There is a growing consensus that the international community has a responsibility to intervene to protect civilians at risk of mass atrocities where governments are unwilling or unable to act themselves. But while the responsibility to protect – or “R2P” as it is often known – is the subject of much discussion in academic and policy circles, what are the chances of it being implemented? As history appears to repeat itself in Darfur and elsewhere, what steps can the EU take to ensure R2P becomes more than just good intentions?

EU governments are gradually coming around to the idea that they need to open up their defence markets. The European Commission is currently proposing new procurement and trade directives aimed at streamlining defence market legislation. The proposed directives would open up the defence market, improve European cooperation on armaments and lead to a more competitive European defence industry.

As violence breaks out yet again in the Democratic Republic of Congo, causing a humanitarian crisis and demonstrating the fragility of the UN peacekeeping mission there, DRC analyst Thierry Vircoulon looks at the causes of this latest conflict, and examines why repeated international peace efforts have failed. What are the obstacles to peace and what can and should the European Union do?

After Barack Obama’s historic win in the 4 November US presidential elections, EUISS Research Fellow Marcin Zaborowski looks at what changes we can expect from the incoming administration in terms of US foreign policy. Iraq and Afghanistan will see the most dramatic shift in policy, although a change in style and tone should also be expected towards Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea.

Révisé suite au sommet pour la Méditerranée tenu à Paris en juillet dernier, ce rapport souligne la nécessité pour toute nouvelle union de se fonder sur l’acquis politique existant du Partenariat euro-méditerranéen (PEM), ou « Processus de Barcelone », qui considère la réforme comme prioritaire...

Many Europeans had been cautiously optimistic that September’s parliamentary elections in ­Belarus would help break the deadlock in EU-Belarusian relations. However, not a single opposition candidate was elected, and international observers declared that the elections fell short of international standards. Is Minsk serious about rapprochement with the West? And how can the European Union best encourage progress with its eastern neighbour?

This issue of the EUISS newsletter looks at the need to avoid confrontational bipolarity in the wake Georgia conflict, assesses prospects for a regional solution to the Afghanistan conflict, and examines ESDP ten years after the St Malo Anglo-French summit. It also gives a round up of the Institute’s recent seminar series on the European Security Strategy, as well as the latest publications and press clippings.

With Barack Obama set to become the next president of the United States, EUISS Director Álvaro de Vasconcelos looks at what this means for US relations with the rest of the world. After the controversies of Guantánamo Bay and the war in Iraq, can Obama restore America’s tarnished reputation and meet the high expectations for a different style of foreign policy?

Paris, 23 October: Engaging new global players in multilateral efforts to tackle global

crises will be the topic of the annual conference of the EU Institute for Security

Studies (EUISS) that takes place in Paris next week.

PARIS, 29 September 2008: Bush’s foreign policy legacy and prospects

for future US foreign policy is the subject of a paper released today

by the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS).