Background on the News - 2004-12-08

Turkey's Dreams of Accession

December 8, 2004

The EU has already admitted ten new members this year, but next week it will consider whether to open negotiations for the accession of Turkey. Although the secular government in Ankara has already pushed through remarkable reforms to bring Turkey in line with EU requirements, many are not yet convinced that the vast Muslim country can blend in with the EU's Christian majorities. The recent debate between David Phillips and Wolfgang Schäuble in Foreign Affairs showed why this next possible step toward the EU enlargement raises unnerving questions about the union's identity and purpose.

• Full text of original essay
• Read Wolfgang Schäuble's critique and a reply by David Phillips

Previously in Background on the News

Taming Tehran
November 24, 2004
Last week, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom got Iran to agree to suspend its uranium-enrichment program — a critical step, many hope, toward preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. . . . Read more

Intelligence Reform Stumbles — Again
November 10, 2004
Following the failure to stop the September 11, 2001 attacks or find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a fundamental overhaul of the nation's intelligence services seemed in the offing. But reform proposals have recently run aground on the shoals of competing bureaucratic interests . . . Read more

• Newsletter Archive

In the Next Issue of Foreign Affairs

On newsstands starting January 4, 2005

• John Lewis Gaddis analyzes the Bush administration's grand strategy;
• James Dobbins and Edward Luttwak debate what to do in Iraq;
• Dennis Ross, Francis Fukuyama, and William Drozdiak assess looming problems in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe;
• Selig Harrison says the administration is crying wolf on North Korea.

Plus: Updating the U.S. nuclear strategy, the shifting global economic landscape, persistent troubles in the Balkans, and word games and inaction in Darfur.

To get your copy of the January/February 2005 issue, visit your local newsstand or the Barnes & Noble or Borders bookstore nearest you beginning January 4, 2005. To receive your copy in the mail, subscribe no later than:

• U.S. Orders: January 31, 2005
• International and Canadian orders: December 31, 2004

Or use our Newsstand Finder.

In the Current Issue of Foreign Affairs

The complete text of selected essays and of all the book reviews from the November/December issue can be found on the Foreign Affairs Web site. Currently the following essays are available in their full text:

The Sources of American Legitimacy

Robert W. Tucker and David C. Hendrickson

The 18 months since the launch of the Iraq war have left the country's hard-earned respect and credibility in tatters. The road back will be a long and hard one.

• What people are saying
  (via Google)

Is America Losing Its Edge?

Adam Segal

For 50 years, the United States has maintained its economic edge by being better and faster than any other country at inventing and exploiting new technologies. Today, however, its dominance is starting to slip.

• What people are saying
  (via Google)

Was Iraq a Fool's Errand?

Tony Smith and Larry Diamond

Tony Smith of Tufts University says that, rather than blame Bush for poor execution, former CPA official Larry Diamond ("What Went Wrong in Iraq," Foreign Affairs, Sept./Oct. 2004) should have known that the whole idea of imposing democracy on Iraqi society was a bad one in the first place. Diamond replies.

• What people are saying
  (via Google)

Outstanding New Books

Plaudits from our book review panel in the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs.

The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream
by Jeremy Rifkin
"Rifkin is no starry-eyed idealist . . . he has studied Europe seriously and with an open mind. His book deserves to be read."  —Stanley Hoffmann
Read the review

The Choice: Poland, 1939-1945
by Irene Eber
" . . . a grim, beautiful memoir . . . [Eber] has crafted a small literary masterpiece . . . "  —Robert Legvold
Read the review

The 9/11 Commission Report
by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
"The background to the struggle with al Qaeda has been told elsewhere, but this account — of how the attacks came about, of why they took the form they did, and of the difficulties the U.S. government faced as it attempted to adjust to this new type of threat — is bound to be definitive."  —Lawrence D. Freedman
Read the review

Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History, 1585-1828
by Walter A. McDougall
" . . . [an] engaging and fresh book . . . As always, McDougall's writing is spellbinding."  —Walter Russell Mead
Read the review

Free World: America, Europe, and the Surprising Future of the West
by Timothy Garton Ash
"[a] stirring call for a renewed and reimagined Euro-Atlantic world . . . Garton Ash's optimistic vision will inspire debate, and this extraordinarily astute and beautifully written book will take its place as a classic in the field."  —G. John Ikenberry
Read the review

Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide
by Linda Melvern
"Melvern . . . provides an authoritative account. Breaking new ground, she documents the extensive preparation for the genocide by extremists within the government of President Juvénal Habyarimana going back at least to 1991."  —Nicolas Van de Walle
Read the review