Suchergebnisse

"What is power and how is it effective? This volume responds to these questions in terms of regional international relations with a particular focus on the Baltic Sea region, an area still charged with a residue of Cold War conflict and power disparity, in a setting of new cooperative ventures. Each contributor examines the region from a different angle and discusses how its actors coped with the new situation facing them after 1991. The volume looks at how governments have defined their new circumstances, how they have dealt with the opportunity to shift to a new mode of coexistence and collaboration, and how they have tackled the challenge of peacefully converting their region to a security community. The book breaks with tradition by adopting a new, thematic approach based on regional issues and functions rather than a country-by-country discourse. It will be of critical value to readers interested in security studies and European politics."--Provided by publisher.

The book is a tribute to Johan Jorgen Holst, Norway's late Minister of Foreign Affairs. It considers the outstanding issues of our time: the high politics of East/West confrontation and the post-Cold War readjustment in Europe. Holst contributed significant ideas to the handling of these issues. Though representing merely a small state, Johan Holst's mastery of the subject-matter and authoritative personal presence gave him an influential voice in high-level discourse on Western policy during more than two decades

Small state studies are fragmented into several disconnected streams of literature. This necessitates a more comprehensive perspective. Over the past two generations, small state studies have gone through alternating trends, all assuming a small state in being. This article brings into view other streams of literature not based on this assumption. The existence of small states cannot be taken for granted. Small states tend to go through life cycles in which they are sometimes latent, sometimes actual. Once a small state has been formed, the need for political survival demands economic sustainability as well as a foundation of an identifying coherence. Challenges arise from globalization & supranational integration, as well as from societal demands. The outcome may tend toward turbulence in some cases, stability in others. We are likely to understand these processes better in a historical, comparative perspective. 73 References. Adapted from the source document.

The article surveys and analyzes the foreign policies and relevant domestic political conditions of the Baltic states since 1918, emphasizing the period after 11 March 1990. The general argument is that small states located near a great power can choose between alliance with their more powerful neighbor, alliance with his chief rival, or some kind of neutrality. Above all, rim states must pay attention to great-power diplomacy. In the interwar years none of the Baltic states seemed to appreciate that their situation necessitated such thinking and such choices. None used the Western powers to counter-balance the Soviet Union or Germany. Only Lithuania drew on the Soviet Union as a partner. A policy of neutrality remained untried. Between the wars, what governed their foreign policies, besides their lack of appreciation of great power politics, was a concentration on their own local affairs. After March 1990, an `interregnum period' followed, with internal strife about the proper direction of foreign policy. Four phases of alternating confrontation and negotiation characterized Moscow-Baltic relations in the period up to the aborted coup. The achievement of independence in September 1991 brought a concentration on domestic concerns. Today the unintegrated Russian-speaking and Polish minorities contribute to domestic instability, which easily spills over into foreign affairs. The last section discusses the Baltic states' security policies and possible future security arrangements, accentuating the need for a subregional solution including all coastal states on the Baltic Sea.

HOW MANY DEVELPMENTS IN THE DOMESTIC POLITICAL SYSTEMS OF THE BALTIC STATES AFFECT THEIR SECURITY? THIS ARTICLE TAKES A SIMPLE APPROACH. AFTER SETTING OUT A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE, IT GIVES A DESCRIPTION, THAN AN ANALYSIS OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DOMESTIC FACTORS FOR BALTIC SECURITY. IT EXAMINES THE BALTIC DOMESTIC SYSTEMS, POLITICAL TRENDS TODAY, AND, AN ANALYSIS OF THE STATE. IT CONCLUDES THAT THE SOUTH-EAST BALTIC COAST MUST BECOME A MULTILATERALIZED SECURITY AREA, NO LONGER A SPHERE OF INTEREST RESERVED TO ONE POWER.

Examines political systems of and relations with minorities within each state since 1990; some focus on Russian demands that the area remain within their defense perimeter.

Norway is a typical small industrial democracy, experiencing a continuous tension between external pressures and internally generated aspirations. In security policy a compromise—the reassurance policy—softens the collision between the two forces. When the Storting or the electorate decides policy directly, foreign policy may become the nonlogical outcome of complex, underlying lines of domestic conflict. A major instance, the 1972 referendum rejecting membership in the European Community (EC), has had a traumatic effect on the subsequent European policy of all parties for two decades. A corporatist participatory system, coupled with external economic dependence, often makes economic foreign policy salient. When ministries are the decisional locus, interest groups often have privileged access. The Labor Party will continue to play a key role in foreign policy making as long as it bridges the main foreign policy cleavages. The Conservatives and European-Atlanticists in the Labor Party have made up an implicit and durable foreign policy coalition fundamental to the nation. The EC-membership issue remains the largest challenge to their future policymaking role.

NORWAY EXPERIENCES CONTINUOUS TENSION BETWEEN EXTERNAL PRESSURES AND INTERNALLY-GENERATED ASPIRATIONS. IN SECURITY POLICY, COMPROMISE SOFTENS THE COLLISION BETWEEN THE TWO FORCES. WHEN THE STORTING OR THE ELECTORATE DECIDES POLICY DIRECTLY, FOREIGN POLICY MAY BECOME THE NON-LOGICAL OUTCOME OF COMPLEX, UNDERLYING LINES OF DOMESTIC CONFLICT. A CORPORATIST PARTICIPATORY SYSTEM, COUPLED WITH EXTERNAL ECONOMIC DEPENDENCE, OFTEN MAKES ECONOMIC FOREIGN POLICY SALIENT. WHEN MINISTRIES ARE THE DECISIONAL LOCUS, INTEREST GROUPS OFTEN HAVE PRIVILEGED ACCESS. THE LABOR PARTY WILL CONTINUE TO PLAY A KEY ROLE IN FOREIGN POLICY-MAKING AS LONG AS IT BRIDGES THE MAIN FOREIGN POLICY CLEAVAGES. THE CONSERVATIVES AND EUROPEAN-ATLANTICISTS IN THE LABOR PARTY HAVE LED AN IMPLICIT AND DURABLE FOREIGN POLICY COALITION FUNDAMENTAL TO THE NATION. THE ISSUE OF MEMBERSHIP IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY REMAINS THE LARGEST CHALLENGE TO THEIR FUTURE POLICY-MAKING ROLE.