Articoli

• On Tragedies and Great Delusions. John J. Mearsheimer and Geopolitics
  SU TRAGEDIE E GRANDI ILLUSIONI. JOHN J. MEARSHEIMER E LA GEOPOLITICA
  Corrado Stefanachi Università Statale di Milano
  
  ABSTRACT
  The article concerns the geopolitical dimension of John J. Mearsheimer’s “offensive realism”, arguing that the geopolitical ideas set out in Mearsheimer’s latest book The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities (2018) partly differ from the geopolitical thought outlined in The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001), by far his most ambitious theoretical work. The article affirms that, while Tragedy offered a geopolitical structuralism which focused exclusively on (global) space, Great Delusion is interested also in place(s). In Tragedy Mearsheimer regards geography as mainly a structural factor which profoundly affects international power politics, asserting in particular that bids for global hegemony are doomed to fail due to the “stopping power of water”. Unlike Tragedy, Great Delusion expounds a political anthropology in which geography (i.e. places) plays an important role also as a source of cultural and national particularism, whose persistence in post-Cold War international system helps explaining the failure of the US policy of global liberal hegemony.
  KEYWORDS: MEARSHEIMER; POLITICAL REALISM; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY; NATIONALISM; SPACE/PLACE
  
  
  
• Common European Defence, PESCO: between centralisation and fragmentation
  DIFESA COMUNE EUROPEA, PESCO: FRA ACCENTRAMENTO E FRAMMENTAZIONE
  Massimiliano Lalli Sapienza Università di Roma
  
  ABSTRACT
  The Permanent Structured Cooperation or PESCO, inserted within the Lis- bon treaties, had an accelerated decision, given above all by the strategic and political changes at European level and out from Eu, particularly Brexit and the arrival of the histrionic in the White House Donald Trump, who responded in a very aggressive way in terms of budget and responsibilities to be assumed within the Atlantic alliance, bringing the spread of tension to levels never recorded before. This has been the driving force behind an initiative that from the beginning had the aim of changing the way of seeing the sector of the armed forces within the EU, and consequently the strategic relationship between the European states born in the aftermath of the end of the Second World War, with the aim of finally constituting a single body responsible for the defense and interests of all citizens and not least those of the leading industries in the sector. From December 2017 this “dream” seems to be able to come true, and with it also the increasingly predominant interest in talking about this topic. The activation of PESCO, together with the EDF (European Defense Found), the tool with which the Old Continent aims to integrate a complex sector subject to ever-increasing international compe- tition, forms this new and fascinating project; but there are a lot of dynamics that contrast with each other and that range from political, economic, migratory, commercial and even value interests, forming such a complex corollary that to date this new permanent defense structure seems more a way to emphasize its usefulness than actual real scope. For this reason, it will be interesting to provide a vision cross-section between what the reference target is, that is “centralization” of the defense sector, and the actors that we can define as misaligned in this process which lead to profound “fragmentation” actions. We will play on this alter ego of interposition and we will analyze how this new tool is organic for the real purposes of an interest directed towards the whole of Europe, or how it constitutes a privileged “tool” for privileged actors within the EU chessboard. An analysis will then be carried out that will rely on historical, economic, strategic and social sources, which will serve to deconstruct the theme, in a sort of method for demonstration, showing how the national interest remains an approach on which we cannot detach ourselves or to think that is a secondary factor. Within the new permanent defense regulations we will note how it points to a vision of European interest, but the structure itself does not absolutely cancel the importance that states must to have and in knowing how to maintain and improve themselves in the development of capabilities defensive technologies by collaborating with industry sectors. We will therefore discuss at the level of the country system what weight and scope a European defense policy will have, intent on centralizing strategic choices and long-term investments, what will be the considerations to be taken to the advantage of this choice and what could be the contraindications for those countries that possess a considerable wealth of knowledge in the defense industry. These are just some ideas that try to make the reader understand what the logic of the paper will be, where the need for a centralizing thrust, aimed at increasing the European defensive union field, sometimes contrasts sharply with the reality fragmented by multiple needs.
  KEYWORDS: GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGY, AD&S, DEFENSIVE INDUSTRY, EUROPEAN DEFENCE.
  
  
  
• Analytical tools for European defense. Deinometric model and pleiocriticality, buleutropic model and national strategic interests
  STRUMENTI ANALITICI PER LA DIFESA EUROPEA. Modello deinometrico e pleiocriticità, modello buleutropico e interessi strategici nazionali
  Francesco Barbaro Sapienza Università di Roma
  
  ABSTRACT
  The systemic structure and evolutionary rules of European defense can be understood starting from the post-bipolar context, to be analyzed according to the princi- ples of chaotic systems. To reduce complexity, we introduce the “deinometric” model, that cross-correlates interdependence and competition variables. It shows that European security and defense are subject to a force field that can be described by the category of “pleiocriticali- ty”: a state characterized by proliferation of medium-high impact and high probability risks. However, Eu member States act within an intergovernamental framework, pursuing their strategic interests. The latter are linked to the decision-making mechanisms of Pesco, Ei2 and the Aachen Treaty by an abductive logic (a new formulation of which is provided): a) to analyze decision-making processes, we introduce the “buleutropic” model, which cross-corre- lates structuring and widening variables; b) Germany is the dominant economy in Europe but lacks strength in defense, while France is a leader in the sector; c) therefore, Germany has promoted an enlarged unanimity-based Pesco to preserve its primacy, France has launched an exclusive informal Ei2 to try to change the balance of power, and the “epiplocist” Aachen Treaty acts as a “clearing house” between them. If Ei2 keeps on rising, to be competitive Pesco will have to evolve its decision-making mechanisms. The Italian interest should be to carry out bilateral agreements with France and Germany. Within a scenario of hybrid and cyber warfare, Eu should extend the perimeter of its technological sovereignty to de facto dual use 5G, on the model of the Galileo satellite system.
  KEYWORDS: DEINOMETRIC MODEL AND PLEIOCRITICALITY, BULEUTROPIC MODEL AND NATIONAL STRATEGIC INTERESTS, CHAOS THEORY AND ABDUCTIVE LOGIC APPLIED TO EUROPEAN DEFENSE
  
  
  
• Cooperativeness or conflict? Change the paradigms of politics
  COOPERAZIONE O CONFLITTO? CAMBIARE I PARADIGMI DELLA POLITICA
  Gianpiero Magnani CDS Cultura
  ABSTRACT
  The traditional conception of politics, concerning the ongoing globalization process is inadequate: against the distinction between friend and enemy proposed by Carl Schmitt, a new political paradigm is needed to explain the differentiation of forms of sover- eignty that characterize recent history. The new paradigm we propose is based on the concept of “political action” as a subjective process that changes the rules driving the collective be- havior of a human community. For this analysis, we will use concepts developed by differ- ent theorists such as Erich Fromm and Douglass North, to review ideas expressed by Carl Schmitt and by Ekkehart Krippendorff, from a different perspective. Not being able to rely on instincts, human beings need politics to guide their collective action, otherwise they would not survive; the sovereign is then the person who, from time to time, manages to resolve the uncertainty, and to eliminate the exception, in order to establish a new collective order. The ways to resolve the uncertainty may be the most diverse, cooperative or conflictual, democrat- ic or authoritarian, local or global, with different effects. In the new phase of globalization, thanks also the technological progress, the State has lost its political monopoly, and new political subjects are emerging outside or on top of the State institutions: our age is therefore characterized by fluctual or limited sovereignties, in which no one controls the world and there is no regulatory center – hopefully a democratic and not a conflictual one – which also would now be more necessary than ever, to try to solve the great global problems of our time. The European Union could be a possible model, even if still not perfect and certainly needing improvements. Much work needs to be done.
  KEYWORDS: FRIEND-ENEMY DISTINCTION; STATE SOVEREIGNTY THEORY; KRIPPENDORFF’S POLITICAL THOUGHT
  
  
  
• PER LA PACE PERPETUA:I BALCANI UNITI D’EUROPA PASSANO ANCORA DA SREBRENICA E KOSOVO
  Eugenio Palermo Docente di storia e filosofia presso Docet Formazione Bologna.
  TITLE: For the perpetual peace: the United Balkans of Europe still pass from Srebrenica and Kosovo.
  
  ABSTRACT
  The Balkans are always been land of geopolitics rivalries between different Empires that have raised ethnics and religious hates, often then cause of serious tensions or wars in Europe. In the contemporary age that was knewn as Eastern question and prob- ably it has never been resolved. This script want photograph and analize the state of re- ports between European Union and the six states of the area (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania) and how far along is their process of european integration. The enlargement of European Union towards the Western Balkans is a necessary step for the definitive solution of this perennial tension state in that area that have still in Kosovo and Bosnia mains knots, to have finally a perpetual peace instead of the usual fragile truce and so to strengthen the european building. Enter in the common european house would also rescue the Balkan States from dangerous influences that work to weaken and divide the EU: China, Russia, USA, Turkey, the States of Gulf. Furthermore, the balkan integration would permit to strengthen the counter at illegal traffics of the several mafia of the area and their illegal traffics (human beings, weapons and drugs) and the fight at islamic terrorism brought by the balkan foreign fighters back in Europe. But there’s a strong will to walk this path from these six States? Strong enough to the point to push away the nazionalistic spirit that still poison their societies or to reform themselves following the european standards about rule of law? EU could finally lead this process with only one will, and not divided and rival one other as in the past? The health crisis of COVID-19 seems to be one more hurdle, instead maybe can be an encouragement for this process, showing that the way out from this global emergency is not facing by their own. But EU have the mission to pursue it never surrender their principles of democracy and freedom.
  KEYWORDS: WESTERN BALKANS, EU, PEACE-BUILDING.
  
  
  
• THE IMPORTANCE OF RUSSIA’S AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN THE MENA GEOPOLITICS
  Benedetto Francesco Ballatore Ph.D. – Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Foodstuff and Forestry Policies
  
  ABSTRACT
  After 1990, at the close of the communist era, Russia’s agriculture embraced an ample process of transformation. The transition from centralized agriculture to a modern, competitive and sustainable agriculture was marked by several reform failures. Nonetheless, the Eurasian country’s agro-food sector and in particular the grain industry thrived remark- ably after 2014 in the wake of the Western countries-imposed sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. In fact, Russia’s policymakers recognized Kremlin’s deci- sion to impose complete food imports ban on the EU, US and some other Western countries as an opportunity to re-launch the agro-food sector. At present, the government seizes the sector’s economic potential also as a strategy for economic diversification of the country, which is too much tied up to the oil and gas industry performances. In fact, in the Putin era the es- tablishment of integrated agricultural holdings was supported by well-balanced agricultural reforms that had an important role for the modernization of Russia’s grain industry. In this regard, the main purpose of this paper is to analyse the agro-food policies developed by the Russian government, the reasons behind the success of Russia’s grain industry in the Middle East and North Africa regions (the so-called MENA countries) and the weaknesses it still confronts, both internal and external.
  KEYWORDS: MENA COUNTRIES, RUSSIA
  
  
  
• IL PAKISTAN E LA DEMOCRATIZZAZIONE. ESEMPIO DI UN PROCESSO CHE PASSA ATTRAVERSO LA DE-RADICALIZZAZIONE DI UNO STATO ISLAMICO E L’ACCETTAZIONE DELLA DIMENSIONE TRIBALE
  Francesco Valacchi PhD Geopolitica, Università di Pisa
  Pakistan and its Democratization. A case of process evolving through an Islamic State de-radicalization and tribal custom acceptance.
  
  ABSTRACT
  The scourge of religious extremism has shocked the Islamic Republic of Pakistan since its born but on the other hand has also provided the military of Islama- bad with several occasions for obtaining exceptional powers. In a country where military regimes have administered the government for three periods, from 1958 to 1971, from 1978 to 1988 and from 1999 to 2008, and where they still have a predominant influ- ence, the implementation of counter-terrorism strategies has been a valid and important lever for maintaining power. Religious extremism thus provided the starting point for the delay in the transition to democracy. At the beginning of NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the granting of extraordinary powers to the military, Pakistan has however shown that it can resolve government and systemic crises with a democratic response and the elites have managed to discipline themselves by giving very interesting evidence of political management. Democratization is being accomplished thanks to a party balance that coexists with tribal realities on which state sovereignty is still lacking. The article, after a brief historical over- view, examines the events of recent years and tries to describe the social dynamics through which the democratic structure, despite the increase in military power, has resisted the legitimacy crises of governments.
  KEYWORDS: DEMOCRATIZATION, PAKISTAN, SOUTH-ASIA.
  
  
  
• PROGETTATO PER DURARE: IL BUSINESS MODEL DELLO STATO ISLAMICO
  MEANT TO LAST: THE ISLAMIC STATE’S BUSINESS MODEL
  Massimiliano Frenza Maxia Business and Management Development in Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking
  
  ABSTRACT
  The intelligence assessment of the Islamic State’s master financial ledgers proves that the organization has been implementing sharia-compliant principles of economic and finan- cial policy since its origins, although they have been adjusted according to the best practices taught in the best western business school. The Daesh business plan sought new sources of income and economic self-sufficiency while formally observing both the principles of the medieval Islamic economy (Ibn Taymiyya) and the theories of contemporary scholars (Mawdudi). Diversification, reinvestment, financial sustainability and a well-established presence on the territory represent the innovative elements that justify the resilience of the Islamic State and can predict its comeback.
  KEYWORDS: DAESH – BUSINESS MODEL – TERRORISM FINANCING – SHARIA ECONOMY
  
  
  
• LA CIVILTÀ TALATTICA DEL MEDITERRANEO NEL PENSIERO DI ERNST KAPP E CARL SCHMITT
  Orazio Maria Gnerre
  
  ABSTRACT
  The relationship between Schmitt’s thought and that of his predecessor philosopher Hegel is established in particular by the historians inspired by the latter. It is the historian Ernst Kapp to lay the foundations of Carl Schmitt’s theory of nomoi through the delineation of a sequence of civilizations that has followed over time. The main difference is that this approach, for Schmitt, is not necessarily dialectical and evolutionary, although if he learned from Kapp to foresee the relationship between human communities and the geographical dimension. It will be set to bring Schmitt to define the civilization of the Mediterranean according to some organizational and existential features.
  KEYWORDS: MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATION; CARL SCHMITT; ERNST KAPP
  
  
  
• TRA MARE NOSTRUM E TRITON: TRACCE DI RIPENSAMENTO DELLO STATO-NAZIONE AGLI INIZI DEL XXI SECOLO
  Denise Coco Sapienza Università di Roma
• SPUNTI DI RIFLESSIONE SULLO SVILUPPO CYBER E SUI CAVI SOTTOMARINI
  Edoardo Maria Landoni Università degli Studi di Milano Reflections over cyber-development and submarine cables
  
  ABSTRACT
  The cyber world is growing thanks to new technologies, but it is also indissolubly linked to the physical realm as its infrastructure, made of databases, com- puters, antennas and cables, is physically located around the globe. The aim of this article is to provide the reader with some instruments to understand the cyber domain as it is today and how deeply it impacts our everyday life. In particular, the reader will be introduced to the development of submarine cables through time, from 1858 when the first cable was laid until today, and space, through a brief description of the present cables’ infrastructure around the globe. Moreover, the article will give the reader some hints regarding the connection that exists between submarine cables and states’ sovereignty, as well as some reflections over its economic and political implications. A particular attention will be given to the relevance of submarine cables for the geopolit- ical analysis. Eventually, some basic concepts of geopolitics, like the ones developed by Mahan or Spykman, will be used in order to introduce the topic, and trying to stimulate the reader for a further investigation on the subject matter.
  KEYWORDS: CYBER-DEVELOPMENT AND CYBERSPACE, GEOPOLITICS AND ICT, SUBMARINE CABLES
  
  
  
• LE CATEGORIE BELLICHE ALL’EPOCA DEL COVID 19 Guerra asimmetrica, invisibilità del nemico virale e ricadute geopolitiche: le implicazioni dello scenario pandemico 2020
  Giulia Ragno Docente di geostoria presso il Liceo Archita di Taranto
  
  ABSTRACT
  The dramatic and unexpected Covid-19 health emergency makes us reflect on the use of war categories in the phenomenal analysis of an atypical war against the invisible crowned enemy. The objective of the contribution is to rethink the Covid-19 pandemic spread by adopting the geopolitical models for a critical reflection on the consequences of the emergency in current trans-state relations in a spatial perspective within which we redefine: alliances, modus operandi and the influence of relationships. From the analysis conducted, the renegotiation of traditional alliances emerged by virtue of tactical orientations between powers that promptly entered the field with interventions on a broad geopolitical spectrum and others that opted for waiting policies. By virtue of this, the hegemonic projections of soft power were considered in the frame- works of structured and innovative partnerships that signal mechanisms of supportive revanchism, increased aspirations of power in emerging peripheral realities by redesigning diplomatic relations and eroding prestige to countries more cautious and held back by procedural mechanisms or economic protection priorities.
  KEYWORDS: COVID-19 HEALTH EMERGENCY; GEOPOLITICAL SPIN-OFFS HEALTH EMERGENCY; HEALTH SILK ROUTE