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262. Ten Years After (Vol I) Democratisation and Security Challenges in South East Europe
- Author:
- Biljana Vankovska, Jordan Baev, Aldo Bumçi, Spyros Damtsas, Miroslav Hadzic, Ljubica Jelušič, Marina Mitrevska, Arkady Moshes, Vladimir Prebilic, and Boris Trajkovski
- Publication Date:
- 05-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- Time and space dimensions have different meaning in the Balkans. During just one year (May 2000 to May 2001) this statement has been proven in the case of the main activity organised by the PfP Consortium Working Group on Crisis Mana gement in SEE. At the last Working Group's meeting in Reichenau the idea on organising an international conference was born. The idea was fully supported at the PfP Consortium meeting in Tallinn and eventually realised in Ohrid, Macedonia. The scholar conference under the title “Ten Years After: Democratisation and Security Challenges in SEE” (27-29 October, 2000) without false modesty can be seen as one of the best events organised under the auspices of the PfP Consortium between two annual meetings.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Balkans, and Macedonia
263. Ten Years After (Vol II) Democratisation and Security Challenges in South East Europe
- Author:
- Biljana Vankovska, Boris Trajkovski, Richard Cohen, P. H. Liotta, Daniel N. Nelson, Nina Nikolova, Jan Oberg, and Dennis J.D. Sandole
- Publication Date:
- 05-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- Time and space dimensions have different meaning in the Balkans. During just one year (May 2000 to May 2001) this statement has been proven in the case of the main activity organised by the PfP Consortium Working Group on Crisis Management in SEE. At the last Working Group's meeting in Reichenau the idea on organising an international conference was born. The idea was fully supported at the PfP Consortium meeting in Tallinn and eventually realised in Ohrid, Macedonia. The scholar conference under the title “Ten Years After: Democratisation and Security Challenges in SEE” (27-29 October, 2000) without false modesty can be seen as one of the best events organised under the auspices of the PfP Consortium between two annual meetings.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Balkans, and Macedonia
264. Multiethnic State, Ethnically Homogeneous State and the Future of the Nation-State in the Balkan.
- Author:
- Plamen Pantev
- Publication Date:
- 05-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- Approaching and testing the capacity and effectiveness of the nation-states in the Balkans is a long-term research necessity for many reasons: First, despite the tendency of making the state boundaries less and less significant in the era of new information technology, global economy and new communications capabilities the nation-state will remain the key organisational unit of the international system and the features of national sovereignty will continue to dominate and influence the management toolbox of international relations and domestic politics. Hence, any form and nuance of the nation-state in the Balkans will have a decisive meaning for dealing with the political and security agenda of the region.
- Topic:
- Democratization and Globalization
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Balkans
265. Global Humanitarian Emergencies: Trends and Projections, 1999-2000
- Publication Date:
- 12-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Abstract:
- Both the number and intensity of humanitarian emergencies, as well as the number of people in need, will remain at about the same high level or even increase somewhat by December 2000- testing the capacity and willingness of the international donor community to respond adequately. According to the US Committee for Refugees, roughly 35 million people are in need of emergency humanitarian assistance. There are twenty-four ongoing humanitarian emergencies and new or renewed emergencies could appear in the Balkans, Sub-Saharan Africa, Russia, and/or Central America. Humanitarian conditions throughout the former Yugoslavia, Haiti, Iraq, and North Korea will continue to have a particularly significant impact upon regional stability, as well as on the strategic interests of major outside powers. Conditions are likely to worsen in Angola, Colombia, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Republic of Serbia within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), excluding the province of Kosovo. The current drought in the Horn of Africa may induce a famine as severe as that of the mid-1980s. The humanitarian situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC) and Sierra Leone are unlikely to improve significantly even if pending peace accords hold, and could worsen considerably if such accords were to fail. In addition to the emergencies cited above, several other major countries and regions may experience conflict, political instability, sudden economic crises, or technological or natural disasters- leading to new or renewed humanitarian emergencies: Resumed hostilities between India and Pakistan that expanded beyond the borders of Kashmir, as they did in previous conflicts, would displace a million or more people on both sides of the border. The countries of Central America and the Caribbean that were battered by hurricanes in 1998- especially Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, and Haiti-remain vulnerable to weather-induced disasters. Internal ethnic conflict would create substantial humanitarian needs in The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The possibility of additional sudden economic emergencies also cannot be discounted. In Russia, drought threatens the grain harvest, and unless the outlook improves, Moscow will again need large-scale food assistance. Despite Nigeria's turn toward democracy, escalating conflict in the oil-rich Niger River Delta region could lead to widespread refugee flows into neighboring countries. The possible effects of widespread Y2K-related difficulties could aggravate current humanitarian emergencies or lead to new emergencies. The overall demand for emergency humanitarian assistance through December 2000 may exceed the willingness of major donor countries to respond. Overall funding for ongoing emergencies has probably temporarily spiked upward owing to Hurricane Mitch and Kosovo. Nevertheless, the focus on the Balkans could detract attention and resources from other regions with extensive humanitarian needs. Absent major new emergencies, the longer-term funding trend is likely to continue downward, increasing the shortfall. Government funding is likely to decline fastest for long-lasting conflicts where attempts at political resolution continue to fail.
- Topic:
- Genocide, Government, Human Rights, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Balkans, and Central America
266. New Balkan Policy Needed
- Author:
- Robert D. Greenberg
- Publication Date:
- 04-2001
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Foreign Policy In Focus
- Abstract:
- In the first months after the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) entered Kosovo in June 1999 and the Kosovar Albanian refugees returned to their homes, the minority Serbs and Gypsies became the victims of Albanian revenge attacks. The few Serbs who have remained in Kosovo live in scattered enclaves under the protection of KFOR troops. Nevertheless, sporadic violence has continued to erupt, including the bus bombing in February 2001 killing Serbs heading to a religious event. KFOR has been unable to stop the violence from spilling over Kosovo's borders to Macedonia and to Serbia's Presevo Valley region, which has a sizable ethnic Albanian minority. Meanwhile, Macedonia has closed its border with Kosovo, raising the likelihood of a serious economic crisis in Kosovo that could induce further instability there.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Foreign Policy, and Ethnic Conflict
- Political Geography:
- United States, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Balkans, and Albania
267. Bin Laden and the Balkans: the Politics of Anti-Terrorism
- Publication Date:
- 11-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- The global focus on Islamist extremist-inspired terrorism resulting from the 11 September atrocities has raised the question of the potential for such terrorist activity in, or emanating from, the Balkans.
- Topic:
- Politics, Religion, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe and Balkans
268. Peace in Presevo: Quick Fix or Long Term Solution?
- Publication Date:
- 08-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- The past decade in the Western Balkans has seen very few peacefully negotiated transfers of territorial control. The most recent example ñ albeit one not involving any change of sovereignty - was also the only one achieved by NATOís direct mediation. In May 2001, the Presevo Valley was brought back under Serbian government control, ending an ethnic Albanian insurgency that had lasted some seventeen months.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Ethnic Conflict, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe and Balkans
269. Albania: The State of the Nation 2001
- Publication Date:
- 05-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- This report describes the current situation in Albania, paying particular attention to relations with the country's Balkan neighbours, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia and Greece. The recent upsurge in fighting in the Presevo Valley of southern Serbia and in Macedonia has damaged the reputation of all Albanians in the region and has once more raised the spectre of a Greater Albania. Consequently, the Albanian government has been at pains to stress that it does not support the ethnic Albanian insurgents and wishes to see the territorial integrity of Macedonia upheld. To this end, Tirana has requested NATO's assistance to secure the Albania-Macedonia border, and has called for a solution to the crisis through dialogue.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe, Greece, Kosovo, Serbia, Balkans, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, and Tirana
270. After Milosevic: A Practical Agenda for Lasting Balkans Peace
- Publication Date:
- 04-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Slobodan Milosevic has gone, but he has left behind him in the Balkans a bitter legacy of death, destruction and distrust. His democratic overthrow was a watershed, but the potential for renewed conflict in the region remains dangerously high, and it is vital that there be forward - looking and comprehensive action by the international community to address the continuing sources of underlying tension.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe and Balkans