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1581. The United States: The Empire of Force or the Force of Empire?

Author:
Pierre Hassner
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
There is no society or policy that does not have its contradictions, but some have more than others, and that is certainly true of the United States. Raymond Aron evoked a classic paradox in giving his book on the United States the title The Imperial Republic. That paradox has two aspects. Firstly, are the republic's institutions (which are designed to guarantee citizens' rights and a separation of powers) suited to the running of an empire, or are they prejudicial to the decision-making ability and continuity that that implies? Conversely, does not the expenditure on empire, in terms of resources and time, and in particular the methods used to acquire and preserve it, affect the economic, political and moral health of the republican homeland? These dilemmas are made even more acute since, on the one hand, this is not a classic empire, like that of Rome, but rather a bourgeois, individualist one based on the acquisition of wealth rather than the winning of wars and, on the other hand, this is the first truly world-wide empire and has appeared at a moment when the threats facing humankind raise key questions on the interests of the international system and the planet itself, over and above those of the 'hyperpower'.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

1582. From Candidate to Member State: Poland and the Future of the EU

Author:
Rafal Trzaskowski
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
The official Polish position on the future of the European Union is characterised above all by:Continuity – there are no major differences between the previous centre-right government and the current social democratic one when it comes to the future of Europe.Evolution – the official Polish position on the future of Europe is evolving. At the outset it was very vague, cautious and sometimes even defensive, but with time it has become more concrete,less cautious and more constructive.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, and Poland

1583. Enlargement and European Defence After 11 September

Author:
Pal Dunay, Jiri Sedivy, and Jacek Saryusz-Wolski
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
The jury is still out on the extent to which 11 September has changed the concept – let alone the perception – of security. All the more so for European security at large, whose contours are still quite blurred. As for the European Union proper, 11 September has triggered a prompt response in the field of internal security, while the military reaction has been either channelled through NATO and the UN or managed individually (and bilaterally with the United States) by both member and applicant states. More indirectly, 11 September has increased the pressure towards enlargement by pushing for a faster and broader accession of the current candidates in order to further stabilise the Union's immediate neighbourhood: a quintessential case of security policy by other means, one is tempted to say, in line with a long tradition in the European integration process. Moreover, for similar reasons, the Atlantic Alliance, too, is likely to enlarge more quickly and more extensively than previously envisaged. Key decisions in those directions are to be taken in Prague (NATO) and Copenhagen (EU) later this year. For the Union, anyway, the endgame has already started. With it, the enlargement process will have come almost full circle: 'from Copenhagen to Copenhagen', so to speak, in just under ten years.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and United Nations

1584. Terms of Engagement

Author:
Julian Lindley-French
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
Sir Lew Grade comes from a long tradition of failed British film producers. In 1980 he produced a film that bankrupted him. Entitled Raise the Titanic, the film was a box office flop of appropriately Titanic proportions. When asked about his risky investment, he said that on reflection it would have been cheaper and easier to lower the Atlantic than raise the Titanic. Observers of transatlantic security relations could be forgiven for feeling pretty much the same about the state of American-European relations as the shock of 11 September is replaced by the search for coordinated policy. Not only do Americans and Europeans disagree about the means of international relations; they seem increasingly to bicker about the ends.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, and NATO
Political Geography:
America and Europe

1585. From Nice to Laeken, European Defence: Core Documents

Author:
Maartje Rutten
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
This Chaillot Paper is the second in our series of core documents on European security and defence. Unlike the first volume, which covered the whole period from St-Malo to Nice (December 1998 - December 2001), this volume and subsequent ones will recapitulate developments in European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) during the preceding year. As the whole world of defence and thus Europe and the ESDP were profoundly affected by the terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001, we have divided this Chaillot Paper into two parts. The first comprises documents on the further development and implementation of the ESDP. The second part contains those documents illustrating the EU's response to the terrorist attacks that we consider most relevant to the goal of this paper.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, and NATO
Political Geography:
Europe

1586. Bigger EU, Wider CFSP, Stronger ESDP?

Author:
Antonio Missiroli
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
Last spring, the research team of the then WEU Institute for Security Studies came up with the idea of carrying out a targeted screening of the prevailing (and evolving) views on CFSP and ESDP in the candidate countries. In order to preserve some homogeneity and comparability, the screening would be limited to the ten Central European applicants. In fact, the Mediterranean candidates (Cyprus and Malta, let alone Turkey) pose completely different problems, while the whole exercise was intended to try and assess what CFSP/ESDP means to the part of Europe that was 'kidnapped' for almost half a century – according to Milan Kundera's well-known metaphor from the 1980s – and is now about to 'return' where it belongs. In a way, however, the project was also intended to try and assess what such a 'return' might mean for CFSP/ESDP, and how the two processes would interact and dovetail.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Cyprus

1587. A New European Union Policy For Kaliningrad

Author:
Sander Huisman
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
Just as Königsberg became known for its intellectual weight, symbolised by the brain-twister how to cross the city's seven bridges without passing one of them twice; Kaliningrad is notorious for the immense problems it has to deal with, perhaps mirrored by the inconclusive ways the EU and the Kremlin are figuring out how to assist the oblast. Any government would get frightened if faced with a task of the daunting magnitude that Kaliningrad's governor Yegorov and his administration face.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Europe

1588. Between Efficiency and Legitimacy: Democratic Accountability of the Military in the US, France, Sweden and Switzerland

Author:
Hans Born
Publication Date:
11-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
During situations of national emergencies, natural disasters, conflict and war, state institutions have to act quickly and decisively in order to divert dangers. Every state and its society need to have a competent political leadership and government agencies that are able to act efficiently. From a democratic governance point of view, however, it is equally important that the decision-making process and the resulting outcome is both accepted and valued by the people. In other words, it is essential that the processes and outcomes of the state institutions are legitimate within a democracy.
Topic:
Security, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:
Europe

1589. Managing Change: The Reform and Democratic Control of the Security Sector And International Order

Author:
Theodor H. Winkler
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
When the Berlin Wall came crashing down and the Cold War reluctantly proved, to everybody's surprise, to be truly over, there was an apparent, almost embarrassing inability to define the key parameters that would mark the new era that had obviously dawned. Even to give it a name proved difficult. The best attempt still remains “Post Cold War World”, i.e. a negative description (the absence of the Cold War) and not a positive analysis of what truly marks the emerging new international system.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Civil Society, Cold War, Democratization, and Reform
Political Geography:
Europe

1590. Assessing Democratic Oversight of the Armed Forces

Author:
Sander Huisman
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
There is no such thing as the model for democratic control of the armed forces. Perhaps more influential than constitutional arrangements; historical legacies and political cultures are setting conditions. However, a few essentials or principles of democratic oversight can be discerned. This paper aims to provide an overview of the efforts of different post-communist states in establishing democratic oversight over their armed forces. The comparative analysis is based on a study that the staff of the Centre for European Security Studies has conducted last year (Organising National Defences for NATO Membership - The Unexamined Dimension of Aspirants' Readiness for Entry) and the experiences gained from a three-year multi-national programme that CESS has started in 2001 (Democratic Control South East Europe: Parliaments and Parliamentary Staff Education Programme - DEMCON-SEE). This programme is running in seven countries: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia-Montenegro.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Democratization, and Development
Political Geography:
Europe, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, and Montenegro