STRATEGIC IMPACT
Current Issue
Current Issue
3[40]/2011
Contents
POLITICAL-MILITARY TOPICALITY
New Paradigms of Armed Combat and Their Influence on Military Forces’ Training,
Teodor FRUNZETI, PhD, Marius HANGANU, PhD
Challenges for the Common Security and Defence Policy – EU Battlegroups,
Gheorghe CALOPĂREANU, PhD
International Security Institutions and Libyan Crisis – Co-Operation or Competition,
Pascu FURNICĂ, PhD
GEOPOLITICS AND GEOSTRATEGIES ON THE FUTURE’S TRAJECTORY
South Africa - Emerging Power,
Dorel BUŞE, PhD
Energy Potential of Ukraine as Part of the Expansion of Raw Materials and Energy Base of the European Union,
Andryi VOLOSIN, PhD
NATO AND EU: POLITICS, STRATEGIES, ACTIONS
Rapid Reaction Force - Basic Component of the European Defence System,
Ion BĂLĂCEANU, PhD
“National Interest” Concept in European Context,
Cristina BOGZEANU
Level of Correlation Between the Romanian Law and the European Union Law Concerning the Management of Emergency and Extreme Risk Situations,
Mirela ATANASIU, PhD
SECURITY AND MILITARY STRATEGY
Education, Strategic Factor for National Security,
Viorel BUŢA, PhD
Aggresions to Critical Infrastructures, with Military and Non-Military Implications,
Gheorghe MINCULETE, PhD, Daniela RĂPAN
Multidimensionality of the Modern Battlefield and a New Strategic Dimension of Confrontation,
Iulian ALISTAR
ANALYSIS, SYNTHESIS, EVALUATIONS
Possible Methodologies of Intervention (Prevention) Assessment under Conditions of Extreme Risk,
Gheorghe VĂDUVA, PhD
Industrial Accident Risk Assesment,
Cristian BĂHNĂREANU, PhD
“Nuclear Spring” of Prague: a Utopia?,
Iulia MOISE
POINTS OF VIEW
The Security of National Strategic Supply, Petre DUŢU, PhD
REVIEWS
Afghanistan, Ten Years of Fight Against Terror
CDSSS’ AGENDA
The activities of the Centre for Defence and Security Strategic Studies, October - December 2011, Irina TĂTARU
Instructions for Foreign Authors
New Paradigms of Armed Combat and Their Influence on Military Forces’ Training,
Teodor FRUNZETI, PhD, Marius HANGANU, PhD
War, as a complex phenomenon, has experienced new forms of expression with the evolution of society or, more exactly, simultaneously with the development of scientific knowledge, with technical and technological progress. At the same time, there have appeared and developed various theories and paradigms of armed combat. The latter have exercised constant influence on military training various levels.
Key-words: war among civil population; asymmetric conflict; network-based warfare, effects-based operations; new paradigm training.
Challenges for the Common Security and Defence Policy – EU Battlegroups,
Gheorghe CALOPĂREANU, PhD
The origins of EU Battlegroup concept can be traced back to the European Council Summit held in Helsinki between 10th and 11th of December 1999. Although the main outcome of the Summit was the establishment of the Headline Goal 2003 and its associated schedule, Helsinki Presidency’s Conclusions reflected that special attention would be given to the development of a “rapid reaction capability”.
This article is designed to depict the development of EU Battlegroup concept and illustrates the way in which the Battlegroup concept fits into �thethe Common Security and Defense Policy.
Key-words: Battlegroups; CSDP; capabilities; missions; European Union.
International Security Institutions and Libyan Crisis – Co-Operation or Competition,
Pascu FURNICĂ, PhD
The article analyzes the reaction of international institutions (United Nations, NATO and European Union) in Libyan crisis, focusing on the role of each institution. The lack of reaction of OSCE is identified, together with the UN role of mandating institution. The immediate reaction of NATO and the initial wishful thinking, but lack of political will of the EU are emphasized. The article concludes that NATO was the leading institution during the military support of the Libyan Transitional Council, leaving this role to another organization, maybe the EU, immediately after the military phase ended.
Key-words: Qadhafi regime; NATO; UNO; EU; mandating institution, Security Council resolution, leading institutions, legitimacy.
South Africa - Emerging Power,
Dorel BUŞE, PhD
South Africa is the most developed country in Africa, which is why it could build a strong foreign policy in time, so that after the fall of the apartheid regime, South Africa focused mainly on relations with the African continent. The elements that determine the strength of a nation show us that South Africa is by far in the top of the most areas that contribute to maximizing national power: geography (it has access to two oceans and is the 9 th country in Africa in terms of occupied area), natural resources (South Africa produces much of the products it needs and holds the largest reserves of manganese, chromium, gold, vanadium, aluminum silicate, platinum in the whole world), industrial capacity (South Africa is the most industrialized country in Africa), national morale (South Africa is one of the most patriotic countries in the world), the quality of diplomacy (103 embassies and 14 consulates), quality of governance (in 2005, 63% of South Africans believed that their current government has a good performance). Another important aspect to be noted is that South Africa has the strongest economy on the African continent, with an estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2008 of 495.1 billion dollars.
Key-words: emerging power; regional security; sustainable development; global player; power sources.
Energy Potential of Ukraine as Part of the Expansion of Raw Materials and Energy Base of the European Union, Andryi VOLOSIN, PhD
The energy potential of Ukraine is part of the energy potential of Europe. Its implementation is important both for Ukraine and the European Union. Therefore, holding this brief analysis is important for assessing the capacity of Ukraine better integration into the EU energy sector.
Key-words: Ukraine; energy potential; European Union.
Rapid Reaction Force - Basic Component of the European Defence System,
Ion BĂLĂCEANU, PhD
The European Union represents, through all its integrationist aspects, a possible model for globalization; therefore, as European citizens, we must take knowledge of this under political, economical-financial and military aspects. The integration phenomenon is visualized from two points of view: on the one hand, the perspective of globalization and, on the other hand, the perspective of creating a new entity as a new phase of the world reorganization. At the European Council held in Köln (rd and 4th June 1999), EU leaders established that the Union must have independent action capacity, credible military forces, means of decision and availability to respond to international crisis, without interfering with NATO’s engagements, therefore the idea of necessity of the rapid reaction force in critical situations (ERRF), which might become the basic element for a possible European army (common European defence system).
Key-words: common European defence system; European Rapid Reaction Force (ERRF); Synchronized European Armed Forces; Battlegroup.
“National Interest” Concept in European Context,
Cristina BOGZEANU
The present study is meant not only to contribute to fathoming the understanding of the mechanisms lying beyond European actors’ behavior on the regional and international arena, but also to make some conceptual clarifications. Within this article, the concept of “national interest” is approached from the perspective of International Relations and the manner in which this concept is understood and utilized at European level is examined. The first part of this paperwork analyses from a theoretical point of view the concept mentioned above, relying on the visions of different International Relations schools on it. The second section is meant to study the way in which this concept is applied at European level. In this sense, there are considered not only the EU official documents, but also EU’s role on the international arena, with the purpose to identify the logic behind a certain action of the EU or of its Member States, to find if they act accordingly to the idea of “common good”, at the European level, or to that of their own interests. This study ends with a research on the way in which Romania’s national interests have been formulated before and after its adhesion to the EU, the objective of this demarche consisting in demonstrating the two-way relation between national interests and the common ones, defined by the European official documents.
Key-words: national interest; International Relations; Realism; instruments of power; economical and financial crisis; common interest.
Level of Correlation Between the Romanian Law and the European Union Law Concerning the Management of Emergency and Extreme Risk Situations, Mirela ATANASIU, PhD
The management of emergency and extreme risk situations consists in a type of specialized management defined as the ensemble of the activities and procedures applied by decision-making factors, by public institutions and services designed to identify and monitor risk sources, to assess information and to analyze the situation, to elaborate prognoses, to settle variable of action and to implement them in order to re-establish the state of normality. Thus, the intern normative framework concerning this type of management is grounded on constitutional and national law disposals in the defence and security field, particularly, on normative acts settling attributions/competencies/responsibilities concerning the national defence area that must be undergone by state’s institutions. Consequently, the necessity to correlate national law with the European Union law in the regarded field is obvious. The analysis provided in this paper refers to this correlation/ non-correlation of Romanian law for field’s branches of emergency and extreme risk situations’ management with the normative communitarian system.
Key-words: management; correlation; legislative
analysis; EU; emergency situations; extreme risk; communitarian law system.
Education, Strategic Factor for National Security,
Viorel BUŢA, PhD
In this article, the author focuses on identifying the education’s role in the complex national security system. Starting with the security dimensions, which the author connects with everyday human activities, national security and human security are being correlated. Hence, education is identified as one of the major factors at the level of the cultural dimension of security, a level from which it can significantly influence other security dimensions, such as the economic, social or military ones.
Key-words: education; culture; national security; human security; cultural dimension of security.
Aggresions to Critical Infrastructures, with Military and Non-Military Implications,
Gheorghe MINCULETE, PhD, Daniela RĂPAN
The unprecedented increase, in the past decades, of risks, hazards and threats towards vital objectives of states and international bodies, at the same time with the increase of their number and vulnerabilities have lead to forming and settling of the new concept generically called critical infrastructure.
The hazards and threats towards critical infrastructures differ from one country to another, from one organization to another; nevertheless, there can be identified common structural elements, measures taken up to now, compatible functions and responsibilities.
Key-words: critical infrastructure; aggression; threats; hazards; vulnerabilities; risks.
Multidimensionality of the Modern Battlefield and a New Strategic Dimension of Confrontation, Iulian ALISTAR
In the general context of globalization, liberalization of informational flows and quasi-instant access to means of communication, within a society where production and consumption of information represent the most important type of activity, there is the risk that, from subject of information, a populace becomes object of manipulation.
In the contemporary society, which is informational and knowledge based, modern fight transcends from its classic dimensions - namely land, air, sea and, to a lesser extent, spatial - to information dimension, where it aims to counter hostile flows of information and to project correctly, pro-actively and in due time military actions and operations in front of local, regional or international audiences. The modern fight is especially “a fight of ideas” and is produced nowadays in one new dimension where the virtual space, the informational space is the battlefield.
Key-words: informational space; strategic communication; social influence; social media; public opinion; manipulation; hostile information; cyber war.
Possible Methodologies of Intervention (Prevention) Assessment under Conditions of Extreme Risk,
Gheorghe VĂDUVA, PhD
Intervention, under the conditions of extreme risks, is very difficult. Therefore, it is needed a very exact assessment of the set of challenges, dangers, threats and vulnerabilities of systems and processes that presume the assumption of an extreme risk. The most effective methods of risk and intervention assessment under extreme risk conditions are: the effects’ assessment method and interactions’ assessment method.
Key-words: intervention; risk; extreme; method; assessment; effects.
Industrial Accident Risk Assesment,
Cristian BĂHNĂREANU, PhD
Industrial accidents are a concern for all governments around the world, because it generates every year significant damages and numerous fatalities. They usually occur when the control on technology is lost, affecting directly and indirectly the processes of economic and social development and environmental protection, and thus national security.
The issue of this type of accident is becoming more complicated as, on the one hand, existing infrastructures and plants wear out and accentuate vulnerabilities and, on the other hand, technology progresses while security measures do not always keep pace with new risks, dangers and threats. Although we can not fully avoid industrial accidents, analyzing and assessing risk levels can be an effective method to prevent and minimize their impact.
Key-words: industrial accident; security; industrial risk; industrial danger and threat; industrial risk assessment.
“Nuclear Spring” of Prague: a Utopia?, Iulia MOISE
It's nearly three years since President Barack Obama delivered his Prague speech (5 April 2009), generating an extraordinary international reaction. In this important speech, the President made specific commitments to achieve the goals of this agenda. This paper analyzes Obama Administration’s vision on a “nuclear-free world”. Indeed, since Obama’s April 5, 2009 speech, significant progress has been made, but there is much more that can and must be done to reduce global nuclear weapons threats. There have been significant victories: New START entered into force; in April 2010, the Administration completed a new Nuclear Posture Review that narrows the role of US nuclear weapons in the overall US defence posture “by declaring that the fundamental role of US nuclear forces is to deter nuclear attacks against the US and our allies and partners”, UN Security Council Resolution 1887 .
But there is still work to do (achievement of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty).
Key-words: nuclear weapons; non-proliferation; Nuclear Posture Review; Prague Speech; Obama Administration; START Treaty.
The Security of National Strategic Supply, Petre DUŢU, PhD
Various security risks and threats from natural disasters to armed conflicts that humanity is facing require adequate, timely and flexible measures to prevent and/or limit their effects. Strategic supply is one of the measures to counter security challenges that all countries are currently facing. Hence, the need to ensure strategic supply security locally and nationally.
Key-words: threats; risks; natural disasters; strategic supply; energy resources; raw materials; drinking water; food; national security.