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62. A U.S. Vision of Europe
- Author:
- Lisa Bronson
- Publication Date:
- 06-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- I want to begin by thanking the conference organizers for what has truly been a splendid effort. I'd like to thank the Ministry of Defense and the Government of Estonia for agreeing to host the Third Conference of the Partnership for Peace (PfP) Consortium.
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Estonia
63. The U.S.-Russian Dispute Over Missile Defense
- Author:
- Vladimir Rukavishnikov
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- The current Bush Administration is considering a crash effort to put into place the European components of a U.S.-built national missile defense system (NMD) before the end of President Bush's second term. While the debates in the United States are focused primarily on the failure and success of various flight tests, and on the cost of missile defense, the European general public wants to see a concrete plan of its deployment, to understand the design of the entire system, and have a clearer sense of a timetable.
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, and Europe
64. The Divide Over European Security
- Author:
- C.D. Van Aller
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- The war in Iraq continues to divide the Western democracies, nations once optimistic that the post-Cold War environment might lead to a more secure world. Even if solutions proved difficult to achieve, many hoped that these societies would share common viewpoints on threats to peace. Yet there have been contrasting security perspectives that have been highlighted by the conflict in Iraq, such as that of former European Union High Commissioner for Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, who stated in 2003 that “Europe is not at war.” One of the main cleavages is between Europe and the United States generally, with the former considering that the U.S. has increasingly been too dedicated to the unilateral use of force, views held by both elites and the general public in Europe. Even before the Bush Administration, Samuel Huntington de-scribed U.S. foreign policy as one of “world unilateralism,” with a single-minded devotion to its own interests while minimizing those of other countries. Since the Iraq war, Harold Pinter has stated, the U.S. “has become a fully-fledged, award-winning, gold-plated monster. It has effectively declared war on the world....” Many people in Western Europe have some sympathy with this view, if not its hyperbolic quality, and the war in Iraq appears to have amplified long-held convictions about the world's sole remaining superpower.
- Topic:
- Security and Cold War
- Political Geography:
- Iraq and Europe
65. Solving Transnistria: Any Optimists Left?
- Author:
- Cristian Urse
- Publication Date:
- 03-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- Since 1992, there has been an ongoing debate regarding the situation in Transnistria, the breakaway republic on the border between Moldova and Ukraine. After the conclusion of the agreement that ended the armed conflict, the Moldovan government in Chişinău and the Transnistrian authorities in Tiraspol made efforts to find a political solution, under the supervision of a negotiation mechanism that included, until the end of 2005, Russia, Ukraine, and the OSCE. Russia's 2003 plan to that end was rejected by the Moldovan leadership. This triggered a set of political and economic punishments from Moscow. The political changes of 2005 have given a new impetus to the negotiations on the resolution of the Transnistrian conflict. The changes in Georgia and Ukraine and the resuscitation of GUAM have significantly influenced the premises for a settlement, while the United States and the European Union have become observers in the negotiations format.
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Europe, Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia
66. The European Union's Energy Security Challenges
- Author:
- Paul Belkin
- Publication Date:
- 03-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- Recent increases in energy prices and a steady escalation in global energy demand—expected to rise by nearly 60 percent over the next twenty years—have led U.S. policymakers to engage in a wide-ranging debate over how best to address the country's future energy requirements. Similarly, energy security has become a policy priority for the European Union (EU) and its twenty-seven member states. Together, the United States and Europe represent the world's largest energy market. Although they produce approximately 23 percent of the world's energy, they consume almost 40 percent of the world's supply.
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
67. Outside the European Economic and Monetary Union: Consequences for the United Kingdom
- Author:
- Anna Konarzewska
- Publication Date:
- 03-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- The consequences of staying outside the European Economic and Monetary Union can be divided into three categories: political, economic, and social. For the United Kingdom, most attention has been concentrated on the issue of economic gains and losses. The potential gains include a possibility for the British government to conduct its own national economic and monetary policy, the elimination of so-called social dumping, preserving the British mortgage and housing markets, and promoting London as a worldwide financial center. Moreover, approving the Euro could enlarge British foreign trade and enhance inflows of foreign direct investment. On the other hand, the negative economic consequences focus on lack of transparency of prices, no elimination of transaction costs, and the risk of disrupting the exchange rate of the pound sterling. The political and social consequences of staying outside the Euro zone must also be taken into account when analyzing the British case. Without participating in the common currency, the United Kingdom could preserve her national sovereignty and independence, although this remains questionable in the current world, which is characterized by high levels of interdependence. Likewise, the British stand to lose their influence in the European Union and in the world by not participating in the third stage of the EMU.
- Topic:
- Foreign Exchange
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom, Europe, and London
68. The Expanding Security Agenda: Challenges for Transition States
- Author:
- Elena Kovalova
- Publication Date:
- 03-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- Since the end of the Cold War, transnational organized crime and corruption have persistently plagued the post-communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. Facilitation of travel and trade regimes in Europe has provided criminal organizations with a broader scope to expand their businesses and to invest and profit through such practices. The fall of living standards and growth of unemployment in the post-communist economies—along with the promotion of free movement of goods, services, and people in the enlarging European Union (EU)—produced new forms of organized crime in the region, particularly a modern-day equivalent of slavery that is known as trafficking in persons (TIP). The novelty of the crime, combined with the corruption of unreformed law enforcement agencies in transition states and the transnational nature of TIP have increased the need for international cooperation to fight it effectively. Based on an analysis of TIP in South Eastern European (SEE) and Eastern European states, this article attempts to assess the patterns of human trafficking in the region, determine links between corruption and trafficking, and identify possible networks for counter-trafficking activities in the region.
- Topic:
- Security and Crime
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Eastern Europe
69. Full Issue
- Publication Date:
- 06-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- No abstract is available.
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
70. Building Defense Institutions: The Broader Context Today
- Author:
- Peter Faber
- Publication Date:
- 06-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- When the Soviet empire imploded, hopes of a post-Westphalian peace first rose, and then fell. The end of history did not come, nor did uncomfortable discontinuities coalesce into new international patterns. In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, those who hoped for the emergence of new structures of global relations claimed that the interregnum was now over. A clearly definable historical epoch—the Age of Terror—had now emerged. To many observers, however, the years since the 9/11 attacks represent continuity rather than departure. The dissociations and confusions of the interregnum have not disappeared, and one can see terrorism as a feature of this flux rather than its end point. Drifting, in other words, continued to compete with planning; discernible order continued to battle with entropy. If the high priests of pattern identified terrorism as their preferred organizing device in the U.S., advocates of European integration touted their own organizing principle: a trans-European narrative that enjoyed growing acquiescence (if not total uncritical acceptance) throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe