Limited Sovereignty and Soft Borders in Southeastern Europe and the Former Soviet States:
The Challenges and Political Consequences of Future Changes in Legal Status.
In February 2007, the Harriman Institute and the East Central European Center at Columbia University initiated a special seminar series entitled “Limited Sovereignty and Soft Borders in Southeastern Europe and the Former Soviet States: The Challenges and Political Consequences of Future Changes in Legal Status.” Convened by Alexander J. Cooley, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, and Gordon N. Bardos, Assistant Director of the Harriman Institute, the series is intended to provide leading academic experts with an opportunity to present their original work to the policy community and provide for a fruitful dialogue between the two communities.
The seminar series has three main objectives:
First, the series seeks to identify how the semi-sovereign status of several entities in both areas generates distinct problems, both in terms of security and economics. Major conflict has ceased in both regions, yet they remain characterized by institutional weakness and the penetration of soft borders by transnational networks of security and economic actors. Consequently, one objective of the series will be to focus on how a political entity’s legal status affects economic and security concerns both for itself and its neighbors.
Second, the series examines how future changes in the legal status of these territories may impact the security and economy of each region. The potential consequences of state sovereignty for Kosovo are of pressing concern, especially if international sovereign recognition unleashes reactions and ethnic mobilization in adjacent countries. Similarly, attempts by Abkhazia or Ossetia to move towards independence could significantly escalate regional tensions. The second objective of the series will be to look at these potential problems in both regions in detail, and identify likely future pathways of political events.
Third, the seminar series will explore what alternatives may exist to “classical sovereignty’ for these regions. This seminar series was inspired in part by the belief that in both the Balkans and the former Soviet states, stable, long-term solutions to these problems must be positive-sum, institutionally innovative, and viewed as legitimate among all contending parties. For example, many political scientists have recently argued that the international community should consider “sharing sovereignty” with post-conflict polities until they are able to develop the institutional capacity for effective independent governance. The third main objective of the series will be to identify such potential solutions.
These three themes – the consequences of semi-sovereign status, the likely impact of future international sovereign recognition, and potential alternative forms of sovereign organization – comprise the central analytical themes of the series. We hope that many of these analytical concepts can aid in developing fresh strategies on the part of interested outside actors, including international conflict resolution NGOs, the EU and NATO.
For more information on the series, please contact Gordon N. Bardos at gnb12@columbia.edu
Sincerely,
Alexander Cooley
Assistant Professor, Barnard College
Gordon N. Bardos
Assistant Director, Harriman Institute
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