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1. EASTERN MONITOR: Western Balkans in the fight against the COVID-19: Another cause for democratic backsliding?

Author:
Jana Juzová
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Europeum Institute for European Policy
Abstract:
In her latest Eastern Monitor, Jana Juzová examines the fight of western Balkans countries against the COVID-19. The COVID-19 global pandemic represents an unprecedented challenge for humanity. Across the globe, countries are facing a historical dilemma of stricter security measures aimed to ensure safety of the populations at the cost of fundamental human rights and freedoms. The affected countries across the globe has adopted a wide scale of measures, and as there is no central mechanism for coordination in the health policies even inside the EU, each country approaches the crisis in a different way. Consequently, the policies range from opting for relatively loose ones relying on building up of natural immunity in the population, i.e. in Sweden, to extreme restrictive measures adopted in Hungary, diminishing human rights as well as democracy in the country. The Western Balkan countries’ approach, although differing significantly in each country, belongs among the most restrictive ones. The countries with the highest number of infected persons (relative to the population size) are Serbia, North Macedonia and Montenegro.1 In Montenegro, the situation has worsened in the past few weeks, as the country reported only a very small number at the beginning of the pandemic, and the government started introducing stricter measures, similarly to its neighbours.
Topic:
International Cooperation, COVID-19, and Health Crisis
Political Geography:
Balkans and European Union

2. The socialization between the professional groups of the foreign policy. The case of the institutionalization of the French civil-military activities in former Yugoslavia | La socialisation entre groupes professionnels de la politique étrangère Le cas de l’institutionnalisation des activités civilo-militaires françaises en ex-Yougoslavie

Author:
Grégory Daho
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
This article intends to explain the transformation of the foreign policy since the end of the Cold War through the hypothesis of the evolution of the interactions between the professional groups: military, diplomats and industrialists. Using the genesis of French civil-military activities in Bosnia and in Kosovo between 1992 and 2001 as empirical framework, we endeavor to objectify the cross-sector dynamics which permeate with the bureaucratic competition between administrations, the mobilizations of senior officials and the interministerial division of labor in matter of international crises management. We wonder to what extent the international crises “managers” form an institutional space, a professional group or a social field in process of empowerment within the current foreign and defense policy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, International Cooperation, War, History, and Sociology
Political Geography:
Europe, Yugoslavia, and Balkans

3. The EU's Enlargement Agenda — Credibility at stake?

Author:
Erwan Fouéré
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
It is a damning reflection of our times that one of the EU's most successful foreign policy achievements has never been under so much criticism. During the recent elections for the European Parliament, populist eurosceptic parties were in the forefront of those campaigning against the EU's enlargement agenda. Their attempts at equating further enlargement with the dangers of increased immigration from Turkey, the Western Balkans and even other EU member states were bolstered by the leaders of some long-standing member states, such as the UK, openly calling for restrictions on freedom of movement — one of the fundamental pillars of the EU.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Governance, and Reform
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Balkans

4. The Transatlantic Bargain

Author:
Mark D. Ducasse (ed)
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Book
Abstract:
NATO is often described as the most successful military alliance in history. In addition to longevity, those characterizing NATO this way are usually thinking of the Alliance's role in protecting freedom and guaranteeing peace in Europe against a hostile Soviet Union, right until the Iron Curtain fell. NATO's role in ending ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, and in helping to re-integrate Central and Eastern Europe into the mainstream of Europe, only added to this positive image of the Alliance.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, NATO, Diplomacy, International Cooperation, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Soviet Union, and Balkans

5. The International Security Presence in Kosovo and the Protection of Human Rights

Author:
Federico Sperotto
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Human Rights Human Welfare (University of Denver)
Abstract:
On March 11th, 2000, two children who were playing in the neighborhoods of Mitrovica, Kosovo, got hurt by an “unexploded ordnance”. One of them died in the explosion, the other was severely injured. An inquire clarified that the ordnance was a “bomblet”, a part of a cluster bomb dropped during the 1999 NATO air campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Topic:
Security, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Cooperation, and International Law
Political Geography:
Kosovo, Yugoslavia, and Balkans

6. Negotiating the final status of Kosovo

Author:
Marc Weller
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
When two express trains race towards one another on a single-track line, there is not much room for compromise. Either one side gives up and selects reverse gear in a hurry, or there is an almighty crash. This is how self-determination conflicts outside of the colonial context have traditionally been resolved. The secessionist entity either renounces its claim to independence, or a violent conflict ensues. The conflict will continue, often for decades, until those invoking the right to self-determination have been crushed or have given up.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, NATO, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Kosovo and Balkans

7. Kosovo's First Month

Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
A month has passed since Kosovo declared independence on 17 February 2008. Much has gone well, but there is a real risk, as made most evident with the violence on 17 March around the courthouse in north Mitrovica, that partition will harden at the Ibar River in the north, and Kosovo will become another frozen conflict. To seek to prevent this, more countries must recognise and embrace the new state, the international missions (European Union and NATO) must be more proactive and coordinate their operations and, most importantly, it must be demonstrated to Serbia, supported by Russia, that it will not be permitted to break up the new state.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Kosovo, Balkans, and Mitrovica

8. Bulgaria and Romania's Accession to the EU:Postponement, Safeguards and the Rule of Law

Author:
Gergana Noutcheva
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
On the day before the European Commission's decision on the fitness of Bulgaria and Romania to become EU members on 1 January 2007 (due to be delivered 16 May 2006), it is becoming increasingly evident that the EU has fallen into its own 'rhetorical trap' from which there is no easy way out. Most EU officials and politicians would agree that the governance standards in the two Balkan candidates are not up to EU level yet, but everyone knows that there is not much the EU can do about it at this point.
Topic:
International Cooperation and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Bulgaria, Balkans, and Romania

9. Post Conflict Rehabilitation: Lessons from South East Europe and Strategic Consequences for the Euro-Atlantic Community

Author:
Gustav E. Gustenau, Jean-Jacques de Dardel, and Plamen Pantev
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
The purposeful efforts to explain and define the changes of the Cold War system of international relations continue for a second decade. Certain referent studies stimulate the thinking on these topics, including in the post-9/11 period. Understanding better the transformation of the international system would provide us with a better view on the changes in its regulative sub-system, including the international legal component of the latter.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, NATO, Development, Human Rights, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe and Balkans

10. International Peace Plans for the Balkans – A Success? 12thWorkshop of the Study Group „Regional Stability in South East Europe”

Author:
Dennis J.D. Sandole, Predrag Jureković, Christian Haupt, Petar Atanasov, Gordana Bujišić, Dušan Janjić, Savo Kentera, Matthew Rhodes, Erwin A. Schmidl, and Wim van Meurs
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
More than 15 years after the end of the Cold War, it is clearer than ever that the 'New World Order' has failed to bring about eternal peace, and that we are nowhere near the 'end of history'. People are talking about third and even fourth generation peace operations (erroneously, in this author's opinion, by the way). So a historical perspective to this topic may be justified.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, NATO, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Balkans