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There has been a change in international politics since the 2008 financial crisis, thanks to a greater spread of economic resources and military capabilities. For many, it is a radical transformation that could spell the end of US hegemony in Latin America. This paper examines the proposition, beginning with a review of the concept of hegemony, which rather than being viewed as a structural characteristic is conceived of here as a "nuanced hegemony", in other words a network of asymmetric and hierarchical relations. We can observe not just one transformation then, but the emergence of a hemispheric context that could be described as "differentiated hegemony". The United States still occupies a central position, but its foreign policy is marked by subregional fragmentation and the externalisation of electoral priorities. The paper explores the effects at subregional level, focusing on the opportunities and challenges it presents to Latin American countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses Latin America's role in an international system in flux, with high levels of uncertainty and transformations that signal a shift in the geoeconomic and geopolitical landscape across the world. Against this backdrop, the paper examines the challenges (both old and new) the region must face, focusing on the impact of global changes on regional dynamics and the capacity of the different countries to find answers both to the international situation and old and new internal problems. In addition, as an introductory paper to this monograph entitled "Geopolitics from Latin America: a change of cycle and multipolarity", it identifies the fulcrums of these changes, their impact, the main actors involved and the processes underway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the European Union (EU) response to three conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa region and shines a spotlight on the degree of division among its member states and on the management of these divisions. It concludes that the EU's desire to be seen as an international actor varies according to the confrontation; it is stronger in the Arab-Israeli conflict, but weaker in the Sahara. Domestic protest and politicisation in the EU affect the fragmentation of positions and the frequency of obstructionist stances. The EU manages the divisions differently in each conflict, with strategies that vary according to the level of ambition or the desire to ensure the sides note the existence of a European position. The paper highlights the growing interaction between the different regional flashpoints and makes the case for a systemic and multilevel approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to interpret the political discourse employed in the process of integrating foreign nationals into Spain's Armed Forces (2002-2017) and collate it with a wide range of primary sources. The sources include statistics from the Spanish Ministry of Defence, legislation, opinion polls conducted by the public research institute the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS) and data series from Spain's official statistics agency (INE). The study takes a constructivist approach that seeks to uncover the implicit elements underlying the discourses of public policies, ideas and ideological concepts. It offers a view that is complemented by a historical reconstruction of the facts and an institutional analysis that combines formal elements (laws, policies and opinion polls) with informal components (non-codified practices or ideas and shared meanings). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the internationalisation of intermediate cities in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Framed in the field of the paradiplomacy studies, it takes a critical stance on the use of the concept and returns to alternative theoretical-methodological tools, such as subnational international policy and the international participation index. Taking a quantitative-qualitative approach, it notes a significantly higher internationalisation profile of these cities recently, with increasing levels of institutionalisation and a pre-eminence of unilateral and bilateral strategies. The originality of the work lies in its focus on a realm that has received relatively little attention in the speciality in Latin America, and in the study of general trends, going beyond the single case studies that dominate the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the repercussions that the war in Ukraine since 2022 has had on the European Union (EU) policy of economic globalisation. The Union's comprehensive response to the conflict is examined from different angles, taking in energy insecurity, economic shocks, geopolitical shifts, humanitarian challenges and technological vulnerabilities. In this context, the EU's adaptive resilience is evident on several fronts, such as the integration of its economic policies with security (particularly in critical sectors), its role in the European security architecture and its commitment to incorporating Ukraine into the West. The study expands to include the flexible management of mass migration, tech vulnerabilities, energy resilience, economic stability, geopolitical alliances, humanitarian response action and technological reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new defence policy of the European Union (EU) is forcing the defence industry in Europe to adjust its strategies, especially since the invasion of Ukraine. Both the European Commission and the European Defence Agency (EDA) are pushing for a European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB), taking account of factors that include the fragmentation of supply chains, the significant efficiency gains that can be made and the prospect of greater EU strategic autonomy. In the industrial field, particularly in the area of technology, it will change the shape of the European defence industry. But what direction will this new industry take? Will national oligopolies be reinforced at the same time as other European oligopolies emerge? Drawing on an empirical analysis based on interviews with experts, this paper focuses on Spain as a case study and explores the repercussions it will have on the country's defence industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of the European Union (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) raises questions about whether societies in member states share a common or convergent defence culture. Conceptual and methodological problems in the existing literature, however, make it difficult to measure this phenomenon. That is why this paper proposes a new model to measure the political culture relative to European defence, using a mixed factor analysis. In addition, drawing on a series of Eurobarometer surveys, it charts current attitudes towards defence in European citizenship and the impact of the war in Ukraine. The findings point to the existence of several political subcultures regarding defence in the EU. They also indicate various methodological strengths - and limitations - arising from the available Eurobarometer data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New crises that have erupted this decade, such as COVID-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, have led the European Union (EU) to wake up to the need to expedite certain decision-making processes. This would allow it to play a more geopolitical role on the international stage and move past the traditional European approach of soft power as a means of influence. To do so, it is essential to advance towards greater geopolitical capabilities that enable true strategic autonomy in areas such as security and defence: new challenges must be met with different strategies and instruments. This paper examines the functioning, potential institutionalisation and capacities of the European Political Community (EPC) as a driver of a geopolitical Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been seven decades since the six founding member states of what would become the European Union (EU) sought to integrate their armies into a common defence force through the European Defence Community. Today, while ever more European decision makers allude to the need to create such a force, it remains a distant prospect. What is it that is really hampering progress towards a common European defence model based on a shared army? What is the position of the main EU actors - society, political parties and institutions - on the subject? Using a variety of methodological approaches, this paper seeks to provide empirical evidence of the social, political party and institutional complexities hindering its realisation. Although the EU is not currently working on the creation of a common, single army, events such as the invasion of Ukraine could put it on the political agenda, and neither society, nor the elites, nor the major parties would be opposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the concept of "global civil society" - which played a major role in the symbolic construction of the post-Cold War social reality - and reflects on its initial purpose as a critique of the conventional perceptions of statecentric politics and as a change of approach, towards non-party politics and cross-border activism. While it opened new horizons for the empirical analysis of "globalisation from below", this concept failed to prompt a radical epistemological change; it did not succeed in generating knowledge that transcended "methodological nationalism". The paper maintains that what once constituted the concept's disruptive potential - its conceptual enmeshment with the idea of globalisation, reflected in the adjective global - ultimately tamed it. Drawing on this premise, the aim is to rekindle the spirit of the notion of "global civil society" by introducing a concept that takes up and pushes forward this unachieved goal: "planetary politics". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the complex, multilateral and polycentric governance of the climate agenda, as well as the knowledge management architecture around the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Noting the difficulty involved in this governance, the paper shows how it has been capable of making progress in combating the climate crisis. Climate action governance resembles a network of networks, a dense web of public, private, social, technological, knowledgebased and intersectoral initiatives. Ensuring compliance with agreements is, without question, complex in many respects, but to date it has proven to be the only viable path. Highly dependent on the global context, the green transition is an opportunity to make a qualitive leap forward, against the backdrop of an energy crisis triggered by the invasion of Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies a historical, cultural and social perspective to analyse the political transnationalism of indigenous peoples. Using key concepts like indigenous movements and transnational defence networks, alongside desk study and analysis of indigenous organisations' goals and programmes, this paper proposes a classification and definition of three types of indigenous political transnationalism: migratory, institutional and relating to transnational peoples. Examples are given for each, including indigenous organisations from America, Africa, Asia and international organizations, with the aim of revealing the complexity and importance of transnationalism as a fundamental factor in the indigenous protests of the last decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the barriers to the recognition of gender-based persecution as grounds for asylum. It focuses on Spain and examines the rulings of Spanish courts on applications based on various types of gender violence between 2009 and 2019 and looks at the theoretical propositions of "the politics of silence". The paper proposes that these barriers can be attributed to the interweaving of androcentric and colonial frameworks that produce arbitrary representations of non-European women and their cultures. It also highlights the paradoxical way authorities deploy culturalisation strategies around female genital mutilation and forced marriage, treating them as "exotic" violence, in contrast to the strategies of invisibilisation and silence used with other types of gender-based violence, such as "intimate violence". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses Latin America’s role in an international system in flux, with high levels of uncertainty and transformations that signal a shift in the geoeconomic and geopolitical landscape across the world. Against this backdrop, the paper examines the challenges (both old and new) the region must face, focusing on the impact of global changes on regional dynamics and the capacity of the different countries to find answers both to the international situation and old and new internal problems. In addition, as an introductory paper to this monograph entitled “Geopolitics from Latin America: a change of cycle and multipolarity”, it identifies the fulcrums of these changes, their impact, the main actors involved and the processes underway.

There has been a change in international politics since the 2008 financial crisis, thanks to a greater spread of economic resources and military capabilities. For many, it is a radical transformation that could spell the end of US hegemony in Latin America. This paper examines the proposition, beginning with a review of the concept of hegemony, which rather than being viewed as a structural characteristic is conceived of here as a “nuanced hegemony”, in other words a network of asymmetric and hierarchical relations. We can observe not just one transformation then, but the emergence of a hemispheric context that could be described as “differentiated hegemony”. The United States still occupies a central position, but its foreign policy is marked by subregional fragmentation and the externalisation of electoral priorities. The paper explores the effects at subregional level, focusing on the opportunities and challenges it presents to Latin American countries.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, better known as the RCEP, is a free trade agreement signed by 15 countries from the Asia-Pacific region in November 2020. It took effect in January 2022. After presenting an overview of the agreement, this paper looks at the negotiations and the current state of the RCEP. It then focuses on its basic content, particularly from a legal standpoint, as it analyses the institutional framework, the decision rule, its legal sources and the dispute settlement system, without omitting to look at the agreement from an economic perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the ties between Latin America and Asia by moving beyond the homogenisation of the two regions through elevating the importance of opposition to a third party, in this case an "imperialist" and developed North. In contrast to normative analyses based on outmoded conceptions of world history, it proposes an intellectual exercise that problematises the interregional bond by placing the emphasis on heterogeneities rather than broad bush approaches that ignore the complex and diverse national and regional realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international system is in a period of transition, marked by a weakening of multilateralism, challenges to the liberal order and the consolidation of new global leaderships. In addition, various cross-border crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, have compounded the effects of these changes at a regional level. Given this context, what room is there for regional cooperation in Latin America? As a tool for regional coordination and integration into international flows and dynamics, regionalism can boast achievements, but challenges remain. In analytical terms, this paper proposes an approach that enables an examination of the combination of interests, ideas and institutions at play on a regional level in Latin America. The central argument is that the changing dynamics of regionalism are a product of the way in which states' interests interact with ideas about the region in a specific institutional environment over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a world of growing international competition and rivalry between China and the United States, Latin America and the European Union (EU) are caught in the same thorny dilemma. Positioned between these global giants, both regions are facing a retorn to a Westphalian system of nation-states, which undermines their roles as emerging regional players. In view of these new global challenges in Latin America and the EU, this paper uses a qualitative and comparative approach to explore foreign policy discourses on autonomy in both regions. It examines their goals and priorities and assesses the potential regional and interregional consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyse how gender relations interact in labour socialisation in the Moroccan export industry - based on a case study of the city of Casablanca - and the relationship with international migration. The paper uses qualitative research, with analysis based on grounded theory and an intersectional studies approach. The global labour market emerges as a new axis of inequality creating new spaces that keep the majority in a precarious position. The paper's original contribution is to apply the intersectional theoretical framework to the Moroccan context, focusing on a relational view of the categories. Identifying three basic social processes (role of women, crisis of masculinity and migration) allows us to expand the knowledge about this reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With digital ecosystems being questioned around the world, this paper examines the EU's role in and contribution to the emerging concept of artificial intelligence (AI) governance. Seen by the EU as the key ingredient for innovation, the adoption of AI systems has altered our understanding of governance. Framing AI as an autonomous digital technology embedded in social structures, this paper argues that EU citizens' trust in AI can be increased if the innovation it entails is grounded in a fundamental rights-based approach. This is assessed based on the work of the High-Level Expert Group on AI (which has developed a framework for trustworthy AI) and the European Commission's recently approved proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Act (taking a risk-based approach). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been major geopolitical changes on the international landscape over the last three years, not to mention the consolidation of other transformations with deeper roots. To what extent, and how, does this new international context reframe the prospects of firming up the "agreement in principle" between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur approved in 2019? Working from an eclectic theoretical framework, which combines geopolitical and geoeconomic approaches with consideration of the impact of material and ideational factors, this paper takes a longitudinal view, drawing on a wide variety of sources, to try to shed light on the chances and prospects of an agreement of this type in the new global settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than a decade since the outbreak of the revolution in 2011, Libya remains mired in a political crisis and institutionally fragmented, having been the scene of two civil wars. This paper looks at the interrelationship between the national and international dimensions of the conflict to illustrate how the various rival political elites project an image of the country to the outside world (branding) in order to boost their national and international legitimacy, obtain material support and strengthen their bargaining position in the peace processes. To that end, it studies the discourses of the Libyan political elites in three periods: the first Libyan civil war (2011) and the transition phase, the second civil war (2014-2020) and the failed attempt to hold presidential elections in 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses three features that characterise the authoritarian restoration following what is known as the Arab springs of 2011: a) the recourse to technocratic governments, b) the proliferation of discourses on the depoliticisation of governance and c) the postponement of the renegotiation of the old social contracts. Added to this is the importance of the international nexus, given that strategic allied states at a global level and international financial institutions embrace a formula that ensures stability and facilitates the implementation of neoliberal reforms. However, this authoritarian technopopulism fails to address the economic demands of the population, nor does it provide avenues of political inclusion or a framework for drawing up a new social contract; at best, it serves momentarily as a structure to contain the protests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role played by leaders figures from the Moroccan diaspora as potential instruments of legitimation for the Moroccan state and traditional elites, not just on an international scale and among the Moroccan communities living abroad, but also on a domestic level. Through the case study of specific events that happened to two prominent figures from the Moroccan community in Spain - rapper and songwriter Morad and football player Achraf Hakimi - in 2022, it analyses the legitimation strategies - cooption or coercion - that the Moroccan state employs to ensure that the stance taken in terms of politics and identity, as well as the cultural production, of leaders figures from the diaspora are aligned with its interests and principles at all times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been several overlapping crises in North Africa in recent decades. The social contract is in crisis, and this became clear during the antiauthoritarian uprisings of 2011 and 2019. In addition, the region is locked in a socioeconomic crisis that deepened after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and has been aggravated by the global impacts of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This paper underscores the need to reflect on the legitimation of the North African elites in this context, looking at the connection between the domestic and international spheres. It also presents various legitimation strategies that take in the interaction between the domestic and external spaces. This approach seeks to enrich the debate on the relationship between authoritarianism, its legitimation and the international dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the complex, multilateral and polycentric governance of the climate agenda, as well as the knowledge management architecture around the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Noting the difficulty involved in this governance, the paper shows how it has been capable of making progress in combating the climate crisis. Climate action governance resembles a network of networks, a dense web of public, private, social, technological, knowledge-based and intersectoral initiatives. Ensuring compliance with agreements is, without question, complex in many respects, but to date it has proven to be the only viable path. Highly dependent on the global context, the green transition is an opportunity to make a qualitive leap forward, against the backdrop of an energy crisis triggered by the invasion of Ukraine.

This paper analyses the concept of “global civil society” – which played a major role in the symbolic construction of the post-Cold War social reality – and reflects on its initial purpose as a critique of the conventional perceptions of state-centric politics and as a change of approach, towards non-partisan politics and cross-border activism. While it opened new horizons for the empirical analysis of “globalisation from below”, this concept failed to prompt a radical epistemological change; it did not succeed in generating knowledge that transcended “methodological nationalism”. The paper maintains that what once constituted the concept’s disruptive potential – its theoretical engagement with the idea of globalisation, reflected in the adjective global – ultimately tamed it. Drawing on this premise, the aim is to rekindle the spirit of the notion of “global civil society” by introducing a concept that takes up and pushes forward this unachieved goal: “planetary politics”.

What is democracy's place in the shifting international order? There is a fear that a more geopolitical order will only aggravate the general crisis of democracy; or that a more plural order will dilute the efforts to defend the rules governing it. Yet, while recent political and normative trends corroborate this concern, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has in some ways given greater prominence to the defence of democratic values around the world. This paper explores the impact that geopolitical tensions and shifting international order on global democracy. And in the context of the crisis of meaning affecting democracies, it examines whether Russia's war in Ukraine has served both as a catalyst of the international dimensions of support for democracy and as a factor magnifying its fragility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The network structures that have arisen out of globalisation could provide an alternative means of addressing major global challenges (climate change, mitigation of its effects or the prevention of pandemics). Cities increasingly consider themselves "actors motivated by interests" and they turn to urban diplomacy and interestbased networks to change the conversation - and, ultimately, the power structure - of multinational governance. Starting with a definition of what urban power is, this paper examines the rise of urban networks and their leverage of data to claim a more active role in the face of their nation-states, and on a global scale. Drawing on two brief case studies - the C40 network and Voluntary Local Reviews - it points to possible ways forward for urban influence networks in the near-term future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The liberal international order established after the end of the Cold War is currently an order in transition. The shift in material power - following the rise of China - is necessary to understanding the changes in the international order, but it is not the whole story. We are seeing both material and ideational changes. The present moment is one of rules under challenge. But the normative contestation the international order is facing is not just about the rivalry between China and the United States or the tired description of "the rest against the West"; its parameters are more complex and diverse. To demonstrate that, this paper looks at three very different issues on the international agenda: a) governance of the Internet, b) sexual and reproductive rights and c) migration management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the introduction to the 40th anniversary issue of Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internacionals, this paper looks at developments in international relations over the last four decades, alongside the publication's content and against the backdrop of the current crisis of the international order (or disorder). It spans the end of the Cold War and the faith deposited in globalisation and liberal democracy in the unipolar world of the mid-1990s, taking in the spread of the values and ideas of global governance at the end of the last century, before arriving at the growing multipolarity, rivalry between China and the United States and the challenge to the liberal order and permacrisis of recent years. Special mention is made of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the barriers to the recognition of gender-based persecution as grounds for asylum. It focuses on Spain and examines the rulings of Spanish courts on applications based on various types of gender violence between 2009 and 2019 and looks at the theoretical propositions of "the politics of silence". The paper proposes that these barriers can be attributed to the interweaving of androcentric and colonial frameworks that produce arbitrary representations of non-European women and their cultures. It also highlights the paradoxical way authorities deploy culturalisation strategies around female genital mutilation and forced marriage, treating them as "exotic" violence, in contrast to the strategies of invisibilisation and silence used with other types of gender-based violence, such as "intimate violence".

This paper applies a historical, cultural and social perspective to analyse the political transnationalism of indigenous peoples. Using key concepts like indigenous movements and transnational defence networks, alongside desk study and analysis of indigenous organisations’ goals and programmes, this paper proposes a classification and definition of three types of indigenous political transnationalism: migratory, institutional and relating to transnational peoples. Examples are given for each, including indigenous organisations from America, Africa, Asia and international organizations, with the aim of revealing the complexity and importance of transnationalism as a fundamental factor in the indigenous protests of the last decades.

Taking Guatemala as a case study, this paper reflects on the neoliberal power and knowledge elite. Based on Michael Mann's theory of social power and research on power structure, as well as network analysis, the study explores Guatemala's domestic network of right-wing/neoliberal think tanks and detects the key links and core nuclei within it. Using real data, the analysis reveals the business connections between the staff of these neoliberal think tanks. The paper is thus the first reflection on those in privileged positions of power within the think tank network and the capacity this gives them to establish contacts and transfer knowledge to the fields of economic and ideological power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With digital ecosystems being questioned around the world, this paper examines the EU’s role in and contribution to the emerging concept of artificial intelligence (AI) governance. Seen by the EU as the key ingredient for innovation, the adoption of AI systems has altered our understanding of governance. Framing AI as an autonomous digital technology embedded in social structures, this paper argues that EU citizens' trust in AI can be increased if the innovation it entails is grounded in a fundamental rights-based approach. This is assessed based on the work of the High-Level Expert Group on AI (which has developed a framework for trustworthy AI) and the European Commission’s recently approved proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Act (taking a risk-based approach).

This paper aims to analyse how gender relations interact in labour socialisation in the Moroccan export industry – based on a case study of the city of Casablanca – and the relationship with international migration. The paper uses qualitative research, with analysis based on grounded theory and an intersectional studies approach. The global labour market emerges as a new axis of inequality creating new spaces that keep the majority in a precarious position. The paper’s original contribution is to apply the intersectional theoretical framework to the Moroccan context, focusing on a relational view of the categories. Identifying three basic social processes (role of women, crisis of masculinity and migration) allows us to expand the knowledge about this reality.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of Moroccan women crossed the border between Melilla and Morocco on a daily basis to work in domestic employment, a consolidated niche sector of cross-border employment for low-skilled working-class women. When the border closed due to COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, many decided to remain in Melilla. Following the precepts of grounded theory and using biographical interviews, the paper investigates the survival strategies these women deployed following the border closure. An ambivalent process began: on the one hand, their labour conditions worsened, exposing them to worse situations of violence; on the other, they developed strategies of resistance and agency, assuming the role of breadwinner for their families and opting for a process of emancipation through inclusion and training opportunities in the city of Melilla. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on an understanding of the global immigration control regime as one of legal violence. It analyses the specialist literature that reveals the existence of an economy of deportability, understood as the unequal distribution of the forms of state power in the lives and freedoms of non-nationals, with gender playing a preponderant role. Taking a gender perspective, a selection of texts from the past two decades are reviewed that analyse the deportation and anti-trafficking apparatus in Europe, the United States and South America. The literature corroborates the existence of a gendered economy of deportability that generates social suffering that, in different ways and to differing degrees, shapes the (im)migrant presence in the national order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The memories of boys and girls who migrate contain past and present experiences of countries of origin and destination, as well as experiences of movement. This paper presents the results of research that aims to identify how migrant children's memories are constructed around experiences of violence and practices of agency. From the perspective of the new social studies of childhood and based on a field study in the city of Barcelona, it shows that in various spaces violence is conditioned by a web of power relations and vectors of differentiation (ethnicity, gender, nationality, age). It concludes that these memories strain the conception of violence against children as an individual, domestic/private problem, and generate meanings that facilitate agency for such childhoods in the present, going beyond vulnerability and subordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, forced marriage as a manifestation of violence against women has entered the public agenda in European Union countries. This is partly due to higher numbers of migrants from regions where it is a regular practice. This paper aims to show the different ways violence manifests itself in forced marriage, both symbolically and practically - in terms of experiences - based on a qualitative sample of women with a range of migration backgrounds residing in Catalonia. The intersectional gender approach of the analysis enables the interaction to be considered of various factors when it comes to understanding contexts of risk and violence, as well as exit strategies from forced marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the backgrounds of LGBT+ migrants living in Chile, and considers the various types of violence they experience at the intersection of vectors of differentiation: national origin, sexual orientation-gender identity and socioeconomic position, as well as markers of ethnicity and racialisation. The results show that many LGBT+ migrants leave their place of origin not only because of social and economic factors, but also due to the discrimination and violence they experience due to their sexual or gender identity, which is known as sexile. These forms of violence occur throughout their migrant experience in ways that vary but are nevertheless constant. In the context of migrant reception in Chile, the presence of these people poses a double threat to the State's hetero(cis)patriarchal order, on the one hand, and the national order, on the other, straining the conventional idea of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic to hit Africa (February-September 2020) was not particularly virulent either in terms of cases detected or lethality. However, the presence of the virus and the subsequent restrictions exacerbated pre-existing inequalities based on ethnicity, class and gender. This paper analyses the impacts of the pandemic on refugee women, who are subject to "structural vulnerability" and "multisystemic violence" in Africa. After analysing the ten African countries with the largest refugee populations, the different forms and levels of these impacts are systematised, along with the consequences and implications for refugee women in the long term, highlighting the need for strategies to be adopted towards this group at various levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2014 and Russia's annexation of Crimea and the start of hostilities in Donbass, the West has shown unprecedented solidarity in imposing sanctions on Russia. Yet Asia-Pacific's response to the Ukraine crisis has been different. While Japan and New Zealand imposed symbolic sanctions, South Korea refrained from introducing any measures at all. The main objective of this paper is to explore the response of the Asia-Pacific region to the Ukrainian crisis and the underlying motivations behind these stances. From a perspective of sanctions coordination and alliance behaviour theory, this paper examines the interaction between domestic and international factors when states decide whether (or not) to join international sanctions coalitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effects on Belarus of European Union (EU) sanctions against Russia, on the one hand, and Russian sanctions on Ukrainian and EU goods, on the other. International sanctions opened up new political and economic opportunities that the Belarusian authorities sought to capitalise on. But Minsk's attempts to swim between two waters (retaining the benefits Moscow offered while improving relations with the EU) have backfired and distrust towards Minsk has grown in Moscow, Brussels and Kiev. A theoretical approach is made to the foreign policy of small states, before this paper shows how Belarus has been harmed by its attempts to take advantage of EU and Russian sanctions regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been seven decades since the six founding member states of what would become the European Union (EU) sought to integrate their armies into a common defence force through the European Defence Community. Today, while ever more European decision makers allude to the need to create such a force, it remains a distant prospect. What is it that is really hampering progress towards a common European defence model based on a shared army? What is the position of the main EU actors – society, political parties and institutions – on the subject? Using a variety of methodological approaches, this paper seeks to provide empirical evidence of the social, political party and institutional complexities hindering its realisation. Although the EU is not currently working on the creation of a common, single army, events such as the invasion of Ukraine could put it on the political agenda, and neither society, nor the elites, nor the major parties would be opposed.

New crises that have erupted this decade, such as COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have led the European Union (EU) to wake up to the need to expedite certain decision-making processes. This would allow it to play a more geopolitical role on the international stage and move past the traditional European approach of soft power as a means of influence. To do so, it is essential to advance towards greater geopolitical capabilities that enable true strategic autonomy in areas such as security and defence: new challenges must be met with different strategies and instruments. This paper examines the functioning, potential institutionalisation and capacities of the European Political Community (EPC) as a driver of a geopolitical Europe.

The evolution of the European Union (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) raises questions about whether societies in member states share a common or convergent defence culture. Conceptual and methodological problems in the existing literature, however, make it difficult to measure this phenomenon. That is why this paper proposes a new model to measure the political culture relative to European defence, using a mixed factor analysis. In addition, drawing on a series of Eurobarometer surveys, it charts current attitudes towards defence in European citizenship and the impact of the war in Ukraine. The findings point to the existence of several political subcultures regarding defence in the EU. They also indicate various methodological strengths – and limitations – arising from the available Eurobarometer data.

The new defence policy of the European Union (EU) is forcing the defence industry in Europe to adjust its strategies, especially since the invasion of Ukraine. Both the European Commission and the European Defence Agency (EDA) are pushing for a European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB), taking account of factors that include the fragmentation of supply chains, the significant efficiency gains that can be made and the prospect of greater EU strategic autonomy. In the industrial field, particularly in the area of technology, it will change the shape of the European defence industry. But what direction will this new industry take? Will national oligopolies be reinforced at the same time as other European oligopolies emerge? Drawing on an empirical analysis based on interviews with experts, this paper focuses on Spain as a case study and explores the repercussions it will have on the country’s defence industry.