Regional tensions - International Reports

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Regional tensions

Issue 6 | June 8, 2012

Georgia and its Breakaway Regions: No Progress in Sight | Can Serbia Let Go of Kosovo? The Key Question for Balkan Stability | India’s Arms Race. Challenges for Foreign, Security and Defence Policy | Military build-up Dynamics and Conflict Management in East and Southeast Asia | A New Start in Myanmar: The April By-Elections and the Outlook for Political Change | Partisan Media in the U.S. — Danger or Opportunity for the Political Culture?

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Regional tensions

Editorial

The Asia-Pacific region is a hub of power politics and uncertainty. For years, there have been tensions due to the ongoing rivalry between India and Pakistan, and the rise of China has also been unnerving for other countries in the region. All this has led to a build-up of conventional and nuclear weapons, with the resulting threat of an arms race.

by Gerhard Wahlers

Other Topics

Georgia and its Breakaway Regions: No Progress in Sight

Almost four years after the war between Russia and Georgia there is still no sign of a practical solution to the secessionist conflicts involving Abkhazia and South Ossetia. For the Georgian government Russia is the biggest obstacle to finding a solution to the secessionist conflicts.

by Canan Atilgan, Mikheil Sarjveladze
Can Serbia Let Go of Kosovo?

The Key Question for Balkan Stability

13 years after the Kosovo War, the conflict between Belgrade and Priština has re-ignited due to clashes over the control of border crossings and territory. But this time the conflict has not spiralled into violence, largely thanks to the EU’s South East Europe integration process. The desire to join the EU that has been evinced by all the Western Balkan states, but particularly Serbia, sends a signal that Belgrade is keen to find a peaceful resolution to its quarrels with Priština.

by Henri Bohnet
A New Start in Myanmar

The April By-Elections and the Outlook for Political Change

In the by-elections in Myanmar on 1 April 2012, the party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi achieved an overwhelming victory. Even many opposition politicians had not expected the NLD’s victory to be so decisive. This election outcome is a clear indication of the people’s rejection of the government and proof of the widespread support and high esteem enjoyed by Aung San Suu Kyi.

by Wilhelm Hofmeister, Kerstin Duell
Military build-up Dynamics and Conflict Management in East and Southeast Asia

The greater region of East and Southeast Asia is not only the region with the highest rate of economic growth worldwide. The majority of the region’s states have also been increasing the spending on their military forces at above-average rates for years. Can these dynamics be mitigated through better regional cooperation?

by Peter Hefele, Benjamin Barth, Johanna Tensi

India’s Arms Race

Challenges for Foreign, Security and Defence Policy

India is arming and is now the world’s most lucrative market for military hardware. Since 2007 no other country has imported more arms and military equipment than the subcontinent. In view of India’s present and future arms deals and the military build-up in the neighbouring states of China and Pakistan there are now fears of an Asian arms race.

by Beatrice Gorawantschy, Benjamin Querner
Partisan Media in the U.S.

Danger or Opportunity for the Political Culture?

In the United States, the political debate is starkly divided into two opposing camps. This applies not only to party politics, where last summer the ideological differences between Republicans and Democrats brought the country to the brink of insolvency, but also to the media, which is becoming increasingly partisan.

by Stefan Burgdörfer