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31. The Rubicon Theory of War: How the Path to Conflict Reaches the Point of No Return

Author:
Dominic Tierney and Dominic D.P. Johnson
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Security
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar halted his army on the banks of the Rubicon River in northern Italy. According to Suetonius, he paused in momentary hesitation, before sweeping across the waters toward Rome with the immortal phrase Alae iacta est (The die has been cast). By violating an ancient Roman law forbidding any general to cross the Rubicon with an army, Caesar's decision made war inevitable. Ever since, “crossing the Rubicon” has come to symbolize a point of no return, when the time for deliberation is over and action is at hand.
Topic:
International Relations and Intelligence
Political Geography:
Russia, Germany, and Romania

32. Power beyond conditionality: European organisations and the Hungarian minorities in Romania and Slovakia

Author:
Jakob Skovgaard
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Relations and Development
Institution:
Central and East European International Studies Association
Abstract:
The article addresses the power of three international organisations, the Council of Europe (CoE), the European Union (EU) and the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) regarding the Hungarian minority policies of Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. It is argued that most of the academic literature within the field misses the point when relying on a rather limited conceptualisation of power as something which one actor uses to get another actor to do what it otherwise would not have done. Using a broader conceptualistion of power, including the power to interpret norms and their application, leads to a better understanding of the roles of the CoE and the HCNM. Analysing the three organisations' approaches to the Hungarian minority education policy in Romania and Slovakia, as well as the Hungarian Status Law, reveals how the CoE and the HCNM interpreted norms of national minority policy and their application to the addressed policies. These interpretations shaped EU policy on the subject, and Romania, Slovakia and Hungary had to take the EU policy seriously due to their desire to join the EU. The three organisations engaged in an exchange of power, in which the CoE and the OSCE High Commissioner bestowed legitimacy on the EU, which in return could provide them with increased leverage over the accession states.
Political Geography:
Europe, Romania, and Slovakia

33. Aynsley Kellow and Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen (eds.), The International Politics of Climate Change (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2010).

Author:
Emilian Kavalski
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
The problems associated with climate change and their unintended consequences have challenged the capacities for comprehension. At the same time, the issues provoked by environmental degradation tend to evince the fickleness of established models for their management. Equally significantly, the dynamics associated with climate change have come to indicate the pervasive uncertainty of the post-Cold War climate of international interactions and the unpredictability of the emerging global patterns. While not new in themselves, the cumulative effects of intensifying environmental threats have drawn the attention of international relations theory to the complex challenges posed by climate change.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Europe and Romania

34. Tableau de bord des pays d'Europe centrale et orientale et d'Eurasie 2011 (Volume 1)

Author:
Jean-Pierre Pagé, Jacques Rupnik, Edith Lhomel, and Catherine Samary
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales
Abstract:
Pour sa quinzième édition (le premier volume est paru en 1997 !), le Tableau de Bord fait peau neuve et ouvre ses pages à des pays qu'il ignorait jusqu'à présent : signe des temps, alors que les pays d'Europe centrale et orientale sont tous intégrés dans l'Europe ou se préparent à l'être, c'est aux contrées plus orientales qu'il nous revient d'ouvrir nos pages. Cette innovation modifie la typologie et le format des chapitres dont nos lecteurs sont familiers. Le nouveau Tableau de bord consacre en effet un premier volume à l'Europe centrale, balkanique et balte et continue de suivre l'évolution des pays qui faisaient l'essentiel des précédentes éditions, regroupés dans des ensembles à dimension régionale : les pays de l'Europe centrale (incluant la Slovénie) sont traités ensemble, de même que les Etats baltes et les pays des Balkans ayant rejoint l'Union européenne (Bulgarie et Roumanie). Un quatrième chapitre est consacré aux « Balkans occidentaux », et traite non seulement de la Croatie et de la Serbie, mais aussi – et c'est une autre innovation importante – de tous les pays de cette région jusqu'alors non présentés dans ces pages, à savoir l'Albanie, la Bosnie-Herzégovine, la Macédoine et le Monténégro. Le Kosovo, pour lequel on ne dispose pas de statistiques appropriées pour ce travail, n'y figure pas. Le deuxième volume est consacré aux pays de l'ex-Union soviétique, regroupés sous le vocable d'Eurasie. On y trouve ainsi la Russie et l'Ukraine, comme dans les précédentes éditions, et les autres Etats regroupés en quatre chapitres : le Bélarus et la Moldavie, les trois pays du Caucase du Sud, le Kazakhstan, isolé en raison de la dimension de son économie, et les quatre autres pays de l'Asie centrale. Cette nouvelle structure entraîne également, on le comprendra, des modifications dans la présentation des tableaux d'indicateurs.
Topic:
Markets, Political Economy, Politics, Governance, Finance, and Regional Integration
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Hungary, Albania, Croatia, Latvia, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Central Europe, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina

35. Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History

Author:
Daniel Wahl
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Objective Standard
Institution:
The Objective Standard
Abstract:
Americans today have been told to expect years of military action overseas. Yet they are also being told that they should not expect victory; that a “definitive end to the conflict” is not possible; and that success will mean a level of violence that “does not define our daily lives.” John David Lewis holds that this defeatist attitude is completely at odds with the lessons of history. In Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History, Lewis shows how nations in the past that faced far greater threats and more formidable foes than America does now went on to defeat their enemies and win lasting peace. Lewis examines six major wars, devoting one chapter each to the Greco-Persian wars, the Theban wars, the Second Punic War, the campaigns of the Roman emperor Aurelian, the American Civil War, and two chapters to World War II. He shows how the Greeks defeated the mighty Persian empire, how the Thebans shattered the mirage of Spartan invulnerability, how the Romans swiftly ended a long war by attacking the enemy's home front, how Aurelian battled enemies on many fronts to reunite Rome, how William Tecumseh Sherman marched through the American South and destroyed the Confederate will to fight, and how America achieved a permanent victory over Japan. While recounting the key events of each conflict, Lewis draws several important, universally applicable lessons.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
America and Romania

36. Ethnic or multi-ethnic parties? Party competition and legislative recruitment in Moldova

Author:
Oleh Protsyk and Ion Osoian
Publication Date:
03-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Abstract:
Securing adequate representation of minorities in institutions of the state is commonly described in the literature as an important mechanism for addressing issues of ethnic tensions in culturally diverse societies. A proportional electoral system is generally perceived as more friendly for representation of minority interests than a majoritarian single member district system. The introduction of the former system in a number of post-communist countries encouraged institutionalization of ethnic minority parties. These parties became a permanent part of the political landscape in South Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria and Romania.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, Ethnic Government, Governance, and Minorities
Political Geography:
Europe, Moldova, Bulgaria, and Romania

37. Post-Accession Conditionality: Support Instrument for Continuous Pressure?

Author:
Eli Gateva
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
Abstract:
The establishment of a Cooperation and Verification Mechanism for monitoring Bulgaria's and Romania's progress in the areas of judiciary and fight against corruption not only confirms the evolutionary nature of EU conditionality, but introduces a new feature, that of post-accession conditionality. More than three years after accession, neither Bulgaria nor Romania have managed to tackle the remaining issues and the scrupulous monitoring mechanism is still maintained. What are the main features and limitations of post-accession conditionality? Why does the effectiveness of EU conditionality deteriorate after accession? The article outlines a conceptual framework for comparative study of pre-accession and post-accession conditionality. On the basis of a stage-structured conditionality model, it discusses the transformations of the main elements of conditionality before and after accession and argues that the absence of accession advancement rewards combined with toothless explicit threats for sanctioning non-compliance produce very weak negative incentive structure which undermines the effectiveness of post-accession conditionality. The study, which draws on extensive interviews with senior EU officials and examination of key EU documents, highlights the growing application of differentiated and targeted conditionality and concludes with a reflection on the future of the mechanism and its implications for the ongoing enlargement of the Union with countries of the Western Balkans and Turkey.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Bulgaria, Balkans, and Romania

38. Joint Task Force East and Shared Military Basing in Romania and Bulgaria

Author:
Plamen Pantev, Matthew Rhodes, and Dorinel Moldovan
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies
Abstract:
Joint Task Force East (JTFE), the framework for shared used of select military bases in Romania and Bulgaria, marks a major milestone in America's military presence in Central and Southeast Europe. Following previous, more limited deployments across the region, U.S. forces are poised to become long-term fixtures in both countries under renewable, ten-year agreements signed in late 2005 and early 2006. The arrangements potentially serve as representative models for similar efforts in other countries.
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Bulgaria, and Romania

39. After the Summit: Long-Term Consequences for NATO

Author:
Karl-Heinz Kamp
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
Weeks after the NATO summit in Bucharest there is an ongoing debate in academic circles and in the media on whether the meeting of the heads of states and government was a success or a failure. Some editorials express the disappointment of their authors with the allegedly meager results of the top level meeting in the Romanian capital. Decisions not taken were seen as proof of a divided NATO. Others acclaim the summit and saw those points the Alliance agreed upon as another proof of NATO's ability to find consensus on major steps in its evolution.
Topic:
NATO, International Organization, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Romania

40. The Romanian Revolution of December 1989

Author:
Milena Marin
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Romanian Journal of Political Science
Institution:
Romanian Academic Society
Abstract:
After almost 10 years since the Romanian revolution of December 1989, both the academic community and public opinion of Romania, have still many doubts regarding the nature and the exact unfolding of those events. Peter Siani- Davies, one of the few western researchers involved in the study of the Romanian society, through his excellent work “The Romanian Revolution of December 1989”, offers a detailed account of the Romanian revolutionary upheaval and of the difficult birth of democracy in Romania, giving at the same time an important contribution on the elucidation of the myths and realities of the Romanian revolution.
Topic:
Civil Society
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, Romania, and Sydney