Search

Begin New Search Political Geography Balkans Publication Year within 25 Years

271. Dubious Anniversary: Kosovo One Year Later

Author:
Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz
Publication Date:
06-2000
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
One year after NATO ended its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, the Clinton administration's Kosovo policy is a conspicuous failure. Kosovo is now the scene of a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by NATO's erstwhile de facto ally, the Kosovo Liberation Army, an organization profoundly inimical to America's interests and professed values. The KLA is also currently fomenting an insurgency elsewhere in Serbia, which promises to destabilize the Balkans even further.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Genocide
Political Geography:
United States, America, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, Serbia, and Balkans

272. Information Management in the Field of Security Policy in SEE -- 1st Workshop of the Study Group: "Crisis Management in South East Europe"

Author:
Tufik Burnazovic, Athanasios E. Drougos, Gustav E. Gustenau, Wolf Oschlies, Dragan Simic, Avgustina Tzvetkova, Biljana Vankovska, and Vladimir Šaponja
Publication Date:
05-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
Secessionist conflicts have become a major feature of the European political landscape in the 1990s. International response to them has varied from full-scale military intervention to half-hearted mediation, generally providing for freezing of most active hostilities and for addressing most urgent humanitarian needs. Europe in the 1990s saw more “peace” operations on its soil than any other region in the world, but still was not able to find satisfactory answers. Kosovo is a tragic illustration of that and the deployment of NATO troops after a massive use of airpower still lacks the framework of a political plan and appears very tentative and opportunistic. Several specifically European factors define the perspective of a possible new wave of secessionist conflicts in the region.
Topic:
Security, NATO, International Cooperation, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe and Balkans

273. Military Lessons from Desert One to the Balkans

Author:
Ike Skelton
Publication Date:
10-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
Military leaders are often accused, usually unfairly, of fighting the last war. It would be a pretty poor general, however, who failed to learn from what worked and what didn't work when military plans were actually put to the test. The task is to correct what went wrong and to build on what went right without losing sight of the fact that conflicts in the future may be quite different from those in the past. It is the premise of this article that a careful look at significant U.S. military operations over about the past twenty years—roughly the period the author has served in Congress—can help shape answers to a surprisingly large number of contemporary issues in defense policy. What follows is a brief review of seven of these military operations, followed by a discussion of some important lessons.
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Balkans

274. Russia, EU, U.S. and the Balkans: What Future?

Author:
Roberto Aliboni
Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Unlike what has happened with Central-eastern Europe and the Eastern Balkans, policies conducted by the West towards Western Balkans after the end of the Cold War have had a largely reactive character. By and large, although the fragmentation of Yugoslavia had been widely feared and anticipated, developments in Western Balkans took the West aback because of their violent and uncompromising character. For this reason, with respect to this area the European countries and the United States have shown continuous hesitations and oscillations on how their interests in the area had to be understood, how much they had to feel involved and what they had to do.
Topic:
Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Yugoslavia, and Balkans

275. 2nd IAI-SWP Review Conference on the Mediterranean

Author:
Daniela Pioppi
Publication Date:
06-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
In the opening session the two directors of the IAI-SWP exercise, Roberto Aliboni and Volker Perthes, together with Franco Zallio (Fintesa Studi Paese) gave a first overview of the main issues and problems faced by the Euro-Med Partnership (EMP). Volker Perthes' introduction focused on more political issues. He started by underlining the fact that the EMP is an experiment of 'regional governance' (expression taken from 'global governance'). However, the region comprised by the EMP is not a geographical expression. The EU decided who was to be included (i.e. Libya and the Balkans are excluded, but Jordan or EU non-Mediterranean countries are comprised). Therefore, the problem remains: what is a proper region for the EMP undertaking?
Topic:
Security, Economics, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, Balkans, and Jordan

276. Aftermath: Women and Women's Organizations In Postconflict Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author:
Ross Bankson
Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Agency for International Development
Abstract:
<p> From 1992 through 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina was embroiled in a brutal war. The origins were rooted in a complex web of power politics, economics, and territorial ambitions in which ethnonationalist propaganda was used to divide and conquer. The result was countrywide devastation. <br /><br /> Two interrelated atrocities became hallmarks of the war: “ethnic cleansing” and the systematic rape of women. Ethnic cleansing was a process whereby towns were “purified” of the other ethnic groups through forced eviction and execution. Rape was used as a means of facilitating this process by instilling fear into the community and forcing out its population. The demographic, social, psychological, and physical chaos caused by these combined strategies is the most horrifying and enduring legacy of the war. </p><blockquote><p> </p> </blockquote><p>  </p><p> </p><p> </p>
Topic:
Ethnic Conflict, Gender Issues, Human Welfare, and War
Political Geography:
Bosnia and Balkans

277. Women's Organizations and the Building of Civil Society. A Balkan Perspective: The Case of Bulgaria, Croatia and Macedonia

Author:
Genoveva Tisheva
Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, City University of New York
Abstract:
We are in the year 2000 and it is the right time to assess and to strike a balance on the role and progress of women' s non-governmental organizations in the context of the development of our region. As a matter of fact, we celebrate this year 10 years from the beginning of democratization processes in Central and Eastern Europe and 5 years from the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing. We are also in a post - war period for the region that is the focus of important initiatives such as the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe.
Topic:
Development, Gender Issues, and Non-Governmental Organization
Political Geography:
Europe, Beijing, Bulgaria, Balkans, Macedonia, and Croatia

278. The NATO of the Future: Intervention and Integration in Europe

Author:
Bertel Heurlin
Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
There is good reason to take a closer look at NATO. The former Cold War alliance has dominated the international arena for a considerable amount of time. Should NATO have been dissolved long ago? What are the reasons for NATO's revival? Not only is NATO expanding, it has also recently conducted a war in the very heart of Europe. What can this renaissance and hectic NATO-activity lead to? Many politicians, commentators and observers discern the development of a new cold war, not least because of the lack of Russian support for, and understanding of, NATO's bombings in the Balkans. In May 1999, a prominent Russian security expert alleged that “if NATO commits a mistake such as the bombings in Yugoslavia, there would be a risk of Russian retaliation with nuclear weapons.2 Others, on the other hand, predict a collapse of the organisation as a whole because of internal disputes among the member states due to the extremely complex situation in the Balkans.
Topic:
Security, NATO, and Politics
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Yugoslavia, and Balkans

279. Civil-Military Relations in the Third Yugoslavia

Author:
Biljana Vankovska
Publication Date:
08-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Any consideration of the Serbs' military traditions is inevitably a study of both the real and mythical aspects of their history. They are so intertwined that the very endeavour to distinguish between them is not only hardly possible but also counter-productive. The thesis that the 'boundaries between myth and history are not clear' can be proved in the Serbian case. At the same time, however, the inter-mixture of these two components easily leads to false conclusions and corrupt political decisions. From today's perspective Serbs are the most mythologised people in the world. Two opposed and equally biased perceptions are dominant: they are perceived as either 'heavenly people' or 'devil's seed'. The common notion in both interpretations is war. Yet this does not provide enough elements to form a clear picture. In the light of the most recent events (the 1999 NATO intervention in FR Yugoslavia) one may say that what the Serbs see as bravery, others interpret as belligerency. And vice versa - what Serbs see as an anti-heroic war, others see as humanitarian intervention. Given the crucial position of Serbia in the Yugoslav wars that have still not ceased, one may assume that fresh historical material for the evaluation of Serbian military traditions, myths and traumas is still growing. This very fact certainly contributes to the inability to analyse them objectively, but usually politically motivated blockades are made in order to prove one's righteousness.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Government, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Serbia and Balkans

280. NATO and Humanitarian Action in the Kosovo Crisis

Author:
Marc Sommers, Larry Minear, and Ted van Baarda
Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Abstract:
The world's response to the Kosovo crisis dramatizes the increased role of international military forces in humanitarian action. Some people view this development positively as the harnessing of the military for humanitarian tasks; others are alarmed at the perceived militarization of humanitarian action. A workshop convened by the Netherlands Foreign Ministry in The Hague on November 15-16, 1999, assessed these different perspectives on the Kosovo experience in the light of research it had commissioned.
Topic:
NATO, Human Rights, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Kosovo, Serbia, and Balkans