Deterioration of the Global Arms Control Regime and the Role of the Vienna Document in Reviving Stability and Confidence in Europe

The author explores the deterioration and (forthcoming) collapse of the global arms control system, with special consideration given to potential consequences this event would have for the European continent. In this context, and in assessing the significance of the remaining mechanisms for preventing a potential arms race and deepening of conflict in Europe, he draws attention to the OSCE Vienna Document, as a tool which could enable the revival of stability through confidence building in Europe, especially in view of its capacity for adaptation and modernization.

Comparative Analysis of Video Surveillance Regulation in Data Protection Laws in the Former Yugoslav States

Video surveillance, the monitoring of a specific area, event, activity or person through an electronic device or a system for visual monitoring is already established as a central tool of public security policy. Video surveillance represents a starting point for implementing advanced technologies such as automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and automatic facial recognition (AFR), which tend to become standards in many urban areas. Based on the increased use of video surveillance technologies, governments and private actors’ capabilities in terms of monitoring of the population and potentially violating fundamental human rights are colossally increased. The article will provide a comparative analysis of national regulatory frameworks of video surveillance in public spaces in former Yugoslav states and its compliance with standards provided by new data protection regulatory framework, particularly General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The article will also give an overview of the major violations of the right to privacy by video surveillance and insight into and potential impact of new projects and technologies currently under deployment in the observed countries.

Cross-border Cultural Relations of Croatia and Serbia: Milk and Honey if Money is Involved

With the rise of creative industries, culture in international relations achieves strong competitive economic advantages. At the same time, it is often a fertile tool in reconciliation between connected communities and long-term consolidation of their relations. Economic peace theory claims economic interdependence as being the key factor in achieving peace between communities. Starting from this premise, this paper analysed the success of specific EU funding within cross-border cooperation schemes between Croatia and Serbia in enhancing social relations between the two states and their cooperation, as indirect effects. Adapted Conflict Management and Mitigation Matrix (CMM) served as a basis to con rm the assumption that international relations are enhanced if direct economic bene ts for the communities are involved. e research confirmed this assumption and provided recommendations for future EU financial instruments.

State capture, hybrid regimes, and security sector reform

In this introduction into the special issue on state capture and security sector governance, we argue that state capture is a relevant concept that helps us understand the current autocratisation and the rise of hybrid regimes. We argue that the extraction of public resources via party patronage, privatization of public administration, judiciary, security institutions, and media are vital for influencing political competition. In the second part of the article, we argue that the concept of state capture brings added value to the understanding of security governance and transformations. We show why the parts or whole of security and justice institutions are the inevitable targets of state capture and what it means to understand the success of security sector reform (SSR). Finally, we examine a range of possible positions of the security sector within the captors and what it means for both the literature on state capture and civil-military relations.

State capture and collective action

A promising approach to analyse the phenomena usually described as 'state capture' may be drawn from the literature on 'institutions', 'social orders', and the 'collective action problem'. These studies seem broader and more theoretically persuasive than the literature that confines itself to the notion of 'state capture', and this is especially true in respect of the Balkans, in whose societies it is often hard to draw a fine line between the 'captured' state and its 'captors'. Seen through the lens of those strands of literature, the phenomena usually described as state capture appear to be more widespread than is currently assumed, as they also surface in advanced democracies, and behind them typically lie collective action problems, which prevent the public interest from imposing itself over special interests.

Whitewashing state capture: Discursive legitimization of large construction projects in the Western Balkans

Through the use of language, government institutions and officials in elective democracies try to present particular instances of abuse of power and public resources as legitimate and enable similar practices in the future. This article aims to identify and reveal the strategies used within the Western Balkans' official discourses to legitimize particular cases of suspected state capture and assess their outcomes. The empirical study of six prominent cases of suspected state capture in the construction industry in the period from 2010 to 2020 indicates that a single legitimization strategy is used region-wide, and this article contributes to better understanding it. To assess the strategy outcomes, an original analytic model is proposed. The findings suggest that the deployment of the strategy to legitimize the suspected cases of state capture encourages potential captors in the region to consider engaging in similar practices in the future.

The vicious circle of corrosive capital, authoritarian tendencies and state capture in the Western Balkans

The presence of 'non-Western actors' in the Western Balkans has recently attracted the attention of policy-makers and academics alike, with the rise in prominence of non-EU countries coinciding with the weakening power of accession conditionality. While this trend was initially discussed in the context of a 'new Cold War' narrative, evidence-based research soon showed that this engagement is underpinned by particularistic interests at the top and 'corrosive capital'. The governance dimension is therefore essential in understanding the ties existing between the Balkan countries and the non-Western actors. Making use of primary and secondary data, this article compares the modus operandi of two non-EU actors in the region: Russia and the United Arab Emirates. It is argued that non-transparent business deals can stimulate a normative shift in the Western Balkans' political leadership away from pursuing the rule of law, and towards an authoritarian turn, while strengthening small circles of self-serving elites, at the expense of the citizenry at large. This is conceptualised as a 'vicious circle' of illiberalism and state capture, as viewed through the lens of corrosive capital.

Hybrid regimes of the Western Balkans: Reflection of a global geopolitical struggle

The new global order has yet to be fully established. The process reflects not only a geopolitical struggle but also a set of competitive political models. While it is possible to determine more than two dominant models, it is a contest between the two forms of democracy - liberal and illiberal. A one-party state, or a Chinese model, is an economic model used for geopolitical purposes while Muslim political model, strongly contested within the Muslim world, is restricted to areas dominated by the population of this faith. Some of its forms are reflected in the form of authoritarianism as developed in Turkey. The faith, therefore, is of lesser significance. The regimes in the Western Balkans have been developed and are based on two models of democracy. The resulting hybrid regimes are analysed in the global context of the powerstruggle and ideological contest. The question is whether the hybrid regimes of the Western Balkans are the result of dysfunctional local democracy or whether the search for global stability is resulting in a model of competitive authoritarianism which provides for global security but also supports the regime's desire to remain unchanged in perpetuity? This development might be supportive of international security but is an utterly destabilising factor for societies in the Western Balkans and a substantial obstacle to the development of liberal democracy.