DPC BOSNIA DAILY: In Urgent Need of a Plan B
Bosnia Daily: October 31, 2014 – In Urgent Need of a Plan B
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Bosnia Daily: October 31, 2014 – In Urgent Need of a Plan B
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Bosnia Daily: July 8, 2015 – What Chancellor Merkel Should Tell Bosnia's Politicians and People (I)
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Bosnia Daily: February 7, 2017 – In Support of Increased and Enhanced Civic Education In Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Globally. Cultivating the Demand Side of Liberal Democracy
More...25-30 octombrie 2020
The survey was conducted between October 25-30 on a national sample of 1482 selected subjects from 246 urban and rural localities in all counties of Romania. He measured the voting intentions in the parliamentary elections, as well as the attitude of the population towards the main political leaders, towards several issues of public interest: reducing the number of parliamentarians, eliminating special pensions, referendum for loans to be made by public authorities, etc.
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Economic, diplomatic and other sanctions have become a standard tool for international policy. The states that implement them use sanctions as an instrument of pressure to influence the geopolitical decisions of the government of the country against which they are directed. In 2014, in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea and the conflict in the east Ukraine, the United States, the EU, Canada, Australia and other countries have imposed sanctions againstthe aggressor. Russia has become the largest and most influential country against which such harsh sanctions have been imposed. Despite Russia's important position in the international arena, the US and the EU have stated that they will not lift sanctions regime until Russia’s implementation of the Minsk Agreements and the return of the Crimean peninsula.
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Common goal of crime prevention and community policing is to create a safe community that assumes partner work with different actors at the local level to improve the quality of human life. The concept of crime prevention and development of community policing are partly included in an appropriate strategic framework of the police reform in Serbia. In the Development Strategy on of the Ministry of Interior until 2016 it is well observed that for the development of this area it is necessary to improve the preventive forms of policing and to enhance the practice of community policing. As a result of strategic planning, the Ministry of Interior is obliged to adopt two more strategic documents for the development of crime prevention and community policing. However, there is no obligation to adopt an action plan for the crime prevention strategy, while the Initial Framework of the National Crime Prevention Strategy provides also for the creation of the National Crime Prevention Council, whose role has not been fully defined. An action plan for the implementation of MoI Development Strategy has not been adopted yet either, even though the deadline passed in June 2011. This created a gap between the two conceptually and practically related policies that build on each other. What creates further uncertainty is also the previous practice of community policing. Police officers in Serbia are not familiar enough with the techniques of building a safe community, and they do not fully implement them. In addition, there are no established guidelines in the development of community policing and local safety councils. Autonomy of territorial organizational units of the police is insufficient in the decision-making process. Having in mind the unstable economic situation in the country, finding the right funding has always been a challenge. On top of it there is a worrying attitude of police officers that legal restrictions on police conduct hinder effective policing. The policy study analysed the development of police work in Serbia on prevention activities through community policing after the year 2000. The aim of the study is to show the relationship between crime prevention and community policing and to present the state of development of the new philosophy of policing, then to present three problem-solving crime prevention techniques ("SARA", "problem solving process" and "5I knowledge management framework"). The techniques are guidance for police officers in the implementation of prevention activities and community policing. In the end, possible ways to build partnerships between police and citizens were identified.
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Manifestations of police corruption may be different and they are varying from those with less harmless consequences to those considered as criminal offences under the law. Successful prevention and suppression of corruption requires the establishment of police service control mechanisms and identification of corruption risks. In Serbia, the coherent system of internal oversight of the police is not functioning and this system together with the institutions for external oversight and control ensures that the police act according to the set rules and at the same time increases the accountability and integrity of police officers. This situation leads to increased opportunities for corruption. Consequently, the citizens’ confidence in the police is lower. Additionally, there is no clear list of corruption risks in the police. Therefore, the aim of the policy study is to fill this gap. First of all, the paper identifies the importance of external and internal oversight of the police in preventing and suppressing police corruption. Internal and external controllers play a significant role in eliminating corruption risks which are addressed in the second part of the paper based on typology of police corruption risks drafted by Transparency International. However, for a successful fight against police corruption it is necessary to eliminate deficiencies in the police internal control authorities and in external oversight institutions, which will be presented in the third and the fourth part of the paper. Finally, the paper presents guidelines for improving the fight against police corruption.
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Germany hopes that Joe Biden’s upcoming presidency will contribute to restoring transatlantic bonds. It is pinning its hopes on both sides sharing a similar perception of the key challenges, the appreciation of the importance of alliances, and on the US returning to the use of multilateral instruments. German-American relations will no longer be burdened by the confrontational rhetoric and strictly transactional approach which were typical of the outgoing president. However, the political change in the United States will not remove the differences of positions and interests that underlie the main disputes between Berlin and Washington. Moreover, given the fact that both Democrats and Republicans were running neck and neck during the presidential race, Germany may modify its expectations with regard to the new American administration to become more realistic. German politicians have signalled their readiness to engage more in maintaining the partnership with the US, but whether they will be able to put these declarations into practice remains an open question, considering that elections to the Bundestag are due to be held next year. The main difficulty for Germany will be making adjustments in the area of security, mainly due to the German public’s reluctance to increase spending on defence. Coordination of policy towards China will be an equally important challenge.
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The massive public protests against the rigging of the presidential election’s results which began on 9 August have led to the deepest political crisis in the history of independent Belarus. For the first time, a situation has arisen in which anti-regime demonstrations have been held for over three months, numbering over 100,000 people in the capital at the times of greatest mobilisation. Despite the fall in the number of protesters observed in recent weeks, the public’s anger is not waning, which is making it difficult for the authorities to control society. In response to the rebellion by a large number of its citizens, the regime has chosen the tactics of repression and intimidation. As a result, Belarusian authoritarianism is becoming more and more oppressive, gradually taking on the characteristics of a militia state. As he concentrates on keeping power, Alyaksandr Lukashenka has come to rely principally on the security sector, who see preserving the regime as a chance to hold onto their own privileges. In parallel to the increasing importance of the so-called siloviki in the government apparatus, Lukashenka has weakened the position of the civilian element of the nomenklatura. The regime is also pursuing an increasingly confrontational policy towards the West, to make it seem more credible that the protests have been inspired from abroad; in the economic sphere, economic reforms have been blocked as the regime focuses on controlling business. Lukashenka’s future maybe decided by Russia, which is trying to use the crisis in the Belarusian system of power to gain full domination in Belarus.
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In recent months, the rules for gas transmission through the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe have been changing at an ever faster rate. There has been much talk about opening new routes for exporting Russian gas to the European Union along routes which would bypass this region, which has led to a decline in its transit importance. The ongoing expansion of the network of interconnectors and alternative connections is changing the routes of gas transmission on the Central European market. No less important, although still somewhat less noticeable, are the changing rules for the transport of gas from Russia to the EU. With the expiration of a succession of long-term transit contracts (Ukraine’s at the end of 2019, Poland’s in May 2020, and also those of Slovakia and Bulgaria over the next few years), it will be possible for all of the region’s gas transmission to operate on the basis of EU regulations, namely the Third Energy Package, including its network codes. As a result, there is an increase in transparency and competition, and access to the infrastructure is becoming more attractive, which encourages European companies to use it. At the same time, however, gas transmission from Russia is becoming more unpredictable. This is illustrated by the changes this year in the flow of gas through the Yamal gas pipeline, Ukraine’s main lines and the Trans-Balkan route. The future of gas transmission in the region will also depend on external factors: the processes taking place in Ukraine, the actual physical levels of Russian gas transit, and the situation in the European gas market.
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Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election means that Washington will continue its confrontational policy towards Beijing. At the same time, it will clearly change its tactics and attempt to mobilise the US’s network of alliances to contain China. On 13 November, China congratulated Biden and Kamala Harris, but highlighted the need to resolve possible legal disputes. The expected change in the US administration has been widely commented upon in the Chinese press. The initial reactions from China reveal expectations that competition with Washington will continue in almost all key areas, although Beijing hopes to unblock some channels for diplomatic contacts. It also expects an extensive US-EU dialogue to begin discussing what actions should be taken with regard to the PRC. The first reactions from Europe suggest that this scenario is very likely. Biden’s victory has been presented as an opportunity for a joint response to the challenges linked to China by Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, and some representatives of Brussels. However, creating a common front on Beijing will require a number of structural problems in transatlantic relations to be resolved, including in the areas of trade and services, digital technologies and security.
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The Kremlin defines the role of the Russian Federation as a superpower in the international arena in terms of the strength it can bring to bear due to its resources, and this is the backdrop for the Kremlin’s plans to integrate the capacities of the ‘forces ministries’ into a coherent state military organisation. The system, which was created to mobilise the various resources, and develop a capacity for them to be used flexibly to further Russia’s strategic political goals, has also been put to the test in the current epidemiological crisis. One form in which this has manifested itself is marginalisation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (EMERCOM), which officially is in charge of coordinating crisis response operations.
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The Lithuanian government has not recognised the legality of the election of Alyaksandr Lukashenka as President of the Republic of Belarus, and it now regards the opposition as their main partner. Lithuania has taken on the role of spokesperson for the opposition’s interests, a move which has put an end to Vilnius’s cooperation with the Belarusian dictator. Lithuania attaches particular importance to maintaining ties with Belarusian citizens, on the one hand by providing support to the victims of repression, and on the other by ensuring that social and economic contacts between the two countries are maintained.
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Over the last few years, Tallinn has been increasingly involved in military cooperation in the EU and with France. To date, Estonia is the only country on NATO’s eastern flank to join the French-led European Intervention Initiative. The country is developing the European pillar of its security policy with a view to diversifying military cooperation, which has centred primarily around the US and UK. This is due to Estonia’s concerns about the future of their military posture in Europe. However, due to the leading role of the US and UK in NATO’s deterrence and defence on the eastern flank, working with the two countries will continue to be Estonia’s security policy priority.
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