Abstract
Tony Blair came to power in 1997 with a worldview initially forged via the Kosovo crisis of 1998-1999 and articulated in his Chicago speech of April 1999, with its emphasis on humanitarian intervention and the management of globalization. His role in transforming Britain's armed forces to make them globally deployable inthe cause of crisis management, and his role in kick-starting, along with President Jacques Chirac, the process of European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) gave him an early reputation as an architect of a new values-based approach to international relations. However, Blair's seemingly unconditional support for President George W. Bush over the Iraq War, massively disavowed by his fellow citizens, led to his early withdrawal (June 2007) from national politics.

Jolyon HOWORTH, Professor at Yale University, is an associate researcher at Ifri.

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Abstract
Europe has always been subject to nationally – and ideologically – based dissentions. But despite such intrinsic tensions, a specific European identity exists. Indeed, the political – rather than ethno-cultural – nature of the European project has managed to preserve national diversity. Every nation has thus been able to integrate the European idea in its national tradition. The dialectical nature of European identity also appears through the debates on the "European social model:" most political forces agree on the existence of such a model, but not on its definition. Those inherent tensions are more and more discussed in the public opinion. This is a noteworthy evolution, which reveals a growing ownership of the European project by its citizens.

Sophie HEINE, Researcher at the Université libre de Bruxelles, studies the resistances to European integration, the socioeconomic theories and the national identity. She notably published: 'Les réquisits démocratiques et sociaux du patriotisme constitutionnel' (Politique européenne, n° 19, printemps 2006) and 'Les débats sur la directive Bolkestein en Belgique' (Année sociale, 2005).

Paul MAGNETTE, Professor of Political Science at the Université libre de Bruxelles, is a specialist of European integration and political theory. He is the author of Au nom des peuples. Le malentendu constitutionnel européen (Paris, Les éditions du Cerf, 2006) et de What is the European Union? (New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).

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Abstract
The EU, as a result of its very presence, has had a disruptive impact on the traditional workings of national democracy. The main problem, however, is not so much that the EU alters national governance practices as that national leaders have developed neither new ideas and discourse to legitimate the changes in practice nor new practices to reinvigorate national democracy. The article makes this case by answering three questions: 1) What is the EU? 2) How has the EU strengthened democracy at the supranational level? 3) Why and how has the EU weakened its member-states' national democracies? It concludes with a fourth question: can we solve the problem of the weakening of national democracy by further strengthening EU democracy?

Vivien A. SCHMIDT, professor Jean Monnet of european integration at  Boston University, she holds the Franqui chair (Université libre et Université catholique de Bruxelles), she is also a visiting professor at l'Institut d'études politiques de Paris. She is the author of Democracy in Europe: the EU and National Politics (New-York, Oxford University Press, 2006).

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Abstract
Energy has always been a central issue for the European construction. The current international development forces the Union to redefine its energy policy according to another logic: accept global interdependence and the creation of structures favoring the development, the reactivity, and the competitiveness of the European energy industry, with an open approach based on markets. Energy will thus be again at the heart of the European dynamics.

Jan Horst KEPPLER teaches economics at Université de Paris-Dauphine and research fellow at Centre de géopolitique de l'énergie et des matières premières (CGEMP). He is also director of the 'Gouvernance européenne et géopolitique de l'énergie' programme at Ifri.

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Abstract
Turkey is the only Muslim country in which laicism is enshrined in the constitution. State, politics and society in Turkey are for the most part secularized. Moreover, Islam in Turkey has been politicized in two distinct ways: by the state, in order to secularize the population, homogenize different ethnical and confessional groups and preserve the country's territorial integrity by propagating a republican and ethno-nationalist state Islam; and by parties and social groups, so as to break the Kemalist monopoly on the interpretation of Islam and end restrictions on religious freedom. On the whole, the Kemalist interpretation of laicism is authoritarian and undemocratic. The extent to which it can serve as a model for other Muslim countries is therefore limited.

Cemal KARAKAS is Research Assistant to the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) and Parliamentary Assistant to the European Parliament.

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Abstract
The weakness of Turkey's democratic system was exposed one more time lastApril when the choice of a new president triggered a political crisis. In fact, thearmy and the secular kemalist elites still refuse to make room for political Islam. Should the AKP, that came to power by democratic means, be seen as a threat to Turkey's secular republic? Can it really be considered an Islamic party? Or did theelites construct this threatening image (AKP as the enemy) in order to retain their hegemonic power in the political field?

Gülçin Erdi LELANDAIS has a Ph.D from the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) and teaches at the Institut d'études politiques of Toulouse. His works concern collective mobilizations, alterglobalism, transnational movements and Turkey.

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Abstract
Taking inspiration from Sunni Islam and Sufism, the organization of the Ahbâch plays a major political and religious role in Lebanon and is more and more present in Europe – particularly in France. Advocating social and economic integration of its faithful, and refusing – especially in Europe – to participate in political life or to negotiate with the state, the community of the Ahbâch has become an important actor of French and European Islam.

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Abstract
Developing countries do not want to destroy the multilateral trading system, but to find what they think is their right place in it. In the present round of negotiations, they have built a united front, much stronger than expected. They demand from the developed countries effective improvements on agricultural trade (by slashing internal subsidies, banning subsidies on exports and lowering imports duties), and are not ready to open their own markets as much as asked by the developed countries. It is therefore much more difficult to find a comprehensive agreement than it was during the previous rounds – the only players were developed countries. WTO has not become a battlefield between the North and the South, and the possible failure of the round should not be assigned to the North/South divide. What is missing is the political will of both developed and developing countries to move forward.

Olivier LOUIS, Researcher at Ifri, held the function of Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs in French embassies in numerous foreign countries, as well as in the permanent representation of France to the European Union.

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Abstract
This article examines the extent to which Albert Legault's democratic model of civil-military relations is applicable to Morocco through the action of international institutions as a vehicle for democratization. It does not deny the role of those institutions in triggering the current transition to democracy, but assumes that their role was less effective with regard to democratic control of the armed forces. The article proposes that such control presupposes a democratic governmental structure, a true multiparty system, media freedom and respect of human rights. As solid and irreversible democratization takes hold in Morocco, it will be seen as necessary to establish a democratic civil-military relations model and thus confine the army to its traditional role in a democratic society.

Brahim SAIDY, Ph.D student in political science, is a junior lecturer at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). He worked in the Ministry of the International Relations of Quebec and was a research assistant to the Institut québécois des hautes études internationales (IQHEI).

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Abstract
The globalization process and the world that is shaped by it –emergence of Asia, demographic transition and migrations, new expressions of violence, proliferation of weapons, etc. –will redefine the role of big powers– these few states with a world influence. They will have to reorganize their new role in a world in which multipolarity, multilateralism and alliances systems will take new eanings.

Karl KAISER is Adjunct Professor (Ralph I. Strauss) at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

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Abstract
Many U.S. elites hope a transformed NATO will become the main political military institution in the 21st Century. There is no certainty that it will, however. Changes are in the air and a growing number of analysts in Washington feel that the future of the Alliance is in European hands. On the one hand, the pressures due to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are encouraging many U.S. policymakers to view the ESDP as a potential future asset to NATO. As a result, the United States is likely to grow more open to the development of ESDP. On the other hand, if the Alliance fails in Afghanistan, defeat is likely to be blamed, fairly or not, on the timidity of European capitals. In this case, U.S. support for ESDP will falter, and the U.S. could lose interest in NATO taltogether.

Christopher S. CHIVVIS, Former Transatlantic Fellow at RAND Corporation and Professorial Lecturer at School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, is Transatlantic Fellow (T.A.P.I.R.) at Ifri (Centre des études de sécurité).

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