Graduate Students Panel: Democracy and Security Issues
Chair: Dr. Jiri Payne

Despite the End of the Cold War and the Leadership of NATO, Why Does Europe Need a Common Foreign and Security Policy?
Priyanka Ghosh
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States

The history of the Common Foreign and Security Policy can be traced back as early as 1945. The countries of Western Europe began cooperation on a common strategy for European defence and security then and developed the strategy until the beginning of the Cold War. During the Cold War, the countries halted all efforts on a common position and made the United States the custodian of their security. After the Cold War ended, the United States withdrew itself from European security concerns, leaving Western Europe unfit to handle post-Cold War security problems. An option for the countries of the WEU was to enlist the help of NATO; however, once again the United States had defacto control over NATO and would not wholeheartedly aid Europe. This left the countries of West Europe, most of which became the countries of the European Union, to fend for themselves. There are several historical examples in which the European Union attempted yet failed to develop a common security strategy, but it is the failures that have gotten the European Union closer towards creating a workable Common Foreign and Security Policy. In this essay, I will prove that despite the end of the Cold War and the rebirth of NATO, the European Union faced and continues to face grave security threats. This Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) has been tested by events that challenge the welfare of European Union, such as the war in Bosnia and the conflict in Kosovo, and with every test, the European Union learns from its blunders and contiunes to develop and strengthen its CFSP.

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Enlargement and European Defense After 11 September
Rebecca Rogers
International Peace & Conflict Resolution, School of International Service, American University, Washington, D.C., United States

In a period of internal flux, of evolving and conflicting perceptions of self-identity, of economic decline and social instability, there is an increased need for a more articulated and consequential definition of world order. The relevance of NATO and the European Union in contemporary discussion is an imperative that is present more so now than ever before. An alliance between European member states is vital to confronting the threats of today's world; a successful partnership and management of means could secure prosperity and peace for generations to come.
The value of NATO as a mechanism for transatlantic security cooperation and of the EU as a forum of intergovernmental cooperation… bringing national interests and member states together (47) to ensure a more equal distribution of power and decision-making could potentially provide the grounds for such a partnership. One distinct advantage of nursing NATO and EU affairs would be the end result of burden-sharing, both domestically and internationally, thus also reducing America 's sense of isolationism and invoking a sense of independence and autonomy on Europe 's part.

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Issues of Sovereignty
Barbara Jaworek
International Relations, University of Economics in Poznan, Poland

No abstract is presently available

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Rethinking EU Enlargement and Democracy
Kalin Ivanov
Center for European Studies, New York University, United States

It is commonly assumed that the democratization of the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) and their integration into the European Union (EU) are two inseparable and mutually reinforcing processes.  To probe that assumption, the following essay revisits the relationship between EU enlargement and democracy. Even though the promise of accession was belated and elusive, it encouraged the CEEC to follow (ill-defined and inconsistently applied) democratic criteria. EU influence was crucial in overcoming deviations from liberal democracy in Slovakia . After accession, citizens of the post-communist countries may be unpleasantly surprised by the Union 's “democratic deficit.” To avoid Euroskeptic backlash in the CEEC, information campaigns should emphasize an EU contribution to democracy that has so far remained largely unnoticed in the CEEC – the Union 's regulatory restraint on economic globalization.

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