Suchergebnisse

Cultural heritage is not just something from the past, but always also reflects contemporary needs and desires. In the Traces of the Cold War describes the making of a diverse and innovative Swedish military heritage. The book shows how memories and material remains from a period characterized by fear and geopolitical tensions are infused with new meanings when bunkers, decommissioned military facilities and technology are transformed into luxury housing, attractive tourist destinations and museum exhibitions.
Through field-visits to military heritage sites across Sweden, the authors examine what material objects, narratives and emotions that today represent the Cold War. These examinations show how military structures and equipment from a time associated with threat and danger become captivating elements of the cultural heritage, while also communicating specific ideas regarding security and protection.
In the Traces of the Cold War takes a novel approach to cultural heritage by relating collective memory-making to security policy. Based on theoretical perspectives from critical heritage studies (CHS) and feminist international relations (IR), the analysis focuses on constructions of national belonging and underlines the role of gender and sexuality in narrations of security and protection.
In a democracy, the subject of military violence must always be a matter of ethical and political conversations. Setting out from this assumption, the authors critically discuss how Cold War heritagisation produces militarization as "natural" and necessary. The book invites reflection on how history is written as well as on what the requirements are for a safe and secure society.
In the Traces of the Cold War presents the results from an interdisciplinary research project. The authors are all researchers at Stockholm University and have written the book together.

Publikacja recenzowana / Peer-reviewed publication ; The article describes the process of developing the Polish-Germany military cooperation in the 21st century. It presents the bases for the bilateral military relationships between Poland and Germany and shows their development. The paper underlines the role of Germany in the Polish participation in NATO. The Author describes the common initiatives after joining the Pact, especially the participation of Bundeswehr in training and technical modernisation of the Polish armed forces. He claims that after the year 2015, the Polish-German military cooperation will be a function of Germany's pragmatics and Poland's history politics. The main problem of the Polish government will be the German willingness to constantly build NATO military bases in Poland.

Baltic Sea, as an area of strategic importance for Russia's policy toward Europe, has become a place of showcase of Russia's military might. Its primary purpose is to show the international community the level of determination Russian authorities express to make national interests of the Federation included in the global politics. The number of incidents which cannot be a ground for military action on a larger scale – even according to Russian conventions – requires a politico- military response by regional supranational organizations. The response should take the form of smart-power strategies and the formula of military involvement must go beyond purely defensive action in response to enemy action. Hence, it is necessary to determine the scope of comprehensive EU and NATO operations (due to the need to protect the territorial sovereignty of Sweden and Finland) to offset the forms of Russian incidental activities in a way that does not elevate political tension in the region. Such a reaction is possible through effective impact on forms of activities on the waters of the Baltic Sea, which are important for Russia, notably shipping. The European Union, and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) in particular, has appropriate instruments to create an effective impact. On the other hand, the role of the North Atlantic Treaty should be to prepare and conduct systematic and comprehensive operations which limit the possibility of encroaching on the treaty territory and protect the member states against Russia applying instruments of hybrid war. Key words: Baltic Sea, Russian national interests, NATO, The European Union

Is there a common notion amongst the political and military leadership in Sweden on how to defend the country? Several events in the arena of international politics during the 20th century argue for the importance of coherence between political and military thinking. Different focus during peacetime has subsequently caused fatal consequences in times of war. This thesis studies a less obvious case: Sweden, a small-state, during the 1990's in the aftermath of the Cold War. In the effort of identifying inconsistency between the political and military level the study deals with a more comprehensive issue for any democratic society: How shall the elected political leadership exercise control over an authority (subordinated the government and) with deeply rooted professional values and with authority vested in it of crucial importance for national survival? Although several of government authorities play key roles in this respect the Armed Forces stands out to be the single most important entity. The thesis approaches the problem by studying one measure of control: the defence doctrine. The doctrine is analysed by studying various documents provided by the political decisionsprocess and with interviews involving a significant number of actors in the politico-military leaderships. The purpose has been to identify whether there is any inconsistency prevailing in the perception of values to be protected by the Armed Forces in case or war, what poses threat to these values and finally how to counter the threats. Hence, the political and military views on defence doctrine are examined. The last element of the doctrine, how to deal with the perceived threats, is embodied in the strategy for countering threats. Comparative studies involving Norway and Finland have been made to provide relevant references for the findings and provide a framework for elaboration on the differences between political and military priorities encapsulated in the research hypothesis. In addition, the research hypothesis involved the assumption that technical, tactical and operational decisions would serve as explanations for any inconsistency between military and political priorities. Piecemealed low-level decisions were assumed to unintentionally diverge bottom- up perceptions and create tensions if the politico-military interaction is not fully functional or if the politicians do not fully comprehend the implications of their decisions. The empirical findings suggest differences in the consistency of the politico-military leadership when comparing Sweden with Norway and Finland. For Sweden, the findings suggest a relative good politico-military adherence regarding values and threat perceptions. However there is a disparity in the views on what strategy to adopt and the military leadership has a more offensive mindset than the political leadership. The empirical data has primarily been collected from processes. To provide a better explanation for the findings the structure of security policymaking has been adopted in a new conceptual model based on Edward Luttwak's 'vertical dimension'.

The change in the nature and ways of using military force in international politics at the end of the 20th century led to the development of new methods of cooperation between states. The circle of entities influencing diplomatic activities, apart from political and military institutions, expanded to include also civil and non-governmental centers. This raised questions about the scale of their actual impact on shaping international security and about the areas in which they were most active. This article aims to present the activities of Polish think tanks for defense diplomacy. Assuming that they showed commitment in this respect, the areas of activities they undertook were identified and the recipients to which they were addressed were pointed out. The analysis was based on data obtained as a result of a survey conducted at the turn of 2019-2020 on a group of fifteen Polish expert think tanks2 operating in the field of international relations, political science, and security and defense. The research used a comparative method (comparative studies), content analysis and a survey method. The tool with which the study was conducted was an electronic questionnaire developed in the Survio program. For the purposes of these analyzes, a hypothesis was adopted that non-political entities in the form of think tanks play an important role in activities for security. They address their activities to political, military and social circles, but the public and scientific circles benefit to the greatest extent from their expert potential.

After the end of the World War II neoconservatism has become the most significant political doctrine in the United States of America. Many neoconservatists were Trotskyists in the beginning, however, lately they have become associated with the Republicans. The neoconservative ideology's main aim is to justify the imperial role of the USA. Neoconservative intellectuals believe in the values of American policy (like liberal democracy and economic freedom) and are concerned about the necessity of promoting it in the rest of the world, which is usually accompanied by distrust towards states opposing those values. They support increasing defence and military spending. Neoconservatists influenced politics of majority of American presidents elected after 1945, especially Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. ; Fundacja Studentów i Absolwentów Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego "Bratniak"