Eurasia News

  The future of European security depends on recognizing that cooperative security is the only sustainable approach to preventing conflict. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) provides a ready-made framework for de-escalation, but it has remained underutilized in favour of North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) threat-based security architecture. The result has been perpetual security dilemmas, particularly in Eastern Europe, where NATO expansion has triggered counter-reactions from Russia. By contrast, t he Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ ( ASEAN ) diplomatic model, heavily influenced by the Helsinki Process (1972-1975), has managed to prevent a security dilemma in Southeast Asia—despite the existence of major territorial disputes in the South China Sea.  Rather than following the European pattern of securitizing every conflict, ASEAN has institutionalized a culture of trust and mutual accommodation among elites, leading to the avoi...

A s I was writing a section of a book on sustainable development, I was struck by two key thoughts. In the first place, I was reminded of the growth in population, which had taken place over the last 60 or so years, from 3 billion approximately to over 8 billion. However, had we continued the previous trajectory of growth the population today would be approximately 5 billion. There are good reasons for this increase in growth of population; improved health, medical research breakthroughs, people living longer, expansion of globalised shipments of increased output of bulk food from better agricultural practises, and comparative peace, i.e. limited scope wars but no major conflagrations. An example of allowing continued long-term peace to reign, after a fairly uncomfortable period of erratic governance, is that of Indonesia. In the thirty-year period from 1970, the population doubled from 100 million to 200 million, and the average longevity increased from 40 to 70 years. This was as a ...