Number of results to display per page
Search Results
1732. Building Stability in Weak States - The Western Balkans - 4th Workshop of the Study Group "Crisis Management in South East Europe"
- Author:
- Janusz Bugajski, Aldo Bumçi, Spyros Damtsas, Enver Hasani, Constantin Hlihor, Predrag Jureković, Antonio Leitao, Todor Mirkovic, Albert Rakipi, and Filip Tunjic
- Publication Date:
- 04-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- "Building Stability in Weak States" was the topic of a workshop of the Woking Group "Crisis Management in South East Europe" of the PfP Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes which was held from 10-11 November 2001 in Tirana. It is no coincidence, however, that the initiative to develop this important topic for the development of security policy in South East Europe originated at the Albanian Institute for International Studies. Albania is seen as typical "weak State" in South East Europe, even though it has recovered from the quasi-civil war of 1997. This publication has ten articles by conference participants ranging from theoretical discussions to case studies from the region.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, NATO, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Balkans
1733. Developing and Applying EU Crisis Management. Test Case Macedonia
- Author:
- Ulrich Schneckener
- Publication Date:
- 01-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
- Abstract:
- Throughout the 1990s, the notion of conflict prevention had an impressive career. It reappeared on the international scene when UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali coined the term "preventive diplomacy" in this Agenda for Peace (1992). Since then, several international organizations or multilateral institutions, including the UN and its sub-organizations, the OSCE, the OAU, the OECD or the G-8, have published piles of papers and declarations committing themselves to the prevention of violent or armed conflicts, to change their policies accordingly (e.g. in the area of development or financial aid) and to develop new or to reform old tools, ranging from fact-finding or observer missions, special envoys, the use of sanctions, peace-building efforts, institution-building, reconciliation processes to humanitarian aid as well as long-term financial and economic assistance. Until now, however, many celebrated declarations hardly moved from rhetoric to substance, the "culture of prevention", as it has been called by UN Secretary-General Annan, is still to be developed.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and Development
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe and United Nations
1734. The WSP International Experience and Security Sector Reform
- Author:
- David Whittlesey
- Publication Date:
- 07-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- There is broad consensus in the international development assistance community that two of the critical, interlocking building blocks in the foundation of sound democratic society are "good governance" and an engaged civil society. Though there may be quibbles as to the meaning of the concepts, there is common understanding that to arrive at the reality is damn difficult. This is especially true with societies emerging from the social, political and economic impacts of conflict, or attempting to transform from years of dictatorial and rigid governmental structures, be they communist or autocratic. It is particularly difficult in either case when addressing the issue of security sector reform. To address the transformation of military forces, policing structure, intelligence services and the judiciary in societies already struggling to overcome conflict is therefore doubly difficult.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Civil Society, Democratization, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe
1735. Legal Aspects of Security Sector Reform in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
- Author:
- Zoran Pajic
- Publication Date:
- 04-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- The broadening and deepening of the concept of security has focused renewed attention on the appropriate role of the security sector in the political and economic systems of the states. Bloated and poorly regulated militaries are seen as a primary cause of severe distortion in the allocation of national resources between the security and non-security sectors. The negative development impact of a dysfunctional security sector is magnified in countries that have experienced a significant deterioration in their capacity to deliver services and in war-torn societies. In such cases, there is an urgent need to restore physical security, to optimise the use of scarce public resources, and to attract sustained external support for the recovery process.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Yugoslavia
1736. On Police Reform in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia
- Author:
- Budimir Babović
- Publication Date:
- 04-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- Apart from the principal question of their content, reforms in general pose a twofold preliminary question: is there a sufficient quantum of willingness to proceed with the reforms and how speedily should they be carried out. A public opinion survey carried out by The Center for Policy Studies (Belgrade) in the period from August 25 to 28, 2001 has demonstrated that only 38 percent of interviewed persons consider the reforms should be quick and thorough, even painful for most citizens. At the same time, 47 percent of those interviewed believe that reforms should be conducted gradually, so they are less painful. The first question left 35 percent of persons without a response or undecided, the second left 30 percent.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Yugoslavia and Serbia
1737. Europe and the Middle East: Towards A Substantive Role in the Peace Process?
- Author:
- Roland Dannreuther
- Publication Date:
- 08-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
- Abstract:
- The Middle East is the region where Europeans have, arguably, most strongly felt their loss of great power status. During the nineteenth century, European powers encroached upon, occupied and annexed various territories in the Middle East. With the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire after World War 1, Britain, and to a lesser degree France, became the undisputed external actors in the region and in large part created the modern Middle Eastern state system. Although a certain degree of power was devolved to local leaders, Britain and France ensured their prerogatives over foreign and defence issues and assumed responsibility for regional stability. Other powers, such as the Soviet Union and the United States, were not absent from the region but did not essentially challenge the European hegemony. The Soviet Union's power projection had been greatly reduced in the aftermath of revolution, civil war and internal consolidation; the United States deliberately abstained from assuming a political role, with all its tainted colonial connotations, and only demanded an 'open doors' policy in relation to its trade and commercial interests. In this relatively unchallenged strategic environment, Britain had a remarkable freedom to act as the principal regional security actor. In practice, the period of British dominance was to be relatively brief, being characterised by one historian as 'Britain's moment' in the Middle East, and was also increasingly to be frustrated by the growing inter-ethnic conflict in Palestine.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Britain, Europe, Middle East, France, and Soviet Union
1738. Postconflict Elections: War Termination, Democratization, and Demilitarizing Politics
- Author:
- Terrence Lyons
- Publication Date:
- 02-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University
- Abstract:
- Outcomes of transitional periods after peace agreements to halt civil wars are critical to sustaining peace and providing the basis for a long-term process of democratization. Understanding these transitional processes and designing policies to promote successful peace implementation are among the greatest challenges of the post–Cold War era. In a number of recent cases, including Angola (1992), Cambodia (1993), El Salvador (1994), Mozambique (1994), Bosnia-Herzegovina (1996), and Liberia (1997), elections have been designated in the peace accord as the mechanism for ending the transition. Such postconflict elections are designed to advance two distinct but interrelated goals – war termination and democratization.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Democratization, Government, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Bosnia, Herzegovina, Cambodia, Liberia, Mozambique, and Angola
1739. Different Concepts, Different Approaches, Prospects for Building a Common Language
- Author:
- Roberto Aliboni
- Publication Date:
- 06-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- What prevails in Europe today is a culture of peace and co-operation. This state of affairs is relatively new in its history. It is the product, first, of the objective conditions for peace and co-operation that emerged after the Second World War and, second, of the Western victory at the end of the Cold War. The killings and destruction of the Second World War made European nationalism collapse. The overwhelming threat from the Soviet Union was key in triggering European integration and establishing an intra- European state of democratic peace. Finally, the victorious end of the Cold War is now allowing for integration and democratic peace to be strengthened and enlarged by the inclusion of the European East in that process.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, and North Africa
1740. Conflict Prevention
- Author:
- Roberto Aliboni
- Publication Date:
- 06-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- The Barcelona Declaration has to be considered as an international peacebuilding regime. International peacebuilding regimes, according to the definition of the International Crisis Group-ICG, are “international laws, norms, agreements and arrangements - global, regional or bilateral in scope - designed to minimise threats to security, promote confidence and trust, and create frameworks for dialogue and co-operation”. They are geared to prevent conflict and to post-conflict management (including preventing conflicts from re-escalating).
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Human Welfare, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Barcelona