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42971. NATO's 2012 Chicago summit: a chance to ignore the issues once again?

Author:
Andrew M. Dorman
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The NATO organization and its members are beginning to gear themselves up for the forthcoming summit in Chicago in May 2012. Such summits are always important, especially when they are held in the United States. For example, the 1999 Washington summit held to mark the alliance's 50th anniversary occurred against the background of an apparently failing war in Kosovo and a US President fearing impeachment as a result of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Moreover, this summit is happening in a US presidential election year and in a location particularly symbolic for the current incumbent President Obama. It will also follow on from the French presidential elections, thus presenting the first opportunity for either the new French president or a re-elected Nicolas Sarkozy to make a mark on the international scene.
Political Geography:
United States, Washington, and Chicago

42972. Towards a 'post-American' alliance? NATO burden-sharing after Libya

Author:
Ellen Hallams and Benjamin Schreer
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
On 31 October 2011 NATO successfully ended its seven-month military mission in Libya (Operation Unified Protector). Coalition air strikes were instrumental in protecting civilians and ousting the Qadhafi regime. In terms of alliance politics, the operation also seemed to reflect a new transatlantic burden-sharing model. The United States, the most powerful military actor within NATO, decided to play only a supporting role, forcing some European allies, predominantly France and Britain, to take the lead. Consequently, some commentators saw the Libya campaign as a 'historical milestone' for the Atlantic alliance and a potential model for future NATO burden-sharing. The US government seemed to share this view. In a speech in Brussels in October 2011, acting Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta described the Libya operation as an example of a more equal transatlantic burden-sharing arrangement. He also emphasized that the current level of US commitment to the alliance was unsustainable owing to the significant pressure on the US defence budget. In June that year his predecessor as Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, had also called for better burden-sharing across the Atlantic. Specifically, he criticized the lack of defence spending on the part of most European allies and predicted a 'dim, if not dismal, future' for the alliance if this trend is not reversed. NATO's Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has also called for members of the alliance to make renewed efforts to come to a better burden- sharing arrangement whereby European allies invest more in 'smart defense', with its emphasis on the pooling and sharing of military resources.
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, France, and Libya

42973. The politics of US missile defence cooperation with Europe and Russia

Author:
Jeffrey Mankoff
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
During its first three years, the Obama administration compiled an impressive record on the politically fraught issue of European ballistic missile defence (MD) cooperation on three different levels: domestically, vis-à-vis Europe and NATO, and in relations with Russia. The administration's MD design, known as the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA), will rely on land- and sea-based interceptors to shoot down missiles launched towards Europe by Iran or other Middle Eastern states. It has strong bipartisan support at home and is being implemented in close collaboration with NATO, which agreed in 2010 to make the protection of allies' territory from ballistic missiles a priority. Meanwhile, the Obama administration has ardently pursued MD cooperation with Russia, which has long regarded US missile defence as a threat to its own strategic deterrence capabilities. Given political realities in the US, the administration has little choice but to proceed with plans to deploy a European MD system. Nevertheless, its focus on MD cooperation as a kind of magic bullet in relations with both its European allies and Russia appears too ambitious, and risks doing more harm than good—unless the administration can do a better job of managing expectations, while embedding its ideas for MD cooperation into a broader security dialogue with both the Europeans and Russia.
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Middle East

42974. Multilateral cooperation and the prevention of nuclear terrorism: pragmatism over idealism

Author:
Wyn Q. Bowen, Matthew Cottee, and Christopher Hobbs
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
International concern over nuclear terrorism has increased steadily since 11 September 2001 (9/11), prompting a series of formal and informal policy initiatives designed, either specifically or partially, to enhance multilateral cooperation to prevent it. Key examples include the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT), the G8 Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction (GP), United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) 1373 and 1540, and the establishment of an Office of Nuclear Security at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The politically most notable initiative so far has been President Barack Obama's Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) of April 2010, which raised international awareness of the nuclear terror threat and sought to strengthen preventive efforts in this area.
Political Geography:
United Nations

42975. Review Article: American civil–military relations today: the continuing relevance of Samuel P Huntington's 'The soldier and the state'

Author:
Suzanne C. Nielsen
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
Fifty-five years after it was first published, Samuel P. Huntington's The soldier and the state remains an essential starting point for serious discussions of American civil–military relations. This is remarkable for two reasons. First, the United States has seen enormous changes in its strategic environment in the past six decades. The country has gone from fearing for its survival during the Cold War to enjoying a concentration of military and economic power arguably unprecedented in human history. Second, the field of civil–military relations has been an active area of research in which political scientists, military sociologists and historians have made important and valuable contributions. However, even as these scholars have critiqued and built upon Huntington's work, they have not transcended it. To this day, a course in civil–military relations would be incomplete if The soldier and the state did not appear on the syllabus. It needs to be there not just to enable students to see how the field of civil–military relations has moved on, but also to expose them to concepts that remain foundational.
Political Geography:
United States and America

42976. Review Article: The evolution of the responsibility to protect: at a crossroads?

Author:
Phil Orchard
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
Ten years have passed since the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) unveiled the report which first introduced the language of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and six have passed since a modified version of the doctrine was endorsed by the member states of the United Nations in the World Summit Outcome Document. The introduction of the R2P doctrine has done two major things: it has reframed what had become an entrenched debate around the legality and legitimacy of humanitarian intervention; and it has provided an important focus for how the international community should respond. It has, Alex Bellamy argues, created 'a collection of shared expectations'.
Political Geography:
United Nations

42977. Review Article: The Crimean War and its lessons for today

Author:
David Benn
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The Crimean War of 1854–6 has been described in many books. Nevertheless, the present book, written by a professor of history at the University of London, does in important ways supply a new dimension to the subject. It provides a wealth of new colour and detail, mentioning for instance that France bore the brunt of the fighting and that 40 American doctors volunteered their services on the Russian side. Above all, it places the war in its historical context, relying not just on English but on French, Russian and Turkish sources. The subject is of obvious importance to diplomatic historians—and also to military historians, if only because it seems to provide a textbook example of how not to conduct a war.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
Russia, America, and London

42978. Incumbents without a Campaign Finance Advantage: Competition and Money in Chile's Congressional Elections

Author:
Joel Johnson
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Research from various countries has shown that incumbents in legislative elections raise and spend more money when they face a tougher contest. A statistical analysis of Chilean candidates' campaign finance disclosures shows the opposite: an inverse relationship between incumbent spending and electoral competitiveness. This occurs because Chile's deputies are relatively limited in their influence over policy and pork and because the congressional electoral system makes most competitive contests relevant only to the intra-coalitional balance of power. This account implies that political finance is as much a function of political systems and the supply of contributions as it is candidates' demand for funds, and motivates several hypotheses about campaign finance in Chile. Among others, the analysis confirms that incumbents and challengers compete on a level playing field, spending similar amounts of campaign finance. The paper also illustrates that incumbents and challengers fare equally well in Chile's “secret” donation system.
Political Geography:
Chile

42979. United by Discord, Divided by Consensus: National and Sub-national Articulation in Bolivia and Peru, 2000– 2010

Author:
Alberto Vergara
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
From 2000 to 2010, Bolivia and Peru underwent similar processes of political decentralization toward the meso level of the government. Three elections later in Peru and two in Bolivia, the ability of national political parties to articulate interests differs markedly between the two countries. Peru tends toward fragmentation with national parties incapable of participating or successfully competing in subnational elections, while in Bolivia, the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) – and other parties to a lesser extent – are increasingly capable of participating and winning subnational offices. This paper argues that, despite having undergone very similar institutional reforms, the difference between the cases can largely be explained by two “society-side” variables: the caliber of the political ideas in debate and political social density. The substantive quality of ideas in debate and a greater political social density have been crucial to the Bolivian trend, while their absence has lessened the possibility of anything similar occurring in Peru. In general terms, the article sheds light on the social conditions that favor party- building in a context of decentralization reform.
Political Geography:
Peru and Bolivia

42980. Pursuing Centralization amidst Decentralization: The Politics of Brazil's Innovative Response to HIV/AIDS

Author:
Eduardo Gómez
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
In recent years, Brazil has been highly revered for its response to HIV/AIDS. Despite the government's delayed response, why and how did the national AIDS program eventually become so successful? This is even further puzzling when one considers the challenges associated with Brazil's decentralized response to healthcare needs, lack of subnational resources and political will to effectively implement AIDS policy. This article maintains that Brazil's successful response eventually required the strategic centralization of national AIDS bureaucratic and policy authority, entailing policies designed to aid local governments while creating fiscal policies incentivizing sub-national compliance with the national bureaucracy and more effective policy implementation. Taking advantage of renewed political support, kindled by international pressures and the president's reputation building pursuits, the sources of AIDS officials' success, however, resided not in their technical and financial prowess, but in their ability to forge historically- based partnerships with civic AIDS NGOs and social movements sharing like-minded ideational beliefs in policy centralization. This article also discusses how these findings contribute new insights into theories addressing the reasons for centralization, as well as the ideational sources of gradual institutional change.
Topic:
Civil Society and Government
Political Geography:
Brazil