Security cooperation in South-Eastern Europe: Croatia\u27s view and perspectives

The signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement substituted the full-scale war with a “mini cold-war”, that is to say, a truce supervised by the USA and the European Union. Real preconditions for a normalization of the region came only after the defeat of nationalist-authoritarian political forces, both in Croatia, in January 2000 and in Yugoslavia (namely Serbia) in October 2000. In November 2000 the Zagreb Summit of the EU was held, opening the real process of normalization. Despite the fact that the Dayton Agreement established the precondition for a gradual return to normalcy and peace, it succeeded only partially. It is obvious that the concept of security implied in this process cannot be a narrowly reduced concept of security as the absence of threats and risks. A new approach should be elaborated, taking into account the most advanced approach of “human security”. That concept should be worked out as a “cooperative security approach” by centering on human security issues, such as the circulation of men, ideas and values - and not only in the security sector, but in all fields of regional cooperation