Law is both a method of organization, an instrument to balance brute force and a means of power. This new issue of Politique étrangère sheds light on all these aspects, through the examples of the International Criminal Court, the “extraterritoriality” of US law, the complex basis of European law, or need to regulate the Internet. Law is necessary for the move towards an international society, but it is not enough in itself.

Behind the professed Franco-German agreements, disagreements are mounting. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle reaffirms the areas of cooperation without any real new advance. More fundamentally, what unites French and German strategies today? Can the legacy of decades of co-operation extend beyond the affirmation of similar, or even differing national interests? The Contrechamps column in this issue asks the question: what keeps the Franco-German partnership going today, and also, does it really work behind the faded smiles on display?

Sudan and South Africa: how is Africa building its transition and democratisation models? Should we create a European intelligence agency? And will we ever know the cause of the crash that killed Dag Hammarskjöld? Once again, Politique étrangère explores the many facets of international life.

CASE FILE

A WORLD OF LAW?

Law in the International System: More than Just a Tool?, by Philippe Moreau Defarges

Does the International Criminal Court Still Have a Role to Play on the Global Stage?, by Joël Hubrecht

Law: An Economic and Geopolitical Weapon of the United States, by Marion Leblanc-Wohrer

The European Legal Sphere: European and National Law, by Bernard Stirn

The Law Catches Up with the Internet, by Maryline Grange

COUNTER ANALYSIS

FRANCE/GERMANY: WHAT'S BEHIND THE MASK…

The Aachen Treaty: The Promise of Convergence for a Divided Couple, by Hans Stark

Paris and Berlin: History and the Long Term, by Dominique David

CURRENT AFFAIRS

Sudan: Transitional Challenges Following the Fall of Omar al-Bashir, by Anne-Laure Mahé

South Africa: A Fragile Democratic Model?, by Victor Magnani 

REFLECTIONS

Do We Need a European Intelligence Agency?, by Éric Mechoulan

Trump, Europe, and NATO: Back to the Future, by Seth A. Johnston

France and Iranian Nuclear Policy: Administrative Issues and Foreign Policy, by Guillaume Beaud

Who Killed Dag Hammarskjöld? Sisyphus in New York, by Maurice Vaïsse

BOOK REVIEWS

Peuplecratie. La métamorphose de nos démocraties, by Ilvo Diamanti and Marc Lazar

Les origines du populisme. Enquête sur un schisme politique et social, by Yann Algan, Élisabeth Beasley, Daniel Cohen and Martial Foucault

Le populisme en Europe centrale et orientale. Un avertissement pour le monde ?, by Roman Krakovsky

By Éric-André Martin

ABSTRACTS