Search

Begin New Search Political Geography Europe Publishing Institution The Geneva Centre for Security Policy

11. The Kosovo Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice and its Political Consequences

Author:
Pál Dunay and Steven Haines
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Ever since NATO's Operation Allied Force in 1999 resulted in a withdrawal of Serb forces from Kosovo and the establishment of governance arrangements for the province that included an important external presence (with UN, EU, NATO and OSCE missions) as well as Kosovo's own Provisional Institutions of Self Government, the precise future status of Kosovo has been in doubt. Two extreme options were favoured by Serbia and Kosovo, respectively: either for Kosovo to continue as a part of Serbia or for it to achieve independent status (most likely by attaining statehood). On 17 February 2008, a group of Kosovo leaders issued a Declaration of Independence. Serbia responded with a request that the UN General Assembly seek an opinion on the legality of Kosovo's action from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Court delivered its Opinion on 22 July 2010. What did the Court say and what are the political consequences of its Opinion?
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Law, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
Europe, Kosovo, United Nations, and Balkans

12. Building Partnerships in Peace Operations: The Limits of the Global/Regional Approach

Author:
Thierry Tardy
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
A consensus seems to exist on the need to tackle contemporary intra-state conflicts through a multiplicity of actors who display different comparative advantages and levels of expertise. For the United Nations as well as for the regional organisations that, since the end of the Cold War, have emerged as crisis management actors, working together is the way forward. The UN and the EU run or have run simultaneous operations in Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chad) and Kosovo and have largely institutionalised their cooperation; the UN took over operations initially deployed by the African Union in West Africa and in Burundi and the two institutions have created a hybrid UN-AU mission in Darfur; the EU is assisting the AU in the building-up of its Stand-by Force and finances AU operations; the EU, the OSCE and NATO have for some time shared the burden of security management in the Balkans. As noted in a UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) document, “reinforcing interoperability with key partners […] can enhance cooperation and ensure that we maximise finite global peacekeeping resources”. Indeed, given the scope of crisis management needs, not least the UN overstretch, burden-sharing has become an imperative and its corollary, inter-institutional partnerships, equally central. Yet, the establishment of partnerships among international institutions is facing important political and technical difficulties that make the prospect for an interlocking system unlikely.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Globalization, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, Regional Cooperation, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kosovo, and United Nations

13. Russia's Strategic Choice

Author:
Graeme P. Herd
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
In the wake of the global financial crisis, a debate over necessary policy responses morphed into something much more profound and fundamental – the sustainability of Russia's current governance model and its preferred longer-term modernization paradigm. On 10 September 2009 President Medvedev published a remarkably frank article entitled 'Russia, Forward!' This article noted that Russia's governance model appeared to be failing, proving vulnerable in the face of the global financial crisis. President Medvedev himself criticized Russia's 'humiliating' dependence on raw materials, as well as its 'inefficient economy, a semi-Soviet social sphere, an immature democracy, negative demographic trends, unstable Caucasus.' In his 12 November 2009 Message to the Federal Assembly, Medvedev elaborated further on this theme: Russia could either modernize or deteriorate; modernization would provide a touchstone for 'how we can overcome our chronic backwardness, dependence on raw materials exports, and corruption'. On 3 February 2010, the Institute for Contemporary Development (INSOR) published a report that received widespread coverage entitled 21st Century Russia: The Image of Tomorrow We Want. As President Medvedev had created INSOR in 2008 to give him independent advice on economic and foreign policy and sat as a trustee on its board, this report received widespread publicity. Such publicity was magnified as the report touched just about every exposed nerve by advocating that Russia should join NATO, end censorship, abolish the state security service, and adopt a Western-style democracy, entailing the separation of the courts from the state, of the legislative branch from the executive, horizontal modernization (characterized as the debureaucratization of the vertical top-down corrupt, over-regulated economic process)3. Without change, Russia faced a strategic cul de sac that leads to slow and steady strategic marginalization: 'In a few years, when it turns out that Russia has nothing to boast about except export supplies of raw materials at prices that are dictated to us, we will be exporting people. And, not only the cleverest like now, but any workers, who are in demand in Europe, as is happening today in Latvia, for example. I frankly do not know what Russia should do in this situation. This problem will be one of the main ones for the president who is elected in 2012
Topic:
Democratization, Global Recession, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Latvia

14. The Gstaad Process: The West's Relations with Russia: Towards a Cold Peace?

Author:
Jon Strandquist
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
At the 2008 Gstaad Process conference, the discussion of securityrelated issues central to West-Russia relations focused on four broadly defined areas: global security, energy security, missile defence, and nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Foreign Policy, and Cold War
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

15. Central Asia Seminars 1st GCSP-OSCE Academy Seminar: "Central Asia 2008"

Author:
Selbi Hanova
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
On 22-23 September 2008, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Academy, Bishkek, organised a forum for security policy experts from Eurasia, East and South-East Asia, Europe and the United States, to analyse and discuss the continued interaction of key regional security dynamics and functional issues in Central Asia over 2008. A series of panels identified major emergent themes, linkages and trends, and reflected on their strategic impact and security policy implications. The focus included panels on the Afghan factor and Georgian crisis in Central Asian security politics, energy geopolitics, the role of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the region, as well as US and Russian policies towards Central Asia. The seminar highlighted and analysed some of the key security tendencies and practical aspects of security in the region including emerging trends and themes, their interplay and contradictions as well as their likely strategic influence and consequences.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and Security
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia

16. Whither the Euro-Atlantic Partnership? Partnership and NATO's New Strategic Concept

Author:
Jean-Jacques de Dardel
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
In July 2009, NATO launched a process which should lead to the adoption of a new Strategic Concept. In defining its future referential framework, the Alliance will no doubt dwell on contemporary trends, such as the ever fastening globalisation of international relations and the widening spectrum of threats. In taking such evolutions into account, it would do well in vying for additional flexibility and pragmatism, instead of trying to define a rigid framework of action that would rapidly become obsolete as unforeseen events will constantly call for redirections. The Alliance should fully develop its comprehensive approach so as to interact coherently with international organisations, partner states and civil society. Only thus will it muster wide support for its operations and set up the preconditions for viable exit strategies. In doing so, NATO could build on the assets developed through the Partnership for Peace and its institutional and political framework, the Euro Atlantic Partnership Council. Indeed, EAPC partner nations can contribute a variety of means to secure peace, security and post conflict reconstruction, whose usefulness, not to be measured in terms of military assets alone, should grow as international security challenges take on ever more varied forms. Hence NATO should not dilute a tried and successful PfP/EAPC construct in bundling up all other countries associated in one way or the other with NATO's workings and operations into a one tutti-frutti new Partnership Forum. Instead, NATO should differentiate between different types of partners, all the while focusing more closely on the added value and underestimated opportunities of partnership. Indeed, partnerships should be at the core of NATO's ambitions, and not only be seen as a somewhat burdensome and ambiguous sideshow.
Topic:
Security, NATO, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Europe

17. Operationalising Mediation Support: Lessons from Mediation Experiences in the OSCE Area

Author:
Miriam Fugfugosh
Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
The OSCE area is marked by a number of common characteristics that define the overall context for mediation efforts. Some of the main commonalities highlighted during the Consultation were: the significant roles of global and regional actors in the OSCE area, including the United States, the member states of the European Union, Russia, Turkey and Iran; the multiplicity of international and regional organisations active in the area, such as the United Nations (UN), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Council of Europe (CoE), European Union (EU), and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); and the protracted nature of the so-called 'frozen' conflicts, such as the Transdniestrian, Georgian-Abkhaz, Georgian-Ossetian and Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts. These characteristics pose significant challenges for mediation efforts in the region.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Democratization, and Globalization
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Iran, and Turkey

18. The Role of the European Union in International Non-proliferation and Disarmament Assistance

Author:
Ian Anthony and Marc Finaud
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
While states are responsible for honouring any commitments to one another that they make, it has become obvious that they are not always capable of doing so. Where the failure to implement agreed undertakings reflects a lack of financial or technical capacity rather than a deliberate effort to undermine the terms of an agreement it is preferable for all parties to offer assistance rather than criticism and punishment. Since the end of the Cold War a new type of international cooperation has taken place as states have rendered practical assistance to one another to reduce common threats arising from weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as well as weapons-related materials and expertise. In broad terms this assistance has been of three types: facilitating the dismantlement and destruction of weapons; the establishment of a safe and secure chain of custody over weapons or other items; and demilitarization and conversion projects.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Arms Control and Proliferation
Political Geography:
Europe

19. The Role of the EU in International Non-proliferation and Disarmament Assistance

Author:
Ian Anthony
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
While states are responsible for honouring any commitments to one another that they make, it has become obvious that they are not always capable of doing so. Where the failure to implement agreed undertakings reflects a lack of financial or technical capacity rather than a deliberate effort to undermine the terms of an agreement it is preferable for all parties to offer assistance rather than criticism and punishment. Since the end of the cold war a new type of international cooperation has taken place as states have rendered practical assistance to one another to reduce common threats arising from weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as well as weapons-related materials and expertise. In broad terms this assistance has been of three types: facilitating the dismantlement and destruction of weapons; the establishment of a safe and secure chain of custody over weapons or other items; and demilitarization and conversion projects.
Topic:
International Relations, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Europe

20. Switzerland and Cooperative Threat Reduction

Author:
Derek Lutterbeck
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
An increasingly prominent item or concept on the international security and arms control agenda of the post-Cold War world is the one of 'Cooperative Threat Reduction' or CTR. CTR programmes have their origins in the immediate aftermath of the cold war, when the so-called Nunn-Lugar threat reduction programme was launched to safeguard weapons of mass destruction on the territory of the collapsing Soviet Union. Recently, however, such threat reduction efforts have gained much in salience with the emergence of international terrorism as a prime security concern among 'western' countries, subsequent to the terrorists attacks on the US on 11 September 2001. One core objective in the fight against terror, at least from the perspective of western countries, is to prevent terrorist and similar organisations from gaining access to weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Europe and United Nations