This book aids any researcher, policymakers and military personnel in researching small states and militaries, European defence and security policy, as well as contemporary and emerging threats. This edited collection gathers academic commentators on Irish defence policy, military leaders from across the service components of the Irish Defence Forces and European defence experts to contribute to the first in-depth conversation and analysis on modern Irish defence and its application within the European Union. The aim of this edited book is to ascertain what capabilities are robust, which are lacking, what future threats need to be catered for, and what action is needed to ensure those threats will be addressed going forward. This book will explore emerging issues and applications of modern and contemporary threats within the context of Ireland, Europe and Western institutions. We have invited submissions from scholars, commentators, policymakers and military practitioners to evaluate the Irish Defence Forces and to illustrate the complexities facing small nations in formulating and resourcing defence and national security policy.

A new conceptual framework for explaining and evaluating EU security assistance operations, supported by extensive interviews with high-level policy-makers.

Bringing together multidisciplinary perspectives on the future of UN peace operations, this book explores the interrelated dynamics of UN peace operations and peacebuilding practices through the lenses of conflict resolution, protection and accountability. The collection includes coverage of issues ranging from strengthening partnerships between regional institutions and the UN; improving UN policing and stabilisation mechanisms; the application of new technologies in peace operations and implementing security sector reform; to ending sexual exploitation and abuse and enhancing the protection of children. Authors place people at the centre of peacekeeping by interrogating current and past UN initiatives, chart how peacekeeping is evolving in response to changes in global security, assess reform and norm change within missions themselves, and offer original perspectives on the future of UN peace operations. Contributions also include new and innovative theoretical and empirical research located across multiple disciplines, including political science, history, law, gender studies, and criminology.

This book examines how Ireland's relationship with the EU was affected by a succession of crises; the financial crisis, the migration crisis and the Brexit crisis, in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The various crises were not of equal significance on the island of Ireland. The financial crisis was a huge issue for the Republic but not Northern Ireland; Brexit had a major impact in both polities; the migration and populism issues were less controversial; and foreign policy challenges had a minimal impact. The book provides a summary of the main features of each of the main crises to be considered, from both the EU and the Irish perspective. It also explores a number of policy areas which are central to the understanding of each of the crises and the impact each crisis has had for Ireland. Chapters examine issues such as security, migration and taxation as well as protest politics, political parties, the media, public opinion and the economic impact of each of these crises on Ireland's relationship with the EU. The book is also the first of its kind to provide a comprehensive analysis on British-Irish relations in the context of Brexit assessing in particular the Withdrawal Agreement and Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, the devolution settlement and the 1998 Agreement as well as the European dimension to Northern Ireland's peace process. Leading academics from Ireland, the UK and the EU have combined to provide a thought-provoking book which will be invaluable to anyone interested in contemporary Irish politics and economics. Analysts of the EU, particularly those interested on the impact of the financial crisis, populism and Brexit on Ireland's relationship with the EU will also find it essential reading.

In this book, the author has tried bridge the gap between the common perception of the Yugoslav conflict as portrayed in the media and the actual grim reality with which he was dealing as an EU monitor on the ground. Drawing on original material from both UN and ECMM sources, he has identified the true origin of Former Yugoslavia's wars of dissolution, and critically examines the programme of violence which erupted in 1991 and eventually culminated in 1995 in the vicious dismemberment of a sovereign federal republic with seat at the United Nations. In doing so, he highlights the duplicitous behaviour of all parties to the conflict; the double standards employed throughout by the United States in its foreign policy; the lengths to which the Sarajevo government manipulated the international media to promote a 'victim' status; the contempt in which UN peace-keepers were ultimately held by all sides; and the manner in which Radovan Karadzic was sacrificed at the altar of political expediency, when the real culprits were Slobodan Milosevic and his acolyte, General Ratko Mladic. This book, the first by an EU Monitor with actual experience of the conflict, tells the real story of the modern Yugoslav conflict, 1991-1995.

This book seeks to identify and address gaps in our understanding of maritime security and the role of small navies in Europe. The majority of Europe’s navies are small, yet they are often called upon to address a complex array of traditional and non-traditional threats. This volume examines the role of small navies within the European security architecture, by discussing areas of commonality and difference between navies, and arguing that it is not possible to fully understand either maritime strategy or European security without taking into account the actions of small navies. It contains a number of case studies that provide an opportunity to explore how different European states view the current security environment and how naval policy has undergone significant changes within the lifetime of the existing naval assets. In addition, the book examines how maritime security and naval development in Europe might evolve, given that economic forecasts will likely limit the potential procurement of ‘larger’ naval assets in the future, which means that European states will increasingly have to do more with less in the maritime domain. This book will be of much interest to students of maritime strategy, naval power, strategic studies, European politics and international relations in general.

This book explores how AI and mechanism design can provide a new framework for international politics. The international political system is all manners in which countries, governments and people relate. Mechanism design in international politics relates to identifying rules that define relationships between people and countries that achieve a particular outcome, e.g., peace or more trade or democracy or economic development. Artificial intelligence is technique of making machines intelligent. This book explores mechanism design and artificial intelligence in international politics and applies these technologies to politics, economy and society. This book will be of interest to scholars of international relations, politics, sustainable development, and artificial intelligence.

This fascinating and original book is the first to analyse the evolution of internal security policy and external defence policy in Ireland from independence to the present day. Professor O'Halpin examines the very limited concept of external defence understood by the first generation of Irish leaders, going on to chart the state's repeated struggles with the IRA and with other perceived internal and external threats to stability. He explores the state's defence and security relations with Britain and the United States and, drawing extensively on newly released records, he deals authoritatively with problems of subversion, espionage, counterintelligence and codebreaking during the Second World War. In conclusion, the book analyses significant post-Second World War developments, including anti-communist co-operation with Western powers, the emergence of UN service as a key element of Irish foreign and defence policy, the state's response to the Northern Ireland crisis since 1969, and Ireland's difficulties in addressing the collective security dilemmas facing the European Union in the post-Cold War era. It is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the development of independent Ireland since 1922.