Notions of the power associated with the European Union's foreign policy and its role in international relations are mostly liberal in origin. This explains the EU's special role in the Cold War era and that it has since emerged more as a moral, ethical and normative power. The EU's lack of military capability has probably been the main cause that prevents it from acting as a great or superpower. The distinction between materialistic and immaterial elements of power has been a crucial point of contention between realists and liberal thinkers. In international relations, we are also witnessing the trend of the EU increasingly using the geopolitical approach (such as in the Ukrainian crisis) besides the normative one. In the article, different concepts of EU foreign policy regarding power in the light of realism and liberalism are compared where, alongside the descriptive method, a SWOT analysis is performed. Keywords: realism, liberalism, power, European Union, Ukraine, foreign policy, international relations
Violent conflict is very old in human society. The development of military technology brought with itself the worst tragedies loss of human live and material devastation in the second half of 20th century in the Horn of Africa. This region is one of the centers of various political violent conflicts in the world, according to length of these violent conflicts, the number of death of people, mainly civilian, refugees and internal displaced persons (IDP). This study elucidates the root causes of long wars in the Horn of Africa focusing mainly on South Sudan and Somalia. It also illustrates how the Super Powers during the Cold War helped their client states to prolong the suffering of people in the region. When Socialist system disappeared from Eastern Europe, Mengistu Haile Mariam's and Siyad Barre's regime ignominiously collapsed. In Ethiopia Amhara power elite, who ruled the Empire state from 1889 to 1991 lost their state power and Tigrian guerrilla fighters captured it through the power of the gun, Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia, South Sudan is emerging from long heinous war to independence. The violent conflict in Somalia transformed after the old regime demise in 1991 and the new leaders unable to build new central government. Somalia is fragmented and became the good example of failed state in the theory of contemporary political sociology. The paper tries to explain these complex violent conflicts in this part of Africa.
The aim of this article is to analyse the efforts made by the OSCE to contribute to the political settlement of the Transdniestran conflict. As the OSCE is one of the mediators in this conflict, the article begins by considering theories of international mediation and explains the factors that influence the success or failure of mediation efforts. Following this theoretical part, the article continues with an analysis of these factors with respect to the conflict in Transdniestria. It deals with the nature of the Transdniestrian conflict and its causes, describes the parties involved, explains the historical background of the conflict, and analyses its international context, i.e. the role of third parties. The following chapter focuses on the nature of the mediator (i.e. the OSCE) and its mediation activities, and attempts to explain the OSCE's mediation efforts. The article concludes that the absence of a political settlement to the conflict results from a combination of factors that are both embedded in the nature of the conflict and in the nature of the mediator. Adapted from the source document.
The study deals with the so far mostly unaccented problem of the conflict in Northeastern Sudan. In contrast to the Darfur crisis, the conflict in NE Sudan is in progress without attracting any greater amount of international attention. In the text, I examine the development of the general marginalization of the inhabitants of the region in the context of the Sudanese politics since independence until the present time. The main issues of the study are the ethnicization & economization of the conflict & its international consequences. These consequences are still only latent, but the lack of conflict management might contribute to the spread of tensions abroad, as was the case with Darfur. I then argue that the passivity of the international society, as in the case of Darfur, makes certain that there is no chance for the NE Sudan conflict to be quickly resolved. As a conclusion, I suggest a solution to the crisis in the form of a broader engagement of regional organizations & states, especially IGAD (Inter-Governmental Agency for Development). Adapted from the source document.
Spremembe v mednarodni skupnosti po koncu hladne vojne so mednarodne institucije, ki delujejo na področju zagotavljanja miru in varnosti, postavile pred nove izzive, ki so izpostavili pomanjkljivost obstoječh norm, mehanizmov in konceptualnega aparata za naslavljanje novih varnostnih groženj. Mednarodne institucije se težko spopadajo z modernimi varnostnimi grožnjami, med katere spadajo tudi etnični konflikti, hkrati pa je proces prepoznavanja varnostnih groženj kompleksen. Magistrska naloga skozi študijo primera delovanja Varnostnega sveta in Organizacije za varnost in sodelovanje v Evropi v ukrajinskem konfliktu preučuje, kako pojmovanje varnosti mednarodnih institucij vpliva na upravljanje (etničnih) konfliktov. Naloga pokaže, da sodobno pojmovanje varnosti presega dojemanje države kot edinega relevatnega referenčnega objekta varnosti in da je varnost intersubjektivna kategorija, ki odpira vprašanje glede procesa prepoznavanja (novih) varnostnih groženj. Posledično pojmovanje varnosti vpliva na diskurz in delovanje akterjev. Na primeru Varnostnega sveta tako vidimo, da se države članice zavedajo pomena vzpostavljene prakse delovanja, ki izhaja iz pojmovanja varnosti dotične institucije, ter njenega vpliva na odločanje v Varnostnem svetu. OVSE pa kljub prepoznavanju kršitev določenih prvin varnosti v praksi te kršitve težko naslavlja. Naloga pokaže tudi, kako specializirano znanje posameznih institucij vpliva na diskurz držav v teh institucijah ter da pojmovanje varnosti v posameznih institucijah ni statično, temveč rezultat nenehnih (re)interpretacij. ; Changes in the international community after the end of the Cold War have led international institutions working in the field of peace and security to face new challenges that have highlighted the disadvantage of existing norms, mechanisms and conceptual apparatus for addressing new security threats. International institutions are struggling to deal with modern security threats, including ethnic conflicts, while the process of identifying security threats is complex. The master's thesis examines how the concept of security of international institutions influences the management of (ethnic) conflicts through a study of the functioning of the Security Council and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in the Ukrainian conflict. Thesis demonstrates that modern concept surpasses the perception of the state as the only relevant referent object of security and that security is an intersubjective category that raises the issue of the process of identifying (new) security threats. As a consequence the concept of security affects the discourse and the functioning of the actors. In the case of the Security Council, we can see that Member States are aware of the importance of the established practice, which stems from the concept of security of the institution, and its impact on decision-making in the Security Council. Despite the recognition of violations of certain elements of security in practice, the OSCE has difficulty addressing this violation. The thesis also shows how the specialized knowledge of individual institutions influences the discourse of states in these institutions, and that the concept of security in individual institutions is not static, but the result of continuous (re)interpretations.
V članku je prikazan poskus ureditve mednacionalnih odnosov na istrskem polotoku v letih pred prvo svetovno vojno v širšem kontekstu reševanja nacionalnih konfliktov v avstrijski polovici Habsburške monarhije. Poseben poudarek je na predstavitvi in analizi moravskega kompromisa leta 1905, ki je temeljil na osebnem načelu in je postal nekakšen model za urejanje mednacionalnih odnosov v Cislajtaniji ter na analizi istrskega kompromisa leta 1908, ki je temeljil na teritorialnem načelu. ; The Habsburg monarchy was an absolutist monarchy before 1848, and from the Theresian-Josephine period there was a tendency to introduce a centralised unitary state. However, this was resisted by Hungary, which was able to maintain its special position under constitutional law. In 1867, the Habsurg Monarchy accepted the Austro-Hungarian compromise to be organized as a dual monarchy, as a personal and real union of two equal and more or less centralized states. The Monarchy was renamed to Austro-Hungary, however, in both parts of the states, this caused various national groups to experience a sense of discomfort and threat and consequently revoked their historical rights and national law. After the establishment of the Dual monarchy, the Wienna governments first favoured the correctional measures plans leading to federalism, after the affirmation of the dualism and the centralization, however, the idea of compromises became the central focus of solving the national disputes in Cisleithania. In 1905, German and Czech politicians in Moravia managed to reach an agreement on how to regulate the national situation in the country. The Moravian Agreement, which was conceived by the Regional Committee, was not based on territorial but on personal principles and became a model for the regulation of international relations in Cislaitania. The Istrian peninsula was also a focal point of national conflict, where Slavic deputies, especially after 1883, strongly advocated the realisation of linguistic equality in the country. The Italian majority in the Istrian Regional Assembly consistently rejected linguistic equality in the Regional Assembly. The Italian side became more receptive to Slavic demands only after the introduction of universal male suffrage for the National Assembly (1907), when it became clear that the process of political democratisation was working in favour of the emancipation of the majority Slavic population. In 1908, the Istrian Agreement, or the Regional Electoral Reform, was signed. The Slavs on the Istrian peninsula have thus won a victory. The Istria Agreement was based on the territorial division of electoral districts according to the principle of nationality and ensured that neither side majorised the other.
This study argues that due to a lack of attention paid to the national interest of actors in international politics the mainstream international conflict resolution studies fail in their prescriptive & descriptive aspects; particularly when conflicts are complicated by geopolitics. The case study of the long-standing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh is used to highlight the strengths of geopolitical analysis, aimed at a proper understanding of a conflict's causes & the identities & interests of the actors directly & indirectly involved. This understanding is a prerequisite for coordinated international action directed towards the creation of the structural conditions for peace which would lead the prime actors of the conflict to choose peaceful resolution as a means to escape the hurting stalemate situation. In the case of Nagorno-Karabakh -- a conflict whose resolution has been impeded mainly by Azerbaijani & Armenian ethnic nationalism, coupled with fierce competition between the major powers in Central Eurasia -- a geopolitical analysis leads to the conclusion that the key to the resolution of the conflict lies in the hands of Russia. Such a resolution therefore presupposes a redefinition of Russia's interests, which would be based on the rational calculation that a deliberate destabilization of the South Caucasus will, in long term, hurt her interests. Adapted from the source document.
V Ukrajini so se leta 2014 po seriji različnih notranjih političnih kriz na vzhodu države, v regiji Donbas, pojavila separatistična gibanja, katerih pripadniki so za regiji Doneck in Lugansk zahtevali odcepitev od države. Začetnim protestom je sledil konflikt, ki ga že od vsega začetka zaznamuje prepletanje delovanja različnih vpletenih strani: upornikov na eni in ukrajinske oblasti na drugi strani, kot tudi mednarodne skupnosti. Na eni strani sta Evropska unija in NATO, ki si zadnji dve desetletji na različne načine prizadevajo za integracijo vzhodnoevropskih držav. Na drugi strani je Ruska federacija, ki je še vedno izrazito povezana z republikami nekdanje Sovjetske zveze in nanje tudi močno vpliva. Širjenje vplivov iz EU in ZDA oziroma zahoda na splošno v teh državah domnevno ogroža ruske interese in interese proruske struje v Ukrajini. Magistrsko delo prikazuje zgodovinski razvoj Ukrajine in zapletene družbene, gospodarske in politične razmere, prisotne v državi, ki pripomorejo k razumevanju razvoja in poteka konflikta. Temu sledita analiza medijskega poročanja in vloge medijev v razvoju konflikta in političnogeografska analiza konflikta ter njegov vpliv na širše dogajanje in odnose v Evropi in svetu ; After a series of various internal political crises in eastern Ukraine in 2014, separatist movements appeared in the Donbas region, demanding secession of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The initial protests were followed by a conflict marked throughout by the intertwining actions of the various parties involved: the rebels, the Ukrainian authorities as well as the international community. On the one hand, there is the European Union and NATO, striving for the integration of Eastern European countries over the last two decades. On the other hand, there is the Russian Federation, still strongly connected with the republics of the former Soviet Union and exerting a strong influence on them. Supposedly, the growing influences of the EU, the US and the West in general in these countries pose a threat to the Russian interests and the interests of the pro-Russian movement in Ukraine. This master's thesis presents the historical development of Ukraine and its complex social, economic and political conditions, shedding light on the development and course of the conflict in the country. It then provides an analysis of the role of the media in the development of the conflict, as well as a political geographic analysis of the conflict and its impact on the events and relations on European and global level.
POVZETEK MEDNARODNI KAZENSKI PREGON IN ČLOVEKOVE PRAVICE TUJIH TERORISTIČNIH BORCEV Avtor: Rok Petročnik Mentorica: izr. prof. dr. Vasilka Sancin V magistrski nalogi sem raziskoval nastanek fenomena tujega terorističnega borca, njihov mednarodni kazenski pregon in kršitve njihovih temeljnih človekovih pravic v domačih kazenskih pregonih. Varnostni svet OZN je leta 2014 na podlagi VII. poglavja Ustanovne listine OZN sprejel Resolucijo 2178, ki podaja opis tujega terorističnega borca, vendar ne loči med oboroženimi spopadi in terorizmom. Resolucija 2178 opisuje tujega terorističnega borca kot posameznika, ki potuje v tujino z namenom izvedbe ali sodelovanja v terorističnem napadu, medtem ko je tuji borec posameznik, ki odpotuje v tujino z namenom pridružitve oboroženim spopadom. V raziskavi sem prišel do sklepa, da trenutno ne obstaja mednarodni kazenski pregon tujih terorističnih borcev, saj pregon izvajajo države same pred nacionalnimi sodišči. Varnostni svet OZN je pregon tujih terorističnih borcev preložil na države članice OZN, in sicer z vzpostavitvijo različnih odborov za nadzor izvajanja sankcij Varnostnega Sveta, kot so Sankcijski odbor 1267 in Skupina za analitično podporo in nadzor sankcij. V primerih Nada, Ahmed in Abdelrazik so nacionalna sodišča zaradi kršitev temeljnih človekovih pravic s sodbami razveljavila državne upravne akte, ki so vpeljevali sprejete protiteroristične resolucije Varnostnega sveta. Podobno je naredilo sodišče EU v primeru Kadi, kjer je bila razveljavljena uredba, ki je vpeljala sankcije Varnostnega sveta. Sodbe nacionalnih in sodišč v EU so bile glavni dejavnik za spremembo mednarodnopravnega okvirja terorizma OZN in za posledično večji poudarek na spoštovanju temeljnih pravic, ki jih zagotavlja Evropska konvencija o človekovih pravicah. ; ABSTRACT INTERNATIONAL PROSECUTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF FOREIGN TERRORIST FIGHTERS Author: Rok Petročnik Mentor: Vasilka Sancin, PhD, Professor In master's thesis i explored the emergence of the foreign terrorist fighter phenomenona, international prosecution of foreign terrorist fighters, and the violation of the fundamental rights of foreign terrorist fighters in domestic prosecutions. UN Security Council in 2014 adopted Resolution 2178 under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. However, while the Resolution outlines the description of a foreign terrorist fighter, it fails to distinguish between armed conflicts and terrorism. Resolution 2178 defines foreign terrorist fighters as individuals who travel to a state other than their states of residence or nationality for the purpose of the perpetration, planning, or preparation of, or participation in, terrorist acts or the providing or receiving of terrorist training, including in connection with armed conflict, while foreign fighter is an individual who travels abroad with intention to join armed conflict. The research led to the conclusion that there is currently no international prosecution of foreign terrorist fighters because states carry it out before national courts. UN Security Council has placed the burden of prosecuting foreign terrorist fighters on UN Member States by establishing different committees monitoring the implementation of the Security Council sanctions, such as the 1267 Committee and the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team. In the cases of Nada, Ahmed and Abdelrazik, national courts due to violations of fundamental rights, repealed national administrative acts that introduced the adopted UN Security Council counter terrorism resolutions. The Court of Justice of the EU made a similar decision in the case of Kadi by repealing the regulation introducing the UN Security Council sanctions. Judgements of national and EU courts were the main factor in changing the UN terrorism framework in terms of international law, thus shifting the focus on the respect of fundamental rights as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The decision by the Council of Europe to ter minate the Russian Federation's membership of the Council of Europe on 16 March 2022 makes the issue of legal certainty for aliens actively participating in the war in Ukraine as part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces completely unpredictable. The academic literature and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in the field of the legal status of alien combatants is limited, and the International Criminal Court has not complet ed any cases on this topic. This article addresses the prin ciple of case law and, above all, the principle of legality with regard to aliens and their active participation in the armed forces of Ukraine. This issue has become cen tral since the Russian Federation may or may not grant these persons the status of prisoner of war according to the Third Geneva Convention, relating to Protocol I, or may characterise them as criminal offenders or terro rists. Keywords: aliens, combatants, mercenaries, prisoners of war, war, armed conflict, terrorists
This article provides an analysis of the of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping, one of the hottest topics in international politics of the post-cold war era. Numerous books, articles, and Ph.D. thesis have already been written about UN peacekeeping operations. Although differing vastly in their scope and quality, most of the recent critiques have pointed out the pressing need to re-define and strengthen the cold war era concept of UN peacekeeping so that it becomes a viable conflict resolution method in the 21st century. Some scholars have, however, expressed serious doubts about the actual conflict resolution capabilities of UN peacekeeping operations. They argue that premature, short-tenn and under funded UN peacekeeping operations may well do more damage than good. One of the few things the majority of conflict resolution scholars and practitioners can nowadays agree on is that no UN intervention can bring peace to a place where it is not wanted.This article aims to enrich the current peace research by introducing an alternative analytical approach to the study of the UN peacekeeping. It is divided into seven sections. The introduction is followed by a theoretical section where I briefly summarize two basic theoretical approaches to the study of the UN peacekeeping (Conflict Management & Conflict Resolution). The third section provides an analysis of the changing nature of armed conflicts in the post-cold war period. The fourth section deals with the adjustments that were made to the concept of UN peacekeeping operations in reaction to the changes in the nature of current armed conflicts. The analytical concept Capabilities versus Expectations Gap is introduced in the fifth chapter, followed by the core section of this article -- the analysis of the United Nations peacekeeping using the analytical concept Capabilities versus Expectations Gap. The analytical concept Capabilities versus Expectations Gap was first introduced by Christopher Hill in 1992 as a handy tool for analyzing the evolving European Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The unique advantage of this concept is that it provides a sensible assessment of both the actual and potential UN capabilities. By comparing these with the existing UN expectations, the Capabilities versus Expectations Gap analysis of UN peacekeeping enables us to sketch a more realistic picture of what the UN is capable of doing in the area of conflict resolution than that presented either by its more enthusiastic supporters or by the demanders among the UN Member States. Consequently, building further on this realistic picture of the UN conflict resolution capabilities, I attempt to answer the key research question of this article: Is the UN, with the current level of its conflict resolution capabilities, capable of providing high quality treatment to as many conflicts as it nowadays attempts to provide? Based on the findings of the Capabilities versus Expectations Gap analysis of the UN peacekeeping problematic, I argue that since the end of the cold war, the UN has several times attempted to carry out more peacekeeping operations than it was capable of performing well in light of the current level of its conflict resolution capabilities. In other words, the most important conclusion of this article is that there is a gap between the UN capabilities and expectations in the area of conflict resolution and that the only option how to bridge this gap in the foreseeable future is to decrease the excessive UN expectations to meet the currently available UN capabilities. As paradoxical as it may sound, in practical terms this means that the United Nations is nowadays more likely to succeed in meeting its basic function ("to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war") by carrying out fewer but high quality peacekeeping operations. Adapted from the source document.
