scholarly journals A2AD Concept in the Modern Security Environment

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-57
Author(s):  
Ionuț Alin Cirdei

Abstract In the 21st century, the international scene witnesses major changes in the security environment. There are many actions aimed at redefining spheres of influence and reaffirming states as great powers. The international scene is dominated by two entities that were antagonistic during the Cold War: Russia and NATO. In recent years, Russia is trying to impose itself again as a global actor and is therefore trying to consolidate its power in Europe and the world, both by reforming its armed forces and by participating in various conflicts in the hot zones of the world. Russia perceives NATO as its main adversary, which is trying to get closer to its vital space, reduce its spheres of influence and isolate it. As a reaction, Russia initiated a series of complex actions aimed at both maintaining buffer zones and banning access and limiting NATO's freedom of movement in the immediate vicinity of its borders. To this end, Russia has developed a series of capabilities to prevent the opponent from entering a certain area and to reduce or even forbid him any freedom of action once he has entered the area, this approach of Russia being part of the A2AD (Anti-access, Area Denial) policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-130
Author(s):  
Coline Covington

The Berlin Wall came down on 9 November 1989 and marked the end of the Cold War. As old antagonisms thawed a new landscape emerged of unification and tolerance. Censorship was no longer the principal means of ensuring group solidarity. The crumbling bricks brought not only freedom of movement but freedom of thought. Now, nearly thirty years later, globalisation has created a new balance of power, disrupting borders and economies across the world. The groups that thought they were in power no longer have much of a say and are anxious about their future. As protest grows, we are beginning to see that the old antagonisms have not disappeared but are, in fact, resurfacing. This article will start by looking at the dissembling of a marriage in which the wall that had peacefully maintained coexistence disintegrates and leads to a psychic development that uncannily mirrors that of populism today. The individual vignette leads to a broader psychological understanding of the totalitarian dynamic that underlies populism and threatens once again to imprison us within its walls.


Author(s):  
Fabrizio Coticchia

Since the end of the bipolar era, Italy has regularly undertaken military interventions around the world, with an average of 8,000 units employed abroad in the twenty-first century. Moreover, Italy is one of the principal contributors to the UN operations. The end of the cold war represented a turning point for Italian defence, allowing for greater military dynamism. Several reforms have been approved, while public opinion changed its view regarding the armed forces. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive perspective of the process of transformation that occurred in post-cold-war Italian defence, looking at the evolution of national strategies, military doctrines, and the structure of forces. After a brief literature review, the study highlights the process of transformation of Italian defeshnce policy since 1989. Through primary and secondary sources, the chapter illustrates the main changes that occurred, the never-ending cold-war legacies, and key challenges.


Author(s):  
Matthias Bieri ◽  
Christian Nünlist

The Ukraine crisis serves as a tragic reminder of how fragile European security still is—twenty-five years after the cold war ended. As the only inclusive European security organization, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) once more demonstrates how useful cooperative security instruments can be to de-escalate international tensions. This chapter focuses on the OSCE’s contribution to cooperative security in Europe after 1990, in particular in the field of conventional arms control and the building of confidence and security between European armed forces. It reviews the arms-control regime in Europe and explains why military transparency as achieved with the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), the Vienna Document, and the Treaty on Open Skies is again needed in a post-2014 security environment. The chapter also highlights that, while the Ukraine crisis underscored its need for reform, adapting the arms-control regime in Europe has become even more difficult.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander A. Bartosh

The security environment today is more complex and demanding than at any time since the end of the cold war, which increases the need for States and their coalitions to ensure the reliability and effectiveness of deterrence and defense policies. The issue of deterrence is becoming central to the national security policies of the great Powers, and deterrence strategies are becoming a prominent component of foreign policy and diplomacy in a multipolar world. At the same time, the effectiveness of traditional methods of deterrence through punishment decreases, while the importance of the doctrines of coercion and deterrence through denial increases, which play an increasing role as tools of hybrid war as a new form of interstate confrontation and naturally complement strategic nuclear and non-nuclear deterrence with high-precision weapons in conventional equipment. In conditions of limited scale of military operations, the doctrine of deterrence by punishment quickly turns into coercion, when it is necessary not only to "dissuade" the aggressor, but also to oust him and force him to retreat from the accomplished limited, hidden conquest. Against the background of the decline in the possibilities of deterrence by punishment, the doctrine of "Deterrence by denial", designed to create physical obstacles to the enemy, to make it difficult for him to achieve his goal, is gaining more and more development in politics and diplomacy. The effectiveness of this form of deterrence depends on the fear associated with the costs that will be incurred by the enemy during the act of aggression in the place where it will occur. Deterrence by negation is designed to make aggression unprofitable, make it harder to capture a target, and make it harder to hold it. The transformation of deterrence doctrines leads to the emergence of new tasks and tactics of modern diplomacy in a rapidly changing world.


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (324) ◽  
pp. 152-165
Author(s):  
Jan Rydel

The Bundeswehr, the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany, which was one of the strongestarmies in NATO during the Cold War, is currently in serious crisis. After the reunification of Germany, thenumber of soldiers was quickly reduced and the defence spending dropped to 1.2 percent of the GDP. In2004, the doctrine of using the Bundeswehr changed too. It was concluded that there was no risk of anattack on the German territory, so general conscription was abandoned and the supplies of weapons andammunition needed for mobilization were liquidated. The army was to specialise in peace and stabilisationmissions in endangered areas of the world. However, at present, Germany has far fewer soldiers on missionsthan, for example, France and Great Britain, and it consistently refrains from joining missions during which itis likely to participate in real combat operations. At present, the German army does not have a single brigadecapable of taking part in a combat, and a small number of Luftwaffe airplanes and helicopters are technicallysound, including Marine vessels. The situation of the Bundeswehr is complicated by the widespread pacifismin German society and the resulting lack of trust in, and aversion to the military.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-79
Author(s):  
V. T. Yungblud

The Yalta-Potsdam system of international relations, established by culmination of World War II, was created to maintain the security and cooperation of states in the post-war world. Leaders of the Big Three, who ensured the Victory over the fascist-militarist bloc in 1945, made decisive contribution to its creation. This system cemented the world order during the Cold War years until the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and the destruction of the bipolar structure of the organization of international relations. Post-Cold War changes stimulated the search for new structures of the international order. Article purpose is to characterize circumstances of foundations formation of postwar world and to show how the historical decisions made by the leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition powers in 1945 are projected onto modern political processes. Study focuses on interrelated questions: what was the post-war world order and how integral it was? How did the political decisions of 1945 affect the origins of the Cold War? Does the American-centrist international order, that prevailed at the end of the 20th century, genetically linked to the Atlantic Charter and the goals of the anti- Hitler coalition in the war, have a future?Many elements of the Yalta-Potsdam system of international relations in the 1990s survived and proved their viability. The end of the Cold War and globalization created conditions for widespread democracy in the world. The liberal system of international relations, which expanded in the late XX - early XXI century, is currently experiencing a crisis. It will be necessary to strengthen existing international institutions that ensure stability and security, primarily to create barriers to the spread of national egoism, radicalism and international terrorism, for have a chance to continue the liberal principles based world order (not necessarily within a unipolar system). Prerequisite for promoting idea of a liberal system of international relations is the adjustment of liberalism as such, refusal to unilaterally impose its principles on peoples with a different set of values. This will also require that all main participants in modern in-ternational life be able to develop a unilateral agenda for common problems and interstate relations, interact in a dialogue mode, delving into the arguments of opponents and taking into account their vital interests.


Author(s):  
Noor Mohammad Osmani ◽  
Tawfique Al-Mubarak

Samuel Huntington (1927-2008) claimed that there would be seven eight civilizations ruling over the world in the coming centuries, thus resulting a possible clash among them. The West faces the greatest challenge from the Islamic civilization, as he claimed. Beginning from the Cold-War, the Western civilization became dominant in reality over other cultures creating an invisible division between the West and the rest. The main purpose of this research is to examine the perceived clash between the Western and Islamic Civilization and the criteria that lead a civilization to precede others. The research would conduct a comprehensive review of available literatures from both Islamic and Western perspectives, analyze historical facts and data and provide a critical evaluation. This paper argues that there is no such a strong reason that should lead to any clash between the West and Islam; rather, there are many good reasons that may lead to a peaceful coexistence and cultural tolerance among civilizations


Author(s):  
Matthieu Leimgruber

This chapter explores the trajectory of social policy development in Switzerland and its interactions with state-building and military conflict from the Franco-Prussian war of the early 1870s to the end of the Cold War. This analysis confirms that, despite the fact that Switzerland has remained untouched by war for more than 150 years, military preparation and the world wars have had a crucial impact in the shaping of the distinctive public–private mix that distinguishes the Swiss welfare state from its immediate neighbours. Periods of war thus coincided not only with an expansion of state social insurance but also witnessed the consolidation of existing private social provision. The chapter also highlights how Switzerland’s distinctive militia-based conscription contributed to forge a male-centred social citizenship that lasted for decades after 1945.


Author(s):  
Filip Ejdus

During the cold war, the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia was a middle-sized power pursuing a non-aligned foreign policy and a defence strategy based on massive armed forces, obligatory conscription, and a doctrine of ‘Total National Defence’. The violent disintegration of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s resulted in the creation of several small states. Ever since, their defence policies and armed forces have been undergoing a thorough transformation. This chapter provides an analysis of the defence transformation of the two biggest post-Yugoslav states—Serbia and Croatia—since the end of the cold war. During the 1990s, defence transformation in both states was shaped by the undemocratic nature of their regimes and war. Ever since they started democratic transition in 2000, and in spite of their diverging foreign policies, both states have pivoted towards building modern, professional, interoperable, and democratically controlled armed forces capable of tackling both traditional and emerging threats.


The armed forces of Europe have undergone a dramatic transformation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces provides the first comprehensive analysis of national security and defence policies, strategies, doctrines, capabilities, and military operations, as well as the alliances and partnerships of European armed forces in response to the security challenges Europe has faced since the end of the cold war. A truly cross-European comparison of the evolution of national defence policies and armed forces remains a notable blind spot in the existing literature. This Handbook aims to fill this gap with fifty-one contributions on European defence and international security from around the world. The six parts focus on: country-based assessments of the evolution of the national defence policies of Europe’s major, medium, and lesser powers since the end of the cold war; the alliances and security partnerships developed by European states to cooperate in the provision of national security; the security challenges faced by European states and their armed forces, ranging from interstate through intra-state and transnational; the national security strategies and doctrines developed in response to these challenges; the military capabilities, and the underlying defence and technological industrial base, brought to bear to support national strategies and doctrines; and, finally, the national or multilateral military operations by European armed forces. The contributions to The Handbook collectively demonstrate the fruitfulness of giving analytical precedence back to the comparative study of national defence policies and armed forces across Europe.


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