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This paper analyzes the constitutional and legal framework regulating the system of regional ethnic autonomy in the People’s Republic of China. As one of the most significant elements of the political system of the PRC, the system of regional ethnic autonomy serves to protect the rights of minority ethnic groups within it. In addition, the system is significant for the efforts of the central Chinese authorities to ensure coexistence and overall social stability in regions with diverse ethnic compositions. The paper first provides a definition of the concept of regional ethnic autonomy in the literature and what this concept empirically refers to. Building on this conceptual framework, the paper traces the evolution of the system of regional ethnic autonomy in China, from its initial introduction after the founding of the People’s Republic of China to its subsequent optimization through constitutional and legal reforms. Focusing on the legal framework and institutional design, the paper deals with constitutional provisions, the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, as well as other official documents relating to regional ethnic autonomy, aiming to demonstrate how they shape the structure, scope, and mechanisms of the system of regional ethnic autonomy in the PRC. The emphasis is on those aspects of the system related to issues of establishing ethnic autonomous areas and their self-governing bodies, as well as the allocation of decision-making powers between local and central authorities.

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The concept of the Fragile city represents a more recent and increasingly significant notion within the study of security, owing both to its pronounced association with the strength of the nation-state and its potential for opening new theoretical, empirical, and practical dilemmas within the scholarly disciplines of International Relations and Security Studies. While initially situated within the context of international and national security, the Fragile city increasingly becomes a framework for the examination of urban security. Therefore, the aim of this paper is directed towards assessing the sustainability of the idea of Fragile cities as an independent theoretical concept, which is relatively independent from the concept of weakness/fragility of the nation-state. In this paper, the authors provide an overview and critically analyze existing definitions of Fragile cities, determining three ways in which fragility is related to cities: 1) cities within the context of fragile/weak states; 2) fragile cities within fragile/weak states; and 3) fragility of developed cities. Towards the end of the paper, the authors present potential directions for future consideration, as well as possible avenues for the application of the concept of Fragile cities in future (urban) security research.

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The purpose of this paper is to contribute to research on the privatization of war, specifically, the role that American private military companies, particularly Military Professional Resources Incorporated (MPRI), played in shaping the security architecture and geopolitical landscape in the former Yugoslavia. Based on the analysis of relevant literature and available documents, the authors seek to answer the primary research question: Did private military companies from the United States have a significant role in the wars in the former Yugoslavia, or was their role more secondary? In addressing this question, the authors start from the hypothesis that MPRI played a significant role in the wars in the former Yugoslavia. By providing logistical support, arming, and training Croatian armed forces, MPRI influenced the end of the war in Croatia, which was accompanied by the ethnic cleansing of the Serbian population. Additionally, MPRI was involved in Bosnia and Herzegovina by assisting Muslim and Croatian forces and contributed to the destabilization of Kosovo and Metohija (KiM) and Macedonia through the training and financing of Albanian paramilitary and terrorist formations. The methodology includes a review of scientific and professional literature, testimonies before international judicial bodies, reports from non-governmental organizations, and media articles. The authors conclude that, although the exact extent cannot be determined, MPRI’s role was significant in the wars in the former Yugoslavia, considering the outcomes achieved with their support.

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Although an adequate approach to energy resources has always been a strategic value for states, it seems that international interest in this issue has never been greater than it is today. The interconnection of the energy sector with phenomena such as combating climate change, energy transition, and the securitization of energy dependence and energy relations has contributed to treating access to energy resources as a matter of high politics. In addressing the numerous challenges related to energy issues, therefore, states employ various political means at their disposal. The European Union, as one of the largest energy consumers, significantly shapes the global energy market through its external energy politics. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to present the key components of the European energy diplomacy. The author starts from the assumption that specific contextual factors have influenced the evolution of European energy diplomacy and shaped it into a more assertive approach. The methodological framework contains a critical literature review and secondary data analysis serving the identification of key determinants of European external energy politics.

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This article explores the crisis of the dispute settlement system in the World Trade Organization and the prospects for overcoming it. This is but one facet of the multi-year crisis of the multilateral trading system and the necessity of reforming the WTO. Part of this organization’s members submitted to the General Council their perspectives on the current situation and proposals for reforms regarding various challenges that the organization faces in its operations. Using an analysis of the presented proposals and offered alternatives to end the dispute settlement system’s crisis that were submitted between 2018 and 2023, the article aims to investigate the likelihood that WTO members will be able to come to an agreement regarding how to reslove the crisis and the extent of the suggested solutions for reforming the system. The findings show a divide between the key global trade actors: the US, which initiated the Appellate Body crisis and opposes other WTO members’ suggestions, and, on the other side, the EU and China, which have demonstrated a readiness to cooperate to resolve this issue. Developing and least developed countries showed unity and put forward proposals that reflected their viewpoints. The primary conclusion of the paper is that the range of proposed solutions and existing alternatives is limited due to the refusal of the US to cooperate with other members, and no resolution to the ongoing crisis can be anticipated until the United States revises its positions.

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The basic research question is whether the EU could grow from a major player to a global power, without realism in EU foreign policy. The question is being considered from the macro level of the structural-realist analysis of the contemporary international system. The subject of the article is a explanation of the impact of the change in polarity (bipolar and unipolar) of the international system on the emerging forms of enlargement and EU enlargement policy. In the context of the changed EU enlargement policy, the article discusses the problem of the (absence) of the need for a realistic EU foreign policy, which would be based on the ability to use its own force, in accordance with the analysis of the structure of the world and the existing international divisions which are shaping the new world order. The article aims to show the change in the forms of enlargement in the two observed time periods and to provide a scientific explanation of the said change, or rather to offer a scientific forecast of the EU’s foreign policy action in the multipolar system. The paper point out that in the emerging multipolar structure of the new world order and competitive models of organizing the world, as well as under the pressure of structural influences in the international system, the EU must be capable of conducting an effective broad-spectrum foreign policy which, apart from multilateralism, should also be based on realism and the possibilities for the use of force.

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The mechanism for protecting European values, including the rule of law, was first formulated in the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997 and has gone through two revisions. Due to the lack of usage of the Mechanism because of the possibility of introducing harsh sanctions, the European Union adopted multiple supplementary regulations for the Mechanism in Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union. These supplementary mechanisms were used in the case of Poland and Hungary, but they did not lead to a drastic improvement of the state of the rule of law in these countries. The goal of this paper is to understand the evolution of the protection of the rule of law in the European Union and the shortcomings of the existing mechanisms, as well as to consider proposals for increasing their efficiency. The primary reasons for this ineffectiveness are usually attributed to the intense politicization of the use of Article 7, the unwillingness of member states and Union institutions to use the Mechanism, the long duration of initiated processes, as well as the high stakes at play due to potentially very harsh sanctions. The proposal for the reform of the European Union by the Franco-German working group was designed as a way to deal with the mentioned shortcomings. The hypothesis of the paper is that the proposed reforms could increase the efficiency of the protection of the rule of law in the European Union, but that it is not likely for them to be adopted because they need to be accepted by all member states of the Union. The theoretical framework used to prove the hypothesis is liberal intergovernmentalism.