Since the early 1990s the use of private military companies (PMCs) has proliferated. Especially the United States are increasingly turning to private contractors to perform military tasks. Privatization advocates claim that PMCs work cheaper than the military. In addition to that, PMCs give the cover of plausible deniability that regular troops lack. But the fact that legislative control or public debate are missing raises the question of accountability and underlines the need for legal means to control and regulate PMCs and their operations.

This article discusses the complex relationship between the state and the military in Latin American societies. Defining the state in Latin America as a weak one, it contains a typology of the different roles played by the military in the 20th century. In this context, the ambivalent impact of the USA as well as the search of the Latin American military for “new tasks” since the 1990s is discussed. The article concludes with the challenges for civil-military relations in the current democratic regimes in Latin America.

Diese Arbeit untersucht die Hypothese inwieweit EU/ESVP und NATO sich in einem Konkurrenzkampf befinden.<br> Dabei werden mehrere Dimensionen beleuchtet. Der zeitliche Aspekt, der organisatorische, der ideengeschichtliche und die spezielle Situation im Politikfeld Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik.<br> Auf Grundlage dieser Parameter wird eine Einschätzung bezüglich der aufgestellten These für die Gegenwart vorgenommen, sowie eine Strategieempfehlung für die nähere Zukunft gemacht. / This work analysis the actual competition between EU/ESDP and NATO. It considers several dimensions. The temporary, the organisational and the historical aspects, as well as the specific circumstances in the defence and security policies. Based on these parameters the author makes a conclusion concerning the current situation, as well as strategic recommendation for the future.

The author offers a survey of recent studies on the role of the European Union in world affairs. While some theoretical and conceptual progress has been made since the 1970s and 1980s, a good deal of the current work is still largely descriptive. Only a small number of studies take factors such as culture, norms, or ideas sufficiently into account. Referring to such variables, however, promises a value added for the explanation of certain phenomena in EU external relations. With reference to IR Theory, an institutionalist approach that conceptualises ideas as an intervening variable is therefore proposed.

Since the beginning of the 1970s a lot of countries in Latin America has been starting the transition to democracy. The article analyses the role played by the military in this process, especially the effects of civildemocratic governments – sometimes failing in – gaining power over the military. It is described how and why the army occasionally kept their independence from the civil power and how this influenced the consolidation of democracy.

Univ., Diss.--Wien, 2006.

Univ., Dipl.-Arb.--Linz, 2006.

Soft Power ist zu einem einflussreichen Konzept avanciert – in der Politikwissenschaft, aber auch in der Politik selbst. Dabei bleibt es sowohl theoretisch als auch praktisch umstritten. In der Praxis wird das Konzept instrumentalisiert, um außenpolitisches Handeln von militärischem und wirtschaftlichem Druck positiv abzugrenzen. Unklar ist, wie Soft Power in militärischen Kontexten, in denen Hard Power im Vordergrund steht, funktionieren kann. Anhand des Afghanistan-Einsatzes der Bundeswehr wird dieses Verhältnis analysiert und eine eigene Definition von Soft Power entwickelt. / Soft power has become an important concept – both in politics and in political science. It is discussed highly controversial. In political practice, the concept is exploited to give foreign policy action a more positive connotation as opposed to military and economic pressure. It is unclear how soft power can be used in military contexts, which are dominated by hard power. At the moment, however, when soft power and hard power of the military meet in military operations, the question arises to what extent the soft power-concept works in a military context. How this ratio appears, is investigated in this paper on the example of the Afghanistan mission of the Bundeswehr. In addition, the author develops his own comprehensive definition of soft power.

Universiẗat, Diss.-2008--Köln, 2007.

Humboldt-Univ., Diss--Berlin, 2007.