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European Young Leaders (Eyl40) 21St Century Pioneers: Inter-Regional Cooperation for a New Generation
SEPTEMBER 2017 EUROPEAN YOUNG LEADERS (EYL40) 21ST CENTURY PIONEERS: INTER-REGIONAL COOPERATION FOR A NEW GENERATION TALLINN SEMINAR Report of the three-day seminar EUROPEAN young L EADERS The European Young Leaders (EYL40) programme led by Friends of Europe is a unique, inventive and multi-stakeholder programme that aims to promote a European identity by engaging the continent’s most promising talents in initiatives that will shape Europe’s future. The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsi ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. With the support of SEPTEMBER 2017 EUROPEAN YOUNG LEADERS (EYL40) 21ST CENTURY PIONEERS: INTER-REGIONAL COOPERATION FOR A NEW GENERATION TALLINN SEMINAR Report of the three-day seminar EUROPEAN young L EADERS EUROPEAN YOUNG LEADERS This report reflects the seminar rapporteur’s understanding of the views expressed by participants. These views are not necessarily those of the organisations that participants represent, nor of Friends of Europe, its board of trustees, members or partners. Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted, provided that full credit is given to Friends of Europe, and that any such reproduction, whether in whole or in part, is not sold unless incorporated in other works. Rapporteurs: Paul Ames Publisher: Geert Cami Director of Programmes & Operations: Nathalie Furrer Senior Events Manager: -
Julie Grodal
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives The Five-Day War in the Caucasus An Inquiry Into the Rationality of Georgia’s Attack on South Ossetia Julie Grødal Master’s thesis, Department of Political Science THE UNIVERSITY OF OSLO January 2009 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Anders Kjølberg, for useful comments, encouragement and his flexibility regarding the time and place of our discussions. I would also like to thank Helge Blakkisrud at NUPI for taking the time to discuss my thesis subject at the initial stage of my work. My gratitude towards my friend Magnus Thue is infinite. His critical remarks, guidance and especially his encouragements have made the work with this thesis easier. My dear Cezar Zavate deserves a big mul Ńumesc for his encouragements and technical support. Finally, I would like to thank mamma and pappa for being the best parents in the world. This thesis is dedicated to them. 3 Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................................................2 CONTENTS ..........................................................................................................................................3 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................6 1.1 SUBJECT AND RESEARCH QUESTION ........................................................................................6 -
MEMO Questions and Answers: a Background for the Strategic
MEMO Questions and answers: a background for the Strategic Compass As the global security environment is deteriorating, the European Union and its Member States face an increasing number of complex threats and challenges. In order to respond to these adequately, there have been rapid developments to strengthen the EU in the field of security and defence. With a comprehensive set of defence initiatives that have been implemented since 2017, the EU has taken defence cooperation to a new level. As a credible actor and reliable partner, the EU now also needs to provide more clarity about its strategic goals. With the Strategic Compass, Member States have embarked on a journey to define what they want to be able to do to strengthen the EU, namely when it comes to responding to external crises, building the capacity of partners and protecting the Union and its citizens. Demonstrating the immense political will at the highest level, EU heads of state affirmed their commitment to and provided clear guidance on the Strategic Compass in their Statement in February 2021. As indicated by the Council in June 2020, the Strategic Compass will define policy orientations and specific goals and objectives in four clusters: (1) crisis management, (2) resilience, (3) capability development, and (4) partnerships. These four dimensions are interconnected. It is crucial to set clear and ambitious goals across them, if we want the EU to become a more effective security provider and a more responsible and reliable partner. As the Strategic Compass aims to provide political guidance for civilian and military planning processes, it should contain concrete proposals for action as well as timelines for implementation. -
From Cold War to Civil War: 75 Years of Russian-Syrian Relations — Aron Lund
7/2019 From Cold War to Civil War: 75 Years of Russian-Syrian Relations — Aron Lund PUBLISHED BY THE SWEDISH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS | UI.SE Abstract The Russian-Syrian relationship turns 75 in 2019. The Soviet Union had already emerged as Syria’s main military backer in the 1950s, well before the Baath Party coup of 1963, and it maintained a close if sometimes tense partnership with President Hafez al-Assad (1970–2000). However, ties loosened fast once the Cold War ended. It was only when both Moscow and Damascus separately began to drift back into conflict with the United States in the mid-00s that the relationship was revived. Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Russia has stood by Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime against a host of foreign and domestic enemies, most notably through its aerial intervention of 2015. Buoyed by Russian and Iranian support, the Syrian president and his supporters now control most of the population and all the major cities, although the government struggles to keep afloat economically. About one-third of the country remains under the control of Turkish-backed Sunni factions or US-backed Kurds, but deals imposed by external actors, chief among them Russia, prevent either side from moving against the other. Unless or until the foreign actors pull out, Syria is likely to remain as a half-active, half-frozen conflict, with Russia operating as the chief arbiter of its internal tensions – or trying to. This report is a companion piece to UI Paper 2/2019, Russia in the Middle East, which looks at Russia’s involvement with the Middle East more generally and discusses the regional impact of the Syria intervention.1 The present paper seeks to focus on the Russian-Syrian relationship itself through a largely chronological description of its evolution up to the present day, with additional thematically organised material on Russia’s current role in Syria. -
Eu Whoiswho Official Directory of the European Union
EUROPEAN UNION EU WHOISWHO OFFICIAL DIRECTORY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION EUROPEAN COUNCIL 14/09/2021 Managed by the Publications Office © European Union, 2021 FOP engine ver:20180220 - Content: Anninter export. Root entity 1, all languages. - X15splt1,v170601 - X15splt2,v161129 - Just set reference language to EN (version 20160818) - Removing redondancy and photo for xml for pdf(ver 20201206,execution:2021-09-14T18:03:57.732+02:00 ) - convert to any LV (version 20170103) - NAL countries.xml ver (if no ver it means problem): 20210616-0 - execution of xslt to fo code: 2021-09-14T18:04:06.239+02:00- linguistic version EN - NAL countries.xml ver (if no ver it means problem):20210616-0 rootentity=EURCOU Note to the reader: The personal data in this directory are provided by the institutions, bodies and agencies of EU. The data are presented following the established order where there is one, otherwise by alphabetical order, barring errors or omissions. It is strictly forbidden to use these data for direct marketing purposes. If you detect any errors, please report them to: [email protected] Managed by the Publications Office © European Union, 2021 Reproduction is authorised. For any use or reproduction of individual photos, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holders. LIST OF BUILDINGS (CODES) Code City Adress DAIL Brussels Crèche Conseil Avenue de la Brabançonne 100 / Brabançonnelaan 100 JL Brussels Justus Lipsius Rue de la Loi 175 / Wetstraat 175 L145 Brussels Lex Rue de la Loi 145 / Wetstraat 145 EUROPEAN COUNCIL – 14/09/2021 – 3 BRUSSELS 4 – 14/09/2021 – OFFICIAL DIRECTORY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION BRUSSELS EUROPEAN COUNCIL – 14/09/2021 – 5 LUXEMBOURG – Kirchberg Plateau 6 – 14/09/2021 – OFFICIAL DIRECTORY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION LUXEMBOURG – Gare and Cloche d’or STRASBOURG EUROPEAN COUNCIL – 14/09/2021 – 7 European Council President 9 Members 9 Cabinet of the President 10 8 – 14/09/2021 – OFFICIAL DIRECTORY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION European Council Rue de la Loi 175 / Wetstraat 175 1048 Bruxelles / Brussel BELGIUM Tel. -
Policy Briefs
Rethinking EU Crisis Management From Battlegroups to a European Legion? Niklas Nováky Summary June 2020 This paper discusses an idea to create a European Legion that has been put forward by Radoslaw Sikorski, MEP. This would be a new kind of EU military unit, made up of volunteers rather than national contingents contributed by the member states. The idea stems from Sikorski’s desire to reform the EU’s existing battlegroups, which have been operational for 15 years but have never been used, despite numerous opportunities. The paper argues that although the EU’s 2007 Lisbon Treaty imposes heavy restrictions on the Union’s ability to deploy military force, it does not rule out conducting operations with a volunteer force. At the same time, a volunteer-based European Legion force would have to be created initially by a group of member states outside the EU framework. These states could then make it available to the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy as, for example, a permanent battlegroup. An existing model would be the multinational Eurocorps. Keywords CSDP – Crisis management – Battlegroups – European Legion – European Council – Eurocorps 1 Introduction Since the EU’s Common (formerly European) Security and Defence Policy (ESDP/CSDP) became operational in 2003, the Union has launched a total of 13 military operations within its framework. Of these, eight have been executive in character, meaning that they were authorised to use force if this had been deemed necessary to fulfil their mandate. The most recent CSDP military operation is Operation IRINI in the Mediterranean, which the EU launched on 31 March 2020 to help enforce the UN’s arms embargo on Libya. -
Sovereignty 2.0
Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2021 Sovereignty 2.0 Anupam Chander Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] Haochen Sun University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/2404 https://ssrn.com/abstract=3904949 This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub Part of the Computer Law Commons, Intellectual Property Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Sovereignty 2.0 Anupam Chander* and Haochen Sun** Digital sovereignty—the exercise of control over the internet—is the ambition of the world’s leaders, from Australia to Zimbabwe, a bulwark against both foreign state and foreign corporation. Governments have resoundingly answered first-generation internet law questions of who if anyone should regulate the internet—they all will. We now confront second generation questions—not whether, but how to regulate the internet. We argue that digital sovereignty is simultaneously a necessary incident of democratic governance and democracy’s dreaded antagonist. As international law scholar Louis Henkin taught us, sovereignty can insulate a government’s worst ills from foreign intrusion. Assertions of digital sovereignty, in particular, are often double-edged—useful both to protect citizens and to control them. Digital sovereignty can magnify the government’s powers by making legible behaviors that were previously invisible to the state. Thus, the same rule can be used to safeguard or repress--a feature that legislators across the Global North and South should anticipate by careful checks and balances. -
Pivot, Hedger, Or Partner Strategies of Lesser Powers Caught Between Hegemons
11 Pivot, Hedger, or Partner Strategies of Lesser Powers Caught between Hegemons Yu-Shan Wu Taiwan is strategically situated between the United States and the People’s Repub- lic of China (PRC). It is impossible to understand cross-Strait relations without looking into this global strategic context. Although one may not agree with the pessimistic prediction of the power transition theory, namely that the closing gap between the United States and China will result in a titanic clash between the world’s hegemon and its challenger, it is nevertheless undeniable that the two strongest nations in today’s world have been locked in tense strategic competition. China wants to reclaim its lost central place in the world, a wish that is naturally resisted by today’s hegemon, the United States. This is not to deny that Washing- ton and Beijing collaborate in many aspects of their relationship, such as the fight against international terrorism and their joint efforts to deal with climate change. However, as the capabilities of the two giants are getting closer and closer, the relation is strained, with China understandably striving for an equal say on inter- national affairs and the United States hesitant to grant such status to its challenger. The refusal to give China a voting weight in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that reflects its economic clout is one vivid example, and the competition between the two over the issue of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is another. The main geopolitical fault line for Sino-American competition is found in East Asia. Another great strategic conflict in today’s world is between the West and Russia over Ukraine. -
Weekly Geopolitical Report by Bill O’Grady
Weekly Geopolitical Report By Bill O’Grady February 1, 2016 several miles inland along the Yangtze River. Although the Ming eventually Trouble in Taiwan regained control of Taiwan and ended the Kingdom of Tungning, Zheng’s exploits Taiwan held elections on January 16th and serve as a reminder to modern PRC leaders the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that Taiwan can be a “launch pad” for won a resounding victory over the invaders and thus they see an independent Kuomintang (KMT). This election will Taiwan as a significant threat. likely raise tensions between Taiwan and Mainland China (People’s Republic of China maintained control of Taiwan until China, PRC). 1895, when China was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War. As part of the peace In this report, we will begin with a history of treaty, China ceded Taiwan to Japan. The Taiwan. Next, we will recap the election Japanese began industrialization of the results, discussing what the election means island, building transportation networks, for Taiwan’s foreign and domestic policies, public infrastructure and public schools. It the PRC’s problems with the DPP’s victory also embarked on a program of suppression and the election’s potential impact on and assimilation of the aboriginal people. It regional stability. As always, we will conducted aggressive military actions conclude with market ramifications. against tribes that resisted Japanese rule but also allowed groups that cooperated to earn The History of Taiwan second-class citizenship. At the onset of the There is evidence that suggests the Han Pacific War and World War II, thousands of Chinese began settling in Taiwan in the 11th Taiwanese joined the Japanese military. -
Syria: Internally Displaced Persons, Returnees and Internal Mobility — 3
European Asylum Support Office Syria Internally displaced persons, returnees and internal mobility Country of Origin Information Report April 2020 SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION European Asylum Support Office Syria Internally displaced persons, returnees and internal mobility Country of Origin Information Report April 2020 More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu). ISBN: 978-92-9485-158-1 doi: 10.2847/460038 © European Asylum Support Office (EASO) 2020 Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged, unless otherwise stated. For third-party materials reproduced in this publication, reference is made to the copyrights statements of the respective third parties. Cover photo: © DFID - UK Department for International Development, Syrian women and girls in an informal tented settlement in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 3 February 2017, (CC BY 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/31874898573 EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN REPORT SYRIA: INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS, RETURNEES AND INTERNAL MOBILITY — 3 Acknowledgements EASO would like to acknowledge Sweden, Swedish Migration Agency, Country of Origin Information, Section for Information Analysis, as the drafter of this report. The following departments and organisations have reviewed the report: Denmark, Danish Immigration Service (DIS) ACCORD, the Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation It must be noted that the review carried out by the mentioned departments, experts or organisations contributes to the overall quality of the report, but does not necessarily imply their formal endorsement of the final report, which is the full responsibility of EASO. 4 — EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN REPORT SYRIA: INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS, RETURNEES AND INTERNAL MOBILITY Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ -
The New European Parliament: a Look Ahead
THE NEW EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: A LOOK AHEAD JUNE 2019 THE NEW EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: A LOOK AHEAD More than 200 million EU citizens cast their votes between 23 and 26 May 2019 to choose the next cohort of MEPs. The new European Parliament is characterised by increased fragmentation and therefore a greater role for smaller parties. This briefing provides an overview of the The pro-European wave evidenced by the election results, explains what to expect rise of ALDE&R and the Greens coincided in the years to come and considers how with a sharp and unprecedented increase the new alignment of political groups will in voter engagement. Since the late 1970s, affect the EU’s balance of power. The turnout for the European elections had briefing also includes national steadily gone down, reaching a historic perspectives from Bulgaria, France, low of 43% in 2014. At 51%, this year’s Germany and the UK. In addition, we look turnout might be a significant outlier – or it at some of the key incoming and could show that, in an age of Brexit, outgoing MEPs and present a timeline of nationalism and climate change, the EU upcoming institutional changes. may yet have something unique to offer. The election results What to expect from the The 2019 elections marked the beginning 2019-2024 European of a new era: for the first time in the Parliament Parliament’s 40-year history, the two major A more collaborative Parliament parties have lost their majority. The centre- With the two biggest groups – the EPP right European People’s Party (EPP), and S&D – having shed seats and lost though still the largest group, saw the their combined absolute majority, the greatest reduction in seats, with the duopoly of power has been broken with centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) smaller groups hoping this will be to their losing a similar number of MEPs. -
Eastern Mediterranean Brinkmanship Is a Clear and Present Danger GMF Experts
Transatlantic Take 28 August 2020 Eastern Mediterranean Brinkmanship Is a Clear and Present Danger GMF Experts The United States and Europe cannot be complacent about the risk of conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean. Alongside the dangerous situation in the South China Sea, the deepening confrontation in the Aegean and in the waters off Cyprus, Crete, and Libya is arguably the most serious and immediate security flashpoint facing transatlantic partners today. The crisis poses key tests for NATO and the European Union. On the face of it, the crisis has been driven by maritime demarcation disputes affecting offshore energy exploration and trans- port. These differences are longstanding and could be amenable to legal and diplomatic solutions. However, current brinkmanship is not really about energy per se, and it is being shaped by wider strategic developments. Greek-Turkish relations are at the core. The détente that has prevailed between Athens and Ankara since the late 1990s is on the verge of collapse. This would have profound implications for regional stability and NATO’s ability to function in the face of pressing security demand emanating from the Levant, North Africa, and around the Mediterranean. Even if the immediate threat of conflict can be contained, the alliance could be faced with a return to the tense conditions that prevailed for decades and impeded NATO solidarity and operations. There have been profound changes on both sides. Turkey has lost its inhibitions regarding power projection. It has become a more independent and assertive actor, encouraged by operational successes in Syria and Libya. The country has also rediscovered its maritime interests and strategy.