scholarly journals Challenges facing NATO in the 21st century

2009 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-426
Author(s):  
Jasminka Simic

During the entire post Cold-War era numerous security challenges were pushing NATO in search of a new mission. Although redefined several times in the past, NATO's mission is still not steady and in its final shape. NATO's framework is not final yet for several reasons: lack of internal balance; NATO is moving towards rather 'loose' formula of Trans-Atlantic relations, through a 'Coalition of the Willing', in which countries accept the level and scope of military engagement in war missions (Afghanistan and Iraq) according to their own interests. This certainly has influenced the character of NATO mission in the 21st Century. Therefore, NATO countries do not speak with 'one voice' and they do not equally participate in military missions. Instead, specific countries are engaged in specific issues, in compliance with UN Security Council resolutions. NATO deepening and widening process is continuing in the 21st Century. .

2005 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 581
Author(s):  
Frederick D. Barton ◽  
David M. Malone ◽  
Linda Fasulo ◽  
James Dobbins

Author(s):  
Klein Pierre

This contribution gives an account of the actions undertaken under the auspices of the United Nations in order to restore peace and security in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995, in the context of the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia. It describes the measures taken by the UN Security Council, the mandate and deployment of UNPROFOR —the UN peacekeeping operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina— and the actions undertaken in support thereto by other organizations such as NATO and the Western European Union. This chapter also discusses the legal issues that gave rise to discussion in that context (particularly regarding the extent of the authorization to use force given by the Security Council and the degree of control exercised —or not— thereon) and the impact of this precedent on the rules relating to the use of force in self-defence, on the one hand, and on the use of coercive measures under Chapter VII of the Charter in co-operation with regional organizations or arrangements, on the other.


2003 ◽  
Vol 55 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 307-323
Author(s):  
Biljana Vankovska

The article examines the thesis that rule of law and the democratic control of armed forces go hand by hand, which is taken for granted equally in Western democracies and the transitional societies. The author spells out a new challenges in the post-Cold world era that have made this equation more disputable. Western democracies face new security challenges, which call for a new legal framework for the democratic control of somewhat internationalised armed forces, and at the same time reconciliation of the 'internationalised' military engagement with the unilateral one originating from the "last and only nation-state". Transitional societies face the dilemma "legitimacy or legality" even with regard to their security sector's civilian oversight. Good examples from the West are either not-applicable and old-fashioned, or are not good examples to follow at all.


Born in 1945, the United Nations (UN) came to life in the Arab world. It was there that the UN dealt with early diplomatic challenges that helped shape its institutions such as peacekeeping and political mediation. It was also there that the UN found itself trapped in, and sometimes part of, confounding geopolitical tensions in key international conflicts in the Cold War and post-Cold War periods, such as hostilities between Palestine and Iraq and between Libya and Syria. Much has changed over the past seven decades, but what has not changed is the central role played by the UN. This book's claim is that the UN is a constant site of struggle in the Arab world and equally that the Arab world serves as a location for the UN to define itself against the shifting politics of its age. Looking at the UN from the standpoint of the Arab world, this volume includes chapters on the potential and the problems of a UN that is framed by both the promises of its Charter and the contradictions of its member states.


2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-161
Author(s):  
Hans Blix

International institutions given the task to maintain collective security and to seek disarmament need to build on cooperation between major powers. The authors of the un Charter vested great powers in the Security Council but a consensus between the five permanent great powers was required for use of the powers. This inevitably paralyzed the Council during the Cold War. After the end of the Cold War, the permanent members have remained unable jointly to pursue disarmament, but they have succeeded in several remarkable cases to reach consensus, notably on measures to prevent the further spread of weapons of mass destruction. The quick action to eliminate chemical weapons in Syria was a win-win case led by us-Russian diplomacy, while the comprehensive deal settling the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program was a victory for patient diplomacy involving all permanent members and the eu. These actions show the potentials of the Council.


Focaal ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (66) ◽  
pp. 25-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Ringel

Hoyerswerda, Germany's fastest-shrinking city, faces problems with the future that seem initially unrelated to the past and yet excite manifold conflicting accounts of it. The multiple and conflicting temporal references employed by Hoyerswerdians indicate that the temporal regime of postsocialism is accompanied, if not overcome, by the temporal framework of shrinkage. By reintroducing the analytical domain of the future, I show that local temporal knowledge practices are not historically predetermined by a homogenous postsocialist culture or by particular generational experiences. Rather, they exhibit what I call temporal complexity and temporal flexibility-creative uses of a variety of coexisting temporal references. My ethnographic material illustrates how such expressions of different forms of temporal reasoning structure social relations within and between different generations. Corresponding social groups are not simply divided by age, but are united through shared and heavily disputed negotiations of the post-Cold War era's contemporary crisis.


2009 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrik Johansson

AbstractUnder Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council has the unique authority to make decisions that are binding on member states. However, the lack of a standard definition of what makes a Security Council resolution "a Chapter VII resolution" has caused disagreement regarding the status of several resolutions. This is unfortunate as the international community should never have to doubt whether a Security Council resolution is in fact adopted under Chapter VII or not. It is also unnecessary. This article addresses this problem by proposing a definition of Chapter VII resolutions, based on two criteria referred to as "Article 39 determinations" and "Chapter VII decisions". On the basis of the proposed definition, the article describes and analyses a dramatic increase in the use of Chapter VII during the post-Cold War era. It concludes that as Chapter VII has come to constitute the majority of Security Council resolutions in recent years, the resort to Chapter VII no longer signifies exceptional determination and resolve, which it did during the Cold War; instead Chapter VII today implies business as usual. An appendix lists all Chapter VII resolutions from 1946–2008.


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