Denote to Invade Iraq and to Accept Capitalism? Contemporary Catholicism and Its Relation to Neoconservative Ideology (pp. 61-90)
Abstract
Since the beginning of Pope Francis’ pontificate we have been witnessing that the vast number of neoconservatives overtly criticize him. They blame the Bishop of Rome for being Marxist and Leninist because of his statements about global capitalism, free market economy, and causes of poverty. In this paper, I argue that identifying Christianity (and Catholicism especially) with Neoconservatism is both methodologically and politically wrong. By citing various official Vatican documents, papal encyclicals, exhortations, speeches, and other writings I try to prove that the Catholic doctrine (including Catholic Social Teaching) should not be equated with the conservative wing of Christians. Moreover, I show that the Catholic Church cannot be deemed conservative and unchangeable because her teaching has undertaken many reforms during centuries, for example in case of the freedom of conscience and religion, optimal type of government, competencies of Church’s own members, incineration of deceased persons, or burying of self-murderers. In conclusion, I remind that Catholic Church’s doctrine claiming that the “adherence to a political alliance will never be ideological but always critical” is still valid and binding for all Catholics.
Keywords
Catholic Social Teaching, Neoconservatism, Catholicism, U.S. foreign policy.
MARIÁN SEKERÁK, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, marian.sekerak@gmail.com
ESZTER PETRONELLA SOÓS, Comparing Orbánism and Gaullism. The Gaullist Physiognomy of Orbán’s Post-2010 Hungary (pp. 91-108)
Abstract
The right wing Hungarian governing party (Fidesz – Alliance of Young Democrats), often refers to France and French Gaullism as a political inspiration. This paper asserts that, despite some limitations, Gaullism is a viable analogy for better understanding the nature of Orbánism. The article identifies the major characteristics of Gaullism and Orbánism in order to systematically compare them by addressing the topics of: national grandeur and the importance of foreign policy; anti-liberalism, populism and etatism; antiparliamentarism; charismatic leadership and direct democracy; legality and legitimacy; the creation of a new constitution and the movement's approach to history. The concluding remarks discuss the limits of the analogy and make suggestions for further analyses.
Keywords
France, Hungary, Gaullism, Orbánism, comparison.
ESZTER PETRONELLA SOÓS, PhD Candidate, Political Science Institute, ELTE University, Budapest, sooseszter@sooseszter.com
ALEXANDRU VOLACU, On the Ideological Incompatibilities of Distributive Justice (pp. 109-132)
Abstract
In this paper, I provide a broad evaluation of the place which distibutive justice occupies within the space of political ideologies. Specifically, I decompose the concept of distributive justice into five constituent elements: pattern, currency, constraints on distribution, site and scope and show the incompatibilites which exist between operationalizations of these elements and various political ideologies. I conclude that socialdemocracy is the ideology which most faithfully embodies the ideal of distributive justice and that under certain interpretations of its elements, feminism, environmentalism and cosmopolitanism also require distributive justice as part of their ideological cores. I claim that, by contrast, right-wing libertarianism, conservatism, anarchism and monist ideologies are necessarily disqualified by some of the elements of distributive justice and that under mainstream theories on distributive constraints, socialism seems to fall into the same category.
Keywords
currency of justice, distributive justice, patterns, political ideologies.
ALEXANDRU VOLACU, PhD Candidate, National School of Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest, alexandru.volacu.14@politice.ro
EKATERINA KALININA, Mediated Post-Soviet Nostalgia, Sodertorns Högskola, Stockholm, 2014 (BOGDAN C. ENACHE) (pp. 135-138)
CRISTIAN VASILE, Viața intelectuală și artistică în primul deceniu al regimului Ceaușescu 1965-1974, Humanitas, București, 2014 (CONSTANTIN ALIN THEODOR) (pp. 138-142)