Globalization has brought about the collapse of the bipolar system of international relations, which was the foundation of the structure of global security based on the technological means of mass production, which predominated at that time. The change from the mass to the flexible way of production has made it necessary to build a new system of global security on the technological resources of flexible production and the political implications of globalization. There are many indications that it was just this new system of global security that began to take shape the day the first NATO bomb fell on Serbia, which means that it came into being: in South- Eastern Europe i.e. in the region that at the beginning of the 20th century ignited the fuse of the world wars and which would, if not for this intervention, still pose a threat. The intervention, a novelty in the postwar international relations, and which consequently brought up a plethora of questions, paved the way to the realization of the project Europe for the 21th century. That project, based on adjusting international relations to globalization, whose outlines are becoming visible in the region of South- Eastern Europe, is in Croatia's interest, and is the major guarantor of the preservation of its independence and sovereignty. (SOI : PM: S. 33)
In this paper, the author deals with some institutional and structural elements of the emerging European post-cold war security environment. In the early 1990s, at the level of institutionalization of European security, a plethora of institutions came into being whose purpose has been to gradually incorporate the former communist states into an integral security structure. Also, international security was formalized in international organizations covering Europe. Thus one of the key challenges to the European security system has been the need for melding its central components into a consistent system. The author also describes some current processes and developments within the European security setting that will shape the European security structure in the future as well. This setting has been and will undoubtedly be affected by various international (regional and global) and national factors in the European economic, political, and security space as well as by the joint efforts of European states (their leaders) and international security organizations to provide common security in Europe. The author concludes that the European international system today includes many organizations and institutions that, with an appropriate division of labour and cooperation, may help set up a common and integral European security system which would efficiently ensure the security of individual states as well as the security of entire Europe. (SOI : S. 55)
The situation in Kosovo up to 1999, and all attempts which failed in order to find a just and lasting solution for that problem, have fully justified the above criteria for a lawful humanitarian intervention which was undertaken by the NATO forces against the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It seems, however, that the responsible persons in the NATO were not aware of the competence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to investigate to prosecute persons responsible for use of prohibited arms and for destruction of some objects. Some of these unlawful acts constitute grave breaches of the 1959 Geneva Conventions and violations of laws and customs of war. In these circumstances it is the legal duty of the Prosecutor to undertake an investigation. In case that he fails in his duty, there are no statutory limits in respect of the crimes provided in the Statute of the Tribunal. (SOI : SOEU: S. 98f.) + Most legal writers in their writings confuse notions of humanitarian intervention, intervention of a State in order to protect its citizens abroad and humanitarian relief. The use of force for protection of citizens abroad, when they are in immediate danger of losing their lives or suffering serious injury, can exceptionally be justified by a state of necessity as regulated in article 33 of Drafts Article on State Responsibility by the International Law Commission. Further conditions for such an intervention are provided in the wording of the US State Secretar, Daniel Webster in the Caroline case of 1837, relating to the self-defence. Actions of humanitarian relief have nothing unlawful in their character, but a question can arise of the obligation of parties to a conflict to receive and allow its distribution to a who are in need. The 1949 Geneva Conventions and the First Protocol of 1977, provide in this respect a legal obligation of all parties to internation armed conflicts. Such relief actions can be imposed as obligation to parties to internal armed conflicts as well, by UN Security Council resolutions based on Chap. VII of the UN Charter. + In the view of this author there is no rule of positive international law granting a right to foreign States to intervene by force, either in protection of their citizens, or when a humanitarian intervention is required. The matter can only be of exceptional circumstances precluding wrongfulness of the use of force, which otherwise remains prohibited. When the matter is of humanitarian intervention, circumstances precluding the wrongfulness would, according to this author, be the following: (1) There should be a situation of systematic, repeated and widespread commission of international crimes by a State authority against its own citizens. Special problems are created to the international community by widespread practices of ethnic cleansing. (2) Such a situation constitutes itself a "threat to the peace" calling for an enforcement action by the Security Council according to the Chap. VII of the UN Charter. (3) In case that the Security Council fails in its primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security and when there are no other means, a group of States or an organization can undertake a humanitarian intervention by use of force in order to stop the commission of crimes. In these circumstances it acts as de facto organ of the entire international community of States. (4) In these extreme and exceptional circumstances, States taking part in such an action cannot obtain any advantages in their profit. (5) Collective intervention by a single State acting in the name of several other States or an organization. However, even such an intervention should have priority over humanitarian intervention undertaken by a State acting in its o name. (6) It is self-evident that in performing a humanitarian intervention there should not be committed international crimes especially against protected persons, including civilian population
The maintenance of peace and stability in the post-cold-war world in the circumstances of cooperation and partnership requires an appropriate approach and manner of resolving the crises triggered off by the collapse of communist federations. Imperial policies and regimes must be eliminated while the process of the geopolitical consolidation and the creation of independent and sovereign states in Central and Eastern Europe (and in Euro-Asia on the whole), built around the democratic and market principles, must be wrapped up. The new political leaders (mostly leftist) in the countries that for over fifty years (and now through the Kosovo crisis) have been developing the trans-Atlantic alliance within the military-political framework of NATO (based on the same values, principles, and goals), are now developing appropriate strategies for the post-cold-war hotspots (based on the accumulated experiences). (SOI : S. 89) + The author analyses the process of democratisation of international relations and the future configuration of international order following the end of the era of bipolar confrontation and the establishment of cooperation in the world which has witnessed the change in the key actors' roles regarding their approach to the resolution of the post-cold-war crises which jeopardise the world's peace and stability. First, the author provides a short outline of the genesis of the evolution of the US foreign policy, from the end of World War II to the beginning of the cold war and the formation of NATO. He points out that today's agenda of the international order, its structures, interventionism, and use of force in achieving political objectives, were already shaped at that time. The suggestions put forward constituted the framework and the foundation for the world politics until the late 80s; the cumulative effect of these responses on today's attempts at solving post- cold-war crises enables us to evaluate the roles and behaviour of individual actors in the resolution of the Kosovo crisis
In the introduction, the author analyses Clinton's approach to Europe and the European NATO allies, particularly his wish to develop the partnership and to expand the Alliance. The new post-cold-war relations in Europe contributed to the stronger American-European ties - the foundation of atlantism. This new model of relations is discussed in relation to the emerging challenges that pose the key questions: the creation of a new joint strategy, the problems of NATO's "out of area" interventions and the creation of such European relations that will not provoke uncalled-for Russian reactions. Seen within such a framework, NATO is going to remain the chief proponent of military-political actions of the developed world in which US is to play the leading role. (SOI : S. 102)
The author analyses the genesis and the scenarios of the Kosovo crisis resolution, as well as the possible political reverberations of the NATO military intervention. The premise is that the Kosovo crisis is only a continuation of the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, that Kosovo has for centuries been a separate entity largely populated by Albanians, that the policy of Serbian nationalism has permanently discriminated against the Albanian population and that prior to the recent air strikes against Yugoslavia Serbia had systematically led an ethnic-cleansing campaign on Kosovo. Although the author recognises that the support for the NATO military action can hardly be found in the tenets of the UN Charter, he argues that it can nevertheless be justified by international law. He points out that NATO's military campaign enjoyed a broad support of the people of NATO member countries, but that it has made a rift in the European left. The new left was in the forefront of the action, while the old, dogmatic and sectarian left, found itself in the ranks of its most vocal opponents. The author claims that Milosevic, with his overall politics, and particularly his policy on Kosovo, had propelled the West into an action it could not extricate itself from. He concludes that the consequences of Belgrade's defeat will be: 1. The collapse of Milosevic' regime (the beginning of his end); 2. The final incapacitation of Milosevic' politics to create new conflicts; 3. The protectorate over Kosovo and its autonomy, with a factual independence from Serbia; 4 The independence of Montenegro; 5. Reinforcing the Dayton policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina (eliminating centrifugal tendencies); 6. The organised participation of the West in the transitional processes in this region (The Pact on the Stability of Southeast Europe); 7. Bolstering the democratic and weakening the undemocratic tendencies in the region. (SOI : S. 14)
The Serbo-Albanian conflict on Kosovo has had direct repercussions for the Balkan security in the last 150 years. That is why the international community would from time to time pay more attention to this conflict, but never long enough to resolve it for good. Both the Serbian and the Albanian side put in a lot of effort towards the resolution of the conflict and came up with several proposals, ranging from various modes of Kosovo autonomy to the idea of cantonisation and re-federalisation of SR Yugoslavia to the independence of Kosovo or its being turned into a protectorate. All these suggestions had mostly been one-sided, either pro-Serbian or pro-Albanian, none of them conducive to a compromise. All this eventually resulted in a military conflict and the attempt to impose solutions by force. Nevertheless, after the NATO intervention, negotiations will have to be resumed and the familiar proposals for the resolution of the Kosovo question will have to be rehashed, only this time this will require much more good will and willingness to make compromises, both on the Albanian and the Serbian side, as well as a considerable support of international community. (SOI : S. 60)
Wars and suffering in the 20th century, mostly the consequences of ethnic and religious antagonisms, have been typical for Europe's southeast. That is why the ethnic aspects of security are central to the understanding of the totality of this region's security, particularly in the 21st century. The security of southeast Europe can be analyzed using realistic, idealistic and neo-realistic approaches to contemporary security as its starting point. The security of this region is affected by the internal circumstances of the region's states and by the economic situation and inter-ethnic relations in particular. Similarly, significant influence is exerted by the relations among the states and nations living there as well as by the ethnic-based conflicts which are the outcomes of these relations. A series of problems caused by the east-European transformations includes the unresolved ethnic and minority issues. That is why no southeastern European state today has worked out the issue of the relations with its neighbors. This part of Europe is to remain a volatile region, fraught with economic difficulties and crises, nationalisms and xenophobia. In such circumstances, with the open sores of simmering ethnic feuds and the specter of various nationalisms, is it realistic to expect rational politics which is supposed to lead the countries of southeastern Europe towards the united Europe? This is the question the answer to which is sought not only by this region's states but also by the leading European states and the USA. (SOI : PM: S. 78)
The author analyzes the process of the NATO expansion in Europe following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. Paradoxically, after the end of the cold war, the security conditions in Europe have not improved. On the contrary, the danger of military conflicts has increased. That is why most former communist countries, including the newly created states which emerged after the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, have been trying to eliminate this danger and strengthen their security by joining NATO. The Russian Federation is the main opponent of the NATO expansion in Eastern Europe, particularly on the states which came into being after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The author describes in detail the geostrategical and geopolitical implications of the admittance of the first group of Eastern-European countries into the NATO (Poland, Czech Republic and Romania), as well as the prospects of the NATO expansion onto the other countries in the region. He sees the American initiative for the cooperation in Southeastern Europe as a complement to the process of the NATO expansion. In the end he criticizes NATO's process of selection of new members, the process which has left Croatia (for the time being) in a sort of a geostrategical void. (SOI : PM: S. 118)
