Search

Begin New Search Political Geography Europe

5411. The Best Papers from the 2003 DCAF-IISS Young Faces Conference

Author:
Nicu Popescu, Margareta Mamaliga, and Ivan Zverzhanovski
Publication Date:
07-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
Following a decade of devastating conflicts, the countries of South Eastern Europe have now intensified their efforts to reform the security sector, foster security cooperation in the region and move more swiftly towards the membership in Euro-Atlantic integrations. Beyond any doubt, to succeed in these efforts, the whole region will have to develop and heavily rely upon a new generation of civilian security and defence experts.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

5412. Adaptation of Security Structures to Contemporary Threats

Author:
Theodor H. Winkler
Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
International security has entered into a period of profound change. This process was initiated by the end of the Cold War and its rigid, yet stable bipolar power structures. It was further accelerated by the attacks of 11 September 2001 as well as the US war against Iraq. This new security environment is bound to require a no less profound corresponding reform of the security sector and renders the principle of good governance of the security sector even more imperative.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and NATO
Political Geography:
Europe and United Nations

5413. Ukrainian Democratic Development and Euro-Atlantic Integration: A Natural Convergence, But A Difficult Path

Author:
James Green
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
For over a thousand years, Ukraine\'s national strength and independence has been linked to democratic self-governance. In the Kyiv Rus, popular assemblies called \'vetches\' elected representatives and provided popular input into governmental policy. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Cossack hetman and foremen were elected by the Cossack Radas, which also debated and approved government policies. Beginning in the 14th century and lasting until the early 19th century, many Ukrainian towns and cities – Lviv, Kyiv, Vinnitsa, Zhytomyr, Chernigiv, Glukhov, Lubny, Poltava – flourished under the political and economic self-government provided by Magdeburg Law, which offered liberation from feudal duties, the election of city authorities, and rule of law. This link continues to the present; the modern Ukrainian state was born out of the convergence of movements for national independence and democracy that brought down the Soviet Union. Although neither of these attributes is yet fully consolidated in the young Ukrainian state, the country\'s best hope for success lies in its democratic elements: a system, albeit imperfect, of electing government officials and legislators, elements within the judiciary willing to uphold human rights and the rule of law, journalists and editors willing to take risks to report the truth, non-governmental organizations that provide a means for citizens to mobilize in order to advance their common interests.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Government
Political Geography:
Europe, Ukraine, and Soviet Union

5414. NATO Membership Is A Realistic Goal If Ukraine Shows Courage And Resolve

Author:
James Green
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
For many Ukrainians today, the possibility of membership in NATO seems like a far-off dream. Yet ten years ago this January, when NATO Heads of State meeting in Brussels confirmed the Alliance's openness to “democratic states to our East,” the goal of NATO membership must have seemed just as unreal to the populations of other Eastern and Central European countries. Who could imagine that a Romania just beginning to recover from the political and economic devastation wrought by Ceausescu's misrule could possibly meet the “principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law” set forth in the North Atlantic Treaty? That NATO would cross Russia's 'red line' and invite the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to join the Alliance? Or that the Alliance would accept the candidacy of Bulgaria, considered by many in the Soviet Union as the 'Sixteenth Republic'? Yet all these nations, plus Slovakia and Slovenia, will be joining NATO in June 2004 at the Istanbul Summit. Added to Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, which joined the Alliance at the Washington Summit in 1999, ten Central and Eastern European countries will have joined NATO in the ten years since the Brussels Summit. The success of these Eastern and Central European countries in overcoming scepticism, pessimism, and the burden of their difficult histories – and in the process transforming themselves from post-communist societies into members of the community of Euro-Atlantic democracies – is proof that far-off dreams can come true if a nation's leaders have clear political vision and will, supported by a systematic and resolute approach to implementing reforms.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and NATO
Political Geography:
Europe, Washington, and Ukraine

5415. Vision Of A New Hungarian Intelligence Architecture

Author:
Tibor Babos
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
Hungary has come a long way. The National Assembly has effectively developed oversight of the military through budget, approval of the Basic Principles of National Defense and the Defense Bill, and deployment of the Armed Forces. The Constitutional Court has effectively addressed the problems caused by the October 1989 Constitution and 1 December 1989 Defense Reform; and its decisions have been respected. The military has evidenced significant reform; it has been restructured to accommodate NATO, but force modernization continues to be greatly restrained by scarce resources. But Hungary still has a number of tasks to achieve effective civilian oversight.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and NATO
Political Geography:
Europe

5416. Civil Society, Democracy and the Law

Author:
Ian Leigh
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
This paper first discusses the meaning of civil society and, in particular, its strengths and limitations. The second section considers what civil society can add to the representative democratic process. In the remaining sections, I discuss how civil society interacts with the law in a democratic state. There are two distinct aspects to this. Firstly, there are the legal and constitutional pre-conditions that allow civil society to flourish. These include issues about group autonomy, freedom of the press and of protest, including the place of civil disobedience. Secondly, there are the specific ways in which civil society can use the legal process to further its ends.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:
Europe

5417. Civil Society and Democratic Oversight of the Security Sector: A Preliminary Investigation

Author:
Marina Caparini
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
Civil society has become a popular term in academic, policy and foreign assistance circles. A significant body of literature and research has developed around the concept, and its key role in consolidating and sustaining democracy is now widely recognised by academics and policy-makers alike. Successive waves of democratisation in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe have led experts to view civil society as a crucial agent for limiting authoritarian government, strengthening the empowerment of the people, and enforcing political accountability. It is considered a crucial factor in improving the quality and inclusiveness of governance.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Civil Society, and Democratization
Political Geography:
Europe and Latin America

5418. The EU's CAP, the Doha Round and Developing Countries

Author:
Michael Nelson and Michael Halderman
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies
Abstract:
This study analyzes the political economy of European Union policy-making in regard to EU trade in beef and dairy with developing countries. The way the EU makes its agriculture and trade policies involves three levels: the EU member state, the EU itself, and the international trading system. The study also considers a fourth “level,” developing countries, that is affected by EU policy-making. We present criticism from various sources concerning negative international effects of EU agriculture and trade policies. Recognizing the great range of trade-related interests among developing countries, the study analyzes relevant issues of four categories of such countries. EU trade and agriculture policy is strongly influenced by international factors, particularly by multilateral trade negotiations. Change in relevant EU agriculture and trade policy affecting developing countries has been part of or directly linked to - and in the future will require additional reform of - the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Recent reform of the CAP has been affected by and linked to the current Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations conducted under the auspices of the WTO.
Topic:
International Relations and Third World
Political Geography:
Europe

5419. The Building of Regional Security Partnership and the Security Culture Divide in the Mediterranean Region

Author:
Fulvio Attiná
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies
Abstract:
Fulvio Attiná examines the concept of “regional security partnership” both theoretically and in the context of Euro-Mediterranean region-building. He argues that this partnership is an intermediate venture on the road to the possible appearance of a Euro-Mediterranean security community. By discussing the difficulties of negotiating a security partnership in the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, Attiná highlights the security culture divide on both sides of Mediterranean. The differences in the security culture between European and Arab states have deepened in recent years in view of regional and global developments, constituting a major obstacle to the implementation of a security partnership. Attiná argues, however, that the interaction between the two shores of the Mediterranean in coping with globalization-driven problems may prevail over the factors that have led to a deepening of the security culture divide in recent years.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Globalization, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Europe and Arabia

5420. Turkey “between East and West”

Author:
Metin Heper
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies
Abstract:
Metin Heper discusses the formation of Turkey's identity, which came to encompass both an "Eastern" and a "Western" (or European) dimension. Against this background, Heper discusses three main issues within the politics of Turkey that have remained problematic from the perspective of the EU: Islam in politics, nationalism and the consideration of Turkey's ethnic minorities, and the political role of the military. Based on the "identity history" of Turkey, Heper puts forward some suggestions about how the alleged divide between East and West, and Islam and Europe, may be bridged. The paper concludes by exploring the possibility that an intellectual departure from the concept of a "shared civilization" towards the idea of "sharing a civilization" may contribute to the construction of a Euro-Mediterranean region.
Topic:
International Relations, Islam, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Europe and Turkey