Dimitris Bourantonis

A President for the European Union: A New Actor in Town?*

In the post-Constitution EU, the rotating Presidency would be replaced by a hybrid system combining a rotating component with the establishment of a permanent President for the European Council. Using a principal-agent framework, we look at the supply and demand for formal leadership in the new system, accounting for the substantial institutional change in the format of the Presidency. We then examine the Presidents effectiveness and efficiency and discuss whether the President, as a new institutional actor, has the potential to evolve into an autonomous political actor in the EU. Our analysis suggests a discernible though by no means unconditional strengthening of the Presidents potential for an autonomous political role in the new EU institutional architecture.

Chairs as policy entrepreneurs in multilateral negotiations

Chairs have a significant potential effect on the bargaining structure and conduct of multilateral negotiations, addressing collective action problems that arise in decentralised bargaining. We examine the role of the Chair as a policy entrepreneur in multilateral negotiations, identifying the parameters that increase the Chairs entrepreneurship potential and condition the outcome of the Chairs entrepreneurial activities. We cluster the identified parameters in three groups of organisational attributes, comprising the Chairs mandate , available resources and (formal) constraints , in particular decision-making rules. We use this typology to analyse four important case studies within the UN setting.

The EU’s Performance in the United Nations Security Council

Abstract Performance in the United Nations (UN) is a key element of the EU’s ‘effective multilateralism’ strategy, especially in the UN Security Council (UNSC) that constitutes one of the two most significant political organs of the organization. In this article, we assess the EU’s performance in the UNSC by looking at two particular aspects of the EU-UNSC interaction: first, the broader political and financial contribution of EU member states in the UNSC functioning and second, the engagement of EU member states in the different stages of the UNSC reform process. On the first aspect, the analysis suggests a positive EU performance, with some inevitable variation across the cases examined, reflecting different political constellation dynamics in the intra-EU deliberations. On the second aspect, there is a clear lack of a coherent, articulated EU position beyond the rhetorical adherence to the necessity of institutional reform, highlighting the minimal EU relevance for its priority stakeholders to meet their political aspirations.

The Enlargement of the UN Security Council: Reflections from the Current Debate

In this article an attempt is made to take stock of recent developments (1997–2000) regarding the ongoing debate on the UN Security Council enlargement. The comprehensive plan for reform, known as the ‘Razali Plan’, its repercussions on the debate as well as the attitude of the membership of the UN are among the issues discussed here. We argue that the only realistic proposition for the time being is an expansion of the non-permanent membership of the Security Council, which could give some impetus to the process of comprehensive reform.

The European Union's visibility and coherence at the United Nations General Assembly

The Lisbon Treaty brought about significant changes regarding the EUs external representation system with new institutional structures set forward to enhance the role of the EU as a unified global actor. In this article, we focus on the UN General Assembly examining whether the coherence and visibility of the EU has increased in the post-Lisbon era. We operationalize and measure both concepts on the basis of oral interventions made by EU and EU member-states’ representatives in the Plenary and in the six Committees over a period of six UNGA sessions. Our analysis is based on verbatim records, official EU/UN documentation and 41 semi-structured interviews with officials in New York and Brussels. We find a smooth and by and large successful transition from the Council Presidency-based system to the EU Delegation-based system of representation that enhances the EU visibility in the UNGA. We also posit that after a period of adjustment and overcoming of intra-EU institutional hurdles, the EU coherence has increased overall. Both our findings testify to the gradual but unmistaken positive effect of the Lisbon changes on the EU foreign policy system at least as far as the UN General Assembly is concerned.

The European Union and Greece: Political Acceptability and Financial Transfers

In this paper a conceptual model is developed that relates loyalty to a community of countries to the material benefits derived from it, measured by the transfer of extra income. We argue that the extent of a countrys welfare, and consequently its acceptance to participate in a community increase together with the latters scope for influence on the former. We use the paradigm of Greece, which is one of the main recipient countries in the EU. It was found that financial transfers concerning regional policy affect in the long-run ‘the acceptance of European integration’ by the public in Greece while social policy funds appear to have short-run positive effects on public opinion.

The Negotiation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, 1965–1968: A Note

non-proliferation treaty the outcome of three years of negotiations between 1965 and 1968 was meant to stop the spread of nuclear weapons beyond the five states the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain, France, and China which possessed them in 1964. Once it came into force in 1970, the development of nuclear weapons changed from a symbol of national pride into a violation of international law. The importance of the treaty must be judged, therefore, by what might have happened had it not been made: the spread of nuclear weapons would probably be uncontrollable. Instead, the treaty, to which 172 states have adhered, is the most widespread arms-control agreement in history and has set the pattern for disarmament negotiations at the United Nations.

The United Nations in the New World Order

By the time it turned fifty, the United Nations had entered a critical period in the history of its peacekeeping operations and other national security affairs. Mounting criticism of its objectives and capabilities from within the organization became public. From Somalia to Rwanda and Burundi the world was shaken by a chain of momentous events after the end of the Cold War. The East-West conflict that had defined international events for decades was no more, the 1991 Persian Gulf conflict changed the traditional political dimension of the Middle East, and the former Yugoslavia was testimony to Europes most brutal platform for ethnic cleansing. Nonetheless, profound progress has been made in reducing weapons of mass destruction insofar as Russia, the United States, South Africa, and some central European countries are concerned. And concrete steps have been taken with the extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and overwhelming approval by the United Nations General Assembly of the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty to prevent further spread of nuclear weapons. But it is in the context of new conflicts that Thakur critically assesses the United Nations and, in conjunction with others, offers tangible answers to how the United Nations can meet the challenge of a balance between the desirable and the possible. A furthur addition to the growing literature in this area is Dimitris Bourantonis and Jarrod Wieners edited The United Nations in the New Worm Order. Both books take similar and somewhat complementary approaches in their studies of the United Nations. Thakurs book is a galaxy of distinguished papers from the Thirtieth Foreign Policy School of the University of Otago, New Zealand. These papers reflect a wealth of experience and knowledge shared by foreign ministers, generals, ambassadors, and scholars. The Bourantonis and Wiener work, on the other hand, contains the views of specialists from European and one American universities. The central thesis of the two books is that the Cold War and the collapse of bipolarity has opened up new vistas and opportunities for international organizations, not least for the United Nations which in recent years has moved from the margins to become a central player in world affairs. The various chapters in the two books focus on the ability of the United Nations to sustain this new dynamism in the upcoming years. The articles in the Thakur book deal with six specific areas: evaluating the United Nations, United Nations reform, peacekeeping operations, preventive diplomacy, mediation, and development. Following an examination of trends, changes, and tensions in the global scene by the editor, an evaluation of the United Nations system is undertaken by Don McKinnon and Malcolm Templeton. An excellent account of the origins of the United Nations and the role of New Zealand, and the achievements in world organization in terms of its universality, the championing of human rights and its incorporation into international law, the welfare of colonial people, economic and social work, the advancement of development, and the codification of the Law of the Sea as part of the United Nations achievements appear in these chapters. As to failure, Templeton lists the reluctance of member-states to give up their sovereignty, the inability to maintain world peace, the increasing frequency of interstate civil wars, limited success in disarmament, and the final crisis. …

Parameters of the Chairmanship's Effectiveness: The Case of the UN Security Council

The article discusses the parameters conditioning the chairs effectiveness in international multilateral negotiations. Building on existing accounts of Presidential functions, an analytical typology of these parameters is provided, elaborating on the direction and magnitude of their impact. Conditioning parameters are clustered into three categories: the broader international environment in which the chair operates and the issues with which (s)he is called to deal; organization-specific features of an institutional and political nature; and the chairs personal skills and country-of-origin attributes. The potential for effect of these parameters is illustrated by reference to the chairmanship of the UN Security Council (SC). The origins, institutional features and main tasks of the Council are discussed, as well as the role of its chair as an agenda manager and broker. It is argued that the SC Presidents role well exceeds the formal tasks that are stipulated in the Rules of Procedure. Although mainly procedural in nature, these tasks may have important political implications, stressing the informal component of Presidential intervention. The conditioning parameters identified have a catalytic impact upon and account for the great variance in SC chair performance and the effectiveness of the chairs intervention.

Identifying parameters of foreign policy change: An eclectic approach

This paper examines foreign policy change, identifying structural parameters of domestic and international origins that bring about major foreign policy shifts. Domestic structural parameters comprise the politico-institutional setting and advocacy groups in support of alternative foreign policy options. International structural parameters refer on the one hand to systemic changes that may bring about foreign policy realignment and, on the other hand, to the country’s role in the international system and its interactions with other countries that may activate foreign policy changes. We posit that this eclectic approach is necessary to account for major, multi-dimensional and complex, foreign policy decisions. We use this analytical framework to examine the Israeli re-orientation that enabled the signing of the Oslo Peace Agreement in the early 1990s.