{"title":"How Long Before NATO Aircraft Carrier Force Projection Capabilities Are Successfully Countered? Some effects of the fiscal crises","authors":"Josip Lučev","doi":"10.2478/cirr-2014-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/cirr-2014-0011","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Growth and fiscal policy conducive to economic development have been severely jeopardized in most NATO member countries since 2008. In sharp contrast, China has experienced only a relatively slower GDP growth, which it has mitigated with a fiscally expansionary outlook. Under these conditions, when can we expect the politico-military position of NATO to be challenged? This paper surveys amphibious force projection capabilities in six countries: the USA, the UK, France, Russia, India and the People's Republic of China (PRC). An assessment of the current capability for aircraft carrier building and a survey of carrier-related ambitions is undertaken to offer projections of probable aircraft carrier fleets by 2030. The three non-NATO countries are far better positioned to build aircraft carriers than the three NATO members, with China in the lead. Nevertheless, there is a high probability of the continued military dominance of the USA and NATO, but also of a military build-up focusing on the Indian Ocean.","PeriodicalId":35243,"journal":{"name":"Croatian International Relations Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"121 - 151"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2014-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69192682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The European Union Training Mission in Mali: A case study","authors":"R. Dicke","doi":"10.2478/cirr-2014-0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/cirr-2014-0010","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract For several years, the European Union (EU) has been increasing its international presence and moving into the role of a global security actor. To support the goal of greater crisis management capabilities, European security integration (ESI) has been deepening. This article therefore examines an Ell operation - the European Union Training Mission in Mali (EUTM Mali) - with the aim of gauging the success of the EU's efforts at ESI. To determine the success of EUTM Mali and thus of ESI, three propositions are examined: if EUTM Mali is a security operation showing successful security integration, there will be evidence of (i) broad participation, (ii) financial burden-sharing and (iii) the successful incorporation of troops and equipment. The first and third propositions are supported whereas the second does not receive as much support. Overall, EUTM Mali shows considerable success and bodes well for further ESI.","PeriodicalId":35243,"journal":{"name":"Croatian International Relations Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"119 - 91"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2014-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69192673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"NATO Summit in Wales: From global megatrends to the new Euro-Atlanticism","authors":"Lidija Čehulić Vukadinović, M. Begović","doi":"10.2478/cirr-2014-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/cirr-2014-0007","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Numerous representatives of theories of international relations, security theories or alliance theories have examined the new role of the North Atlantic Alliance or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the post-bipolar world. Parallel with the theoretical examination of goals and tasks, NATO has transformed itself in practice, following the realities of the contemporary global era. In trying to achieve and keep the primacy of the strongest military- political organization, the Alliance has - especially in the Strategic Concept adopted in Lisbon in 2010-set the normative and institutional foundations of its global engagement, fulfilling the military (hard) and a wide array of non-military (soft) security challenges. This strategy has given rise to \"Euro-Atlanticism\", as a subsystem of international relations based on strong American-European relations, to fit with the process of regionalization of global politics. However, the 2013-2014 crisis in Ukraine has turned the focus of interest and activities of NATO once again primarily to Europe and it has stressed the importance and necessity of strengthening Euro-Atlantic security and defence ties. The most powerful member of the Alliance, the United States, is again strongly engaged in Europe and Russia, as a kind of successor to the Soviet Union, is once more detected as a major threat to European security. There have been many aspects of theories of international relations that have tried to explain the dynamic of the post-Cold War international community. However, the approach based on neo-realistic assumptions of the role of a security community, collective defence and the use of military force has proved to be dominant. NATO will continue to work on its political dimension as an alliance of the democratic world and the September 2014 Wales Summit will certainly mark the return of NATO to its roots, strengthening its security and military dimensions in the collective defence of Europe from Russia.","PeriodicalId":35243,"journal":{"name":"Croatian International Relations Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"11 - 41"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2014-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2478/cirr-2014-0007","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69191865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Solidarity and the Market in the Area of Insurance Schemes","authors":"Ivona Ondelj","doi":"10.2478/cirr-2014-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/cirr-2014-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The text provides a detailed analysis of the significance and role of the principle of solidarity in compulsory and supplementary insurance schemes. The analysis is focused on solidarity as the benchmark when deciding on the applicability or non-applicability of the rules on effective competition on the market in the EU. The principle of solidarity is closely linked to the objectives of social policy, which demand special treatment in the intense market arena. The selected interpretations of the Court of Justice of the EU carry great importance, considering the discretion of Member States in the area of social policy. The text provides an elaboration and final remarks concerning the principle of solidarity which is able to shelter (more or less) the provision of insurance services in the EU.","PeriodicalId":35243,"journal":{"name":"Croatian International Relations Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"31 - 53"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69191813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dancing and Calculating: Culturally sustainable development and globalization in light of two paradigms of socio-cultural evolution","authors":"Vjeran Katunarić","doi":"10.2478/cirr-2014-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/cirr-2014-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Globalization challenges the usefulness of different paradigms of socio-cultural evolution and opens the possibility for their hybridization. In this paper, two paradigms of evolution, the transformational (Spencerian) and the variational / selectionist (Darwinian), as discerned by Fracchia and Lewontin (1999), are examined along with their social theoretical counterparts. Most social theories of development are connected to different evolutionary paradigms in different historical contexts. The transformational paradigm prevailed until the end of the Cold War (e.g. theories of modernization), and the selectionist paradigm, in various theoretical forms, thereafter (e.g. Huntington, Eisenstadt). Most developmental policies today prefer the selectionist paradigm in terms of the neoliberal free market. The transformational paradigm in development policies was predominant in the era of the welfare state in the West, and its counterpart in the era of the statism of the East. Sustainable development in a socio-cultural sense is the youngest and the least consistent policy concept, and it is not founded on the evolution paradigms. The concept was launched by the UN as an attempt at mediating, mostly on the grounds of ecological alarms, between the free-market and statist policies. The author considers the hybridization of these two paradigms to be a proper conceptual foundation of sustainable development. On this premise, he expounds the concept of a culturally oriented sustainable development, arguing that hybrids of developmental policies are more suitable for a decent survival of most countries.","PeriodicalId":35243,"journal":{"name":"Croatian International Relations Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"29 - 5"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69191802","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Foreign Policy Making and the U.S. Vision of European Integration in the Nixon Era","authors":"H. Nguyen","doi":"10.2478/CIRR-2014-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/CIRR-2014-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper offers an insight into Washington’s foreign policy establishment and its vision of European integration under the Nixon administration. It argues that President Nixon and his National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, managed to formulate many important aspects of foreign policy at the White House. From a realist perspective, the Nixon-Kissinger team saw the emergence of a new world order and in it the evolvement of European integration in a way different from previous U.S. administrations. The paper begins by discussing the Nixon administration’s realist approach to foreign policy before analyzing President Nixon’s determination to make decisions on foreign relations at the White House. Next, the paper examines the main features of the Nixon-Kissinger team’s vision of European integration. It concludes that, as realists, the Nixon administration supported integration in Western Europe, yet Washington was ambivalent if a united Europe with increasing self-confidence and self-assertiveness would be in the U.S. national interest. Henceforth, the European integration process had to be, in the Nixon-Kissinger view, taking place under U.S. control in the form of the consultative mechanism and the U.S. military umbrella.","PeriodicalId":35243,"journal":{"name":"Croatian International Relations Review","volume":"20 1","pages":"55 - 81"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2478/CIRR-2014-0006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69191823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The European Union, NATO, and the “Arab Spring”","authors":"A. Bebler","doi":"10.22182/spt.512012.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22182/spt.512012.5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35243,"journal":{"name":"Croatian International Relations Review","volume":"18 1","pages":"103-114"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2012-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68278815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Challenges for Croatia in European Social Dialogue","authors":"V. Samardžija, Dominik Vuletić","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.1873479","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.1873479","url":null,"abstract":"The paper addresses the role of social partners in the European integration process. It gives an overview of the social dialogue structures and experiences in the European Union (EU) and evaluates the achievements and experiences in developing social dialogue in the former and present candidate countries (Croatia) during the accession process. The first part of the paper is focused on the challenges that the European social dialogue is facing in terms of governance, Lisbon strategy and enlargement. It gives introduction into the role of social dialogue during the accession process. The second part of the paper deals with the social dialogue in Croatia and challenges of anticipated accession to EU. It evaluates the practice of social dialogue and leads to the conclusion that further efforts are needed to strengthen the capacities of the social partners and enhance their participation in social dialogue at national and European level. For the purpose of this paper a survey (interviews) on key social partners’ representatives and public authorities have been carried out in Croatia.","PeriodicalId":35243,"journal":{"name":"Croatian International Relations Review","volume":"14 1","pages":"83-94"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2008-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67767256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}