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Ethnic, religious, political and economic contradictions accumulated for years were triggered by Ukraine’s gaining independence and additionally accelerated by transitional stratification of the society and the economic crisis. On the other hand, in a geostrategic sense, Ukraine is considered to be the centre of Eurasian space, so its military neutrality is a condition for the national safety of Russia. In the paper, the authors analyse internal controversies of the divided Ukraine, catalytic contribution of Euro-Atlantic Western countries headed by the United States, the EU and the NATO to the conflict sharpening as well as Russia’s tendency to maintain geostrategic supremacy and retain its national security. Internal contradictions had first escalated into demonstrations and then followed a coup d’état by Euro-Atlantists who caused unrest among the proRussian population in the eastern, industrial part of the country by restricting their rights. The referendum on independence and Crimean secession ensued following the Kosovo precedent, then followed the accession to Russia and next the proclamation of Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. By not acknowledging the people’s right to self-determination, the interim regime in Kiev supported by a great majority of Western countries initiated a military action and practically led to a civil war in the country. The international legal arguments of the pro-Russian east come down to ensuring the collective right of people to self-determination affirmed in practice and by the International United Nations Court of Justice; on the other hand, the pro-Atlantist West relies on the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. At the same time, every event is used for media manipulation, especially by Western countries’ media, with the aim of establishing geostrategic predominance over the Ukrainian territory. With the current balance of power, political escalations and a possible accession of Ukraine to the NATO are undoubtedly leading to a new cold war. The paper offers a brief analysis of the Ukrainian crisis aiming to present its causes through a historical approach and through the conflict of geostrategic interests of the opposed parties its possible consequences. The cause-effect analysis is completed with jurisprudent international practice, which demonstrates all the relativity of the international legal order and its determination by political interests of powerful countries.

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The Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute occupies a very important place in Sino-Japanese relations. Some of the key factors behind the dispute include the geographical location of the islands (and their distance from Okinawa, Taiwan and mainland China) as well as energy riches in the adjacent seabed. The dispute has also a history stretching over more than a century – from the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895 to aftermath of World War II, to the 1969 discovery of energy riches on the seabed adjacent to the islands, the return of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty and the rise of tensions within previous ten years. This issue has retained top importance for both Chinese and Japanese authorities as well as capacity of worsening the relations between China and Japan. The strong nationalistic feelings in the Chinese (mainland China and Taiwan) and Japanese public opinion have occasionally exerted influence on decision-making in Beijing and Tokyo (more so in Japan than in China). Within previous ten years, the islands dispute has seen a number of attempts, bilateral and multilateral, at resolving and they have featured different level officials. Provided that all sides involved have enough political will to resolve the dispute, it is possible to foresee potential negotiations and peaceful solution of the dispute, a solution supported by all major powers in the region. The potential negotiations will be difficult from their pre-negotiation phase and will stand chances of success only if the nationalistic elements on both sides are discouraged from using the issue for achieving political gains. In addition, broadening the existing channels of communication between two sides will improve their mutual understanding, vital to the overall improvement of relations.

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During the first decade of the 21st century, terrorist attacks on international hotels and international tourist resorts all over the world got all shapes of a global threat. Those attacks were mostly conducted by militant terrorist groups of Islamic religious fundamentalists whose goals were usually politically motivated. Comparing to the previous decades, those attacks became not only more frequent but also all the more lethal. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, security of state institutions and diplomatic missions in the world increased, so terrorists reoriented the focus of their attention primarily on large international tourist facilities. The aim of this paper is to explore the characteristics of major terrorist attacks on large tourist facilities all over the world that occurred in the decade after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 applying the theory of political terrorism. The paper starts from the hypothesis that tourist facilities are relatively easy and very vulnerable targets, because there are affluent movements of guests and a large number of employees. This hypothesis has been tested with the help of empirical research of the characteristics of 28 major terrorist attacks on tourist premises all over the world in the first decade of the 21st century. The research has shown that potential terrorists can easily infiltrate and smoothly perform observation, design modus operandi and in the end, attack with a small number of suicide operatives. Therefore, we conclude that measures of preventive crisis management in international hotels and international tourist resorts are of crucial importance for the safety of both guests and employees.

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The paper aims to explain the European Union’s Strategy for Security and Development in the Sahel, the context that it was brought in, its premise, limits and goals. It looks at the Strategy as a part of the Common Foreign and Security Policy institutional framework and at its position within the EU’s overall involvement to the Sahel region. The paper uses the actor-specific (EU) approach in this attempt, bearing in mind the nature of the EU’s foreign and security policy unique setup, its preference for exertion of normative power, focus on social development issues and problems with using military power. This strategy was developed in March 2011 under the pressure from worsening security situation in the Sahel region, specifically its western part, which developed from the local unrest as well as from the Arab Spring’s spillover effect. It will be shown how over the next two years it became the main tool of the EU’s engagement this also including the added CSDP missions and French military involvement. As the crisis worsened, bringing focus to the rebellion in northern Mali in January 2012, it required coordinated and evolved response not only from the EU but from national governments in Europe and ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) countries, which in turn, brought more complexity to the crisis response governance and coordination in this volatile region. While the acute crisis in the form of the armed rebellion has been quelled, it is expected that the European Union’s expertise in institutional capacity building will be able to add some stability and overall social progress to the region.

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Environment has been an important theme in regional cooperation in the Western Balkans ever since these efforts were first started after the conflicts of the 1990s. This article argues that despite some successes, such as the clean-up of polluted areas and keeping environmental questions in the political agenda, the cooperation has not managed to acquire regional ownership and sustainability. The majority of relevant initiatives are still being led and financed from the outside, which is problematic as international actors are increasingly scaling back their activities in the Western Balkans. It is possible to identify a number of factors hindering regional environmental cooperation, including the lack of political will, excessive dependency on outside funding, inadequate administrative coordination at the national level and poor integration of the civil society into the activities. The article proceeds to propose measures to enhance the cooperation while improving its regional ownership and financial independence. In particular, it suggests that the civil society has a key role in forming regional networks and strengthening the cooperation from the bottom up, thus also yielding possibilities to improve overall public participation in environmental issues.

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The sovereign debt crisis, which was caused in Europe as a consequence of the international economic crisis, brought the institutional shortcomings of European integration to the surface. The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is characterised by a number of asymmetries and cannot be managed as an optimal currency area. Most of the reactions to the crisis have been national ones, though state debt crises would require continuous EU-level measures. There are an increasing number of arguments supporting the view that saving the Eurozone is possible through strengthening European economic governance. The idea also arises that there is a need for deeper political and budgetary integration. It is still a question, however, along what reforms and in what model the process of dynamic development could continue in which the represented solidary and sustainable economic development theory can be enforced without hurting “the value of diversity” and, what is more, the EU could continue to function in the international system as a stabilising factor, taking advantage of its special nature. This study outlines the new narratives, goals and routes along which the challenges that the European Union is facing – primarily the problems of the crisis, competitiveness, differences in the level of development, ageing of the society and the real convergence of the community system of institutions – may become manageable. It presents the solution proposals which are possible without giving up the European system of values, building on the shared interests of member states – integrating national interests, yet not making the survival of integration problematic.

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The World Trade Organization is the most important international organization that defines the rules of international trade and those rules contribute to creating an orderly world market. Multilateral trade agreements under the WTO are the result of negotiations. The set of rules are created in order to help trade flow as freely as possible and to keep the trade policies of member countries within the agreed limits. The first round of multilateral trade negotiations launched in the WTO, the Doha Round, clearly showed large differences between developed and developing countries. A conclusion of the Doha Round of negotiations is still not in sight, but the Bali Ministerial Conference brought some hope. Bali brought to a conclusion the first multilateral trade agreement under the WTO. The first agreement reached through the WTO that is approved by all its members is aimed at lowering global trade barriers, regulating trade facilitation and agricultural support.