MAKING A COMPREHENSIVE ARMS CONTROL AGREEMENT FOR EUROPE IN TIMES OF CRISIS: RATIONALE, STRUCTURE, AND OUTCOMES

Andrej  Stefanović; Marina Kostić Šulejić

doi:10.5937/pnb27-51889

Andrej Stefanović Ministarstvo spoljnih poslova, Republika Srbija
Marina Kostić Šulejić Institut za međunarodnu politiku i privredu, Beograd https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1342-7332

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5937/pnb27-51889

Keywords: arms control, international crisis, Europe, war in Ukraine, strategic stability

Abstract

The war in Ukraine reflects the culmination of two international crises – one of the European security architecture and the other of strategic stability. This paper aims to examine how these crises influence the feasibility of future arms control in Europe. The authors claim that the current situation is an opportunity for a comprehensive arms control agreement for Europe. They begin by providing a theoretical framework of international crises and explain the current state of the arms control regime. Through a content and discourse analysis, they consider the positions of the main actors in relation to the key elements of future arms control and, based on this, by using a comparative method, consider the possible common ground that would serve as the bedrock for a new European comprehensive arms control regime. The article concludes that by going comprehensive, arms control can provide grounds for trade-offs between the parties, settling most issues of concern in a multi-track process.

Author Biographies

Andrej Stefanović, Ministarstvo spoljnih poslova, Republika Srbija

Andrej Stefanović works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia. Since 2019, he has been working for Serbia’s Permanent Mission to the UN Office in Geneva, as the disarmament and arms control focal point. Prior to this posting, he worked for the MFA’s European integration Department and the Section for Multilateral Economic Cooperation and as a researcher at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy on a counter-terrorism and -extremism, NATO-Serbia cooperation, and arms transfers.

Marina Kostić Šulejić, Institut za međunarodnu politiku i privredu, Beograd

Dr. Marina Kostić Šulejić works at the Institute of International Politics and Economics on the issues of arms control, Balkan relations and EU integration. She is also a Head of the Centre for Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament of the PASS and a coordinator of a Balkan Academic Researchers Network. Marina published a book on strategic stability, as well as dozen research papers, and participated in a great number of national and international conferences, workshops and educational programmes.

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