Political Geography: / Topic: Security

4301. Food Futures: Rethinking UK Strategy

Author:: Kate Bailey, Susan Ambler-Edwards, and Alexandra Kiff
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: Over the next few decades, the global food system will come under renewed pressure from the combined effects of seven fundamental factors: population growth, the nutrition transition, energy, land, water, labour and climate change. The combined effects will create constraints on food supply and if action is not taken, there is a real potential for demand growth to outstrip increases in global food production. Effects on developing countries would be devastating. Developed countries will be affected too. Expectations of abundant and ever cheaper food could come under strain. The UK can no longer afford to take its food supply for granted.
Topic:: Security, Agriculture, Climate Change, Demographics, Globalization, and International Security
Political Geography:: United Kingdom

4302. The Palestinian Refugee Issue: A Palestinian Perspective

Author:: Abbas Shiblak
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: The quest of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes is not only a legal and moral right but has become a major part of Palestinian identity and symbolizes Palestinian historical narratives. It has been an effective instrument of mobilization that became the political priority of various resistance groups which later formed the Palestine Liberation Organization. The PLO embarked on a line of negotiation which sought to reconcile rightist and realist approaches. They sought acknowledgment by Israel of its responsibility for the refugee issue and acceptance in principle of their right of return while showing flexibility and readiness to discuss various formulations of return. At the core of the inter-Palestinian debate is the dynamic between the two objectives of achieving statehood and the resolution of the refugee issue. State-building came to be seen not only as a means of reconstructing Palestinian identity but also as a catalyst to resolution of the refugee issue. A peace agreement should widen the options for the refugees and address all aspects of the refugee issue including the rights of repatriation to Israel, return to a Palestinian state, compensation, and equality and full citizenship rights in countries where refugees choose to remain. A comprehensive peace agreement must include the regional aspects of the refugee issue and all regional actors. There is an urgent need to review the current format of negotiations and bring about more balanced and effective international political engagement in the bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, Political Violence, Political Economy, Post Colonialism, Poverty, Terrorism, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:: Israel, Palestine, and Arab Countries

4303. Come Home, NATO? The Atlantic Alliance's New Strategic Concept

Author:: Sten Rynning and Jens Ringsmose
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:: This DIIS Report provides an overview of the political and military issues that are likely to shape the coming discussions about NATO's new Strategic Concept. NATO's current Strategic Concept dates back to 1999 and over the last couple years an increasing number of policy-makers have suggested that it is time to take stock of the transatlantic Alliance. The exercise is significant because the Strategic Concept represents the operational view of the Washington Treaty - the basic text of NATO - and because it will bequeath a new strategic direction to the Alliance. The Report presents three arguments. One is that the Strategic Concept serves several functions: it codifies past decision and existing practices; it provides strategic direction; and it serves as an instrument of public diplomacy. The second argument is that the new Strategic Concept must balance the push and pull of two competing visions of NATO, one being 'Come home, NATO;' the other being 'Globalize, stupid.' The contest between these diverging visions has consequences for a number of issues that the Strategic Concept must address. Lastly, it is argued that although the agenda of globalization is being questioned, NATO will continue down the path of global engagement.
Topic:: Security, International Organization, Regional Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and International Affairs
Political Geography:: United States and Europe

4304. The Georgia Crisis: Implications for the Partnership for Peace

Author:: Graeme P. Herd and Daniel A. Flesch
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Connections
Institution:: Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:: On 7 August 2008, Georgia attacked Tskhinvali, the capital city of South Ossetia, with heavy artillery, rocket launchers, and ground troops in an attempt to take control of the breakaway republic, which contained bases of both Russian and OSCE peacekeepers. Russia, claiming to be acting under the mandate of peace enforcement, pushed Georgia out of both South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian republic, Abkhazia, and deep into Georgian territory. This created the potential for regime change, as the Russian Army appeared to be moving on Tbilisi with the intent of overthrowing Georgia's democratically elected government. On 8 August 2008, Russian military forces crossed the Georgian border into South Ossetia and Abkhazia in a successful effort to repulse Georgian troops. The immediate casus belli for Russia was genocide, with claims that “over two thousand” South Ossetians had been killed by Georgian troops, along with the shooting of ten Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, which necessitated a humanitarian and peace enforcement operation. The Russian advance included ground troops, tanks and armored personnel carriers, and air and sea operations, combined with coordinated kinetic and cyber attacks. Russian forces also crossed into Abkhazia in defense of their compatriots – 70 percent of the Abkhaz population of 220,000 are Russian passport holders, and 90 percent of the South Ossetian population of 70,000 are also Russian citizens.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, International Affairs, and Population
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Georgia, and South Ossetia

4305. The Heart of the Matter: The Security of Women and the Security of States

Author:: Valerie M. Hudson, Mary Caprioli, Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, Rose McDermott, and Chad F. Emmett
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Security
Institution:: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:: What are the roots of conflict and insecurity for states? When the international system is relatively stable, attention turns to differences in state attributes. Some scholars argue that civilizational differences, defined by ethnicity, language, and religion, are an underlying catalyst for conflict and insecurity. Others have spoken of the importance of differentiating between democratic and nondemocratic regime types in explaining conflict in the modern international system. Still others assert that poverty, exacerbated by resource scarcity in a context of unequal access, is at the root of conflict and insecurity at both micro-and macro-levels of analysis.
Topic:: Security and Religion

4306. Linkage Diplomacy: Economic and Security Bargaining in the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 1902-23

Author:: Christina L. Davis
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Security
Institution:: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:: How do states use economic-security linkages in international bargaining? Governments can provide economic benefits as a side payment to reinforce security cooperation and use close security ties as a source of bargaining leverage in economic negotiations. Domestic political pressures, however, may constrain the form of linkage. First, economic side payments are more likely to be chosen in areas that will not harm the key interests of the ruling party. Second, involvement by the legislature pushes governments toward using security ties as bargaining leverage for economic gains. Evidence from negotiations between Britain and Japan during the Anglo-Japanese alliance of 1902 to 1923 supports the constraining role of domestic politics. Economic-security linkages occurred as Britain gave favorable economic treatment to Japan in order to strengthen the alliance. Economic competition between the allies, however, made it difficult for Britain to grant asymmetrical economic benefits. In tariff negotiations where business interests had more influence in the domestic policy process, the alliance was used as leverage to force reciprocity.
Topic:: Security, Diplomacy, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: Britain and Japan

4307. A Smart Alliance in the Age of Complexity

Author:: Seongho Sheen
Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:: The alliance between the Republic of Korea and the United States today faces a complex security environment, in which the threats it confronts are more diverse, more complicated, and require a more delicately balanced approach than ever before. In particular, expectations—even demands—are growing for South Korea to contribute to world peace and stability as a global partner for the United States in pursuing their mutual security interests (Campbell et al. 2009). Do the ROK and the United States share enough strategic interests to sustain such an alliance in the twenty-first century? And should South Korea assume an increasing role in maintaining regional and global peace? During the Cold War, the two countries' alliance was a military one, focused on the clear and direct threat from North Korea. Now, in the twenty-first century, the two security partners must transform their hard alliance into a "smart" alliance to meet more diverse security challenges together. A different set of hard and soft approaches are required, and a smart alliance will call for a more flexible combination of roles played by each partner, depending on the circumstances.
Topic:: Security, Diplomacy, International Cooperation, and Military Strategy
Political Geography:: Asia, South Korea, North Korea, North America, and United States of America

4308. Assessment and Future Challenges of the U.S.-ROK Summit: From a Policy of Sanctions to a Policy of `Coevolution`

Author:: EAI Security Net
Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:: Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S.-ROK alliance has gone through the greatest and most rapid changes in its fifty-six-year history. Yet the United States and South Korea have both failed to establish any strategic "Joint Vision" for the alliance in this new era. The Roh Moo-hyun administration dealt with many issues of alliance transformation. These included the relocation of U.S. military bases, the transfer of Wartime Operational Control (WOC) from the United States to South Korea, and efforts to facilitate the strategic flexibility of U.S. forces in Korea. None of these changes, however, were fully based on any shared strategic vision between the two countries; rather, the alterations were limited bottom-up approaches. The Lee Myung-bak administration has managed to restore the previously damaged U.S.-ROK relations with the Bush administration in 2008. It also dealt with many issues affecting the future of the alliance. But an overall reenvisioning of the alliance only came about under the current Lee-Obama partnership. The culmination of the June 2009 U.S.-ROK Summit was the joint statement released by the two presidents entitled "Joint Vision for the Alliance of the U.S. and the ROK." This statement has been long overdue. It set out clearly the security problem confronting the two countries, and established their shared strategic interests. In a simple and concise way, the "Joint Vision" laid out the future direction of the alliance in a wide range of areas, including not only military issues but also international values, the economy, the environment, and human rights. Fundamentally, the document recognized that the geographic range of the alliance has expanded globally, beyond both the Korean Peninsula and the Asia-Pacific region. The future of the alliance is significant not just for the United States but also for South Korea. Korea’s diplomatic outlook can no longer be limited to the Peninsula, because its national power has matured enough to warrant a new diplomatic strategy in its approach to its region and the world. As part of this vision, the Lee administration has issued a new strategic motto, "Global Korea." But the government still has a long way to go. It needs a more complete set of specific policies supported by a strong domestic consensus. The new vision for the U.S.-ROK alliance will help facilitate South Korea’s diplomatic leap forward. At this critical time, the United States needs assistance from its allies, including South Korea. Currently, global leadership faces numerous transnational problems such as the unprecedented global economic crisis, an insurgency in Afghanistan that is at its highest levels since the U.S. invasion in 2001, and a weakened U.S. global leadership in need of revitalization. If these major challenges are to be met, the "Joint Vision" needs to be converted into specific policies. The recent summit allowed a comprehensive discussion of both the new vision’s principles and the issues related to those principles, including the North Korean nuclear crisis, provisions for the global role of the alliance, and nonmilitary issues like the KORUS FTA (Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement). Naturally, given today’s circumstances, the North Korean nuclear program dominated the meetings. President Obama and President Lee have found considerable common ground in setting the strategic goals and policy direction that will be required to resolve the nuclear issue.
Topic:: Security, Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Military Strategy, and Sanctions
Political Geography:: Asia, South Korea, North America, and United States of America

4309. Muddling along with Missiles

Author:: Dongho Jo
Publication Date:: 07-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:: On April 5, 2009, North Korea carried out a rocket launch. North Korea argued that it was a satellite launch vehicle rather than a warhead-carrying ballistic missile, and portrayed the launch in innocuous and civilian terms, even naming the rocket “Unha,” which means “Galaxy” in Korean, to emphasize its space-oriented function. However, most nations, including Japan, South Korea, and the United States, suspect that these words were only a cover for a test of North Korea’s long-range missile technology. In addition, North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test on May 25, followed by several launches of short-range missiles from its east coast. Furthermore, North Korea test-fired four short-range missiles on July 2 and additional seven missiles on July 4, despite the United Nations Security Council’s unanimous adoption of Resolution 1874 on June 12, condemning North Korea’s hostile activities in the strongest possible terms. Why has North Korea gone ahead with its provocative actions in the face of serious opposition from most of the outside world? To date, analysts have focused on the political aspects of the missile launch. They speculate that its purpose was to push the United States toward bilateral dialogue or to pressure the South Korean government to return to its more positive stance known as the “sunshine policy.” Others argue that the launch was meant to strengthen leadership’s weakening hold inside the country and to ensure its dynastic line of succession. All of these explanations are plausible, and North Korea, of course, may have had multiple goals. But observers seeking to understand the North Korea’s actions are missing one critical component: the economic factor. The North Korean economy was in very poor shape in the 1990s and is still experiencing difficulties. This economic hardship, however, has not only been evident in recent decades but had already begun in the early 1970s, mainly due to lack of capital. Since then, the country’s top economic priority has been to determine how to encourage foreign capital to help the North Korea escape from economic shortages. One alternative pursued since the mid-1990s has been to develop the missile program as an effective means of earning foreign exchange. Understanding the part played by the economic situation in North Korea’s decisions about its missile program is the purpose of this brief article.
Topic:: Security, Military Strategy, Conflict, Space, and Missile Defense
Political Geography:: Japan, China, Asia, South Korea, and North Korea

4310. North Korea at the Crossroads

Author:: EAI Security Net
Publication Date:: 08-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:: North Korea is now at the crossroads. It needs to make a strategic decision on whether to defend its nuclear program and “military-first politics” against the pressure of increasing international sanctions or to denuclearize and pursue “economy-first politics.” Depending on which decision Kim Jong-il makes, his successor will face either the path of opportunity or the path of peril. Currently, Kim faces the challenge of ensuring a smooth transition of power to his successor. At the same time, he must negotiate with an international community that is trying to induce Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program by simultaneously imposing sanctions on it while offering a comprehensive negotiation package. In this situation, the surrounding countries must construct an international environment that is favorable to convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear program and join the international community. Furthermore, the neighboring countries need to actively support and develop a clear formula for establishing a lasting peace framework on the Korean Peninsula. Since the death of Kim Il-sung in 1994, Kim Jong-il has faithfully followed the will of his father, who stated that North Korea will denuclearize if and only if the United States withdraws its hostile policy and nuclear threat toward Pyongyang. Amidst the backdrop of its increasing international isolation in the post-Cold War era, the North Korean regime made the decision to develop nuclear weapons as to safeguard its survival. However, this decision brought it into sharp conflict with the United States, who strongly opposed Pyongyang’s nuclear program. The United States could not allow a nuclear-armed North Korea that would destabilize the East Asian region. Subsequently, its strategic decision to pursue the nuclear military-first politics has led North Korea to become a “weak and vulnerable nation” rather than a “strong and prosperous nation,” enduring hardships along the “arduous march.” Compared to circumstances in 1994 and 2003, the current situation confronting Kim Jong-il is far more complex and difficult. Not only must he revive a shattered economy but he must also adroitly manage the sensitive process of leadership succession that is still ongoing. If Kim fails to take the initiative to give up his nuclear program and allows the nuclear military-first politics to dominate the succeeding regime, it will become even more difficult for North Korea to make the transition toward a non-nuclear economy-first politics. Given the fact that external pressure from the international community for denuclearization and internal pressure of attenuating stability will only continue to increase, the succeeding regime will be in a position where giving up the card that guarantees its survival is impossible. Moreover, it would be political suicide for the new regime to abandon the nuclear military-first politics. As the son of Kim Il-sung who is the embodiment of Chuche ideology, Kim Jong-il needs to make the critical decision to abandon North Korea’s nuclear program. There is no other method for resolving the tense situation without denuclearization. Nuclear weapons might be a shot of morphine to ease the pain temporarily, but it cannot be the remedy to cure a dying patient.
Topic:: Security, Military Strategy, Leadership, and Denuclearization
Political Geography:: Asia and North Korea

4311. Prospects for Change in the Beijing-Pyongyang Nexus

Author:: Sukhee Han
Publication Date:: 12-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:: Having detonated its first nuclear device in October 2006, North Korea conducted its second nuclear test on May 25, 2009. Having consistently attempted to dissuade the North from such tests, China has been infuriated by the North’s defiance of Chinese advice and interests. Immediately after the 2009 test, China released a statement almost identical to the one it announced in the wake of the 2006 test. Beijing’s unprecedented wrath and “resolute opposition” to Pyongyang’s unmannerly behavior had been clearly expressed in the 2006 statement. In the 2009 statement, the Chinese government “strongly demands” that Pyongyang abide by its non-nuclearization commitments, “stop actions that may lead to a further deterioration of the situation,” and “return to the track of the Six-Party Talks.” Furthermore, China’s subsequent vote in favor of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874, which was designed to impose tougher sanctions on the Pyongyang regime than its previous resolution passed in 2006, seemed to indicate that China may implement a strategic shift away from North Korea and may also increase its strategic cooperation with the international community in dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue. Witnessing China’s stern behavior toward the North, some China watchers in Washington and Seoul have argued that North Korea’s second nuclear test, along with a series of other provocations in the first half of 2009, which included a rocket launch and a complete withdrawal from the Six-Party Talks, have prompted China to reconsider its long-standing policy of amity toward North Korea. In contrast to its traditional policy, China since the 2009 nuclear test has not hesitated to make it clear in its official statements that North Korea has become a liability than a strategic asset, and that it was not satisfied with North Korea’s arbitrary behavior threatening the stability of the Korean Peninsula. Remarkably open discussions about North Korea have also been permitted in the Chinese academia and media. In the debates, some Chinese analysts have criticized their government for its failure to get tough with North Korea; others have also advocated for Beijing to take a firmer stance toward North Korea. These debates seem to be a departure from the traditional brotherly attitudes many Chinese have shared concerning North Korea, and also serve as convincing reasons for many experts to argue that China may change its policy toward North Korea. At the same time, however, China has made clear that it intends to continue its traditional policy of friendship toward North Korea. U.S. foreign policy circles have frequently commented that the Chinese leadership has become increasingly angry at the Kim Jong-il regime, especially in the wake of the second nuclear test, and that Beijing is willing and able to use its leverage to pressure Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program. In contrast, however, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, during his visit to Pyongyang to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of PRC-DPRK(People’s Republic of China-Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) diplomatic relations, reassured North Korea of its economic patronage by providing a number of economic measures for expanding China’s economic exchanges with the North. Furthermore, the recent visit of Liang Guanglie, China’s defense minister, to North Korea has also consolidated the Sino–North Korean military alliance. His avowal of “China’s willingness to have closer military contacts with the DPRK” must have provided more confidence for the North Korean leaders in dealing with post–nuclear test reactions. Given this situation, that China’s national interest concerning North Korea has been the maintenance of peace and stability is reconfirmed. On the one hand, in order to keep Pyongyang from further undermining peninsular security, Beijing has resolutely opposed North Korea’s provocations. China’s statements have emphasized its diplomatic pursuit of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and have also underscored that China, as a great power, acknowledges that it shares responsibility for preserving regional order and stability. On the other hand, China still places more importance on the maintenance of the status quo, in the sense of supporting the North Korean regime itself. China has exerted much more effort on behalf of the North’s survival than on behalf of its denuclearization. While China has in principle supported the UN economic sanctions on the North, it has never been sympathetic to the implementation of realistically effective sanctions. In facing Kim Jong-il’s presumed health concerns and subsequent contingencies in the North, however, China has realized that the status quo on the Peninsula cannot always guarantee regional peace and stability. Given that the demise of Kim Jong-il himself is relatively imminent and certainly inevitable, China has to adopt a new approach to North Korea. China’s chief concern is to strengthen its economic and military grip over the North with the intention of keeping the regime afloat and its leadership under China’s control even after Kim Jong-il has passed from the scene.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Nuclear Weapons, and Military Strategy
Political Geography:: China, Asia, and North Korea

4312. Governance and Leadership in Africa: Measures, Methods and Results

Author:: Robert I. Rotberg
Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of International Affairs
Institution:: School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:: Governance is performance—the delivery of high quality political goods to citizens by governments of all kinds. In Africa, as everywhere else, those political goods are security and safety, rule of law, participation and human rights, sustainable economic opportunity and human development. The Ibrahim Index of African Governance, created at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, evaluates forty-eight sub-Saharan African countries according to fifty-seven variables. The results of this massive measurement exercise produce overall rankings of governance attainment, plus rankings for each of the five categories of political goods and each of the fifty-seven variables. Yet, the purpose of this Index is not to rate, but to diagnose. The Index is a diagnostic tool for civil society, donors and governments so that performance can be enhanced and the lives and outcomes of Africans can be strengthened. Improving African governance is the goal.
Topic:: Security
Political Geography:: Africa

4313. Rethinking Post-War Security Promotion

Author:: Robert Muggah and Nat J. Colletta
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Security Sector Management
Institution:: Centre for Security Sector Management
Abstract:: The intensity and complexity of post-war violence routinely exceeds expectations. Many development and security specialists fear that, if left unchecked, mutating violence can potentially tip 'fragile' societies back into war. An array of 'conventional' security promotion activities are regularly advanced to prevent this from happening, including disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) and other forms of security sector reform (SSR). Meanwhile, a host of less widely recognised examples of security promotion activities are emerging that deviate from – and also potentially reinforce – DDR and SSR. Innovation and experimentation by mediators and practitioners has yielded a range of promising activities designed to mitigate the risks and symptoms of post-war violence including interim stabilisation measures and second generation security promotion interventions. Drawing on original evidence, this article considers a number of critical determinants of post-war violence that potentially shape the character and effectiveness of security promotion on the ground. It then issues a typology of security promotion practices occurring before, during and after more conventional interventions such as DDR and SSR. Taken together, the identification of alternative approaches to security promotion implies a challenging new research agenda for the growing field of security and development.
Topic:: Security, Development, War, and Reform
Political Geography:: United States

4314. Making Anti-Corruption Regulation Effective for the Private Sector

Publication Date:: 09-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Transparency International
Abstract:: A comprehensive regulatory framework for the private sector is a prerequisite for a transparent, honest and just society: where regulation is weak, corruption risks grow strong. As the primary rule makers and enforcers, governments have a responsibility to ensure the effective regulation of markets, protection of citizens and enforcement of laws. Ultimately, an inadequate or unstable regulatory framework for the private sector — without the will, power or resources to enforce legislation — facilitates the marginalisation of stakeholder rights, distortion of markets and negligent or corrupt practices.
Topic:: Security, Corruption, Genocide, Markets, and Law
Political Geography:: Russia, United Kingdom, and Brazil

4315. The Foreign Policy of Iran: Ideology and pragmatism in the Islamic Republic

Author:: Katrine Barnekow Rasmussen
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:: This is a brief English version of a Danish DIIS Report on the foreign policy of Iran. In the Report, Iran's foreign policy is investigated both ideologically and in respect of its pragmatic motivations.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Foreign Policy, Islam, Oil, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:: United States, Iran, and Asia

4316. North Caucasus Weekly - Volume X, Issue 9

Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: In this issue: Six Policemen Killed in Ingushetia Bombing Kadyrov Faces Fresh Accusations of Ordering Hits Abroad Kadyrov Defends Honor Killings Kadyrov Again Invited Zakaev to Return to Chechnya Briefs Dokka Umarov Suffers Setback in Turkey By Mairbek Vatchagaev.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia and Turkey

4317. Securing Afghanistan

Author:: Seth G. Jones and C. Christine Fair
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:: More than seven years after U.S. forces entered Afghanistan, important gains made in bringing stability and democracy to Afghanistan are imperiled. While there have been some positive developments in such areas as economic growth, the Taliban and other insurgent groups have gained some ground in the country and in neighboring Pakistan, the drug trade remains a significant problem, and corruption has worsened in the Afghan government. According to United Nations data, insurgent incidents have increased every year since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban regime. The situation in parts of Afghanistan's south and east is particularly concerning because of the twin menace of insurgent and criminal activity. Despite these challenges, the insurgency remains deeply fractured among a range of groups, and most have little support among the Afghan population. This presents an opportunity for Afghans and the international community to turn the situation around.
Topic:: Security, Political Violence, Development, Economics, and War
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, United States, and Central Asia

4318. The Private Sector in Security Sector Reform: Essential But Not Yet Optimized

Author:: Robert Perito
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:: While the U.S. and world economies are slowing markedly, Security Sector Reform (SSR) is a growth industry for the private sector. U.S. government employees may set SSR policy and design projects, but implementation is extensively outsourced to private contractors. With the forthcoming surge of U.S. military forces into Afghanistan, the U.S. Army has announced contracts worth $1.1 billion for the construction of military bases and training centers for Afghan military and police. Private firms supply everything from construction materials to trainers and administrative staff. Private contractors operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan are required to provide their own security. Up to 15 percent of the cost of construction will go to private security firms, which guard convoys, facilities and personnel.
Topic:: Security, Economics, Government, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
Political Geography:: Pakistan, Afghanistan, and United States

4319. Indonesia: Deep Distrust in Aceh as Elections Approach

Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: Tensions in Aceh are high as elections approach, although they have receded somewhat from a peak in mid-February. The murders of three former combatants of the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM), other shootings and numerous grenade attacks over the last two months – all with unidentified perpetrators – have set the province on edge, and there remains a risk of sporadic, low-level violence before and after general elections on 9 April. Disputes over the results, with 44 parties competing for seats in district, provincial and national legislatures using a new and complicated system of voting, are also likely. There is little danger in the short term of violence escalating out of control, let alone a return to armed conflict, but the underlying causes of the tensions are not just election-related and need to be addressed if peace is to be preserved in the long term.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, Political Violence, and Democratization
Political Geography:: Indonesia, Asia, Australia/Pacific, and Southeast Asia

4320. Long-Term Energy Security Risks for Europe: A Sector-Specific Approach

Author:: Christian Egenhofer, Arno Behrens, and Arianna Checchi
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: The aim of the paper is to identify and evaluate existing and potential EU energy supply risks on the basis of a sector-specific approach. Moving away from common generalisations on security of energy supply as well as from those studies that focus only on one sector, it brings together all types of fuel and analyses the risks related to each of them. The result is a comprehensive picture of the energy security challenges faced by the EU in the long-term. The paper can be seen as a tool to avoid overlapping, incoherence and contradictions in the process of assessing security of supply and aims to formulate a consistent and more unified European energy policy.
Topic:: Security and Energy Policy
Political Geography:: Europe

4321. Trading Life, Trading Death: The Flow of Small Arms from Mozambique to Malawi

Author:: Gregory Mthembu-Salter
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Small Arms Survey
Abstract:: In a region apparently awash with weapons and plagued with rising levels of armed crime, Malawi is a welcome exception to these characteristics. In early 2007 there were only 9,320 legally registered firearms in Malawi excluding those used by the security forces, compared to just under 87,000 in Zambia (Mtonga and Mthembu-Salter, 2004, p. 286) and nearly 4 million in South Africa (Gould et al., 2004, p. 133). Though a country of an estimated 13 million people, in the 5 years between 1996 and 2000 Malawi suffered just 2,161 reported cases of armed robbery (Mwakasungula and Nungu, 2004, p. 89). For 2005 the figure was 316 and for 2004 it was 263, according to figures provided by the Malawi Police Service (MPS). Even leaving aside South Africa, where there were 119,726 recorded cases of aggravated robbery in 2006 (SAPS, 2006), Malawi's armed crime statistics still compare favourably with the rest of the region. In neighbouring Zambia, for example, where there is a population of only 10 million people, there were 3,168 reported cases of armed robbery in the 5 years between 1998 and 2002 (Mtonga and Mthembu-Salter, 2004, p. 294).
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, Political Violence, Arms Control and Proliferation, and War
Political Geography:: Africa

4322. WSC 5: Protecting People, Economies, and Infrastructure

Author:: Christine Lynch, Devon Tucker, Michael Harvey, and Jacqueline McLaren Miller
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: EastWest Institute
Abstract:: Drawing on a diverse array of opinions from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, the EastWest Institute's Fifth Worldwide Security Conference brought together specialists from the spheres of policy, academia, and civil society. Participants addressed a variety of issues on the contemporary global security landscape. These ranged from specific security threats (whether illicit trade, the targeting of critical infrastructure or cyber crime) to the role of interested actors (such as business, NGOs, and media), as well as a focus on potential strategies to counter terrorism and extremism (either in terms of constructing global cooperative architectures or, more controversially, the possibility of opening dialogue with the terrorists). A variety of policy recommendations emerged from each session—detailed in the main body of the report—but there were several recurring themes binding the debate together and animating the core arguments of proceedings as a whole. These policy recommendations were not necessarily consensus recommendations but reflected a wide range of debated policy prescriptions.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Economics, Education, Globalization, Human Rights, International Security, and Political Theory
Political Geography:: Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America

4323. Ending Colombia's FARC Conflict: Dealing the Right Card

Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: Latin America's oldest guerrilla organisation, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is under severe stress. Close to seven years of the Uribe presidency have hurt the FARC's capability and morale. Several top commanders have been captured, killed in combat, murdered by their own men, or died of natural causes, as in the case of Manuel Marulanda, the FARC's historic leader. Thousands of foot soldiers have deserted, bringing the guerrillas' troop strength down by almost half, to perhaps 10,000 today. Still, under its new leader, Alfonso Cano, the FARC has shown renewed internal cohesion and continued capacity to adapt to changes in the security environment. The Uribe government remains wedded to its hardline military approach until the FARC has no option but to negotiate surrender, but this strategy is problematic. President Uribe should keep military pressure up but emphasise devising a political strategy capable of drawing a weakened but still largely intact FARC into peace talks. Priority should also be on strengthening rule of law, protecting human rights and increasing citizen security.
Topic:: Security, Political Violence, Human Rights, and War
Political Geography:: Colombia and Latin America

4324. North Korea's Missile Launch: The Risks of Overreaction

Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: North Korea says it is preparing to launch an experimental communications satellite using a rocket that is part of its ballistic missile program. This would be in the face of an international outcry, and of what is a strong though not definitive argument that it violates two UN Security Council resolutions. Japan has been most vocally opposed, saying it will shoot down the rocket if it threatens to fall on its territory. But even if the test is successful, it would only slightly increase security risks, while an overblown response would likely jeopardise the Six-Party Talks to end North Korea's nuclear program. What is needed is a calm, coordinated response from the key actors to raise pressure on Pyongyang to return to the talks rather than a divided reaction that only fulfils the North's desire to widen splits among its neighbours.
Topic:: Security, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and International Security
Political Geography:: Israel, Asia, and North Korea

4325. European Conflict Management in the Middle East: Toward a More Effective Approach

Author:: Muriel Asseburg
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Since the Middle East peace conferences in Madrid (1991) and Washington (1991–1993), Europeans have gradually stepped up their political involvement in the Middle East. While Europeans have had strong trade and cultural relations with their neighboring region for decades, they have, in parallel with the Middle East peace process and the development of European Union (EU) foreign policy instruments, moved to assert their political interests more forcefully. These policies have largely been motivated by geographic proximity and geopolitical considerations—chiefly, the fear of security threats emanating from Europe's neighborhood (a spillover of conflict in the form of terrorism, organized crime, migration, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction), Israel's security, and access to energy resources. The implicit assumption has been that these different European interests can best be reconciled in an environment where there is peace between Israel and its neighbors (and therefore no contradiction between good relations between the EU and Israel and good relations between the EU and the wider, resource-rich region) and where the people of the Mediterranean and the Middle East find decent living conditions in their countries. As a consequence, Europeans have first focused their efforts on the realization of a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian confl ict, which they consider to be the core of the region's instability. They have, second, aimed at supporting comprehensive peace between Israel and its neighbors. And they have, third, sought to provide an environment conducive to peace in the region as well as to deflect what were (and still are) perceived as security risks emanating from the region.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Energy Policy, International Cooperation, and Islam
Political Geography:: Europe, Washington, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Arabia

4326. A New Direction for U.S. Policy in the Caspian Region

Author:: Martha Brill Olcott
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: With Washington's influence on the Caspian region at its lowest ebb in many years, the Obama administration could reverse this trend with a new approach that accepts Russia's presence and China's interest as historical and geographical givens and emphasizes short- and medium-term problem solving in multilateral and bilateral settings instead of long-term political and economic transformations. The United States can accomplish more in the Caspian region by focusing on military reform and building security capacity than on forming military alliances. The United States should switch from a multiple pipeline strategy to a policy that advances competition by promoting market pricing for energy producers, consumers, and transit states. The United States could facilitate the introduction of renewable sources of energy as a stimulus to economic recovery and a source of enhanced social security. The United States should develop a nuanced strategy that encourages political development through social and educational programs and local capacity building. The Obama administration should name a high-level official as a presidential envoy to this region.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, China, Washington, and Central Asia

4327. Democracy Promotion Under Obama: Finding a Way Forward

Author:: Thomas Carothers
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The Bush's administration's highly problematic legacy on democracy promotion and general pessimism about the global state of democracy create pressure on the Obama administration to pull the United States substantially back from supporting democracy abroad. Although dissociating U.S. democracy support from the errors of the Bush approach is crucial, a broad realist corrective of U.S. policy is not necessary. The way forward for Obama will be more about changing how the United States goes about supporting democracy abroad than about what emphasis to place on democracy relative to other interests. Cardinal values of Obama's political philosophy and style—non-confrontational, measured, persistent, bipartisan, cooperative, effective, and empowering—provide a natural basis for a new framework to help the United States regain its place as a respected, trusted, and influential ally of democracy around the world.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Democratization, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:: United States

4328. North Caucasus Weekly - Volume X, Issue 11

Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: In this issue: Four Militants Killed in Kabardino-Balkaria Militants and Security Forces Battle in Dagestan General Asks Chechens to Inform on Rebels Briefs Ingush Insurgency Approaches Major CrossroadsBy Mairbek Vatchagaev Exclusive Interview with Anzor Astemirov, March 2009By Fatima Tlisova.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia

4329. Obama Must Lead at Financial Summit; or G-20 Could Become "G-19 + 1"

Author:: Douglas Rediker
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: European Affairs
Institution:: The European Institute
Abstract:: Seeking a global response to the crisis, the U.S. assigns priority to coordinated stimulus. Germany, France and some other European nations emphasize better global financial regulation - perhaps partly to punish Wall Street but also to prevent a recurrence of abuses. Leadership now by Obama is needed on both issues because the world's confidence and trust in U.S.-style capitalism has been shaken.
Topic:: Security and United Nations
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, France, and Germany

4330. Barack Obama and the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: This section is intended to give readers an overview of President-elect Barack Obama's positions on the Middle East peace process as he begins his tenure. The baseline for gauging Obama's views may be his failed 2000 race for Congress. At that time he made statements viewed as pro-Palestinian because they urged the United States to take an "even-handed approach" toward Israeli-Palestinian peace-making. As an Illinois state senator, Obama had cultivated ties with Chicago's Arab American community, which was partly concentrated in his state senate district. He won a U.S. Senate seat in 2004 with significant support from Chicago's Lakeside liberals, who included leading Chicago Jewish Democrats. His position on the Arab-Israeli conflict remained an issue during the 2008 presidential race, however, and Obama made a point of laying out his positions at several points during the campaign, in contrast to his Republican challenger Sen. John McCain, who did not detail his positions.
Topic:: Security and Government
Political Geography:: United States, America, Middle East, Arabia, and Chicago

4331. Resolving Post-Soviet "Frozen Conflicts": Is Regional Integration Helpful?

Author:: Mykola Kapitonenko
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Caucasian Review of International Affairs
Institution:: The Caucasian Review of International Affairs
Abstract:: Regional conflicts are arguably the most disturbing heritage of the USSR. Ironically, they are gradually becoming cornerstones for a renewed foreign policy of Russia. That can have long-lasting consequences: from disrupting regional stability to a massive geopolitical change in a strategically important Black Sea/Caspian region. Regional conflicts are also penetrating the agenda of world politics. The end of pure Westphalian principles of the world order emancipated numerous unprecedented challenges, strengthened by nationalism, separatism, and non-conventional warfare. That created a challenge for political science and conflict studies, a challenge which could be compared and contrasted to the problems once posed by the Cold War. These challenges require a scientific inquiry into the nature of internal conflicts, particularly of the "frozen" ones, as well as the impact they have upon regional security arrangements and methods of conflict management. Recent developments in the Caucasus are a continuation of old problems, which are likely to remain for an undetermined period of time. Coping with those problems is one of the most important tasks not only for the foreign policies of states involved, but also for the whole system of regional security.
Topic:: Security, Cold War, and Politics
Political Geography:: Russia and Caucasus

4332. NATO at 60: A Hollow Alliance

Author:: Ted Galen Carpenter
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization celebrates its 60th birthday, there are mounting signs of trouble within the alliance and reasons to doubt the organization's relevance regarding the foreign policy challenges of the 21st century. Several developments contribute to those doubts. Although NATO has added numerous new members during the past decade, most of them possess minuscule military capabilities. Some of them also have murky political systems and contentious relations with neighboring states, including (and most troubling) a nuclear-armed Russia. Thus, NATO's new members are weak, vulnerable, and provocative—an especially dangerous combination for the United States in its role as NATO's leader.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, NATO, International Cooperation, and International Security
Political Geography:: Russia and North Atlantic

4333. Pakistan and the Future of U.S. Policy

Author:: Malou Innocent
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: A spreading Islamic insurgency engulfs the amorphous and ungoverned border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. After initial victories by the United States and the Northern Alliance in autumn 2001, hundreds of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters fled Afghanistan to seek refuge across the border in Pakistan's rugged northwest. Since 2007, the number of ambushes, militant offensives, and targeted assassinations has risen sharply across Afghanistan, while suicide bombers and pro-Taliban insurgents sweep through settled areas of Pakistan at an alarming pace. For better and for worse, Pakistan will remain the fulcrum of U.S. policy in the region—its leaders continue to provide vital counterterrorism cooperation and have received close to $20 billion in assistance from the United States, yet elements associated with its national intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, covertly assist militant proxy groups destabilizing the region
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, International Cooperation, Islam, and War
Political Geography:: Pakistan, Afghanistan, United States, South Asia, and Asia

4334. Rapid Deployment of Civilians for Peace Operations: Status, Gaps, and Options

Author:: Bruce Jones, Shepard Forman, Jake Sherman, Rahul Chandran, Yoshino Funaki, Anne le More, and Andrew Hart
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:: The May 2008 thematic debate in the UN Security Council debate identified three primary weaknesses in international performance to support stabilization and early recovery from conflict: A strategic gap – there was no evidence of strategy that encompassed political, security, development and humanitarian tools across bilateral and multi-lateral actors, and no framework for prioritization. A financing gap – the instruments of international assistance are neither flexible nor dynamic enough. Further, and specific gaps were identified for: standing capacity for strategic planning at country level; support to political processes and implementation of agreements; funding that is realistic, flexible and responsive; there is a gap in the ability to spend development money early. A series of capacity gaps – in leadership and implementation, in sheer availability of civilian resources, and in purposeful training.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Security, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, United Nations, and International Security

4335. Providing Aid in Insecure Environments: 2009 Update- Trends in violence against aid workers and the operational response

Author:: Abby Stoddard, Adele Harmer, and Victoria DiDomenico
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:: In 2008, 260 humanitarian aid workers were killed, kidnapped or seriously injured in violent attacks. This toll is the highest of the 12 years that our study has tracked these incidents. The absolute number of attacks against aid workers has risen steeply over the past three years, with an annual average almost three times higher than the previous nine years. Relative rates of attacks per numbers of aid workers in the field have also increased — by 61%. The 2008 fatality rate for international aid workers exceeds that of UN peacekeeping troops.
Topic:: Security, Political Violence, Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, and International Organization

4336. The Future of Peacekeeping Operations: Fighting Political Fatigue and Overstretch

Author:: Richard Gowan
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:: In the last sixth months, NATO and the UN have both confronted the possibility that their largest individual peace operations may fail. In Afghanistan, NATO troops have struggled to contain the Taliban. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) the UN was unable to halt rebel attacks that displaced as many as 250,000 people last September.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, International Cooperation, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:: Taliban and Democratic Republic of the Congo

4337. Survey of US Security Sector Reform

Author:: Jake Sherman
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:: This report by Jake Sherman for Safer world provides an overview of the US Government's arrangement for monitoring and evaluating (M) the support it provides to security sector reform. It examines the M systems that already exist for similar types of work as well as looking at any specific treatment given to SSR, before also identifying outstanding needs, challenges and any trends and opportunities that exist for improving M in this area.
Topic:: Security, Government, and Intelligence
Political Geography:: United States

4338. The Purposes of Peace Operations

Author:: William J. Durch and Madeline L. England
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:: Ever since the United Nations started asking its member states, in the late 1940s, for military officers to observe cease-fires and, in the 1950s, for armed troops to monitor borders and supervise force separations, the purposes of these activities have been dictated case by case, heavily influenced by prevailing global and regional politics and by the national interests of countries on the UN Security Council—the five permanent members in particular. Peacekeepers have been deployed to act as fair witnesses (observing and reporting the facts but without the duty or ability to alter the situation on the ground other than through such reporting); as referees of a peace accord (judging compliance but relying on larger powers to enforce it); as “police” (impartially enforcing an accord through their own authority and means in the short term, using force as necessary, minimally and proportionately, but leaving the long-term verdicts and results to others); as state-builders (in collaboration with the local parties, shifting primary emphasis from security to development as circumstances and local capacity permit); or as state surrogates (responsible for reconstruction of the apparatus of governance, and for governing until such apparatus, and the human capacity to run it, can be prepared to supplant such outside support).
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, Cold War, International Organization, Non-Governmental Organization, Peace Studies, and United Nations

4339. Strengthening Security Sector Governance in West Africa

Author:: Jake Sherman
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:: The Center for International Cooperation's Security Sector Reform project, funded by the Royal Government of Norway, undertook a comparative study of legislative oversight of security sector reform (SSR) in West Africa during 2008.
Topic:: Security, Civil War, and Democratization
Political Geography:: Africa

4340. The Afghan National Development Strategy: The Right Plan at the Wrong Time?

Author:: Jake Sherman
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:: In 2005, the Government of Afghanistan initiated a process leading to the formulation of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS). The ANDS was formally launched at the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan in Paris on June 12, 2008. According to the Paris Conference Declaration, the strategy will be the “roadmap for joint action [by donors and the Afghan government] over the next five years and sets our shared priorities.”
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Development, and War
Political Geography:: Afghanistan

4341. Challenges and Prospects for the EU's Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: Recommendations to the European Commission for the Stockholm Programme

Author:: Sergio Carrera, Elspeth Guild, and Anaïs Faure Atger
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: The upcoming Swedish presidency of the EU will be in charge of adopting the next multiannual programme on an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ), during its tenure in the second half of 2009. As the successor of the 2004 Hague Programme, it has already been informally baptised as the Stockholm Programme and will present the EU's policy roadmap and legislative timetable over these policies for the next five years. It is therefore a critical time to reflect on the achievements and shortcomings affecting the role that the European Commission's Directorate-General of Justice, Freedom and Security (DG JFS) has played during the last five years in light of the degree of policy convergence achieved so far. This Working Document aims at putting forward a set of policy recommendations for the DG JFS to take into consideration as it develops and consolidates its future policy strategies, while duly ensuring the legitimacy and credibility of the EU's AFSJ within and outside Europe.
Topic:: Security, International Law, International Organization, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:: Europe

4342. Cyberspace and the National Security of the United Kingdom: Threats and Responses

Author:: Paul Cornish, Rex Hughes, and David Livingstone
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: Cyberspace and the National Security of the United Kingdom provides a general overview of the problem of cybersecurity. The aim of the report is to inform debate and to make the case for a more coherent, comprehensive and anticipatory policy response, both nationally and internationally. In every area, society is becoming increasingly dependent upon information and communications technology (ICT). With dependency come exposure and vulnerability to misuse, criminality and even attack. Criminals and extremists are able to take advantage of the same 'global technological commons' upon which society is becoming so dependent. Cybersecurity has become a fast-moving and complex security challenge, one which requires a coordinated, agile and mutually reinforcing response from all those who benefit from the global ICT infrastructure.
Topic:: Security, Crime, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:: United Kingdom and Europe

4343. North Africa: The Hidden Risks to Regional Stability

Author:: Claire Spencer
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: North Africa may not be as stable as it looks: socio-economic and political pressures are fracturing the consensus between governments and governed and may overtake terrorism and criminality as the region's main destabilizing forces. With political leadership in the region effectively a lifelong position, the growth of authoritarianism is undermining the prospects for achieving political and economic liberalization. Despite the worsening global economic climate, a window of opportunity exists to accelerate socially sensitive and productive domestic investment and open space for greater autonomous political and economic development. Success depends on renegotiating the social contracts on which North Africa's states are based. A broadening of participation, above all through the extension of legal employment, targeted investment on education, health and skills, and the establishment of independent legal and regulatory frameworks, will go some way towards addressing socio-economic stresses. A change in the political environment, however, requires a re-evaluation of how the region's security climate is seen from outside, with adjustments in the kind of support given to regional governments by its key international partners, the European Union and the United States.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Islam, and International Security
Political Geography:: Africa, United States, and Arabia

4344. Controversies over missile defense in Europe

Author:: Raimo Väyrynen
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:: The plan to deploy an anti-missile system in Central Europe has been one of the most controversial security policy issues in the past few years. The Bush Administration pushed hard for the deployment of the radar site in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland, largely because it would provide an additional layer in the global anti-ballistic missile defense of the United States. In both of these countries, public opinion has been against the deployments and the governments have had to negotiate between external and internal pressures pushing them in different policy directions. Russia has been adamantly opposed to the missile defense plan, issuing both threats and suggesting alternative ways to diminish the threat that the United States feels from Iran. The result has been a political stalemate that has further complicated otherwise tense relations between Moscow and Washington, D.C. With the arrival of the Obama Administration, there is a pause in the missile dispute, but no permanent resolution of the conflict is in sight.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, Security, Defense Policy, Nuclear Weapons, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, Iran, Washington, Poland, Moscow, and Czech Republic

4345. West Africa: Governance and Security in a Changing Region

Author:: Abdel-Fatau Musah
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Peace Institute
Abstract:: This paper addresses the challenges to human and regional security in the territory covered by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It examines causal factors and their effects, profiles the actors shaping the security environment, and describes the nature and impacts of their interventions. Finally, it projects possible future scenarios based on the current security dynamics. The paper examines the geopolitical environment of West Africa, with emphasis on the strategic importance of the region and the vulnerabilities emanating from its location. Within this context, it discusses the roles of local, regional, and international actors in the evolving regional security architecture, sifting through their actions, motivations, and interventions. It analyzes the attempts by national, regional, and international institutions to transform the security environment, highlighting their roles, strengths, and weaknesses; and it projects various security scenarios, proposing policy options to meet the challenges that these scenarios present.
Topic:: Security, Development, Government, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: Africa

4346. Transnational Organized Crime

Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Peace Institute
Abstract:: Transnational organized crime (TOC) is no longer the sole preserve of specialist criminal organizations. It is now an essential strategy for armed groups around the world, and a source of funding for terrorists, corrupt politicians, warlords, and rogue governments. But states and international organizations have largely failed to anticipate the evolution of TOC into a strategic threat to governments, societies, and economies. At the international level, an outdated understanding of TOC does not adequately contemplate the strategic impact of TOC and fails to ensure that peace efforts and crime fighting are not working at cross-purposes.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Crime, International Law, Peace Studies, War on Drugs, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

4347. Private Military and Security Companies: A Framework for Regulation

Author:: James Cockayne and Emily Speers Mears
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Peace Institute
Abstract:: In late 2008, seventeen states, including the US, UK, China, Iraq, and Afghanistan, endorsed the Montreux Document on Pertinent International Legal Obligations and Good Practices for States Related to Operations of Private Military and Security Companies During Armed Conflict. This provides important guidance to states in regulating Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs). But there is a need to do more, to provide increased guidance to industry and ensure standards are enforced.
Topic:: Security, International Law, Privatization, Treaties and Agreements, and War
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, United States, China, Iraq, and United Kingdom

4348. Tomorrow's Institution Today

Author:: Amitai Etzioni
Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: Old international institutions must be updated to tackle transnational challenges. The most promising model for doing so is the Proliferation Security Initiative, a recent cooperative effort to interdict weapons of mass destruction.
Topic:: Security and Government
Political Geography:: United States, Middle East, and North Korea

4349. The Key to Kiev: Ukraine's Security Means Europe's Stability

Author:: Adrian Karatnycky and Alexander J. Motyl
Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The recent deterioration in relations between Russia and Ukraine should be of great concern to the West, because Ukraine's security is critical to Europe's stability. Ukraine must be placed back on the policy agenda as a player in its own right.
Topic:: Security and Economics
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Ukraine

4350. Just and Durable Peace by Piece European Union 7 th Framework Programme

Author:: Olga Martin-Ortega, Chandra Lekha Sriram, and Johanna Herman
Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre on Human Rights in Conflict
Abstract:: Following the end of violent conflicts, whether by military victory or negotiated settlement, international actors such as the European Union and the United Nations play an increasing role in peacebuilding, through a range of security, governance, and development activities. These may or may not be mandated by a peace agreement or other formal settlement, and may or may not follow or work in tandem with a peacekeeping mission. International, regional, national, and local actors may work in a more or less collaborative, or coherent fashion. Nonetheless, many of the key challenges of peacebuilding remain the same, and a familiar set of policies and strategies have emerged in contemporary practice to address these. Chief among the challenges of contemporary peacebuilding is that of addressing demands for some form of accountability, often termed transitional justice (discussed in section 3). However, as this guidance paper explains, the demands of transitional justice and its relation to broader peacebuilding activities, involve not just decisions about accountability, but a complex set of policy and institutional choices about security and governance as well. Thus, this guidance paper examines peacebuilding and transitional justice as a set of linked policies and strategies regarding not just accountability, but security sector reform (SSR), disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants, and development of the rule of law.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, Political Violence, Government, Peace Studies, United Nations, and War
Political Geography:: Europe

4351. The Canadian Oil Sands: Energy Security vs. Climate Change

Author:: Michael A. Levi
Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: Half a decade of high and volatile oil prices alongside increasingly dire warnings of climatic disaster have pushed energy security and climate change steadily up the U.S. policy agenda. Rhetoric in Washington has emphasized opportunities to deal with both challenges at once. But energy security and climate change do not always align: many important decisions in areas including unconventional oil, biofuels, natural gas, coal, and nuclear power will involve complex trade-offs and force policymakers to carefully navigate the two goals. Ongoing and heated debates in the United States and Canada over the future of the Canadian oil sands—touted at once as an energy security godsend and a climate change disaster—highlight that tension and emphasize the need to intelligently address it.
Topic:: Security, Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Oil
Political Geography:: United States, Washington, and Canada

4352. The Virtuous Twins: Protecting Human Rights and Improving Security in Colombia

Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: Over seven years, the government of President Álvaro Uribe has produced important security gains, but these have been accompanied by serious human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law (IHL). Colombia is still not close to the end of its armed conflict. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN), paramilitary successors and new illegal armed groups (NIAGs) – all responsible for multiple atrocities against civilians – can survive with drug financing and, to a degree, due to the state's inability to extend its legitimate presence into many rural areas. To move toward lasting peace, the Uribe administration must not only maintain its security achievements but also urgently improve its security policy by addressing serious human rights issues and expanding the rule of law and national reach of the state's civilian institutions. Holding to account senior military involved in extrajudicial killings is a first step but insufficient to curb abuses. International cooperation should focus on supporting the fight to end impunity and protect basic rights.
Topic:: Security, Democratization, and Human Rights
Political Geography:: Latin America

4353. After the 2008 Russia-Georgia War: Implications for the Wider Caucasus and Prospects for Western Involvement in Conflict Resolution

Author:: Nona Mikhelidze
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Following the war between Georgia and Russia in August 2008 and the ensuing Russian recognition of independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the Caucasus has risen again on the Euro-Atlantic security agenda. First, the war highlighted that the “frozen” nature of the South Caucasus conflicts was a chimera, even if the war may have entrenched further the frozen nature of peace processes in the region. Second, the crisis generated new sources of instability for the entire post-Soviet space, not only because it highlighted a new form of Russian revisionism but also because it brought to the fore the limits of Western policies in what Kremlin views as its sphere of influence. The war brought to the forefront the colliding foreign policy agendas of the major external actors in the region. Not only in the run-up to the war, but also in the months and years preceding it, the American and European responses to Russia have been firm in rhetoric but compromising in reality. Russia made it clear that it has it own claims over the South Caucasus, it demonstrated its readiness to embark on military confrontation in order to achieve its goals, and through the war it wished to make crystal clear to the international community that Moscow is the only game in town. Third and related, the war exposed the inability of the West to prevent Russia from moving aggressively to restore its primacy over the former Soviet Union's territory. Thus the August war posed new implications and challenges not only for Georgia, but also for the wider Caucasus and beyond. This new context has induced the West to react and redefine its strategy towards the region and its relations with Russia, it has raised the urgency to engage in conflict resolution issues, and it has highlighted further the need for energy diversification.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, and War
Political Geography:: Russia, America, Europe, Moscow, and Abkhazia

4354. The Obama Administration and Implications for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East

Author:: Scott Carpenter
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Abstract:: The Obama administration marks the return of a so-called "realist" approach and an intentional downplaying of President Bush's vision of an America that would use its power actively to advance freedom around the world. Few will lament the demise of Bush's "Freedom Agenda," which came to be seen as dangerous naivete which risked the stability of the region and with it Israel's security. The height of folly was the Palestinian elections in January 2006 when, in contradiction to the Oslo Accords, Hamas was allowed to compete and ultimately win without laying down its weapons. Too late, the administration recognized it could no longer take the risk of bringing potentially hostile forces to power through democratic elections. Unfortunately, neither approach addresses the structural and demographic time bombs in the region. A youth "bulge" requires the creation of 100 million new jobs by 2010, according to the World Bank. Yet if economic reform is to be advanced and sustained, democratic development must also take place. The U.S. government can use Arab governments' insecurity regarding Iran as leverage to encourage real reform. This is particularly true for Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia - now engaged in the ideological fight of their lives with Iran and its reactionary allies. Only by establishing a new bargain with these regimes that stresses the need for them to respect internal civil and political rights, while forging a joint response to the reactionary threat, can the U.S. offer a true alternative to theocratic and minority rule. This is not to say that democratic and economic reform need be the priority for the West, but it must remain a priority, if otherwise intractable problems which pose a longer-term national security threat are to be addressed. Allowing autocrats to continue to get away with inaction will simply make the coming tidal wave of Iranian-style revolutions larger and more damaging, placing Israel's existence in even greater jeopardy than it is now.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, Foreign Policy, and Democratization
Political Geography:: United States, Middle East, and Egypt

4355. Oversight or Overlooked? Civil Society\'s Role in Monitoring and Reforming Security Systems and the Practice of Counterterrorism

Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
Abstract:: This report considers civil society\'s role in monitoring Security System Reform (SSR) and counterterrorism both in policy and in practice. It argues that civil society engagement, particularly with local actors, is central to ensuring proper civilian oversight and the overall effectiveness of both SSR and counterterrorism efforts and examines how efforts to engage civil society may be improved.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Terrorism, and Counterinsurgency

4356. Europe's External Energy Policy and Turkey's Accession Process

Author:: Ali Tekin and Paul A. Williams
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:: This article analyzes the role of Turkey in the European Union's energy security and its implications for the Turkish accession process. The EU is increasingly interested in diversifying its imports of energy, as well as the transit routes for these imported supplies. Extant and future projects to secure energy supplies from Russia, the Caspian and the Middle East indicate quite persuasively that Turkey has become more crucial to the attainment of the EU external energy policy objectives. However, Turkey may have reached the limits of its willingness to cooperate on energy security without more decisive EU reciprocation of Turkey's own EU membership efforts. In the short run, Turkey is not essential to the EU, but in the longer run, as European energy needs become more pressing, the EU may have to give more serious consideration to Turkey's accession.
Topic:: Security and Energy Policy
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Turkey, and Middle East

4357. On Vital Systems Security

Author:: Stephen Collier and Andrew Lakoff
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs
Abstract:: This paper outlines some elements of the genealogy of vital systems security. Vital systems security is a way of “problematizing” threats to security that can be contrasted to the forms of sovereign state security and population security that Michel Foucault famously analyzed in his lectures on governmentality. Vital systems security takes up events that are uncertain and unpreventable but potentially catastrophic. Its object of protection is the complex of critical systems or networks on which modern economies and polities depend. Vital systems security is, thus, linked to the idea that the very success of industrial and social modernity in managing risks has in fact generated new risks.
Topic:: Security, Government, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: United States

4358. Caught in the Conflict: Civilians and the international security strategy in Afghanistan

Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The intensification and spread of the conflict in Afghanistan is increasingly affecting civilians. In 2008 there were over 2,100 civilian casualties, 55% of which were caused by militants. Despite steps to reduce civilian casualties, international military forces (IMF) caused 552 civilian deaths through airstrikes in 2008, which is up by 72% on 2007. IMF have also carried out or supported raids and search operations, a large number of which have involved an excessive use of force, including loss of life, physical assault, dam age to property and theft, as well as aggressive and improper treatment of women. Such conduct not only generates anger and mistrust towards foreign troops, but is steadily eroding popular support for the international presence in the country. Furthermore, many individuals detained by Afghan and US forces are held for long periods without charge or trial, and there are allegations of mistreatment and torture.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, Human Rights, and War
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, United States, and Central Asia

4359. Foreign policy fusion: Liberal interventionists, conservative nationalists and neoconservatives — the new alliance dominating the US foreign policy establishment

Author:: Inderjeet Parmar
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Politics
Institution:: Palgrave Macmillan
Abstract:: Several tendencies in US foreign policy politics generated a new foreign policy consensus set to outlast the Bush administration. Three developments are analysed: increasing influence of conservative organizations - such as the Heritage Foundation, and of neoconservatism; and, particularly, democratic peace theory-inspired liberal interventionism. 9-11 fused those three developments, though each tendency retained its 'sphere of action': Right and Left appear to have forged an historically effective ideology of global intervention, an enduring new configuration of power. This paper analyses a key liberal interventionists' initiative - the Princeton Project on National Security - that sits at the heart of thinking among centrists, liberal and conservative alike. This paper also assesses the efficacy of the new consensus by exploring the foreign policy positions and advisers of President-elect Barack Obama and his defeated Republican rival, Senator John McCain, concluding that the new president is unlikely significantly to change US foreign policy.
Topic:: Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:: United States

4360. Whither The Bush Doctrine? Out of sync: Bush's expanded national security state and the war on terror

Author:: Robert G Patman
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Politics
Institution:: Palgrave Macmillan
Abstract:: The US national security state was fashioned at the beginning of the Cold War to contain the global threat of the rival superpower, the Soviet Union. However, this security framework did not wither away with the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the USSR. The events of September 11 starkly exposed the limitations of a state-centric approach to international security in a globalizing world. But the Bush administration falsely assumed that the traumatic events of 9/11 came out of a clear blue sky, and that a rejuvenated national security state would eventually overwhelm the 'new' threat of terrorism. The dangers of persisting in this direction were shown by the US-led invasion of Iraq. Far from closing the gap between the US approach to security and the operation environment of a post-Cold War world, Bush's war on terror undermined the international reputation of the US and presented the American taxpayer with a huge and probably unsustainable burden. All this highlighted the need for a more multilateral direction in US security policy in the post-Bush era. Such an approach would not only correspond better to the realities of today's interconnected world, but also serve as a buffer against the extension of the power of government that had been witnessed in America during the Bush years.
Topic:: Security, Cold War, and Terrorism
Political Geography:: United States, Iraq, America, and Soviet Union

4361. The North–South divide and security in the Western Hemisphere: United States–South American relations after September 11 and the Iraq war

Author:: Mario E Carranza
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Politics
Institution:: Palgrave Macmillan
Abstract:: This paper examines the economics-security nexus in US policy toward South America, and the implications for South America of the 'securitization' of US foreign economic policy during the Bush administration. There has always been a tight linkage between the US foreign economic and security agendas but the real issue is the degree of 'tightness' at a given point in time. After the Alliance for Progress lost its way the United States tended to pursue its economic and security interests in South America in separate tracks, even if preventing Soviet intrusions in the region remained in the background. Yet after the collapse of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations in 2004 a US strategy of 'divide and conquer' through bilateral trade deals has been accompanied by a 'securitization' discourse and there are some indications that it may 'securitize' as a new threat the social movements and neopopulist regimes that oppose neoliberal economic policies. The paper discusses the limits of the securitization thesis. The conclusion examines the future of US-South American relations and argues that the United States needs to renew its commitment to genuine multilateralism and re-engage the region to establish an effective and lasting partnership for dealing with common economic and security challenges in the twenty-first century.
Topic:: Security and War
Political Geography:: United States, Iraq, America, and South America

4362. Peace as governance? Critical challenges to power-sharing peace deals

Author:: Chandra Lekha Sriram
Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre on Human Rights in Conflict
Abstract:: Power-sharing may involve not only political power-sharing, but shared governance over economic resources or the security sector, and in some cases territorial autonomy arrangements. There are at least five critical challenges to negotiating a peace agreement involving power-sharing: Mistrust may outweigh the influence of the power- sharing incentives offered. The third-party guarantee needed to overcome mistrust is not available. The incentives that are offered may not be the right ones. If there are no measures to address the original causes of conflict, incentives may not be enough. Incentives cannot induce so-called spoilers to participate in a peace process. There are far more potential challenges to implementing power-sharing agreements in practice: Agreements may be violated because incentives were insufficient or can be obtained more easily outside the agreement. Agreement fails because a group was less interested in, or unable to reap the benefits of, specific incentives. Old patterns of mistrust and cheating are imported into governance processes and state institutions. Instead of creating a grand coalition, power-sharing may create incentives for extremism and ethnic or hardliner outbidding. Incentives such as territorial autonomy may encourage secessionist tendencies. Parties may have committed to agreement out of short-term pragmatism rather than long term interest or policy. Exclusion of groups from benefits may encourage new grievances and even conflicts. Competition may turn violent amongst former allies. Violent regions or the interference of neighbouring states may undermine agreements.
Topic:: Security, Economics, Peace Studies, Treaties and Agreements, and Governance
Political Geography:: Sudan and Sri Lanka

4363. Georgia-Russia: Still Insecure and Dangerous

Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: Ten months after the “August war” between Georgia and Russia, violent incidents and the lack of an effective security regime in and around the conflict zones of South Ossetia and Abkhazia create a dangerous atmosphere in which extensive fighting could again erupt. Russia has not complied with key aspects of the cease-fire agreements that President Medvedev reached in August/September 2008 with French President Sarkozy in his then EU presidency role. Its 15 June Security Council veto of an extension of the sixteen-year-old UN observer mission mandate in Georgia and Abkhazia and its apparent intention to require the removal of the mission of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) by the end of the month are blows to regional security that will further fuel tensions. Most of the on-the-ground conflict resolution machinery is thus being dismantled. Moscow should review its counterproductive position and work for a reasonable compromise allowing the UN and OSCE monitors to continue their important work.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, and War
Political Geography:: Russia, Eastern Europe, Moscow, Georgia, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia

4364. The Role of the Ministerial Advisor in Security Sector Reform: Navigating Institutional Terrains

Author:: Liz Panarelli
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:: International actors in Security Sector Reform (SSR) are increasingly taking on roles as “advisors” to Ministries of Interior, Defense, and Justice. Rather than directly implement changes necessary for SSR, these advisors must persuasively articulate suggestions to their local counterparts. Advisors' success depends on their ability to convey recommendations in a manner that makes change acceptable to their advisees. Ministerial and governmental advising is not the exclusive purview of any one entity. Rather, advising is undertaken by a diverse range of individuals from U.S. and foreign governments, militaries, NGOs, private contractors, and U.N. agencies. These actors have correspondingly diverse objectives and approaches to SSR; without coordination or consensus on SSR programming, advisors may find themselves working at cross - purposes. Furthermore, the multiplicity of advisors and institutions makes sharing best practices and improving over time and across conflicts extremely difficult.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, and Government
Political Geography:: United States

4365. Guinea-Bissau: Beyond Rule of the Gun

Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: The assassinations of the chief of defence staff, General Batista Tagme Na Wai, on 1 March 2009 and Presi- dent Joao Bernardo Nino Vieira early the next day have plunged Guinea-Bissau into deep uncertainty. National Assembly Speaker Raimundo Pereira was quickly sworn in as interim president pending the election the constitution requires. That the killings occurred only months after the acclaimed November parliamentary elections, however, indicates that, in current circumstances, the democratic process cannot cope with the rule of the gun, as well as the extent to which the military's use of force has overwhelmed state institutions. Without outside help to end military involvement in politics and impunity, it may be impossible to halt a slide into further violence. Elites need to stand up to the military, but they require support. The international community should work for an international or hybrid commission of inquiry into the killings. Security system reform needs to be improve d by better international coordination and creation of a national commission with enhanced autonomy.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, and Political Violence
Political Geography:: Africa and Guinea-Bissau

4366. Afghanistan's Election Challenges

Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: Afghanistan's forthcoming elections, with presidential and provincial council polls on 20 August 2009, and National Assembly and district elections scheduled for 2010, present a formidable challenge if they are to produce widely accepted and credible results. The weakness of state institutions, the deteriorating security situation and the fractured political scene are all highlighted by – and will likely have a dramatic effect on – the electoral process. The years since the last poll saw the Afghan government and international community fail to embed a robust electoral framework and drive democratisation at all levels. This has made holding truly meaningful elections much more difficult. Rather than once again running the polls merely as distinct events, the enormous resources and attention focused on the elections should be channelled into strengthening political and electoral institutions, as a key part of the state-building efforts required to produce a stable country.
Topic:: Security, Democratization, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:: Afghanistan

4367. Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing: The next-generation Internet's impact on business, governance and social interaction

Author:: J.D. Lasica
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Aspen Institute
Abstract:: Identity—the very essence of who we are and how we interact with others— is in the middle of a period of extraordinary tumult. The Internet and a host of new communications technologies have transformed the concept of identity and redefined our relationships to businesses, governments and constantly churning networks of friends and peers.
Topic:: Security, Globalization, Intelligence, and Science and Technology

4368. U.S. National Security and Global Health: An Analysis of Global Health Engagement by the U.S. Department of Defense

Author:: Eugene V. Bonventre, Kathleen H. Hicks, and Stacy M. Okutani
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Despite a broadening consensus that global health care efforts have an impact on national and global security, the U.S. national security community's efforts to address global health are weak and uncoordinated. The 2006 National Security Strategy states that “development reinforces diplomacy and defense, reducing long-term threats to our national security by helping to build stable, prosperous, and peaceful societies.” While the U.S. government struggles to find the right balance among the “three Ds” of defense, diplomacy, and development, the U.S. military has increased its involvement in global health where it perceives the diplomacy and development to be under resourced—or to achieve its own specific objectives. As efforts to renew the capabilities of civilian agencies proceed, it is an appropriate time to step back and consider the role that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) currently plays in glob al health, the impact of its health activities on national and regional security, and the role it could play to support a newly balanced U.S. foreign policy.
Topic:: Security and Health
Political Geography:: United States

4369. Organizing for a Complex World: The Way Ahead

Author:: David J. Berteau, Guy Ben-Ari, and Matthew Zlatnik
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Complex defense and network-centric systems have proven to be difficult to develop on time and on budget, a consequence of the complexity inherent in both the systems and the acquisition environment. Complexity in turn results from non-linear, unpredictable interaction of elements combined in new ways, in order to try to create unique capabilities. Complex development programs pose governance and management challenges for a range of systems-integration models, and it is difficult to know in advance the program-management model most suitable for a given program. This paper proposes ways to measure or assess success in managing complex programs. It also addresses ways that the challenge of picking the proper development model can be partially bypassed, by seeking to cultivate flexibility and resiliency (F) within the organization. Through the ability to understand and adapt to changes in the internal and external environments, a program-management organization can thrive in a development environment in which unanticipated events will certainly occur.
Topic:: Security, Development, Globalization, and International Cooperation

4370. China-US Relations, Tending Towards Maturity

Author:: Huang Ping, Tao Wenzhao, Wang Rongjun, Yuan Zheng, and Zhao Xingshu
Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The China-US relationship is one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world, and it is progressively maturing. Non-traditional security threats are expanding the shared interests of China and the US. The two countries have developed more realistic views of each other than they had decades ago, and this is making military relations more practical. The two are also interdependent in the economic realm, whether they like it or not, and therefore must work together to succeed in handling the current economic crisis. Connected to this economic challenge is that of climate change, an issue which the US must handle wisely in its relations with China. In addition, traditional security and peace issues will remain important, some even sensitive and difficult, in relations in the near future. The better relationship which China and the US are moving towards will contribute substantially not only to bilateral relations but also to global peace and order.
Topic:: Security and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:: United States and China

4371. Dilemmas of the 'Middle Continent': Russian strategy for Eastern Eurasia

Author:: David Kerr
Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Russia did not join the West, nor did it join the East. Russia's commitment to its strategic autonomy and independent foreign and security policy requires the preservation of a 'middle continent' that bridges and transcends Europe and Asia. Russia pursues a restorationist strategy for Eurasia but faces a three-way struggle: for its own autonomy as a great power; for resistance to absorption within the US-centred system of common strategic space; and for management of the dynamics between the emergent powers through negotiation between strategic partnerships and regionalisms. This article examines these dilemmas in relation to Eastern Eurasia, and in particular the Sino-Russian relationship.
Topic:: Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Eurasia, and Asia

4372. A New Arms Race in the Asia-Pacific?

Author:: Richard A. Bitzinger
Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Many countries in the Asia-Pacific, enabled by rising defence budgets and aggressive marketing by major arms-producing states, have since the middle of the 1990s greatly expanded their war fighting capacities beyond the mere modernisation of their armed forces. While such purchases are intended to aid deterrence and defence, they may have the unintended consequences of undermining regional security and stability by contributing to arms races or arms competitions leading to a classical 'security dilemma'. Considering that the Asia-Pacific is still a region of considerable potential conflict, the logic of such arms purchases can be called into question.
Topic:: Security
Political Geography:: Asia

4373. U.S. Immigration Policy

Author:: Jeb Bush and Thomas McLarty
Publication Date:: 07-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The United States, a country shaped by generations of immigrants and their descendants, is badly mishandling its immigration policy, with serious consequences for its standing in the world. The urgency of this issue has led the Council on Foreign Relations to convene an Independent Task Force to deal with what is ordinarily regarded as a domestic policy matter. America's openness to and respect for immigrants has long been a foundation of its economic and military strength, and a vital tool in its diplomatic arsenal. With trade, technology, and travel continuing to shrink the world, the manner in which the United States handles immigration will be increasingly important to American foreign policy in the future. The Task Force believes that the continued failure to devise and implement a sound and sustainable immigration policy threatens to weaken America's economy, to jeopardize its diplomacy, and to imperil its national security.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Immigration
Political Geography:: United States and America

4374. Tehran's Take

Author:: Mohsen M. Milani
Publication Date:: 07-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: Summary -- Iran's foreign policy is often portrayed in sensationalistic terms, but in reality it is a rational strategy meant to ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic against what Tehran thinks is an existential threat posed by the United States.
Topic:: Security
Political Geography:: United States, Iran, and Tehran

4375. The Real War in Mexico

Author:: Shannon O'Neil
Publication Date:: 07-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: Summary -- Hysteria over bloodshed in Mexico clouds the real challenge: the rising violence is a product of democratization -- and the only real solution is to continue strengthening Mexican democracy.
Topic:: Security and Government
Political Geography:: United States, Iraq, and Mexico

4376. Oversight or Overlooked? Civil Society's Role in Monitoring and Reforming Security Systems and the Practice of Counterterrorism

Author:: Alistair Millar
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Fourth Freedom Forum
Abstract:: This report considers civil society's role in monitoring Security System Reform (SSR) and counterterrorism both in policy and in practice. The report argues that civil society engagement, particularly with local actors, is central to ensuring proper civilian oversight and the overall effectiveness of both SSR and counterterrorism efforts and examines how efforts to engage civil society may be improved.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Terrorism, United Nations, and Counterinsurgency

4377. Central Asia Seminars 1st GCSP-OSCE Academy Seminar: "Central Asia 2008"

Author:: Selbi Hanova
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:: On 22-23 September 2008, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Academy, Bishkek, organised a forum for security policy experts from Eurasia, East and South-East Asia, Europe and the United States, to analyse and discuss the continued interaction of key regional security dynamics and functional issues in Central Asia over 2008. A series of panels identified major emergent themes, linkages and trends, and reflected on their strategic impact and security policy implications. The focus included panels on the Afghan factor and Georgian crisis in Central Asian security politics, energy geopolitics, the role of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the region, as well as US and Russian policies towards Central Asia. The seminar highlighted and analysed some of the key security tendencies and practical aspects of security in the region including emerging trends and themes, their interplay and contradictions as well as their likely strategic influence and consequences.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution and Security
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, Europe, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia

4378. Fighting the Pre-eminent Threats with Intelligence-led Operations

Author:: Fred Schreier
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This paper discusses the role of intelligence, intelligence services and intelligenceled operations as crucial components of the efforts to counter the new risks, dangers and threats to states and their population.
Topic:: Security, Cold War, Intelligence, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe and United Nations

4379. Conflict Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect

Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Peace Institute
Abstract:: The multilateral system has struggled to respond to the changing nature of conflict and its increasingly brutal effects on civilians. Countless eloquent speeches have been made and ink spilled on the urgent need to prevent conflict and protect civilians. Yet the gulf between rhetoric and reality is still unacceptably wide.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and War

4380. Weapons of Mass Destruction

Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Peace Institute
Abstract:: The spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) remains a key challenge to international peace and security. Yet the member states of the United Nations are still deeply divided on how to meet this challenge.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, Security, Defense Policy, Nuclear Weapons, War, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:: United Nations

4381. Small Arms and Light Weapons

Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Peace Institute
Abstract:: Small arms and light weapons (SALW) enable and facilitate armed conflict, terrorism, and crime. Today, they remain among the cheapest and most easily accessible instruments for participating in violence. Despite our understanding of the threat posed by SALW to peace and security, development and human rights, deep-rooted differences remain on how to stem their ill effects, in particular the passage of weapons from the licit realm to the illicit. Even the domestic passage of SALW to the illicit realm can, ultimately, have transnational effects, fueling conflict, crime, and terrorism.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, Security, War, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

4382. America's Security Role in a Changing World: A Global Strategic Assessment

Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Academy of Political Science
Abstract:: Over the coming decade and beyond, the United States and the international community will face enormously complex security challenges and threats, some of which are not traditionally viewed as security issues. Given the emerging nature of and interdependencies between these threats and challenges, world leaders are increasingly operating in terra incognito.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, and Defense Policy
Political Geography:: United States

4383. China's National Defense in 2008 Panel Discussion Report

Author:: Dr.Alison A. Kaufma
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Academy of Political Science
Abstract:: On February 6, 2009, CNA China Studies and the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University convened a panel discussion on China's sixth defense white paper, which had been released by Beijing on January 20, 2009. The following are the main observations that emerged from that roundtable.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, and War
Political Geography:: China, Beijing, and Asia

4384. Congo : Une Strategie Globale Pour Desarmer Les Fdlr

Publication Date:: 07-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: L'offensive militaire conduite conjointement par la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) et le Rwanda contre les rebelles hutu rwandais s'est conclue sur un bilan mitigé. Quinze ans après le génocide rwandais et leur établissement à l'Est du Congo, ces rebelles n'ont toujours pas été désarmés et restent à l'origine de violences extrêmes perpétrées contre la population civile. Bien qu'elle n'ait plus les capacités militaires de déstabiliser le Rwanda, leur troupe forte de plus de 6 000 combattants – parmi lesquels se trouvent encore des génocidaires – continue de représenter un obstacle politique majeur à la consolidation de la paix dans la région des Grands Lacs. L'Est du Congo ne pourra être stabilisé sans que ces rebelles ne soient désarmés et démobilisés.
Topic:: Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Peace Studies, and War

4385. Building on Brahimi: Peacekeeping in an era of Strategic Uncertainty

Author:: Richard Gowan, Bruce Jones, and Jake Sherman
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:: The politics of peacekeeping: crisis and opportunity. United Nations peace operations face an extended and dangerous period of strategic uncertainty. A series of setbacks have coincided with military overstretch and the financial crisis, raising the risk that UN peacekeeping may contract, despite high demand.
Topic:: Security, Peace Studies, United Nations, and Financial Crisis

4386. Protecting Civilians and Protecting Ideas: Institutional Challenges to the Protection of Civilians

Author:: Benjamin de Carvalho and Jon Harald Sande Lie
Publication Date:: 07-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:: Although the Protection of Civilians (PoC) today is largely embedded in the UN system as a whole, there are a number of issues still critical to address at the institutional level for the PoC to inform a shared culture of protection effectively. These include addressing the extent to which preparations for civilian protection are an integral component of mission planning, and whether protection activities are part of the mission's mandate per se or a mere part of its many tasks. Also of key concern is the extent to which operational capacity is achieved and designed to enhance protection.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Human Rights, and United Nations

4387. Back from the Brink? A Strategy for Stabilizing Afghanistan-Pakistan

Author:: Thomas R. Pickering and Barnett Rubin
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Asia Society
Abstract:: The governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan are at risk from a combination of violent insurgency, loss of public confidence, and economic crisis. These trends threaten not only the loss of control by the Afghan and Pakistani governments, but also the spread of terrorist safe havens and, in the most extreme situation, the loss of control over some of Pakistan's nuclear weapons or materials.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, Political Violence, Islam, Terrorism, War, and Counterinsurgency
Political Geography:: Pakistan and Afghanistan

4388. Asia's Next Challenge: Securing the Region's Water Future

Author:: Tommy Koh (Chairman)
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Asia Society
Abstract:: The global demand for freshwater is soaring as supply is becoming more uncertain. Today, one out of six people—more than a billion—do not have adequate access to safe water. The United Nations projects that by 2025, half of the countries worldwide will face water stress or outright shortages. By 2050, as many as three out of four people around the globe could be affected by water scarcity.
Topic:: Security, Water, Food, and Famine
Political Geography:: Israel, Asia, and Australia/Pacific

4389. Preventing Conflict Over Kurdistan

Author:: Henri J. Barkey
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The consequences of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq will doubtless be debated for years to come. One result, however, is already clear: the long suppressed nationalist aspirations of the Kurdish people now dispersed across four states—Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria—have been aroused, perhaps irrevocably, by the war. Already in Iraq, Kurdish regions, which have benefited from Saddam Hussein's overthrow, have consolidated themselves into a federal region. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is a reality and a force for further Kurdish empowerment as it seeks to incorporate other Kurdish-majority areas and the oil-rich Kirkuk province in particular into its domain. The KRG's existence and demands have already alarmed all of Iraq's neighbors and the Baghdad government. The issues are far from being settled. If ignored or badly handled, Kurdish aspirations have the potential to cause considerable instability and violence in Iraq and beyond at a particularly delicate time.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Nationalism, and Armed Struggle
Political Geography:: Iraq, Turkey, Middle East, and Kurdistan

4390. U.S.-China Cooperation on Nuclear Power

Author:: John R. Lyman
Publication Date:: 07-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: In 2007, the Atlantic Council of the United States (the Council) partnered with the U.S./China Energy and Environment Technology Center (EETC) at Tsinghua and Tulane Universities to hold a series of dialogues to foster cooperation between the United States and China on developing secure and sustainable energy supplies. Over the past several years, the Council and EETC have invited key organizations, experts from industry and government, and representatives from relevant United States (U.S.) and Chinese government agencies to become directly involved in several meetings designed to identify concrete recommendations for increasing official governmental and industry cooperation.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Climate Change, Diplomacy, Energy Policy, Bilateral Relations, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:: United States, China, and Asia

4391. Arguing Afghanistan: what the detractors of NATO's mission get wrong

Author:: Patrick Keller
Publication Date:: 09-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: NATO Defense College
Abstract:: Over the last few years, Afghanistan has become less stable and less secure. There were more than 2,000 civilian casualties in 2008 - more than in any other year since the Taliban regime was overthrown in 2001, and an increase by 40% in comparison to 2007. Coalition forces suffered 294 casualties in 2008, also the highest number so far. This is the direct consequence of a rise in Taliban and insurgent activity, mostly in eastern and southern Afghanistan.
Topic:: Security, NATO, Terrorism, Military Strategy, and Insurgency
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, Asia, and Taliban

4392. Diplomacy and Security in the Twenty-first Century

Author:: Janne E. Nolan
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Abstract:: The findings of this first phase of our inquiry raised many questions about how the United States might improve discourse among intelligence and policy professionals in ways that could advance U.S. security interests in the twenty-first century. We were fortunate to receive additional support from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2006 to expand our study, allowing us to focus on the use of diplomatic engagement to protect against emerging security threats to U.S. interests—specifically on the spread of nuclear capabilities among new regional powers. The major purpose of this second inquiry is to examine whether diplomatic engagement is feasible and effective for addressing twenty-first century security challenges and to develop different examples of what such challenges might require.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, Diplomacy, Intelligence, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:: United States

4393. Reducing and Regulating Tactical (Nonstrategic) Nuclear Weapons in Europe

Author:: Nikolai Sokov, Miles A. Pomper, and William Potter
Publication Date:: 12-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Abstract:: Control of tractical nuclear weapons (TNW) has remained an elusive goal since the early 1990s when the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia adopted a set of unilateral parallel political obligations to reduce and store at central locations the larger part of their TNW forces. Efforts by the international community to nudge the two countries to give these unilateral statements a legally binding, verifiable character did not succeed, and one can point to little headway with respect TNW arms control in the intervening 18years.
Topic:: Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, Europe, and Soviet Union

4394. Four Emerging Issues in Arms Control, Disarmament, and Nonproliferation: Opportunities for German Leadership

Author:: Nikolai Sokov, Dennis M. Gormley, Miles A. Pomper, Patricia M. Lewis, Lawrence Scheinman, Stephen Schwartz, and Leonard S. Spector
Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Abstract:: In late April 2009, the Policy Planning Staff of the Foreign Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany requested that the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) undertake studies on four emerging issues in the fields of arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation, to be completed by June 15, 2009. The four issues were: The need to address the interrelationship between nuclear and conventional arms reduction, if the United States wants to entice others to go along the path to Global Zero. The world after drastic nuclear arms reductions, including the fear of U.S. conventional superiority/global strike capabilities; The need (and promising areas) to make (nuclear) arms control and disarmament a strong component of NATO's new strategic concept; Missile Defense, also covering a possible threat from others than Iran and the need to bring missile defense into the NATO-Russia Council; and Substrategic nuclear weapons, with a description of a way to achieve mutual transparency, reduction, and elimination in Europe.
Topic:: Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, Treaties and Agreements, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Germany

4395. Engaging China and Russia on Nuclear Disarmament

Author:: Cristina Hansell (ed) and William C. Potter (ed)
Publication Date:: 03-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Abstract:: Today two key nuclear powers, China and Russia, stand at the crossroads of nuclear policy: both Beijing and Moscow are reassessing their nuclear policies and postures. The decisions they make will affect their negotiating positions for years to come; therefore, now is the time to engage both countries in discussions about deep nuclear reductions that could ultimately lead to the elimination of their arsenals. Such actions will contribute to reaching “nuclear zero”—the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons—an idea that was the focus of two recent opinion articles coauthored by George Shultz, William Perry, Henry Kissinger, and Sam Nunn, who stressed the necessity of “turning the goal of a world without nuclear weapons into a practical enterprise among nations.”
Topic:: Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, Treaties and Agreements, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:: Russia and China

4396. Fragile Intimacies: Marriage and Love in the Palestinian Camps of Jordan (1948-2001)

Author:: Stephanie Latte Abdallah
Publication Date:: 07-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: This article focuses on conjugal love as an articulated, lived emotion; on relationships between spouses within the context of the family; and on how these emotions and relations have changed over time in Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan. Based on interviews with four generations of Palestinian camp women, the article charts evolving marital patterns and attitudes toward marriage in relation to changing political circumstances and diverse influences. Particular emphasis is given to the third generation and the emergence of individualization of choice and its consequences. The influence of the family and the role of protection in the formation of conjugal bonds are also addressed.
Topic:: Security and Politics
Political Geography:: Europe, Middle East, and Jordan

4397. From Nationalist to Economic Subject: Emergent Economic Networks among Shatila's Women

Author:: Diana Allan
Publication Date:: 07-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: This article revisits Rosemary Sayigh's theory of "culture as resistance" and considers how primordial attachments of kin and village, and by extension nation, in Shatila camp are being reconfigured by deepening poverty and provisionality. Shifting analytical attention away from the discursive continuities of nationalism toward the contingencies of everyday material practice in its local environment, the article examines how dynamically evolving networks of solidarity are reconstituting traditional structures of kinship and political belonging, broadly conceived, and producing new forms of agency and economic subjectivity for camp women.
Topic:: Security and Politics
Political Geography:: Lebanon

4398. Notes on the Aftermath: Gaza, Summer 2009

Author:: Elena N. Hogan
Publication Date:: 07-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: This personal account describes aspects of closure, siege, and daily life witnessed in the Gaza Strip from May to July 2009, with emphasis on the impact of the blockade in the wake of Operation Cast Lead. As an international worker made to grapple with increasingly complicated Israeli bureaucracy, but "allowed" access into Gaza for purposes of humanitarian aid, the author describes her impressions of the current Gazan situation as an instance of isolation whose plight is increasingly hidden from the gaze of the outside world.
Topic:: Security
Political Geography:: Israel and Gaza

4399. Sayigh: The Palestinians: From Peasants to Revolutionaries

Author:: Marcy Jane Knopf-Newman
Publication Date:: 07-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: As the reconstruction of Nahr al-Barid refugee camp in northern Lebanon is halted once again, this time due to the discovery of an archaeological site, twelve thousand Palestinians from the camp have taken to the streets in protest. The remaining nineteen thousand refugees continue to reside in eleven other camps in Lebanon, unable to return two years after the Lebanese army destroyed it. The struggle for these refugees has shifted, albeit temporarily, from the right of return to Palestine to that of return to the camp.
Topic:: Security
Political Geography:: Israel and Gaza

4400. Fragile states and the international response: in pursuit of security or development?

Author:: Koen Vlassenroot
Publication Date:: 09-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:: In the pursuit of security and development in Africa, more and more reference is being made to the concept of fragile states. This paper explores the meaning of this concept and considers the attention that is being paid to it as a consequence of integrating security and development into the policy of the major donor countries. In an African context state fragility is a cause of numerous conflicts, but also a major focal point of peace processes and donor interventions. This paper is intended to be a warning against a too narrow focus on security in the process of combating fragility. It pleads for an integrated policy, based on the pursuit of sustainable development and emphasises the strengthening of the authority and power of the state and the promotion of local economic and social development.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, Political Violence, Development, Economics, and Fragile/Failed State
Political Geography:: Africa

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS