Preface by the Editors
erschienen in der Publikation "Europe's New Security Challenges" (ISBN: 1-55587-905-5) - 2001
Autor(en):
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Heinz GärtnerAbstract:
Preface
The book is the result of a cooperative venture undertaken by the Bureau for Military Scientific Studies, the Austrian Institute for International Affairs, and the Austrian Defense Academy. lt is focused around two major concerns. The first is the empirical concern with the nature of, and poiicy responses to, the new security agenda in Europe and the wider international system. The second is an intellectual and theoretical concern with the future development of security studies as an academic discipline. A primary motive for publishing the book was our conviction that security studies urgently needs to further develop—or even perhaps fundamentally rethink—its conceptual and analytical tools. Such a conceptual retooiing of security studies has become necessary because of four historic developments: the end of Cold War bipolarity; global political and economic transformations; the European integration process, institutionaily embodied in the European Union; and the new challenges facing European security institutions such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The contributors to this volume come from across the Euro-Atlantic community and include policymakers and advisers as weil as academics. This mix ensured that the book‘s agenda remained focused on the need for theoretically informed, empincally grounded, and policy-relevant studies of contemporary security. The academic authors are drawn from several disciplines and subdiscipiines, including international relations. area studies, political economy, history, strategic studies, and poiitical sociology. This interdisciplinary approach lends an innovative perspective that is reflected in the willingness of many contributors to move beyond the dichotomies and disciplinary boundaries that traditionally dominate academic and policy thinking.
The authors were able to meet to discuss the contours of post—Cold War European security and present their individual analyses on two occasions in Vienna. The first was a workshop at the Austrian Defense Academy on 3—4 April 1998. The second was a panel at the Third Pan-European International Relations Conference and Joint Meeting with the International Studies Association on 16—19 September 1998. The authors were then able to rethink and revise their contributions, particularly in light of Operation Allied Force in Spring 1999.
We want to thank the three organizing institutes for their generous support and, in particular, Otmar Höll and Ernest König. In addition, the editors thank the Bureau for Military Scientific Studies for its financial support and the Austrian Institute for International Affairs for its administrative support. We are also very grateful for the research assistance of Thomas Pankratz and the administrative support of Angelika Theurl.
The Editors
The book is the result of a cooperative venture undertaken by the Bureau for Military Scientific Studies, the Austrian Institute for International Affairs, and the Austrian Defense Academy. lt is focused around two major concerns. The first is the empirical concern with the nature of, and poiicy responses to, the new security agenda in Europe and the wider international system. The second is an intellectual and theoretical concern with the future development of security studies as an academic discipline. A primary motive for publishing the book was our conviction that security studies urgently needs to further develop—or even perhaps fundamentally rethink—its conceptual and analytical tools. Such a conceptual retooiing of security studies has become necessary because of four historic developments: the end of Cold War bipolarity; global political and economic transformations; the European integration process, institutionaily embodied in the European Union; and the new challenges facing European security institutions such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The contributors to this volume come from across the Euro-Atlantic community and include policymakers and advisers as weil as academics. This mix ensured that the book‘s agenda remained focused on the need for theoretically informed, empincally grounded, and policy-relevant studies of contemporary security. The academic authors are drawn from several disciplines and subdiscipiines, including international relations. area studies, political economy, history, strategic studies, and poiitical sociology. This interdisciplinary approach lends an innovative perspective that is reflected in the willingness of many contributors to move beyond the dichotomies and disciplinary boundaries that traditionally dominate academic and policy thinking.
The authors were able to meet to discuss the contours of post—Cold War European security and present their individual analyses on two occasions in Vienna. The first was a workshop at the Austrian Defense Academy on 3—4 April 1998. The second was a panel at the Third Pan-European International Relations Conference and Joint Meeting with the International Studies Association on 16—19 September 1998. The authors were then able to rethink and revise their contributions, particularly in light of Operation Allied Force in Spring 1999.
We want to thank the three organizing institutes for their generous support and, in particular, Otmar Höll and Ernest König. In addition, the editors thank the Bureau for Military Scientific Studies for its financial support and the Austrian Institute for International Affairs for its administrative support. We are also very grateful for the research assistance of Thomas Pankratz and the administrative support of Angelika Theurl.
The Editors