Eastern Europe Publications

235. Future Trends in Southeastern Europe

Jul 07, 2011
June 2001- This study considers future trends in Southeast Europe with an eye to problems of governance by examining what is typically understood as state functions and processes that promote institutional accountability and transparency. Three interdependent sets of local factors, that speak to the future of the region, are identified: 1) national or ethnic conflicts and unresolved issues around sovereignty and self-determination; 2) weak governments and fragile political coalitions and alliances unable to provide necessary goods and services and implement sound fiscal and regulatory policies, establish and maintain rule of law, and gain public trust; and 3) weak legal economies plagued by crime, illegal trade and trafficking, energy shortages, inadequate infrastructure, strained budgets, unemployment, poverty, and increasing gaps between the rich and the poor. more

316. Where Have All the Illiberal Democracies Gone? Privatization as a Catalyst to Regime Change in Postcommunist Europe

Jul 07, 2011
May 2005 - Scholars of postcommunist change are beginning to take analytical note of a recent wave of regime liberalizations. What do we make of it? As scholars, we have misdiagnosed the trend. While we have rightly focused on the collapse of moderately authoritarian regimes in the face of mass resistance movements, we must begin to do more comparative analysis that includes illiberal countries that have become more authoritarian during the same period. Behind the headlines about liberal oppositions facing down corrupt, illiberal incumbents, the analytically salient pattern might be the instability of illiberal democracies and their movement in either a more democratic or authoritarian direction. more

43. The Economics of State-Building in the Former Yugoslavia

Jul 07, 2011
This working paper examines the economic aspect of state-building in the former Yugoslavia. It hypothesizes that during the process of division and in the first four years of economic independence each of the five successor states chose economic policy options which are leading to divergent patterns of economic growth. As a result, after four years, five distinct economies have emerged, each pursuing increasingly diverging growth paths. This divergence is even more striking when we remember that each of the successor states began with the same institutional framework, a common transition path, and a comparable level of macroeconomic instability. more

183. Post-Kosovo War Reconstruction of Southeastern Europe: The View From Macedonia

Jul 07, 2011
September 1999 - "The Balkans create more history then they can endure. Unfortunately," Ambassador Acevska asserts, "this is true." The region's long history of uprising and violence dates back to the 15th century and is rooted in a tradition of cultural, religious and territorial misunderstanding and mistrust. To date, the region's most immediate and ominous threat is that of border changes. Ambassador Acevska views this as a direct threat to the international security of the entire European continent. more

219. KFOR's Record in Kosovo

Jul 07, 2011
November 2000- The undeclared war between NATO and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, initiated by NATO on March 24, 1999, was formally ended on June 9, 1999, with the signing of a military technical agreement under which the Kosovo International Security Force (KFOR) obtained a legal foundation. more

299. New Technologies of Border Control in an Enlarged Europe

Jul 07, 2011
June 2004 - The European Union (EU) has been taking international cooperation on migration and border controls into sensitive areas of state sovereignty, government surveillance and data collection and exchange. In response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, EU member states not only passed antiterrorism legislation and committed to joining the US in Afghanistan, but they also tightened borders and accelerated border control information technology programs with the goal of creating a common transatlantic security space. At the same time, the EU and its member states increased budgets, staffing and improved technology for border controls in anticipation of enlargement and the prospect of lifting internal borders with the new member states while moving the common external border eastward. In light of these simultaneous border shifts, the European Commission is endeavoring to bring the new member states into the evolving transatlantic security space. more

26. Anglo-American Diplomacy and the Montenegrin Question, 1914-21

Jul 07, 2011
This paper is a small part of a more detailed study-in-progress of British and American foreign policy vis-a-vis Montenegro. The author's inquiry into British and American foreign policy is, in turn, part of a book-length study provisionally entitled "The Strange Death of the Kingdom of Montenegro," which examines the demise of that independent Serb, but not Serbian, kingdom between 1914 and 1924. more

166. Kosovo: A Clash of Principle With Reality

Jul 07, 2011
May 1998 - Kosovo is often seen as the most recent example of the clash between two established principles of international politics: self-determination and the inviolability of borders. However, it is better seen as a clash between a principle and reality. more

283. East Europe in the Middle East: Contributions and Challenges

Jul 07, 2011
Involvement in the Middle East is not something new for the states of East Europe, especially those in southeast Europe, such as Bulgaria and Romania. During the communist period both countries traded extensively with Iraq and Libya, whose regimes were not receptive to Western countries. Bulgarian and Romanian involvement in the Middle East now comes, not as supporters of a putative struggle against Western imperialism or exploitation, but as allies in a security—based struggle against tyranny and terrorism. Moreover, it is the US—more than any European ally—that is determining the terms of that struggle and demanding contributions, including from new allies. Although the East European allies have seemed more eager than most to contribute to the US-led coalition, these new circumstances and demands set up unique challenges to the new allies in East Europe. more

"Implications of Enlarging the Euro-Atlantic Space: Problems and Prospects for Northeastern and Southeastern Europe"

Jul 07, 2011
November 2002 Policy Bulletin- The anticipated expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) in November and December 2002, respectively, will have a profound impact on the security environment in Eastern Europe—a region that, a decade after the fall of communism, still faces a number of critical security uncertainties and daunting reform challenges. NATO enlargement will likely take a “big bang” approach with invitations issued to seven countries at the Prague Summit in November — Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Romania. However, uncertainties and challenges remain and include questions about the future US commitment to, and interest in, Europe; the credibility of European leadership in the region; territorial and ethnic disputes; incomplete democratic and economic reform processes; and the proliferation of organized crime and corruption. To address these challenges and encourage much needed debate on these issues, the Euro – Atlantic Initiatives program of the Stanley Foundation, in conjunction with the East European Studies program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, organized a two - phase project entitled Enlarging the Euro - Atlantic Space: Problems and Prospects for Northeastern and Southeastern Europe. more

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Way of the Knife

May 22, 2013May 29, 2013

This week on Dialogue at the Wilson Center our guest is Mark Mazzetti, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for The New York Times. He is the author of the new book, “The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth.” We also spoke with Curtis Brainard, Editor of The Observatory, the Columbia Journalism Review’s “lens on the science press,” to survey the landscape of science journalism.