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The Reagan administration's policy and interests concerning the situation in the North are described in this article. This is followed by an analysis of the major domestic and international bases for Reagan's security policy with its emphasis on the US Navy and Forward Maritime Strategy. On this basis, the possible changes in US and international security policy in the years ahead are analyzed. With this broad perspective as a starting point the possible future US policy and interests in the North are analyzed. It is concluded that several factors indicate an increased US interest in the North.

Nordic cooperation on foreign and security policy has gained renewed attention in recent years. Changes in the Nordic states' immediate security environment after the Ukraine crisis,as well as growing global uncertainty, have turned foreign, security and defence policy into a focal point of the Nordic agenda.Nordic foreign and security policy cooperation is characterized by informality, as it takes place outside of the institutional Nordic structures. This report assesses the current state of this cooperation by opening up structures and formats within which the informal cooperation takes place. The report then discusses future prospects for, as well as constraints on,deepening the cooperation from different angles, including agenda formation, institutional complexities, Nordic cooperation in multilateral contexts and bilateral Nordic relations. Defence cooperation forms a separate sub-field of Nordic cooperation, as it has its own unique structures and practices. The report takes alook at developments in Nordic defence cooperation, at both the political and the military level. Nordic foreign and security policy cooperation is based on commonality and trust. It enjoys a solid legitimacy among Nordic populations and politicians alike. The informal nature of the cooperation is perceived as one of its strengths. Nordic countries have significant potential for deeper cooperation and for obtaining a stronger voice. However, there are various drivers and considerable differences between the Nordic states in security political solutions, institutional affiliations, priorities and levels of commitment. These impose dividing lines and limitations on the cooperation that are hard to overcome. ; -- Introduction -- Overview of the current state of Nordic cooperation -- Prospects for development: practices, gaps and potential for Nordic foreign and security policy cooperation -- Nordic defence cooperation -- Conclusions: towards a stronger Nordic voice in international politics

The development of a collective foreign and security policy for Western Europe was shaped by both the international environment and the policy of West European regional integration. Although initially put on the back burner, a common European defense has been defined as a goal within the Treaty on European Union. Unification in the three areas—economic (European Community), diplomatic (European Political Cooperation), and military (Western European Union)—has advanced differently but, as a whole, has reached a stage where comprehensive union is possible. Western Europe is currently in a transitional period and is still feeling the pains associated with being thrust into the position of a world power after years of comfortable existence under the umbrella of one of the two antagonistic superpowers. In the beginning of the 1990s, a much more assertive role than in the 1970s and the 1980s is being expected of Western Europe by the international community.

The West must find new ways to cooperate with Russia now that Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev have used its energy revenues to transform the country into a resurgent power and developed an assertive policy towards the West. The Russian Federation has come back to the international arena as a resurgent superpower thanks to its oil and gas revenues and the leadership of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. An assertive Russian superpower has adopted a tough anti-Western stance in its external security policy against both NATO's expansion towards the East and against the deployment of the US missile shield programme in Europe. The Kremlim has used energy as an instrument of power in the Ukraine and has employed military power in Georgia, and new documents, such as the 2003 Defence White Paper, the 2007 Overview of Foreign Policy, the 2008 Foreign Policy Concept and the 2009 National Security Strategy express a consistent line of thought in Putin and Medvedev's foreign and security policy. This ARI reviews the developments in Russia's foreign security policy,the continuity in the ideas and action of both Russian leaders, the challenges and opportunities of Russian-Western cooperation in Afghanistan and the energy security and military-operational issues that can be addressed through a bottom-up approach.

International audience ; The first generation of cooperation agreements and their security clauses in Francophone Africa was bilateral. The specific characteristic of such clauses was the secret component of part of the defense and security agreements, often applied according to the "away from the public eye" principle. The concept of bilateral cooperation translated into ensuring the security of the African countries, the regimes in place and the French interests in the face of external and internal threats. It was a matter of ensuring Francophone Africa's political stability, homogeneity and coherence, which would be favourable to French and African partners transactions. This kind of bilateral agreement was much criticized and contested. On the one hand, it was considered as being allegedly a "reproduction of colonial relations" favourable to "Françafrique" network. On the other hand, it met with increasing competition from the great powers as well as from emerging powers. Its decline was also due to multiple levels and stakeholders of international relations and global democratisation. Interdependencies are being intensified, setting off "reverse" flows of influence from African players to French African policy. The context of this evolved contestation and new geopolitics is mainly increasing multilateralism; emergence of regionalism; development of European defense and diplomacy; fight against terrorism and burden sharing reorganization. The aim of this article is to clarify how the second generation of cooperation agreements and their security clauses reforms is a part of an incremental reform process. Financial and economic crisis are tightening French cooperation and defense budgets. "Behind the economic crisis, the political crisis" is appearing in Africa just as it is within its partners. Diplomatic, budgetary and security dynamics are thus forcing France, on the one hand to explore substitution strategies, including coalition and on the other, to prioritise its alliances and multilateralism. Is this Africa security building, a new realism and/or a new international institutionalism? Last decade, new geopolitics is merging as results of new ways of trade, invest, war and cooperation. How African security policies are building response to risks, threats and opportunities in a new open world game ?

International audience ; The first generation of cooperation agreements and their security clauses in Francophone Africa was bilateral. The specific characteristic of such clauses was the secret component of part of the defense and security agreements, often applied according to the "away from the public eye" principle. The concept of bilateral cooperation translated into ensuring the security of the African countries, the regimes in place and the French interests in the face of external and internal threats. It was a matter of ensuring Francophone Africa's political stability, homogeneity and coherence, which would be favourable to French and African partners transactions. This kind of bilateral agreement was much criticized and contested. On the one hand, it was considered as being allegedly a "reproduction of colonial relations" favourable to "Françafrique" network. On the other hand, it met with increasing competition from the great powers as well as from emerging powers. Its decline was also due to multiple levels and stakeholders of international relations and global democratisation. Interdependencies are being intensified, setting off "reverse" flows of influence from African players to French African policy. The context of this evolved contestation and new geopolitics is mainly increasing multilateralism; emergence of regionalism; development of European defense and diplomacy; fight against terrorism and burden sharing reorganization. The aim of this article is to clarify how the second generation of cooperation agreements and their security clauses reforms is a part of an incremental reform process. Financial and economic crisis are tightening French cooperation and defense budgets. "Behind the economic crisis, the political crisis" is appearing in Africa just as it is within its partners. Diplomatic, budgetary and security dynamics are thus forcing France, on the one hand to explore substitution strategies, including coalition and on the other, to prioritise its alliances and multilateralism. Is this Africa security building, a new realism and/or a new international institutionalism? Last decade, new geopolitics is merging as results of new ways of trade, invest, war and cooperation. How African security policies are building response to risks, threats and opportunities in a new open world game ?

International audience ; The first generation of cooperation agreements and their security clauses in Francophone Africa was bilateral. The specific characteristic of such clauses was the secret component of part of the defense and security agreements, often applied according to the "away from the public eye" principle. The concept of bilateral cooperation translated into ensuring the security of the African countries, the regimes in place and the French interests in the face of external and internal threats. It was a matter of ensuring Francophone Africa's political stability, homogeneity and coherence, which would be favourable to French and African partners transactions. This kind of bilateral agreement was much criticized and contested. On the one hand, it was considered as being allegedly a "reproduction of colonial relations" favourable to "Françafrique" network. On the other hand, it met with increasing competition from the great powers as well as from emerging powers. Its decline was also due to multiple levels and stakeholders of international relations and global democratisation. Interdependencies are being intensified, setting off "reverse" flows of influence from African players to French African policy. The context of this evolved contestation and new geopolitics is mainly increasing multilateralism; emergence of regionalism; development of European defense and diplomacy; fight against terrorism and burden sharing reorganization. The aim of this article is to clarify how the second generation of cooperation agreements and their security clauses reforms is a part of an incremental reform process. Financial and economic crisis are tightening French cooperation and defense budgets. "Behind the economic crisis, the political crisis" is appearing in Africa just as it is within its partners. Diplomatic, budgetary and security dynamics are thus forcing France, on the one hand to explore substitution strategies, including coalition and on the other, to prioritise its alliances and multilateralism. Is this ...