Geo Political Situation In The Region example essay topic

In the last decade of the 20th century, the Balkan region and the broader area of South Eastern Europe, a number of states with old traditions or new emerging transformations, have entered into a recurrent, historically decisive stage of their civilisation al development. The characteristic parameters are: o an exceptional dynamism, instability and contradictory processes, events and phenomena; o noticeable and periodical ethnic - minority, confessional, territorial and other problems and contradictions which unfavorably influence the general stability of the region and mutual relations among the Balkan states; o non - equality of the countries from the region regarding the guarantees of their national security which depends on whether they are members of the European and Euro - Atlantic economic and political structures and organizations or not; o an imbalance in their arms and armed forces as a result of the accumulated differences in military and economic potentials of the states in the region and the old bio c approach to the composition and implementation of the agreements in this area; o periodically tense socio - economic problems and crises, which have turned into a characteristic feature of the internal political situation in the states of the region; o the strong aspirations of all countries in the region, bar none, towards an accelerated, full and equal integration into the European economic, political and military structures, combined with attempts at establishing and strengthening mutual confidence, cooperation and a general Balkan dialogue; o the continuing geo-political restructuring, both relations to the political powers in the countries of the region and in the sub - regional and regional levels. The basic factors from a political, economic, military and humanitarian point of view influencing the various components of the geo - political situation and security in the Balkans and South Eastern Europe at the end of the XX century, can be characterized by the fact that, in addition to their individual relevance, they most often occur in combination and are manifested with different strength and intensity in each Balkan State respectively. From a political aspect, this group of factors has the strongest effect on the changes in the geo - political status quo and preserves its leading role at the present. Some of the more relevant factors among these are the following: o A major change in the geo - political configuration of the region and the appearance of a number of new sovereign and independent states as individual subjects in international relations; a new formula emerged: 11+2 states in the region (until the beginning of the 90's when there were 6+1); o Increased instability in the internal political sphere of the countries in the region, and in the relations of political powers and factors, which very often lead to sharp changes or essential corrections of their foreign-policy course, provoke mutual distrust and make the political behavior of a number of states less foreseeable; o The continuing influence of certain unsolved disputes among some of the countries in the region and the strengthening of ethnic, religious, minority and territorial factors in the formulation and pursuance of their foreign policies; o Strained mutual relations within the ethnicity - religion - state triad, which directly influences the stability of most Balkan states and the region as a whole; o The simultaneous occurrence and influence of integrative and disintegrative processes and tendencies, both on a regional and continental level; o The remaining serious or latent problems in the former Yugoslav territory as a sub - region of the Balkans (like the conflict in Kosovo in 1998-1999), despite the initiated processes and activities following the implementation of the Dayton-Paris agreements; o The intensified appearance of new-emerging non - military and non - standard risks and threats to the security of the Balkan states in particular and the region as a whole; the enormous increase in organized crime and the more and frequent acts of organized political, ethical or religious terrorism, the non - sanctioned spread and traffic in drugs, weapons and technologies (here including weapons of mass destruction), manifestations of clerical extremism and fundamentalism, continuing ethnic - minority conflicts, aspirations toward cultural and historical heritages, activities of separatist and irredentist powers and political organizations, etc. o The heterogeneous and multi - variant influence of the leading international factors on the development of the geo - political situation in the region; acceptance of intermediary services, use of methods and means of preventative diplomacy, 'imposition of peace' (by force as well) and its maintenance through a massive military presence of a number of states, giving economic, humanitarian and military assistance, control and guarantees of preserving already achieved international agreements, coordinating functions after the realization of the post conflict recovery, etc.

From a military aspect, the changes which have occurred in relations among the armed forces of the states in the region, the increasing differences in the capacity and ability of the human factor and the modernization of the military potential, especially with regards to the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, have made the military aspects of the geo - political situation an important priority of the international community and the states in the region. Their relevance increased enormously after the disappearance of the bi - polar system of international relations and the termination of the bloc opposition in the region, the appearance of numerous crisis situations and conflicts of different intensity, the increased risks of a broad dimensioned confrontation, the widespread belief in seeking a new balance of powers under conditions of geo - political restructuring in the region. This group of factors includes the following: o The obvious non - equality of the states in the region regarding the achieved guarantees of their security, sovereignty and territorial integrity, their military potential and the possibilities of their support and modernization, the degree of their presence and participation in European and Euro-Atlantic economic, political and military structures; o The lack of effective mechanisms for the early discovery, prevention and handling of crisis and sub - conflict situations, of preventative diplomacy as a means for monitoring and setting such situations while they are still in a pre - conflict stage; o The achieved general agreement of harmonization as an obligation of all the states in the region regarding their undertaking and realization of measures for strengthening confidence and security, restriction of armaments in accordance with the achieved agreements and standards established within the framework of the C SBM (Confidence and Security Building Measures) and OSCE (the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe); o Broadening of contacts and cooperation among the countries of the region in the military sphere, as well as, the states of the European continent, an increase in the relevance of military diplomacy as an important component of inter - state relations, participation of the states in the region in a number of joint training projects within the framework of the Partnership for Peace (PfP) initiative, etc. o Continuation of the international military presence in the territory of the former Yugoslav federation in a different form and mandate, with significantly limited military effects, such as the ES FOR operation in Bosnia - Herzegovina, which started on December 20, 1996, prolongation of the term for the presence of the UN missions in Macedonia (UNPREDEP), the mission in Croatia (UNTIES), and the mission KFOR in Kosovo after the June 1999 etc. o Intensive utilization of the potentials and the means of the intelligence services, of preventative diplomacy and of monitoring, for explaining the geo - political and military situation, for the early discovery and prevention of potential and latent crisis points from becoming sub - conflict or conflict situations. From an economic aspect, the solution of the economic, social and infrastructure problems of the Balkan states in transition has in the last few years gained an imperative significance both for the geo -political situation in the region as a whole, and for the internal political stability of the states in particular and their admission to the European economic and military - political structures at the earliest possible date. o Regardless of the degree in realizing radical socio - economic transformations, the presence in European structures, the specific features and potentials of the states, the preferential development of the economic, transportation, communication and energy relations among them has turned into a conditio sine qua non of the foreign - political and internal economic activities of the states in region. o Qualified ly speaking, there is a new stage of development in the region as a strategically important and geo - politically unavoidable center of direct relations between Central, Eastern and Northern Europe, and the neighboring regions of the Near and the Middle East, the Mediterranean, the Caucasian region, and the former Soviet Central Asia in such strategically and politically sensitive domains as transport, telecommunications, raw materials, and power transfers, waves of tourists and immigrants, etc. The region of South Eastern Europe, here also including the Balkans, more and more imposes itself as a kind of a 'dispatching point' where strategically important raw materials, communication and transport routes pass and cross. o What more and more appears in the foreground are the problems related to environmental protection, power and resource support for economic development (especially in the sphere of utilization of atomic power, the supply and transfer of strategic raw materials such as petrol, natural gas, etc.) settlement of water resource issues, the exploitation and security of international sea and river arteries and spaces (the traffic along the Danube and the Sava river after the change of its status and its begun turned into an international river, the regime of the Straits, the Pir an Gulf in the Nord Adriatic sea and the peninsula of Prev laka divided by Croatia and Montenegro (which control the access to and sailing into the gulf of Bok a Kotor ska) etc.