The Politics of Fear: Counter-Terrorism and Australian Democracy (WP)

David Wright-Neville. WP 27/2006 - 19/10/2006.

In the years since 9/11 several waves of legislative reform have led to a progressive hardening of the Australian state’s capacity to intrude into the lives of ordinary citizens and to detain and prosecute individuals suspected of terrorist-related activity without regard to the due processes of law that characterised Australian democracy for more than one hundred years.

Political-Economic Relations Between Russia and North Africa (WP)

Antonio Sánchez Andrés. WP 22/2006 (Translated from Spanish) - 7/11/2006.

This paper addresses the recent relations between Russia and the countries of North Africa. After practically terminating in their entirety in the 90s, in the present decade relations among these countries have grown and it appears that significant changes have been underway in recent years.

Oil and Gas in Latin America. An analysis of politics and international relations from the perspective of Venezuelan policy (WP)

Genaro Arriagada Herrera. WP 20/2006 (Translated from Spanish) - 26/10/2006.

Oil and gas play an important role in relations between the United States and Venezuela, but also in relations between and among Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, to name only some of the key countries. The discovery of new gas and oil reserves, and the exhaustion of others, is causing changes in the relative importance of countries and in the relationships among them. In some cases, this factor seems to have a greater impact than do changes in a country’s military power or diplomatic strategy, or even the stability of its government.

The Present and Future of Public Diplomacy: A European Perspective. The 2006 Madrid Conference on Public Diplomacy (WP)

Javier Noya (ed.). wp 29/2006 - 30/11/2006.

From Threat to Opportunity: Making Flexible Integration Work (WP)

Julia De Clerck-Sachsse, Sebastian Kurpas, José I. Torreblanca and Gaëtane Ricard-Nihoul. WP 25/2006 - 10/10/2006.

This paper argues for a thorough reappraisal of flexibility as an instrument of integration and outlines the conditions under which it would help the enlarged EU to move forward. Too often in the past, flexibility has been used as an (efficient) threat to induce reluctant or laggard member states to keep pace with the integration process. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that flexibility has such a poor image in many member states.

Spain and the United States: So Close, Yet So Far (WP)

William Chislett. WP 23/2006 - 25/9/2006.

This Paper updates the author’s book Spain and United States: The Quest for Mutual Rediscovery (www.realinstitutoelcano.org/publicaciones/libros/ChislettEsp-EEUU-ingles.pdf), published by Elcano in November 2005, in a much abbreviated form. It incorporates the latest figures and material regarding trade, investment, political and cultural relations and other areas

Turkey's EU Accesion Negotiations: On the Rocks (WP)

William Chislett. WP 19/2007 - 15/9/2006.

The first year of Turkey's negotiations to join the European Union have not gone well. The main sticking point is the deadlock over Cyprus, but there are other issues such as freedom of the press and freedom of religion. Meanwhile, there is growing opposition to Turkey's membership among the public at large in the EU-25 and Turks themselves are less keen on joining.

New Landscapes, New Challenges: The Changing Strategic Horizon (WP)

Paul Isbell and Rickard Sandell. WP 18/2006 - 5/9/2006.

The strategic panorama is beginning to offer new scenarios and new challenges. Traditional risks continue to pose political, economic, diplomatic and military challenges (for Europe in general and Spain in particular) in a relatively familiar way in various parts of the world. But for several years new phenomena have been detected that could become problematic in the international scenario from a strategic perspective

Fire-Breathing Dragons: Asia and the Challenge of Energy Security (WP)

Paul Isbell. WP 17/2006 - 4/09/2006.

Energy issues have recently moved to centre stage on the world arena. Oil and gas prices increased significantly during 2003 and 2004, and continued to do so throughout 2005 and 2006. Related to these price trends has been the emergence of Asia within the world economy and on the global energy scene. Fast-rising Asian demand for oil and gas has been responsible for much of the upward pressure on international prices during the past years

From Stubbornness and Mutual Irrelevance to Stillness and Vigil on Castro’s Crisis: The Current State of European Union-Spain-Cuba Relations (WP)

Joaquín Roy. WP 16/2006 - 31/08/2006.

By mid-2006, for the first time in almost half a century, all actors and observers of the Cuban drama that has attracted the attention of a wide spectrum of the world’s public opinion were in agreement. All breathed a sort of a mix of expectation, calm, anguish, and hope in front of the moderately imminent biological (as the term is customarily used in Cuba) ending of at least the current political leadership. What it was less clear then and it is less clear now, of course, is the doubt consisting in deciphering if this chapter of the recent history of Cuba will also represent a drastic change of regime