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Identities, Not Money: CEE Countries’ Attitudes to the Euro

  • Michal Parizek
Abstract: The research conducted in this research challenges more conventional views that Central and East European (CEE) countries are driven by financial and materialistic concerns in their attitudes towards the adoption of the Euro. It argues that neither indicators of economic benefits, nor the distributive...

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The Role of the EU's Civil Society Development Assistance in the Process of Peacebuilding: The Case of the EU Enlargement

  • Anze Voh Bostic
Abstract: This article presents the role of civil society in peacebuilding processes and how the concepts of peacebuilding and civil society development fit into a broader EU foreign policy framework. In its empirical part, this article analyses the role of civil society development as part of the EU’s...

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The Chimera of Europe’s Normative Power in East Asia: A Constructivist Analysis

  • Salvador Santino F. Regilme
  • Jr.
Abstract: Utilising constructivism this work analyses the contemporary relational complexities of East Asia vis-à-vis the European Union (EU). Mindful of the social constructivist themes of identity and interests, it is argued that there are fundamental difficulties found in these interregional relations,...

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Canada’s Arctic Policy: Prospects For Cooperation In A Warming World

  • Brian Karmazin
Abstract: This assessment of the Arctic is divided in to four sections. First, the true value of the region is defined in terms of its environmental, geostrategic, economic and socio-cultural importance. Such a definition stresses the need for countries involved in Arctic expeditions (notably Canada,...

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The Melting Poles: Between Challenges And Opportunities

  • Anis H. Bajrektarevic
Abstract: The Arctic and Antarctica have traditionally been treated as footnotes in larger international relations. Recently however, the polar caps have entered the priority lists of a multitude of international actors and captured the attention of the international community at large. Despite popular...

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Unpacking Pandora’s Box: Defining Transnational Crime and Outlining Emerging Criminal Trends

  • Yuliya Zabyelina
Transnational crime has been accepted as a working concept in most related disciplines. Yet, regardless of its wide recognition by academicand policy making communities, the term has remained amorphous. In order to provide greater precision, this article engages in a bold effort to conceptualise transnational...

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Iran’s Nuclear Policy: Russia’s Perspective

  • Thowhidul Islam
Abstract: Despite Iran’s claim that its nuclear intentions are based strictly on developing the technology for peaceful purposes, the regime is constantly criticised – notably by the US and EU – and has come under immense pressure, resulting in debilitating international sanctions to prod the regime...

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National Minorities and Diasporas in Lithuania

  • Hanna Vasilevich
Having evolved from a Soviet republic to an EU member-state, Lithuania is viewed as an established democracy. Officially Lithuania is considered a ‘success story’ in handling minority issues. This work analyses the scope of national minority rights in Lithuania and is based on the country’s domestic...

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ESDP Operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A Realist Analysis

  • Adrien Jahier
Whereas most interpretations of European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) operations are either normative or functionalist, this article argues that what motivated the European Union member-states to launch military operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is nothing less than a classic struggle...

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EU-Russian Economic Integration: Gridlocked by the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement?

  • Irina Valko
EU-Russian economic integration and the growing institutionalisation of bilateral relations is, partially, the way out of global recession. Dueto political obstacles the pace of economic integration is rather slow. Unable to overcome the ‘lowest common denominator’ attitude towards each other, the EU...

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The Polish Missile Defence Decision: Reviewing the ‘Scrapping’ of the Bush-Era Missile Defence Plan

  • Daria W. Dylla
Although the decisions of the Polish government to deploy the US missile defence base in 2008 and 2010 was regarded by many commentators as taken against the domestic majority opinion, this article presents some arguments to support the assumption that those decisions were compatible both with the improvement...

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From Preference Formation at Home to Preference Promotion Abroad: The Role of Czech Intrastate Actors

  • Senka Neuman-Stanivukovic
  • Marek Neuman
Building on the governance turn in EU studies, this work examines the emergence of polycentric interest structures among new member states and looks at the extent EU governance structures contribute to decentralisation and deconcentration of power with the state eventually losing its traditional monopoly...

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Another European Cross-Road? Kosovo on the Brink of Recognition and Chaos

  • Jana Prehnalova
  • Vendula Nedvedicka
The current situation facing Kosovo is the result of a long historic process which essentially began several hundred years ago. This process accelerated following the break-up of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. While the series of conflicts between Croats, Serbs...

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A Comment on Energy Security in the EU

  • Michaela Radouchova
Developments in international economic, industrial, political and military affairs largely depend on the access states and other political communities have to energy supplies. Such wide-scale dependency increases the acuteness of competition between international actors for the remaining fossil fuel...

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Can Any Candidate End the Persistence of America's Tragic Diplomacy?

  • Jeremy Zorby
While scandals, failed military interventions, and public cynicism can characterize the terms of several Presidents in American history, few will stand out more than the two terms of George W. Bush. After September 11th 2001, the President quickly went from a public approval rating of less than 50% to...

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2008 Czech Presidential Elections: A Commentary

  • Petr Just
Again after five years, the attention of the Czech public and politicians was focused on the Presidential elections, one of the most important milestones of 2008 in terms of Czech political developments. The outcome of the last elections in 2003 was a little surprising as the candidate of the Civic Democratic...

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Who Really Lost the Georgian War?

  • Patrycja Podrazik
The media coverage of Russia’s recent military intervention in Georgia has been intense. Moscow justified its early August attack on its Caucasian neighbour as a “peace enforcement” operation and an attempt to protect Russian citizens living in the breakaway republics of South Ossetia...

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Personal Experiences from the Years of 'Late Normalization,' 1980s: Study at SS Cyril and Method's Theological Faculty in Litomerice

  • Marie Homerova
Nearly 20 years after the Velvet Revolution, and the Czech Republic (among other neighbouring post-communist countries in Central Europe) has begun to expose its recent history for public consumption. Archival documents and memories of the contemporaries have often caused upheaval widely covered by the...

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American Political Power: Hegemony on its Heels?

  • Balka Kwasniewski
International relations epochs seldom have abrupt beginnings and conclusions. Rather, changes to the norms, values and boundaries of international relations often occur in a painstakingly slow and ambiguous process. As the saying goes, Rome was neither built nor destroyed in a day. The post-Cold War...

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Is Peace-Building Common Sense?

  • Richard Lappin
Peace, it is often claimed, is common sense. Whilst many of us feel a normative bond to this claim, the continuation of violence would suggest that the fostering of sustainable peace remains an elusive goal. Perhaps it is time to re-examine this most fundamental of claims if we are to accept the true...

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Adoption of Socially Responsible Investment Practices in the Chinese Investment Sector: A Cost-Benefit Approach

  • Svenja Stropahl
  • Niklas Keller
In 2003, ten of the world’s largest private banks, in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation, voluntarily committed themselves to adopting social and environmental investment-standards. Since then, 54 institutions from 21 states, active in over a 100 countries have adopted these...

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Uzbekistan: An Important Regional and International Actor

  • Nigorakhon Turakhanova
As an Uzbek national I often encounter questions regarding the current situation, and regional and international significance of Uzbekistan. Precious little information and knowledge is readily available, and many people seem to confuse other regional conflicts, for example in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan...

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History under the Threat of Politics

  • David Erkomaishvili
There is a church in the centre of Prague, near Karlovo Namesti. One who is unfamiliar with its history may simply pass it by. As many buildings in Prague, it is charming; retaining its own history and specificity. Nevertheless, there is a unique story attached to this particular church. On the south...

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The Peace Process in Northern Ireland: A Real Breakthrough?

  • Michal Mravinac
Although ‘friendship’ was not on offer, March 26th 2007 witnessed a historical moment when leaders of the two main parties representing rival factions of society in Northern Ireland sat down at the same table. Who would ever have imagined Ian Paisley, a hawkish protestant cleric heading the...

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US Missile Defence in Central Europe: A Comment

  • Petr Kucera
Three different missile defence systems are currently operational or under construction within the European theatre. These are: 1) NATO Missile Defence, 2) NATO Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence and, 3) an American Missile Defence initiative (achieved bilaterally). Recently, the American system...

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Small Scale Successes and Hope in the Horn of Africa

  • David Rabinowitz
In November 2006, I traveled to Ethiopia to join an international medical mission organized by ‘Operation Smile;’ a twenty-five year old, non-profit organization, based in Norfolk, Virginia, which provides free cleft palette and cleft lip surgery to the economically disadvantaged worldwide....

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Towards Supranational Governance in EU Counter-Terrorism? – The Role of the Commission and the Council Secretariat

  • Christian Kaunert
Since the events of 11 September 2001 (9/11), it has been argued by some scholars that security has become the dominant force in the European Union’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). As a result, there has been an active debate on the ‘securitization’ of the new threats, such as refugees...

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The Use and Effectiveness of Migration Controls as a Counter-Terrorism Instrument in the European Union

  • Sarah Leonard
Since the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, the issue of the linkages between security concerns, in particular terrorism, and asylum and migration policies in the European Union (EU) has received an increasing amount of scholarly attention (see Guild, 2003a; Guild, 2003b; Baldaccini and Guild,...

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Perceptions of the Terrorist Threat among EU Member States

  • Oldrich Bures
The European Union’s (EU) efforts in the fight against terrorism have already been analysed in a number of scholarly articles and edited volumes. While differing substantially in their scope, depth and focus, most analyses have identified important gaps and shortcomings of the nascent EU Counterterrorism...

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Bringing Effectiveness into the Debate: A Guideline to Evaluating the Success of EU Targeted Sanctions

  • Francesco Giumelli
The relevance of international sanctions has increased since the end of the Cold War as states and international organisations have resorted to this foreign policy tool more frequently than in the past. The European Union (EU) has contributed to this trend by using sanctions in more than twenty different...

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