Number of results to display per page
Search Results
692. Never mind the gap: Turkish-Armenian relations past the crossroads
- Author:
- Einar Wigen
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
- Abstract:
- The Turkish-Armenian protocols signed in October 2009 seemed to represent a historic advance that could help resolve the two countries' dispute over the events of 1915 and change the regional dynamics for the better. But six months on, the implementation of the protocols has stalled, the much vaunted normalisation of Turkish-Armenian state-to-state relations appears all but dead, and the will to revive the process is at a low point.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Genocide, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, Turkey, and Asia
693. Norway's strategic challenges in Afghanistan: how to make a difference?
- Author:
- Ståle Ulriksen
- Publication Date:
- 04-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
- Abstract:
- Norway may be a marginal actor in Afghanistan as a whole, but its troop contingent and development aid programmes mean that it does play an important role in the north-west of the country as part of a joint overall effort with its allies and friends. This role is now facing a twofold test.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Development, Humanitarian Aid, and War
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Europe, and Asia
694. Afghanistan's religious landscape: politicising the sacred
- Author:
- Kaja Borchgrevink and Kristian Berg Harpviken
- Publication Date:
- 03-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
- Abstract:
- Afghanistan's thirty years of war have seen the gradual and heavy politicisation of religion. A number of new and distinct types of political movements – which can be characterised broadly as “fundamentalists”, “Islamists” and “neo-fundamentalists” – has emerged to challenge traditional expressions of Islam. This has transformed the religious landscape in Afghanistan, which is as a result more variegated than ever before. The different attitudes of these new currents to questions of religious authority, political process, and the Afghan statebuilding project need to be carefully distinguished. More generally, the appearance of such movements highlights the way that the role of religion, though often overlooked, is central to the attempt since the regime-change of late 2001 to build a viable Afghan state. The impact of the new actors (including the Taliban itself) is reflected in the way that President Hamid Karzai – struggling to balance the modernised secularists supporting the statebuilding project and the religious fundamentalists opposing it – has allowed several ex-jihadi Islamist factions into the government. The result of this accommodation has been both to sustain the former jihadi leaders' influence and contribute to the marginalisation of more moderate Islamic forces. At the same time, many religious leaders believe they could contribute positively to the statebuilding agenda by generating support among Afghan people. This complex situation makes an understanding of Afghanistan's diverse religious landscape and the various positions vis-à-vis the state all the more essential in the context of efforts to develop strategies for peace and reconciliation.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Islam, War, and Armed Struggle
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Asia
695. Promises, Promises: A briefing paper for the Kabul Conference on Afghanistan
- Author:
- Ashley Jackson
- Publication Date:
- 07-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The Kabul Conference marks the ninth international conference on Afghanistan in nearly as many years. The conference aims to present a new set of development programs and shore up international support for civilian efforts. It will also follow up on commitments made on anticorruption and reconciliation during the London Conference in January 2010. Yet much of the hope and optimism that marked the earlier conferences such as the Bonn Conference in 2001, which set out the parameters for the interim government, and the Paris Conference in 2006, which outlined a strategy for reconstruction and development, is now gone.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, War, and Fragile/Failed State
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Asia
696. Women and Children First: On the frontline of war in the Kivus
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- In 2009, the government of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with international backing, launched military offensives against the FDLR (Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda) and other militias in eastern DRC, with devastating humanitarian consequences: an estimated 900,000 people displaced and over 1,400 documented civilian deaths attributed to militia and government forces. In 2010 a new offensive, Amani Leo ('peace today'), continues efforts to disarm the militias, with some additional safeguards for civilian safety linked to UN peacekeeping support for the operations. However, while some areas have become safer as a result, ongoing population displacement (over 164,000 January- April 2010) and protection cluster monitoring of human rights violations (up 246% January-February in South Kivu after the launch of Amani Leo) are indications of continuing fallout for civilians. A survey conducted by Oxfam and partners in North and South Kivu in April 2010 enquired into the experiences of people in areas affected by the military operations. It found that, for 60% of respondents this year, things are worse than in 2009.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Gender Issues, Genocide, and War
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Democratic Republic of the Congo
697. Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO's Strategic Concept
- Author:
- Boyko Noev and Harlan Ullman
- Publication Date:
- 04-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is overseeing the drafting of NATO's latest Strategic Concept, set to replace the current version approved in 1999. Even though only a decade has passed, changes across the globe have been stunning and in some cases revolutionary. For NATO, we believe the challenge of the Strategic Concept is to address the question of whether NATO is still relevant or whether it has become a relic. We strongly believe the former. However, that can no longer be taken for granted. Twenty years after the Soviet Union imploded, the Alliance must finally find a new strategic anchor for its raison d'être or deal with the implications of becoming a relic or an Alliance that may have served its purpose.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, NATO, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Asia
698. Deepening East Asian Economic Integration in Services
- Author:
- Phillippa Dee
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
- Abstract:
- In services markets, there may be legitimate reasons to regulate. Integration efforts should target regulatory restrictions that explicitly limit competition, and those that are intended to meet legitimate objectives, but are clearly more burdensome than need to be. In health and maritime, ASEAN is already relatively liberal by international standards, although there is still scope to promote cross-border trade and ease costly cabotage restrictions. In telecommunications, the residual foreign equity limits are hard to understand, given that past reforms and current technologies have ensured that most markets are already relatively competitive. In finance, there is substantially more to do, despite progress made during the Asian financial crisis. And in air transport, despite commitments to open skies, there is a need to further align the content of bilateral air services agreements with regional integration objectives.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Bilateral Relations, and Services
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Southeast Asia
699. Comprehensive Asia Development Plan and Beyond -Growth Strategies for More Prosperous and Equitable East Asia
- Author:
- Takeshi Fujimoto, Shochiro Hara, and Fukunari Kimura
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
- Abstract:
- Let's dream of our bright and prosperous future. In the year of 2020, sixteen East Asia Summit (EAS) member countries can reach doubled per capita income compared with their income level in 2008 with proper policy guidance; eight countries may join developed countries with per capita income exceeding US$10,000, five countries could enjoy the status of newly industrialized countries with per capita income between US$3,000 and US$10,000, and three countries would have per capita income above US$1,000. The Comprehensive Asia Development Plan (CADP) provides immediate policy guidance for industrialization through the development of logistics and other economic infrastructure. Beyond CADP, EAS member countries will face novel policy challenges that developing countries in the world have not broken through yet. This policy brief claims that establishing four virtuous cycles will be the key and we must have the courage to meet a number of policy challenges.
- Topic:
- Development, International Trade and Finance, Regional Cooperation, and Economic Growth
- Political Geography:
- East Asia and Asia
700. Understanding Military Innovation: Chinese Defense S in Historical and Theoretical Perspective
- Author:
- Thomas G. Mahnken
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)
- Abstract:
- Given the high stakes involved in China's rise, both in Asia and globally, understanding the scope and pace of Chinese military modernization is an important undertaking. This brief applies insights from the theory and history of military innovation to the task of understanding China's development of anti-access and area denial capabilities and provides recommendations on how the United States can improve its ability to detect and recognize Chinese military innovation.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Military Strategy
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, Asia, and North America