Dr. George Voskopoulos
G.Voskopoulos,BA,Brock University(Can)/BA,Ionian University(Gr)/MA,International Relations & Strategic Studies,Lancaster University,UK/Ph.D,Exeter University,UK,Centre for European Studies,f.Associate Researcher, Luxembourg Institute for European & International Studies,f.Visiting Faculty,Russe University, Bulgaria, Assistant Professor, University of Macedonia,Thessaloniki,Greece.Selected publications:The EU:institutions, policies,challenges,dilemmas,Epikentro,Thessaloniki,2009/Foreign policy, strategy & defence, Epikentro, Thessaloniki,2009/The Construction of Europe,Poiotita,Athens,2008/Greek-Bulgarian Relations in the Post-Cold War Era:Contributing to Stability & Development in South-eastern Europe, Mediterranean Quarterly,Spring 2008, Duke University,USA/"Defining Factors in EU-Russian Relations",Proceedings, vol.47,Book 6,Rousse University, Bulgaria,2008/"Russia,the US & the emergence of a multipolar international system",Proceedings, vol.47, Book 6, Rousse University, Department of European Stidies,Bulgaria,2008 / Greek foreign policy,from the 20th to the 21st century, Papazisis, Athens, 2005/Transatlantic Relations & European Integration,realities & dilemmas,ICFAI U.P,2006,/J.Mitchell & G.Voskopoulos(eds),American Politics & Government, v.2,Whittier,NY,2005/"The geographical & systemic influences on Greek foreign policy in the Balkans in the ´90s, Perspectives,n.26,2006//"Post-Cold War Common Foreign & Security Policy of the EU",Evropa,Warsaw,TOM 4,2004/"Political Socialization as a Means of Consolidating Pluralism & Democracy in South East Europe" in Slobodan Markovich-Eric Beckett Weaver-Vukasin Pavlovic(eds.),Challenges to the New Democracies in the Balkans, (Belgrade: Cigoja Press & Anglo-Yugoslav Society,2004)/"U.S.,Terrorism,International Security & Leadership:Toward a U.S.-EU-Russia Security Partnership", Demokratizatsiya, Washington D.C.,v.11,n.2,2003/"Europe,North America & International Security,the need for a revised balanced relationship", Transition Studies Review,n.34,2003/"Western Europe & the Balkans:A Geo-Cultural approach of international relations", Perspectives, n.17,2002/"EU enlargement & Bulgaria:Costs & Opportunities", Proceedings,Russe,2002/"European integration through Gaullism & Europeanism", Studia Europaea, 2006 /"European Integration:From Gaull-ism to Atlanticism & Europeanism", Proceedings,Russe,2006
Articles by Dr. George Voskopoulos
September 11, 2009
It sounds unbelievable but the Chinese authorities have engaged in a massive cull of dogs. The IFAW has exposed this practice and requests the assistance of everyone.
As informed, "the local government ordered the mass slaughter of all dogs as the re-sult of a few cases of rabies deaths. Dog ki...
August 04, 2009
In international affairs scholars have long scrutinized the issue of conflict and coop-eration among state actors. These directly or indirectly refer to the issue of war and peace. Revisionist states are unsatisfied with the territorial status quo and use all means available to pursue what they see ...
February 04, 2009
The long established framework of Greek-Turkish relations has been defined by divergent views on the motives of state international behavior and the means used to achieve national goals. Greek revised policy vis-à-vis Turkey has facilitated Ankara´s European orientation. For long, Athens had b...
January 05, 2009
International politics has always been a field of study that sets challenges not only to IR scholars but to the conventional standard of ethics and people´s ability to form evaluative judgments. Although in international relations it is a highly disputed issue to pinpoint facts and set aside non-fac...
July 26, 2008
The arrest of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his imminent extradition to the Hague Tribunal heralds a new era in Serbia´s orientation and EU membership course. The arrest was one of the prerequisites for the country to become a candidate for EU membership. Domestically it has trigge...
July 22, 2008
The name dispute between Greece and FYROM has been seen primarily as a conflict between Greece and FYROM. Yet historically the third factor of the dispute was Bulgarian policy and its aim to annex Yugoslav and Greek Macedonia. This very aim gave Belgrade a powerful motive in creating and cementing a...
July 15, 2008
Samuel Huntington must have been rather optimistic when he talked about the end of history. That was the end of history of the bipolar world. Yet, in the case of the Bal-kans, history and perceived or misperceived historical grievances have long provided the motivational axis for state behavior thus...
July 14, 2008
The recent letter of FYROM´s Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski to Greek Premier K. Karamanlis constitutes another major hurdle to the effort of finding a mutually acceptable solution to the name dispute. It is worth looking at the semantics of the initiative at a crucial for the negotiations time.
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July 08, 2008
The Cyprus issue has been a blatant case of invasion and occupation of a sovereign country. The international community failed to intervene, despite numerous UN Secu-rity Council Resolutions to reconstitute the status quo ante. On the contrary, it proved very active in the case of Kuwait, thus makin...
July 07, 2008
After the end of the Second World War and the emergence of the bipolar world system the U.S. and Western Europe became strategic allies aiming at defending their political, social and economic model. In the presence of a distinctive enemy, European objections to specific choices and policies were ov...
July 01, 2008
World politics have been characterised by contending trends. Change and continuity have been the two poles of analysing the world state-centric system. In regional terms we also witness similar trends, yet in the Balkan aspects of continuity and the peoples´ inability to adapt to a new era this is m...
June 25, 2008
For almost half a century of Cold War antagonism US foreign policy played a cata-lytic role in keeping allies together and providing sound and much required leader-ship. Joseph Nye rightly suggested that for "almost five decades, the containment of Soviet power provided a North Star to guide America...
June 22, 2008
Our attitudes when it comes to endangered species should set clear priorities and be formulated on a cost-gain evaluation. Human intervention in the environment has been unwise and this is evident in the current food crises, the ever-expanding list of endangered species and climate change. There are...
June 20, 2008
There is a major difference between politicians and academics that could be described by the term proximity. Proximity theory meant to link the probability of a war be-tween neighboring states, suggesting that these countries are more likely to confront one another militarily because, among other th...
June 12, 2008
The recent elections in FYROM brought to the surface the issue of the rule of law in terms of electoral practices and democratic consolidation. According to the Organiza-tion for Security and Cooperation in Europe and its international election observation mission for the parliamentary elections in ...
June 09, 2008
The Agreement was signed in New York on 13 September 1995 and was the fruit of an internationally guided mediation to establish tangible confidence-building meas-ures (CBMs), in order to facilitate the process towards a final agreement to be reached at a later stage. It consisted of 23 articles, aim...
June 06, 2008
During his visit to Athens the French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave lessons on solidarity among alliance partners. He was clear about alliance obligations, something that other Greek allies have not honored, although they request the political and logis-tical support of Athens. Yet, this should not...
June 01, 2008
The US and Greece have been strategic allies ever since the end of the Second World War. Greece became a NATO member in 1952 thus cementing the alliance´s south-east European flank against the Warsaw Pact. In this way the leaders of the country hoped to strengthen democracy and assist developm...
May 26, 2008
Greek-Turkish relations have long been dominated by divergent views on power and its use in inter-state relations. This stems from contending approaches to conflict management and resolution but also from incompatible motives in using it.
Ever since 1999 a "new" mood on both sides has changed exp...
May 11, 2008
The Balkans have been an immature subordinate system ever since the demise of the Ottoman empire. The "Macedonian Issue", the time-proof dispute in the Balkans, first emerged as a side-effect of the evolutionary stages of the "Eastern Question" and the liberation of the Ottoman conquests, namely the...
May 02, 2008
Alexis de Toqueville wrote one of the most comprehensive works on American Democracy titled Democracy in America. His critique was based among other things on the American political establishment and its operating mode. I do not mean to en-dorse his critique as a whole but I will agree that American...
April 24, 2008
The last time I visited Istanbul was two years ago. The city constitutes a huge histori-cal monument appreciated even by those unfamiliar with history. I was really wel-come and treated as if I were a celebrity. People were very friendly and hospitable a fact rather inconsistent with turbulent Greek...
April 04, 2008
One of the most important post-Cold War NATO summits is over. The results should be scrutinized by President Bush and his advisors. Actually is was them who sup-ported a specific single-dimensional policy in a number of issues that drove American diplomacy to isolation and brought to the surface, on...
April 03, 2008
The recent effort of the Turkish constitutional court in Turkey to outlaw the governing party AKP of Prime Minister Tahip Erdogan and President A. Gull has brought to the surface the ongoing clash between poles of power in the country. Tahip Erdogan came to power with the promise of applying an alte...
March 28, 2008
NATO is about to materialize a long-taken decision to expand in south-eastern Europe aiming at providing a safer space for local states and the desired stability for devel-opment. Yet, the quest has to overcome the long Greek-FYROM dispute over the lat-ter´s constitutional name. The Former Yugoslav ...
March 24, 2008
The torch is on its way to a trip around the world sending messages for peace. Yet Ti-betan protesters sent their message to the Chinese regime and its autocratic practices. In ancient Greece the Olympics brought, even temporarily, peace to a world of clash-ing city-state interests described by one ...
March 18, 2008
The recent crisis in Kosovo has taken by surprise only those who are not aware of the problems south-eastern Europe has faced in the post-Cold War era. It should be ana-lyzed on different levels with a view to providing answers to specific questions refer-ring to statehood, stability and the United ...
April 19, 2007
Once again seals are being slaughtered. Once again we feel guilty of an incredible waste. The “war” between activists and pro-seal hunters has been going on for years.
Yet, we should look at the issue through the lenses provided by our causational logic.
Seal hunt is one of the most savage comme...
April 18, 2007
The recent visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Damascus, Syria provoked Republican circles. It was condemned on the ground of “undermining U.S. policy aimed at marginalizing a so-called pariah state”. Robert Mailey from Los Angeles Times rightfully suggests that the “charge is absurd”.
Nancy P...
March 15, 2007
Russia's policy in the post-Cold War era has become Europe-oriented, showing that co-operation with the EU has become a strategic priority for Moscow. Under this spectrum Russia may not be considered a threat to the US and the EU, unless stra-tegic isolation turns it into a smuggler of nuclear know-...
March 03, 2007
The European response to international security may be epitomized under the rubrique of “An International Order Based on Effective Multilateralism” introduced with the 2003 European Security Strategy. It stresses the commitment of the European liberal democracies “to upholding and developing Interna...
January 25, 2007
The recent assassination of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink has made an impact to those who would like to see a democratic, secular and pro-European Turkey joining the European Union.
Hrant Dink was a moderate man who dared to challenge wrongdoings of the past in his effort to build br...
January 12, 2007
The attack on American Embassy in Athens reminded everyone that terrorism is still a major threat to our societies. It was ten years ago when the American Embassy in Athens was targeted with a rocket. This time the attack took place early in the morning, a couple of minutes before 6 am, and accordin...
January 11, 2007
Germany has just taken over the EU presidency. The task of the German Chancellor is by definition difficult at a time the EU is trying to find ways to deal with a number of issues, intra-European and international. The first relates to how Europeans are going to respond to further military involveme...
January 05, 2007
The vast majority of Europeans found the images aired on S. Hussein’s execution appalling by any standards. Eventually the whole process tars the image of the West and exposes its values and humanistic standards.
The issue is not whether S. Hussein was guilty or not. That goes without saying and sh...
July 21, 2006
The ongoing crisis in Lebanon has once again illustrated that political leaderships in Israel and Palestine have failed to see the merits of a political solution to the Palestin-ian issue. Actually I still believe that this is the only viable solution to the dispute.
Above all it shows that milit...
July 02, 2006
American policy in Iraq and the wider grand strategy of President Bush have caused unrest in Europe triggering a discussion on the alternative, if not contending, views of the world the two strategic allies have.
The Cold War assumptions suggest that American and European interests are identical ...
April 16, 2006
The cruel practice of commercial seal hunting has been under way for a few days now. Rarely in my life have I felt so ashamed of being a human. Seals, including baby seals, are battered or shot to death in a barbaric hunt that literally constitutes a dis-grace to the civilized world.
In Canada the...
January 07, 2006
The debate in the US over the issue of civil liberties and the application of the Patriot Act has been intriguing outside the country, mainly in Europe. That is the case with those who recognize a relation and a conceptual link between the quality of the American democratic edifice, the efficacy of ...
September 20, 2005
Germany is facing one of the most serious political crises in the post-Cold War era. The political stalemate and the dilemmas it represents, reflects the actual situation in the European Union and the hard choices to be made.
Angela Merkel’s expected landslide victory turned out to be a frustrati...
September 16, 2005
The Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch based in Istanbul has recently invited the Pope to visit the Patriarchate in an effort to beef up relations between the two Churches.
The effort was inaugurated by Pope John Paul II, a pious and charismatic religious figure, whose attempt to rebuild bridges betwe...
September 08, 2005
The issue of EU enlargement has topped the priority agenda not only of member states, but also the European peoples who have recently communicated messages to political elites concerning the future of the EU and its strategic orientation.
The rejection of the Constitutions Treaty in France and th...
July 21, 2005
The onset of terrorism and religious fundamentalism as major threats to security have dramatically affected everyday life across the western world. The recent terrorist attacks in London have once again illustrated that it takes a lot more than military measures to deal with the microcosms of irrati...
June 29, 2005
There is one name that makes most Europeans frown in despair that is George W. Bush. Upon Mr. Bush’s reelection for a second term, faces in Europe got gloomier. Had Europeans been able to vote, the Democrats would have won a landslide victory. The ontological question that Americans should ask thems...
June 28, 2005
The European Union is facing one of the most serious crises in its history, while the US expects it to provide support for American policies in flashpoints around the globe.
The double rejection of the Constitutional Treaty by France and the Netherlands re-sulted in the Treaty’s clinical death. ...
June 24, 2005
The two rejections of the Constitutional Treaty by France and the Netherlands caused turbulence in Europe and the course to European integration. At the same time it gave us the opportunity to focus on a number of issues that differentiate Europeans from Americans.
The French and the Dutch voted ...