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1. Serbia - Stepping into Calmer or Rougher Waters?

Author:
Djordje Popovic
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
The May 2008 elections in Serbia showed that the majority of the voters opted for European integration. However, difficulties in forming the government in the period after the elections proved that Serbian society is still highly divided. The polarization between pro-Europeans and traditionalists became so intense that it provided a coalition potential to Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia that even they did not expect. After an exhausting period of negotiations the Socialists decided to join the pro-European bloc, for the time-being.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Serbia, and Balkans

2. Approaching or Avoiding Cooperative Security? The Western Balkans in the Aftermath of the Kosovo Settlement Proposal and the Riga Summit 14thWorkshop of the Study Group „Regional Stability in South East Europe”

Author:
Dennis J.D. Sandole, Predrag Jureković, Ernst M. Felberbauer, Franz-Lothar Altmann, Jolyon Naegele, Amadeo Watkins, Sandro Knezović, Plamen Pantev, Dušan Janjić, Matthew Rhodes, Sonja Biserko, Nina Dobrković, John F. Erath, Dragana Klincov, Lulzim Peci, Denisa Saraljić-Maglić, Heinz Vetschera, and Frederic Labarre
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
In this article, I examine the prospects and challenges for co-operative security in the Balkans in the wake of recommendations for Kosovo's final status offered recently to the UN Security Council by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. On the assumption that Ahtisaari's proposals represent a zero-sum gain for the Kosovar Albanians and corresponding loss for the Serbs, I recommend a reframing of his plan that may be more likely to lead to sustainable peace, security, and stability in the Balkans, with implications for similar conflicts elsewhere.
Topic:
NATO, Democratization, Development, Regional Cooperation, and International Security
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, United Nations, and Balkans

3. Through Economy to Democracy and Security? An Integrated Approach to Stability in South East Europe - 7th Workshop of the Study Group "Regional Stability in South East Europe"

Author:
Frederic Labarre
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 dissolution 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 performer in the region, with its GDP at about 38% of the EU average. Next comes Bulgaria (32%), whereas the respective values for 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:
NATO, Diplomacy, Economics, Political Economy, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Balkans, and Romania

4. Security Sector Governance in Southern Caucasus – Challenges and Visions - Regional Stability in Southern Caucasus Security Sector Reform

Author:
Gustav E. Gustenau and Anja H. Ebnöther
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
The present study was conceptually embedded in the Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes (PfP C). It is the outcome of a close cooperation between the PfP C Track on "Security Sector Reform" and the "Regional Stability Track". It is also part of the cooperation agreement between DCAF and the National Defence Academy.
Topic:
Security, NATO, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Balkans

5. Security Sector Expert Formation - Achievements and Needs in South East Europe

Author:
Philipp Fluri
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
The present study was conceptually prepared and implemented on a mandate of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs, together with three more stock-taking programmes on behalf of the Stability Pact Table III Quick Start Programme as bases for policy decision-making. The four studies, intended to supply decision-makers with analytical data on the status of select aspects of the security sector and security sector reform, will be published and made available for discussion in the first half of 2003.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, International Cooperation, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe and Balkans

6. The Stability Pact for South East Europe - Dawn of an Era of Regional Co-operation - 5th Workshop of the Study Group

Author:
Plamen Pantev
Publication Date:
11-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
The Pact of Stability for South East Europe was “born” after the end of the Kosovo crisis in 1999 as a concept of dealing radically with the Balkan instabilities, but also as a geopolitical compromise of the great power centres, involved in the treatment of the post-Yugoslav conflicts.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, International Cooperation, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, and Balkans

7. Preventing and Combatting Terrorism in Bosnia and Hercegovina

Author:
Alfred C. Lugert
Publication Date:
12-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
Passed in November 2001, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1377 notes the importance of regional organizations such as OSCE in fighting and preventing terrorism – including promoting best practices and assisting with implementation of resolution 1373, the comprehensive anti-terrorism document passed in the wake of the September 11th attacks on the United States.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Regional Cooperation, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States, Bosnia, Herzegovina, United Nations, and Balkans

8. Civil-Military Relations in South-East Europe: A Survey of the National Perspectives and of the Adaptation Process to the Partnership for Peace Standards

Author:
Plamen Pantev
Publication Date:
04-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
The last decade of the Twentieth century brought the issue of civil-military relations to the centre of political, national security, legal and broader social studies in the countries of South-East Europe or the Balkans. There is no surprise, because the need of more and efficient civilian democratic control over the security sector has been in the focus of the political and social debate of the countries that were undergoing fundamental systemic changes.
Topic:
Security, International Cooperation, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe and Balkans

9. Information Management in the Field of Security Policy in SEE -- 1st Workshop of the Study Group: "Crisis Management in South East Europe"

Author:
Tufik Burnazovic, Athanasios E. Drougos, Gustav E. Gustenau, Wolf Oschlies, Dragan Simic, Avgustina Tzvetkova, Biljana Vankovska, and Vladimir Šaponja
Publication Date:
05-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
Secessionist conflicts have become a major feature of the European political landscape in the 1990s. International response to them has varied from full-scale military intervention to half-hearted mediation, generally providing for freezing of most active hostilities and for addressing most urgent humanitarian needs. Europe in the 1990s saw more “peace” operations on its soil than any other region in the world, but still was not able to find satisfactory answers. Kosovo is a tragic illustration of that and the deployment of NATO troops after a massive use of airpower still lacks the framework of a political plan and appears very tentative and opportunistic. Several specifically European factors define the perspective of a possible new wave of secessionist conflicts in the region.
Topic:
Security, NATO, International Cooperation, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe and Balkans