Transcript Workshop 4: Regime Change and Transitions accross the

Workshop 4:
New Geopolitical Era for CEECs?
The Danubian Region in IR 20 Years
after the Fall of the Iron Curtain
Application of IR Theories to the
Geopolitical Changes in the Danubian
Region
Ivan DIMITROV
• Theory as a tool of political science
• To what extent IR theories are applicable to
CEECs
– Major challenges:
• West – East reorientation of foreign policy in the CEECs
• Democratisation of the society
• Liberalisation & economic transformation
• Inadequacies for explaining the course of events
Basic elements of the actual regional
security environment within CEE
Georgeta CHIRLESAN
Dumitru CHIRLESAN
• Goals:
– Make a comparative analysis of NSS in 5 CEECs and search
convergence with the ESS
– Focus on current & future security environment in the
CEECs
• Levels of analysis:
– evolution
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When these documents were issued & adopted
Adoption mechanisms
Precursory documents
Connection with the moment of receiving the invitation to join
NATO
– Analysis of the documents’ structure
– The content of the strategy
• Conclusions of the survey:
– Although similarities, particularities and differences
were identified in relation to the five security
strategies, the authors maintain that there is a good
compatibility of the analysed documents, a common
view in approaching the security issues and the ways
of ensuring it at national and regional level
The five countries describe the same major threats –
terrorism, the proliferation of WMDs, regional conflicts,
failed states and non-democratic regimes, organized
crimes, they share a common vision of the international
order which is based on effective multilateralism, they all
place NATO ont he first place in ensuring the collective
defence
– Besides, the coherence with the ESS is a solid one:
HU, CZ and SK have NSS which are profoundly
coherent with the ESS, the nuances appearing only
to those component which do not contradict the EU
idea of security. Although PL and RO developed in a
different manner their security documents, they are
spinning on similar orbits around the ESS.
– the five states analysed in the present study have
security strategy with common and also divergent
elements.
– the common denominator conferring them the
characteristic of a distinct group is given by their
vision upon the preferred international order
• the international legislation must reflect the changes in
the character of the threats to security, must be
adapted to the new changes;
• the role of the UN Security Council is seen as important
but not as primordial or major;
• NATO is considered the most important security
guarantor.
By taking into account both the common points and
also those in which the five strategies are divergent,
the authors highlight that basically the five
documents reflect the same general vision on the
concept of security, with “soft” and “hard” accents,
depending on the regional context elements.
Visegrad Group – an experience of
regional cooperation in CEECs
Roland NACSA
• Structure: a cooperative forum
• Main objective: to enhance integration to
European institutions (EU and NATO). Once
achieved, it had to be redefined
• Importance:
– sub-regional cooperation
– Convergences & Divergences
• Opportunities
– Enhanced cooperation may decrease the need to
big States of the EU
– An example for Danube region?
Ethnic relations in Romania: The
prospects for a new accommodation
Vassilis PETSINIS
Since the late 90s, the politics of interest seem to have
superseded the politics of ID in Romanian political
discourse. This development has resulted from a
combination of catalysts, internal as well as external.
With regard to the former, the popular mistrust
towards Romania’s mainstream parties has often
prevented these parties from forming a majority
government in their own right. This prompted their
leaderships to assess the prospects for alliances with
smaller political actors, including the Democratic
Union of Hungarians in Romania (DUHR).
Meanwhile, the DUHR leadership started viewing
their entrance to the halls of power as a good
opportunity to realise, at least, their main aims. As
part of the whole process, both sides have opted for
a milder approach to the relations between the
Romanian state and the Hungarian minority. As far as
the external catalysts are concerned, the impact of
Romania’s entrance to the EU has been critical upon
releasing the tensions between Romanians and
ethnic Hungarians.
These processes, at the elite level, have been
facilitated by certain social realities in these areas
where Romanians and ethnic Hungarians coexist. In
Transylvania, there may not exist an articulate notion
of regional ID. Nevertheless, the awareness of a
shared regional heritage seems to have established
some common values and provided a common
cultural substratum for Romanians and ethnic
Hungarians.
In an overall assessment, it would not be an
exaggeration to speak, at least temporarily, of a
‘Romanian success’ in the field of managing the
ethnic relations.
Water ways: 20 years of the close
cooperation in Danube region
Victoriia Liepkova
• Marine Strategy for the EU
– Vital environment component of the future
maritime policy
– objectives:
• Protect more effectively the marine environment in
Europe
• Achieve good environmental status of the EU’s marine
waters
• Importance of the strategy:
– Establishment of European marine regions on the
basis of geographical and environmental criteria
– All member States are required to develop
strategies for their marine waters (and cooperate)
– These strategies may help the definition of good
environmental status at regional level
• Reviews of the strategy will help countries:
– To improve their management of the environment
by establishing baseline conditions and
recommending better policy implementation and
performance;
– To promote continuous dialogue between states
by sharing information on their policies and
experiences;
– To stimulate greater involvement of the public in
environmental discussions and decision-making
In addition to continuing and intensifying the
above-mentioned tasks, the Strategy will
provide Danube region countries with the
opportunity of continuously assess the need
for further action in the environmental field,
with a viw to contributing to cleaner Danube.