About: external relations

The EU, China and the quest for a multilateral world

The accelerated rise of the Chinese economy and the deepening of its relationship with the EU are likely to facilitate a change of forces in the international system and help promote the multipolarisation of international relations, argued panelists at a 2006 IFRI conference entitled "The EU, China and the quest for a multilateral world."

‘The war and peace’ of EU-Russia relations

The Portuguese presidency will not be able to change the substance of relations between the EU and Russia in the next six months, says Elena Prokhova in an 11 July paper for the EU-Russia Centre. However, this period will represent the start of a much-needed period of reflection by both sides, she argues.

Serbia’s European choice

Serbia has to adapt to the EU and not the other way round if it wants to become a member, argues David Gowan in a June 2007 paper for the Centre for European Reform (CER).

The EU and Kazakhstan: economic co-operation and democratic reforms

There is still progress to be made in Kazakhstan if it is to continue down the road to reform, writes Bhavna Dave in a May 2007 paper for the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

Transnistria on the brink: Sheriffs vs Patriots

The Moldovan opposition newspaper Vremya predicts conflict among the leaders of the tiny breakaway republic Transnistria, putting the region on the brink of an economic and political crisis, according to a Transitions Online analysis. 

Kazakh moves in the energy and foreign-policy arenas

Driven by increasing energy profits, Kazakhstan is looking to secure energy transit, encourage foreign investment, and boost Kazakh influence over regional geopolitical developments, writes Joanne Lillis (EurasiaNet) in this Transitions Online Analysis.

Analysis: Tensions in EU External Relations Competences

In a policy-oriented analysis, Dr Simon Duke (EIPA, Maastricht) looks at conflicts of competences and “grey areas” between the Community and the more ‘intergovernmental pillars’ on which the Union establishes its external relations - and how to remedy them.

Kosovo: A Strategy for Economic Development

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Kosovo cannot have a stable future without sustainable economic development. This report considers the task of promoting such development. After surveying the present state of the economy, it assesses the international efforts so far to lay...

Moving Macedonia Toward Self-Sufficiency: A New Security Approach for NATO and the EU

Moving Macedonia Toward Self-Sufficiency: A New Security Approach for NATO and the EU EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Macedonia’s 15 September 2002 election suggests the country may have turned a corner on the road to stability. Widely anticipated fraud and violence...

Macedonia’s Public Secret: How corruption drags the country down

Macedonia’s Public Secret: How corruption drags the country down Corruption in Macedonia, especially at high levels of government, is endemic. It has evolved from passive exploitation to active coercion and acquired the capacity not only to retard economic progress but...

Bosnia’s Alliance for Change Expires as Elections Approach

Bosnia’s Alliance for Change Expires as Elections Approach EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Put together under the tutelage of representatives of the international community in the aftermath of the November 2000 general elections, the ten-party coalition known as the Democratic Alliance...

UNMIK’s Kosovo Albatross : Tackling Division in Mitrovica

UNMIK’s Kosovo Albatross : Tackling Division in Mitrovica EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Three years after its establishment, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has not established a safe and secure environment, the rule of law or a meaningful civil...

Policing The Police In Bosnia: A Further Reform Agenda

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Despite more than six years of increasingly intrusive reforms carried out at the behest of the UN Mission in Bosnia & Herzegovina (UNMIBH), the local police cannot yet be counted upon to enforce the law. Too...

Implementing Equality: The “Constituent Peoples” Decision in Bosnia & Herzegovina

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS In July 2000, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina made an historic ruling requiring the two entities, the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska (RS), to amend their constitutions to ensure the full equality of...

Still Buying Time: Montenegro, Serbia and the European Union

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS On 14 March 2002 the leaders of Serbia, Montenegro and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) signed an agreement in Belgrade to replace FRY with a new “state community”: a “union of states” to be called...

A Time to Lead: The International Community and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Despite repeated attempts by the international community, efforts to end the devastating cycle of violence in the Middle East have thus far failed. Israelis live in constant fear of the next suicide attack, Palestinians live under...

Serbia: Military Intervention Threatens Democratic Reform

OVERVIEW The Yugoslav Army’s arrest on 14 March 2002 of a leading Serbian politician and a U.S. diplomat signals that for the first time the Army has openly entered the political arena and is explicitly attempting to set limits on...

Courting Disaster: The Misrule of Law in Bosnia & Herzegovina

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS The law does not yet rule in Bosnia & Herzegovina. What prevail instead are nationally defined politics, inconsistency in the application of law, corrupt and incompetent courts, a fragmented judicial space, half-baked or half-implemented reforms, and...

Belgrade’s lagging reform: cause for international concern

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS For more than a decade Serbia was the driving force behind much of the instability in the Balkans. Following the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic on 5 October 2000, it was hoped that Serbia would promptly reform...

Macedonia’s Name: Why the Dispute Matters and How to Resolve It

On 16 November 2001, Macedonia’s parliament passed a set of constitutional amendments that were agreed in August, when Macedonian and Albanian minority leaders signed the Ohrid Framework Agreement. Later that day, President Trajkovski clarified the terms of an amnesty for...

Bosnia: Reshaping the International Machinery

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS After six years and billions of dollars spent, peace implementation in Bosnia and Herzegovina remains far from complete. Reshaping (‘recalibrating’, in local jargon) the international community (IC) presence is vital if the peace process is to...

Kosovo: Landmark Election

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS On 17 November 2001, people from Kosovo turned a page in their history by voting in multiparty elections for new self-government institutions. The conduct of the election was generally judged to have been a clear improvement...

The Wages of Sin: Confronting Bosnia’s Republika Srpska

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS By recognising Republika Srpska (RS) as a legitimate polity and constituent entity of the new Bosnia, the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement embraced a contradiction. For the RS was founded as a stepping stone to a ‘Greater...