Raymond Aron once came to Lisbon for a cycle of conferences and interviews. This was in 1980, well before glasnost and perestroika had made their sudden appearance in the lexicon of international relations, and when the world was still reeling from the first oil shock. Aron spoke a great deal about the new complexities of the international system. Back in those days, Aron was already arguing that the then seemingly eternal bipolar system would no longer provide a plausible basis for the interpretation of world conflicts and that the two superpowers would not be indefinitely able to contain, let alone...

Le Brésil et l’Union européenne représentent tous deux des puissances essentiellement « civiles », même si les capacités militaires de l’Europe sont déjà appréciables. Une politique internationale dominée par un petit nombre de pôles de pouvoir politico-militaires et fondée sur un jeu d’équilibre entre grandes puissances, ne leur est donc pas très favorable car elle ne leur offrirait qu’un espace restreint, celui du choix d’un alignement subordonné. Aussi, les deux parties veulent-elles promouvoir la possibilité d’une diversité de points de vue et l’émergence d’un monde comptant plusieurs acteurs ou « pôles » importants, à condition que le système international soit...

The institutionalisation of the partnership between Brazil and the European Union at the Lisbon Summit of July 2007 provided a new dimension of depth to this ‘natural’ relationship. Brazil’s diplomatic traditions throughout the twentieth century – and the place of honour always accorded to international law and multilateralism – have been politically significant in explaining the country’s far-reaching links with the EU. These extend beyond the economic sphere: equally relevant are, among others, the ethnic and cultural ties underpinning this proximity, which precede the establishment of the EU itself.

This partnership is a token of the European Union’s recognition of...

China is the largest emerging economic power, and exerts a growing influence on the European economy. It is now becoming the EU’s first source of imports for goods, and also its first source of foreign trade deficit: worth 131 billion euro in 2006, this is projected to grow to 170 billion euro in 2007, a level equivalent to the well-known US trade deficit with China. While a downturn in the US economy and a lower dollar have slowed down the growth of Chinese exports to the United States, in January they were still increasing towards Europe at a 30 %...

China’s foreign policy includes three main dimensions, which are interlinked, namely relations with its neighbouring countries, relations with the developing world, and relations with major powers. In China’s official and academic discourse, great powers normally include the US, Russia, Japan and Europe.

However, unlike the US, Russia and Japan, which are either China’s most important neighbours or the dominant powers at the global or regional level, the EU matters to China mainly because of its economic influence. Ever since China’s opening up and reform in the late 1970s, Europe has been one of China’s most important trade and economic partners....

India and the European Union (EU) share a range of cultural and economic relations that have developed over many decades. India was one of the first countries that established diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1963. In 1973 a Commerical Cooperation Agreement was signed. Since the 1990s economic and political relations between India and the EU have intensified considerably. The Joint Political Statement of 1993 formally launched a political dialogue with annual ministerial meetings. The Cooperation Agreement of 1994 extended the bilateral relationship to broader economic and political affairs. With the first bilateral summit in Lisbon in...

The relationship between India and the EU dates back to the establishment of diplomatic ties with the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1963. While the EU is one of the largest trade partners of India, however, it is only recently that a new, more political dimension was added to the relationship. In 2004, the Fifth India- EU Summit meeting at The Hague endorsed the proposal to upgrade the India-EU relationship to the level of a ‘Strategic Partnership’ and a Joint Action Plan (JAP) was adopted at the Sixth India-EU Summit meeting held in New Delhi in 2005. An analysis of...

The label ‘strategic partnership’ has been used extensively in EU-Russia relations since the second half of the 1990s. However, the viability of a strategic partnership between the European Union and Russia is being questioned nowadays by policymakers and observers on both sides. Disagreements over domestic developments in Russia, human rights and democracy, the so-called common neighbourhood, and numerous global questions currently paralyse EU-Russia relations.

These issues will play a role during the negotiations on the new agreement between the EU and Russia, scheduled to be launched at the next EU-Russia summit in Khanty-Mansiisk by the end of June 2008. For...

Strategic partnership between Russia and the European Union¹ requires redefinition. The Union’s original premise that Russia would not only progressively move towards liberal democracy and the market economy, but in so doing would increasingly accept European norms and regulations codified in the acquis communautaire, has not been borne out by the actual trends. Russia’s road to modernisation has turned out to be more twisted and tortuous, and this modernisation does not equal Europeanisation. After a series of unsuccessful attempts to integrate on special terms into the Western institutions, Russia has reasserted itself as a standalone great power.

On the other...

The European Security Strategy (ESS) of 2003 outlined for the first time a common assessment of the main threats and challenges confronting the European Union. It also emphasised the EU’s commitment to an international order based on effective multilateralism. However, while acknowledging that ‘no single country is able to tackle today’s complex problems on its own’ and that, conversely, ‘there are few if any problems we can deal with on our own’, the Strategy only referred in passing to the EU’s relations with other big global players. In this context, the need to pursue the EU’s objectives ‘both through multilateral...