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62. The Military and the Fight Against Serious Crime: Lessons from the Balkans
- Author:
- Cornelius Friesendorf
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- Serious crime poses major obstacles in peace operations. International actors intervening in war-torn countries face the challenge of putting pressure on suspected war criminals, members of organized criminal groups, those who instigate interethnic violence, and corrupt officials. While it is widely acknowledged by now that serious crime and public security gaps cause lasting damage to international stabilization efforts, international and domestic policing structures remain weak. This article examines the law enforcement role of international military forces. It shows that in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, military support for crime-fighting efforts has been unsystematic, although it has improved over time. Practical, political, and normative reasons stand in the way of employing the military for law enforcement tasks. However, under conditions of weak policing, preparing the military for law enforcement is necessary in order to better protect citizens against serious crime.
- Topic:
- Security
- Political Geography:
- Bosnia, Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Balkans
63. 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
64. The View from Kosovo: Challenges to Peace-building and State-building
- Author:
- Ilir Deda
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- Kosovo in its third year of independence faces three sets of challenges: internal, regional, and international. The consolidation of the state is affected by developments in these three areas, and the degree of success in these realms will directly affect the future and the substance of the new state. The international community, once focused on building peace and stability in Kosovo (from 1999–2008) has recently shifted its focus toward the functionality of the new state's institutions and the rule of law. Kosovar society, on the other hand, is focused on an internal debate about what kind of a state it wants.
- Political Geography:
- Kosovo
65. Kosovo: The Next Steps
- Author:
- Daniel Serwer
- Publication Date:
- 11-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United States Institute of Peace
- Abstract:
- Kosovo should not be allowed to stagnate as a "frozen conflict." There are well-established principles that can provide a basis for moving forward. Talks between Belgrade and Pristina on a framework for managing their relationship on practical issues are both possible and necessary, even if they do not happen right away. The time available should be used for careful preparations, especially by Pristina. As Belgrade and Moscow present serious challenges, a joint EU/U.S. effort has the best prospects for success to prevent a "frozen conflict."
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Diplomacy, Treaties and Agreements, and War
- Political Geography:
- Kosovo, Moscow, and Balkans
66. Thomas Grant. Admission to the United Nations, Charter Article 4 and the Rise of Universal Organization
- Author:
- Anne-Laurence Brugère
- Publication Date:
- 08-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- 'Every constitution encounters the difficult problem of distinguishing interpretation and adaptation, progressive development and amendment'. The question whether, and to what extent, the practice of an organization does not merely interpret but also modify its constitutive instrument lies at the very heart of Thomas Grant's volume on Article 4 of the United Nations Charter. The volume, divided into seven chapters, is based on a thorough account of the United Nations' practice from 1945 onwards in the matter of admission, from the 'early years' (Chapter 2) to the present day controversies over Kosovo and Taiwan (Chapters 5 and 6). Grant highlights perfectly the shift in 1955–1956 from a rigorous process over admission to the presumed right of states to membership; that is to say, from the wartime alliance to the universal organization (Chapter 3). This, in turn, raises the question of the legal justification for this change, a key issue addressed in Chapter 4 which this book review will concentrate on. The legal framework applicable to admission is examined in the first and last chapters. Chapter 1 intends to give an overview of the provisions of the Charter governing admission, though it deals exclusively with the procedural mechanism set out in Article 4(2). As for Chapter 7, it examines the legal con - sequences for a state of being admitted to the United Nations.
- Topic:
- United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Taiwan and Kosovo
67. Making of a New State in the Balkans: Kosovo
- Author:
- Mehmet Öcal and Ayşe Aslıhan Çelenk
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- Kosovo is one of the last states in the Balkan puzzle to gain its independence. The disputed region that declared independence on February 17, 2008 is still a “quasistate,” a country with limited sovereignty, divided into a Serbian dominated north and an Albanian south. The international community has committed itself to the political and financial responsibility of securing peace in Kosovo and in the Balkan region at large. Yet neither the UN nor the EU has been able to undertake the necessary measures to prevent a possible partition of the new state. Besides a number of unresolved juridical and political issues, the country also has to deal with negative macroeconomic developments. Due to the lack of legal clarity, and the so-called reconfiguration of the tasks, competences and responsibility areas of the international organizations, only very modest steps have been made to integrate the country in the stabilization and association process of the accession to the EU.
- Political Geography:
- United States, Kosovo, Serbia, Balkans, and Guinea
68. The Balkans' Underbelly
- Author:
- David L. Phillips
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- World Policy Journal
- Institution:
- World Policy Institute
- Abstract:
- PRISHTINA, KOSOVO—For nearly two years Kosovo, the world's newest nation, has struggled to be recognized as a sovereign state. On July 22, 2010, the International Court of Justice [ijc] removed uncertainty about Kosovo's status since its declaration of independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008—concluding that the declaration did not violate international law. But Kosovar Albanians knew long before the court's opinion that their freedom from Serbia was, and remains, irrevocable. They would never stand for the return to Serbian control.
- Political Geography:
- Kosovo and Serbia
69. State-Building from the Outside-In: UNMIK and Its Paradox.
- Author:
- Nicolas Lemay-Hébert
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Woodrow Wilson School Journal of Public and International Affairs
- Institution:
- Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
- Abstract:
- With the independence process of Kosovo well underway, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has reduced its involvement in direct governance. As UNMIK formulates an exit strategy and the European Union braces itself to take over as the international presence in the region, it is an opportune moment to consider the impact that UNMIK has had during the last nine years. This article seeks to shed light on UNMIK's management of Kosovo and particularly the following question: why has UNMIK's legitimacy in the eyes of the local population generally and consistently declined during its tenure as administrator of the region?
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Kosovo, and United Nations
70. Kosova'nın Bağımsızlığı ve Türk Dış Politikası (1990-2008)
- Author:
- Birgül Demirtaş Coşkun
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Uluslararasi Iliskiler
- Institution:
- Uluslararasi Iliskiler
- Abstract:
- This article seeks to analyze Turkey's policies toward the Kosovo issue since the early 1990's. While Turkey had pursued a rather cautious policy concerning the independence of Kosovo during the Albanian-Serbian conflict, it extended diplomatic recognition only one day after Kosovo declared independence. Turkish recognition took place at a time when countries like Russia and Serbia were objecting to it and a heavy debate was going on regarding whether the Kosovo independence was in line with the international law. The main research question of this study is why Turkey decided to extend its diplomatic recognition on 18 February 2008. The main argument of the paper is that change in Turkish foreign policy toward Kosovo is instrumental and tactical and does not represent a radical transformation. The decision-makers in Turkey continue to follow the line of the Western countries in the first decade of the 21st century as it had been the case during the Cold War and in the 1990's. The article makes it clear that Ankara prepared the necessary background for the recognition of Kosovo in the recent years step by step.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy
- Political Geography:
- Turkey and Kosovo