Vol. 5 nr. 09 | 2012 – Parteneriat Strategic. Sistemul de Parteneriate Strategice al României
Abstract
The need for a Grand Strategy[1] of any country, which we’ve argued about[2], is just the first instrument that can create a framework for developing a national foreign policy. A consensus of the political class is needed in the name of a country’s national interest and for the linked foreign policy objectives. And that’s where the big lines and priorities appear, according to the concept that establishes those objectives at the level of the Strategy.
When planning, alternative possibilities to realize those objectives appear and it is up to the decision makers to choose one of the possible concrete options at a certain moment, according to the context and the current evolution. It is also up to the same political class to update the original version of the Strategy and to adapt it to the evolutions of the international system and of the policies of the actors involved globally or regionally[3].
The Strategic Partnership is one of the most important instruments for this purpose, even though there are different approaches to this concept and a random use of it. Romania has also made use of it in strategic projects as the transatlantic link, the North-South Euro-Atlantic Spine and the East-West Strategic Corridor to Central Asia[4]. Another major challenge is adapting the level of ambition to the resources, as well as reaching political consensus[5] for new objectives after the accession into EU and NATO.
[1] John Lewis Gaddis, What is Grand Strategy, Yale University, Prima Telegramă a Consorţiului pentru Marea Strategie
[2] Iulian Chifu, Nevoia de a reveni la fundamentele marii politici: Marea Strategie a României, Infosfera, An IV, nr,2/2012.
[3] Louis J. Halle, The elements of International Strategy (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984), p.15.
[4] Iulian Chifu, Strategia de Securitate, Politică Externă şi Apărare a României, Ocasional paper, 8 iulie 2009, www.cpc-ew.ro
[5] Iulian Chifu, România – actor strategic la frontiera UE şi NATO. Un proiect pentru România, ocasional paper, 15 iunie 2010, www.cpc-ew.ro