DRIIE-International relations

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The Role Of The European Union In The Wider Black Sea Region
(Turkish Policy Quarterly, 2011-09) Aurescu, Bogdan
The article deals mainly with the importance of EU involvement in the wider Black Sea region, the main European policies and initiatives related to this region (the Black Sea Synergy, the European Neighborhood Policy, the Eastern Partnership, the EU Strategy for the Danube region), as well as regional initiatives and priorities in the fields of energy and security. Regional cooperation issues are also approached from a bilateral perspective: the role played in this strategically important area by Romania -gate of the region to the EU and Turkey- gate of the region to the rest of the world.
Book review : Theorizing medieval geopolitics: war and world order in the age of the Crusades
(Routledge, 2012) Miroiu, Andrei
International Relations (IR) scholars' interest in medieval politics varies between enthusiasm and neglect. After a serious debate between neorealists, Marxists and constructivists in the 1990s, a relative silence fell on the subject. The victory of constructivists, who argued that the medieval state—if such entity even existed—was an altogether different polity from its modern incarnation and therefore not really interesting for understanding contemporary processes, seemed definitive. In this climate, Andrew Latham's thesis in Theorizing medieval geopolitics comes as a necessary and interesting reinterpretation aimed at restarting the debate and at introducing new questions and avenues for research.
EU’s “laboratory” in the Western Balkans : experimenting europeanization without democratization : the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(Asociación Española de Ciencia Política y de la Administración (AECPA), 2013-03) Bărbulescu, Iordan Gheorghe; Butnaru Troncotă, Miruna
The article will explore some potential causes of this limited process of Europeanization and its overall impact on the malfunctioning of Bosnia. After a short conceptual overview inside the Europeanization literature and its connection with democratization, the analytical section of the article will focus on the particular case of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The main question to be tackled is: How democratic is the Europeanization process in Bosnia and who should be held accountable for the outcome after almost two decades-long effort? The subsequent analysis will try to bring a potential answer to this concern, using the intricate case of the Europeanization of BiH as an illustration for the ambivalent role of the EU in the Western Balkans (WB) with the scope of pointing out some lessons which were not fully drawn from this process. The main conclusion is that the mixed strategy of EU that induced both external pressure and local ownership under the EU conditionality created institutional blockage and a democratic deficit.
book review: Regional and International Relations of Central Europe
(Cambridge University Press, 2013-09) Miroiu, Andrei
As many scholars interested in European affairs have noticed, academic as well as general interest in Central (and, one may add, Eastern) Europe has dropped markedly after the turn of the century. There is little doubt that this is due to the perceived stability of the area in the aftermath of the accession of its states to the European Union and NATO and the cooling down of violent conflicts in the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. A new major project on the topic was justifiable merely for this reason, but the current massive crisis in Europe, with its questioning of the basic assumptions of further economic and political integration inside the EU, provides a pressing necessity for such a book.
Military Operations in Romanian Anti-Partisan Warfare, 1944-1958
(Taylor & Francis LTD, 2014-02) Miroiu, Andrei
Romanian anti-communist armed resistance has received relatively little attention outside the country, despite its resemblance to other small, diffused, headless insurgencies being fought in the first decades of the twenty-first century. This article deals with military operations mounted against the partisans, with a special focus on tactics such as cordoning, checkpoints, patrols, sweeps, ambushes, and informed strikes. Based mostly on primary sources, it highlights success and failure against determined and elusive guerrillas.
Book review: Flogging the geopolitical horse. Alexander Dugin. 2015. Last War of the World-Island: The Geopolitics of Contemporary Russia, Arktos Media Ltd., 166p, ISBN: 978-1-910524-40-4.
(National University of Political Studies and Public Administration - Department of International Relations and European Integration, 2015) Cucută, Radu Alexandru
Intelligence and intelligence operations in Romanian anti-partisan warfare, 1944-1958
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis LTD, 2015-05) Miroiu, Adrian
The Romanian anti-communist partisans constituted a small, scattered, diffused, and leaderless movement united only by nationalism and by the belief that armed struggle would contribute to the downfall of an illegitimate regime supported by a foreign power. This article provides an analysis of intelligence and intelligence operations used by the government to defeat these guerrillas, in a conflict that lasted a decade and a half. The sources for this study are mainly the collections of documents of Romanian secret police recently declassified and published.
Book review : Dorin Dolghi and Octavian Țâcu (editors). 2014. The Security Dimension of European Frontier vs the Legitimacy of Political Priorities of EU and EU Member States. Eurolimes. Journal of the Institute for Euroregional Studies ”Jean Monnet” European Centre for Excellence, University of Oradea, University of Debrecen, volume 18, autumn, Oradea University Press, 235p, ISSN 2247/8450.
(National University of Political Studies and Public Administration - Department of International Relations and European Integration, 2015-06) Butnaru Troncotă, Miruna
BOOK REVIEW: Miruna Troncotă. 2014. Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Critical Case Study of Europeanization, Bucharest, Tritonic Publishing House, 327 pages, ISBN: 978-606-8571-36-2
(National University of Political Studies and Public Administration - Department of International Relations and European Integration, 2015-09) Ungureanu, Radu-Sebastian
Democracy Promotion by Functional Cooperation. The European Union and its Neighbourhood. Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century
(Routledge, 2016) Butnaru Troncotă, Miruna
The European Union and the 'New War' from its Eastern borders
(Editura Universităţii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, 2016) Butnaru Troncotă, Miruna
There is enough evidence to claim that since 2014 a new type of war is waged in Ukraine, which is novel in terms of methods, strategies, tactics, and level of human sacrifice. It is an ongoing discussion between experts, scholars and policy makers whether the Ukrainian crisis showed the limits of the European Union's (EU) approach to conflict resolution, or, on the contrary, it served as a chance to redesign its approach towards its neighbourhoods and refine its instruments in order to more efficiently contain conflicts under the leadership of Federica Mogherini. The aim of the article is to identify the characteristics of the 'New War' paradigm in the context of recent political developments after the annexation of Crimea and the ongoing open conflict in Eastern Ukraine. The purpose of this paper is to reveal both the conceptual clarity of this theoretical paradigm, against its critics, but also to emphasise its policy importance for strengthening EU conflict resolution strategies. The article also points to the fact that after the wide process of reviewing the European Security Strategy conducted between 2015 and 2016, the EEAS finally launched a new approach in dealing with EU troubled neighbourhoods, which contains numerous elements borrowed from the 'new war' paradigm and the concept of human security.
Continuity and change in instrumentalizing "The Precedent'. How Russia uses Kosovo to legitimize the annexation of Crimea
(Routledge, 2017) Rotaru, Vasile; Butnaru Troncotă, Miruna
The article contributes to the efforts of understanding Russia's legitimization endeavours by looking at the policy narratives centered around the so-called Kosovo precedent and the way they were perceived by different actors from Ukraine, Russia, and international experts. The aim of the paper is to scrutinize the process of politicization of contested international norms (in particular, territorial sovereignty and the right to self-determination) in the case of Russia's legitimacy claims in Ukraine. In assessing the instrumentalization of the Kosovo precedent' in the Crimea crisis, we focused on three main elements identified in the selected policy narratives: the reinterpretation of history, the humanitarian and ethnic factor and the reinterpretation of Western actions in the Balkans.
Book review: Andrew Roberts, 2014, Napolon: A Life, Viking, USA, 926 pages, ISBN13: 9780670025329
(National University of Political Studies and Public Administration - Department of International Relations and European Integration, 2018) Cucută, Radu Alexandru
Romanian political justice : Holocaust and the trials of war criminals : the case of Transnistria
(Institutul Național pentru Studierea Holocaustului din România “Elie Wiesel”, 2018-12) Muraru, Andrei
During the communist period, the history of the Romanian occupation of Transnistria has been falsified, perverted and distorted. At the same time, in the historiography of Romanian Holocaust, the topic of punishing war crimes has been neglected for a long time. With minor exceptions, even after 1989, the subject did not benefitted from a professional perspective because of the lack of sources and also because of the disputes over the traumatic memory from the period 1940-1989. The attempt to rehabilitate some important figures of war criminals revealed the contradiction between the competitive martyrology and the professional manner in which history should be written. Over the last decades, in the Western historiography the concept of "political trial" received various interpretations. The organization of the trials of war criminals by totalitarian states or by states where dictatorial regimes were about to come to power gave birth to the idea that a "surgical" approach to each judiciary action could offer a balanced way for approaching the topic. The special courts in Romania - People's Tribunals created in 1945, functioned in a complicated context and the collective trials organised under their patronage were accompanied by multiple controversies. Given the fact that Romania administered Transnistria, the special tribunals had to deal with the crimes and atrocities committed, during Romanian occupation, against Romanian deported Jews, Ukrainian Jews and Roma. In the three trials that took place between May and July 1945 and which are being analysed in this article, I tried to thoroughly investigate the manner in which the tribunal administered justice. I tried to examine the trials in detail referring to the way in which judicial actors played their role before the court in order to find the truth about de crimes and abuses committed in the districts of Odessa, Golta, Berezovka, Rabnita, Oceakov, Jugastru. In the end, the goal was to offer a broad picture about Romania and its political justice in the postwar period.
Putinization and neo-containment
(National University of Political Studies and Public Administration - Department of International Relations and European Integration, 2018-12) Anglițoiu, George
The Western strategic vision about the East lies at a crossroads. Similar to the Interwar Era, when acts of unilateralism in foreign affairs and aggression by the revisionist powers under popular but militaristic leaders have triggered the outbreak of World War II, the West seems unable to act coesively and decidedly to counter the contestation of international law and order. Therefore, a better understanding of the past lessons and negative impact of the “functionalist” spillover of power personification is at stake.
Can democracies tackle illiberal and "Inward-Looking" drives?
(European Institute of Romania, 2019) Dăianu, Daniel
There is evidence of mounting illiberal inclinations in the industrialized world, in democratic societies; an “inward-looking” syndrome (rising nationalism) is also taking place. Are they to be linked with temporary drivers in the ‘extraordinary times’ we are living through, or do they have deeper roots? An answer to this question begs an examination of trends in society and economy, of the emergence of new (unconventional) threats, of disruptions and, not least, of failed public policies. The argument that ‘liberal democracy’ is on the wane is misleading to the extent that policies can be corrected, that citizens and elites alike do not lose trust in democratic values. It may also be true that, although democracy has a ‘liberal core’, it can also be driven by ‘illiberal’ components, and that the magnitude of the latter can vary. But for democracy to survive, its liberal core must be preserved.
The case of Islamic State as a renovative totalist movement
(2019-05-22) Murariu, Mihai; Anglițoiu, George
This paper uses the concept of totalism to analyze the main features of Islamic State and thus the implications of containing and confronting it and its potential future offshoots. The first part of the paper deals with the origins and concept of totalism, depicting its main features and types. This part begins by briefly showing the main features of totalism, why it must be ultimately differentiated from totalitarianism. The second part of the paper explores the extent to which Islamic State conforms to the model of a renovative totalist movement and why terms such as political religion are unsuited for explaining Islamist and Salafi-Jihadist movements, including Islamic State. Due to the overall direction of its ultimate ideological aims and the way in which it pursues the total reconstruction of public and private life, Islamic State is then found to contain the main features of a militant, renovative totalist movement. Lastly, the paper argues that it is primarily this totalist nature of the movement which, together with total commitment to emulating what it sees as the essential early Islamic traditions and examples, contributes to its long-term resilience even in the face of overwhelming odds and military reversals.
Armed groups : theory and classification
(Nauka Publishing House, 2019-06) Miroiu, Andrei
This paper argues in favor of a theory and classification of armed groups that sets them at the center of political and social sciences. By starting with the problem of order, it posits that without armed groups one cannot understand how stable societies form, function and reproduce themselves. It challenges the preeminence of concepts such as class and gender, which are seen as depicting later-formed social structures. It proposes a classification of armed groups based on their permanent or impermanent character, and the reasons for using violence, which are considered to be mostly extractive and ideological. Extraction could be internal and external, permanent or nonpermanent. Ideological armed groups are taken here to include religiously-motivated groups as well. The article also discusses armed groups operating within the state. The central argument is that the armed group is a fundamental unit of politics, order and functioning of a society. This essentially establishes that other forms of power are either derived from, rest on or at least suppose the support of armed groups. They transcend "normal" politics understood as peaceful periods in life of constituted communities. They can be outsiders, existing before and between the states. Armed groups precede classes and governments and do not need them to exist in order to continue their functioning. In this, they are to be understood as an elementary social structure. If so, consequences for social theory are substantial, as armed groups should in this case achieve the prominence that concepts such as state, class, social division of work or even kinship had until now.
Anatolian security and Neo‐Ottomanism : Turkey’s intervention in Syria
(Middle East Policy Council, 2020-09-02) Murariu, Mihai; Anglițoiu, George
Justice behind the Iron Curtain: Nazis on Trial in Communist Poland
(Institutul National pentru Studierea Holocaustului din Romania ”Elie Wiesel”, 2020-12) Muraru, Andrei
Gabriel N. Finder and the late Alexander V. Prusin examine the war crimes trials conducted by the Communist government of Poland from 1944 to 1959. They argue that the prosecutions of this period reflected Polish society’s desire for revenge and occurred within the political context of the emerging Cold War. Nor were these merely show trials: the Poles modeled them after the major trials at Nuremberg and strove for a reasonable degree of due process. But the authors also elucidate how the Polish judicial system addressed the Nazi occupation from within the context of Soviet control. Based on solid archival research, Justice behind the Iron Curtain is a must-read for anyone interested in the subject. Chapter one details the trials held from 1944 to 1947. The authors argue that pursuing Nazi criminals proved important for both the London-based Government-in-Exile and the Soviet-sponsored Polish Committee for National Liberation. The common hatred for the Germans united the two groups and made establishment of special penal courts easier. Both governments realized that such trials would garner political support. Poles appreciated swift justice, but the Government-in-Exile was forced to watch from afar as the Soviet-installed Communists rebuilt Polish justice.

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