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12. Security Risks and Instabilities in Southeastern Europe: Recommended Strategies to the EU in the Process of Differentiated Integration of the Region by the Union
- Author:
- Plamen Pantev
- Publication Date:
- 11-2000
- Content Type:
- Case Study
- Institution:
- Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
- Abstract:
- The chain of events and developments in Southeastern Europe during the 1990s provoked increasingly sophisticated political reactions, political approaches and longer-term strategies towards the region on the part of the EU. The firm requirement for ethnic tolerance and respect of human rights constitutes one end of the range of EU positions concerning Southeastern Europe. The gradual beginning of the process of integration of some countries from the region in the Union constitutes the other end. At the end of the 1990s, these positions gravitated towards two principles – regionality and conditionality. These principles are partly overlapping and mutually reinforcing, but to some extent also contradictory. The institutional arrangements of these two principles by the EU are identified with the Stability Pact (July 1999) for the principle of regionality, on the one hand, and with the accession negotiations and the Stabilisation and Association Process for the principle of conditionality, on the other hand.
- Topic:
- Security, European Union, Regional Integration, and Risk
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Southeast Europe
13. The Emergence of a New Geopolitical Region in Eurasia: The Volga-Urals Region and its Implications for Bulgarian Foreign and Security Policy
- Author:
- Nicolay Pavlov and Plamen Pantev
- Publication Date:
- 12-2000
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
- Abstract:
- The application of geopolitical methodological instruments to the study of Bulgarian foreign and security policy issues has two fundamental causes: first, for many decades this has been a neglected intellectual instrument of international political research – for political and ideological reasons – and, second, the end of the Cold War necessitated an improvement of the conceptual and the analytical tools of security studies in Europe and the world. The traditional approach of ISIS to search ways of improving the security situation by conceptualizing events and processes in a novel way has focused the efforts of its researchers on security problems that cover a broad strategic zone: the Balkans – the Black Sea – the Transcaucasus – the Caspian Sea. Continued cooling – for more than ten years –of bilateral Bulgarian-Russian relations is conceived as one of the problems of this broader strategic and systemically linked zone. The geopolitical and geostrategic model – imposed on Bulgaria by the Cold War divide, the country’s membership in the Warsaw Pact and the thorough domination by the USSR – ended and was replaced by a different reality. The geopolitical projection of the ideological and socio-economic divide was no longer an applicable paradigm. At the same time the balance of power and the geostrategic approaches of understanding the evolving international environment proved to be inadequate after the end of the 1980s of the 20th Century. Russian, and to a lesser extent Bulgarian, politicians lost the orientation and the perspective of the bilateral links. This led to a dramatic diminishing of the meaning of bilateral relations in the general foreign-political engagements of the two countries. Bulgaria had undertaken a clear orientation to market economy, democracy and rule of law – a philosophic course, which logically prioritized the attraction of the European Union as the efficient integration nucleus of Europe, and of NATO – the symbol of stability and guaranteed prosperity in the broader Euro-Atlantic space. Though NATO was no longer perceived in the Cold War antagonistic pattern by Russia, and the very substance of the Alliance intensively adapted to the post-Cold War realities, Bulgaria’s political and security choice of joining the Euro-Atlantic community of developed democratic nations was negatively assessed by the Russian elite.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Regional Cooperation, and Geopolitics
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eurasia, Eastern Europe, and Bulgaria
14. Peacekeeping and Intervention in the Former Yugoslavia: Broader Implications of the Regional Case
- Author:
- Plamen Pantev
- Publication Date:
- 11-1999
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
- Abstract:
- The aims of this research report are: First, to substantiate the meaning of the terms "intervention" and "peacekeeping" in the cases of Bosnia and Kosovo and how this may influence the broader interpretation of these activities in the post-Cold War period. Second, by learning from intervention and peacekeeping, as well as from conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation in former Yugoslavia, to draft the prerequisites of a fundamentally new and more effective approach to international legal regulation of international relations, including to the timely management of regional conflicts. Third, to present some of the other interests beyond the moral and humanitarian ones that motivated the intervention, the peacekeeping and the strenuous peace building efforts in the post-Dayton and the post-Kosovo periods. The realisation of these tasks may facilitate theoretical and political work for shaping a more secure post-Cold War world.
- Topic:
- Peacekeeping, Humanitarian Intervention, and Military Intervention
- Political Geography:
- Kosovo, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Balkans
15. Prenegotiations: The Theory and How to Apply It to Balkan Issues
- Author:
- Plamen Pantev
- Publication Date:
- 07-1998
- Content Type:
- Case Study
- Institution:
- Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
- Abstract:
- The issues, the activities and the relations preceding the formal international negotiations have increasingly become an area of a special theoretic interest. The prenegotiation or the prenegotiation phase is part of the broader issue of the dynamic interactive process of international negotiations. The pace, the contents and the direction of the negotiation process is influenced by various factors: foreign-policy bureaucracy in the individual negotiating countries, the personal peculiarities of the very negotiators, the international-political environment of the on-going negotiations, etc. The system constituted by the interactive relationship of the negotiating parties is certainly one of these factors and all the prenegotiating activity before formal negotiations have begun does matter in shaping and understanding the actual negotiation process. Both the cooperative and the conflicting relations in Southeastern Europe have run into regulative problems part of which are caused by inadequate preparatory prenegotiation work. Examples of that are the deadlocked bilateral relations between Bulgaria and FYROM - The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; the incapacity to duplicate right away the successful agreement for the creation of the Multinational Peace-keeping Force of Southeastern Europe (MPFSEE) with an agreement of the place for the headquarters of this rapid-reaction force and an important confidence and security building measure in the worried Balkan region; the inadequate involvement in an informal way of counterparts from the FRY by broader multilateral Balkan fora to show how the developments in Kosovo are perceived by experts, the broader public and politicians in the neighbouring Southeast European countries; the slow process of historical rapprochements in the Balkan peninsula; the deadlocked Bulgarian-Romanian case of the construction of the second bridge over the Danube and many others. The Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS) continues its three-dimensional work of conceptualizing the post-Cold War political, social, economic and security situation in Southeastern Europe, of finding the adequate tools to cope with the existing issues and of moving more effectively to becoming a part of the Euroatlantic security community. An improved negotiation culture and capacity of all the players in the Southeast European region, including at the prenegotiation stage is a fundamental reason and motive of carrying out this study. It is hoped to be just a part of a broader research and educational activity in the field of international negotiations ISIS intends to carry out individually and in cooperation with other national and foreign partners - by traditional means and through the potential opportunities Internet presents for bringing closer more people together. Negotiating to prevent and manage conflicts in the Balkans, to cope with a vast array of post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation issues as well as to channel the region-building activity in Southeastern Europe - all they necessitate an enhanced international negotiation potential for all actors in the area that ISIS is ready to stimulate, educate and catalyse. There is no doubt for the author of this study these three different kinds of negotiating activity in the Balkans have specific reflections on the prenegotiation activity and theory and vice versa - an issue that further needs to be scrutinized and thought over.
- Topic:
- Security, Negotiation, and Reconciliation
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe and Balkans
16. The New National Security Environment and its Impact on the Civilic-Military Relations in Bulgaria
- Author:
- Plamen Pantev
- Publication Date:
- 01-1997
- Content Type:
- Case Study
- Institution:
- Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
- Abstract:
- Civil-military relations as one of the indicators and factors for the consolidat ion of democracy in the national and international societies are undergoing deep - in some cases, or more gradual changes - in others. The absence of a univers al theory of how the relations between civil society and its military should loo k like is no reason to neglect the various sources of transformation in the civi l-military relations' field: First, the changing mission of the democratic military in the post-Cold War era; Second, the high-tech and especially the infotech revolutions that change largel y the roles of the military profession and its missions; Third, the social processes of the less developed South, or the so called "third " or "developing world" and, Fourth, the democratic transitions in the postcommunist or rather post-totalitar ian socialist world. Bulgaria is subjected to deep systemic social changes as a former totalitarian s ocialist society and state. At the same time the post-Cold War global, regional and sub-regional security situation strongly, and in some cases even decisively , motivates the national security and the more general social transformations an d adaptations. Bulgarian society and its military component cannot be isolated from the revolutionary technological and especially information technological ch anges - another major factor of understanding the complexity of the present situ ation in this country and in its armed forces.
- Topic:
- National Security, Military Affairs, and Post Cold War
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Bulgaria
17. Bulgaria and the European Union in the Process of Buliding a Common European Defence
- Author:
- Plamen Pantev, Valeri Ratchev, and Tilcho K. Ivanov
- Publication Date:
- 09-1996
- Content Type:
- Case Study
- Institution:
- Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
- Abstract:
- During the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) of the European Union (EU) for reviewing the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty once again public and experts around the world realize the dramatic improvement of the security situation of the old continent that European integration led to. Few would doubt about the impact IGC will have on the security of the broader area of the Northern Hemisphere and the world in general. This is even more true considering the coincidental interaction of the EU with the evolutionary developments of the Western European Union (WEU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and of the internal national adaptations in the once divided into East and West parts of the Euroatlantic social, economic, political and defence space. Important outlines of a new design for the Euroatlantic security architecture with stronger European security and defence identity are already drawn. One should soberly admit that whatever political decisions are taken in the next two years, some more time would be needed to give a better shape and clarity of the new security design and its defence component. Bulgaria's structured dialogue with and pre-accession strategy to the EU as well as her formal submission of an application for full membership of the Union and the intensified dialogue that stemmed from it logically bring the country to the need of taking decisions for practical adaptation to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the future Common European Defence (CED) of the EU. These evolutionary developments importantly coincide in a non contradictory manner with the deepening involvement of the country in the activities of the WEU, NATO's instruments - the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) and the Partnership for Peace (PFP) programme, with the efforts of the governments of the Balkan and the Black Sea regions to improve their stability and strengthen regional peace and with the procedures of formulating a concept for the European security in the 21 century by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, Treaties and Agreements, and European Union
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Bulgaria
18. Strengthening of the Balkan Civil Society: The Role of the NGOs in International Negotiations
- Author:
- Plamen Pantev
- Publication Date:
- 01-1995
- Content Type:
- Case Study
- Institution:
- Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
- Abstract:
- Civil society building-up in Bulgaria as well as in the other countries of the Balkans is a process of adapting their social life and organisation to the changed economic, political and cultural environment at the beginning of the 90s of this century in Eastern and Central Europe and in the world in general. The construction and stabilization of the Bulgarian civil society cannot be separated from the broader and encompassing process of extending the European and Euroatlantic Civic Space eastwards. This holds true also for the other Balkan countries. These developments can hardly be treated out of the context of a changing security environment. Global, regional, sub-regional, national and societal security is influenced and strongly influences the processes of civil society building-up and of the eastward extension of the Civic Space in Europe. Existing security communities in Europe and the Euroatlantic area create strong incentives of converging an expected stability zone as Central and Southeastern Europe is going to be and the local civil societies. The very progress of the civil societies in the region, including the Balkans, will strongly shape the security environment of Europe at the end of the present and the beginning of the next centuries. If civil societies are not developed and the Civil Space – not widened in Central/Eastern Europe, a complex and volatile security situation may develop and unpredictability eventually get the upper hand with more and greater risks and threats endangering the area.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Political stability, Negotiation, and NGOs
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Bulgaria, and Balkans
19. Bulgaria and the Balkans in the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union
- Author:
- Plamen Pantev, Valeri Ratchev, and Venelin Tsachevski
- Publication Date:
- 07-1995
- Content Type:
- Case Study
- Institution:
- Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
- Abstract:
- Bulgaria's integration in the European Union (EU) became an undoubted strategic objective of the country, forming the basis of a national consensus among the political forces and society in general. The association stage of the integration process implies the beginning of an active, purposeful adaptation of the different branches of national policy to the main directions of EU's common undertakings. This means that the country's foreign relations and national security policy need to adapt to the Common foreign and security policy (CFSP), Common defence policy (CDP) and Common Defence (CD) of EU. A short study cannot cover all essential details about the character, history, formation and implementation of CFSP of EU, as well as specific issues touching certain Bulgarian interests. The Institute for Security and International Studies, recognising the special meaning of the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in 1996 of EU member states, will carry out three other shorter studies, in addition to the present one. This should help develop a better picture of the following issues: the political dialogue of EU with the associated countries in Central and Eastern Europe (ACCEE); the economic factors of stability on the Balkan peninsula; and Russia's relations with EU and the repercussions for Southeast Europe.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Politics, European Union, and Dialogue
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, and Balkans