Wagner

New risks and new strategies - D Wagner

Essay from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict Studies, Security, grade: 2+ (B+), University of Kent (Brussels School of International Studies), course: Theories of International Conflict, 13 entries in the bibliography, language: English, comment: The risk structures of the 21st Century differentiate themsleves considerably from those of the antedated Cold War. Various states have begun new standard defense procedures and to assimilate the structure of their armies according to new threat scenarios. This essay compares the proposed changes of the Weizsäcker Commission in Germany to the Donald Rumsfeld asserted vision of the modern US military. , abstract: For centuries, inter-state war has been standard practice in international relations. In the second half of the twentieth century the possibility of a nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union was the major security concern in the world. Yet, with the end of the Cold War, the security threats states are faced with have changed radically. The risk of a major nuclear war has virtually disappeared. "Global nuclear warfare is no longer the primary international security concern." Today, war as a means to settle international disputes has largely been eliminated. The developed countries have established a security regime that safeguards peaceful relations among them. "[...] war among the leading great powers - the most developed states of the United States, West Europe, and Japan - will not occur in the future, and indeed is no longer a source of concern for them." However, the world is by no means safer than it has been in the past. New risks like international terrorism, organised crime, the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons to rogue states or criminal organisations, political or religious extremism, diseases like HIV/Aids, environmental disasters, poverty and inequality, etc. present new challenges to stat