The master thesis "Germany's European policy in the Western Balkans on the example of Croatia's accession to the EU" deals with the role of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Europeanisation of the countries of the Western Balkans in order to achieve stability in the region and peaceful resolution of the conflicts. Germany's main objectives in its European Policy in the Western Balkans have been to restore democracy, liberal economic market, rule of law, resolution of the refugee problem, protection of minorities, protection of the human rights and regional cooperation. The stabilisation of the Western Balkan should be achieved by its integration with the West: EU and NATO. Germany is intensively present in the Western Balkans since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Through its active involvement in the crisis of Kosovo, Germany strengthened its leadership role and responsibility within the EU. At the same time it also strengthened its position in the Western Balkans by its political, economic and humanitarian engagement. The focus will be on the description and interpretation of the motives of Germany's involvement in the integration of the Western Balkan in the EU. The aim of the thesis is to interpret the steps Germany took as a strong advocate of the EU- accession by the example of Croatia's...

This thesis aims to interconnect a theory of normative power Europe with the activities of the EU and its affect on the Western Balkans. The theoretical concept of normative power is based on the assumption of the EU as a normative actor who is able through its norms, values and principles to become a major civilian actor in international relations, especially in the area of conflict management. The theoretical part of the paper therefore focuses on the concept of normative power EU (NPE) as it is presented by Ian Manners, and how its normative character is reflected in the common security and defense policy. It is analysed how the NPE is diffused in selected countries of the Western Balkans through four chosen transfer mechanisms by Manners that comprise the operationalization of the thesis at the same time. Therefore the aim of this work is to contribute to the further broadening the debate over the EU's role in the international system, but also to find out how the norms and values are transmitted in selected countries of the near neighborhood - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo. All of this with regard to democracy, human and minority rights, peaceful settlement of disputes, good governance etc., which encompass the basic values of the EU. The selected operationalization has allowed...

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The Macedonian Campaign of World War I (October 1915-November 1918) traditionally remains one of the understudied theatres of the historiography of the conflict. Despite its vital importance in the outcome of the war, it is still considered as a mere sideshow compared to the Western Front and the Gallipoli Campaign. This dissertation presents a much-needed re-evaluation of the Macedonian Campaign's diplomatic and political origins within the war's early context. In doing so, this study first concentrates on a longue durée perspective and assesses the main historical events in the Balkans and Central Europe from the end of the French Revolution to World War I. In a perspective running throughout the entire nineteenth century, this dissertation integrates the importance of nascent nationalism in the Balkans and examine the Austro-Hungarian Empire's steady decline and subsequent diplomatic realignment toward the Balkans. Similarly, this work depicts the intense power struggle in Southeastern Europe between some of this story's main protagonists, namely the Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman Empires. This dissertation also evaluates the rise of new regional powers such as Bulgaria and Serbia and examines their connection to the European balance of power and general diplomatic equilibrium. In the first half of this dissertation, I present an overview of some of the most crucial episodes that paved the way to the onset of World War I and the inception of the Macedonian Campaign: The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, the Congress of Berlin of 1878, The Bosnian Crisis of 1908-1909, the Italo-Ottoman War of 1911-1912, and the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. In the second part of this study, the main thread of the analysis is the crucial Anglo-French relations that took place between the end of the nineteenth century and World War I. This study describes the importance of Anglo-French relations regarding the Macedonian Campaign's inception and highlights the fragile nature of the Entente Cordiale and some of the fundamental issues that affected the Anglo-French conduct of military operations on the Western Front as well as in the Balkans. Therefore, this study underlines why the Macedonian Campaign, suffered so much from a lack of care, preparation, and a much-needed strategic insight and leadership that could have decisively influenced the campaign and potentially have altered the outcome of an eventually successful Allied endeavor in the Balkans.

The Yugoslav wars of the 1990s - namely Croatia/ Bosnia (1991-1995) and Kosovo (1998-1999) - were the focus of unprecedented, and uninformed, international attention. This attention accepted at face value an ethnic rationale for the conflict that was often peddled by the combatants themselves; such rationales served to mask the economic and political aspirations of engaged state- and non-state actors. The wars allowed organised crime to take root and proliferate exponentially across geographical, political, and economic spheres. It became a tool of states, militaries and militias; states co-opted criminals, and vice-versa. The Serbian state became a criminal entity (as did, to a lesser extent, surrounding states) in partial control of a thoroughly criminalised regional combat economy, often in collusion with supposed ethnic `enemies.¿ Reconstruction, development, and governance interventions conducted by international actors in the successor states of the former Yugoslavia remain stifled by an absence of understanding of both the systematic infrastructural presence of organised crime, and a lack of acknowledgement of the economic rationales underlying the wars themselves.

Yes / Introduction: ...The first part of this research will be carried out on the basis of a theoretical review. Having defined peace parks in the context of the issues raised, the evolution of tourism needs to be specifically connected with sustainable development and peace issues. Thirdly, the potential and limitations of the development of tourism will be analysed in three aspects - economic, social-cultural and environmental, in the process of promoting peace. The second part will be a case-study of the Balkans Peace Park Project. The impacts of the development of tourism on local people were observed for 9 weeks in Thethi National Park of Albania which is a part of the proposed Balkans Peace Park area. During the observation, a questionnaire survey (Appendix I) was conducted in order to assess local awareness of both the costs and benefits of tourism; approximately 30% of households responded. An interview with the international organization which implemented the tourism development project in the region was also organized. This research will analyse results of both these, as well as the results of observation and participation in the community. 1-3. Literature Review

Ce travail retrace l’évolution varisque des Massifs d’Almǎj (Roumanie), de Deli Jovan (Serbie) et de la Stara Planina Occidentale (Bulgarie), à travers une étude pétrostructurale effectuée sur les différentes unités lithologiques de la Nappe alpine du Danubien supérieur. Cette nappe possède la particularité de contenir un marqueur de convergence de toute première importance sous la forme de 4 massifs ophiolitiques démembrés lors de l’orogenèse alpine :Tisoviţa Iuţi (TI, Roumanie), Deli Jovan (DJ, Serbie), Zaglavak (Z, Serbie) et Tcherni Vrah (TV, Bulgarie). Les études pétrologiques de terrain effectuées dans ces trois pays ont permis de confirmer la continuité entre ces 4 massifs, qui, séparément, comprennent chacun une portion de croûte océanique différente (TI :section mantélique et cumulats inférieurs, DJ :cumulats inférieurs et supérieurs, Z :cumulats supérieurs, TV :cumulats supérieurs et section effusive), mais considérés ensemble, forment une pile ophiolitique classique complète. De nouvelles datations par la méthode 147Sm-143Nd confirment un âge d’accrétion pour cette croûte océanique au Dévonien inférieur (~ 400 Ma). Cependant, l’essentiel de ce mémoire concerne les Monts Almǎj, notamment les roches encaissantes du massif de Tisoviţa Iuţi. La partie sud de ce massif ophiolitique représente la section inférieure d’une croûte océanique classique, alors que sa partie orientale est caractérisée par des roches de la croûte océanique supérieure, fortement déformées et transformées (métagabbros à zoïsite et fuchsite). Ces roches font partie de la Zone Mylonitique de Corbu (CMZ), qui comporte également des métasédiments à Gt ± St ± And et des serpentinites. Les conditions PT de formation de ces métagabbros, datés à 380-360 Ma par la méthode 40Ar-39Ar, ont été estimées à des températures comprises entre 450°C et 300°C. Leur contexte de formation peut être assimilé à une semelle ophiolitique ‘froide’, développée lors d’une obduction intra-océanique initiée probablement le long d’une faille transformante. Si le pic de métamorphisme des roches de Corbu a été estimé à 585°C/ 5.5 kbar, leur exhumation pourrait s’effectuer au sein d’un anticlinal en régime transpressif sénestre, en relation avec la formation de la CMZ, interprétée comme une ancienne zone plissée qui évolue en zone de cisaillement sénestre. Au Carbonifère, le granite syntectonique de Cherbelezu se met en place le long de la CMZ et enregistre les dernières phases de cette déformation lors de son refroidissement. Les études préliminaires sur les roches encaissantes des massifs ophiolitiques en Serbie et Bulgarie permettent de préciser une vergence d’obduction du lambeau ophiolitique vers le paléo-NW et d’établir un modèle de reconstitution paléogéodynamique au Varisque pour l’ensemble de la région étudiée./ This study provides new information on the Variscan evolution of the Almǎj Mountains (Romania), Deli Jovan Massif (Serbia) and Western Stara Planina (Bulgaria), throughout a petrostructural investigation conducted on the various lithological units of the Upper Danubian Alpine Nappe. This nappe displays an important convergence tectonic marker in the form of four ophiolitic massifs dismembered during the Alpine orogeny: Tisoviţa Iuţi (TI, Romania), Deli Jovan (DJ, Serbia), Zaglavak (Z, Serbia) and Tcherni Vrah (TV, Bulgaria). Our petrological studies in these three countries have confirmed the continuity between these four massifs, each of which showing, separately, a different portion of the oceanic crust (TI: mantle section and lower cumulates, DJ: lower and upper cumulates, Z: upper cumulates, TV: upper cumulates and effusive section), but taken together, forming a complete classical ophiolitic pile. New dating using the 147Sm-143Nd method has confirmed an accretion age for this oceanic crust at around 400 Ma (Early Devonian). However, the main part of this study has been focused in the Almǎj Mountains, particularly the Tisoviţa Iuţi ophiolitic massif and its enclosing rocks. The Southern part of this ophiolitic massif represents the lower section of a classical oceanic crust whereas its eastern part is characterized by upper crustal oceanic rocks that are highly deformed and transformed (zoïsite and fuchsite-bearing metagabbros). These rocks belong to the Corbu Mylonitic zone (CMZ), which also comprises Gt ± St ± And metasediments and serpentinites. Temperature estimates for the formation of the metagabbros are bracketed between 450°C and 300°C and these rocks have been dated at 380-360 Ma using the 40Ar-39Ar method on fuchiste. The geodynamic context for their formation can be viewed as a ‘cold’ ophiolitic sole, developed during an intra-oceanic obduction probably initiated along transform fault. If the metamorphic peak for the Corbu rocks has been estimated at 585°C/5.5kbar, their rapid exhumation could be realized via an anticline under a transpressive sinistral regime, connected with the formation of the CMZ that is interpreted as an ancient fold zone evolving in a sinistral shear zone. Finally, the Carboniferous syntectonic Cherbelezu granite intrudes along the CMZ and records the final stages of this deformation during its cooling. Preliminary investigations on the enclosing rocks of the ophiolitic massifs in Serbia and Bulgaria allow us to define a top to the NW obduction vergence for the ophiolite and to propose a paleogeodynamic reconstitution model for the Carpathian/Balkans terrains in the Variscan times. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The thesis examines the aspects of neo-Ottomanism in Turkish foreign policies toward three Balkan countries - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo -, focusing on the developments of the last decade. Turkey has become quite active in the Balkans and in these countries in the last few years, however, this activism is not without any antecendents. These areas were the core European territories of the Ottoman Empire and after the dissolution of this entity, Turkey still attached special importance to these countries, albeit during the Cold War relations were cooler. On the other hand, with the fall of the Iron Curtain, the rise of the AK Party to government position and Ahmet Davutoglu becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs in Turkey, the Balkans started to receive particular "limelight" in Turkish foreign policy. New ideas, expressions, approaches were incorporated into the forming self-confident and assertive foreign policy of Turkey. However, this new policy, referred to as neo- Ottomanism in many cases, infered criticisms too, from the West and from local politicians in the Balkans too. The thesis aims to remake and remodel this expression by highlighting other, more positive elements of it. Turkey's political, economic, cultural and military relations with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and...

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / Since the end of the Second World War, foreign policy goals have rarely become the lead issue for any Italian administration, and the desire to maintain the "special relationship" between the United States and Italy has generally muted any dispute The collapse of the Soviet Union and a growing concept of national interest in Italy have combined to change the basis of Italian-American cooperation. With increasing speed and fervor, Italian society and its political leadership continue to develop goals and ideas that are less dependant on foreign influence or reaction than has been the case in the past. The events of the 1990s made many Italians reflect on what their values and principles were. Italians feel increasingly able to voice their opinion, even when it differs with that of the United States. While as partners there is still an inequality of means, the developing independent agenda in Italy will reduce American influence to be an equally competing perspective in the national policy debate. Although it is uncertain how far future foreign policy aims will diverge from American interests, the trend certainly shows that Italians will feel less restraint in voicing their disagreements when they arise. / Major, United States Army

Quand, dans le cadre des réformes constitutionnelles après la chute du communisme, le Conseil de l’Europe et la Commission européenne demandent à l’Albanie l’indépendance du pouvoir judiciaire comme garantie pour un état de droit, pour une gouvernance limitée par le droit, un juge constitutionnel comme défenseur des garanties de ce principe est demandé en même temps. En tant que principes et institutions de l’état de droit, ils se trouveront face à une culture politique qui rend difficile tant leur transposition que leur application dans la réalité albanaise. Les raisons sont à rechercher dans l’influence que la tradition constitutionnelle et l’idéologie communiste exercent encore sur la classe politique et sa culture politique. Elles poussent plutôt vers le contrôle que vers l’indépendance du juge. Dans ces circonstances, il revient au juge constitutionnel d’être actif dans le jeu de la séparation et de l’équilibre des pouvoirs et dans l’identification et la formalisation d’un judiciaire indépendant. En même temps et aussi souvent que nécessaire, il devra défendre directement les garanties constitutionnelles de cette indépendance en fonction de sa propre indépendance. / When, as part of the constitutional reforms, after the fall of the communism, the Council of Europe and the European Commission require from Albania the independence of the judiciary, as a guarantee for the rule of law, a constitutional court, as a defender of the guarantees of this principle, is demanded simultaneously. Nevertheless, during the years of the democratic transition, these principles and institutions of the rule of law will be confronted with a political culture that makes difficult both their transposition and their implementation in the Albanian reality. The reasons lie in the influence that the constitutional tradition and the communist ideology still exert on the political class and its political culture. They grow towards the control rather than the independence of the judiciary. In these circumstances, it is up to the constitutional court to be active in the game of separation and balance of powers and in the identification and formalization of an independent judiciary. At the same time and as often as necessary, it will directly defend the constitutional guarantees of independence and will do so according to its own independence.