Discussing the visibility and cultural factors that inf luence the position of women in the armed forces is the object of the study that is presented here. The Netherlands do not have a martial tradition and are believed to have a feminine ‘soft’ culture , but nevertheless women have always been underrepresented. Nowadays …

The research question of this study is 'To what extent shows the response of the UN Security Council to the conflict in Darfur a shift from the norm of Westphalian sovereignty towards the norm of 'sovereignty as responsibility'? Three periods are analyzed: the initial reaction of the Security Council …

Macedonia wants to become a member of the European Union. However the process to become a member state requires many political changes. The Ohrid Framework Agreement was set up to improve the freedom and rights of the ethnic minorities in Macedonia. The ethnic minorities that live in Macedonia are mainly …

The collapse of the Soviet Union meant the removal of the main adversary of NATO, and many believed that NATO had become obsolete given its original purpose of countering the Soviet communist threat. The end of the Cold War caused a debate about the future role and the necessity of the Alliance. It soon …

This article analyzes negative externalities that policymakers in one region or group may impose upon the citizens of neighboring regions or groups. These externalities may be material, but they may also be psychological (in the form of envy). The latter form of externality may arise from the production …

The Dutch Government wishes to participate in peace enforcing missions and stabilizing missions. From the early 1990s onwards, the armed forces have taken part in several of such missions,examples of which are the execution of peace enforcing operations in the Gulf area and peacekeeping missions in former …

This report examines Dutch military personnel’s attitudes toward international cooperation, while these attitudes were expressed under threatening (during the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan) or nonthreatening circumstances (in Europe). Findings indicate that concerns …

The Dutch Armed forces have seen an enormous change during the last fifteen years. Peace keeping and enforcing have become the major tasks. The amount of troops and equipment has dwindled, so did the yearly budget. The decline of military means is defended by the thesis that quality is more important …

In order to prevent conflicts and escalation, the United Nations works with a so called Conflict Management system. With this system, the UN aims to prevent the outbreak of conflicts. Besides, Conflict Management makes is possible to bring permanent peace to a conflict area by addressing root causes …