Suchergebnisse

The freedom of the seas has contributed to the boom in sea transport which has steadily become the motor of the world economy. While it allows naval forces liberty of action, it also profits many whose activities are illicit. The Navy is the main actor in maritime security, and also has its part to play in crisis prevention and crisis management. The current naval re-equipment programme will allow France to meet these new challenges.

Describes the different kinds of international crises (economic, financial, social, political, natural catastrophes, and others), and role of diplomatic staffs and ambassadors in dealing with these crises.

The fundamental tasks of the Alliance, the overall approach to crisis management, nuclear strategy & missile defense: with the reform of NATO, these are all topics that will be central to the next Alliance summit, & which the author analyses.

Modern crises are more complex & more difficult to comprehend. Purely military responses cannot be an effective long-term solution. Only an overall approach to crisis resolution enables their root causes, declared or latent, to be tackled. Most countries that are major players in crisis resolution around the world attempt to define methods, procedures or organisations to achieve this comprehensive approach. USJFCOM, the US command in charge of transformation, is organising multinational experiments to test concrete solutions to real cases. France, which is participating in this, is in charge of the development of a politico-strategic interministerial & international planning guide. Adapted from the source document.

The attitudes of European citizens towards the CESDP associated with the ratified Treaty of Lisbon are taking time to develop. Over & above the 'realist' & 'idealist' schools (each of which is over-reductive & simplistic), European public opinion broadly supports this policy through crisis management missions & media intermediaries. Communication policies, however, remain far from perfect, & only too often exclusively national.

Prior to the launch of the European market, the railways in Europe were hardly influenced by the creation of the EU, but this has since changed. The railway sector, vital to the region, is a sector of networks where, by definition, competition does not function well. It is also an area where the distinction between internal and external costs plays a determinant role for competitiveness. Furthermore, the traditional railway companies enjoyed a national monopoly that created important resistance to all reform. These factors explain the difficulty in defining an adequate policy at the European level. Only the increase of the European railways' crisis during the 1990s brought about significant initiatives. After some initial measures in 1991 and 1995, they have taken the form of three regulation packages. The first two were adopted in 2001 and 2004 by the common legislature. The third has been presented by the Commission in the spring of 2004. This reform acceleration illustrates to what point the European institutions have become essential in order to determine the future of the railways. In the first part, the authors outline the general context of these initiatives, explain the particular characteristics of this sector, as well as the regulations of the treaty, and the reforms adopted until now. In the second part, they examine the different elements of the current regulations, including applicable rules and the system of public initiatives. The third part deals with a separate analysis of the application of the rules of competitiveness that have become more and more a central question. In the fourth part, the authors assess the probable impact of the new propositions presented by the Commission in 2004. They recommend that in order to understand the scope of the issues in this journal to go back to the last publications of the EEA (European Environmental Agency), and conclude with a description of the strategic character of the railways, the undeniable technical progress, weaknesses, and the necessity of a correction of the strategy.

Industrial Mobilization : from a War Economy to Crisis Management

The principles and procedures of industrial mobilization have also been designed to apply to cases of crisis management. It is not evident, however, that the solutions put to the test in past wars are always appropriate. The difficulties which arise are dependent on the type of crisis, as well as on the ways in which industry operates.

Aerospace assets, and the power they afford, have become a vital instrument of sovereignty and crisis management, and a visible political tool of the first order for our country when we choose to commit forces anywhere in the world at short notice in highly visible, yet unpredictable situations.