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162. (Not) Reconciling International Security (IS) with Non-traditional Security (NTS) Studies: Westphalia, the 'West' and the Long Shadow of 1944
- Author:
- Shaun Breslin
- Publication Date:
- 08-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- Understandings of what constitutes international security have been largely influenced by the historical experiences of the great powers. The failed attempts to prevent war in Europe from the 17th century onwards, and latterly the more successful (in its own terms) prevention of a third World War in the second half of the 20th century, did much to establish what was to be secured and how this security could best be achieved.
- Topic:
- Cold War, War, International Security, and Peacekeeping
- Political Geography:
- Europe
163. Nordic-Baltic Security in the 21st Century
- Author:
- Robert Nurick
- Publication Date:
- 09-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- Look at the security arrangements for the eight countries of the Nordic and Baltic region and two things are immediately apparent. The countries that have the greatest needs have the worst security. And the countries that have the strongest defense are divided.
- Topic:
- NATO, Diplomacy, Energy Policy, and International Security
164. NATO's Fight Against Terrorism: Where Do We stand?
- Author:
- Claudia Bernasconi
- Publication Date:
- 04-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- NATO Defense College
- Abstract:
- Terrorism has played a major role in shaping the global security landscape over the last decade, one important manifestation of this being its consequences for NATO. The 9/11 attacks resulted in a considerable and unexpected commitment for the Alliance, which subsequently experienced a reorientation towards new challenges; within a very short time, terrorism reached the very top of NATO's agenda. A decade after 9/11 - and with the Alliance nourished by the lifeblood of the New Strategic Concept - it is time for a critical assessment. What has NATO done? What are the shortcomings of its actions? What is left to do? The role played by the Alliance, together with the goals thus achieved, will be brought into focus in the first part of this study. Following this, an investigation into the real limits NATO encounters in combating terrorism will lead us to ponder the efforts which are still to be undertaken, highlighting potential future recommendations.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, NATO, International Cooperation, Terrorism, International Security, and Reform
165. The Future of NATO
- Author:
- Whitney Shepardson
- Publication Date:
- 02-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- If the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) did not exist today, the United States would not seek to create it. In 1949, it made sense in the face of a potential Soviet invasion to forge a bond in the North Atlantic area among the United States, Canada, and the west European states. Today, if the United States were starting from scratch in a world of transnational threats, the debate would be over whether to follow liberal and neoconservative calls for an alliance of democracies without regard to geography or to develop a great power concert envisioned by the realists to uphold the current order.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, NATO, International Cooperation, International Organization, and International Security
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, Canada, and Soviet Union
166. Nuclear Weapons after the 2010 NPT Review Conference
- Author:
- Camille Grand, Ian Anthony, Mark Smith, Lukasz Kulesa, and Christian Mölling
- Publication Date:
- 04-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Union Institute for Security Studies
- Abstract:
- The eighth review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will be held in New York between 3 and 28 May 2010. Three Preparatory Committee sessions, held in 2007, 2008 and 2009, laid the groundwork for the agenda and the areas of the treaty regime the States Parties wish to develop further.
- Topic:
- Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, Treaties and Agreements, and International Security
- Political Geography:
- New York
167. Combining Realism with Vision Options for NATO's new Strategic Concept
- Author:
- Riccardo Alcaro
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- Elaborating a Strategic Concept is a delicate undertaking which implies a good deal of resolve, far - sightedness, and realism. Allies should neither search for a new North Star nor give in to the temptation of de facto acceptance of the status quo as the optimal solution. Instead, they should make choices reflecting a synthesis, not just a list, of their security priorities. In particular, they should consider the future of the allied deterrence and defence strategies in a security environment characterised by significant political and technological changes, including by thinking about steps towards withdrawing US nuclear weapons in Europe and creating an integrated missile defence system; learn the lessons from the Balkans and Afghanistan and accord greater priority to stabilisation than to rapid reaction capabilities; recognise that compromises will be inevitable if they are serious about considering Russia as a partner, and start by pausing for a while with enlargement. Allies should also make it clear that they have no ambition of turning NATO into a world gendarme and shift towards cooperative crisis management.
- Topic:
- NATO, Treaties and Agreements, and International Security
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Russia, United States, and Europe
168. Africa's Irregular Security Threats: Challenges for U.S. Engagement
- Author:
- Andre Le Sage
- Publication Date:
- 03-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- The United States has a growing strategic interest in Africa at a time when the security landscape there is dominated by a wide range of irregular, nonstate threats. Militia factions and armed gangs are ubiquitous in the continent's civil wars, fighting both for and against African governments. Other security challenges include terrorism, drug trafficking, maritime threats such as piracy in the Indian Ocean, and oil bunkering in the Gulf of Guinea. Organized criminal activities, particularly kidnapping, human smuggling and trafficking in persons, weapons smuggling, and environmental and financial crimes, are increasingly brazen and destructive. These are not isolated phenomena. Rather, they create a vicious circle: Africa's irregular threat dynamics sustain black markets directly linked to state corruption, divert attention from democratization efforts, generate or fuel civil wars, drive state collapse, and create safe havens that allow terrorists and more criminals to operate
- Topic:
- Political Violence, International Cooperation, Poverty, International Security, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, and India
169. Security Sector Reform: A Case Study Approach to Transition and Capacity Building
- Author:
- Sarah Meharg and Aleisha Arnusch
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
- Abstract:
- Failing and failed states are not able to provide equitable safety, security, and justice to their people through the traditional state mechanisms of police, judiciary, courts, and penitentiaries. In such situations, state mechanisms are ineffective, predatory, or absent. Security sector reform, commonly referred to as SSR, emerged as an activity in the 1990s in recognition of the changing international security environment and the limitations of reform approaches among interveners working in failing and failed states. SSR is a relatively new discipline in the context of peace and stability operations, whether these operations are United Nations (UN)-led or otherwise managed and supported. The coherence of strategies is improving, but the 1990s and 2000s have been witness to unsustainable and inconsistent security sector reforms in places like Kosovo, Liberia, and Haiti, among others. As time passes, the meta-narratives of legitimacy, accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness influence SSR activities within the international community of states involved with such reforms.
- Topic:
- Security, International Security, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Kosovo, United Nations, and Liberia
170. (Information) Revolution in One Country
- Author:
- Anthony Olcott
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
- Abstract:
- Speaking in China on November 16, 2009, President Barack Obama said, “I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable. They can begin to think for themselves” [video—transcript]. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton quoted most of the same phrase two months later in her own ringing endorsement of Internet freedom, delivered in a speech at the Washington, DC, Newseum on January 21, 2010.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Globalization, International Security, and Power Politics
- Political Geography:
- China and Washington