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This article aims at identifying the aim, general structure, and content of the European Danube Strategy. In a first step, we present the functional macro-regional cooperation as a fairly new approach of the EU aiming at tackling the territorial or spatial problems in general and economic and social underdevelopment in particular. First of all, we define the political background shaping the aims and constraints of political actors when striving to implement their political priorities in the multilevel environment of the EU (1). We then elaborate on macro-regional cooperation as a fairly new method of EU action in the field of fostering regional development (2). A final part of the article presents the governance structure (3) and the policies at stake (4). We end with a resumé pointing out the problems of and the perspectives for the EDS.
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This paper analyses the concept and contextual framework of the European Danube Strategy (EDS) with respect to the role of civil society within the strategy. The development of the EDS is a work in progress. A great part of the documents are to be found online, in unpublished papers presented at conferences and/or meetings or are to be regarded at least as “grey literature”. On the background of the mental mapping dominant in the Danube region with its multiple barriers, rifts and breaks, the capacity for the inclusion of civil society is conceded in the planned strategy by the EU commission. Here, all bodies, the commission, member states and non member states taking part in the Danube strategy are analyzed. Our research reveals that almost all public stakeholders (member states, non member states, the commission) call in one way or the other for an inclusive approach to civil society. However, none of the public actors provide a clear concept, structure, or call to designate recourses to include civil society.
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As its opponent military alliance, the Warsaw Treaty Organization, vanished with the end of the Cold War, NATO fell into a position where its raison d’être became qustionable. NATO has been corresponding to this identity crisis with both consistency and change. The first step was to keep the unified Germany within the purview of NATO. The next one was to expand NATO to the East. The participation of the former Soviet bloc communist countries as new members of NATO went through three stages. These moves represent the aspect of NATO as an alliance. However, in the Kosovo War in 1999, NATO intervened advocating the principle of collective security, which follows the Kantian tradition in international politics and is quite different from the logic of alliance. The 9/11 terror became the occasion to newly give meaning to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, and the “war on terror” manifested again NATO’s character as an alliance. Bush Administration’s Missile Defense policy also aimed at strengthening the alliance. From the Russian standpoint, the Bush Administration started a neo-Cold War. NATO is taking charge of the role of collective security once again in the Libyan War. This war has some similar points with the Kosovo War, just except the fact that the latter was not mandated by the UN Security Council. Like this, NATO has been showing its double character since the end of the Cold War. If NATO’s eastward expansion and anti-terrorism activities represent one aspect of its function, namely the function of alliance, the Kosovo War and the Libyan War represent another aspect of NATO’s function, namely the function of collective security.
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The objective of this paper is to analyse the external dimension of the EU’s global competitiveness. For a rather long time, only the supply factors of competitiveness have been considered by EU institutions. No attention has been paid to demand factors in general and external demand in particular. This is surprising because the EU’s global competitiveness EU depends not only on the nature of supply in terms of rate of growth, changes in its structure, etc., but to a large extent on external factors as well. Therefore, external demand needs to be addressed and influenced by the EU. In a possible approach two factors should be distinguished in the external dimension: the first one is trade in a broad context including not only goods, but services as well, and the second one is trade policy with its objectives, institutions and policy tools meant to promote external economic relations, including trade. As it is well-known trade policy was the first common policy in the predecessors of the European Union. Its scope has broadened over time, since emerging tradeable services and other activities enriched it. Therefore it seems to be justified to refer to common external economic policy rather than trade policy to address the changes of the past 20-30 years.
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The technological advance witnessed in the last decades, the widening of the threats spectrum against national security as well as the development of unconventional means of operations ask to redefine some processes to support the availability of information in short time where is needed. Privileged beneficiary of the technical evolutions in areas like sensors, analysis methods, automated processing and communication, the geo spatial domain has the potential to significantly contribute to the best decision making for a large variety of missions. In this article a geospatial support architecture for the Romanian Armed Forces,adapted to the new realities, is proposed. Thus, in the first part of the paper, the factors that influence the geospatial support are analyzed. Then, a method to describe the geospatial support architecture is setup. Finally, based on a holistic framework for enterprise architectures documented in academic literature, the eight perspectives of the geospatial support architecture are presented.
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The present paper aims at examining the interdependent relations between military power and globalization. It`s an approach much needed by the researchers in the security field as globalization has become a key factor nowadays. The paper identifies certain indicators that facilitate the drawing of the organizational spatial and temporal coordinates of the military globalization, such as: degree of imperial expansion; foreign military presence; military diplomatic representation; army industry; weapon-related expenses; defence expense; belonging to alliances; military cooperation treaties; connections to the defence industry; incidence of military interventions; military assistance patterns. Last but not least, the paper describes the three faces of military globalization, namely: 1) the global expansion of warfare; 2) the global dynamics of weapons and 3) the expansion of geogovernance.
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NATO and EU reacted to the changes in the international security environment based on their own aim, capabilities, and level of ambition. Aside from intrinsic differences, both NATO and EU identified common security challenges, threats and risks, and have similar views of engagement. Against this background, NATO – EU cooperation has entered a new phase, based on the Joint Declarations signed by the two parties in 2016 and 2018 setting-up as domains of cooperation: countering hybrid threats; operational coordination; cyber security and defence; defence capabilities’ development; defence industry and research; exercises; support for Eastern and Southern partners. Progress has been made and is still ongoing on all seven directions. The following common priorities set for NATO – EU cooperation are military mobility; fighting terrorism; strengthening resilience; woman, peace and security. The proficient cooperation between NATO and EU is needed today to cover the large spectrum of common security threats, while the success of NATO – EU cooperation is conditioned by avoiding duplication of effort, ensuring complementarity and interoperability in terms of troops, capabilities and defence industry and research, and by enhancing Intelligence sharing.
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Brexit is undoubtedly one of the most important post-Cold War political developments on the European continent because it influences almost every aspect of how Britain interacts with Europe and with the European Union. To a large extent, Brexit and its possible consequences had a visible effect immediately after the June 2016 referendum: it sensitively changed the balance of power in Europe and in the EU and it triggered a complex policy in the UK; there are also forecastable changes in the UK's foreign policy, but also in the European Union's internal relations. The future relationship between the UK and the EU will probably be based on a balance between rights and obligations, taking into account the principles accepted by each party. This balance must ensure the autonomy of decision-making within the European Union and be in accordance with the principles of the Union, in particular with regard to the integrity of the single market and of the customs union and to the indivisibility of the four freedoms. It must also ensure the sovereignty of the United Kingdom and the protection of its internal market.
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The rhetoric in the last decade of specialists in the field warns against hybrid threats, and by extension, against hybrid, grey areas conflicts – more precisely conflicts consisting of unclear actions in terms of their military character. The narrative on this issue states that this would be the new winning formula in the design and conduct of conflicts by various entities interested in doing so. At present, in the sphere of global security, actors are starting to rethink the strategies in place and develop optimal response measures to what many think is the new way in which at least some of the following conflicts at the regional level and beyond will develop. This study aims to bring into discussion the possibility that hybridity will take over the maritime domain, as well as to discuss the potential effects on maritime security and the need for response from the Naval Forces
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From ancient times to the present, the Indian and Pacific Oceans have been vital because it is an area that encompasses major trade routes and choke points. Oceans, on the other hand, is vulnerable to a variety of maritime security concerns, including piracy, drug trafficking, significant state conflicts, and terrorist operations. Coastal governments are unable to collectively assure the ocean's security, sometimes due to divergent interests and other times due to issues stemming from internal instability, but they have created regional organizations and are working in this field. Within the context of Indian and Pacific Oceans maritime security, several theoretical explanations of specific aspects can be given.
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South Pacific also known as Oceania is a relatively isolated and remote region and is a home of small island countries apart from two metropolitan powers scattered amidst a vast oceanic area. Yet, the region is not bereft of great power rivalry and both conventional and non-conventional security threats. South Pacific is also a witness to internal turmoils like political upheavals, nuclear tests, resource theft and depletion, environmental challenges, and many other issues. Interestingly, the regional security challenges have been entwined with the intervention of great powers which has given rise to a complex and cluttered geopolitical environment in the South Pacific. This paper seeks to discuss, the geopolitics of the South Pacific region in the context of regional vulnerabilities and international relations that has resulted in a quagmire of political, domestic, economic, ethno-geographic, diplomatic, and environmental issues.
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Asia-Pacific is one of the most important regions in world politics and the 21st century is widely regarded as the Asian century since America’s global leadership is being directly challenged for the first time upon the collapse of the Soviet Union. While the states such as the USA, China, Japan and Russia take an active role in the power struggle in this region, India also closely monitors the recent developments, as well as several European countries, which attach importance to Asia-Pacific relations.
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The Indo-Pacific, which refers the maritime space stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Western Pacific, surrounding Asia and Eastern Africa, is a relatively new geopolitical concept (re)coined by Indian Captain Dr. Gurpreet Singh Khurana in 2007, attributing to the growing intimacy between India and Japan.1Viewed geopolitically, while the geographical location has a determining power over state policies, it is parallelly seen the political interests shape the perception of geography. In this context, all regions are constructs and they are generally defined by states in line with their own purposes. On the basis of such this geopolitical perspective, the Indo-Pacific concept implies the extended AsiaPacific region across the Indian Ocean in favour of primarily India, the United States and Japan in the face of China’s rise.
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It is located on a strategic crossroads as a middle sea in Europe, Asia and Africa, on the Mediterranean name. This intersection is expressed by many disciplines with different important definitions. This region is a geographic transition point. It is a sea that facilitates trade economically. It is a set of countries with complete political turmoil, governed by politically different regimes. In terms of religion, it is a sea that has a coast to the regions that are the source of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. This region is racially among the lands that include Latins, Slavs, Arabs, Turks, Jews, Greeks, French and Italians. To the north is Europe, where the European peoples converge at the point of European unity, and to the south, the north African nations consisting of Arabs. With a middle sea that opens to the Atlantic Ocean with the Strait of Gibraltar, opens to the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal, the less salty Black Sea is reached through the Dardanelles, Marmara Sea and Istanbul Strait through the Aegean Sea. Thus, this sea, which is the middle center of the world connected with huge oceans, creates an interesting situation.
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The Mediterranean Region which has been continuing to be one of the most critically important regions within the context of world history due to its inclusion of several civilizations, old empires and modern nation-states as well as trade routes, natural reserves is preserving its prominence in today’s world. This is because of the discovery of energy reserves in the eastern part of this region since the beginning of 21st century. The finding of especially significant natural gas reserves in Israel, Greek Cypriot Administration and Egypt has been transforming the Eastern Mediterranean region as one of the noteworthy regions that has to be carefully examined in terms of world energy geopolitics.
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Turkey, which is a medium-sized power in world politics, has been confronted with many regional and global problems over the past 40 years. Faced with numerous chaotic issues in its foreign affairs, Turkey’s main policy, strategic plannings, areas of action or political attitudes have inevitably been disrupted. This has created difficulties for Turkey in structuring its global and regional policies and has revealed the need to reconsider its foreign policy.
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