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The general task of the project ‘Russia’s (Dis)Information Activities Against the Nordic-Baltic Region’ is to provide an assessment of Russia’s influence on the information environment of the Nordic-Baltic countries (NB8). An analysis of the information environment requires a comprehensive understanding of the major elements of Russia’s grand strategy and their impact on the region, because the information environment reflects all major spheres of interaction between the NB8 countries and Russia. For the purpose of this study, the grand strategy is defined as the integrated use of all military and non-military means to pursue the interests of the state in the international system.4 What are Russia’s interests, and what implications do they have for the NB8 region in general—and for its information environment in particular? How do these interests translate into narratives promoted by Russia? To answer these questions, an analysis of the following documents has been conducted: Russia’s Concept of Foreign Policy (2016), Russia’s Military Doctrine (2014), Russia’s National Security Strategy (2015), and Russia’s Information Security Doctrine (2016). To understand the meaning of the documents, they are viewed in the context of actual events, research data, and the rhetoric of Russia’s top officials. The study is structured around four dimensions of analysis: political, military, economic, and informational. These dimensions cover all major power instruments that states use to advance their national interests. The political dimension includes such areas of influence as diplomacy, geopolitics, and involvement in the domestic policies of foreign states.
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The article discusses the evolution and functioning of the Common Security andDefence Policy of the EU in 2018. The authors start with an analysis of externaland internal determinants of cooperation within CSDP, with particular attention tothe impact of transatlantic relations and US approach to the European initiativesas well as of internal tensions in the EU. Then they discuss the implementation ofthe decisions from December 2017 on the initiation of PESCO, which constitutesthe central topic of the paper. The functioning of European Defence Fund is alsoanalyzed, as well as the essence and implications of the French proposal of EuropeanIntervention Initiative (E2I). In the last part of the article, operational engagementof the EU is briefly presented, including a discussion of modifications of CSDPand ways of implementing them, namely Civilian CSDP Compact (CCC), and thedebates over the future of maritime activities of the EU in the Mediterranean. Theauthors conclude with an assessment of the results of the development of PESCOand EDF in the last year and of the perspectives of future cooperation.
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The article presents the activities of the UN Security Council in 2018 in lightof the Secretary General’s statements concerning the state of the world. The firstpart is devoted to drafts of resolutions on the Middle East, which were vetoed bypermanent members of the Security Council. The second one is focused on decisionsconcerning African states such as the Republic of Central Africa, Sudan, SouthSudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, and Somalia; as well as on thematicresolutions concerning peacebuilding, protection of civilians and children in armedconflicts, the role of youths for peace and security. In the third part, basic data on peacekeeping are presented and some violations of peacekeeping rules described.A separate part is devoted to Poland’s activities within the SC and in particular itsengagement in promoting international law.
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The aim of the article is to present the major armed conflicts – the wars in threeMiddle East countries: Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The selection criteria includenot only geographic factors, but also the nature of the conflicts, i.e. they are allcivil wars and have become internationalized as a result of involvement of externalpowers, i.e. the military forces of several countries. In Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan the enemy has been the so called Islamic State; in Syria it was the main enemy. Thethree countries were the most impacted by terrorism.
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After several years in which the reports from the Middle East were dominated bynews on the fight against the Islamic State, in 2018 there was a significant change.A series of failures of IS in 2016-2017 led to the situation in which the basic questionconcerning the Middle East focussed not so much on the way to overcome theorganization, but rather on the essence of the new international order, shaped asa result of clashing interests of different states and political forces. In Syria, plungedinto civil war since 2011, the scale of victory clearly shifted to the side of the forcesfaithful to President Bashar al-Assad. In Iraq, after a period of cooperation of differentpolitical forces faced with IS expansion, ethnic and confessional divisions revivedagain. At the same time, mechanisms for seeking effective ways to eliminate threatsto the stability of the country have been introduced. Conflicts in Libya and Yemenare still far from settled. Both countries have no governments that can effectivelycontrol the situation in their territories and external actors get involved to furthertheir particular interests. Local conflicts thus become a playing field for competingregional and global powers, hindering stabilization processes.
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Parte integrantă a spaţiului geografic românesc, teritoriul dintre Prut şi Nistru a parcurs aceleaşi etape istorice pe care le‑a cunoscut întreaga evoluţie a românilor, din cele mai vechi timpuri şi până la începutul secolului al XIX‑lea, când a fost cotropit de Imperiul Rus. Acesta, profitând de conjunctura politico‑militară favorabilă determinată de „Criza orientală”, a ocupat Principatele Române şi „prin înşelăciune şi intimidare, a determinat Poarta otomană să recunoască încorporarea la Rusia a spaţiului românesc de la est de Prut, deşi turcii nu stăpâneau efectiv acest teritoriu şi nimic nu le dădea dreptul să facă această cesiune teritorială."
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Atunci când, arareori, istoriografia – fie că ne referim la cea românească postcomunistă, finlandeză sau occidentală – s-a oprit asupra cazului Finlandei şi al României în perioada celui de-al Doilea Război Mondial, aceasta a remarcat faptul că cele două state au fost victime ale Pactului Ribbentrop-Molotov, s-au văzut obligate la dureroase cesiuni teritoriale, motiv pentru care acestea au devenit „camarazi de arme” în Războiul din Răsărit (1941-1944).
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This article focuses on the way the most important events during the war in Kosovo (1998-1999) are presented in the primary and high history textbooks in Kosovo. The article aims to analyse the presentation of the political/military groups of Kosovo Albanians during the war, their political goals, the meetings, agreements, and collaboration of the political and military representatives of the Albanians with their Serb counterparts, and the war crimes committed by both sides. The article is divided in four parts: the peaceful and the military factions; war crimes, the Rambouillet Conference; and the NATO intervention. The primary and high history textbooks of Kosovo and Serbia, published by the Libri Shkollorpublishing house (Prishtina), and by Zavod za udžbenike (Belgrade), approved by the respective ministries of education, serve as the primary source for this article. In addition to that, works by foreign scholars, who have analysed the events in Kosovo in this period are taken into consideration with their respective arguments.
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The paper analyses the nature and role of the National Security Strategy within the national security of the United States of America in different historical periods of the country’s development and international relations. The US national security strategies since the end of the Second World War up to the present day have been studied and, on this basis, it is concluded that today the scope of the strategy’s purposes have been expanded, which further increases the importance and role of this fundamental document for the national security of the country.
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The Black Sea region has become one of the key geopolitical spaces for the competition between Russia and the West on which the very future of Europe ultimately depends. The Kremlin wants to keep the Black Sea in its sphere of influence through a strategy of regional destabilisation based on a special military operation against Ukraine, the illegal annexation of new territories, historically considered to belong to Russia, and the strengthening of the military presence in these territories or the direct military threat to the states in the region in order to limit as much as possible the possibilities of their accession to the Euro-Atlantic structures. On the other hand, the West is trying to respond to Russia’s expansion with an advanced defence strategy in which the Black Sea occupies a central place. Thus, the Black Sea region, which has traditionally been treated as a less important area, acquires new strategic features becoming a much more militarised, unstable and contested region, a region that is in dire need of a new regional status quo in order to stabilise. Considering this state of facts, this article has as its main objective the geopolitical analysis of the Black Sea region, given that Russia has become the main destabilising factor in the region, as well as the identification of solutions to achieve regional stability based on the increasingly consistent involvement of the North Atlantic Alliance.
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Utilizing unexplored archival sources, newspapers and existing scholarly literature, the author shows the contacts between Dr. Fran Barac and Svetozar Boroević during the First World War. Namely, Barac was politician who maintained good relations with political organizations Jugoslavenski odbor (Yugoslav Committee) and Srpski presbiro (Serbian Press-bureau) in Switzerland. Boroević was the famous Austro-Hungarian general. Their relationships were interesting. For example, Barac was the head of the University of Zagreb (1915/1916), when Boroević got an honorary doctorate. Also, Ivan Meštrović, Barac’s contemporary, mentioned their political negotiations, because there were any possibility that Boroević with his army joined to the Triple Entente.
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Recent historiography about the Military border – i.e. research that was conducted from the beginning of 1990s’– embraced various topics within domestic and international projects. Scholars investigated topics such as military communities, ecclesiastical union, environmental history of multi-border territories, questions regarding identity of borderline communities, influence of enlightenment processes to the education of military officers in the Monarchy, as well as tolerance and intolerance in the broader South Eastern European region. Although these topics and questions were analyzed from various perspectives, recent syntheses of Croatian history and few scientific articles on history of Military border still incude some unreliable stereotypes of nineteenth century historiography. Among these stereotypes one can emphasize interpretations of immigration and ethnical background of the Orthodox borderers, questions regarding historical background and affiliation of the borderline territories, and religious policy of Vienna court regarding the Military border. Moreover, the author concludes that the recent historiography lacks an interest regarding the investigation of military aspects of Military border history.
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Before the beginning of WWI, Croats, Slovenes, and other Slav peoples of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy were clearly dissatisfied with its dual organization, which privileged the Germans and Hungarians. Croats were also frustrated because while Dalmatia and Istria administered by the Austrian part of the Monarchy, Croatia-Slavonia were under the Hungarian part of the Monarchy, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were under the governance of the common Ministry of finances. It is therefore not surprising that several proposals for the reformation of the Monarchy had been put forward by the South Slav politicians, nor that all of them called for the unification of the Croatian lands. Three years into the war, the Yugoslav Club of the Emperor’s Council issued on May 30, 1917 a declaration that requested the formation on the territories inhabited by the Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs of an independent state, but under the Hapsburg scepter. The request was made on the basis of the national principle and the Croat state right. The May Declaration initiated controversies among Croatian politicians and political parties, but it also began a movement to accept the program of the Declaration. The most enthusiastic supporters were the leaders and the membership of the Catholic organizations. The author highlights the political situation that led toward the issuing of the Declaration, the controversies that surrounded its promotion, and its political consequences. In the end, he draws two conclusions.
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Based on research conducted using previously unknown archival documents, the author examines the transition in Croatian history made by the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The author pays the greatest attention to the mutiny of 5th December 1918 which still induce much discussion in the historiography. The number, significance and behaviour of the people who conspired against the new regime provide a good indication of how this event was used by pro-Yugoslav forces in Croatia for reckoning with the old structures in the Croatian army and opposition politicians who upheld the idea of republicanism. The biggest opposition parties – such as the Croat People Peasent Party and the Party of Right – openly called for peaceful solutions and tried to avoid any form of armed conflict. On the other hand, some officers and soldiers who served in the Croatian Home Guard units were not content with the new situation. They spontaneously decided to organize a public demonstration in the center of Zagreb which turned into a violent confrontation. This bloody event led to the dissolution of the old army units. However, the fallen of the 5th December 1918 uprising are remembered in Croatia as the first victims of resistence to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
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The Provincial Government for Dalmatia appointed the National Organization for Dalmatia in Split on 2 November 1918 on the order of the National Council of the Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs in Zagreb. Difficult postwar conditions presented it with a number of problems of which the most trying were shortages of supplies and hunger, the spread of communicable diseases, and Italian occupation of parts of the territory resulting in interrupted communication links with Zagreb and among towns in the region. Numerous problems, first and foremost the occupation of parts of its territory, drove the Territorial Government for Dalmatia to call the Serbian army to enter Dalmatia and forced the pace of the unification of the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs with the Kingdom of Serbia (and the Kingdom of Montenegro). The Provincial Government for Dalmatia was dissolved on 20 January 1919 by decree of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes as part of a wider process of administrative centralization in the new state.
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This essay explores the history of the castle and Banate of Jajce between 1463 and 1490. Following the fall of Serbia in 1459, Bosnia had become the main target of the Ottoman expansion and, in spring 1463, was occupied by the army of the Mohammed the Conqueror. Kingdom of Hungary-Croatia responded with a counter-attack in the autumn and winter of 1463, in the course of which the army of King Matthias Corvinus captured the castle of Jajce and some other nearby fortifications. The possession of these forts allowed defence from new Ottoman attacks in the following years. Thus the foundations of a new military-administrative unit in the southern part of the Hungarian defence system were laid. The goal of this essay is to discuss the way in which King Matthias organized this area. Particular attention is paid to the administration of Bosnia, from the temporary authority of Ban of Slavonia and real King of Bosnia, Nikola Iločki (1471-1477) to the plans related to Duke Ivaniš Corvinus and finally for Banate of Bosnia/Jajce, in existence until 1527. The essay traces chronologically different forms of the administration. It attempts to follow royal efforts to organize this region in the best possible manner, by bringing it together with extant centres of defence system such as Banate of Slavonia, County of Temes and Principality of Transylvania.
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Based on the archival materials of Catholic Church and those of Serbian occupation forces, the author presents circumstances and sequence of the demolition of the Catholic church of St. John of Nepomuk in Glina, performed by the Serbian military forces and Serbian occupation civil authorities of Glina from 1991 to the end of 1994.
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