Armed Conflicts and International Security: A factual and analytical review

There can be no doubt about the dominance of conflict as a concern in modern security analysis and policy. Localized and active conflicts have attracted proportionately much greater attention since the ending of the East-West Cold War and, with it, of the essentially static military confrontation in Europe that had carried the potential for global annihilation. They produce more shock and shame, as well as concern, in the onlooker because they appear as exceptions to the trend of stabilization in inter-state and inter-regional relations since 1990 and as a reversion to “pre-modern” methods of behaving in the global society. They carry more complicated material implications for non-combatant states because of the generally increasing interdependence and “globalization” of the world economy

International security threats and research challenges

Dieser Band dokumentiert die Reden, welche am 7. Juli 2006 in Hamburg anlässlich der feierlichen Eröffnung des Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker-Zentrum für Naturwissenschaft und Friedensforschung, gehalten wurden. Als Hauptredner waren Alyson J. K. Bailes, die Leiterin des Stockholmer Friedensforschungsinstitutes (SIPRI), Staatsminister a.D., Prof. Egon Bahr, ehemaliger Leiter des Hamburger Friedensforschungsinstituts (IFSH), Prof. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, ein Sohn des Namensgebers des ZNF, und Prof. Wolfgang Panofsky aus Stanford, USA geladen. Mit der Gründung des Zentrums an der Universität Hamburg, dessen Leitung Prof. Dr. Martin Kalinowski obliegt, hat die naturwissenschaftliche Friedensforschung eine bundesweit einmalige institutionelle Verankerung erhalten. Zusammen mit dem Institut für Friedensforschung und Sicherheitspolitik (IFSH) in Hamburg entsteht ein inter- und multidisziplinär ausgerichteter Forschungsverbund, durch den neue Möglichkeiten eröffnet werden, die Wechselwirkung von Naturwissenschaften, Konflikten und internationaler Sicherheit vor dem Hintergrund der Leitbilder Frieden und Nachhaltigkeit zu erforschen und diese auch in die Ausbildung von Naturwissenschaftlern zu integrieren.This volume documents the speeches given on July 7, 2006 in Hamburg on the occasion of the ceremonial opening of the Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker Center for Science and Peace Research (Zentrum für Naturwissenschaft und Friedensforschung, ZNF). The keynote speakers were Alyson J. K. Bailes, Head of the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), former Minister of State, Prof. Egon Bahr, former Head of the Hamburg Peace Research Institute (scientific peace research has gained a unique institutional foothold in Germany. Together with the Institut für Friedensforschung und Sicherheitpolitik, IFSH), Prof. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, a son of the namesake of the ZNF, and Prof. Wolfgang Panofsky from Stanford, USA. With the founding of the Centre at the University of Hamburg, headed by Prof. Dr. Martin Kalinowski, scientific peace research has gained a unique institutional foothold in Germany. Together with the IFSH in Hamburg an inter- and multidisciplinary research network is being established which will open up new opportunities to explore the interaction of natural sciences, conflicts and international security against the background of the guiding principles of peace and sustainability and to integrate them into the training of natural scientists

Djibouti: small state strategy at a crossroads

Geography and politics indicate Djibouti would be a particularly weak and ineffectual ‘small state’. Located on a bridgehead between the poorest parts of Africa and Arabia, it is continental Africa’s smallest state by population and is devoid of natural resources. The text demonstrates that Djibouti has been able to transform weakness and liabilities stemming from its geo-strategic location, sandwiched between large neighbours and key maritime shipping lanes, into a lucrative ‘resource’. This has been achieved via creative diplomacy, fostering ties with a diverse range of states, translating acute dependence into economic and diplomatic capital. The text focusses primarily upon diplomatic strategies, while addressing broader concerns of small states’ energy, infrastructure and development policies

Programm

Dieser Band dokumentiert die Reden, welche am 7. Juli 2006 in Hamburg anlässlich der feierlichen Eröffnung des Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker-Zentrum für Naturwissenschaft und Friedensforschung, gehalten wurden. Als Hauptredner waren Alyson J. K. Bailes, die Leiterin des Stockholmer Friedensforschungsinstitutes (SIPRI), Staatsminister a.D., Prof. Egon Bahr, ehemaliger Leiter des Hamburger Friedensforschungsinstituts (IFSH), Prof. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, ein Sohn des Namensgebers des ZNF, und Prof. Wolfgang Panofsky aus Stanford, USA geladen. Mit der Gründung des Zentrums an der Universität Hamburg, dessen Leitung Prof. Dr. Martin Kalinowski obliegt, hat die naturwissenschaftliche Friedensforschung eine bundesweit einmalige institutionelle Verankerung erhalten. Zusammen mit dem Institut für Friedensforschung und Sicherheitspolitik (IFSH) in Hamburg entsteht ein inter- und multidisziplinär ausgerichteter Forschungsverbund, durch den neue Möglichkeiten eröffnet werden, die Wechselwirkung von Naturwissenschaften, Konflikten und internationaler Sicherheit vor dem Hintergrund der Leitbilder Frieden und Nachhaltigkeit zu erforschen und diese auch in die Ausbildung von Naturwissenschaftlern zu integrieren.This volume documents the speeches given on July 7, 2006 in Hamburg on the occasion of the ceremonial opening of the Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker Center for Science and Peace Research (Zentrum für Naturwissenschaft und Friedensforschung, ZNF). The keynote speakers were Alyson J. K. Bailes, Head of the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), former Minister of State, Prof. Egon Bahr, former Head of the Hamburg Peace Research Institute (scientific peace research has gained a unique institutional foothold in Germany. Together with the Institut für Friedensforschung und Sicherheitpolitik, IFSH), Prof. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, a son of the namesake of the ZNF, and Prof. Wolfgang Panofsky from Stanford, USA. With the founding of the Centre at the University of Hamburg, headed by Prof. Dr. Martin Kalinowski, scientific peace research has gained a unique institutional foothold in Germany. Together with the IFSH in Hamburg an inter- and multidisciplinary research network is being established which will open up new opportunities to explore the interaction of natural sciences, conflicts and international security against the background of the guiding principles of peace and sustainability and to integrate them into the training of natural scientists

What does regional studies study? From subnational to supra-national regional spaces or Grossraum of sovereign governance

This article makes a case for expanding the scope of current versions of “regional studies” to include greater emphasis upon transnational regions as of equal if not greater importance compared with an exclusive focus upon sub-national regions. The latter more restrictive approach is typically predicated on the continued centrality of state borders against which the dominant notion of regions as subnational entities is constituted and reiterated. Drawing upon a case study of the African Union our study provides a framework, a critically revised Grossraum theory, for addressing the emergence of a new pluralistic and multipolar world order characterised by supra-national regions and regional organizations. Traditional Schmittian notions of Grossraum are shown to be in need of substantial revision before they are able to adequately accommodate and explain the empirical details of our case study