Post-cold war concept of security is based on realistic postulates and emphasises a concept of state, forces,power and national interests. Military and political concept of security was dominant while the relations between the superpowers was based on the so called bipolar balance of power. Identity of states was realised by membership in military, political and economic organisations. The strategy of returning to the era of nuclear weapons reaches its full flowering. The crucial point of security after the end of Cold war consists of searching for giving answers to the threats coming from the outside and abilities of states to maintain their independent integrity against changed relations among the powers, which potentially may become enemies. Under such circumstances powers should not be ignored in any interpretation of any aspect of security, for realistic theories of international relations are still of great influence in the field of security. They will be modified in different conditions and will act in the sense of enlarged concept of security - instead of dominant concepts of political and military security typical for the Cold War era, economic, social and environmental factors will appear. Basic weakness of the realistic theories of security is in the lack of recognising the importance of cooperation between main factors in international community. This failure will be replaced neo realistic and liberal and institutional theories of security which emphasises the concept of cooperation in the first place. Concepts of power, forces and integral processes will be observed within the context of changes in the international relations.
Thomas Ubbesen reviews Tourism and Travel during the Cold War: Negotiating Tourist Experiences across the Iron Curtain, edited by Sune Bechmann Pedersen and Christian Noack.
In the last twenty years the world has undergone serious changes, unfortunately not in positive direction. The collapse of the bipolar system and the establishment of one bloc hegemony - NATO headed by the USA, has not only failed to establish more stable and secure international relations, but, on the contrary, it has corresponded with the greatest insecurity and uncertainty of the mankind ever since World War II till the present day. After the 'counter-balance' disappeared, there has been open political, economic, even direct military, interference by the Alliance states in the sovereignty of many countries. Consequently, the world's conflicting potential has largely increased. Apart from the threats present from earlier, the contemporary world is faced with a series of new, formerly unknown or marginal, ones. The most notable among them are: uncontrolled escalation of armed conflicts; international terrorism; proliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction; expansion of drugs trafficking; illegal cross-border migrations; human trafficking and trafficking in human organs; piracy; criminalization of different areas of living; etc. The economic and financial crises have additionally warned the world of the limitedness of natural resources and, in the most serious form, posed the issue of the fight for preservation, or conquest of areas rich in raw minerals. Apart from the current courses of action in the fight for control over the natural resources, both new methods of action and new areas of contest are emerging (Arctic, Antarctic .; above and under the Earth's surface; on the sea, and under the sea bottom), over which the interests of great powers will be increasingly conflicting. Michael Klare, the author of well-known books 'Blood and Oil' and 'Resource Wars', convincingly evokes a growing hunger for resources by the picturesque title of his latest book 'Race for What's Left: Global Scramble for the World's Last Resources'. For success in this new competition in strength and skills, new strategic concepts are required. Some have already been created and preliminarily tested; others are being prepared for implementation and corrected 'on the go' based on the performance of already proved solutions; still others are being hurriedly shaped. Understandably, along with this, what actual and potential rivals do related to this, or what their activities suggest, is watched closely.
Predmet istraživanja u ovom radu je izgradnja identiteta NATO, koji danas sebe određuje kao političko-vojnu organizaciju i već šest i po decenija, ponekad i presudno, utiče na međunarodne odnose i bezbednosne procese u svetu. Cilj rada je da se na osnovu teorijske i praktične deskripcije i analize procesa konstituisanja identiteta NATO, uočavanjem različitih dometa pojedinih teorija međunarodnih odnosa i studija bezbednosti u opisivanju, objašnjenju i prognoziranju društvenih pojava i uloge Alijanse u njihovom oblikovanju, pokaže dostignuti nivo izgradnje činilaca identiteta NATO. Da bi se odgovorilo ovom zadatku, u prvom poglavlju izlažu se osnovni koncepti identiteta i bezbednosti kao ključnih kategorija, koje se posmatraju u dinamičnom uzajamnom odnosu, smisao dobijaju društvenom konstrukcijom i proizvodnjom značenja, socijalno su uslovljene i promenljive zavisno od konteksta. U drugom poglavlju izlažu se stavovi tri uticajne teorije međunarodnih odnosa: realizma, liberalizma i socijalnog konstruktivizma, o karakteru, ulozi i budućnosti NATO. U trećem i četvrtom poglavlju, teorijski uvidi iz prva dva poglavlja primenjuju se u studiji slučaja izgradnje identiteta NATO posle Hladnog rata, a težište analize je na promenama karaktera bezbednosnih pretnji i odgovorima NATO koji se opredeljuje za širenje i vojno delovanje izvan svoje teritorije. Peto poglavlje posvećeno je analizi činilaca identiteta NATO: političkog jedinstva, vojnih sposobnosti, razvijene institucionalne infrastrukture i nove bezbednosne kulture. Zbirnim delovanjem grade NATO, koji u novom multipolarnom nadmetanju za raspodelu moći i kontrolu resursa i teritorija, predvođen najjačom silom – SAD, nastoji da spreči opadanje, sačuva i unapredi dostignutu moć i uticaj. ; This paper studies building the identity of NATO, which now defines itself as a politico-military organization and, for the past six and a half decades, has had, sometimes decisive, influence over the international relations and security processes in the world. The aim of this paper is to show the achieved level of building the NATO identity factors, on the basis of theoretical and practical description and analysis of the process of NATO identity constitution, noticing different range of certain theories of international relations and security studies in describing, explaining and forecasting of social phenomena and the role of the Alliance in their design. In order to accomplish this task, the first chapter addresses the basic concepts of identity and security as key categories, which are viewed in a dynamic correlation, receiving its meaning through social construction and production of meanings, are socially conditioned and variable depending on the context. The second chapter presents the views of three prominent theories of international relations: realism, liberalism and social constructivism, the character, the role and future of NATO. In the third and the fourth chapter, the theoretical insights from the first two chapters are applied in the case study of building NATO identity after the Cold War, and the focus of the analysis is on changing the character of security threats and responses of NATO which opts for the expansion and military action outside its territory. The fifth chapter is devoted to the analysis of NATO identity factors: political unity, military capabilities, developed institutional infrastructure and new security culture; their aggregate action builds NATO, which, in the new multipolar competition for the distribution of power and control of resources and territories, led by the strongest power – the United States, seeks to prevent degradation, preserve and improve the achieved power and influence.
Hladni rat je predstavljao rat ideologija bez presedana u istoriji. Nijedan drugi rat, ni pre ni posle ovog višedecenijskog hladnog sukoba između Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i Saveza Sovjetskih Socijalističkih Republika, nije bio rat koji se vodio u tolikoj meri u sferi meke moći kao Hladni rat. Odsustvo neposrednog oružanog sukoba između Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i Sovjetskog Saveza učinilo je da se Hladni rat odvija kao takmičenje u sferi ekonomije, tehnologije i nauke, kao trka u nuklearnom i konvencionalnom naoružanju i kao svemirsko nadmetanje. Pored takmičenja u sferi tvrde moći, Sjedinjene Američke Države i Sovjetski Savez vodili su intenzivnu bitku u oblasti meke moći. Ovo je bio sukob između američke liberalno-demokratske ideologije i sovjetske marksističke ideologije. Svaka od ove dve zemlje težila je tome da ubedi građane one druge zemlje da je njen društveni i ekonomski sistem idealan i da je bolji i pravedniji od sistema njenog glavnog suparnika. Uzrok propasti Sovjetskog Saveza i komunizma u istočnoj Evropi nikada sa sgurnošću neće moći da bude određen. Okolnosti koje su dovele do raspada Sovjetskog Saveza, pada Berlinskog zida 1989. godine i urušavanja komunizma u Evropi ne mogu se svesti na skup vojnih, političkih, ekonomskih i društvenih činilaca koji su, nezavisno jedni od drugih, doveli do tektonskih promena u međunarodnim odnosima. Svi ovi činioci zajedno, isprepletani u kompleksnu mrežu poluga, učinili su da se Sovjetski Savez uruši i da Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama prepusti ulogu pobednika u Hladnom ratu. Pritom, Amerika nije bila samo vojni i ekonomski pobednik. Amerika je iz Hladnog rata izašla kao moralni i ideološki pobednik. Hladni rat predstavlja temu izuzetno velikog broja radova, ali mali broj tih radova se bavi analizom američko-sovjetskog sukoba u sferi meke moći. Stoga je cilj ovog istraživanja i rada rasvetljavanje, objašnjene i tumačenje poluga meke moći koje su Sjedinjene Američke Države institucionalizovale, pokrenule i upotrebile u ideološkoj borbi protiv Sovjetskog Saveza u vreme Hladnog rata. Međutim, Sjedinjene Američke Države nisu od svog nastanka u drugoj polovini 18. veka do Hladnog rata osmišljeno primenjivale svoju meku moć. Do Hladnog rata upotreba poluga meke moći bila praksa kojom su se Sjedinjene Američke Države bavile isključivo u vreme učešća u oružanim sukobima. Tek sa Hladnim ratom u Americi se javlja potreba za namenskom i osmišljenom upotrebom poluga meke moći. Odmah nakon Drugog svetskog rata Sovjetski Savez je počeo da vrši uticaj na druge zemlje šireći marksističku ideologiju i komunističke ideje. Osim širenja marksističke ideologije Sovjetski Savez je vodio i dobro osmišljenu kampanju protiv Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i američkog načina života. Američka administracija je kao odgovor na sovjetsku spoljnu politiku u periodu od 1946. do 1950. godine stvorila politiku obuzdavanja Sovjetskog Saveza i sovjetskog uticaja u svetu svim sredstvima. Ovo je podrazumevalo kako upotrebu poluga tvrde moći tako i primenu poluga meke moći. U to vreme u američkom društvu postojao je konsenzus o upotrebi političkih, vojnih i ekonomskih oruđa u borbi protiv Sovjetskog Saveza, ali je upotreba poluga meke moći bila predmet duge javne rasprave. Jedna od izuzetno važnih poluga meke moći su državni programi informisanja, odnosno ono što se u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama smatra propagandom, a propaganda se od nastanka Sjedinjenih Američkih Država do danas smatra nečasnom delatnošću autokratskih režima. Sjedinjene Američke Države su u periodu neposredno nakon Drugog svetskog rata sprovele zakonske, institucionalne i strukturalne promene koje su omogućile trajno ustanovljavanje poluga meke moći zarad širenja američkih vrednosti, ideja i kulture i zarad ideološke borbe protiv Sovjetskog Saveza i sovjetske marksističke ideologije. Zakoni doneti u to vreme su na snazi i danas i pružaju okvir za mnogobrojne programe i aktivnosti na polju primene poluga meke moći po celom svetu. ; The Cold War was a war without precedent in the history. No war before this prolonged cold conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was waged that much in the realm of soft power as the Cold War. In the absence of an immediate armed conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Cold War was conducted as a competition in the areas of economy, technology and science, nuclear and conventional weapons, as well as the space race. Besides the competition in the realm of hard power, the United States and the Soviet Union pursued an intensive battle in the realm of soft power. This was a conflict between the American ideology of a liberal democracy and the Soviet Marxist ideology. Each of the two attempted to persuade the citizens of the other country that its social and economic practice was an ideal one, better and more just than the other one. The source of the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism in Eastern Europe will never be fully determined. The circumstances that brought about the break-up of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the fall down of communism in Europe cannot be summarized as an aggregation of military, political, economic and social factors that independently from each other led to the colossal changes in the world order. All of these factors, entangled together in a complex net, caused the implosion of the Soviet Union which left the United States as the winner in the Cold War. Yet, the United States was not only a military and economic victor, it resurfaced as a moral and ideological champion, as well. The Cold Was has been a theme of numerous papers but only a handful of these papers tackled the American-Soviet conflict in the realm of soft power. Thus, the objective of this research and dissertation is to shed the light, explain and construe the instruments of soft power that the United States institutionalized, put into motion and deployed in the ideological battle against Soviet Union in the Cold War. However, since its birth in the 18th century until the Cold War, the United States had not wielded its soft power strategically. Up to the Cold War, the soft power instruments were used exclusively during the times when the United States was involved in an armed conflict. Only in the Cold War, the need for intentional and thoughtful use of soft power instruments emerged. Soon after the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union got set off to exert its influence by diffusing its Marxist ideology and communist values. In addition to spreading its ideology, the Soviet Union led a well-planned campaign against the United States and the American way of life. From 1946 to 1950, in response to the Soviet policy towards the United States, the American administration coined the policy of containment of the Soviet Union and the Soviet influence in the world. The policy of containment included both the use of the instruments of hard power and of soft power. At that time, there was a consensus in the American society on the use of political, military and economic means in fighting the Soviet Union, while the use of soft power instruments was a subject of a prolonged public discourse. Government information programs, perceived as propaganda in the United States, have always been a very important soft power instrument, and propaganda has been considered by Americans to be a dishonest activity of autocratic governments. In the period right after the Second World War, the United States implemented legislative, institutional and structural changes that allowed for permanent establishment of the soft power instruments. These foreign policy instruments made it possible for the United States government to diffuse American values, ideas and culture and to wage an ideological war against the Soviet Union and its Marxist principles. The acts adopted at that time are in place nowadays, and provide a legal framework for numerous programs and activities in the realm of soft power.
У раду се размaтра утицај политичких промена на културно-уметнички живот Пољске и Југославије средином прошлог века. Након периода соцреализма, као водећег уметничког правца, у обе земље је отпочета тежња ка деетатизацији културе, што је у сфери организације музичког живота резултирало оснивањем интернационалних фестивала савремене музике. Будући да је пољски фестивал Варшавска јесен (1956), утемељен пет година раније, он је постао узор југословенском Музичком бијеналу Загреб (1961), што имплицира потенцијалне аналогије између стратегија и циљева ових манифестација. Оба фестивала замишљена су као места на којима би се сусрели композитори са обе стране Гвоздене завесе. Наиме, организатори су тежили инкорпорирању домаћих композитора у актуелне западноевропске музичке токове, не би ли створили повољније услове за културну либерализацију Пољске и Југославије. Стога, иако перципирани као отклон од соцреализма, те као вид деполитизације музике, ови фестивали су, сасвим парадоксално, наставили да служе новопрокламованим политичким идејама, усмереним ка презентацији Пољске и Југославије као либерално-демократских средина. ; This paper examines the influence of political changes on the cultural life in Poland and Yugoslavia from the 1950s to the early 1960s. After a period of socialist realism (as the main art orientation), the tendency toward liberalization of culture started in both countries. In the domain of organizing musical life, such tendencies reflected in establishing of international festivals of contemporary music. The Warsaw Autumn (1956) and the Zagreb Music Biennale (1961) were places where composers from both sides of the Iron Curtain have presented their works. Analogies between these festivals are evident, given the fact that the Polish festival was founded five years earlier and served as a model for establishment of the Zagreb Music Biennale. First of all, the Warsaw Autumn and the Zagreb Music Biennale have shown similar problems in regard to the music repertoire. In addition, the similarities between these festivals are recognized based on the main objectives of both festivals organizers which implied aspiration for incorporation of Polish and Yugoslav music culture into the contemporary tendencies of Western Europe. It was a crucial strategy of the Warsaw Autumn, as well as of the Zagreb Music Biennale, whose purposes were about contributing to the liberalization of both Polish and Yugoslav culture. Therefore, this study has found that these festivals, although perceived as a departure from political ideologization of music, continued to promote modified political aims referring to presentation of Poland and Yugoslavia as liberal countries.
Mens journalister har lett for å ty til adjektiver for å beskrive et økologisk katastrofeområde, er det vanskeligere å se og formidle årsakssammenhenger. Hvorfor fikk ikke sovjetiske, senere russiske, myndigheter i samarbeid med sine nordiske naboland stanset de grenseoverskridende svovelskyene fra østsiden av Pasvikelven? Det er disse spørsmålene Lars Rowe på en systematisk og beundringsverdig godt dokumentert måte gir svar på i boken Pollution and Atmosphere in Post-Soviet Russia: The Arctic and the Environment.
Journalists easily find adjectives to describe environmental catastrophes; it is more difficult, however, to ascertain and convey their causes. Why, for example, didn't Soviet, and later Russian, authorities collaborate with Nordic neighbors and manage to put a stop to the sulphur clouds emanating from the eastern side of the Pasvik River? Lars Rowe looks at this question in a systematic and admirably well-documented way and provides answers in his book, Pollution and Atmosphere in Post-Soviet Russia: The Arctic and the Environment.
Niels Bo Poulsen, director of the Department of Military History and War Studies at the Royal Danish Defence College, reviews Industry, War and Stalin's Battle for Resources: The Arctic and the Environment by Lars Rowe.
In this paper, the author analyzes the key stages in the development of the Republic of Srpska, since its formation in 9 January 1992. In this context, it elaborates the process of genesis of the Republic of Srpska, its international verification by the Dayton Peace Agreement, post-conflict consolidation as a process of trial of the constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina that would redistribute responsibilities between the entity and state authorities. However, the paper points out that the Republic of Serbian unquestionable categories and that the current attempt by the U.S. and the EU for the amendment of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not imply denial of two-entity structure of the state. In the future, how would you rate the author will attempt leading actors in world politics to redesign the institutional framework at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as to strengthening its negotiating capacity to assume the obligations related to membership of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Denna festskrift innehåller tio informativa artiklar, mest om Georgien, dess språk, historia och samhälle, men också om tjerkesserna och Tjetjenien i det ryska Nordkaukasus, samt om det armeniska folkmordet. De flesta artiklarna är skrivna av georgiska och svenska forskare som är eller varit knutna till forskningsplattformen The Russia and Caucasus Regional Research (RUCARR) vid Malmö universitet.
This Festschrift contains ten informative chapters, mainly about Georgia, its language, history and society, but also about the Circassians and Chechnya in the Russian North Caucasus, as well as the Armenian genocide. Most of the contributions are written by Georgian and Swedish scholars associated with the Russia and the Caucasus Regional Research (RUCARR) platform at Malmö University.
Svein Mønnesland, professor emeritus at the University of Oslo, reviews Yugoslavia and Political Assassinations: The History and Legacy of Tito's Campaign against the Émigrés, by Christian Axboe Nielsen, published in 2020 by I.B. Tauris.