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Domestic and International Factors in the Process of Civil Society Development: The Case of Ukraine
Sunday, 29 November 2009 11:10 | Author: Administrator | 
Irina Khmelko
Abstract
This article focuses on factors that contribute to civil society development in the former Soviet countries. We analyze a set of challenges faced by civil societies in these countries and the tools available to these societies to overcome these challenges. We argue that these societies face a double challenge from past legacies and new imperatives of liberalization. Therefore, a combined and coordinated effort between domestic and international institutions is necessary to ensure success in the processes of civil society formation and consolidation. The international involvement becomes necessary in the period between the fall of the old Communist institutions and the fully-functional operation of the new democratic institutions. The article points to the two kinds of international influences which are frequently discussed independently, namely the process of European integration and that of international aid. The article offers to consider the joint effect of both. The Ukrainian government has already taken steps toward developing legislation in line with EU standards. However, it lacks expertise in these matters. Therefore, providing international aid and targeting areas that have already been identified by the Ukrainian government as priorities may be the first step in offering effective international aid. Finally, broadening the focus of aid and working with national level organizations in addition to the local ones can provide another improvement to the system of aid.
Last Updated ( Monday, 30 November 2009 18:36 )
Russian Geopolitical Concepts in Eurasia. A Short Overview
Sunday, 29 November 2009 16:59 | Author: Administrator |
Martin Malek Abstract Since 1999, soaring gas and oil prices have made resource-rich Russia both more powerful and intransigent, but also less co-operative. This, too, determines the emphasis Moscow puts on geopolitical initiatives. This paper sets out from looking at the “multi-polar world” and the “triangle” formed between Russia–China–India, two concepts which have shaped Moscow’s foreign, security, and military policy since the 1990s. Then, it discusses the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, which can be regarded as a realization of Russia’s geopolitical approach to international relations.
Last Updated ( Monday, 30 November 2009 18:36 ) Russia vs the Western Powers: The Politics of Energy in Central Asia
Tuesday, 01 December 2009 17:27 | Author: Administrator |
Tabish Shah Russia is by far the most influential player in the Central Asian region. The Russian state monopoly over Soviet era pipelines ensures that Central Asia’s main source of revenue, its energy resources, are dependent upon Russia for transport as they are at present largely in the hands of the Russian state-owned energy companies Transneft, Rosneft and Gazprom. Deals involving the construction of new pipelines transporting Central Asian energy via Russia further reinforce its upper hand in the region, since even if privately-owned Russian companies are involved, they are still closely aligned with the Russian state due to its iron grip over Russia’s extractive economy. The sum of all this is essentially a future in which Russia controls a portion of one of the most crucial aspects of 21st Century development: Energy. This is a worrying situation for the Western powers, and has facilitated an increasing shift in urgency to redress this imbalance of Russian dominance in Central Asia, an area largely ignored by the Western powers since the end of the Afghan war. The Western powers, America, Britain, and Germany, are however not simply fearful of the cost that this imbalance has for energy security in supply terms, but increasingly of the potential geopolitical impact of Russia’s Central Asian resource control on relations with strategically important countries such as Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Energy cooperation with Central Asia at its core could harbour further political ties between Russia and these countries, and result in a reduced ability for the Western powers to control the direction and dynamics of global politics as a whole.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 December 2009 18:10 ) The Caucasus Conflict and its Implications for European Security
Monday, 30 November 2009 18:40 | Author: Administrator |
Crisia Miroiu Abstract The Caucasus conflict and its Implications for European Security is a conflict analysis’ paper, aiming to provide a complete understanding of the 2008 conflict by examining its roots within the Russian – Georgian relations since Georgia won its independence and to emphasize its implications for the European security. Mainly, the article analyzes Russia’s military and economic policies concerning Georgia (CIS’ treatises, electric power and gas supplies issues, the ban on Georgian’ wines and others), as well as Georgia’s internal politics and conflicts (Georgian intern leadership power struggles, Ajarian, Abkhaz and South Ossetian internal conflicts). Also, the article is focusing on other international political actors’ policies concerning Abkhazia and South Ossetia (other states from the Black Sea area: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria; USA; international organization: NATO, EU, UN, OSCE). A brief account of the conflict is also related, as evaluation-free as possible. The international reactions to the conflict (EU’s summits, France – Sarkozy’s mediation, USA, other states) are strongly emphasized, suggesting also conflict’s implication and its future consequences for the European security. Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 December 2009 17:25 ) Book Review
Tuesday, 01 December 2009 18:48 | Author: Administrator |
Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World, New York: W.W. Norton, 2008
Andrei Miroiu
The editor of Newsweek and the former managing editor of Foreign Affairs, Yale and Harvard-educated Fareed Zakaria recently published his third book, on the coming of the post-American world, or, in his own words “on the rise of the rest”. There are many reasons to respect Zakaria`s scholarship. His first book, “From Wealth to Power”, detailing American foreign policies between the Civil War and the Great War is not only very informative, but is also a pioneering work of one of the trendiest currents in IR, neoclassic realism. His balanced views at Newsweek help to keep the educated part of the American public aware of the existence of the outside world, a difficult task in an otherwise self-centered and nationalist culture. But unfortunately this latest book fails to qualify as significant scholarship, being only another piece in the growing sensationalist literature focused on “global history” with big generalizations based on a few common-sense truths and shaky economic analysis. The bookshelves are filled nowadays with the likes of The Post-American World. If one wants to read a sensationalistic account of a supposedly two-millennia long armed struggle between West and East it is only too easy to find Anthony Pagden`s Worlds at War. The 2500 – Year Struggle Between East and West, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. If the growth of empires from Tamerlane to George W. Bush is of interest to the reader, he or she can always find John Darwin`s award-winning After Tamerlane. The Global History of Empire since 1405, New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2008. If you want an economic explanation of current hegemonic patterns you can easily pick either William J. Bernstein`s A Splendid Exchange. How Trade Shaped the World, New York: Grove Press, 2008 or, if you seek a monetary explanation, the latest Niall Ferguson TV-show turned into book, The Ascent of Money. A Financial History of the World, London: Penguin Press, 2008. If one is interested in futurology and military speculations about a possible 2050 world war between the evil Turkey-Japan coalition and the US-Polish alliance, the book of STRATFOR founder George Friedman The Next 100 Years. A Forecast for the 21st Century, New York: Doubleday, 2009 is a good pick.
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