1. Alegerile, o soluție pentru democratizarea Orientului Mijlociu ?

Laura SITARU

Abstract: The elections organized in 2005 in several Arab states are part of the process of
democratization of the Middle East area, a process launched by the USA in the wake of the
September 11th attacks. To what extent can this project be successful? These questions continue to
raise concern in the West and in the Arab-Muslim world alike. We believe the current situation in
the Middle East cannot be properly understood without carefully looking at the past of this area,
and especially at the identity issues that have marked the developments in the region over the past
century and a half. The issue of collective identities in the Arab world has today gained further
importance, given the effort to correctly decipher and interpret the main conflicts in this area.
Membership to various types of communities (ethnic, national or religious) has given birth to
conflict situations which are not always properly understood.

2. Intervenția americană în Irak. Legitimitate, consecințe, perspective. Radu Dudau

Abstract: The present paper has three main sections. The first one starts with a discussion
of the notion of „legitimacy” and distinguishes between a legalistic sense (conformity to norms of
international law) and a broader, moral sense (support expressed by the moral approval of the
international community). The current American war on Iraq seems to lack both sorts of
legitimacy, because of its unilateralism and of the instability of the Administration’s public
message of justification. It follows a theoretical discussion of realism as a doctrine in the theory
of the international relations, in which both its appeal and limits are underscored. The second
section deals with the deficiencies in planning the occupation phase by Coalition forces. These
have amplified the mistrust of the local population and generated its hostility. The third section
discusses the steps of an exit strategy for the American forces. The strategy has to take into account
both the divergent interests within Iraq, and those of its neighbors. But, most importantly, its
necessary foundation must consist in solving the security crisis affecting the populations and the
functioning of the basic infrastructure. Besides, the international community must be given a
substantial role in the reconstruction process.

3. Interventia americana in Irak: o actiune legitima, dar plina de tare spinoase probleme
Abstract: The following study starts with the presentation of the several meanings of the word
“legitimate”. Then, the ideas of several authors belonging to the realist school (Hans J. Morgenthau
and Martin Wight) are explored, in order to find out if, according to this strong and sound theory,
the American military presence in Iraq is legitimate. As long as the core national interests of USA
ask for such a military presence, it clearly is legitimate. The study states that, nowadays, United
States of America have a better position – from the geo-strategic point of view – in the Middle
East. This does not mean that the general situation in the region is to be evaluated as by far more
stable; two significant and interesting Israeli professional opinions, which say that the entire
Middle East is now very unstable, are quoted and commented. The study goes on with presenting
and commenting several major problems USA, together with their allies, are confronted with, in
direct correlation with the American military intervention in Iraq: the collateral damages &
casualties; a total amount of manpower deployed in Iraq, smaller than the necessary one; and the
evolution of the way in which the American public opinion accepts or reject war and American
combat casualties.

4. O permanență a politicii extere ruse și sovietice : glaciscul strategic. Laurențiu

Constantiniu

Abstract: At any given moment of its very long history, Russia (at least starting with an 18th
century) made serious attempts to implement - and to maintain - the complete strategic control of
areas around its borders.
Regarded as useful (and sometimes as vital) buffer areas, all countries around Russia were pressed
(with different intensities and different methods) to integrate themselves within the framework of
a grand strategic design: one enabling Russia, which traditionally feels itself both insecure and
threatened on various strategic directions, to heavily rely on these buffer zones in order to
consolidate its national security. Nowadays, the Russian Federation uses, strongly resembling the
behavior of the former USSR, a lot of political and economic pressure in order to implement new
form of strategic control in its “close neighborhood”. A major difference occurs, anyhow: instead
of using military force or direct political control (implemented by exporting or sponsoring socialist
revolutions), Russia skillfully uses, now, a new and immensely potent political lever: natural gas
and oil.
5. Miza reala a competitiei geostrategice: deplina hegemonie globala

Abstract: The study starts by listing and evaluating several ways in which Cold War is usually
presented and understood. Some of these thinking patterns are clearly simplifying too much the
very complex reality of the confrontation between the two superpowers. Cold War was not only
an overheated ideological competition. It was a direct geo-strategic competition for the control of
the entire planet, too. The idea of World Empire is identified in several moments of the history of
both USSR and USA. Anyhow, when confronted with the operational requests generated by such
a strategic obsession, Soviet Union had a major handicap: it lacked, at least in the early stages of
the Cold War, a real blue-water navy. The study presents and comments several studies and articles
of Adm. Sergei Gorshkov, published by the famous founding father - and commander in chief - of
the ocean-going Soviet Navy, in 1972, in the professional magazine of the Soviet Navy, called
Morskoi Sbornik. All of these studies are dealing, in a way or another, with the same major topic:
the way in which Soviet decision-makers were prepared to compete, at sea, with USA, in order to
accomplish what Gorshkov called “the mastery of the World Ocean”.

6. “Oblonul de fier”: Perceptiile unui secretar al lui Iuliu Maniu despre inceputul
Razboiului Rece. Oana Ionel si Dragos Marcu

Abstract: Nicolae Pascu, whose political memoirs are now made public for the first time, was an
interesting character: lawyer, state official, journalist, entrepreneur and active member (with quite
important political responsibilities) of the National Peasant party (NPP). He wrote several works
dealing with the final years of the NPP. Some of the pages of his political memoirs are vivid - even
if sometimes astonishingly naïve - descriptions of events and trends belonging to the early stages
larger framework, we now call The Cold War: the political activities of the Soviets in Romania;
the domestic political struggle between the Soviet-sponsored Romanian communist and their non-
totalitarian competitors; the feeble attempts of the West to involve itself in the effort to preserve
the political status quo in Romania; the important amount of wishful thinking which can be
detected in the behavior of some leaders in the Peasant Party. All these elements, however sketchy,
can be regarded as an important historical source, enabling the researcher to better understand the
way in which Cold War started in Eastern Europe.

7. Playing the Game: Nasser, un personaj extrem de incomod. Cristina Nedelcu

Abstract: Between the mid-1950s and 1970, Egypt - one of the largest and most important
countries in the area will call Middle East – was ruled by Naser. The study evaluates several district
stages of his political career. Each of them clearly was more challenging than the previous one.
Each of them was focused on a complex agenda. Each of them offered Nasser - and the rest of the
Arab and Muslim world - not only lots of risks, but important windows of opportunity. Above all,
Nasser managed to make several serious - even if not too successful - attempts to take (with
regional means and regional ambitions) control of The Game. He never managed to accomplish
such a goal, because the world was strongly dominated by the superpowers and, above all, by the
very logic of the Cold War. Anyhow, Nasser managed something else: to give back the Arab world
a sense of dignity and pride. But he never managed to be real independent: the logic of the Cold
War was stronger than Nasser’s ambitions and dreams and, in the final years of his role, the Soviets
were - clearly states Cristina Nedelcu - stronger than ever before in Egypt (and, as a direct
consequence, in the entire Middle East).

8. Quo vadis, Rusia? Schita de analiza a obiectivelor majore si a inertiilor politicii externe
ale Federatiei Ruse. Dana Muravska

Abstract: In the 21st century, international relations are being transformed. New forces
emerge, capable to influence decisions of states and interaction between them. The European
Union states voluntarily limit their sovereignty, being oriented on collectivism and rejection of use
of force in conflict solving. Can we assert that Russia has overcome its mentality of Cold War era?
The Russian Federation has recognized that its main thread is its own internal weakness. In present
Russia seeks to assure its place in all vital security organizations, trying to align itself to Euro-
Atlantic community but at the same wishing to limit foreign influence on its own policy.
Economically week, Russia tries to assure its voice in international affairs by basing its great power
status on the fact that it maintains nuclear weapons and rich natural resources reserves. Russia has
taken an authoritarian turn, weakening independent institutions. Russian political elite is still
hostile to the West, the attitude what is also maintained by anti - western propaganda. It seems that
there still are people in Russia who see ex-soviet space as Russian territory. The European Union's
regard after security in the region is deeply controversial with Russia’s aspiration to reestablish its
greatness. At the same time, Russia needs western assistance to modernize and transform its
economy. The conflict between these two needs makes Russian foreign policy inconsistent and
unpredictable.

9. Intre democratie si autoritarismul ultra-dur. Cateva consideratii istorice si teoretice

asupra Razboiului Rece. Alina Buzaianu

Abstract: The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet system had, of course,
the most traumatizing and durable effects on the former communist countries of Europe. The
disintegration of USSR and the collapse of communism destroyed the common “ideological
citizenship” which has protected some of the states of Central and Eastern Europe against the
demons of racial intolerance and ethnical or national-religious tensions. Some old states have
found their independence, some have perished in a peaceful way and others hurried in the chaos
of civil war. From this conflict, not less serious than the one that followed the First World War,
came into sight new political subjects gifted with a fictitious sovereignty, unable to operate for
their own development and security: new “principalities” and “duchies” look out for a new
benevolent emperor to entrust their fate with. Egocentric and provincial, the West watched with
excitement on TV the wars that took place at the front door and which tossed waves of refugees
on his sands but did not pay much attention to what has happened during these years, for example,
on the Moldavian-Ukrainian border, in Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh or in Chechnya. The Cold
War was won both by America and Western Europe, united in the North Atlantic Alliance. But
not even the winners have been absolved of the negative consequences of the post-war period. The
end of the conflict had unforeseen results over their structure and the nature of the relations
between them.

10. Tentative de creare a unui sistem european de securitate si aparare in perioada

Razboiului Rece. Ioan Codrut Lucinescu
 Abstract: In spite of significant efforts, not even nowadays can the European Union be
regarded as an (emerging) military superpower. The study above deals mainly with the complex
history of the idea which, along several decades, led to what is, at this very moment, a more and
more coherent (even if not properly supported by all necessary resources) common defense policy
of the EU. The first stage was, in the late 1940s the effort to build and operate and economic space
able, in the long run, to mobilize and use, in case of need, a large amount of military power. Later
on, in 1950, Churchill directly asked for an instrument he called European Army. Later on, WEU
was established. The study evaluates, with a lot of details, complex relationship between NATO
and Europe’s own military efforts. The final pages focus the attention on a distinct problem, more
and more obvious and significant: the gap(s) between USA and Europe, which make(s) a stronger
and stronger joint continental defense effort more necessary than ever before.