Although very few facts have gone unchallenged in a rather untypical campaign, it is very likely that a United Kingdom vote on 23 June to leave the EU would negatively affect its place and influence in the world. The Brexit camp has been strategically quiet on concrete post-Brexit scenarios, while the Remain camp has warned…

In this discussion paper for the Swiss foreign policy think-tank foraus, I analyse the TTIP negotiations from a Swiss point of view. In a nutshell, my paper argues that TTIP is rightly facing a contentious debate, as it’s an agreement with deep-seated political implications. For Switzerland, the dilemma is between marginal economic gains, traded off against a…

Access here. After a moving and emo­tio­nal res­ponse to the ter­ro­rist attacks in Paris on 13 Novem­ber, time has come for reflec­tion. The recent poli­ti­cal vio­lence in France and elsew­here raises big ques­tions and asks for no other than big ans­wers. To address these fun­da­men­tal chal­lenges, we met with Jean-François Bayart, a renow­ned Afri­ca­nist who…

Access here. TTIP reflects the regulatory framework that globalised value chains dictate. Yet, it covers 40% of global trade only – what about the rest? Economic justice should come to the fore – both in a TTIP ‘accession clause’ and at the WTO.

Access here. This paper proposes an innovative analytical approach to regionalism promotion by the European Union (EU) in Africa. The approach pursues the dual aim of accommodating African approaches to regionalism in EU foreign policy analysis and of expounding the centrality of diplomacy in negotiating a renewed EU-African Union relationship. The concept of ‘regionalism diplomacy’…