THE RELEVANCY OF WALTER LIPPMANN FOR ARNOLD WOLFERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF SECURITY

Currently, the definition of security that was put forward in 1952 by Arnold Wolfers in his article “National Security as an Ambiguous Symbol” is widely cited within the field of security studies while the definition of this concept that have been advanced by Walter Lippmann in his book from 1943, “US foreign policy: Shield of the Republic” is largely absent, a situation which hinders the turning into a research topic of the connections between these definitions. However, there are authors who cite both the definition of security advanced by Wolfers and the definition of it put forward by Lippmann, but they either do not mention the existence of connections between these definitions or take notice of them but do not investigate them, with the consequence that a thoughtful consideration of this problem is lacking. In order to fill this gap in the study of the early stages of the development of security studies, this article provides an in-depth investigation of the links between the two definitions of security which reveals that Wolfers’ reflection on security was meant to explain implicit aspects of Lippmann’s definition of this concept but that eventually and somehow unintentional Wolfers advanced a different perspective on security.

INTEGRATING CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES ‒ NECESSARY ACTION TO INCREASE EFFECTIVENESS OF MILITARY ACTIONS

In the increasingly uncertain future conditions, because the lost time cannot be recovered, the only one within reach remains the future. Thus, defence planning is about planning for an uncertain future, about reducing the level of uncertainty, or about increasing the level of tolerance for uncertainty. Therefore, we consider that it is time to move on to prospective planning, to the management components reprioritization, with an emphasis on foresight, especially as we observe the security environment new specifics, in order to choose, develop and maintain those capabilities to meet current and future challenges. In this article we will analyze all these aspects, in an attempt to highlight the fact that the efficient integration of those elements, which lead to obtaining and maintaining optimal capabilities, must represent a synergistic action in order to increase the effectiveness of military actions.

SECURITY DYNAMICS IN NORTH AFRICA AND SAHEL REGION IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2021

The first half of 2021 was marked by the continued spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus throughout the African continent, by the desperate attempts of the UN and regional powers to implement the Ceasefire Agreement in Libya and keep security situation under control, and increasing the number of illegal migrants to Europe. The COVID-19 pandemic did not reduce terrorist acts in the Sahel region, nor did it stop the wave of small immigrant boats to Spain and Italy from Africa. But the coronavirus pandemic has led to the closure of many African borders, bringing the economies of those countries to the brink of bankruptcy and deteriorating the humanitarian situation in North Africa and the Sahel region. The international community has difficulty monitoring the situation in the area, especially the humanitarian crisis and illegal migration, which is seriously affecting security in its vicinity.

CHINA’S ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY IN EUROPE: THE “17+1” INITIATIVE AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NATO’S EASTERN FLANK SECURITY

This paper illustrates how People’s Republic of China has applied a form of economic diplomacy to Central and Eastern Europe in order to extend its regional political influence. Using the “17+1” Initiative, the Chinese state sought to provide financial privileges to member states so that they would later become dependent on Beijing’s political and economic visions. However, despite the European Union’s concern, the results of the project were not as expected, with great doubts about the initiative’s future. These were confirmed by the position of NATO, which considered that China’s efforts do not represent a security issue for the Alliance’s eastern flank.

THE POLITICAL HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE 1989 GDR REFUGEES PASSING THROUGH HUNGARY

Raising awareness on the political-historical background of the popular movements of the 20th century is very important because behind the stories there were often ill-considered political decisions. It is interesting to see how the last century leaders of the great powers represented their self-interests, and what political games they had developed to achieve their political goals. The interests of nations living in countries were often not interesting to take into consideration. The Soviet Union was not a nation-state, but neither was the United States of America, while at that time most of the European states were nationstates, and along this were nations that sought to assert their national interests, by force when necessary. However, the post-World War II political settlements did not serve the interests of the German nation, but divided its population and turned them against one other. This is why the movement of German citizens within Germany has occurred.

RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE 6 JANUARY 2021 ASSAULT ON THE US CONGRESS

On January 6, 2021, an angry mob attacked security forces and stormed the United States Congress, a significant portion of which carried placards containing Christian symbols and manifested ultra-religious conduct. The crowd chanted religious slogans and songs mixed with extremist ideological-political landmarks, QAnon conspiracy theories and racist attitudes. The protesters also followed a ritual found in the Bible, in the Old Testament, in the book of Joshua Navi, an Israelite leader to whom God indicated how he would conquer the City of Jericho, full of corrupt and fornicating people if he obeyed the divine command. The participants in the assault followed the same ritual to “conquer” the fortress of the Capitol a month before and repeated it starting with January 5, 2021. Since religion is the belief in God and represents the relationship between the faithful man and divinity, the acquisition of elements of political ideology by ultra-religious people was considered natural and mandatory in shaping a society to develop on Christian principles in the form of a “Christian city”. In this article, by analyzing the attitude of the Christian community in two distinct phases, before and during and after the assault on the US Congress, the result of the manifestation of the phenomenon of ultrareligiosity combined with an extremist political ideology will be revealed.

MULTILATERAL CONFLICTS OF PALESTINE - HISTORY, PRESENT AND TRENDS

Palestine, a historical land inhabited by both Jews and Arabs, has been the source of disagreement for the two ethnic communities since their establishment in this territory. Over time, as a consequence of this antagonism, the Middle East region has hosted a multilateral conflict generated by a number of factors (historical, ethnic, national and religious), which is currently manifested in three subsequent disputes: Arab-Israeli, Israeli-Palestinian and religious. The social dispute was initially generated by the inter-communal misunderstandings between Arabs and Jews, in the territory of the British mandate of Palestine and degenerated into a series of wars between Israel and the Arab states that led to an open armed conflict between Israel and Gaza. Also, the religious dispute, which permanently accompanied the other two, is related to the equally claiming by Jews and Muslims of both the entire territory of this historical land, as well as Jerusalem. The paper is intended to be a clarification of what the historic Palestinian region represents and how it has transformed under the impact of the conflict generated against the background of the desire for statehood expressed by Jews and Arabs in the same space. In the following, some aspects will be shown presenting the historical sources of territoriality, statehood and conflict in the region, and current forms of Palestinian multilateral conflict, as well as the predominant side of the conflict in the contemporary period, focusing on developments in the first half of 2021, but also some trends that are expected in the evolution of the Palestinian issue.

RELEVANT ACTORS AND INTERDEPENDENCES IN REGIONAL SECURITY: EU-TURKEY RELATIONSHIP

The EU-Turkey relationship finds its basis in the EU Enlargement Policy, which is one of the organisation’s most important foreign policy instruments. Thus, the integration of a relevant actor such as Turkey gains important regional connotations, with one of Turkey’s gains in this relationship being the access to the EU single market. Although the beginning of the relationship seemed promising, its subsequent development is governed by countless divergences and tensions, the result reached so far being eloquent: of the 35 chapters negotiated for accession only 16 were opened, of which only one was provisionally closed. This article aims to highlight the relationship between the two actors, with the effort being directed towards analysing Turkey’s EU accession process. Through a critical analysis of the literature, statements and official documents devoted to the subject, the article provides an overview of the accession process and presents some ideas on the advantages that both actors can gain from this relationship. Subsequently, some opinions are issued on the evolution of the EUTurkey relationship, concluding that in the near future we cannot expect Turkey to fully integrate into the EU.

THE ROLE OF INTELLIGENCE SERVICES IN AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY. CASE STUDY: THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN (1979-1989)

This paper aims to present the role of intelligence services in the American foreign policy using as a case study the Afghan conflict from 1979-1989. Thus, this paper underlines the actions (or inactions) of the American intelligence services, highlighting their limitations from this period. It is important to describe the context that contributed to the start of the soviet invasion in Afghanistan and the two perspectives (American and Soviet) over the conflict. In this regard, we considered necessary an analysis on the Soviet point of view regarding the conflict and, most importantly, concerning the American involvement, having in mind the purpose of objectiveness while presenting the context and events. Using the relevant documents, testimonies and statements of former CIA officials from that period, the paper underlines the way foreign policy decisions were taken by the Administrations from Washington, during the Soviet-Afghan war, and how American intelligence services influenced the foreign policy decision-making process and the evolution of the conflict.