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The article provides information on political and economic influence of Europe on its neighbourhood including strategic priorities for foreign policy. Topics discussed include strategic approach for recognizing policy-makers of Brussels and European Neighbourhood Policy, European Global Strategy and foreign policy objectives, and advancement in pro-active policies. It further discusses security questions of member states, foreign policy consequences, and societal norms for military intervention.

The European Union (EU) is the result of a process that is complex, concerted, voluntary, dynamic, progressive and of a long duration. As a human community, the EU is based on a set of common values and interests unanimously shared by the Member States (MS) and their citizens. The EU defends and protects its values and interests both inside its borders and worldwide. From the sociological point of view, the process of EU development is based on several dimensions, namely economic, social, psychosocial, political, military and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the emerging relations of power between various Islamic networks in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their foreign policy perspectives. It seeks to determine the most active Islamic networks and the most influential Islamic players that affect foreign policy choices and perspectives in Bosnia, and explore the main points of interaction and contestation between them. The paper argues that there is a new quality of the agency of Islamic networks in Bosnia and Herzegovina in which the direct humanitarian/missionary approach of Arab networks, characteristic of the immediate postwar period, is being replaced with a more nuanced and Turkish-dominated web of activities aimed at promoting a new vision of Bosnia and Herzegovina, of Islam, and of their position within a broader European framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifteen years after the Dayton Peace Agreement, Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) is still not capable of solving major structural and political problems, and no progress has been achieved on the reforms that people believe will carry the country to success. Being unable to solve these problems leads further pending political, social and economic problems to become more serious. If the situation continues, it is likely that Bosnia-Herzegovina will enter into a process of disintegration which also means a failure of the International Community (the US and the EU) and the reform efforts that were guided from the very beginning. Due to the lack of inter-communal consensus, the local political actors are far from making any positive contribution to the reform process, and once again the burden falls on the shoulders of the International Community. However, the contemporary setup of the International Community and the way it approaches these problems is far from a remedy for BiH. Therefore it is necessary that the International Community's structure and its approach to the problems be reconsidered. In this study the most urgent political, social and economic problems of BiH are going to be discussed. In addition, structural changes that can be made to make the International community a more capable actor in BiH are evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a discussion on the role of the years 1914-1918 in Central and Eastern European history. Analyses are made of territorial changes and adjustments to state borders after World War I to support the author's argument that 1918 was not a disruption in European history but rather the beginning of a new period in transnational history. Descriptions are given of changes in social perception as Eastern European countries underwent a transition away from imperial dynasties and toward republics.

Along the 20th century, Europe lost its preeminence in international affairs. It was no longer the epicenter of the world, but a mere shadow of its former self. This new Europe was most visible after 1945. During the Cold War, the old continent reached the threshold of its vulnerability, and needed American protection in order to survive, rebuild itself and prosper. After 1989, Europe suffers from security confusion, especially when it comes to its relations with America. Is contemporary Europe capable of ensuring its security without Washington's interventions? Is this scenario desired by the USA, or even by all the European countries? How can the former "axis mundi" redefine itself in terms of security? These are the main questions the present paper is trying to take into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text provides a presentation and appraisal of the relation between globalization and politics in Ulrich Beck's recent works. Engaging with the issues of globalization, globalism and globality, Beck propounds the following answer to globalization challenges -- the cosmopolitan state. Consequently, the text analytically examines whether Europe could be the answer to globalization, and whether the idea of cosmopolitism could bear forth the heritage of ideas which marked the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Just as the international community was late in discovering the significance of the judiciary for the success of peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina, international agencies were also late in identifying corruption as a key reason why the Bosnian judicial agencies were not working. The steps taken eventually to address the situation, including introducing reformed judicial admission, discipline and dismissal regimes, were not strategic, but reactive in nature. Notably, the international community initially adhered to the idea that these reforms should be domestically 'owned' and 'led', and that the resulting laws should resonate well with pre-existing legal-cultural paradigms; but as this process did not produce the desired results, the Office of the High Representative and the Independent Judicial Commission chose gradually to increase their involvement, eventually assuming almost complete control over the process. The process culminated in the firing of almost the entire Bosnian judiciary and the imposition of an internationalized structure for judicial appointments and dismissals. Although this policy stood in stark contrast to the values of local ownership and local leadership, it has essentially produced positive long-term results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of European unity, understandings of the terms ‘Europe’ and ‘European’ have become even more complicated than they were before. A contested concept within its borders, how is ‘Europe’ understood and seen from the outside? This paper deals with the under-researched issue of public perceptions of the European Union (EU) outside its borders, and the role of the international media in shaping such perceptions. The study addresses a (con)textual perspective in image creation, treating international news media discourse both as a product and as a process. The domestic contextualisation of images of the EU in Asia-Pacific news texts is scrutinised in order to assess features of the content of the EU news texts as well as regional newsmakers' attitudes and behaviours when representing the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Points out that the world of Islam may do more to define and shape Europe in the 21st century than the United States, Russia, or even the European Union. Twofold Islamic challenge which Europe faces; Need to integrate a ghettoized but rapidly growing Muslim minority; Need to devise a viable approach to the primarily Muslim-populated volatile states that are a central focus of the European Union's security strategy.

Ponders on the lingering effects of the human tragedy that occurred in Kosovo, Serbia, and its impact on neighboring nation, Albania. Fragility of the peace established in the city; Impoverished Albania's inadequacy in coping with hundreds of thousands of refugees from Kosovo; United States' uncertain foreign policy towards the region.

After the catastrophe of two world wars, both starting from the U.S., Europe has lost not only its dominant role in world politics, but also its old claims as a paradigm of progress and modernity. Genocides such as those practised by the Germans on the Jewish and gypsy populations of Europe after 1939 even raised the question whether massacres in the course of European history, are not part and parcel of that same intellectual and social context, which it would be ridiculous to call progress. And yet the patterns of society, which evolved in Europe in the middle ages, have spread all over the world. Of course, European society changed in its structure and centre of gravity, from the Italian Renaissance and Dutch merchant capitalism to British industrial society. And in the twentieth century, the centre of gravity even shifted across the ocean to the U.S., which developed into the model nation of the affluent society. Until quite recently, the Chinese had no contacts with Ethiopia. There were a lot of quite different societies on the globe, a global society being created only in the course of European expansion.

This article discusses various issues related to Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the six republics of Yugoslavia from 1946 to 1991. As heavily-armed North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops enforce the peace in Bosnia, the press and politicians alike portray Western intervention in the former Yugoslavia as a noble, if agonizingly belated, response to an outbreak of ethnic massacres and human rights violations. In the wake of the November 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, the West is eager to touch up its self-portrait as savior of the Southern Slavs and get on with "the work of rebuilding" the newly sovereign states. Drowned in the barrage of images and self-serving analyses are the economic and social causes of the conflict. The deep-seated economic crisis which preceded the civil war has long been forgotten. The strategic interests of Germany and the US in laying the groundwork for the disintegration of Yugoslavia go unmentioned, as does the role of external creditors and international financial institutions. In the eyes of the global media. Western powers bear no responsibility for the impoverishment and destruction of a nation of 24 million people.

The article focuses on the security challenges in Europe. According to the author, Soviet Union is the prime source of threat not as an ideologically aggressive power convinced of the superiority of its own system but one in decline, rather like a badly holed battleship whose boilers may explode if it goes down. He added that to ensure stability, the system has to be prepared to accommodate the fact that many of the states of Central and Eastern Europe will be crucially weak for the whole next twenty-five years and it must be designed to re-incorporate Central and Western Europe into the network of the West. He emphasized that security and stability will depend much on perceived domestic political and economic progress and much less on military balances and doctrines.

The article offers the author's perspective on the impact of the Dayton Accords on Bosnia and Herzegovina. The author believes that the signing of Dayton Accrods will bring economic recovery and peace to the nation. She mentions that the country has the potential to boost the annual per capita income after the war. She suggests the need for the country to see a quick and demonstrate peace divident in their everyday lives. She also highlights the importance of strong and well-coordinated donor support from the international community in the nation's reconstruction process.

Se presentan notas de interés para los lectores sobre temas de paz y política en el mundo, incluyendo información sobre la litigación estratégica sobre casos de discriminación en Bosnia-Herzegovina y Kosovo, sobre el proyecto Invertiendo en personas (INVIP) iniciado por el Movimiento por la Paz (MPDL) en Florencia y sobre el financiamiento de una clínica de cirugía ortopédica en el hospital de Al-Awda en Gaza por el MPDL.