National University of Political Studies and Public Administration

2 This PhD thesis is an attempt to understand how the international actions for security management and their dynamics conjoin. The theoretical perspective follows the social logics specific to the constructivist approach. In the debate... more

This paper intends to investigate the relations between former imperial powers and new sovereign states succeeding an empire in the field of international security, particularly when involving the use of force. Despite their stated... more

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- by Radu Ungureanu
- •
- Post-imperial orders

The unique features of the European Union generate permanent political and theoretical debates; the fact is unsurprising, since simply describing this entity is a challenge. Despite the impressive literature on the topic, there is no a... more

The external interventions, particularly the military ones, question the sovereignty of the states involved. From a constructivist viewpoint, the paper is approaching the possibility of considering some of these interventions as... more

"The European Union can be considered as the most innovative polity in modern times particularly due to the way of dealing with the sovereignty-related issue among its members. In the international realm, this EU peculiarity explains how... more

While sovereignty remains a hallmark of the increasingly globalized international system, the major powers are in particularly interested in offering directions to global politics, by taking the lead in formulating goals and policies, and... more

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- by Radu Ungureanu and +1
  Radu-Alexandru Cucută
- •
- 6
  International Relations, International Studies, International Security, Security Studies

This article introduces the topic of armed nonstate
actors and briefly summarizes the contributions to
this special issue.

Discu\ia de mai jos încearc` s` formuleze câteva posibile r`spunsuri cu privire la o decizie care poate influen\a România pe termen lung ]i foarte lung. Consider`m c` se impune o interogare asupra felului în care a ajuns România în... more

The paper tries to investigate the present hiatus between the European Union’ positions in dealing with contemporary security crises, and the positions defended by the national governments. The article argues that some answers in this... more

The paper tries to investigate the present hiatus between the European Union’ positions in dealing with contemporary security crises, and the positions defended by the national governments. The article argues that some answers in this regard could be found in the ways the European societies identifies the threats, on one hand, and how adequate do they consider the answers given by EU. The members of the European Union have faced in recent years several significant threats to their security, but they do not perceive, interpret, and react towards them in similar ways. The financial crisis and its consequences, the immigrants, terrorism or the events in Ukraine have had very different impacts on the Europeans, so that they have offered quite diverse inputs to the national political systems. The fears of the Europeans are interpreted through the specific historic-cultural lenses and distilled in national political discourses. The national governments’ orientations emerged through elections are thus presenting a great variety across the EU. The European Union is, as a whole, a polity quite different from a nation-state. Lacking the surviving imperative of a Westphalian polity, the EU needs a clear and stable normative foundation. The paper considers that EU reacts towards security issues according to this normative framework, expressed in its very identities. The paper considers two dimensions of the EU’s identities. The first of them deals with the ‘mission’ - EU needs, as a non-Westphalian empire an ideological argument for keeping the coherence of the whole. The second one is the expression of its specificity - the ‘Europeanness’, or the ‘EU-style’ of approaching all the political issues, in particular the security ones. The political answers given by EU to various crises are thus consequences of the normative ‘mission” and expressed in its ‘Europeanness’. The paper supports the idea that the EU’s policies in dealing with various crises are direct consequences of its normative self-definition. Various national governments, prone to observe and to answer the fears of the societies that they represent, put under question the adequacy of these policies. Keywords: crises, ‘mission’, ‘Europeanness’, fear

The European Union’s transformative power, exercised not only on its member states, but also on the societies in its proximity, in particular those that contemplate the possibility of accession, has been interpreted at times under the... more

Every scholar who intends to study in a coherent and academically acceptable manner a world simultaneously extremely diverse and inter-connected faces a difficult choice. On the one hand, the researcher needs the clarity of the abstract... more

Every scholar who intends to study in a coherent and academically acceptable manner a world simultaneously extremely diverse and inter-connected faces a difficult choice. On the one hand, the researcher needs the clarity of the abstract intellectual frameworks in order to conceptualize the reality, and on the other hand to avoid becoming their prisoner, by preserving the empirical accuracy of the concepts and theories involved. The aim of this paper is to discuss some epistemological and methodological aspects of a research still in progress which intends to investigate the social legitimization of the use of violence. The basic assumptions of the research can be summarized as it follows: 1. the members of the epistemic community of the Social Sciences share a universally recognized set of concepts, methods, and principles, but the social phenomena conceptualized by the same terms have various, local explanations and meanings; 2. the dominant perspectives of the Social Sciences tend to simply replicate the Western-based, hegemonic knowledge and convictions and attitudes; 3. any political event, process or phenomenon can be studied only in its own terms; 4. in order to be understood, the social realm should be investigated by researchers who are part of it, members of the very society that is questioned. The research discussed here thus consider, as premises, that a political community is, first of all, a moral community, which can be defined through the socially acceptable attitudes towards violence, as is (or can be) used both inside and outside the group. Researchers who are members of a moral community are regarded as its ‘legitimate interprets’: they are considered to be at once members of the universal epistemic community and of the moral community to which they belong as individuals. The present article tries to discuss the logic and the design of a quantitative research still in progress, to critically assess its epistemological and methodological tenets, but also its risks and failures. By doing this, its authors hope to raise some questions concerning the knowledge of the social realm, how is it achieved, how accurate is it, what does it represent, how relevant, in intellectual and even political terms, is it, and so forth. The authors would highly appreciate the comments and observations, considering them of great value for refining the research.
Keywords: community, morality, violence, survey methods.

European : specificul puterii normative non-westphalice i responsabilitate post-imperial Rezumat: "Obiect politic necunoscut", greu de surprins în cadrele conceptuale uzuale, Uniunea European î i define te un rol particular în gestionarea... more

European : specificul puterii normative non-westphalice i responsabilitate post-imperial Rezumat: "Obiect politic necunoscut", greu de surprins în cadrele conceptuale uzuale, Uniunea European î i define te un rol particular în gestionarea problemelor securit ii interna ionale. Fapt vizibil mai ales în interven iile ce implic folosirea violen ei, Uniunea î i define te prezen a interna ional în domeniu prin aten ia dat laturii umane a securit ii, negând urm rirea de obiective egoiste. Pentru în elegerea cauzelor acestui specific, principalul obiectiv al lucr rii de fa , mai întâi de toate este necesar definirea acestei entit i politice. Dat fiind puternicul caracter normativ al politicilor din domeniul securit ii, dimensiunea supra-/ transna ional a UE i faptul c Uniunea ca întreg scap imperativului supravie uirii (care revine statelor membre) ar fi îndrept it , din punctul de vedere al acestei lucr ri, considerarea UE în termenii unui "imperiu nonwestphalic". Dac rela iile dintre membrii Uniunii Europene pot fi cel mai bine în elese în termenii unei comunit i de securitate, utilizarea for ei fiind de neconceput pentru rezolvarea diferendelor, folosirea instrumentelor coercitive de c tre UE în mediul anarhic nu poate fi f cut în afara cadrului normativ comun asumat, centrat pe individ i pe securitatea acestuia. În ceea ce prive te sfera de ac iune, aceasta este definit mai ales prin asumarea trecutului imperialist al unora dintre membrii de azi ai UE. Implicarea în gestionarea problemelor de securitate din statele nou-ap rute ar fi urmare a rela iilor speciale ale fostelor metropole cu acestea (cu care formeaz "ordini post-imperiale"), fundamentate pe aceast responsabilitate istoric resim it . Pozi ia este împ rt it cu alte democra ii stabile, dar în primul rând cu ceilal i membri ai UE. Dimensiunea puternic normativ a implic rii Uniuni Europene în gestionarea securit ii interna ionale este astfel, din punctul de vedere al acestei lucr ri, urmare a modului în care UE trateaz problema suveranit ii. Cuvinte-cheie: imperiu nonwestphalic, comunitate de securitate, putere normativ , securitate uman , ordine post-imperial

The debate over international institutions has emerged as one of the most influential ones, within International Relations theory. The main research programs in the discipline have developed competitive discourses about the salience of... more

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- by Radu Ungureanu
- •
- International Relations

This paper intends to investigate the relations between former imperial powers and new sovereign states succeeding an empire in the field of international security, particularly when involving the use of force. Despite their stated... more

The unique features of the European Union generate permanent political and theoretical debates; the fact is unsurprising, since simply describing this entity is a challenge. Despite the impressive literature on the topic, there is no... more

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- by Radu Ungureanu
- •
- Political Science

For three decades after the end of the Cold War, non-traditional threats and their management dominated the perception and understanding of international security. Intra-state conflicts and humanitarian interventions, the war on terror,... more

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