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The Defense component of Romanians National Security

erschienen in der Publikation "Gaminger Gespräche 1998 (14)" - Februar 1999

Vollständiger Beitrag als PDF:  PDF ansehen PDF downloaden  3 Seiten (20 KB)
Schlagworte zu diesem Beitrag:  Politik, Sicherheitspolitik, Verteidigungspolitik, Sicherheit, Sicherheitspartnerschaft, NATO

Abstract:

The end of the cold war brought about, among other things, important changes within the concept of "SECURITY". Thus, following the disappearance of the main threat - the Soviet threat -, the inclusion of the former communist areas within the international system, the transition within the new democracies and technological developments in general, a remarkable shift in emphasis has taken place within the concept of "SECURITY", in a relatively short period of time. First, it is evident that the old, "traditional" threats are no longer there: If they used to be preponderantly military in character, now they are much less so; if they used to be mainly extermnal, now they tend to be mainly internal; and if they used to be visible enough, now they tend to be much less distinct in character. Second, and consequently, the instruments and methods for their counteraction are now different. If, in the past, deterrence based on strong defense was the main way to counter those threats, today a strong military defense is powerless in front of drug smuggling, illegal immigration, terrorism, money loundering, proliferation of mass destruction weapons and organized crime. Such new, "non-traditional" threats have to be countered by specialized national structures specifically created and trained for, which work in full cooperation with the international structures specifically created to deal with them. And third, as a consequence, the whole structure of national security system has to be re-designed, given the new roles and shares of ist various components, resulting from the changes in the "threat spectrum" mentioned above.

In a broader perspective, the end of the cold war, following the disintegration in the East, has created the conditions for the reunification of Europe, a continent divided on ideological and political-military grounds for the last fifty years. But, at the same time, the same disintegration in the East threatened to spread towards the West. As a consequence, after some hesitation generated, among other causes, by the wrong belief that all the negative developments could be "contained" in the area were they were born, the West decided, quite pragmatically and wisely to stabilize Central and Eastern Europe. That started to be achieved by projecting its own stability, security and prosperity eastward, mainly through the enlargement of NATO and the EU. In geopolitical terms, through the reunification of Germany and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, accompanied by the fragmentation of the political space between them, the center of gravity in Europe has shifted from Eastern to Central Europe, which now acts as the anchor of stability for the entire continent. Narrowed to the situation of a country like Romania, this meant the possibility to re-establish its traditional links to the West, coupled with, on the one hand, the substitution of a colossal neighbour, the Soviet Union, by less powerful ones - Ukraine and Moldova - and, on the other, a marked increase of insecurity generated by open conflict in her own vicinity (former Yugoslavia and former Soviet Union). To this, one should add the fact that, after the voluntary dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, Romania had to face such increased insecurity alone, a situation complicated even further by the inescapable reduction in her defense capability given internal transition.

Eigentümer und Herausgeber: Bundesministerium für Landesverteidigung | Roßauer Lände 1, 1090 Wien
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