The goal of this article is to analyse the diplomatic activities of Slovenia, which as the presiding country of the EU Council had to deal with prevention of a potential renewal of armed conflict between ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians during the most crucial period of Kosovoʼs path to independence, when possibilities of a new escalation of violence were imminent (from the 1stJuly 2007 to the date of the declaration of independence). However, we argue that the preventive diplomacy of Slovenia was not a necessity only in the time of the declaration of independence of Kosovo, but it was widened until the end of the Brdo process, started by the Slovenian Government in 2010. This attempt of the Slovene Primer Minister Borut Pahor to bring political leaders from the region, including Kosovar, regularly at the common Žnegotiating tableʼ was diluted, but as seen from the preventive diplomacy point of view, it was a positive attempt to stabilise the region. However, theEU missed this opportunity and current affairs in the region show that still lots of work has to be done if the EU would like to stabilise the Serbia-Kosovo neighbourhood.
COBISS.SI-ID: 31076189
The article deals with basic elements of the changing nature of contemporary security in the context of globalisation processes and fundamental changes in the security environment following the Cold War (1989/90). Within this framework, it reconsiders the response of theory and practice to the fundamental shift in traditional state behaviour from national to global security and finally to human security. Globalisation as a security challenge is dealt with through two basic approaches: (1) the neoliberal that especially stresses the role of states as key actors in the international community; and (2) the liberal-constructivist whose central elements are the relative decline of state power and the rise of the role of global social values. The article departs from the genesis of the security concept, it then deals with some new elements of the content of contemporary security and deliberates on issues of global security. It continues with human security and its origins, especially some theoretical and practical dimensions of the concept of human security. At the end, the article summarises the challenges and dilemmas of contemporary security and offers concluding remarks.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30587485
This article offers a general overview of civilian crisis management in the EU, its mechanisms and instruments, the nature of civil-military cooperation (coordination), and an overview of civilian crisis management missions. Particular attention will be paid to the EULEX Mission in Kosovo as a case-study of how participating civilian experts judge both the mission itself and the mission preparations (i.e. selection and training of personnel, mission strategy, mission related activities, the problems identified etc.). The article will argue that seemingly trivial operational details, such as personnel selection, the quality of pre-deployment training and advance preparation are important factors which, if not properly coordinated, could jeopardise EU goals in the field of crisis management. The author also presumes that unregulated civil-military cooperation and coordination can lead to the failure of crisis management operations.
COBISS.SI-ID: 3158216