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29051. Pursuing Sustainability—Connecting Science and Practice

Author:
Megan Margulies and Amanda Pearson
Publication Date:
04-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Friday will welcome 130 heads of state who have pledged to sign the Paris Agreement, the UN global agreement on managing climate change. For William Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy, and Human Development at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), sustainability is a global imperative and a scientific challenge like no other. He sees the Paris Agreement as just one step, though an important one, in this urgent pursuit, as officials wrestle with how to meet the needs of a growing human population without jeopardizing the planet for future generations. Clark and co-authors Pam Matson of Stanford University and Krister Andersson of University of Colorado at Boulder, tackle that issue in a new book, Pursuing Sustainability: A Guide to the Science and Practice. By looking at sustainability as a means to alleviate poverty and enhance well-being, the book highlights the complex dynamics of social-environmental systems, and suggests how successful strategies can be shaped through collaborations among researchers and practitioners. Clark, who trained as an ecologist, said that while exhausting Earth’s natural resources would jeopardize future generations, sustainability could be achieved to counter that. The goal is to find a healthy equilibrium between human adaptation and natural evolution. Co-director of the Sustainability Science Program at HKS, Clark spoke with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs about building a more sustainable future.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, United Nations, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29052. Banners, Barricades, and Bombs: How Social Movements Affect Public Opinion

Author:
Amanda Pearson
Publication Date:
05-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
It’s an argument we’ve heard before: governments should not negotiate with terrorist organizations that engage in violent activity. This idea is pervasive throughout the academic and policy worlds, but what about public opinion? Do citizens think the government should shun social movements that adopt extreme tactics often associated with terrorist organizations? Social protest takes various forms, and organized social movements have various intentions—from benign disruption to purposeful violence. In their forthcoming paper for Comparative Political Studies, Connor Huff and Dominika Kruszewska look at how the tactical choices of social movements affect public opinion about whether or not—and to what degree—governments should negotiate with social movements.1 In research involving 2,000 Polish citizens, Huff and Kruszewska document what many already believe: people were approximately 30% less likely to support government negotiations with organizations that use bombs compared with occupations. “Our results show that public support decreases for both separatist organizations and social movements that adopt bombing as a tactic when compared against occupations and demonstrations,” they write. The researchers find mixed support for whether respondents think organizations that use bombings should receive fewer concessions once negotiations begin.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Terrorism, Social Movement, Protests, Violence, and Demonstrations
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29053. Background to Brexit: One-Size-Fits-All Monetary Policy and the Eurozone Crisis

Author:
Amanda Pearson
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
After months of vitriolic campaigns, on June 23 voters began to emerge from polling stations throughout the United Kingdom having cast their ballots in a nationwide referendum on European Union (EU) membership. The possibility of a British exit, or “Brexit,” has shined a spotlight on the institutional, political, and economic woes of the EU and the eurozone. But for political economist Jeffry Frieden, Stanfield Professor of International Peace at Harvard University, this moment in British political life is merely the latest expression of domestic political unrest in a host of European countries. Elections loom throughout Europe: in Spain three days after the UK referendum, in France and Germany next year. In a final irony, Britain is due to take the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in July 2017. What does the future look like for a European Union tethered to a single market and a single currency? From the economic woes of the eurozone, to the political debates brought about by the refugee crisis, tension among EU member states has brought into question the very nature and future of European integration generally, and of monetary integration specifically.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Europe Union, Brexit, and Eurozone
Political Geography:
Europe

29054. Background to Brexit: Populism, Nationalism, and the Politics of Resentment

Author:
Bart Bonikowski
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Harvard sociologist Bart Bonikowski explains why Brexit has two important lessons for political analysis on both sides of the Atlantic
Topic:
Nationalism, Regional Cooperation, European Union, Brexit, and Populism
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

29055. Cross-National Responses to Discrimination: A Q&A with Michèle Lamont

Author:
Michelle Nicholasen
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Racism and discrimination are daily realities for members of marginalized groups. But what does it look like at the ground level, and how do individuals from various groups and countries respond to such experiences? Drawing on more than 400 in-depth interviews with middle class and working class men and women residing in the multi-ethnic suburbs of New York, Rio, and Tel Aviv, and representing five different racial “groups,” a team of sociologists examine how people deal with and make sense of the various forms of exclusion that are ever present in their lives.
Topic:
Race, Women, Discrimination, and Marginalization
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, Israel, Brazil, South America, and North America

29056. The Upside of Nationalism: Politics for the Common Good in India

Author:
Amanda Pearson
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
“The quality of life that a person leads,” writes Prerna Singh, “depends critically on where she leads it.” How Solidarity Works for Welfare: Subnationalism and Social Development in India is at its core an unpacking of that sentence and its implications for international development. Why do some states in India deliver better schools and health care systems than others? Economic factors explain some of this variation, but there are other forces, too. Singh’s novel argument marks a departure from existing theories about social welfare, which emphasize the importance of economic development or the nature and extent of democracy and political parties. Instead, Singh attributes this variation to the strength of collective identity—the sense of “we-ness”—among the state’s citizens. Her award-winning book received the Woodrow Wilson Prize for the best book in politics and the Barrington Moore Prize for the best book in comparative historical sociology, both in 2016. What was it that so impressed them? Using an innovative mix of statistical and comparative historical analyses, Singh packed her book with a wealth of evidence on the perplexing differences in social welfare between places that are otherwise similar demographically, socially, economically, and politically.
Topic:
Demographics, Nationalism, Socioeconomics, and Subnationalism
Political Geography:
Pakistan, India, and Asia

29057. he World That Awaits President-Elect Trump

Author:
Michelle Nicholasen
Publication Date:
11-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
During the 2016 primaries, Donald Trump claimed he had more foreign policy experience than any of the GOP contenders. In fact, he has traveled widely to meet with presidents, prime ministers, financiers, and developers over the past decade as part of his highly profitable business of licensing the Trump name to large real estate developments around the world. On the campaign trail, Trump’s provocative statements about foreign policy have become part of the public record. From pressuring NAFTA members to bombing ISIS, his pledges have caused a stir in the arena of foreign relations. Publicly, candidate Trump threatened to close borders to Mexicans, slap tariffs on Chinese goods, restrict Muslims in the United States, among other vows. Without a record of public service to draw on, it is difficult to know how these declarations might translate into a Trump foreign policy. To understand what lies ahead for the new president, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs asked its Faculty Associates in international relations to comment on the challenges and opportunities that await in five regions of the world: Africa, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Latin America, Europe, and China.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Elections, ISIS, and NAFTA
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, China, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and North America

29058. The Lines We Draw Between Us

Author:
Michelle Nicholasen
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
To read Charles Maier’s latest book, Once Within Borders: Territories of Power, Wealth, and Belonging Since 1500, is to take a bird’s-eye-view journey through five centuries of geopolitical history, to witness how societies have regarded and apportioned space on our planet. As concepts of boundaries and territories are being reconceptualized in the twenty-first century, the notion of what it means to be part of a particular society takes on new dimensions. For most of us, traditional concepts of nation, state, and territory remain deeply ingrained in our sense of self and belonging. In his book, Maier takes readers on a meditative journey through the “fitful evolution of territorial organization,” and reflects on how science and technology have expanded our conceptualization of space, authority, and sovereignty. Once Within Borders invites us to step back and consider the many ways in which human societies have claimed borders and territories to consolidate power, wealth, and group affiliation—and how those borders have shaped our consciousness through time. The Weatherhead Center engaged Charles Maier, Leverett Saltonstall Professor of History at Harvard University, in a discussion about the value of borders in today’s networked world.
Topic:
Nationalism, Territorial Disputes, Borders, and Nation-State
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29059. Building Capacity for Domestic Resource Mobilization: The Role of Development Partners

Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
Africa’s ability to deliver on the ambitious post-2015 Agenda (also called the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals) and the African Union Agenda 2063 largely depends on the availability of adequate financial resources. But the funding sources for development programs have been neither stable nor predictable, particularly after the global financial crisis in 2008. It has become clear that while donor financing remains important, overreliance on donor funding will not sustainably drive the success of the two continental agendas, hence the need to focus on other development finance options such as domestic resource mobilization.1 If new sources of financing are not in place, Africa’s growth and industrialization strategies are likely to suffer an early setback. Agenda 2063 recommends that countries strengthen domestic resource mobilization, build continental capital markets and financial institutions, and reverse illicit financial flows for Africa to be self-reliant and finance its own development.
Topic:
Development, Natural Resources, Economic Growth, Capacity, Economic Development, and Human Resources
Political Geography:
Africa

29060. Building Capacity for Domestic Resource Mobilization: Role of the Private Sector

Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
Success in implementing Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals depends largely on the availability and adequacy of resources. Africa realizes that industrialization is the way to go, as outlined in the two continental development plans, but it is inevitable that resources to fund these programs must be mobilized domestically. Domestic resource mobilization (DRM)1 was recognized as one of the six leading sources of finance for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but many African countries did not fully achieve the MDGs due to overreliance on donor funding. One part of DRM is generating taxes and savings, which implies that governments and the private sector have key roles in this process. Specifically, the private sector should mobilize private savings, expand its productive investments, conduct responsible business by not engaging in tax avoidance and illicit financial flows, and ensuring corporate social responsibility. The 2015 Africa Capacity Report (ACR 2015) identifies the private sector as very important in partnering and cooperating with governments and other key stakeholders to maximize tax revenues and promote savings and investment. This policy brief puts forward possible interventions for the private sector to enhance domestic resource mobilization in Africa
Topic:
Development, Natural Resources, Capacity, Private Sector, and Human Resources
Political Geography:
Africa

29061. Building Capacity for Domestic Resource Mobilization: The Role of the Government

Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
Africa adopted an industrialization strategy, and committed to implement Agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), all of which require adequate funding. Given that no African country fully achieved all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) largely due to funding constraints, domestic resource mobilization is therefore a very critical issue. Domestic resource mobilization is defined as the generation of savings from domestic resources and their allocation to economically and socially productive investments as well as accounting for such allocation. Africa has the capacity to adequately fund its development programmes from its own pool of resources (The Africa Capacity Report, 2015). Thus African governments are responsible for ensuring that national and continental development programmes are fully implemented, hence should mobilize sufficient resources to fund them. The public sector achieves this mandate through taxation and other forms of public revenue generation. In ensuring sustainable mobilization of domestic resources including curbing of illicit financial flows1, accountable governments are necessary.
Topic:
Development, Government, Public Sector, Capacity, and Industrialization
Political Geography:
Africa

29062. Building Capacity for Domestic Resource Mobilization: The Role of the Civil Society

Publication Date:
03-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
With the recent adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the commitment of Africa to implement Agenda 2063, which is the continent’s development blueprint, domestic resource mobilization becomes a crucial issue. Given the background that most African countries did not fully achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) due to over- reliance on donor resources, enhancing domestic resource mobilization in Africa becomes a necessity. Domestic resource mobilization has two elements to its definition: the generation of savings and taxes on one hand and their allocation to economically and socially productive activities. Accountable states and institutions are crucial for the success of domestic resources mobilization initiatives and the curbing of illicit financial flows.
Topic:
Development, Sustainable Development Goals, and Capacity
Political Geography:
Africa

29063. Women, Gender and Terrorism: Gendered Aspects of Radicalization and Recruitment

Author:
Jeannette Gaudry
Publication Date:
09-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Women In International Security (WIIS)
Abstract:
The rise of groups like ISIS has galvanized the expansion of the global terrorism problem. While ISIS is hardly the first extremist organization to attract women and to use gendered tactics for recruitment, its formation and growth has paralleled the explosion of social media, bringing unprecedented attention to the problem. As scholars and policymakers attempt to develop coherent responses to the threats that groups like ISIS pose, three critical issues need to be addressed. (1) What drives individuals to join extremist groups, and are these drivers different for men or women? (2) What are common methods of recruitment, and do they differ by gender? (3) Have states and international institutions integrated gender perspectives in their responses to radicalization and extremist violence? Do these approaches empower women to resist recruitment? Without an integrated dialogue between the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and counterterrorism communities, the answers to these questions will remain incomplete and policy responses may fall short.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Terrorism, Counter-terrorism, Women, Radicalization, Violence, and Political Movements
Political Geography:
Middle East and North Africa

29064. Women, Gender and Terrorism: The Missing Links

Author:
Chantal de Jonge Oudraat and Michael E. Brown
Publication Date:
08-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Women In International Security (WIIS)
Abstract:
In March 2016, WIIS launched the Women, Terrorism, and Violent Extremism program. With the generous support of the Embassy of Liechtenstein in Washington, D.C., WIIS will facilitate a series of expert roundtables to explore the role of women in terrorist and violent extremist organizations, including the gendered dimensions of radicalization. These round tables will provide a forum for bringing together an international group of experts and policymakers from the counter-terrorism and Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) communities. Key takeaways and recommendations of expert roundtables will be captured and disseminated in the form of policy briefs. The first Policy Brief draws on the first roundtable discussion, held on March 20, 2016. This roundtable featured four noted experts: Ms. Sanam Anderlini, Co-founder and Executive Director of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN); Dr. Kathleen Kuehnast, Senior Gender Advisor at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP); Dr. Paul Pillar, former official of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and now a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution; and Dr. Lorenzo Vidino, Director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security.
Topic:
Security, Gender Issues, Terrorism, Women, Radicalization, Violence, and Peace
Political Geography:
Middle East and Global Focus

29065. Making Drones Illegal Based on a Wrong Example: The U.S. Dronified Warfare

Author:
Gloria Shkurti
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Turkish Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
Institution:
Sakarya University (SAU)
Abstract:
A concoction between the technology, entertainment and military has resulted in a ‘new’ kind of warfare, which has started to determine the American counterterrorism strategy, the dronified warfare. The U.S. for a long time now has been the leader in the production and usage of armed drones and has attracted a lot of criticism regarding the way how it conducts the drone strikes, which in many cases has resulted in civilians killed. The U.S. dronified warfare has become the main determinant when discussing the legality, morality and effectiveness of the drone as the weapon, as many critics fail in distinguishing drone as a weapon and dronified warfare as a process. This paper argues that if analyzed separately from the U.S. example, drone is a legal and moral weapon. Nevertheless, the paper emphasizes the fact that the U.S. must change its current way of conducting the strikes by being aware of the fact that the irresponsible way it is acting in the Middle East and regions around, sooner or later will backfire
Topic:
Science and Technology, Military Strategy, Counter-terrorism, and Drones
Political Geography:
United States and North America

29066. Policy Change for the Displaced Kurds in Turkey: Europeanization and Conditionality

Author:
Onder Canveren
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Turkish Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
Institution:
Sakarya University (SAU)
Abstract:
International and regional organizations can act as persuasive actors with re- gard to minority rights in a given country by raising awareness, putting the issue on agenda, and endorsing a new platform in a country which may lead to a policy change. Despite the general observation that Turkey’s Europeanizati- on process has had limited impact on the minority issues in Turkey, there are numerous examples that the European Union (EU) has played a constructive role in improving of rights and fundamental freedoms for the Kurdish populace living in Turkey. The Law on Compensation for Damage Arising from Terror passed in 2004 is a case worth addressing in order to ascertain both the symbo- lic and discursive policy change. The aim of this article is to explain how the EU used democratic tools to promote change in Turkey’s political structure for the displaced Kurds. The Europeanization of Turkey, based on specific con- ditionality, is taken as primarily responsible for granted for the shift and the policy change. In this policy-oriented case study, hypotheses from Rationalist and Constructivist Approaches in Europeanization literature are investigated to explain the causes and constitutive relations of the policy shift from repudiate to compensation.
Topic:
Migration, Regional Cooperation, Minorities, and European Union
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Asia

29067. Assessment of Israel’s Position in the 1991 Gulf War

Author:
Furkan Halit Yolcu
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Turkish Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
Institution:
Sakarya University (SAU)
Abstract:
The Persian Gulf War was one of the defining incidents that shaped the current situation of the Middle East. There has been a vast amount of studies about this conflict but on a specific case why Israel stayed out of the conflict even though she was attacked continues to be an intriguing question for researchers. Saddam’s decision on invading Kuwait and the war following this is going to be summarized in order to present the structure when this incident took place and also to build an environment in which Israel’s decision on refraining itself from the war is going to be analyzed. Israel is perceived as one of the most agg- ressive countries in the Middle East mostly because of the wars that it included so far and the grand projects that it wants to put in practice in the future. With these assumptions it is rather hard to understand Israel’s passive behaviour during the Persian Gulf War and possible reasons of this is going to be main focus of this study to understand the motivations behind such policy. Israel’s state in that period and its capacity will be analyzed in order to understand whether this decision was taken directly and solely by Israel or it was a result of long-going dependency to another country or any other possible situation. Possible reasons that resulted with Israel’s passive attitude will be under the scope to explain whether what Israel did was rather rational or not. In addition to that, the advantages that Israel enjoyed and disadvantages that it faced will be shown at the last part of the study.
Topic:
Military Strategy, Military Affairs, Conflict, and Gulf War
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Middle East, Israel, and North America

29068. Access to Justice and Electoral Integrity

Author:
International Foundation for Electoral Systems
Publication Date:
11-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)
Abstract:
What is the importance of granting access to justice for the rule of law and electoral integrity? What are the key principles for effective, timely and impartial administration of justice? The Kofi Annan Foundation’s policy brief, entitled “Access to Justice and Electoral Integrity,” reviews international standards and best practices in which key principles are applied at the crossroads of elections and human rights. It demonstrates the importance of an effective institutional framework that provides legal redress to protect and effectively exercise rights linked to political participation and representation, as well as the remedies and reparations of those violations.
Topic:
Human Rights, Elections, Election watch, and Voting
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29069. The Name of Zalmoxis and Its Significance in the Dacian Language and Religion

Author:
Şerban George Paul Drugaş
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
In order to write about the significance of the name of Zalmoxis in the Dacian language and religion, I begin with the displaying of the sources. Afterwards, there are presented three debates, about: (1) the relation between Zalmoxis and Pythagoras, showing that the philosopher was definitely influenced by the Thraco-Dacian beliefs which were also present in Zamolxianism; (2) “immortalization” as an initiatic mystery cult, shamanic practices; (3) an exploration of the forms Zalmoxis and Zamolxis.
Topic:
Religion and Language
Political Geography:
Balkans

29070. The Church and the Romanians Religious Beliefs in the Early Modern Time: Perceptions, Convictions and Representations of the Foreign Travellers

Author:
Carmen Alexandrache
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
he mentions of the foreign travellers about the Orthodox Church in the Romanian reflect the aspects which especially interested in the organization of the Church, in the relation with political power, in the hierarchies of Church and in their social role, in the political community attitudes towards religion, in the religious ritual and practices associated its.
Topic:
Religion, History, and Community
Political Geography:
Balkans and Romania

29071. Romanian–British Commercial Exchanges at the Lower Danube: The Consular Report of Percy Sanderson on the Year 1883

Author:
Cristian Constantin
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
Researchers consider that the slight increase in commerce through Brăila and Galaţi after 1883 was mainly due to the reorientation of Romanian foreign trade by the dualist monarchy towards other European states. The Danube route-way regained some of its importance, although the port of Galaţi still suffered after the loss of the rich region of Southern Bessarabia and because of the inconvenient manner by which the town was linked to the Romanian railway system. Thus, the paper insists on the quantity and value of commercial exchanges (exports, imports), the grains, the main economic partners and the specific character of Brăila, Galaţi and Sulina in the Romanian economy. This study analyses the results of this fact upon the foreign commerce of the ports, as there are opinions that it had positive consequences for development of commerce and navigation at the Maritime Danube. The text proper is preceded by a short historical comment on the activity of the International Trade in the Lower Danube region.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Maritime Commerce, and Trade
Political Geography:
Britain, Europe, Balkans, and Romania

29072. The Romanian Journalistic Education–The History of a Polemic

Author:
Marian Petcu
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
The present study introduces the reader to early approaches relating to journalists' education and accession to the journalistic profession. In Romania, the press was originally managed by writers, priests and teachers, who used to promote a rhetoric of talent, rather than one of competence in the trade of journalism. It was often said that talent was of prime importance here, and, since there was no vouching for talent in schools, journalism needed not to be taught in an educational format. However, Romanian intellectuals who had been schooled in Germany, France or elsewhere would plead for journalistic education. Unfortunately, all attempts in journalistic education failed in Romania until the communist regime came to power.
Topic:
Communism, Education, History, Journalism, and The Press
Political Geography:
Balkans and Romania

29073. Regime Change and Shifting Modernization Patterns: Professional Trajectories in the Field of Psychology during the Twentieth–Century Romania

Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
Throughout the 19th and the 20th century the modernization process that Romania has undergone has revolved around two major poles, the Western pattern of development, and the Soviet one that has been enforced at the end of the Second World War. The regime change experienced after 1945 has shown however that the new leaders needed to rely on some of the existing administrative, technical and scientific cadres in order to implement the new political, social and cultural programme. The careers of Alexandru Roşca and Mihai Beniuc, two psychologists that have been trained in Western Universities and worked at the Institute of Psychology in Cluj, followed the same path that the country was on. Having manifested clear left-wing sympathies during the interwar period, they have managed to maintain their professional status and even gained access to important political positions; therefore, they have contributed to the implementation of two consecutive modernization projects.
Topic:
Education, Science and Technology, and Psychology
Political Geography:
Balkans and Romania

29074. Suresvara’s View on Knowledge (jñāna)

Author:
Alexander Pereverzev
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
The article deals with the soteriologic function of knowledge (jñāna), according to the non-dualist school of Vedānta (with a special reference to its classic author, Surevara) and with its phenomenological and semiotic aspects, in the view of the same school of thought. In its first part, it stresses on the role of knowledge in liberation, both in the system of Advaita Vedānta and in comparison with other schools of Indian philosophy. The second part deals with the great formulations of the salvific knowledge and with the attempts to analyze their meaning. Hence, the study also approaches the semiotics and the epistemology of Advaita Vedānta.
Topic:
Religion, Linguistics, and Philosophy
Political Geography:
India

29075. Vajrasucika Upanisad: Denial of the Natural and the "Verticalization” of Religious Experience

Author:
Ovidiu Cristian Nedu
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
Vajrasucika Upanisad is a more recent text, belonging to the line of the Sma-Veda. The text demolishes all the religious claims of any phenomenal condition, arguing that spiritual pre-eminence is reached only through the direct realization of the ultimate reality (Brahman) as own-identity (tman). The last paragraph of the text offers a presentation of this ultimate reality and of the condition reached by the one who gets dissolved into it.
Topic:
Religion
Political Geography:
India

29076. The Wallachians in the Nibelungenlied and their Connection with the Eastern Romance Population in the Early Middle Ages

Author:
Şerban George Paul Drugaş
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
This article analyses the fragments in the Nibelingenlied that refer to the Wallachians, by their name (Adventure XXII, Stanza 1366 in manuscript C), the name of their country (Wallachian land), and/or of their leader (Ramunc – actually still a collective name, reaffirming the Roman origin of those Wallachians) (Adv. XXII, S. 1370 MS. C; XXXI, S. 1925 MS. C). The mentions above lead to the Romance population from Pannonia to the east, echoing the times of the first two crusades, when that particular people, the Romanians, were neighbors of the Poles, Russians, and “Greeks” (Byzantines), precisely as they were grouped by the lied (Adv. XXII, S. 1366 MS. C). The Wallachians were a Romance nation in the east of Europe, with leaders of their own, having a good cavalry and distinctive costumes. They represent the offspring of the Romance population attested in various sources, both north and south of the Danube, from the times the Roman province of Dacia onward.
Topic:
History, Culture, Middle Ages, and Geography
Political Geography:
Romania

29077. Attitude of Premodern Romanian Society to “the Marginalized”. Perspectives of Observation and Interpretation

Author:
Carmen Alexandrache
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
This paper gathered a series of manifestations of Romanian society regarding to its interpersonal relationship who has development during Premodern centuries. Our observations present the relationships that determined different attitudes of the "majority” of people towards those incapable to realize physical activity or to pray. These social categories were positioned to outskirts of society, becoming the „marginalized” (for example, the mentally ill, beggar, incurably ills cripple, mutilated physically, deformed etc.). Towards those „social marginalizes”, Romanian society was called to showing the "Christian pity". Its attitudes were encouraged by the religious and legal norms. In order to highlight these relations, we used a various types of documents, as representative of the problem analyzed. By nature of the topic, the work was formulated some assumptions that could become landmarks reliable in the future scientific research.
Topic:
Religion and Culture
Political Geography:
Romania

29078. Germany and the Challenge of Mass Immigration

Author:
Zoltán Eperjesi
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
This article gives an insight into the problematic origins of the term multiculturalism, a brief summary of integration of foreigners in Germany by presenting certain debates about incorporation, assimilation and dominant culture in order to ultimately see the critique of the model of multiculturalism.
Topic:
Immigration, Multiculturalism, Democracy, Immigrants, and Pluralism
Political Geography:
Germany

29079. Warlords, Intervention, and State Consolidation: A Typology of Political Orders in Weak and Failed States

Author:
Romain Malejacq
Publication Date:
02-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Security Studies
Institution:
Security Studies
Abstract:
Despite efforts to bolster failed states over the past two decades, many states in the international system still exhibit endemic weakness. External intervention often leads to political instability and in most cases fails to foster state consolidation, instead empowering and creating ties with the ones it aims to weaken. Using the case of Afghanistan, I develop a typology of political orders that explains variation in degrees of state consolidation and provides the basis for more systematic comparative analysis. I demonstrate the resilience of a political logic according to which non-state armed actors (warlords) “shape-shift” and constantly reinvent themselves to adapt to changing political environments. This article, based on extensive field research in Afghanistan, shows why failed states are unlikely to consolidate and exhibit Western-style state building, as a result of intervention or otherwise.
Topic:
Fragile/Failed State, Non State Actors, State Building, and Foreign Interference
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Middle East

29080. Misperceiving U.S. Foreign Policy in the Gulf: Raising the Hidden Costs of U.S. Dependence on Oil

Author:
Steve A. Yetiv
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
United States foreign policy in the Middle East over the last few decades has been controversial and checkered, and Washington has certainly flexed its muscles in the region. However, the question arises as to how aggressive America has been with regard to oil in the region. I distinguish between two perspectives in how America is viewed, which we can simply call the offensive and defensive perspectives, recognizing that there is a continuum of views. From the offensive perspective, America is viewed as having one or more of these goals: steal or own Middle East oil; control Middle East oil in order to undermine Muslims; dominate Middle East oil to advance global hegemony; or exercise “puppet” control over oil producers like Saudi Arabia to coerce them into charging far lower oil prices than markets would warrant.1 By contrast, from the defensive perspective, America chiefly aims to prevent others from threatening oil supplies in a manner that would spike global oil prices and possibly cause a recession or depression. Muslim opinion polls have revealed that oil issues are a broader source of tension in relations between elements of the Muslim world and the West. The U.S. role in oil-related issues feeds into historical, political, and religious perspectives of an imperialist and power-hungry America. In fact, a not uncommon view in the Middle East is that America seeks to exploit, even steal the region’s oil resources, a viewpoint much in line with the offensive perspective described above. I argue that the history of America’s role in the region suggests that this is largely a misconception, and that this misconception is not immaterial. It seriously raises the cost of the use of oil and of American regional intervention. This misconception not only stokes terrorism and anti-Americanism, but also complicates America’s relations with Middle Eastern countries, affects its image among Muslims, and hurts its global leverage insofar as such views become internationally prominent. Indeed, it is almost a maxim in many capitals in the Middle East that close cooperation with Washington carries a domestic political cost. Recall, for example, that the Saudis were initially reluctant to host American forces after Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, even though they felt seriously threatened by Saddam Hussein.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Energy Policy, Oil, and Military Strategy
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, North America, and Persian Gulf

29081. War and the Oil Price Cycle

Author:
Amy Myers and Jaffe Jareer Elass
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
Oil has shaped international conflict for decades. According to one estimate, twenty-five to fifty percent of interstate wars between 1973 and 2012 had oil-related linkages. 1 But the cyclical nature of oil’s contribution to global conflict is not well understood. Not only are oil prices cyclical, but the geopolitics of oil are linked inexorably to the same boom and bust price cycle. Military adventurism, proxy wars and regional pathologies in the Middle East expand and contract with the ebb and flow of massive petrodollar accumulations related to the oil price cycle. The massive inflow of petrodollar revenues when oil prices are high creates disposable incomes that can be easily dispensed on regional arms races, especially since oil consuming countries like the United States are incentivized to increase arms sales as a means of solving oil import related trade deficits. Besides transferring wealth from industrialized countries to oil producers in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region and Russia (and stimulating renewed drilling for oil and gas in North America), high global oil and natural gas prices also slow global economic growth and encourage energy conservation. This causes petroleum demand to slow globally, lowering oil prices. Social and political problems in the region reemerge as oil prices recede. Regional governments have fewer resources to spend on restive populations that have become accustomed to generous handouts enabled by high oil prices. Job creation and visible social programs slow, dissatisfaction rises, and the consequences of economic downturns incite support for militants. Ensuing instability forces governments to use newly purchased arms, which ironically begins the cycle yet again, as new conflicts disrupt oil supplies. In this manner, the world experiences perpetuating patterns of military conflict, followed by oil supply crises, and accompanying global financial instability. In effect, the Middle East resource curse has become globalized. The challenges this is presenting on humanitarian, security and economic fronts have become increasingly dangerous. The arms race that has accompanied the rise of oil prices over the 2000s has been no exception and is now all the more complicated due to the violent participation of sub-national radicalized groups that are less susceptible to diplomatic pressures or initiatives. In this emerging geopolitical context, the rise of violent subnational groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda are increasingly putting oil infrastructure at risk, laying the groundwork for a future oil crisis that may prove harder to solve than in the past. As borders and ruling institutions have become contested, so has control of the region’s major oil and gas facilities. Initially an outgrowth of disunity inside Iraq, the conflict over oil and gas facilities is now accelerating across ungoverned territories, with important long-term consequences for global energy markets. Mideast oil and gas production capacity, along with surface facilities, are increasingly being damaged in ways that will make them hard to repair. Export disruptions, which were once sporadic, are becoming a more permanent feature of the civil war landscape. The level of destroyed capacity is currently estimated at about 2 million b/d and rising.2 The longer Mideast conflicts fester, the more that infrastructure could become at risk. There is an additional element to this oil and war story that links structurally with the oil boom and bust cycle. As oil prices recede, along with a decreased demand for oil and accelerating regional conflict, wealthy oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, are often tempted to use large oil production capacity as a strategic asset. They flood the market with increased supplies in order to lower prices, thereby hurting geopolitical rivals. This price war strategy, which was notably present during the prolonged Soviet war in Afghanistan and the eight year Iran-Iraq War, temporarily ameliorates the short run effects of war on surface export facilities through excessive production rates. In addition, it lays the seeds for the future uptick in the oil market, by discouraging investment in future oil productive capacity outside the Middle East when prices are extremely low. In the case of the 2000s, the destruction caused by ISIS on the oil sector in many locations around the Middle East, combined with expected losses in investment in other parts of the world (like Canada’s oil sands and the Arctic due to current low oil prices), may be creating the conditions for a future oil supply crunch. This has major implications on U.S. policy. This article asserts that the United State would be, in light of these circumstances in the Middle East, unwise to dismantle its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as has been suggested on Capitol Hill. It would be similarly unwise for the United States to lose focus on the importance of conservation efforts in the transportation sector which has both national security and climate benefits. The United States would benefit strategically from a reevaluation of its ban on oil exports. Finally, the United States should place a greater emphasis on conflict resolution in troubled states. By resolving internal conflicts over the distribution of oil revenues, the United States can better pave the way for long-term solutions whereby those same revenues can be integrated into national budgets in ways that brings economic prosperity to populations instead of rising military expenditure.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Oil, Military Strategy, Gas, and Conflict
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, North America, and Persian Gulf

29082. The Contagiousness of Regional Conflict: A Middle East Case Study

Author:
Graeme P. Auton and Jacob B. Slobodien
Publication Date:
03-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
Several factors contribute to or inhibit the “contagiousness” of regional conflict and irregular warfare, whether conducted at the interstate, extrastate, or intrastate level. Five broad drivers of the diffusion of regional conflict are (1) weak states, (2) anticipated power shifts, regional and domestic, (3) unstable and poorly controlled border regions, (4) large refugee flows, and (5) the religiously-based non-state militant campaign against the state as an organizing principle of world politics. These factors are both endogenous and exogenous to particular states and societies, and must be considered alongside the standard factors considered in international relations literature to be the basis of “dangerous state dyads:” geographic contiguity, absence of alliances, absence of an advanced economy, absence of a democratic polity, and absence of a regionally preponderant power. Two case studies illustrate this argument: the rise of Islamic State, and the awareness of the causes of contagion in regional conflict implicit in Israeli security policy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Regional Cooperation, International Affairs, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29083. The Collapse of Saudi Arabia and the Cataclysmic Power Shift in the Middle East

Author:
Elihugh M. Abner
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
This article points out the cataclysmic power shift that would take place in the event of Saudi Arabia’s descent into political turmoil, and briefly covers some of the catalysts that could bring about such an event. Overall, the oppressive policies towards the Shia minority carried out by the Sunni-dominated Saudi monarchy are detrimental to the country’s national security. The religious disparities in the country have given the monarchy’s enemies—primarily Iran and Russia—a weakness to exploit. This article does not give evidence of any clandestine operations taking place within the Kingdom; however, it gives evidence that Iran and Russia have much to gain and virtually nothing to lose if the country was to spiral into violence like so many others in the region.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, National Security, Fragile/Failed State, and Political stability
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Iran, Middle East, and Saudi Arabia

29084. Too Late for Two States: The Benefits of Pivoting to a One-state Solution for Israel and Palestine

Author:
Sama Habib
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
As a result of the 70-year conflict between Israel and Palestine, the United States should reconsider its support for a two-state solution and instead pivot to a one-state solution. Policymakers have assumed that deep hatreds can only be settled through separation. However, this policy has caused a stalemate and does not take into account fluctuating developments in the region. A more adaptive strategy is necessary. Using theories of ripeness and conflict mediation, this bold flip in policy can pave the path towards lasting peace. Exercising the instability created from Syria’s civil war, the United States. can ripen the Israel-Palestine conflict by exposing the mutual security benefits gained from uniting against a common enemy: ISIS. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria offers the parties a unique opportunity for peace as a rallying cause. As a close ally of Israel, the United States is in the ideal position to lead mediations centering around talks of permanent ceasefires, economic integration, and eventually political power sharing of a unified, binational state. In conjunction with Qatar acting as the Arab broker for Palestine, the United States should leverage its power to get the parties to the table in order to create the framework for a pocket of peace in an ever-rickety Middle East.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Regional Cooperation, Political Power Sharing, and State Building
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

29085. Exclusion and Violence in Post-2003 Iraq

Author:
Yasir Kuoti
Publication Date:
05-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
This paper examines the origins of political violence in Iraq. It argues that, in the wake of the democratic transition process in from 2004 to 2005, Iraqi exiles, who were chiefly Shiite Muslims and Kurds appointed by Paul Bremer, Iraq’s U.S. civilian administrator, moved to write a constitution and set up a political system that deliberately marginalized minorities. Since then, the Sunni minority began and continues to engage in or support violence against the state. It suggests that violence and instability in Iraq are to be understood in terms of local contexts of meaning, notably the nature of struggle for political power.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Military Strategy, Political Power Sharing, and Violence
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Middle East, and North America

29086. Divesting From Sectarianism: Reimagining Relations Between Iran And The Arab Gulf States

Author:
Hamada D. Zahawi and Khaled A. Beydoun
Publication Date:
05-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
Until recently, Iran has been economically isolated by way of sanctions, preempting investment opportunities with states allied with the United States. However, the Obama administration’s recent effort towards economic normalization with Iran affords it with unprecedented commercial possibilities, and per the focus of this article, legalized commercial enterprising within Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States—across sectarian tensions and fault lines. From both a legal and practical prism, this article investigates the recent lifting of sanctions, which opens the door for Iran’s investment within neighboring states including the GCC. Subsequently, it analyzes how commercial investment and the reciprocal advancement of economic interests offers a promising pathway toward eroding political standoffs, economic inequities, and the politicization of sectarianism. In closing, the article addresses salient challenges that may hinder the potential of this economic rapprochement, and ways forward.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Regional Cooperation, Sanctions, and Investment
Political Geography:
Iran, Middle East, Persian Gulf, and Gulf Nations

29087. Schrödinger’s Kurds: Transnational Kurdish Geopolitics In The Age Of Shifting Borders

Author:
H. Akin Unver
Publication Date:
05-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
As the Middle East goes through one of its most historic, yet painful episodes, the fate of the region’s Kurds have drawn substantial interest. Transnational Kurdish awakening—both political and armed—has attracted unprecedented global interest as individual Kurdish minorities across four countries, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, have begun to shake their respective political status quo in various ways. It is in Syria that the Kurds have made perhaps their largest impact, largely owing to the intensification of the civil war and the breakdown of state authority along Kurdish-dominated northern borderlands. However, in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran too, Kurds are searching for a new status quo, using multiple and sometimes mutually defeating methods. This article looks at the future of the Kurds in the Middle East through a geopolitical approach. It begins with an exposition of the Kurds’ geographical history and politics, emphasizing the natural anchor provided by the Taurus and Zagros mountains. That anchor, history tells us, has both rendered the Kurds extremely resilient to systemic changes to larger states in their environment, and also provided hindrance to the materialization of a unified Kurdish political will. Then, the article assesses the theoretical relationship between weak states and strong non-states, and examines why the weakening of state authority in Syria has created a spillover effect on all Kurds in its neighborhood. In addition to discussing classical geopolitics, the article also reflects upon demography, tribalism, Islam, and socialism as additional variables that add and expand the debate of Kurdish geopolitics. The article also takes a big-data approach to Kurdish geopolitics by introducing a new geopolitical research methodology, using large-volume and rapid-processed entity extraction and recognition algorithms to convert data into heat maps that reveal the general pattern of Kurdish geopolitics in transition across four host countries.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Geopolitics, Borders, and Translation
Political Geography:
Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Middle East, Syria, and Kurdistan

29088. Youth, Peace, And Security: A New Agenda for the Middle East and North Africa

Author:
Margaret Williams
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
The important role of young people in building peace and challenging violent extremism is gaining recognition within the international community. The United Nations Security Resolution on Youth, Peace, and Security (SCR 2250), passed in December 2015, is evidence of this trend. It represents a shift from the dichotomy of youth as either perpetrators or victims of violence to a perspective in which youth are viewed as agents of positive change and peace. In moving forward with this resolution and similarly reflective and supportive policy, one of the greatest challenges for the Middle East and North Africa will be the current geopolitical context and obstacles to opportunity. In a region fraught with conflict, stemming from domestic and foreign policies, as well as a history of unrepresentative and repressive governance systems, leaders have often sought to maintain the status quo. This is a problem in a region where more than 30 percent of the population is between 15 and 29 years of age, and are increasingly frustrated with and stymied by a lack of meaningful political space—leading to lost faith in political systems.1 In such a setting, regional policymakers must be challenged to meaningfully incorporate young people into decisionmaking processes, to ensure that peacebuilding programs target young people early on in their development, to avoid the securitization of youth in the development and implementation of national and local policies, and to address the underlying social, economic, and political grievances that often drive extremism and impact young people’s relationships with their communities and states.
Topic:
Security, Youth, Peace, and Young Adults
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, and North Africa

29089. A National Strategic Framework for Countering Violent Extremism in Jordan

Author:
Ghimar Deeb, Jeffrey Woodham, Mia Chin, and Sawsan Gharaibeh
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
Following the uprisings in the Arab world, the region has lurched into a period of massive change and instability. An unfortunate consequence of this change has been the rise and proliferation of militant groups such as ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham) and Jubhat al-Nusra in Iraq and Syria. These militant groups successfully recruit members from the region and beyond, fueling conflict in countries that have witnessed unrest, such as Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. Although Jordan has long been seen as a regional hub of stability and security, especially by its Western allies, it increasingly exhibits symptoms of the long-standing pressures exerted upon it by the surrounding conflicts, resulting refugee crises, and pre-existing domestic challenges. Jordan’s hypothetical fall into instability could have catastrophic consequences for the region, exacerbating the crises in Syria and Iraq, empowering ISIS and other militant groups, and threatening regional and global security. In response, this article offers a general framework for the expansion of the country’s nascent Counter Violent Extremism (CVE) program, including both preventative and remedial measures. Beginning with an overview of the processes of radicalization and de-radicalization, this article proceeds with a brief discussion of Jordan’s current situation before synthesizing scholarly articles and analyses of other CVE programs in order to establish a framework to guide Jordan’s developing CVE interventions.
Topic:
Terrorism, Refugee Crisis, ISIS, and Arab Spring
Political Geography:
Middle East and Jordan

29090. The African Union’s Gender, Peace, and Security Mechanisms: Policy Options for Protecting Women in Conflict

Author:
Hussaina J. Abdullah
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Social Science Research Council
Abstract:
This brief addresses the mechanisms of the African Union (AU) for protecting and promoting women’s rights during conflict and their participation in post- conflict peacebuilding processes. These mechanisms can be found in the policy frameworks and structures of the Protocol Relating to the Establish- ment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (the PSC Pro- tocol) of 2002, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol), adopted in 2003, and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA) of 2004. Other mechanisms include the AU Action Plans on Gender Main- streaming in peace and security, as well as a special rapporteur on women’s rights, appointed in 1999, a special envoy on women, peace, and security, appointed in 2014, and the AU’s Five-Year (2015–2020) Gender, Peace, and Security Programme. While the AU scores high on de jure instruments designed to improve the legal framework for women’s rights and gender equality, the evidence sug- gests less progress in terms of the de facto practices directed toward their implementation. For example, the Maputo Protocol—the African Women’s Bill of Rights—whose full ratification and enforcement were envisaged by 2015 and its domestication by 2020—has not been ratified by fourteen member states,2 and two countries, Botswana and Egypt, have not even signed the in- strument. Even some of the countries that ratified it did so with reservations. Furthermore, while member states are also expected to send biennial reports on the implementation processes in their respective countries, only Malawi had complied with this provision as of December 2015. And although the protocol demands the protection of women against violence in war and in peace times, reports indicate the continued perpetration with impunity of sexual- and gender-based violence (SGBV) against women in conflict-affected settings. The PSC protocol, the normative framework on which the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA)4 is based, recognizes the need to protect women from violence in conflict-affected areas, but in doing so it makes them appear as mostly passive victims of war. An approach is needed that recognizes women can be perpetrators of violence as well as agents of change pro- moting peace and reconciliation. The integration of an all-encompassing organizational gender strategy to guide the AU’s work in conflict and post-conflict situations will strengthen effectiveness in conflict-affected societies with regard to the women, peace, and security (WPS) goals of participation in post-conflict governance; protec- tion from SGBV and acts of impunity; prevention of the abuse of women, girls, and children; and the promotion of gender equality. The mandate of the AU’s special envoy on WPS to “ensure that the voices of women and the vulnerable are heard much more in peacebuilding and in conflict resolu- tion” is both timely and relevant. Priority should be given to coordinating mechanisms for an Africa-centered gen- der, peace, and security framework and to promoting synergies among women’s organizations, national gov- ernments, and peace support operations to ensure the implementation of actions that make a difference in the lives of women in conflict-affected countries. The spe- cial envoy should also engage closely with stakeholders to ensure full domestication of the Maputo Protocol is achieved by 2020. In sum, although the AU has made some progress in establishing a gender, peace, and security framework to ensure the protection of women’s rights and promote gen- der equality in conflict and post-conflict settings, some gaps and coordination challenges continue to limit its ef- fectiveness. Gender mainstreaming mechanisms across the peace and security sector, including capacity building initiatives, need to be addressed critically to prevent the continued violation of women’s physical and bodily integ- rity in conflict-affected and post-conflict countries.
Topic:
Security, Gender Issues, Peace, and African Union
Political Geography:
Africa

29091. Blaise Compaoré in the Resolution of the Ivorian Conflict: From Belligerent to Mediator-in-Chief

Author:
Amy Niang
Publication Date:
03-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Social Science Research Council
Abstract:
In the often troubled politics of West Africa, Blaise Compaoré, the former president of Burkina Faso, is a quaint figure, almost of another era. Yet with all he has experienced over a quarter century of the region’s upheavals, he is also very much a man of his time, politically astute, and a fine strategist when it comes to preserving his friendships with powerful countries and leaders whose backing has provided immunity of sorts for his alleged crimes. Compaoré has always been equally keen on keeping a clean image as a peacemaker, given the intolerable association of his name and career with a bloody 1983 coup that cost the life of Thomas Sankara, the revolutionary pan-African figure. This paper is not, however, focused on Compaoré’s political career, and it is not a diatribe meant to support or amplify common critiques of his political activism or his perceived destructive practices. The popular insurgency of October 2014 that resulted in the resignation of the long-serving president gives a good measure of popular sentiment on Compaoré’s model of governance and moral ethics more emphatically than any speculative account on political rule in Burkina Faso. The aim here, rather, is to examine how, as a mediator, Compaoré builds and deploys a particular kind of “sovereignty,” informed by his capacity to tap into different registers of legitimacy, while reinterpreting the terms of mediation mandates as part of his strategies. This paper is concerned with his role in facilitating dialogue and brokering peace in the Ivorian conflict, and it specifically examines the “Compaoré system” at work in one of West Africa’s most protracted political crises. The question is whether there are ways in which a mediator can and does appropriate the mediation process by giving it a direction it might otherwise not have taken. In our case of interest—the 2002–10 military and political crisis—a consideration of Compaoré’s personal touch with regard to political and legal processes, the nature of agreements, actors’ conduct, and mediation outcomes points to different possibilities of understanding conflict management and resolution patterns in different African contexts. More important for the mediation literature, the ways of an unlikely mediator provide useful methodological and empirical resources for thinking differently about mediation as an applied science. In fact, Compaoré’s mediation career poses an analytical puzzle to perspectives commonly developed in the literature; this puzzle has to do with his counterintuitive and unconventional methods, which deserve proper engagement.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Sovereignty, and Political Crisis
Political Geography:
Africa and West Africa

29092. Conflict, Peace, and Regional Economic Integration in Southern Africa: Addressing the Policy Challenges

Author:
Zebulun Kreiter
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Social Science Research Council
Abstract:
he Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Peacebuilding Network (APN) of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) organized a seminar on “Conflict, Peace, and Regional Economic Integration in Southern Africa: Bridging the Knowledge Gaps and Addressing the Policy Challenges.” It was held at AVANI Victoria Falls Resort, Livingstone, Zambia, from October 7 to 8, 2015. The seminar was the inaugural edition of the SRO-SA Southern Africa Sem- inar Series, an informal and frank forum in which academics, policymakers, and other stakeholders have the opportunity to discuss key development is- sues that affect the region. The purpose of the seminar was to sort out issues related to the causes of conflict in Southern Africa, the scope for regional responses and implications, the role of civil society in conflict mediation, the related issues of xenophobia and migration, the interaction of gender and conflict, and the importance of governance for economic development and to elicit perspectives from other regions. Despite promising economic and political developments, the regional in- tegration agenda in Southern Africa faces a number of growing challenges. The skewed nature of economic growth has resulted in in-country and cross- border migration in the region, as people search for employment and better living conditions. Furthermore, inequities in the distribution of income and wealth have inflamed tensions and led to a surge in social and political conflict within member states.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Conflict, Peace, and Economic Cooperation
Political Geography:
Africa and Southern Africa

29093. Decolonizing the Mainstreaming of Gender in Peacebuilding: Toward an Agenda for Africa

Author:
Heidi Hudson
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Social Science Research Council
Abstract:
Peacebuilding is big business in Africa and the gendering of peacebuilding even more so—if the number of workshops and funding proposals with gen- der as their focus is anything to go by. As an academic enterprise, gender and peacebuilding have equally grown in stature and scope.1 But more often than not, gender acts as a proxy for women, especially because we are con- tinuously reminded that they must be included in all peacebuilding efforts because they make up more than half of the population and war and its aftermath affect them differently. So why bother with mainstreaming gen- der if it is actually just about adding women? Practice has shown that the rhetorical commitment to gender within peacebuilding programs (hailed as positive by some) has neither changed the generally widespread gen- der-blind nature of policy and practice nor led to more than an increased mainstreaming of women’s and girls’ needs based on a very narrow inter- pretation of male-female categories.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Decolonization, and Peace
Political Geography:
Africa

29094. Is UNSCR 1325 Empowering African Women to Negotiate? Peace Insights and Policy Options

Author:
Pamela Machakanja
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Social Science Research Council
Abstract:
Africa faces formidable challenges with regard to the relatively few women influencing decisions and policies related to peace and security. A study on women’s participation in thirty-one peace processes between 1992 and 2011 showed that of the fifteen African countries, only five had women on their ne- gotiating teams (Burundi, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, and Uganda); five had women witnesses or observers ( Liberia, Si- erra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda); two had women lead mediators (DRC and Kenya); and only one (DRC) had women signatories.1 Although UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 “reaffirms the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peace-building, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction and stresses the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security,”2 its full implementation remains a work in progress in Africa, as women’s participation in peace and security remains more symbolic than substantive, and their capacity to influence and engage in peace negotiations is often resisted by local cultural norms and patriarchal hierarchies.
Topic:
Security, Gender Issues, Culture, Feminism, and Peace
Political Geography:
Africa

29095. African Boundary Conflicts and International Mediation: The Absence of Inclusivity in Mediating the Bakassi Peninsula Conflict

Author:
Aloysius Nyuymengka Ngalim
Publication Date:
09-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Social Science Research Council
Abstract:
This paper begins with a description of the conflict, mediation and post- mediation clashes, and an analysis of the mediation process. The main argument is that post-mediation clashes were a result of the exclusion of the views and interests of residents of the Bakassi peninsula. Background information on the conflict is presented to situate the paper within extant ideas on international mediation and to provide theoretical underpinning and a theoretical basis for the conclusion. This study draws data from documentary sources complemented with interviews conducted during fieldwork between January and April 2013. Documentary sources include press reports and legal documents related to the dispute as well as scholarly publications. Data was analyzed using the content analysis approach.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Imperialism, Conflict, and Humanitarian Crisis
Political Geography:
Africa, Nigeria, and Cameroon

29096. Diwaniyya Voices Podcast: Arab Christians

Author:
Alona Ferber and Wadi'a Abu Nasser
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies
Abstract:
Podcast episode produced by the Moshe Dayan Center in 2016. Featuring Alona Ferber interviewing Wadi'a Abu Nasser.
Topic:
Religion, Culture, Oral History, and Podcast
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

29097. Valuation of World Heritage

Author:
Indira Rajaraman
Publication Date:
08-2016
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
World Heritage sites are classified in two categories—cultural heritage, and natural heritage. Outstanding Universal Value—the basis for identification of a World Heritage site implies that valuation, from a global perspective, might be sufficiently greater than the valuation of that site in its immediate location for the World Heritage tag to provide a significant incentive for the preservation of it. The rise in tourist traffic consequent upon recognition, statistically validated in several contexts, seemingly justifies that prior. The common cliché of the historical structure allowed to fall into ruin, its stones prised out for constructing nearby dwellings, or the area within what remains of the structure put to base uses, conforms to that conception. Likewise, there are natural biodiversity reserves threatened by unregulated cutting of trees, where recognition as a World Heritage site may well be the statement of superior valuation needed to put a stop to such practices and preserve what remains. This paper does not therefore argue that the World Heritage convention should be abandoned, and its sites de-recognised. What it does argue is that the basis of indigenous valuation should be investigated for its constituents, so as to bring about a better alignment between global and local valuation.
Topic:
Globalization, History, Tourism, Culture, and Architecture
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29098. Trans-Himalayan Region: Evolving Politics and Strategies

Author:
Sangeeta Thapliyal
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
The Himalayan region represents different terrain ranging from plateaus to high mountains and valleys, lower Himalayan ranges, each representing diverse ecology, resources, social moorings and political identities. The Himalayan region stretching from Afghanistan to the mountains of Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan is at the cusp of South Asia, Central Asia and China. This geographical location has allowed transit for cultures, trade and movement of people from India northwards to the trans-Himalayas and from Tibet, China and Central Asia southwards to India. It has assimilated Hinduism and Buddhism along with indigenous cultures, languages, dialects and ethnicity. People have emotional and cultural sentiments towards the Himalayas, especially Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, who revere sacred Kailash Mansarovar. Ancient texts have written about the Himalayas as a symbol of divinity and spirituality. The Vishnupurana states that the country south of the Himalayas and north of the ocean is Bharat, thus signifying the Himalayas as a frontier in the north.
Topic:
Post Colonialism, Regional Cooperation, History, Colonialism, and Geography
Political Geography:
China, Nepal, Tibet, and Himalayas

29099. The South China Sea: The View From the Philippines

Author:
Antonio T. Carpio
Publication Date:
02-2016
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
The Honorable Antonio T. Carpio, Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, discusses the South China Sea disputes in an October 7, 2015 lecture at Columbia University. Moderated by Ann Marie Murphy, Senior Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute. Co-sponsored by SEASI and the New York Southeast Asia Network.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Territorial Disputes, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
Asia, Philippines, and South China Sea

29100. The Nuclear Disaster, Tsunami, and Manga: The Representation of Recent Disasters in Japanese Popular Culture

Author:
Yukari Fujimoto and Hikari Hori
Publication Date:
03-2016
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
Video from the March 11, 2016 Weatherhead East Asian Institute event about discussing the representations of March 11, 2011's "triple disaster" in Japan in popular media. Featuring Yukari Fujimoto, professor at Meiji University. Moderated by Hikari Hori, assistant professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University.
Topic:
Natural Disasters, Culture, Disaster Management, and Nuclear Energy
Political Geography:
Japan and Asia