– Abstract
2007 did not bring any changes to the trends of previous years, which have been spent waiting. The weight of problems from the past still bore on: the tensions, crises and conflicts did not experience any decisive shift for better or for worse, whether it was in the Near Middle East, in Africa or in Europe. Fears about the future and a prevailing atmosphere of distrust have persisted: the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism remain regular or pervasive threats. Globalisation has not progressed, and the impacts of the American « subprime » crisis have darkened economic perspectives. Climate change has featured prominently in the agenda of great international meetings, yet no agreement strengthening the Kyoto Protocol was reached. In these conditions, international governance is in a stalemate: multilateralism is weakened institutionally and normatively ; American unipolarity does not respond to the demands for international leadership; the prevailing unorganised multipolarity leads to disagreement as well as to an international adjustment ; the European Union seems on the verge of waking up from its slumber, yet its international influence is still fragile ; the option of reinforcing the Transatlantic axis around NATO would risk reviving ancient chasms.
