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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