Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks has become a very important inspiration for the twentieth-century Marxist political thinkers around the world. ‘Using Gramsci A New Approach’ is one of the most recent additions to various works done around the Prison Notebooks of this Great Italian political theorist and cultural critics. Michele Filippini, a researcher in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna has come up with ‘a new approach’ on Prison Notebooks and has touched some major concepts that are previously given little attention by Gramscian scholars. By extending Gramsci’s concepts beyond Marxist perspective, Filippini’s book provides expert guides to key features and themes in Gramsci’s writing in combination with the pressing political, social and cultural struggles of our time. The author does not show a clear connection between those topics discussed in the book, but his work remains a valuable addition to Gramscian thoughts in the twenty-first century. Key Words: Gramsci, Prison Notebooks, ideology, the individual, Society

One of the debates regarding the EU"s role in the international relations has been what kind of an international actor the Union has been since its inception. While, some argues that the Union has a realist approach, authors like Ian Manners see the EU as a "normative power", which is more of an idealist approach in the international relations. The latter conception has brought a lot of attention towards the study of EU"s relations with the rest of the world; particularly, the developing countries in Sub Saharan Africa. In an attempt to navigate such debate, basically by examining the case of the EU and Ethiopian relationship, this article attempt to reveal the narrative of labeling the EU as a "Normative Power" and democracy promoter is just an idiom. The article suggests that the strategic importance of Ethiopia to the EU, in the fight towards terrorism, peacekeeping, and managing migration in the region of the Horn of Africa has affected the EU"s commitment towards diffusing the alleged normative values in the country. Thus, this article divulges that the EU"s security interest overshadows the promotion of its democratic values and norms in Ethiopia.

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