WESTERN EUROPE:SIGNIFICANT ADJUSTMENTS IN ITS US POLICY

After the end of the Cold War, there have emerged a series of new significantphenomena in international relations. First, as a result of the collapse of theformer Soviet Union and the disintegration of the Warsaw Treaty Organization,there is no longer a common enemy for Western Europe and the US.

The Third Way in the U.S.and Western Europe

In recent years,the political scene in major Western powers has undergone afundamental change in response to the fluid international situation:in the U-nited States,Bill Clinton was elected President in 1992 breaking Republican controlover White House;while on West European political stage,right-wing ruling pari-ties gave place to the left one after another.Currently,13 out of 15 EU memberstates,except Spain and Ireland,have a government run by left parties or

Dealing with Multisource Information for Estuarine Flood Risk Appraisal in Two Western European Coastal Areas

Estuaries are usually affected by compound flooding triggers that cause diverse territorial damages.While fluvial flood risk assessment frameworks are well established in the literature,integrated management instruments that deal with estuarine flood risk remain incomplete and often lacking.This research presents a methodology to extract relevant information from multiple sources post-event and a database building process that is applied to two contrasting estuaries(the Tagus River estuary in Portugal,and the Shannon River estuary in Ireland)in the Western European coastal area.Overall,a total of 274 documents were analyzed and the information was stored in two databases.Multiple correspondence analysis was applied to extract the most informative and relevant estuarine flood indicators.An integrated estuarine flood risk assessment framework is presented and discussed based on the extracted indicators.The framework is driven by two distinct dimensions(oceanic and hydrographic)and revealed the transversal position of triggers of estuarine floods,reflecting the compounding effects usually present in these areas.The results also highlight two levels of flood risk mostly based on damage typology.

Shifting of summertime weather extremes in Western Europe during 2012-2020

Over the past decades,droughts and heatwaves frequently appeared in Western Europe(45°-65°N,10°W-20°E)during boreal summer,causing huge impacts on human society and ecosystems.Although these extremes are projected to increase in both frequency and intensity under a warming climate,our knowledge of their interdecadal variations and causes is relatively limited.Here we show that the droughts and heatwaves in Western Europe have shifted in their trends in the last decade:for 1979-2012,wind speed and precipitation have both strengthened in Western Europe;for 2012-2020,however,Western Europe have experienced declined wind speed,decreased precipitation,and higher air temperature,leading to more frequent droughts and heatwaves there.Recent changes in the WE climate and extremes are related to the variations of the North Atlantic westerly jet stream.In 1979-2012(2012-2020),the westerly jet stream shifted equatorward(poleward),which enhanced(reduced)transportation of water vapor fluxes from the North Atlantic Ocean to the European land areas,resulting in wetter(drier)surface in Western Europe.Further analysis suggests that phase changes in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation could have played a key role in regulating the position of the jet stream,providing important implications for decadal predictions of the Western Europe summertime climate and weather extremes.

TOWARDS A GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE HUMANE TREATMENT OF CAPTURED ENEMY FIGHTERS

The prevailing narrative instructs us that humane treatment of captured enemy fighters is down to white knights from the western parts of the European continent with their codes of chivalry, or alternatively, the Swiss businessman Henri Dunant. This contribution challenges that narrative for overlooking, or being ignorant of, the way that societies around the world have approached the matter of the captured enemy fighter. Traces of some of the critical principles about humane treatment that we see in our present law can actually be found in much older societies from outside of Europe. A more accurate and representative way of understanding humanitarianism in the treatment of captured enemy fighters can and must be crafted, with the prevailing Euro-centric account balanced with practices, cultures and faiths from elsewhere. The quest to achieve more humane treatment in armed conflict is first and foremost a battle of the intellect. Narratives and conceptualisations that are more inclusive, recognising and appreciating of the ways of the rest of the world are likely to be more effective in communicating humanitarian ideals. This work adopts a new method of approaching the richness and diversity of the treatment of captured enemy fighters over time and space. This new framework of analysis uses six cross-cutting themes to facilitate a broader international and comparative perspective, and develop a more sophisticated level of understanding. The first theme is how older and indigenous societies approached the matter of captured enemy fighters. The second focuses on religions of the world, and what they teach or require. The third section examines the matter of martial practices and codes of ethics for combatants in certain societies. The fourth category engages with colonisation and decolonisation, and regulation （or non-regulation） of the treatment of captives of war. Fifth is the issue of modernisation and the impact it has had on armed forces and fighters, including on the treatment of captives. The final issue is the shift towards formalised agreements, beginning with the first bilateral agreements and then the multilateral codification exercise that began in the mid-19th century and continues to this day. This framework for analysis leads into a final chapter, presenting a fresh and holistic view on the evolution of prisoner of war protections in the international order. It provides a different way of looking at International Humanitarian Law, starting with this effort at a global understanding of the treatment of captured enemy fighters.