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21. Office of Security Sector Reform (OSSR): Joint Force Command Naples (JFCN)

Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The Office of Security Sector Reform was established in the Joint Force Command Naples in March 2006, and is staffed by a mixture of military and civilian staff. This article explains the role of the Office and how it operates. Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the Western Balkans is now a major line of operation for the Joint Force Command Naples, a NATO operational headquarters. The Office of Security Sector Reform is focused geographically on the three Membership Action Plan countries (Albania, Croatia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) in the region and the three new Partnership for Peace countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia).
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, and Montenegro

22. The United States and Croatia: The Bilateral Relationship Since 1991

Author:
Thomas P. Melady, Ph.D.
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Council of American Ambassadors
Abstract:
The period of 1991-2008 witnessed significant development in the bilateral relations between Croatia and the United States. Is this situation due to one person or several? Did events energize this change or was it the result of a series of well conceived strategies? Before proceeding with the diagnosis, it would be appropriate to examine briefly the history of Croatia.
Topic:
International Relations and Diplomacy
Political Geography:
United States, Balkans, and Croatia

23. The Push-Pull Balance in the EU's Democratic Conditionality and its Deterioration

Author:
Ali Resul Usul
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
It is possible to argue that there exists a push-pull balance in the EU's democratic conditionality that the EU has been applying since the South European states applied for membership and/or association agreement. This article arguee that this push-pull balance in conditionality has created the Dynamics that could transform candidate states; and the best example that demonstrates the succesful impact of the EU conditionality is the relation between the EU's Eastern enlargement, the EU's democratic conditionality and the successful transformation of political regimes in the Central and Eastern Europe. However, this study puts forward that the push-pull balance of conditionality has started to deteriorate because in particular of the enlargement fatigue in the EU. This change might diminish the impact of the EU's political conditionality in the ongoing enlargement process (Turkey, Croatia and othet Western Balkan states).
Topic:
Democratization
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Eastern Europe, Balkans, and Croatia

24. A Balkan divorce that works? Montenegro's hopeful first year

Author:
Paul Hockenos and Jenni Winterhagen
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
Among old Balkan hands, it is said tongue-in-cheek that the surest way to start a war in former Yugoslavia is to hold a referendum on independence. Indeed, in Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia, armed conflict did follow popular votes and declarations of statehood in the early 1990s. But Montenegro, a mountainous republic of just 630,000 in the western Balkans, was and remains different, for a variety of reasons. One year after its declaration of independence, it boasts stability and macroeconomic growth. Yet the question of exactly what kind of democracy Montenegro will be still looms large. The newly independent country is in the process of making critical choices with implications that will impact its political culture for decades to come.
Topic:
Culture
Political Geography:
Bosnia and Croatia

25. Launch of the Western Balkans Parliamentary Forum

Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons
Abstract:
On 01 November 2006, an initial exploratory meeting for a Western Balkans Members of Parliaments took place in Belgrade. The meeting was organised by SEESAC with the assistance of the Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms based in Sweden. Members of the European and EU member states' Parliaments, the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Forum for SALW, and UNDP technical advisors and project managers informed the parliamentarians from the Western Balkans about EU SALW strategies and engagement, the involvement of EU parliamentarians in SALW Control, the importance of a national SALW control strategy, and the need for co-ordinated action and increased parliamentary diplomacy, oversight and advocacy.
Topic:
Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Government
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Balkans, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, and Montenegro

26. Sub-regional SALW Collection Seminar

Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons
Abstract:
Government, NGO and International Organisation representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the UN Administered Territory of Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Montenegro participated in a sub-regional SALW (Weapons) Collection Seminar in Budva, Montenegro from 12 - 13 July 2006. The objective of the seminar was to discuss 'best practices' and share operational experience of SALW Collection activities within South Eastern Europe, in order to assist the Government of Montenegro in planning a possible SALW Collection process later this year.
Topic:
Government, Non-Governmental Organization, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Herzegovina, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Albania, and Croatia

27. VISA POLICIES IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE: A HINDRANCE OR A STEPPING STONE TO EUROPEAN INTEGRATION?

Author:
Martin Baldwin-Edwards
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
South Eastern Europe (SEE) has been under great pressure from the European Union (EU) to modernize and improve its border management, while simultaneously trying to facilitate cross-border flows and good neighborly relations in the region. The forthcoming accession to the EU of two countries from the region, Bulgaria and Romania, and recently opened negotiations for the accession of two more, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, have the potential to damage both cross-border flows and regional stability. One of the principal factors influencing this potential is the requirement for acceding countries to implement the Schengen regime – in particular, the so-called “black list” of countries whose nationals require visas to enter the Schengen area. At this time, from the Balkan region only Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania are not on the “black list”.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Balkans, Romania, Macedonia, and Croatia

28. Labour Markets and Employment Development in South East Europe

Author:
Hermine Vidovic
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
In contrast to the Central European transition countries, the economies of South East Europe (SEE) have been facing complex and interrelated political and economic problems. The dis solution of Yugoslavia combined with market losses, war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, sanctions finally culminating in the Kosovo conflict were the main causes of political and economic instability in the whole region. Taking into account these factors, output recovery has been much slower in SEE than in the Central European countries. Measured in purchasing power standards, Croatia is the best per former in the region, with its GDP at about 38% of the EU average. Next comes Bulgaria (32%), whereas the respective values f or Serbia and Montenegro and Albania range between 15-17%. Looking at the economic performance in the 1990-2002 period, Croatia and Romania reached almost 94% of their pre-transitional level in 2002, followed by Bulgaria and Macedonia (about 88% each). Serbia and Montenegro, the worst-affected, reached only about half of what it was in 1990. The cumulative output decline there was one of the largest among all the Central and East European countries.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Development, and Sanctions
Political Geography:
United States, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, and Montenegro

29. Cross Border Trafficking in South Eastern Europe - Assessing Trafficking Activities in the Southern Adriatic Region

Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons
Abstract:
This study was commissioned by the South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC). The purpose of the Ammunition Detection Study is to determine if there is evidence to support the SEESAC hypothesis that it may be more productive to specifically target the detection of ammunition for Small Arms and Light Weapons rather than the weapons themselves. SEESAC is a developing organisation, with a responsibility to identify information on the precise level of smuggling activity and also advise on measures to reduce cross border trafficking; clearly current search methodologies used to detect weapons and ammunition within the region are an important component of this advice. Following discussions with the SEESAC Team Leader a set of assumptions, to support the Terms of Reference (TOR), were agreed.Initial desktop research examined weapons and ammunition design and manufacture to determine if and why weapons can be more easily concealed than ammunition and what constituent parts are common or exclusive to one particular commodity. Further analysis was conducted to determine if ammunition and weapons are consistently transported together and examples of occurrences are provided. The investigation has involved visits to specialist organisations and national security agencies that have undertaken to provide data on suitable search and detection methodologies. (PDF, 30 pages, 1.02 MB)  Â
Topic:
Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Economics
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Moldova, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria, Balkans, Romania, Macedonia, Albania, and Croatia

30. Cross-border business activities in the Small and Medium Enterprise sector in the Southern Adriatic border areas of Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author:
Ivo Grkovic and Nikola Kalafatovic
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
Analyzing the area of our interest and its economic perspective requires us to take a step back into the past and conclude that history repeats itself. Traditionally, this has been the area of trade, communication, as well as war. The last fifty years, up until the disintegration of ex-Yugoslavia, represented the longest period of peace in this region of different cultures, nations and history. In ex-Yugoslavia, these differences did not represent a limiting factor, and therefore the transport of people as well as goods was free and unlimited. Although the state borders existed, in the legal sense they were not of great importance. We can say that people living in this region were both geographically and economically directed towards each other. However, economic differences were present, and Croatia ranked as the second most developed state of ex-Yugoslavia (after Slovenia).
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Croatia, and Montenegro