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A quarter of a century since peace was achieved in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement represents an occasion to consider the scope of the agreement and make an assessment of the Dayton peace legacy 25 years after. This paper discusses the circumstances that postponed the final peace agreement in Bosnia and prolonged the war for three years, as well as the political environment that finally instigated successful negotiations finalized in reaching the Dayton Agreement. From the moment the agreement entered into force until today, it has been an object of various criticisms, which have often neglected the complex circumstances in which it was reached, as well as the importance of its crucial achievement - peace. The Dayton Agreement, which put an end to the civil war, can only be assessed to a limited extent, having in mind that a significant time distance is still required. In this paper, the scope of the agreement’s legacy will be considered in relation to two basic functions: peacebuilding and state-building in Bosnia, whereas we assume that these two functions are highly conditioned, and therefore any assessment should be understood in the wider context including both dimensions.

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The aim of the article is to analyze the main challenges related to the unilaterally declared permanent neutrality of the Republic of Moldova. This decision was made in complicated historical and geopolitical circumstances after the war in Transnistria was “frozen”, and foreign forces were deployed on its territory. Permanent neutrality was seen as the best way for Moldova to maintain stability and territorial integrity. Moldova has not yet resolved the “frozen conflict” on its territory. Although the situation has largely stabilized in the meantime with the help of the international community, the division is leading to economic and political instability and carries the risk of new conflicts and tensions. Also, Moldova has not received international recognition of its permanent neutrality status, while the Russian troops continue to infringe its sovereignty and internal security. As a result, questions about the sustainability of that status are increasingly being asked. Despite all the dilemmas, Moldova remains determined to establish permanent neutrality as a basic principle of its foreign and security policy. Permanent neutrality is still considered to be the best way to respond to external influences and internal divisions and thus to preserve the stability and territorial integrity of the country. At the same time, neutral status does not exclude a certain type of security cooperation with Western institutions in order to ensure or, at the very least, implicitly guarantee the security of the stat

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The paper elaborates on the geostrategic significance of the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean Sea in the past, as a precondition for consideration of current and future events in this macro-region. The author firstly considers the manifestation of the power, influence and interests of the great powers in the Mediterranean through a historical and spatial perspective. The paper analyses political and economic changes in the Mediterranean through the theoretical and practical approach of great powers` navies engagement. The author points out that the geopolitical and geostrategic importance of the Mediterranean will further increase in the future, as a result of constant regional and global aspirations to increase the political and economic dynamics of this region. The growing competition between the United States and China will have a direct impact on the Mediterranean. The author concludes that the Mediterranean will remain a „testing polygon“ for the United States, China and Russia, and a region in which political and economic processes and strategic changes in the world could be witnessed most obviously.

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Ever since the African states regained their independence in the second half of the twentieth century, there has been an idea among African political elites about mutual cooperation among their independent states. The spirit of Pan-Africanism was a mainstream discourse within African political, intellectual, and cultural elites throughout the twentieth century. The Pan-African idea was soon concretized into the Organization of African Unity, which was replaced in 2002 by the African Union as we know it today. Yet, despite numerous initiatives, monetary unions, regional economic committees, and the establishment of the African Union as an umbrella organization, the effects of African integration were not good enough. The African Union did not have the strength to impose common policies on all its members, funding remained a permanent problem, and regional economic committees were suffering from the “spaghetti bowl effect” caused by numerous overlaps in membership. Perhaps the biggest problem lies in the fact that African citizens have not been able to feel the benefits of integration, despite sporadic improvements in macroeconomic indicators. New momentum in African integration happened in the spring of 2018 with the launch of a new initiative called the African Continental Free Trade Agreement - AfCFTA. The new agreement differs from the previous agreements in the number of signatories. It has been signed by all countries of the continent (except Eritrea), and it has already been ratified by most of them. The agreement has clear implementation strategies and evaluation criteria. However, we must reexamine whether the new agreement will succeed in overcoming the obstacles that have dulled previous regional initiatives and whether it will succeed in overcoming new obstacles that will emerge in the future.