Books by Laura Feliu i Martinez
This chapter analyses the European Parliament (EP)’s role in the promotion of human rights in the... more This chapter analyses the European Parliament (EP)’s role in the promotion of human rights in the world, in particular after the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty (LT). For this purpose, the chapter is structured in four sections. The first describes the creation and development of a human rights policy within the
European Union (EU) context. The second highlights the issue of the EP acting as a civilian power and its profile in the field of values, which affects human rights policies and their implementation with respect to non-EU countries. We
pay special attention to the attitudes of different political groups and sensitivities, as well as the definitions of human rights from the perspective of several European institutions, including those of primary importance to this study. We analyse the instruments created by the EP to promote and uphold such policies.
We describe and study the role of the normative, legislative and institutional framework created and used by the EP for that purpose. The third section examines the human rights approaches that the different EP political groups have
taken over the years. The fourth section then addresses the question of how useful this institutional framework is for the effective promotion of human rights worldwide. Here we wonder whether the Parliament and other EU institutions have evolved towards a greater interest in those issues alongside the growing
importance and power they have gained over the past two decades; and whether the tools they have gained in the different treaties have been useful and sufficient to develop such policies. The concluding section of our study highlights these very issues as we try to find out the real aim of the EU institutions, in particular
the Parliament, in upholding a human rights policy, the constraints on this desire inside the Parliament itself and the various trends in these activities in accordance with the different legislation periods and ideological sensitivities within the EP.
"One of the main questions posed by academic literature about Morocco is the extent to which the ... more "One of the main questions posed by academic literature about Morocco is the extent to which the country has remained anchored to dated authoritarian political structures and rooted in a traditional culture synonym of political immobilism; and to what extent its future, at the beginning of the 21st century, might be similar to that of the first years of independence.
As Rémy Leveau (1993: 50) declared at the beginning of the 90s: ‘the similarity of apparent stability in institutions and political symbols in Morocco today and during the 60s is amazing’. Much has occurred since then (el acceso de la vieja oposición al gobierno, the death of Hassan II succeeded by his son Mohamed VI) but in broad terms it is a statement that remains relevant today. The institutional organigram has remained practically unaltered; the monarchy still occupies the superior vertex with very little opposition. In many ways, its current control is more complete as there is little resistance from dissident sectors; the exertion of power has thus changed its forms and methods, as some of its former repressive practices are no longer needed.
A modernizing evolution of the political culture, of sectors of the population which now have access to education, of macroeconomic restrictions and some of the constraints of globalization, has changed the appearance of both state and society without, however, succeeding in actually transforming the pillars that sustain power.
The Monarchy currently controls security services, administration and the judiciary; it also establishes the rules of the economy (obtaining important private benefit) and controls the government through different mechanisms. It is not that the monarchy takes decisions on all matters, but it certainly has the ability and the intention of being present in the most important ones. There are no clear rules regarding when, how or according to which principles, arbitrariness and lack of transparency and control mechanisms, have become characteristic features of the system. "
La verdad se corrompe tanto con la mentira como con el silencio", Marco Tulio Cicerón "No basta d... more La verdad se corrompe tanto con la mentira como con el silencio", Marco Tulio Cicerón "No basta decir solamente la verdad, más conviene mostrar la causa de la falsedad", Aristóteles INTRODUCCIÓN El 7 de enero de 2004 el rey Mohamed VI anunciaba la creación de la Instancia Equidad y Reconciliación (IER), una institución paraoficial destinada a investigar las violaciones de los derechos humanos acontecidas desde la independencia del país en 1956 hasta 1999, período correspondiente a los reinados de Mohamed V y de Hasán II, abuelo y padre respectivamente del actual rey. Este anuncio culminaba un proceso relativamente prolongado durante el cual el grueso del movimiento de derechos humanos marroquí, sin el apoyo de los principales partidos representados en el Parlamento, reivindicó la constitución de una comisión de la verdad que echara luz sobre los temibles años de plomo de la historia política reciente de Marruecos y depurara responsabilidades , Feliu 2004. Su constitución y posterior desarrollo han sido valorados de forma muy distinta por analistas y actores políticos y sociales tanto marroquíes como internacionales. En el presente capítulo se analizan básicamente tres aspectos de la IER: en primer lugar, el proceso que conduce a su creación, es decir, el por qué de establecerla y precisamente en el momento en que se hace; en segundo lugar, se sitúa la Instancia en el contexto más amplio de la justicia transicional y de una de sus manifestaciones más recurrentes: las comisiones de la verdad que han proliferado por todo el mundo desde los años noventa, para determinar de qué modalidad de comisión se trata y por lo tanto qué elementos han sido escogidos y qué elementos descartados en relación con los objetivos expuestos en el anterior apartado; y por último, se realiza una valoración del trabajo realizado por la IER y de los acontecimientos posteriores a la entrega de su informe final el 30 de noviembre de 2005, acción que ponía término a su mandato.
"Uno de los temas más relegados en el estudio de la política exterior española es el de la influe... more "Uno de los temas más relegados en el estudio de la política exterior española es el de la influencia sobre ésta de los actores político-sociales y económicos internos. Esta cuestión en cambio ha ocupado y ocupa un lugar preeminente tanto en la literatura académica del Análisis de las políticas exteriores (APE) –que aborda la temática desde el punto de vista teórico–, como en los estudios sobre la política exterior estadounidense (lo que equivale a decir en buena parte de la producción sobre políticas exteriores).
Con el objetivo de analizar el estudio de la influencia de los actores internos en la política exterior española hacía los países árabes, se ha realizado, en primer lugar, una breve revisión de la literatura académica que aborda el papel de los actores domésticos en la formulación de las políticas exteriores. Esta introducción teórica debe otorgarnos algunos elementos para construir el marco teórico de dicho estudio. En segundo lugar, se aborda la cuestión del papel de la burocracia central en la toma de decisiones relativas al área mediterránea y el mundo árabe, para finalmente analizar la influencia de diferentes actores internos en la formulación de la política exterior (grupos de interés y de presión, comunidades epistémicas, opinión pública). Este último apartado deberá tener forzosamente un carácter tentativo, dada la falta todavía de una cartografía completa de dichos actores, y sobre todo de estudios de caso en profundidad de carácter causal"
Quedan rigurosamente prohibidas, sin la autorización escrita de los titulares del copyright, bajo... more Quedan rigurosamente prohibidas, sin la autorización escrita de los titulares del copyright, bajo las sanciones establecidas en las leyes, la reproducción total o parcial de esta obra por cualquier medio o procedimiento, comprendidos la reprografía y el tratamiento informático, y la distribución de ejemplares de ella mediante alquiler o préstamo públicos.
"En el presente estudio se analiza la política exterior española de fomento de los derechos human... more "En el presente estudio se analiza la política exterior española de fomento de los derechos humanos en los países del sur y este del Mediterráneo (una buena parte del mundo árabe, más Israel y Turquía) durante las legislaturas correspondientes al Gobierno popular presidido por José Mª Aznar (1996-2004) y el primer Gobierno socialista dirigido por José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2004-2008).
Este análisis se basa en un modelo multivariable no cuantificado, en el que se tienen en cuenta diversas variables causales situadas en diferentes niveles del sistema internacional. En primer lugar, se ofrece una lista orientativa de factores que contribuyen a dar forma a las políticas de promoción, para posteriormente proponer una posible interpretación de cómo actúan, siempre teóricamente. En segundo lugar, se analiza la presencia de dichas variables para el caso español, tanto en la vertiente de la política exterior en general, como de su aplicación a los países de la cuenca mediterránea. Este ejercicio ofrece de entrada una serie de pistas sobre cómo es previsible que actúen los diferentes gobiernos españoles en este campo. Finalmente, las hipótesis planteadas son cotejadas con las políticas efectivamente aplicadas."
"En las siguientes páginas se analizan principalmente dos aspectos. En primer lugar, la posición ... more "En las siguientes páginas se analizan principalmente dos aspectos. En primer lugar, la posición de los diferentes actores políticos y sociales marroquíes con respecto a la situación de los derechos civiles y políticos. De entre estos actores me ha
interesado especialmente el movimiento de defensa de los derechos humanos. La pregunta que subyace en todo el estudio es en qué medida este movimiento contribuyó a la liberalización del régimen y en qué medida puede contribuir a su democratización.
Con esta intención he analizado su cultura política, sus características sociológicas y, sobre todo, su posición y margen de maniobra dentro del campo político (vínculos e instrumentalización por el poder, relaciones con los partidos políticos, con actores internacionales, etc.). Se trata de determinar la capacidad y los límites de un movimiento que ha experimentado una importante transformación en las últimas tres décadas. El contexto represivo de los años setenta (en el
que el movimiento únicamente podía preocuparse de su propia supervivencia y debía guardar silencio sobre gran parte del dossier represivo de los años de plomo) se suavizó a finales de los ochenta, y la liberalización se consolida en la segunda
mitad de los noventa."
Papers by Laura Feliu i Martinez
These three recently published works add to the burgeoning social science literature on Turkey. A... more These three recently published works add to the burgeoning social science literature on Turkey. A review of these three works taken together allows us to analyse common themes (democratization, secularism, the nation and nationalism, among others) from different disciplinary perspectives (political science, history,
anthropology and sociology), while offering both complementary and contrasting arguments. Overall, these works offer an excellent overview of contemporary debates surrounding the complex political and social processes in Turkey today.
Two of the works are edited collections, although they offer much more than a mere collection of contributions by specialists. Both works develop conceptual and theoretical frameworks, which are subsequently used by the authors in their respective studies. In the case of the work by Kuru and Stepan, the introduction and
eight chapters that form the book are based on a comparative political and historical approach that raises a series of theoretical questions based on the existing democratization literature on Turkey, although to some degree the authors fail to develop the approach fully, especially in the conclusions. In the case of Rodrıguez et al., the authors offer a well-constructed framework that gives coherence to the 22 chapters, while the final chapter offers an unusually interesting reflection on how the study fits into existing theoretical approaches.
Las redes transnacionales de defensa (RTD) de los derechos humanos han proliferado en el Mediterr... more Las redes transnacionales de defensa (RTD) de los derechos humanos han proliferado en el Mediterráneo en las dos últimas décadas. Se han establecido vínculos entre asociaciones de derechos humanos de diferentes países, a pesar de la existencia de factores estructurales que dificultan esta evolución. El artículo utiliza la Primavera Árabe para observar la existencia de parcelas de una sociedad civil internacional, a través de un núcleo de activismo de dimensión transnacional todavía incipiente, con una raigambre predominantemente local, pero cuyo discurso político y repertorios de acción lo acercan a otros fenómenos del sistema internacional. Los hechos vinculados a la Primavera Árabe muestran las problemáticas de algunas de estas redes: alejamiento de los movimientos populares de lucha política e impacto negativo de la fractura Norte-Sur.
Palabras clave: redes transnacionales, sociedad civil, movimientos sociales, Primavera Árabe
En 1971 y 1972 se producen sendos intentos golpes de Estado contra el rey de Marruecos, Hasán II.... more En 1971 y 1972 se producen sendos intentos golpes de Estado contra el rey de Marruecos, Hasán II. Una parte de los presuntos golpistas y personas vinculadas a ellos desaparecen sin que se tenga noticia durante mucho tiempo, en un contexto de represión generalizada por parte de la dictadura marroquí. Este caso permite analizar y comparar las políticas exteriores de promoción de los derechos humanos desarrolladas por Estados Unidos y Francia hasta la liberación de los detenidos en 1991. El estudio muestra la importancia para comprender las políticas aplicadas tanto de la naturaleza de los respectivos sistemas políticos, como del tipo de relaciones bilaterales y del lugar que ocupan las potencias internacionales en el sistema internacional y en qué lugar se sitúa Marruecos.
Resumen: El resultado tangible de la primavera árabe en Marruecos es la reciente reforma constitu... more Resumen: El resultado tangible de la primavera árabe en Marruecos es la reciente reforma constitucional de 1 de julio de 2011 cuyo alcance es limitado. El propósito de este artículo es analizar las demandas y propuestas de reforma de la Constitución sobre las cuestiones identitarias y regionales de algunos actores políticos marroquíes en este contexto autoritario: algunos de los partidos políticos más representativos, más otros partidos minoritarios, y diferentes movimientos sociales. El objetivo es ofrecer algunas claves explicativas del limitado alcance de la reforma constitucional desde la debilidad de algunos actores, y la moderación y autocontención de otros para poder incidir en la redefinición del nuevo pacto político.
Resumen: La política exterior de Estados Unidos con respecto al Sáhara se caracteriza por la tens... more Resumen: La política exterior de Estados Unidos con respecto al Sáhara se caracteriza por la tensión entre el apoyo formal al principio de la autodeterminación y a la defensa de los derechos humanos en general, por un lado, y el intento de salvaguardar los intereses de su principal aliado en la región: Marruecos, por otra. La tensión alrededor de dichos objetivos afloró con diferente intensidad durante el reinado de Hasán II, que finaliza en 1999. En general se puede afirmar que a pesar de algunas acciones puntuales, la política norteamericana se caracterizó por su falta de apoyo a la aplicación del principio de la autodeterminación al favorecer a una de las partes en el conflicto (Marruecos), y por la ausencia de presiones sobre Marruecos para que pusiera fin a las violaciones sistemáticas de los derechos civiles y políticos en el Sáhara ocupado.
During the last decades, Moroccan women have turned into important agents of change in front of a... more During the last decades, Moroccan women have turned into important agents of change in front of a situation of discrimination and social injustice. The analysis of the struggle focused on the legislative reform of the Mudawana shows: First, the representatives of the Moroccan feminism choose to accept a series of traditional values and cultural identities as a legitimate frame of reference, specially the one referent to the Islamic frame. Second, the division between secular or Islamic feminism does not endure a rigid differentiation between an emancipatory program and a continuism in "tradition". Third, the question of the reform of the Mudawana has been highly politicized both by the State agents and by all kinds of political and social movements. And finally, the struggle for the emancipation of women cannot dissociate from the general struggle for democratization in politics and in the set of society.
For thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, Morocco is the last step on the journey to Eur... more For thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, Morocco is the last step on the journey to Europe. This paper analyzes the attitudes of key Moroccan political and social actors. Responsiveness and variability on the part of Moroccan authorities highlight the double dependence of a management process focused on security issues yet influenced by external pressures, including the fragile compromise with the European Union and some member countries. For some years Moroccan associations interested in this phenomenon have been attending to their deficiencies in training, knowledge and the monitoring of in-transit sub-Saharan migrants.
En el presente artículo se revisa la literatura académica que desde la disciplina de las Relacion... more En el presente artículo se revisa la literatura académica que desde la disciplina de las Relaciones Internacionales ha abordado la temática de la promoción por los Estados de los derechos humanos y la democracia más allá de sus fronteras, enmarcada en la cuestión más general de la relación entre ética y Relaciones Internacionales.
Au Maroc, le Mouvement culturel amazigh (MCA) a connu ces dernièresannées un processus impression... more Au Maroc, le Mouvement culturel amazigh (MCA) a connu ces dernièresannées un processus impressionnant de rajeunissement et d’expansion de sa base sociale, dépassant les milieux universitaires et s’implantant dans le milieu rural où prolifèrent les associations culturelles. Ce mouvement, qui incorpore des revendications sociopolitiques plus ou moins prononcées selon les cas, se caractérise par le nombre important des associations2, sa présence sur l’ensemble du territoire et sa jeunesse, la plupart des associations ayant été créées à la fin des années 1980. De même, un véritable foisonnement de publications périodiques en langue amazighe a vu le jour. Or, malgré l’augmentation de cet activisme revendicatif et des promesses officielles, la « question amazighe » n’a connu que de faibles avancées ces dernières années qui se réduisent à quelques initiatives de reconnaissance et de promotion de la langue et de la culture berbères.
"The concept of global civil society began to be used regularly just a decade ago. Its formulatio... more "The concept of global civil society began to be used regularly just a decade ago. Its formulation results from the application of the civil society concept to transnational political processes. This article reviews the networks created in recent years in the field of human rights in the Mediterranean and investigates to what extent these are exponents of the emergence of an alleged global civil society. Links and exchanges between very diverse
human rights advocacy groups have multiplied in recent years and transnational constituencies have been forged. But the existence of this ‘global civil society’ can hardly be identified as if it were a global player. It would be more appropriate to speak of the existence of parcels of an international (and internationalized) civil society."
"During recent decades, and particularly since the 1970s, a number of states have incorporated th... more "During recent decades, and particularly since the 1970s, a number of states have incorporated the promotion of human rights and democracy into their foreign policy goals. This integration goes beyond mere
discourse and has been reflected in a series of institutions and mechanisms and in certain practices [Forsythe, 2000; Vincent, 1989]. Spain is no exception to this evolution. Its entry into the European Community in 1986 was decisive in developing this field of action. But although human
rights have been incorporated into the foreign agenda, we can hardly speak of a true ‘policy’ that has been planned in a comprehensive manner, nor can we claim that it embraces all of the spheres of foreign action.
True, progress has been made in the (weak) institutionalization of this field of policy, actions are being carried out as a result of international obligations in multilateral forums and certain isolated initiatives of promotion can be detected: a ‘selective indignation’ decided on a case-bycase basis. But in general, all of this falls far short of making human rights an axis of foreign policy. Here, the expression ‘human rights foreign policy’ will be used for convenience to refer to the set of considerations and actions by the state in this field, or to ‘a choice among priorities’. As Baehr says: ‘It means that a government will have to decide whether and when it will give a higher priority to human rights over other foreign policy considerations, such as national security, foreign trade and development cooperation. Such policy considerations may conflict with each other’ [Baehr, 1996: 23]."
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Books by Laura Feliu i Martinez
European Union (EU) context. The second highlights the issue of the EP acting as a civilian power and its profile in the field of values, which affects human rights policies and their implementation with respect to non-EU countries. We
pay special attention to the attitudes of different political groups and sensitivities, as well as the definitions of human rights from the perspective of several European institutions, including those of primary importance to this study. We analyse the instruments created by the EP to promote and uphold such policies.
We describe and study the role of the normative, legislative and institutional framework created and used by the EP for that purpose. The third section examines the human rights approaches that the different EP political groups have
taken over the years. The fourth section then addresses the question of how useful this institutional framework is for the effective promotion of human rights worldwide. Here we wonder whether the Parliament and other EU institutions have evolved towards a greater interest in those issues alongside the growing
importance and power they have gained over the past two decades; and whether the tools they have gained in the different treaties have been useful and sufficient to develop such policies. The concluding section of our study highlights these very issues as we try to find out the real aim of the EU institutions, in particular
the Parliament, in upholding a human rights policy, the constraints on this desire inside the Parliament itself and the various trends in these activities in accordance with the different legislation periods and ideological sensitivities within the EP.
As Rémy Leveau (1993: 50) declared at the beginning of the 90s: ‘the similarity of apparent stability in institutions and political symbols in Morocco today and during the 60s is amazing’. Much has occurred since then (el acceso de la vieja oposición al gobierno, the death of Hassan II succeeded by his son Mohamed VI) but in broad terms it is a statement that remains relevant today. The institutional organigram has remained practically unaltered; the monarchy still occupies the superior vertex with very little opposition. In many ways, its current control is more complete as there is little resistance from dissident sectors; the exertion of power has thus changed its forms and methods, as some of its former repressive practices are no longer needed.
A modernizing evolution of the political culture, of sectors of the population which now have access to education, of macroeconomic restrictions and some of the constraints of globalization, has changed the appearance of both state and society without, however, succeeding in actually transforming the pillars that sustain power.
The Monarchy currently controls security services, administration and the judiciary; it also establishes the rules of the economy (obtaining important private benefit) and controls the government through different mechanisms. It is not that the monarchy takes decisions on all matters, but it certainly has the ability and the intention of being present in the most important ones. There are no clear rules regarding when, how or according to which principles, arbitrariness and lack of transparency and control mechanisms, have become characteristic features of the system. "
Con el objetivo de analizar el estudio de la influencia de los actores internos en la política exterior española hacía los países árabes, se ha realizado, en primer lugar, una breve revisión de la literatura académica que aborda el papel de los actores domésticos en la formulación de las políticas exteriores. Esta introducción teórica debe otorgarnos algunos elementos para construir el marco teórico de dicho estudio. En segundo lugar, se aborda la cuestión del papel de la burocracia central en la toma de decisiones relativas al área mediterránea y el mundo árabe, para finalmente analizar la influencia de diferentes actores internos en la formulación de la política exterior (grupos de interés y de presión, comunidades epistémicas, opinión pública). Este último apartado deberá tener forzosamente un carácter tentativo, dada la falta todavía de una cartografía completa de dichos actores, y sobre todo de estudios de caso en profundidad de carácter causal"
Este análisis se basa en un modelo multivariable no cuantificado, en el que se tienen en cuenta diversas variables causales situadas en diferentes niveles del sistema internacional. En primer lugar, se ofrece una lista orientativa de factores que contribuyen a dar forma a las políticas de promoción, para posteriormente proponer una posible interpretación de cómo actúan, siempre teóricamente. En segundo lugar, se analiza la presencia de dichas variables para el caso español, tanto en la vertiente de la política exterior en general, como de su aplicación a los países de la cuenca mediterránea. Este ejercicio ofrece de entrada una serie de pistas sobre cómo es previsible que actúen los diferentes gobiernos españoles en este campo. Finalmente, las hipótesis planteadas son cotejadas con las políticas efectivamente aplicadas."
interesado especialmente el movimiento de defensa de los derechos humanos. La pregunta que subyace en todo el estudio es en qué medida este movimiento contribuyó a la liberalización del régimen y en qué medida puede contribuir a su democratización.
Con esta intención he analizado su cultura política, sus características sociológicas y, sobre todo, su posición y margen de maniobra dentro del campo político (vínculos e instrumentalización por el poder, relaciones con los partidos políticos, con actores internacionales, etc.). Se trata de determinar la capacidad y los límites de un movimiento que ha experimentado una importante transformación en las últimas tres décadas. El contexto represivo de los años setenta (en el
que el movimiento únicamente podía preocuparse de su propia supervivencia y debía guardar silencio sobre gran parte del dossier represivo de los años de plomo) se suavizó a finales de los ochenta, y la liberalización se consolida en la segunda
mitad de los noventa."
Papers by Laura Feliu i Martinez
anthropology and sociology), while offering both complementary and contrasting arguments. Overall, these works offer an excellent overview of contemporary debates surrounding the complex political and social processes in Turkey today.
Two of the works are edited collections, although they offer much more than a mere collection of contributions by specialists. Both works develop conceptual and theoretical frameworks, which are subsequently used by the authors in their respective studies. In the case of the work by Kuru and Stepan, the introduction and
eight chapters that form the book are based on a comparative political and historical approach that raises a series of theoretical questions based on the existing democratization literature on Turkey, although to some degree the authors fail to develop the approach fully, especially in the conclusions. In the case of Rodrıguez et al., the authors offer a well-constructed framework that gives coherence to the 22 chapters, while the final chapter offers an unusually interesting reflection on how the study fits into existing theoretical approaches.
Palabras clave: redes transnacionales, sociedad civil, movimientos sociales, Primavera Árabe
human rights advocacy groups have multiplied in recent years and transnational constituencies have been forged. But the existence of this ‘global civil society’ can hardly be identified as if it were a global player. It would be more appropriate to speak of the existence of parcels of an international (and internationalized) civil society."
discourse and has been reflected in a series of institutions and mechanisms and in certain practices [Forsythe, 2000; Vincent, 1989]. Spain is no exception to this evolution. Its entry into the European Community in 1986 was decisive in developing this field of action. But although human
rights have been incorporated into the foreign agenda, we can hardly speak of a true ‘policy’ that has been planned in a comprehensive manner, nor can we claim that it embraces all of the spheres of foreign action.
True, progress has been made in the (weak) institutionalization of this field of policy, actions are being carried out as a result of international obligations in multilateral forums and certain isolated initiatives of promotion can be detected: a ‘selective indignation’ decided on a case-bycase basis. But in general, all of this falls far short of making human rights an axis of foreign policy. Here, the expression ‘human rights foreign policy’ will be used for convenience to refer to the set of considerations and actions by the state in this field, or to ‘a choice among priorities’. As Baehr says: ‘It means that a government will have to decide whether and when it will give a higher priority to human rights over other foreign policy considerations, such as national security, foreign trade and development cooperation. Such policy considerations may conflict with each other’ [Baehr, 1996: 23]."
European Union (EU) context. The second highlights the issue of the EP acting as a civilian power and its profile in the field of values, which affects human rights policies and their implementation with respect to non-EU countries. We
pay special attention to the attitudes of different political groups and sensitivities, as well as the definitions of human rights from the perspective of several European institutions, including those of primary importance to this study. We analyse the instruments created by the EP to promote and uphold such policies.
We describe and study the role of the normative, legislative and institutional framework created and used by the EP for that purpose. The third section examines the human rights approaches that the different EP political groups have
taken over the years. The fourth section then addresses the question of how useful this institutional framework is for the effective promotion of human rights worldwide. Here we wonder whether the Parliament and other EU institutions have evolved towards a greater interest in those issues alongside the growing
importance and power they have gained over the past two decades; and whether the tools they have gained in the different treaties have been useful and sufficient to develop such policies. The concluding section of our study highlights these very issues as we try to find out the real aim of the EU institutions, in particular
the Parliament, in upholding a human rights policy, the constraints on this desire inside the Parliament itself and the various trends in these activities in accordance with the different legislation periods and ideological sensitivities within the EP.
As Rémy Leveau (1993: 50) declared at the beginning of the 90s: ‘the similarity of apparent stability in institutions and political symbols in Morocco today and during the 60s is amazing’. Much has occurred since then (el acceso de la vieja oposición al gobierno, the death of Hassan II succeeded by his son Mohamed VI) but in broad terms it is a statement that remains relevant today. The institutional organigram has remained practically unaltered; the monarchy still occupies the superior vertex with very little opposition. In many ways, its current control is more complete as there is little resistance from dissident sectors; the exertion of power has thus changed its forms and methods, as some of its former repressive practices are no longer needed.
A modernizing evolution of the political culture, of sectors of the population which now have access to education, of macroeconomic restrictions and some of the constraints of globalization, has changed the appearance of both state and society without, however, succeeding in actually transforming the pillars that sustain power.
The Monarchy currently controls security services, administration and the judiciary; it also establishes the rules of the economy (obtaining important private benefit) and controls the government through different mechanisms. It is not that the monarchy takes decisions on all matters, but it certainly has the ability and the intention of being present in the most important ones. There are no clear rules regarding when, how or according to which principles, arbitrariness and lack of transparency and control mechanisms, have become characteristic features of the system. "
Con el objetivo de analizar el estudio de la influencia de los actores internos en la política exterior española hacía los países árabes, se ha realizado, en primer lugar, una breve revisión de la literatura académica que aborda el papel de los actores domésticos en la formulación de las políticas exteriores. Esta introducción teórica debe otorgarnos algunos elementos para construir el marco teórico de dicho estudio. En segundo lugar, se aborda la cuestión del papel de la burocracia central en la toma de decisiones relativas al área mediterránea y el mundo árabe, para finalmente analizar la influencia de diferentes actores internos en la formulación de la política exterior (grupos de interés y de presión, comunidades epistémicas, opinión pública). Este último apartado deberá tener forzosamente un carácter tentativo, dada la falta todavía de una cartografía completa de dichos actores, y sobre todo de estudios de caso en profundidad de carácter causal"
Este análisis se basa en un modelo multivariable no cuantificado, en el que se tienen en cuenta diversas variables causales situadas en diferentes niveles del sistema internacional. En primer lugar, se ofrece una lista orientativa de factores que contribuyen a dar forma a las políticas de promoción, para posteriormente proponer una posible interpretación de cómo actúan, siempre teóricamente. En segundo lugar, se analiza la presencia de dichas variables para el caso español, tanto en la vertiente de la política exterior en general, como de su aplicación a los países de la cuenca mediterránea. Este ejercicio ofrece de entrada una serie de pistas sobre cómo es previsible que actúen los diferentes gobiernos españoles en este campo. Finalmente, las hipótesis planteadas son cotejadas con las políticas efectivamente aplicadas."
interesado especialmente el movimiento de defensa de los derechos humanos. La pregunta que subyace en todo el estudio es en qué medida este movimiento contribuyó a la liberalización del régimen y en qué medida puede contribuir a su democratización.
Con esta intención he analizado su cultura política, sus características sociológicas y, sobre todo, su posición y margen de maniobra dentro del campo político (vínculos e instrumentalización por el poder, relaciones con los partidos políticos, con actores internacionales, etc.). Se trata de determinar la capacidad y los límites de un movimiento que ha experimentado una importante transformación en las últimas tres décadas. El contexto represivo de los años setenta (en el
que el movimiento únicamente podía preocuparse de su propia supervivencia y debía guardar silencio sobre gran parte del dossier represivo de los años de plomo) se suavizó a finales de los ochenta, y la liberalización se consolida en la segunda
mitad de los noventa."
anthropology and sociology), while offering both complementary and contrasting arguments. Overall, these works offer an excellent overview of contemporary debates surrounding the complex political and social processes in Turkey today.
Two of the works are edited collections, although they offer much more than a mere collection of contributions by specialists. Both works develop conceptual and theoretical frameworks, which are subsequently used by the authors in their respective studies. In the case of the work by Kuru and Stepan, the introduction and
eight chapters that form the book are based on a comparative political and historical approach that raises a series of theoretical questions based on the existing democratization literature on Turkey, although to some degree the authors fail to develop the approach fully, especially in the conclusions. In the case of Rodrıguez et al., the authors offer a well-constructed framework that gives coherence to the 22 chapters, while the final chapter offers an unusually interesting reflection on how the study fits into existing theoretical approaches.
Palabras clave: redes transnacionales, sociedad civil, movimientos sociales, Primavera Árabe
human rights advocacy groups have multiplied in recent years and transnational constituencies have been forged. But the existence of this ‘global civil society’ can hardly be identified as if it were a global player. It would be more appropriate to speak of the existence of parcels of an international (and internationalized) civil society."
discourse and has been reflected in a series of institutions and mechanisms and in certain practices [Forsythe, 2000; Vincent, 1989]. Spain is no exception to this evolution. Its entry into the European Community in 1986 was decisive in developing this field of action. But although human
rights have been incorporated into the foreign agenda, we can hardly speak of a true ‘policy’ that has been planned in a comprehensive manner, nor can we claim that it embraces all of the spheres of foreign action.
True, progress has been made in the (weak) institutionalization of this field of policy, actions are being carried out as a result of international obligations in multilateral forums and certain isolated initiatives of promotion can be detected: a ‘selective indignation’ decided on a case-bycase basis. But in general, all of this falls far short of making human rights an axis of foreign policy. Here, the expression ‘human rights foreign policy’ will be used for convenience to refer to the set of considerations and actions by the state in this field, or to ‘a choice among priorities’. As Baehr says: ‘It means that a government will have to decide whether and when it will give a higher priority to human rights over other foreign policy considerations, such as national security, foreign trade and development cooperation. Such policy considerations may conflict with each other’ [Baehr, 1996: 23]."