We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
This paper, which draws on the first two papers in the ESI series Changing International Priorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, seeks to discuss conditions for a successful medium-term, international strategy in Bosnia in advance of the next Peace Implementation Council (PIC) meeting.2 It considers international power in Bosnia and examines the task of state and institution building. It analyses the international agenda setting process and the role of the PIC, and it considers how to learn from the peace process’s success stories.
More...
Since the Montenegrin government distanced itself from the president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, during last year’s Kosovo war, Montenegro has found itself in the international spotlight. Montenegrin politicians have been courted by the West. The United States and the European Union have offered rapid and substantial financial aid – more than 300 million German marks in 1999 and 2000 – to cushion the economic effects of the conflict and the country’s international isolation. NATO officials have repeated ominous but ambiguous warnings to Milosevic not to intervene. Despite this, however, little is know about how Montenegrin society really functions .… The implication is that Western policy in Montenegro should be primarily policy for Montenegro,rather than part of an international campaign to unseat Milosevic. If the international communityfocuses on the needs of Montenegrin society in the coming years, the imperatives are to preserve afunctioning democratic system where elections continue to matter, and to set about the Herculean taskof economic transition.
More...
Six years after the end of the fighting in BiH, and despite possibly the largest amount of democratization assistance per capita ever spent in one country, the international mission to BiH has arrived at this paradoxical conclusion: What Bosnia and Herzegovina needs is not democratic domestic politics, but government by international experts.
More...
In the space of less than a year, relations between the EU and Serbia’s new government have undergone a remarkable transformation. The government’s intentions appeared suspect, or at least uncertain, to most foreign observers. Yet in the end the concessions and compromises offered by Belgrade went far beyond what Brussels ever got out of the Tadić government over four years of a supposedly close partnership. The government has not only stayed the course of EU integration, but has also taken bold steps and taken the EU process more seriously than its predecessor. The agreements Belgrade signed in Brussels in April and May this year will, if implemented, lead to the integration of the Serb enclaves in north Kosovo into the Republic of Kosovo and the dismantling of any institutions of the state of Serbia on Kosovo’s soil.
More...
Immediately prior to the November meeting of the EU’s General Affairs Council, France released a non-paper that underscored that the enlargement halt was not really about enlargement at all. The non-paper was rife with contradictions and redundancies. Its main proposed innovation is a rejiggering of the enlargement policy into seven sequential phases. But the document also demonstrated a worrisome elite orientation, and was void of reference to or grounding in the EU’s foundational source code: the primacy of liberal democratic values and standards. This portends ill for Macron’s vision of the EU more broadly ... DPC recommends a different course to EU member states committed to enlargement and the EU-wide reinforcement of liberal democratic values, at a time when they are challenged both within the Union and from east and west. This does not require any major changes to mechanics, mandates, or procedures, but rather a philosophical shift in approaching the countries of the Western Balkans. The 2015-17 breakthrough in North Macedonia demonstrated two things: a) that the EU’s institutional default setting has for too long been on the side of illiberal elites; and b) the reality that in the expansion of a values-focused EU in the Western Balkans, citizens – not elites – are the Union’s real allies.
More...
The year 2019 proved to be full of political events that generated hope but also confused the citizens of the Republic of Moldova and international observers. The formation of the situational coalition in June between the ACUM bloc and the PSRM signaled the beginning of some changes in the administration of state affairs. Attentive observers of the political processes were somewhat circumspect about the possibility of sincere collaboration between the two parties. However, few would have expected the honeymoon to stop suddenly, without creating the conditions for irreversible changes. Such political maneuvers affecting the welfare of the citizens inoculate even more deeply to the public opinion the idea that Moldovan politicians are incurable and incorrigible when it comes to promoting political and economic reforms.
More...
The accession to the government of PSRM, a political party with strong pro-Russian tendencies and which has openly stated more than once in the past that it is in the favor of achieving the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict through the federalization of the Republic of Moldova, has increased Russia’s influence in the political processes taking place in Chisinau. At the same time, the PSRM government, concentrated around President Igor Dodon, generated suppositions that in the near future we could expect the signing of a document which would regulate the Transnistrian conflict. These assumptions were fueled by the failed attempts to sign the Protocol of in the “5+2” format reunion on October 9-10, 2019 in Bratislava, and at the 8th Conference on strengthening the confidence in the Transnistrian conflict settlement process which took place in Munich on November 4-5, 2019. The belief the public space it was that the draft protocol could lead to the de fact federalization of the Republic of Moldova. The rumor in the political backstage was that the protocol was blocked by former Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration, Vasile Șova, but also by the uncompromising position of not accepting this protocol and which was assumed by the former Prime Minister of the government, Maia Sandu.
More...
The dismissal of the Sandu government by PSRM and the PDM has put an end to the extended honeymoon manifested in the collaboration in the parliament between the ACUM bloc and PSRM. In spite of the aligned vote of the Socialists and Democrats, several representatives of both parties have expressed the idea that the common vote does not imply the formation of a government coalition. However, the credibility of such statements is questionable due to the way in which the redistribution leadership positions at the level of parliamentary committees took place, namely by replacing the representatives of the ACUM bloc with the representatives of the two named parties. This reapportionment has profound implications for the reconfiguration of the balance of power both at the level of the standing committees and in relation to the activity of the Parliament in general.
More...
The settlement of the Transnistrian conflict and the reintegration of the country are strategic priorities of the Republic of Moldova. This statement was made by Prime Minister Pavel Filip, during the meeting of the Governmental Commission for the reintegration of the country. Despite this, even today at the national level there is no clear vision on the process of settling the Transnistrian dispute, as a result of a common process of all political forces, international partners and last but not least of society as a whole. All the attempts over the last 25 years to put a clear vision on the table have failed. The future vision, or a policy document in the field of reintegration, must be coherent in its ambitions, be a rigorous and truly predictive reflection of internal and external dynamics, and last but not least offer robust solutions to clearly defined problems of national interest, taking into account the basic principle - Regulation through Europeanization.
More...
It is even quite difficult to understand how Russia is obstructing the process of democratic transition in post-Soviet states because of the subtle tools and methods used by the Kremlin. In fact, Russia has returned to the mechanisms of indirect aggression practiced by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Then, understanding the enormous danger of a nuclear war, which could have been triggered by direct armed clashes with the United States, the Soviet Union confronted its enemy in third world states through proxy wars. As the provisions of international law do not address the field of indirect aggression well, Russia is free to unleash such hostile actions against its neighbors. The paper will also superficially address these aspects, i.e. the gaps in international law, which, in modern conditions, leads to the transformation of interstate aggression mechanisms. The main purpose of the study, however, will remain to investigate how to use indirect aggression in Russia's foreign policy, in order to generate the regression of the democratic transition in Moldova. The next chapter will elucidate the preponderance of the foreign factor, more precisely of the Russian foreign policy, over the domestic, domestic factor, in directing the political processes and the internal development of the examined post-Soviet states.
More...
The text is based on the discussions of experts from the Republic of Moldova and the Transnistrian region during the round table "Regional development and prospects for interregional cooperation on both banks of the Dniester" on May 16, 2014, held at IDIS "Viitorul" within the project « Stimulating consolidation measures of trust between Chisinau and Tiraspol ». The opinions and conclusions found in the text do not necessarily represent the position of the partner and donor institutions - UNDP and the Romanian Embassy in the Republic of Moldova - or the position of IDIS « Viitorul ». // The purpose of the round table was to identify the existing legal framework and regional development policies in the Republic of Moldova and the Transnistrian region, highlight the needs and obstacles of regional development, as well as formulate recommendations to stimulate cooperation of local and regional public authorities on both sides. The Dniester. Regional development is the main mechanism for reducing the development gaps in contemporary society, in order to ensure economic, social and territorial cohesion. The paradigm that implies the homogeneous development of all regions and regional development policies is gradually articulated within the European Union, with the consolidation and expansion of integration, becoming a model of development for much of the contemporary world. Regional development and European cohesion policy are the mechanism that within the European Union has led to reducing regional development disparities and building the welfare state, while the process of European integration of the Republic of Moldova necessarily involves regional development.
More...
This study aims to evaluate the discussions on the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict in 2016. The analysis addresses, in particular, the events related to the meeting of 2-3 June 2016 in Berlin in the format "5 + 2" and the reaction of the participants and Moldovan civil society compared to the results obtained. The issue of the Transnistrian conflict is an important topic on which the modernization process of the state of the Republic of Moldova depends very much. However, despite some measures to relaunch the negotiations in the "5 + 2" format, we find an attitude of distrust on the part of some representatives of the state but also of the civil society towards the negotiation process. Considering the mentioned problems, we notice a concern of the Moldovan society towards the evolution of the negotiations and the results that could be obtained. This state of affairs highlights the risks of resolving the Transnistrian conflict for the modernization and democratization of the state of the Republic of Moldova. The principle of "red lines" launched by civil society conveys the idea of pressure on the Moldovan authorities in the "5 + 2" format to make them make unilateral concessions and incompatible with the rules and principles of international law could seriously harm the future status of the region Transnistrian within the Republic of Moldova.
More...