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41. Return to Babel: The Race to Integration in the Southern Caucasus

Author:
Heidemaria Gurer
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
When talking or writing about the (Southern) Caucasus, I usually like to start by illustrating the diversity of its three countries when it comes to their cultural, linguistic, historical, economic and religious composition. This is due to the heavy migration in the region and the century-long influence of surrounding regional powers and to the fact that it is located in a strategic triangle between Iran, Russia and Turkey, with additional geopolitical interest coming from the European Union and the United States. There is a significant background of existing conflicts to take into account. For those who know the region this may seem redundant; however, for “newcomers” it is a good start in describing the (Southern) Caucasian Babel.
Topic:
Imperialism, Migration, Regional Cooperation, and Diversity
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Iran, Turkey, Middle East, Asia, and South Caucasus

42. Europe's Armed Forces in Civil Security

Author:
John L. Clarke
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
Two decades after the end of the Cold War, does Europe need armies? What should soldiers do, besides fighting and preparing to fight? What tasks are (and are not) ap- propriate for soldiers to carry out in a domestic context? Is territorial defense still a valid mission for European armed forces? And are there better—and cheaper—solu- tions?
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Europe

43. NATO's Energy Security Policy Put to the Caspian Test

Author:
Nathan R. Grison
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
As a bridge between the Middle East, the former Soviet republics, and the Euro-Atlan- tic zone, the Caspian Sea is increasingly at the center of the global geopolitical and commercial game. In addition to its strategic location, the Caspian Sea, according to analysts, could contain between 6 and 10 percent of the world's gas reserves, and from 2 to 6 percent of the world's oil reserves.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Europe and Middle East

44. Strategic Thinking about Future Security

Author:
Marian Kozub
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The reality that we face at the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century renders security issues, and in particular the ways of providing security, central to international attention, both in its present and future aspects. The reasons for this centrality are not only the revolutionary changes in science and technology, but also perhaps even more importantly the characteristics of the already diagnosed and existing threats and predicted challenges for the global security environment for which we have not yet found sufficient responses. This essay focuses on the notion of challenges and opportunities created by the world in transition that we undoubtedly face, instead of relying on the "language of threats" and the responsive, symptomatic approach towards them that has characterized the discourse of the strategic community in the past. Discussing a new security environment requires a new set of terms.
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
Europe

45. NATO's Cooperation with Others: A Comprehensive Challenge

Author:
Agata Szydelko
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
What defines NATO when it is compared to the United Nations and the European Union? Is NATO an "institution of doing" (task-oriented), or an "institution of being" (identity-based)? While trying to define the role and reasons for NATO's existence in comparison to the United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU) and trying to answer whether NATO is an identity-based or task-oriented institution, it is worthwhile to reach out to the sources and find out when and why these three international institutions were established in the first place and what is the primary driver of their decision making.
Topic:
NATO
Political Geography:
Europe and United Nations

46. Recent Trends in Security and Stability in the South Caucasus

Author:
Richard Giragosian and Sergey Minasyan
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
After twenty years of independence, the three counties of the South Caucasus-Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia-continue to struggle with a daunting set of challenges. In light of several unresolved conflicts and profound deficiencies in efforts directed at democratic and economic reform, the South Caucasus continues to be a "region at risk." As if this rather bleak landscape was not enough, three more recent trends have emerged to further threaten the region's security and stability. The first trend, and one that is likely to have the most profound effects over the long term, is evident in a subtle shift in the already delicate balance of power in the region, driven largely by a steady surge in Azerbaijani defense spending and exacerbated by a lack of progress in the mediation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Since the 1994 ceasefire that resulted in the suspension of hostilities over Nagorno-Karabakh (but that did not definitively end them), this unresolved or "frozen" conflict has been subject to an international mediation effort conducted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) so-called Minsk Group. This tripartite body co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States seeks to engage and prod the parties to the conflict toward a negotiated resolution of the conflict.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and Security
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Caucasus, France, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia

47. Foreword

Author:
General Raimund Schittenhelm
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The Republic of Austria joined the Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes through its Ministry of Defense in 1999. Right from the beginning, Austria's primary interest centered on the issues of security policy and crisis management, with a special focus on the Western Balkans region. As a consequence, the Austrian National Defense Academy promoted the establishment of a Study Group on Regional Stability in South East Europe (RSSEE) jointly with Croatia and Bulgaria at the Consortium's second annual conference in Sofia in December 1999.
Political Geography:
Europe and Austria

48. Fifteen Years of Peace-building Activities in the Western Balkans: Lessons Learned and Current Challenges

Author:
Michael Daxner
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
While Michael Schmunk's observations presented at the twentieth workshop of the PfP Consortium Study Group on Regional Stability in South East Europe are largely accurate, in this essay I will bring more precise emphasis on a few key issues. I will use the case of the Kosovo intervention as an example for my views on the region, and I shall try to generalize some of my experiences in the light of other, more recent interventions elsewhere. A partially subjective approach is chosen to demonstrate the problems that confront social scientists who attempt to bear in mind both the political and the scientific, while recognizing that they belong to two different systems.
Political Geography:
Europe, Kosovo, and Balkans

49. Advice and Advocacy: Ten Years of the Regional Stability in South East Europe Study Group

Author:
Frederic Labarre, Ernst M. Felberbauer, and Predrag Jureković
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
Advocates and advisers share a passion for the region they work in, but they are separated by the quality of their functions. Advocates are practitioners of reform and reconstruction working in the region, while advisers propose (but, ideally, do not proselytize) decision options. Dictionaries define advice as the "an opinion given to someone about what they should do in a particular situation," whereas advocacy is defined as "the act or action of supporting an idea, way of life, person, etc." Rarely is the English language so clear in its distinctions between two neighboring concepts. Both advocates and advisers, however, are often criticized for appearing to be too ready to offer opinions, and not being receptive enough to the realities on the ground and the grievances or actual needs of the local population.
Political Geography:
Europe

50. Medvedev's Proposals for a New European Security Order: A Starting Point or the End of the Story?

Author:
Ulrich Kűhn
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
On 29 November 2009, the Kremlin published the draft of a legally binding European security treaty on its website. The initiative launched by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2008 for the rearrangement of Europe's security order thus reached its preliminary and unexpected climax, or perhaps an inconclusive endpoint. At their core, Medvedev's proposals aim at a codification of NATO's current borders, a recovery of Russian influence in the so-called “near abroad,” and the establishment of legally binding “rules of the game” going forward in the realm of maintaining peace and stability in Europe.
Political Geography:
Russia and Europe