Papers by Dr Bilbil Kastrati
ILIRIA International Review, 2014
After the end of the Cold War the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Unio... more After the end of the Cold War the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) enlargement were two main political processes in the European continent. Both organizations since their inception, promoted the idea of integrated Europe without borders, which meant creating a Europe without divisions and bringing back all Central Eastern European (CEE) countries into the European family where they belong. However, after half a century of isolation in the totalitarian communist system the CEE countries (CEEC) had to undertake fundamental institutional, political, economic, military and other reforms in order to join NATO and the EU. In order to ease the process of accession, both organizations set certain criteria for membership for the CEECs. While NATO’s requirements for membership were more general and flexible, the EU’s requirements, on the other hand, were non-negotiable and closely enforced.Therefore, this article will explore NATO’s and the EU’s enlargemen...
SEEU Review, 2015
The end of the Cold War resulted in a diffusion of the level of threat worldwide and concluded th... more The end of the Cold War resulted in a diffusion of the level of threat worldwide and concluded the system of bipolarity in the world. Beside the European continent, where the rivalries were at the highest level, the consequences of the end of the Cold War were especially visible in North-East Asia. A decrease of military activities of Russia and China, and the retreat of the USA from the region, give way for improvement of political and economical relations between the countries of the region. The end of hostilities produced by the Cold War no doubt have relaxed relations between countries in the region and opened ways for a new more peaceful co-existence. However, this does not mean that the region is not vulnerable to some of the hot spots such as North Korea, Spratly Parcels and especially Taiwan Strait. The latter is considered to be the most dangerous potential Asian zone of crisis in the twenty-first century.The East Asian countries such as China, Japan and other Association o...
The conflicts of the past three decades have shown that the major problems which peace processes ... more The conflicts of the past three decades have shown that the major problems which peace processes face are the spoilers. Spoilers are warring parties and their leaders who believe that peaceful settlement of disputes threatens their interests, power and their reputation; therefore, they use all means to undermine or completely spoil the process. Spoilers of peace processes can be inside or outside of the process and are characterized as limited, greedy or total spoilers. Their motives for spoiling can be different, such as: political, financial, ethnic, security, etc. Furthermore, it is important to emphasise that spoilers are not only rebels and insurgents, but can often be governments, diasporas, warlords, private military companies, etc. In order to counteract the spoilers, the international community has adopted and implemented three methods: inducement, socialization and coercion. Often all three methods are used to convince the spoilers to negotiate, accept and implement peace ...
Teorija in praksa, 2021
The article considers whether the EU's CSDP missions are a suitable crisis management mechanism f... more The article considers whether the EU's CSDP missions are a suitable crisis management mechanism for post-conflict situations, along with the EU's relevance in crisis management at all. For this purpose, the EU's biggest CSDP civilian mission EULEX was chosen as a research case study. The research results reveal that EULEX has not implemented its mandate, not met the expectations of security consumers, not made any difference on the ground, and cannot be seen as an example the EU should rely on in its future missions. Further, EULEX shows that CSDP missions suffer from many shortfalls and the EU CFSP from a capability-expectations gap. The article concludes that the EULEX mission does not show the EU's relevance in the crisis management of post-conflict situations.
Revista Transformacion Militar, 2019
Security Sector Reform (SSR) is a process that aims to identify security threats to a state or so... more Security Sector Reform (SSR) is a process that aims to identify security threats to a state or society and to establish good governance security sector under civilian oversight, which is accountable and can protect effectively the citizens. This article aims to analyse the Kosovo SSR in two time periods in 2006 and 2014. It elaborates the security threats to Kosovo and its citizens, and describes the measures introduced to counteract these threats. Furthermore, the article focuses on comparing the advantages and disadvantages in conducting internationally and locally driven SSR. It will highlight the necessity for inclusion in the SSR process of all affected parties and avoiding the limitation of the SSR only to security institutions. The article concludes that Kosovo’s experience shows that locally driven SSR are more limited than those internationally driven; and that inclusion of specialized organizations such as United Nations or European Union ensures comprehensive SSR that identifies security threats towards both state institutions and citizens; and provides inclusive and practical solutions on how to deter these threats. And, finally the lesson learned from Kosovo is that there is little worth of having a developed and efficient security sector if the population of the country is ill-educated, unemployed and unhealthy, vulnerable to drugs, trafficking, extremism, etc.
Even though the politics of global environmentalism is a fairly new aspect of International Relat... more Even though the politics of global environmentalism is a fairly new aspect of International Relations, the environmental concerns are not new. However, it was only in the late 1960s and early 1970s that worries about accelerating damage to the environment started to be articulated. At this stage many governments and people worldwide began to realise the environmental degradation caused as a result of human activity and development. Since environmental degradation knows no borders it was necessary to initiate international cooperation on environmental issues. Even though the consequences of environmental degradation and the impact that they have on humankind are obvious, the issue becomes complex when the following question is posed: should environmental issues be securitized? The opinion among academics, scholars and government officials is divided over this topic, between those who consider that securitization of the environmental issues is the most important step to secure the survival of humankind to those who believe that its advocates are simply a group of environmentalists who are desperately trying to shift the attention and resources of governments away from traditional security issues. Hence, this paper will discuss the concept of environmental security, international cooperation, analysing both proponents and critics of environmental security and will conclude by arguing that environmental issues should not be securitized since they are not intentional threats to a state or society, but the side effects of human civilization. If environmental issues are to be securitized they might trigger various types of intervention and imperialism.
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Papers by Dr Bilbil Kastrati