Stiintele socio-umaniste in contextul evolutiei globalizate
- dezvoltarea si implementarea programului de studii si cercetare postdoctorala

Profile Oana-Cristina POPA

Dr. Oana-Cristina Popa is a career diplomat since 2002. Between 2005-2009 she served as ambassador of Romania to the Republic of Croatia. Prior to her appointment in the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, between 1998-2002, Dr. Popa held the position of Executive Director of the Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission in Bucharest, activity for which she received the US Department of State Certificate of Appreciation.

She was the recipient of two NATO fellowships. In 2001 she has completed the NATO Defense College in Rome Fellowship for PfP countries where she worked on a research paper entitled “Conflict and Cooperation in Southeast Europe: From Historical Biases to Geo-strategic Moves.“ From 1997-1999 she held the NATO Democratic Institutions Fellowship and conducted research on ethnic nationalism and regional security in Southeast Europe.

Dr. Popa has published many articles and presented a significant number of papers related to security, cooperation and interventionism in Southeast Europe, worldwide.

Dr. Popa holds a Ph.D. in History and International Relations at The “Babes-Bolyai” University of Cluj, 2001, an MA in International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, USA 1996, and a BA in Psychology and Education in 1994 from the “Babes-Bolyai” University of Cluj. She has also completed an executive education certificate course at Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government in 2007.

She was honored twice by the President of Romania with the Medal of Diplomatic Merit, 1st class, for outstanding diplomatic activities in 2002 and 2008 and once by the President of the Republic of Croatia in 2009.

In 2006 she received The Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Notre Dame.

Presentation of the research project

The present research project is part of the larger subject of security and stability in the Balkans after 1990. The peace agreements negotiated in the Western Balkans in the aftermath of bloody armed conflicts remain landmark points in the recent history of the region.

Whether they have been successfully finalized or on the contrary if they ended up in failure, those peace arrangements have left a strong print over the parties involved directly or indirectly in the conflicts, but also on the international mediators, negotiators or international organizations’ representatives. International institutions (OSCE, ONU, NATO, UE) or powerful states (USA, Russia, France, Germany, the UK) have all been in one way or another affected by the results of agreements they have supported, initiated, endorsed or disapproved. At the end of the 90’s NATO expansion in Southeast Europe proved to be one of the direct effects of security risks and challenges coming among other from the Western Balkans.

The research project attempts to analyze through an interdisciplinary approach (contemporary history, international law, international relations and politics) four case studies which used distinctive negotiation techniques and which in turn led to four major agreements that shaped the Western Balkans in the 90s: the Vance-Owen Peace Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina - BiH (1993), the Dayton Peace Accords for Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995), the Rambouillet Agreement for Kosovo (1999) and Croatia’s EU accession negotiations (2005-to present). The success or failure of those negotiations have influenced the entire post war Balkan region in the first decade of the 21st century, have shaped part of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and stand as an important component in Romania’s eastern neighborhood policy as an important member of the EU and NATO in Southeast Europe.

The above mentioned case studies remain important milestones in the field of international relations and serve as models in the outline of similar cases in other parts of the world. Through the “lessons learned” European foreign policy adapted itself to this region and its future.

MAIN PUBLICATIONS

• 1. "Peace-building, Conflict transformation and Reconciliation through Second Track Diplomacy and Soft Politics", (in collab. Vasile Puscas, Popa Oana), in Il Chaos Management, nr 61, Marzo, 2011, Rome


• 2. "The EU and the Western Balkans: A World without End?", in Vasile Puscas, Marcela Salagean (coord.), Romania si Uniunea Europeana post-Tratatul de la Lisabona, Cluj-Napoca, Eikon, 2010


• 3. "Cooperare si securitate regionala in Europa de sud-est dupa 1989", Editura Unirea, Alba-Iulia, 2004


• 4. "Conflict and Cooperation in Southeast Europe. From Historical Biases to Geo-strategic Moves", NATO Defence College, 2003


• 5. "The Romanian-Hungarian Relations. A Perspective on the Next Decade" (in collab. Liliana Popescu, Oana Popa), in "Democracy in Central and Southeast Europe. Endeavour and Reality (XIXth-XXth Centuries", Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Editura Muzeului Satmarean, Satu Mare 2001