DRIIE-International relations

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Inclusive learning and teaching in a digital world
(Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), 2021) Balkovic, Mislav; Chavez Ocampo, Marcela; Dhirathiti, Nopraenue Sajjarax; Holmes, Wayne; Ikeda, Keiko; Negrescu, Victor; Patrick, Justin
Introducing learning and teaching platforms based on digital technology has been an on-going process for more than a decade now all across Asia and Europe. Within the two regions, the initiative in introducing digital technology to teaching and learning has been discussed at the supra-national level in the case of Europe, while governments and HEIs in Asia seem to individually plan and implement the policy respectively at its own pace. With diverse contexts and backgrounds of countries in Asia, policies at the national and institutional level can be examined primarily based on the specific contexts of each country’s educational systems and orientations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has abruptly changed the scenario and pace of implementing digital technology in teaching and learning in these regions. These changes were exponential. It was inevitable for every country and its respective education institutions to consider the way in which teaching and learning can be delivered and provided through digital and on-line technology.
Change or continuity in Russia’s strategy towards secessionist regions in the ‘Near Abroad’?
(Istituto Affari Internazionali, 2022-12) Rotaru, Vasile
The 2008 invasion of Georgia, followed by the recognition of the independence of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the annexation of Crimea and the involvement in the war in Donbas, and the 2022 invasion of Ukraine have all marked the return to active Russian participation in separatist regions in the ‘near abroad’. They took the international community by surprise. To be sure, the Russian Federation had played a role in all previous secessionist conflicts in the former Soviet space. Nonetheless, Moscow’s post-2008 bold actions – open invasion, recognition of separatist regions and annexation of a neighbour’s territory – have marked an innovation in Russia’s foreign policy. This points to questions about how Moscow is legitimising these actions and whether the official narrative suggests a change in Russia’s strategy towards secessionist conflicts in the ‘near abroad’.
The path of good intentions : civil society’s role in Romania’s National African Strategy
(National University of Political Studies and Public Administration - Faculty of Political Sciences, 2024) Cucută, Radu Alexandru
The paper discusses, from a social constructivist theoretical perspective, the manner in which Romania’s African Strategy, Romania–Africa: A Partnership for Future through Peace, Development and Education, envisions civil society’s role. The paper tries to identity the political, theoretical and ideological underpinnings of the document’s view of civil society, by analyzing not only its content, but its position within the wider context of Romania’s foreign policy. The ambiguous or rather limited role that civil society is expected to play is explained as a result of the two rather conflicting views of international politics which the document tries, albeit unsuccessfully to reconcile: an understanding of international politics, focused on the distribution of power and centered on the privileged role states play in international politics, stemming from a historical sense of vulnerability exacerbated by the War in Ukraine, which cannot be reconciled with a view of international relations focused on the role of international institutions and Romania’s historical support for decolonization. In addition to the interaction between these perspectives, both views, however, prescribe a subordinate role for civil society.
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.
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.
Outrageous rehabilitations : justice and memory in the attempts to restore the war criminals’ remembrance in post-Holocaust Romania : the recent case of General Nicolae Macici (I)
(Institutul National pentru Studierea Holocaustului din Romania “Elie Wiesel”, 2020-12) Muraru, Andrei
Starting from the most recent rehabilitation request in Romanian justice (General Nicolae Macici, one of the coordinators of the 1941 Odessa massacre), this study examines the case of the rehabilitation of war criminals during the communist regime and after the 1989 Revolution. In 1945, the post-war trials, in which many members of the Antonescu regime were tried, disappeared as subjects from the public sphere, though the trials went on. The series of rehabilitations began in the mid-1960s, when the communist regime put in practice a thaw and the release of political prisoners. Analyzing concrete cases of Romanian military, intellectuals, and dignitaries who obtained legal and social rehabilitation during communism, the present study shows that those rehabilitations were made with the tacit consent of the Romanian authorities. However, the trials were not retried and the convicts were not considered not guilty. The collapse of communism paved the way for the legal rehabilitation of many war criminals by the justice system through retrying the trials and acquitting those guilty of war crimes and genocide. In general, the legal rehabilitations were aimed either at honoring the memory and restoring the honor of those considered to have been victims of the Soviet occupation, or at allowing their heirs to reclaim the confiscated property of the convicts. The study shows that these posthumous post-communist rehabilitations were made possible due to the general current within Romanian society in the 1990s. This trend, maintained by a political and historiographical agenda, was stopped in the 2000s, with Romania's access to NATO and the European Union. Although public campaigns to rehabilitate war criminals have continued, the justice system has not allowed any rehabilitation of those convicted of war crimes and genocide after 2000.
Changing the path of climate change. Voluntary certification for carbon removals in European Union : the case of forestry projects
(National University of Political Studies and Public Administration - Faculty of Political Sciences, 2023-06-22) Caradaică, Mihail
Climate change and environmental degradation are the crisis generators today and, in the years to come as they threaten our social, economic and political order in Europe and worldwide. In this context, European Union committed to reaching climate neutrality by 2050 as the member states have agreed on a European Green Deal, and the European Commission has adopted several proposals for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030. Nevertheless, achieving no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 requires high investments in the decarbonisation of the economy and in developing ways to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere for the residual emissions that cannot be eliminated.
Gamification in transport services and the digital divide
(Universitatea din Oradea, Department of International Relations and European Studies, 2021) Caradaică, Mihail
As far as an increasing number of scientists are warning us about the destructive potential of climate change, humanity is facing a tremendous technological revolution. Also, the potential of new technologies to decrease the carbon footprint is significant, but the transition is highly dependent on people’s choices and behaviour. This is why, a new way of motivating people around the world emerged: gamification. But, as good and innovative this idea seems to be, as many concerns it rises. Because the focus is mainly on technology, in this paper I will analyse the process of gamification through the lens of the digital divide. The concept was first used in the 1990s to describe the social and economic gap that emerged between those who had access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and those who did not. Today it is mainly focused on the possibility that people would become even more marginalized due to the lack of basic skills and the impossibility to afford the new technologies on the market. Consequently, my research question is: “Is it possible that the introduction of gamification in the field of transportation increases the digital divide?”. I will try to answer this question by analysing what categories of people are targeted by gamification in transportation services and which are those that could be excluded. Also, my approach is not limited to a specific country or global area, but is considering gamification and digital divide at an international level.
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.
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.
Anatolian security and Neo‐Ottomanism : Turkey’s intervention in Syria
(Middle East Policy Council, 2020-09-02) Murariu, Mihai; Anglițoiu, George
Strength born of weakness: the advantages of open maritime polities in multipolar international systems
(Sage Journals, 2023-02-28) Murariu, Mihai; Anglițoiu, George
This paper focuses on open maritime polities and their competitive advantages in multipolar international systems. Firstly, the paper explores the various understandings of seapower and its possible impact in international relations, while also drawing attention to its non-military dimensions. Secondly, the paper considers the factors which affect the emergence of open maritime polities and the sustainability of their seapower. It argues that the origins of such polities can be found in their overall weakness and the opportunities provided by the sea in a multipolar international system, which, in turn, strengthens the autonomous groups that can make sustainable seapower possible to begin with. Thirdly, the dynamism and advantages of such polities in multipolar international systems are portrayed. The text focuses on medieval and early modern Venice and Genoa, including their varied strategies in using seapower in order to survive and add competitive advantages to their participation in Mediterranean-centric, multipolar international systems. The weakness which made possible the emergence of these polities fundamentally encouraged or enabled their open nature, adaptability and their agency within multipolarity. This represents a step in future research on what is arguably a mutually reinforcing connection between seapower, open societies and competitive advantages in multipolar systems.
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
Wars, states, and liberal values: reshaping the international order in a global world
(Civil Szemle Foundation, 2023-12) Ungureanu, Radu-Sebastian
For three decades after the end of the Cold War, non-traditional threats and their management dominated the perception and understanding of international security. Intra-state conflicts and humanitarian interventions, the war on terror, the financial crisis, migration or the pandemic sketched the main lines of a political and intellectual landscape prone to notice a continuous erosion of the traditional foci on nation-states and their military preoccupations due to the processes of globalization. Facing these challenges, the major powers, connected by a certain consensus on fundamental issues, commonly coped with the ubiquitous crises. The outbreak of the Russo–Ukrainian war dramatically marked the slow, even unnoticed, change of this perspective. As the ‘classical’ optics regains its privileged position as the main approach to international security, this conflict also indicates a revision of the international order, too. The aim of this paper is to question the noticeable current changes of the international order, based on three main arguments. Firstly, a certain de-legitimization of the great powers’ military interventions accompanies the reassertion of the statist understanding of international security. Secondly, the liberal values are still the very basis of the international order, as they were in the last thirty years. In this realm, the cosmopolitan approach, of Kantian inspiration, which envisions a transnational civil society, was slightly replaced by a Wilsonian conception, focused on national and international actors, institutions and processes. Finally, the global issues do not disappear, but become the premises of the present reshaping of the international order.
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
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.
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
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
Liminality and fashionable concepts : the use of international relations theories and concepts in Romania's strategies
(Civil Szemle Foundation, 2023) Cucută, Radu Alexandru
The paper argues that the employment of fashionable concepts, such as resilience and hybrid warfare, is increased in conditions of liminality. Romania’s geographic liminality, political liminality and epistemic liminality favors the employment of fashionable concepts and theories. Successive cycles of intellectual fashion do not result however in the replacement of older concepts and theories by newer ones, but in a multi-layered intellectual architecture. By analyzing the Romanian National Defense Strategy, the Romanian Military Strategy, the Defense White Paper, the paper attempts to trace out a map of the successive theoretical and conceptual influences exerted on Romanian strategic planning, to identify the meaning attached to these concepts and theories and the relation between them. The faults, inconsistencies and conceptual problems highlighted by the paper can be seen as the result of the vagueness inherent in fashionable concepts and theories, as well as of their use in a self-perceived liminal position, which leaves little room for an effective role of civil society in influencing public debates or actual public policies.
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.

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