Suchergebnisse

Analyzing the recent developments of the European «permanent structural cooperation», the paper focuses on the second and third batches of PESCO projects. The author argues that the future of the Program is basically unclear, considering ambiguity of its relation to NATO. The European innovations in military technologies may develop along two lines – distancing from NATO's capabilities or adapting to them. The Program itself is contradictory and controversial. Originally, it was positioned as an antithesis of NATO and the USA, but presently this thrust of the initiative is not at all evident. Analyzed are complexities of relations between US and the EU with respect to the Program. It's argued that the confrontations in this area, that were growing more and more acute with the advent of D. Trump to the White House, in many ways stem from the reluctance of the EU to allow entrance of «third states», including US, to the European defence markets. Described are individual PESCO projects as well as mechanisms for financing them. With regard to political geography, the superiority in the projects implementation belongs to the Old Europe, while the Eastern European states are much less active and tend to collaborate with the neighboring states. Emphasized are differences in French and German strategic cultures, which determine the level of their participation in PESCO. It's concluded that the further development of the Program will likely face serious difficulties and is, in fact, extremely difficult to predict.

The key basis of German foreign policy is positioning itself as an integral part of Euro-Atlantic community. At the beginning of the 2020-s Germany faces a growing number of obstacles at the national (internal policy), regional but also global levels on the path to become the supreme world power. That is why the more active and full-scale participation of the European NATO and EU member states in joint strengthening of defense capabilities is coming to the fore. The goal of the article is to explore the dynamics and intermediate results of German efforts in this field. Attention is paid not only to general, but also to sugregional and bilateral links of German cooperation with partners in military sphere. The article highlights the features of German participation in the launching and development of potential of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) platform. The paper notes that the number of functional PESCO projects with German participation is more than technical-technological ones. The author faces the fact that the number of new projects initiated by or with the participation of Germany since 2019 has become less than in 2017–2018 but at the same time the general tendency of their development is different. Outside PESCO Berlin pays permanent attention to the strengthening of defense capabilities on bilateral and trilateral bases. The cases of Norway and PESCO demonstrate that Germany is interested in the creation of common military-logistic hubs network in Europe and the growing of armed forces` mobility. This is important for Germany, because its armed forces have been reduced since 1990-s until the 2010-s. The prospects of Berlin`s cooperation with Scandinavian states and Germanspeaking Austria and Switzerland in the military field are also highlighted in the article.

The article considers the views existing in France on the prospects of the European Union becoming a «political power» and the appearance in it of its own military instrument. It is noted that, in the opinion of most French politicians, experts and journalists, the EU is still far from being a full-pledged political subject. Although political and military structures are formed in it, as a kind of «embrio» of quasi statehood, and a «neo-imperial» tendency already exists in it, basically the EU is an economic and «civilian» power which must fight for influence on the international arena only with the help of «soft power». The main reason of its weakness is its internal friability, disagreements between Members States over its future. In addition, the United States, which are not interested in a new global rival, are hampering the achievement of the self-sufficiency, especially in the military-political share. NATO, controlled by the USA, can only allow the creation of a «European pillar» under its umbrella. Eastern European countries are against military integration of the EU, because they are oriented not by Brussels, but by Washington in the security field. However, the rise of China and the election of the nationalist Donald Trump as a President of the United States strengthened the trend in the EU advocating its political independence and the creation of its own «European defence». The article analyzes the initiatives and actions of French President Emmanuel Macron who personifies this trend. It is stated that, with the help of Germany, he managed to achieve certain progress both in terms of general integration and in the field of «European defence». This allowed him to speak about the formation of a «European army». But the question of whether he will be able to go further remains open. Besides the obstacles to political and military integration, which did not disappear, the coronavirus pandemic introduces its «corrections». The newly discovered split in the EU into «South» and «North» called into question its already fragile construction.

The problem of administrative corruption, as an integral part of corruption in general, has become especially urgent in modern Iraq. In recent decades, the level of corruption in all spheres of Iraqi society has increased significantly. The authors of the articles consider certain aspects and overall situation with administrative corruption in Iraq, investigate the causes of its occurrence and propose measures to combat this phenomenon.