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Begin New Search Topic International Affairs Content Type Research Paper

21. Historical Legacies in Egyptian Security Institutions

Author:
Yosra El Gendi
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
On October 13, 2014 in Corniche Street, Alexandria a police superintendent at a checkpoint and a navy officer engaged in a fist fight. The army officer contacted the military police which took the police officer and superintendent at the checkpoint to an army base where they were requested to stand hours in the sun as a form of punishment (Madgy et al., 2015). While many insist that these are individual incidents (Abdel- Aal, 2015). This is only one incident of at least 6 of clashes between members of both institutions since the 2011 uprising (Madgy, 2015). These incidents that point to the different security institutions’ extensive powers and the divisive structure in which they are based, a structure that was once called a “mamluk state” (al- Sherif, 2012). This points to the failed processes of state-building at the core of the institutional weaknesses in Egypt.
Topic:
Security and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Egypt

22. Elections Governance During the Tunisian Democratic Transition

Author:
Belhassen Ennouri
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
The field of democratization studies is interested by the transformation of political systems from authoritarian regimes to another type of political system that cannot be pre-determined. This study has emerged in the context the so-called third wave of democratization that began with the Spanish and Portuguese experiences in the 1970s, and then spread to Latin America in the 1980s, sweeping Eastern Europe in the 1990s. Indeed, the success of the Spanish experience in democratization has rendered the case a useful model for studying other cases. The study of the democratic transition – itself an experimental process – has moved from investigating historical experiences to developing a theoretical framework that involves a procedural and practical approach to understanding the instability and volatility of the phenomenon. The study of the democratic transition has been criticized, despite important contributions on the part of researchers. To this point, the notion of a “theory of transition” is at the heart of critical scientific debate.
Topic:
International Affairs and Democracy
Political Geography:
Tunisia

23. National Reconciliation and Protection of Minorities

Author:
Salam Kawakibi
Publication Date:
04-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
In this new research paper, ARI’s Deputy Director, Salam Kawakibi analyses the Assad regime’s exploitation of sectarian and confessional divisions and deconstructs the myths used in its political rhetoric to gain power and present itself as the ultimate line of defence for minorities.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Syria

24. Russian Forward Military Basing in Armenia and Moscow’s Infl uence in the South Caucasus

Author:
Can Kasapoglu
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
In military history, bastions were defensive strongholds, mostly with a pentagonal outline, which off ered perfect combat emplacements for crossfi re. Th ereby, they off ered excellent advantages to defenders and enabled counter-balancing capabilities against besiegers’ artilleries. Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, a famous French military engineer, Marshal of France (mid-17th to early 18th centuries), and a master of the bastion system along with other fortifi cations, even designed ‘bastioned towers’ to protect main walls by fl anking enemy fi re.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

25. The Western Balkans and the Revenge of History

Author:
Ian Hope
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
Th e Warsaw Summit affi rmed Alliance interest in and commitment to many geographic regions and nations, without stating priorities. Th e Western Balkans drew attention, with Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro receiving specifi c mention in the Summit Communiqué.2 However, the Summit promoted a continuance of current NATO activity in this region, not a shift or amelioration. Implicit in this is that the status quo, a small NATO force in Kosovo to enhance security and several liaison offi ces to monitor partnership activity and the application of the Membership Action Plan in the other Western Balkans states, is suffi cient. Th is paper will argue that such eff orts are too small and disjointed to meet the growing challenges in the region, especially given NATO’s obligation to confl ict prevention in the wake of its signifi cant and successful interventions there in 1996 and 1999.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

26. NATO in the Black Sea: What to Expect Next?

Author:
Zviad Adzinbaia
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
Black Sea security directly impacts the economic development, peace and stability of the Euro-Atlantic theater. NATO and the EU, as well as their members and partners, have immense interests in ensuring a secure and prosperous environment in the Black Sea, advancing trade relations through the East-West corridor, and further promoting the notion of a Europe “whole, free and at peace.”
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

27. Trust (in) NATO Th e future of intelligence sharing within the Alliance

Author:
Jan Ballast
Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
On 21 October 2016, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) appointed its fi rst Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security (ASG-I&S), Dr. Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven.2 His appointment was the result of a meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) on 8-9 July 2016 in Warsaw, where the Heads of State and Government stated the requirement to strengthen intelligence within NATO.3 In doing so, the Alliance underlined that improved cooperation on intelligence would increase early warning, force protection and general resilience.4
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

28. The Evolution of the Hybrid Threat, and Resilience as a Countermeasure

Author:
Uwe Hartmann
Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
The year 2014 marks a strategic ‘inflection point’ in world history. To make sense of the new security challenges, NATO offi cials and member states’ governments have used the term ‘hybrid warfare,’2 although some scholars have criticized it as a buzzword lacking a clear defi nition. However, since hybrid warfare is rather more about exploiting the vulnerabilities of statecraft than about destroying armed forces, states have slightly diff erent understandings of it consistent with their own specifi c security challenges. Consequently, for scientifi c research, as well as for security organizations such as NATO, finding a common definition is not easy and probably not useful.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29. Winning Peace and Exporting Stability: Colombia as NATO’s next Global Partner?

Author:
Robert Helbig and Guillaume Lasconjarias
Publication Date:
05-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
Is Colombia going to be NATO’s next global partner? In June 2013, the question was alreaady worthy of attention, when Colombia and NATO entered into an “Agreement on the Security of Information” that was signed between then-NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow and Colombia’s Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón. While the deal encompassed not much more than sharing intelligence in areas of common concern, the agreement surely was “a fi rst step for future cooperation in the security fi eld” and Ambassador Vershbow remarked that “Colombia’s expertise in enhancing integrity in the military is precisely the kind of substantive contribution that exemplifi es the added value of cooperation.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

30. The future of NATO and R2P Ten lessons in norm formation

Author:
Brooke Smith-Windsor
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
To this day, a visit to NATO’s offi cial website paints a glowing account of its 2011 military intervention in Libya under United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1973:2 Following the Gaddafi regime’s targeting of civilians in February 2011, NATO answered the United Nation’s (UN) call to the international community to protect the Libyan people … a coalition of NATO Allies and partners began enforcing an arms embargo, maintaining a no-fl y zone and protecting civilians and civilian populated areas from attack or the threat of attack under Operation Unifi ed Protector (OUP). OUP successfully concluded on 31 October 2011.3 While immediate operational goals may have been achieved, and urgent threats to lives in Benghazi and elsewhere averted, more than half a decade hence the post-intervention legacy is far from rosy. What followed the collapse of the Gaddafi regime in October 2011 is a Libya and neighbourhood still rife with instability and violence facing the spectre of widespread civil strife and even collapse
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus