O Great Game no Sudeste Asiático: a China, a ASEAN e o Mar do Sul da China

Besides being promoting globalization with Chinese characteristics, with the Belt and Road Initiative as an epitome, Xi Jinping’s contemporary China has tried to dominate its regional insertion area and namely Southeast Asia, which is economically and politically organized in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Both China and ASEAN have convergent economic and strategic interests in the South China Sea, whose wealth in energetic resources and fisheries is at the origin of a sovereignty dispute. In addition to this, around one-third of world trade passes through this sea. In this confluence of sea-lanes, naval powers are being measured and it is a scenario for the competitive coexistence China- United States of America, whose influence in Southeast Asia dates from Cold War, where the United States navy capabilities are being tested. In these circumstances – which can be described as a new Great Game –, not only ASEAN does not solve its problems in the South China Sea but also will be positioned in between Chinese and North- American pressures.

Interdependência Securitária: o Caso da Proliferação e Controlo de Armamentos no Domínio da Inteligência Artificial

This article examines the more obscure dimensions of the use of Artificial Intelligence systems in Defense, with a particular focus on lethal autonomous weapon systems. Based on the need to regulate these disruptive technologies in military applications, this paper defends the preventive prohibition of these armaments and makes proposals for a global regulation of the use of Artificial Intelligence in military strategy. The article argues that autonomous systems aggravate the difficulties in managing the instruments of armed violence, which may undermine the foundations of strategy. It also defends the need to promote a global arms control architecture, taking into account that today it is already possible to use Artificial Intelligence applications in all military operational domains and that these are increasingly interrelated.

The European Union, Conflict Management, and the Normative Illusion

The European Union (EU) has recently become the most active conflict manager, currently deploying more operations than any other organisation. There has been a total of 13 operations of military nature from 2003 to 2019, deployed in Europe and in Africa. The discourse at the level of the European Union emphasizes not only the security of its members but also the importance of humanitarian norms. Do these norms drive the deployment of EU’s military operations? There is literature that recognizes the relevance of norms, suggesting that these factors may indirectly or even directly have a driving impact. On the contrary, I suggest that there is no normative driving impact. To be precise, I argue that power distribution and exposure to conflicts are the fundamental conditions driving the deployment of military operations by the EU.

Autonomização da Defesa Europeia por Via da Diferenciação: Cooperação Estruturada Permanente

The Lisbon Treaty provided for the establishment of Permanent Structured Cooperation (CEP). In 2017, a group of 25 Member States decided join the CEP jointly in order to facilitate defence cooperation. To this end, the participating E-M have collaborated in several defence projects and sectors with the gradual goal of building common defence. The AR / VP is the figure who coordinates a fully orchestra, in tune with the European Defence Agency and the European External Action Service, so that CEP projects have a good progress. It will be demonstrated that the CARD, the CDP and the EDF are essential for CEP to provide the necessary assets for the real impact on the Union’s defence capabilities. Portugal proved to be careful, but assertive in this process and can provide an important contribution in the industrial and research fields.

Canários na Mina: a Democracia, a Globalização e o Populismo

The article considers the main causes underlying the rise of populism in the United States and Europe. Populism is understood as “a way of doing politics”, compatible with various ideologies. It is essentially marked by anti-elitism. Populism is also understood as a form of cultural resistance to globalization. The challenge, of course, is to find a democratic response to the populist moment. That response implies change that democratic elites are reluctant to accept.

The Evolution of the Crime-Terror Nexus in Europe

Empirical evidence confirms that in Europe there are growing links between criminal organizations (OCs) and terrorist groups (GTs) – known as the “crime-terror nexus”. After the end of the Cold War and, particularly, since global financial operations came under greater control, the financing of illicit and criminal actions has consequently been conditioned. This resulted in greater proximity and cooperation between OCs and WGs not only in fragile states or undemocratic regimes, but in the western democracies themselves. The article also analyzes the content of the judicial sentences on cooperation and collusions between terrorist groups and criminal organizations.