Content Type: Journal Article / Political Geography: United States / Publication Year: within 25 Years

2001. Secularism in Turkey: Myths and Realities

Author:: Ahmet T. Kuru
Publication Date:: 07-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: The Prosecutor of the High Court of Appeals opened a closure case against the ruling AK Party by presenting it as the center of anti-secular reactionism in Turkey. The indictment largely reflected four myths embraced by the Turkish establishment: 1) Secularism is a way of life and a constitutional principle; 2) Secularism does not allow religion's impact on social life; 3) Islam, unlike Christianity, is incompatible with secularism; therefore, secularism in Turkey should be restrictive; and 4) Turkey cannot be compared with the US, which is not a secular state, but is similar to France, which is secular. The Turkish Constitutional Court has justified restrictive policies on the basis of these myths. The court should no longer be bounded by its misleading past opinions. It can play an historical leading role with its future decisions by providing new, myth-free perspectives on secularism in Turkey.
Political Geography:: United States, Turkey, and France

2002. Book Reviews

Publication Date:: 07-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Graham Fuller’s latest book on Turkey provides a critical account of Turkey’s foreign policy in the post September 11 period and an insightful analysis of its structural features and domestic linkages. In fact, the challenges that Turkey faces in the post-Cold War era has been a focus of academic and strategic thinking in a series of recent studies.1The magnitude and the content of these studies reveal Turkey’s increasing role and significance in the post-Cold War era, not only in the regional context but also from the perspective of U.S. foreign policy priorities. All of these studies have concentrated on resolving the puzzle of Turkey’s new foreign policy identity and defining its new role in regional and global terms. Some accentuate the traditional Western orientation inherent in the logic of Turkey’s Kemalist Republic, while others try to establish a link between Turkey’s search for a new strategic role and the country’s post-1980 transformation. The latter point to the ways in which Turkey has initiated a new form of political pluralism, prioritizing identity issues in domestic and foreign pol-icy considerations. In both perspectives the changing nature and form of Turkey-U.S. relations occupy a crucial part of the analysis. The resolution of this puzzle becomes even more urgent in the post-September 11 era when U.S. security concerns require more assertive policies, particularly in the Middle East. Some go so far as to argue that there is an urgent need to redefine Turkey-U.S. relations if Turkey is to be relevant in the 21st century.2However, there is also a growing acknowledgement that Turkey has been slipping from the U.S. orbit and following a relatively independent foreign policy. F. S. Larrabee, for example, states that “in the future, Turkey is likely to be an increasingly less-predictable and more difficult ally.... [and] the United States will need to get used to dealing with a more in-dependent-minded and assertive Turkey–one whose interests do not always coincide with U.S. interests, especially in the Middle East.”
Political Geography:: United States, Turkey, and Middle East

2003. Book Review: World War IV: The Long Struggle against Islamofascism by Norman Podhoretz

Author:: Christopher Preble
Publication Date:: 03-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Cato Journal
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: “9/11 constituted an open declaration of war on the United States and … the war into which it catapulted us was nothing less than another world war.” So says Norman Podhoretz in the opening passage of this alarmist, rambling screed. The enemy is Islamofascism, a “monster with two heads, one religious and the other secular.” This scourge, Podhoretz warns darkly, may be “even more dangerous and difficult to beat” than Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.
Political Geography:: United States and Soviet Union

2004. Volume 1, Issue 10 - Full Issue

Publication Date:: 09-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: CTC Sentinel
Institution:: The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
Abstract:: SEVEN YEARS AFTER the 9/11 attacks, there is good news and bad news. First, the good news: al-Qa`ida has not been able to attack again inside the United States. No one could have possibly predicted this on September 12, 2001, when we looked and felt so vulnerable. In the past seven years, al-Qa`ida has been able to strike the non-Islamic West in only two cities, London and Madrid. Both of these attacks were conducted by local cells with varying levels of connectivity to the central or strategic hub of al-Qa`ida. No matter how you spin it, and even if they attack again on the day this article is published, this is not an impressive record for an organization that looked so powerful on 9/11. It is important to recognize our success in mitigating al-Qa`ida's impact on the world—even in the midst of several years of bad news coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, and London

2005. After Guantánamo

Author:: Kenneth Roth
Publication Date:: 05-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay has become a stain on the United States' reputation. Shutting it down will cause new problems. Rather than hold terrorism suspects in preventive detention, the United States should turn them over to its criminal justice system.
Political Geography:: United States

2006. The Future of American Power

Author:: Fareed Zakaria
Publication Date:: 05-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: Despite some eerie parallels between the position of the United States today and that of the British Empire a century ago, there are key differences. Britain's decline was driven by bad economics. The United States, in contrast, has the strength and dynamism to continue shaping the world -- but only if it can overcome its political dysfunction and reorient U.S. policy for a world defined by the rise of other powers.
Political Geography:: Britain, United States, and America

2007. The Age of Nonpolarity

Author:: Richard N. Haass
Publication Date:: 05-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The United States' unipolar moment is over. International relations in the twenty-first century will be defined by nonpolarity. Power will be diffuse rather than concentrated, and the influence of nation-states will decline as that of nonstate actors increases. But this is not all bad news for the United States; Washington can still manage the transition and make the world a safer place.
Political Geography:: United States and Washington

2008. Congress at War

Author:: Louis Fisher, Ryan Hendrickson, and Stephen R. Weissman
Publication Date:: 05-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: To the Editor: William Howell and Jon Pevehouse ("When Congress Stops Wars," September/October 2007) suggest that Congress has been far more influential in shaping U.S. military action abroad than previously thought. We disagree. Such a view does not reflect the overwhelming historical evidence since World War II. Moreover, their argument undervalues Congress' constitutional responsibility to independently check the president prior to war. In most cases, Congress has chosen the politically expedient route of deferring to the president. The principal reason for this support has been not partisan calculations, as Howell and Pevehouse argue, but rather lawmakers' unwillingness to exercise their constitutional powers and understand the need for legislative checks.
Political Geography:: United States

2009. Building a New Atlantic Alliance

Author:: James P. Rubin
Publication Date:: 07-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: How the United States can restore its relationship with Europe.
Political Geography:: United States

2010. Shortsighted Statecraft

Author:: Daniel C. Kurtzer
Publication Date:: 07-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: Stopping three decades of unnecessary bungling.There is a feature of my seminars on U.S. Middle East policy at Princeton that I call "déjà vu all over again" -- with apologies to Yogi Berra. I ask students to assess the bungled efforts and missed opportunities of generations of U.S. diplomats and seek in them lessons for the future. They examine the hubris that drove the U.S. government to engineer the 1953 overthrow of Mohammad Mosaddeq's democratically elected government in Iran. This traumatic episode was conveniently forgotten by 1979, when National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski encouraged Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi to use force against the opposition, ignoring the warnings of U.S. diplomats on the ground in Iran that the shah's reign was doomed. Similarly, the United States forgot the lesson of the limited and United Nations-approved 1991 war in response to Iraq's aggression in Kuwait when it launched an ideologically inspired invasion of Iraq in 2003. Likewise, in 2006, Washington seemed to have forgotten the fiasco that followed Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Rather than learn from the past, Washington backed Israel's ill-advised attempt to deliver a knockout blow against another Lebanese foe, this time Hezbollah. My students and I conclude -- only half-jokingly -- that U.S. policymakers ought to take the class before taking office.
Political Geography:: United States, Washington, Middle East, and Kuwait

2011. The Next President

Author:: Richard Holbrooke
Publication Date:: 09-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The next U.S. president will inherit a more difficult set of international challenges than any predecessor since World War II.
Political Geography:: United States

2012. The September 12 Paradigm

Author:: Robert Kagan
Publication Date:: 09-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The next administration must learn from Bush's mistakes, but should not shy away from using U.S. power to promote American values.
Political Geography:: United States

2013. How to Leave a Stable Iraq

Author:: Michael E. O'Hanlon, Kenneth M. Pollack, and Stephen Biddle
Publication Date:: 09-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The situation in Iraq is improving. With the right strategy, the United States will eventually be able to draw down troops without sacrificing stability.
Political Geography:: United States and Iraq

2014. A Strategic Economic Engagement

Author:: Henry M. Paulson Jr.
Publication Date:: 09-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The prosperity of the United States and China depends on helping China further integrate into the global economic system.
Political Geography:: United States and China

2015. Containing Climate Change

Author:: Carter F. Bales and Richard D. Duke
Publication Date:: 09-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The United States can curb its own emissions and encourage energy efficiency and the development of clean-energy technology worldwide by rethinking carbon regimes.
Topic:: Climate Change
Political Geography:: United States

2016. Millions Uprooted

Author:: António Guterres
Publication Date:: 09-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The international community must ensure that people seeking saftey are protected; soverignty is not a shield behind which authoritarian governments may terrorize their own people.
Topic:: Development
Political Geography:: United States

2017. The Land of Hope Again?

Author:: Dominique Moïsi
Publication Date:: 09-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: A culture of fear has supplanted the traditional U.S. culture of hope. By returning to hope, the United States can regain the standing it has lost.
Political Geography:: United States

2018. American Oligarchs

Author:: Katrina vanden Heuvel
Publication Date:: 09-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: Replying to Padma Desai's letter ("Putin's Russia," May/June 2008), Michael McFaul and Kathryn Stoner-Weiss assert that, like the Yeltsin-era media bosses, the United States' "oligarchs . . . own" many media outlets, including The Nation. In reality, The Nation -- the United States' oldest continuously published weekly -- has operated at a loss during all but a few of its 143 years and has been kept alive by its subscribers, advertisers, and many loyal supporters. Moreover, The Nation's equally long-standing antioligarchic positions are known to virtually everyone familiar with the American press.
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, and America

2019. Palestinian Refugee Compensation and Israeli Counterclaims for Jewish Property in Arab Countries

Author:: Michael R. Fischbach
Publication Date:: 10-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Unlike its demands for Holocaust reparations, Israel's compensation claims for properties that Jews left behind in the Arab world have aimed not to provide individual financial reparations, but rather to counter and offset Palestinian refugees' claims for restitution and the right of return. In U.S.-sponsored negotiations in 2000, Israel announced it would drop its counterclaim policy and agreed with the Palestinians that individual compensation would be paid out to all sides from an international fund. More recently, however, a new counterclaim strategy has emerged, based not on financial reparations, but rather on an argument that a fair population and property exchange occurred in 1948. By pursuing this strategy, Israel and international Jewish organizations risk exacerbating tensions between European Jews who have received Holocaust reparations, and Arab Jews angry that their claims are held hostage to diplomatic expediency.
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, Israel, and Arabia

2020. A Missed Chance for Peace: Israel and Syria's Negotiations over the Golan Heights

Author:: Marwa Daoudy
Publication Date:: 10-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of International Affairs
Institution:: School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:: In the Middle East “no war is possible without Egypt, and no peace is possible without Syria,” as suggested by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the 1970s. From 1991 to 2000, Syria entered into extensive peace negotiations with Israel, another key actor in the Middle East. The objective of this article is to understand these negotiations, which involved periods of intense discord as well as moments of rapprochement. Spectacular progress was made, for instance, between 1993 and 1995, when the “Rabin deposit,” Israel's promise to withdraw from the Golan Heights to the 4 June 1967 border and thus allow Syria to recover access to Lake Tiberias, was proposed to the U.S. mediator. The two actors came close to an agreement but failed to put an end to the Israeli-Syrian conflict at the Shepherdstown negotiations in January 2000 and the Asad-Clinton summit on 26 March 2000 in Geneva. What lessons can be drawn from the process which took place between 1991 and 2000 in terms of the actors' objectives, motivations and perceptions of each other? Why did the talks fail to produce an agreement? What was the weight of water in stimulating or blocking the process?
Political Geography:: United States, Middle East, Israel, Syria, and Egypt

2021. On Thin Ice: Water Rights and Resource Disputes in the Artic Ocean

Author:: Vsevolod Gunitskiy
Publication Date:: 10-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of International Affairs
Institution:: School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:: In August 2007, a Russian submarine surprised the world by planting the country's flag on the Arctic seabed, almost 14,000 feet below the North Pole. The titanium tricolor was the culmination of a scientific mission to demonstrate Russia's claim to a vast, potentially resource-rich region along its northern coast. Recent geological surveys suggest the Arctic may hold up to a quarter of the world's remaining oil and gas reserves. Predictably, other circumpolar powers criticized the Russian voyage. “This isn't the 15th century,” said Canadian foreign minister Peter MacKay. “You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say 'We're claiming this territory.'”
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, and Canada

2022. Populism and Foreign Policy in Venezuela and Iran

Author:: Michael Dodson and Manochehr Dorraj
Publication Date:: 01-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:: School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:: The remarkable ascendance of Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, has generated new interest in Latin America's recurrent populism. Like the charismatic populists that preceded him, Chávez rose to power rapidly and became a symbol of deepening social polarization. He is seen as a pivotal figure in promoting a sharp leftward shift in Latin American politics and has been criticized for his authoritarian tendencies. In the words of Jorge Castañeda, “Chavismo” is the “wrong left” for Latin America. Hugo Chávez has become a much discussed leader for all these reasons, but he is perhaps most notorious for his aggressive foreign policy and for the strongly confrontational posture he has adopted toward the United States. Chávez has pursued high profile efforts to check US influence in Latin America, assert his own leadership in the region, and demonstrate that developing countries can act more independently of Washington's wishes.
Topic:: Foreign Policy
Political Geography:: United States, Iran, Washington, Latin America, and Venezuela

2023. Social Cohesion in China: Lessons from the Latin American Experience

Author:: Mariano Turzi
Publication Date:: 01-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:: School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:: China's economic development over the last three decades has been dazzling critics and supporters alike. Since the launching of the “Four Modernizations” reform process in 1978, growth has averaged 9 percent annually. As a result, according to IMF data released in July 2007, China is poised to overtake Germany as the world's third-largest economy. As growth has slowed in Europe, Japan, and the US the Chinese economy grew at a staggering rate of 11.9 percent in the second quarter of 2007. The IMF report also pointed out that if exchange rates are adjusted to equalize the cost of goods in different countries (purchasing-power parity) China is already the world's second-largest economy.
Topic:: Economics
Political Geography:: United States, Japan, China, Europe, Germany, and Latin America

2024. Using Criminal Justice to Foster US-EU Cooperation on Counter-terrorism

Author:: Paul Wilkinson
Publication Date:: 12-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: EU and US political leaders and elites share the same overall threat assessment of terrorist networks but differ over the choice of strategy to defeat them. While President Bush's "war on terrorism" has relied on the military to suppress terrorism, incarcerating terrorist suspects in Guantanamo and refusing them access to US federal courts, Europeans have stressed a holistic and multilateral approach to the struggle, giving a greater role to the criminal justice system. Abandoning due process and violating suspects' human rights betrays the very values and principles upon which the democracies supposedly being defended are founded. Courts in Europe since 9/11 have demonstrated that it is possible to bring terrorists and conspirators to trial and to convict them on the basis of overwhelming evidence. Hence, the strengthening of national judicial processes and international judicial cooperation should remain the major objective of the transatlantic alliance.
Political Geography:: United States and Europe

2025. Less Words and More Deeds in Constructing Europe

Author:: William Wallace
Publication Date:: 12-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: British politicians have two different motivations in strongly wishing for a long pause in the negotiations over institutional reform, after 20 years of revisions to the EU treaties. The first is their sensitivity to a domestic debate which presents "Brussels" as a determined assault on British sovereignty by unelected officials. The second is their scepticism about federalistic rhetoric, unsupported by commitments to implement common policies. British disillusion at the gap between promises and fulfilment has been sharpest over common foreign and defence policies, where those governments most actively committed to integrating national policies have also been the most frequent defaulters. Yet successive British governments are also to blame, both for failing to shift the balance of the Eurosceptic public debate within the UK, and for leaving it to other governments to set the EU agenda, for fear of arousing public hostility at home.
Political Geography:: United States and Europe

2026. The Effect of US Policy in the Middle East on EU-Turkey Relations

Author:: Henri J. Barkey
Publication Date:: 12-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Turkey could not have a more vigorous advocate for its quest for European Union accession than the United States. Successive administrations in Washington have strongly asserted that Turkey is an intrinsic part of Europe, that historically and politically, Ankara has played a critical role in the defence of Europe against the Soviet Union and that now it is an indispensable country in bridging the civilisational divide. In the early 1970s, the United States decided to locate Turkey in Europe, bureaucratically speaking of course. Turkey, which used to be in the Near East bureau in the State Department and elsewhere in the bureaucracy, was transferred to the European divisions of the respective administrative agencies. Hence it is perhaps ironic that after arguing for decades that Turkey is a European country, the United States, through its Iraq invasion, has in one bold stroke managed to push Turkey back into the Middle East. Of course, other events, especially Turkish domestic politics, have also played a role in making this perceptual move possible. Simply stated, as United States security concerns shifted east and away from Europe, it was only natural, though far from intentional, that Washington would take Ankara along with it.
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, Turkey, and Middle East

2027. Whither Missile Defence?

Author:: F. Stephen Larrabee
Publication Date:: 06-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: In the last eighteen months, missile defence has emerged as a controversial issue between the United States and its European allies. The administration's plans have provoked a major debate in Europe and the United States. Since the spring of 2007, however, the Bush administration has begun to develop a much more effective public outreach campaign designed to address public concerns. It has also sought to strengthen the link between its bilateral efforts at missile defence and those of NATO and made a number of important proposals designed to reduce Russian concerns.
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, and Europe

2028. US Military Bases in Italy: In Keeping with International Law? Still Needed?

Author:: Natalino Ronzitti
Publication Date:: 06-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The end of the Cold War brought about a change in US basing policy in Italy. Some bases were dismantled, while others, like the one in Vicenza, were strengthened raising considerable local protest for environmental reasons. The article examines whether agreements establishing the US bases have a solid foundation in the Italian Constitution and whether the weapons detained there are in conformity with the disarmament treaties binding Italy. Since the bases are now employed for NATO "out-of-area" operations and have become a part of the US strategy of "war on terror", they inevitably influence Italy's foreign policy and its option to stay out of ongoing conflicts. The article also considers the continuing need for US bases from the point of view of Atlantic solidarity.
Topic:: NATO and Environment
Political Geography:: United States and Italy

2029. Reviving Liberalism. A New Course for US Foreign Policy

Author:: Emiliano Alessandri
Publication Date:: 06-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Review of: Confronting global terrorism and American neo-conservatism: the framework of a liberal grand strategy, Tom Farer, Oxford University Press, 2008
Topic:: Terrorism
Political Geography:: United States and America

2030. World Order Re-founded: The Idea of a Concert of Democracies

Author:: Emiliano Alessandri
Publication Date:: 03-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Plans contemplating new arrangements for the ''democracies'' of the international system have multiplied in recent years. The Princeton Report of September 2006 contained a proposal for a treaty-based ''Concert of Democracies''. Just a few months later, The American Interest hosted a provoking article entitled ''Democracies of the World, Unite'', advancing a similar suggestion. In America at the Crossroads, Francis Fukuyama envisioned a new organisation of the democracies to revive multilateralism.
Political Geography:: United States

2031. Ancient and Modern Empires: The United States as the New Rome

Author:: Riccardo Monaco
Publication Date:: 03-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Review of: Are we Rome? : the fall of an empire and the fate of America, Cullen Murphy, Houghton Mifflin, 2007
Political Geography:: United States, America, and Rome

2032. Deeper Than Kelo: The Roots of the Property Rights Crisis

Author:: Eric Daniels
Publication Date:: 09-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Objective Standard
Institution:: The Objective Standard
Abstract:: On June 23, 2005, the United States Supreme Court's acquiescence in a municipal government's use of eminent domain to advance "economic development" goals sent shockwaves across the country. When the Court announced its decision in Kelo v. City of New London, average homeowners realized that their houses could be condemned, seized, and handed over to other private parties. They wanted to know what had gone wrong, why the Constitution and Fifth Amendment had failed to protect their property rights. The crux of the decision, and the source of so much indignation, was the majority opinion of Justice John Paul Stevens, which contended that "economic development" was such a "traditional and long accepted function of government" that it fell under the rubric of "public use." If a municipality or state determined, through a "carefully considered" planning process, that taking land from one owner and giving it to another would lead to increased tax revenue, job growth, and the revitalization of depressed urban areas, the Court would allow it. If the government had to condemn private homes to meet "the diverse and always evolving needs of society," Stevens wrote, so be it. The reaction to the Kelo decision was swift and widespread. Surveys showed that 80 to 90 percent of Americans opposed the decision. Politicians from both parties spoke out against it. Such strange bedfellows as Rush Limbaugh and Ralph Nader were united in their opposition to the Court's ruling. Legislatures in more than forty states proposed and most then passed eminent domain "reforms." In the 2006 elections, nearly one dozen states considered anti-Kelo ballot initiatives, and ten such measures passed. On the one-year anniversary of the decision, President Bush issued an executive order that barred federal agencies from using eminent domain to take property for economic development purposes (even though the primary use of eminent domain is by state and local agencies). The "backlash" against the Court's Kelo decision continues today by way of reform efforts in California and other states. Public outcry notwithstanding, the Kelo decision did not represent a substantial worsening of the state of property rights in America. Rather, the Kelo decision reaffirmed decades of precedent-precedent unfortunately rooted in the origins of the American system. Nor is eminent domain the only threat to property rights in America. Even if the federal and state governments abolished eminent domain tomorrow, property rights would still be insecure, because the cause of the problem is more fundamental than law or politics. In order to identify the fundamental cause of the property rights crisis, we must observe how the American legal and political system has treated property rights over the course of the past two centuries and take note of the ideas offered in support of their rulings and regulations. In so doing, we will see that the assault on property rights in America is the result of a long chain of historical precedent moored in widespread acceptance of a particular moral philosophy.Property, Principle, and Precedent In the Revolutionary era, America's Founding Fathers argued that respect for property rights formed the very foundation of good government. For instance, Arthur Lee, a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, wrote that "the right of property is the guardian of every other right, and to deprive a people of this, is in fact to deprive them of their liberty." In a 1792 essay on property published in the National Gazette, James Madison expressed the importance of property to the founding generation. "Government is instituted to protect property of every sort," he explained, "this being the end of government, that alone is a just government, which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own." Despite this prevalent attitude-along with the strong protections for property contained in the United States Constitution's contracts clause, ex post facto clause, and the prohibition of state interference with currency-the founders accepted the idea that the power of eminent domain, the power to forcibly wrest property from private individuals, was a legitimate power of sovereignty resting in all governments. Although the founders held that the "despotic power" of eminent domain should be limited to taking property for "public use," and that the victims of such takings were due "just compensation," their acceptance of its legitimacy was the tip of a wedge. The principle that property rights are inalienable had been violated. If the government can properly take property for "public use," then property rights are not absolute, and the extent to which they can be violated depends on the meaning ascribed to "public use." From the earliest adjudication of eminent domain cases, it became clear that the term "public use" would cause problems. Although the founders intended eminent domain to be used only for public projects such as roads, 19th-century legislatures began using it to transfer property to private parties, such as mill and dam owners or canal and railroad companies, on the grounds that they were open to public use and provided wide public benefits. Add to this the fact that, during the New Deal, the Supreme Court explicitly endorsed the idea that property issues were to be determined not by reference to the principle of individual rights but by legislative majorities, and you have the foundation for all that followed. . . .
Topic:: Development and Economics
Political Geography:: United States, America, and London

2033. Better Day Coming: Blacks and Equality, 1890–2000

Author:: Gus Van Horn
Publication Date:: 12-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Objective Standard
Institution:: The Objective Standard
Abstract:: In August 1919, three white men brutally beat John R. Shillady in broad daylight outside his hotel. Shillady, also white, had come to Austin, Texas, as executive secretary of the NAACP to persuade state officials not to suppress its local branch. One of his attackers, a county judge, claimed that "it was my duty to stop him" because Shillady was there to "sow discontent among the Negroes" (pp. 105-106). In 1920, Shillady would resign from the NAACP, expressing despair for his cause: "I am less confident than heretofore . . . of the probability of overcoming, within a reasonable period, the forces opposed to Negro equality" (p. 109). And yet, not even a century later, the United States has elected its first black president-in an election in which race was hardly an issue. How did racial equality in America progress so far in so short a time? This is the remarkable story that Adam Fairclough relates in Better Day Coming: Blacks and Equality, 1890-2000. Fairclough succeeds in making his introduction to the struggle for black equality accessible to the general reader in two ways. First, he concentrates on events in the South, wherein particularly harsh forms of racial domination made it the logical focus of black efforts to achieve equality. Second, he follows the lead of fellow historian John W. Cell and classifies the approaches taken by various figures in his narrative as either "militant confrontation" (defiantly opposing racial oppression), "separatism" (working toward the creation of an all-black society here or abroad), or "accommodation" (gradually securing improvements from within the system of white supremacy) (pp. xi-xii). It is from this perspective that the book's chapters examine prominent individuals, organizations, events, and periods of the civil rights movement. Fairclough begins his narrative at a time when blacks were "more powerless than at any other time since the death of slavery" and had been "purged from the voting rolls" of the former Confederacy (pp. 15-17). He proceeds to examine the many different ways in which blacks fought against discrimination and oppression: from the intransigent, confrontational approach of Ida B. Wells, who campaigned against lynching in the 1890s; to the accommodation of Booker T. Washington, whose emphasis on black self-improvement over confrontation is characterized by Fairclough as "a tactical retreat in order to prepare the way for a strategic advance" (p. 63); to the separatism of Marcus Garvey, who proposed that blacks fight for an independent, united Africa (p. 126). Fairclough continues this kind of analysis throughout subsequent chapters, where we learn, among other things, about the involvement of the labor movement and the Communist party in the civil rights movement during the 1930s, the evolution of the NAACP's strategy to include legal challenges to discrimination in education after World War II and then mass civil disobedience after 1955, and the rise and fall of the "Black Power" movement. . . .
Topic:: War
Political Geography:: United States and America

2034. Vindicating Capitalism: The Real History of the Standard Oil Company

Author:: Alex Epstein
Publication Date:: 09-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Objective Standard
Institution:: The Objective Standard
Abstract:: Who were we that we should succeed where so many others failed? Of course, there was something wrong, some dark, evil mystery, or we never should have succeeded!1 -John D. Rockefeller The Standard Story of Standard Oil In 1881, The Atlantic magazine published Henry Demarest Lloyd's essay "The Story of a Great Monopoly"-the first in-depth account of one of the most infamous stories in the history of capitalism: the "monopolization" of the oil refining market by the Standard Oil Company and its leader, John D. Rockefeller. "Very few of the forty millions of people in the United States who burn kerosene," Lloyd wrote,
Topic:: Government
Political Geography:: United States and New York

2035. The Echo of Tskhinval

Author:: Aleksandr Orlov
Publication Date:: 01-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:: East View Information Services
Abstract:: Following the August events in the Caucasus, the entire Western system of strategic alliances, comprising not only NATO, but also an array of other structures - at first glance, not at all military - has finally acquired a new "raison d'étre." That "raison d'étre" manifested itself in an old - centuries, not years old - formula, namely, search for an enemy in Russia (no matter whether it is the USSR or Russia today). It has turned out that the genes of animosity toward Russia are still part of the DNA of many Western politicians.
Topic:: NATO
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, and Caucasus

2036. Lessons from the Soviet Occupation in Afghanistan for the United States and NATO

Author:: Jonathan Gandomi
Publication Date:: 05-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: Already in its seventh year in Afghanistan, U.S. and NATO forces appear as if they will approach and likely surpass the decade-long occupation by Soviet troops. Currently, Afghanistan is far from becoming stable and even reaching the normalcy of developing-nation status. As the Spring 2008 NATO summit illustrated, it represents an important test of commitment for the trans-Atlantic alliance. This article will examine some of the military and political lessons from the Soviet experience and identify those that can be applied to the present period. Drawing on a number of transcripts from Politburo sessions and other significant Soviet documents from the 1979-1989 period, this article argues that despite the distinctions between 1988 and 2008 a number of common experiences and mistakes emerge. As the Taliban continues to fight an insurgency campaign and patience wears thin among Afghans for President Karzai's government and the international community to deliver results, these lessons might be useful in informing U.S. and NATO policy. Ultimately, Afghans, especially in rural areas, must be offered tangible gains from siding with the current government, and a political solution must accompany military efforts to overcome the challenges that confront Afghanistan and its allies.
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, United States, Taliban, and Soviet Union

2037. Space Weaponization and Canada-U.S. Relations: Lessons from Australia

Author:: Steve Buchta
Publication Date:: 05-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: Since the end of World War II, Canadian security policy has maintained a highly adaptive quality. New circumstances and emerging threats have continually challenged the evolutionary capacity of the Canadian military. The repeated success of Canada's defense can be attributed to a sound capacity to anticipate security needs, generate appropriate approaches to combat and foster strategic partnerships with close allies. Now more than ever Canada must modernize its security policy. Major players in global politics have largely finished reshaping the post-Cold War geo-strategic environment. Most notably, the United States has taken an assertive role in the fight against terrorism. In this stasis of new global order, Canada has aligned itself with NATO members to combat the Taliban in Afghanistan and has been committed to implementing the Canada-U.S. 2001 Smart Border Declaration. Clearly, Canada has demonstrated a sovereign interest in building closer security relations with the United States.
Topic:: Security, NATO, Climate Change, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, United States, Canada, Taliban, and Australia

2038. "Lebanon 2006: Unfinished War"

Author:: Jonathan Spyer
Publication Date:: 03-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Middle East Review of International Affairs
Institution:: Global Research in International Affairs Center, Interdisciplinary Center
Abstract:: The 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese Hizballah organization, known in Israel as the “Second Lebanon War,” and in Lebanon as “the July War,” formed part of a larger strategic confrontation taking place in the Middle East. This confrontation places the United States and its allies in opposition to Iran and its allies and client organizations. Israel is part of the former camp, while Hizballah is part of the latter. The 2006 war was complicated by the fact that the Lebanese government, which acted as an unwilling host to Hizballah, is also an important U.S. regional ally.
Political Geography:: United States, Iran, Middle East, Israel, and Lebanon

2039. "Impediments to Stability in Iraq: The Elusive Economic Dimension"

Author:: Robert Looney
Publication Date:: 03-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Middle East Review of International Affairs
Institution:: Global Research in International Affairs Center, Interdisciplinary Center
Abstract:: Of the major contributors to stability in Iraq--military, political, and economic, the economic dimension has received the least attention from both the United States and the Iraqi authorities. In turn, the country's failed economy has undermined efforts in the other two key areas. While many mistakes have been made in trying to jump-start the economy, a number of lessons emerge from these efforts. Rather than piece-meal programs, economic recovery must be part of a comprehensive strategy oriented toward creating a virtuous circle whereby improved security leads to economic gains which in turn facilitate improvements in governance and market reforms.
Political Geography:: United States and Iraq

2040. U.S.-Japan Relations

Author:: Michael J. Green and Nicholas Szechenyi
Publication Date:: 10-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Comparative Connections
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: No abstract is available.
Topic:: Development
Political Geography:: United States, Japan, and North Korea

2041. U.S.-China Relations

Author:: Bonnie Glaser
Publication Date:: 10-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Comparative Connections
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: The Beijing Olympic Games were conducted without a hitch to the great relief of the Chinese leadership and the 1.3 billion Chinese people who had long anticipated the momentous event. Abroad, the reviews were mixed. Most agreed that the opening ceremony was spectacular and that China had successfully ensured the safety of the athletic competitions, but many argued that these goals had been achieved at a significant cost that highlighted the undemocratic nature of China's regime. President Bush's attendance further consolidated an already close and cooperative U.S.-Chinese relationship, even though Bush seized on several opportunities to criticize China's human rights practices. The U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) marked its 25th anniversary with agreements on food security, loans for medical equipment purchase, promotion of digital TV, and cooperation in agriculture and on trade statistics. The U.S. presidential campaign heated up, but China received little attention.
Topic:: Security
Political Geography:: United States, China, and Beijing

2042. U.S.-Korea Relations

Author:: Victor D. Cha
Publication Date:: 10-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Comparative Connections
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: The big news in the penultimate quarter of 2008 centered on leadership ills (literally) in North Korea and Pyongyang's rolling back of the six-party denuclearization agreement. On the U.S.-ROK front, President George W. Bush made his last trip to Asia of his presidency, stopping for a brief visit in South Korea on his way to the Beijing Olympics. While the free trade agreement (FTA) remains mired in U.S. domestic politics, important low-key agreements were reached to help bolster the people-to-people aspects of the alliance. As the quarter ended, the Bush administration was making preparations to make what some described as a last ditch effort to salvage the aid-for-denuclearization deal with North Korea by sending Six-Party Talks negotiator Christopher Hill to Pyongyang for a third time.
Topic:: Government
Political Geography:: United States, Beijing, Asia, South Korea, and North Korea

2043. U.S.-Russia Relations

Author:: Joseph Ferguson
Publication Date:: 10-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Comparative Connections
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Throughout the spring and early summer it seemed that U.S.-Russia relations could sink no further. Ill will beset the relationship. Heated discussions were carried out almost weekly on issues such as missile defense, Iran's nuclear program, Iraq, energy nationalism, and perhaps most significantly, NATO expansion. At one point, Vladimir Putin compared the U.S. to a “frightening monster,” while Senator (and Republican presidential nominee) John McCain called for Russia's eviction from the G8. In August, the worsening situation came to a head when Russian troops invaded and occupied South Ossetia (a Georgian Province), and launched attacks on other Georgian cities. The U.S. reaction was swift: condemnation, followed by the transport home of Georgian combat troops deployed in Iraq, the ferrying of supplies to Georgian ports by U.S. warships, the extension of $1 billion in aid, and the deployment of a small contingent of U.S. troops for “humanitarian” missions in Georgia. But some feel the response was not enough. The reaction did nothing to cow Moscow. By the end of August, Russia had asserted de facto control of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia and had recognized both as independent nations. Meanwhile the U.S. turned inward to deal with its financial crisis, leaving relations with Moscow on the backburner – at least temporarily.
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, Spain, and South Ossetia

2044. U.S.-Southeast Asia Relations

Author:: Sheldon W. Simon
Publication Date:: 10-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Comparative Connections
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: The cancellation of a draft peace agreement between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Philippine government triggered renewed violence in the Philippine south and allegations that U.S. forces are involved in Philippine armed forces suppression activities. Both Manila and Washington deny the charges, though U.S. Special Operations Forces have been training the Philippine military in Mindanao since 2002. The U.S. has added new sanctions against Burma's junta and continues to criticize its political repression, while aid for the victims of Cyclone Nargis remains under the Burmese military's control. Ratification for ASEAN's new Charter by its member states has been achieved by eight of the 10 countries. The delays include concerns in the Indonesian and Philippine legislatures about Burma's detention of Aung San Suu Kyi as well as the junta's insistence that any ASEAN Human Rights Commission be toothless. The U.S. State Department has expressed concern over the Malaysian government's arrest of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on suspicious sodomy charges. Malaysian leaders responded angrily that the U.S. complaint constitutes interference in Kuala Lumpur's domestic politics and that Washington is not “the policeman of the world.”
Topic:: Development and Government
Political Geography:: United States, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Burma, and Southeast Asia

2045. North Korea-South Korea Relations

Author:: Aidan Foster-Career
Publication Date:: 10-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Comparative Connections
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Relations between the two Koreas, having already worsened from April when North Korea took umbrage with South Korea's new president, Lee Myung-bak, deteriorated further during the third quarter. This may have been inevitable. In a break from the “sunshine” policy pursued over the past decade by his two liberal predecessors, Kim Dae-jung (1988-2003) and Roh Moo-hyun (2003-08), Lee had signaled that henceforth expanded inter-Korean cooperation would depend on progress in denuclearization under the Six-Party Talks (6PT). Not only did this linkage displease Pyongyang in principle, but the current 6PT stalemate and North Korea's proclaimed restoration of facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear site, have made inter-Korean progress difficult given the Lee administration's conditionalities. And yet, and yet. By early July, his popularity plunging barely four months into his five-year term (after the U.S. beef import protests and a series of gaffes), the president formerly known as “bulldozer” was ready to try a different tack. On July 11 he told the new National Assembly – elected in April, but only now convening due to inter-party wrangles – that “full dialogue between the two Koreas must resume.” He also renewed his offer of humanitarian aid.
Topic:: Human Rights
Political Geography:: United States, South Korea, and North Korea

2046. Jurisdiction and Compliance in Recent Decisions of the International Court of Justice

Author:: Aloysius P. Llamzon
Publication Date:: 11-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: International institutions are plagued by too many expectations and too little power. One striking example is the International Court of Justice. Its malcontents criticize the Court as an ineffective player in achieving international peace and security, largely because of its perceived inability to control state behaviour. Scholars have long blamed this on the ICJ's 'flawed' jurisdictional architecture, which is based entirely on consent. Anything less than a clear indication of consent by the defendant state in a given case is thought to run serious non-compliance risks. This article takes issue with that assessment. By analysing the ICJ's final decisions since the landmark case of Nicaragua v. US, one finds that the manner in which the ICJ was seised of jurisdiction is actually a poor predictor of subsequent compliance. Rather, through complex mechanisms of authority signal and the political inertia induced by those decisions, almost all of the Court's decisions have achieved substantial, albeit imperfect, compliance. Thus, despite the likelihood that states will continue to reduce the scope of the ICJ's compulsory jurisdiction, the World Court will remain a vital, if limited, tool in resolving inter-state disputes and a force for world public order.
Topic:: Security
Political Geography:: United States

2047. Legality of the Deployment of Conventional Weapons in Earth Orbit: Balancing Space Law and the Law of Armed Conflict

Author:: Michel Bourbonnière and Ricky J. Lee
Publication Date:: 11-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: The Bush Administration of the United States recently released a revised National Space Policy. Although the revised National Space Policy can be interpreted as a step towards the weaponization of space, it does not necessarily weaponize space. It nonetheless brings to the forefront important legal issues concerning the basing of conventional weapons in space. The present international law matrix on the issue of space-based weapons is to be found in international space law, principally in the Outer Space Treaty, where certain prohibitions apply to nuclear weapons and to weapons of mass destruction. Space must also be used for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development. Space objects must be registered in accordance with the Registration Convention. The UN collective security system and the customary right of self-defence govern the use of force or jus ad bellum. The means and methods through which self-defence is exercised are in turn governed by international humanitarian law. Should space be weaponized the basing of these weapons and their use will be subject not only to international space law but also to the UN Charter and to international humanitarian law. The interface between these legal regimes consequently gains in importance, possibly forcing a reinterpretation of certain space treaties along with a correction in state practice.
Topic:: Humanitarian Aid, Nuclear Weapons, and United Nations
Political Geography:: United States

2048. Immunity for Torture: Lessons from Bouzari v. Iran

Author:: Noah Benjamin Novogrodsky
Publication Date:: 11-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: This article assesses the implications of the Canadian case of Bouzari v. Islamic Republic of Iran in which sovereign immunity barred recovery against a foreign state for acts of torture. Part 2 describes the case and the courts' rejection of arguments centred on the hierarchy of jus cogens norms, implied waiver and common law principles. Part 3 evaluates parallel developments in the United States and demonstrates the commonalities and differences associated with efforts to overcome immunity in the two countries. Part 4 examines potential amendments to Canada's State Immunity Act with a view to balancing considerations of comity with a just and workable means of holding states accountable for grave human rights abuses.
Topic:: Human Rights
Political Geography:: United States, Iran, and Canada

2049. Existe-t-il une religion civile républicaine?

Author:: Jean Baubérot
Publication Date:: 08-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:: Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:: La notion de « religion civile » provient, on le sait, de Jean-Jacques Rousseau, et elle a été, ces dernières décennies, reprise et réinterprétée par des sociologues et des historiens. En France, il est assez courant d'opposer la « laïcité républicaine » (française) à la religion civile américaine. Cet article propose, au contraire, l'hypothèse que la question de la « religion civile » se situe au coeur de la spécificité de la laïcité française dans sa dimension historique comme dans son actualité. La Cour constitutionnelle italienne considère, depuis 1989, le principe de laïcité comme fondamental ; plusieurs pays (Portugal, Russie) ont inscrit la laïcité dans leur Constitution ; le Québec a explicitement laïcisé ses écoles en 2000, etc. Et, pourtant, la laïcité continue d'apparaître souvent comme une « exception française » Or cette exceptionnalité n'est nullement conforme à la pensée des pères fondateurs de la laïcité française : Ferdinand Buisson, le maître d'oeuvre (au côté de Jules Ferry et de ses successeurs) de la laïcisation de l'école, et Aristide Briand, l'auteur principal de la loi de séparation des Églises et de l'État de 1905, envisageaient la laïcité de façon universaliste et non substantialiste : il existe pour eux des pays plus ou moins laïques, et la France n'est pas le pays le plus laïque du globe.
Topic:: Civil Society, Government, and Religion
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, and France

2050. The Muslim Presence in France and the United States: Its Consequences for Secularism

Author:: Jocelyne Cesari
Publication Date:: 08-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:: Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:: All too often, the question of Muslim minorities in Europe and America is discussed solely in socioeconomic terms or with a simplistic focus on the Islamic religion and its purported incompatibility with democracy. This article focuses instead on the secularism of Western host societies as a major factor in the integration of Muslim minorities. It compares French and American secularism and argues that while French-style secularism has contributed to present tensions between French Muslims and the French state, American secularism has facilitated the integration of Muslims in the United States-even after 9/11.
Topic:: Economics
Political Geography:: United States, America, and Europe

2051. Religion, politique et régulation juridique aux États-Unis

Author:: Fabienne Randaxhe
Publication Date:: 12-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:: Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:: From a French perspective, the relationship between the state and religion in the United States may seem paradoxical. On the one hand, the American nation was the first one to have established, by constitutional means, a separation between religious bodies and the political realm. On the other hand, religious and political spheres in the US still seem to overlap to some extent. While French approaches tend to regard US laïcité as uncertain and incomplete, this article discusses whether laïcité is in the US incomplete or aware of tensions to be lessened among religious, political and social forces. I focus on legal regulation and consider the notion of accommodation as a particular form of legal laïcité.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: United States and America

2052. Forming a Cross-Regional Partnership: The South Korea-Chile FTA and its Implications

Author:: Sung-Hoon Park and Min Gyo Koo
Publication Date:: 06-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: University of British Columbia
Abstract:: CRTAs have become a main feature of South Korea's newly found enthusiasm for a multi-track FTA strategy. In this study, we examine the rise of South Korea's aggressive FTA initiatives, with a special focus on the first cross-Pacific FTA, namely the South Korea-Chile FTA, and draw implications for South Korea's other RTA initiatives. South Korea's motivations to pursue CRTAs are complex. These include economic, political and diplomatic/leverage motives. South Korea's policy departure from its long-standing support for the multilateral trading system began with its FTA negotiations with Chile, a country located on the opposite side of the globe. Aside from the South Korea-Chile FTA, South Korea has been negotiating a number of other CRTAs. Most importantly, South Korea and the US began to negotiate a bilateral FTA in June 2006, the successful conclusion of which will have significant economic and strategic repercussions not only for South Korea but also for its neighboring East Asian countries. The economic and strategic motivations of the political leadership, as well as the new bureaucratic balance of power centered on the Office of the Minister for Trade, have played a significant role in South Korea's dramatic rush toward RTAs. Although South Korea's pursuit of RTAs does not necessarily mean that it has completely abandoned the multilateral trading system, the policy departure is increasingly becoming obvious and significant.
Topic:: Diplomacy
Political Geography:: United States, South Korea, and Chile

2053. Chinese Competition - Learning From Japan: China Challenge

Author:: Simon Collinson and Bridgette Sullivan-Taylor
Publication Date:: 12-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: IN THE 1970S AND 1980S THERE WAS a widespread fear in the west of Japanese economic superiority. Unprecedented growth in its gross domestic product (GDP), exports and outward foreign direct investment suggested an alternative model of market capitalism that was out-performing the United States and European economies. High-profile articles and books fed this fear and research efforts tried to identify what was different about Japan and how such differences might convey sustained competitive advantages.
Political Geography:: United States, Japan, and China

2054. The politics of national security: an unabashed liberal view

Author:: Todd Gitlin
Publication Date:: 06-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: World Policy Institute
Abstract:: Is there any question about whether the United States must protect itself against mass murderers who devoutly believe that brutality is their ticket to paradise? The question is silly, or worse. When addressed strictly to progressives, it amounts to a calumny. Why should such a question be asked of liberals alone, and not of the conservatives who ignored warnings when the al-Qaeda plot to massacre thousands was well underway and the country's defenses were down?
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: United States

2055. Red world, Blue world

Author:: Joshua Brook
Publication Date:: 06-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: World Policy Institute
Abstract:: Since the 2000 presidential election, political scientists, commentators, and intellectuals have seized on the "red state"/"blue state" divide to explain American politics. The United States is described as a single country with two distinct cultures. Red Americans tend to oppose abortion, regard homosexuality as moral deviance, respect the military, and look kindly on public displays of religious faith. Blue Americans, on the other hand, support environmentalism, abortion rights, gender equality, and gay rights, while opposing militarism and overt displays of patriotism and religious zeal.
Topic:: Globalization, Government, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: United States and America

2056. U.S. Small Arms Policy: Having it Both Ways

Author:: Susan Waltz
Publication Date:: 06-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: World Policy Institute
Abstract:: Does United States policy indeed represent the gold standard for export controls on small arms, as often asserted? Recent events suggest that it is time for a fresh look at this common claim.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States and Middle East

2057. Letter from the Editors - 2007

Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: We are pleased to present the 2007 edition of the Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA). Now in its eighteenth year, JPIA publishes the work of graduate students from schools of public and international affairs, providing young scholars with a unique forum to present original research and analysis on issues of domestic and international concern. JPIA also provides an opportunity for professional and intellectual exchange among the members of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA).
Political Geography:: United States

2058. He Who Would Rule: Climate Change in the Arctic and its Implications for U.S. National Security

Author:: Elizabeth L. Chalecki
Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: Anthropogenic climate change will have its greatest effect on the Arctic, which will experience impacts ranging from increasing ambient air temperature to glacier and sea ice melting to permafrost thaw. This altered environment will result in new national security concerns for circumpolar nations such as the United States, including increased Arctic access by Russia and other nations; competition over newly accessible fossil fuel resources; and loss of Arctic military facilities resulting from permafrost thaw and land subsidence. Although these effects will be felt cumulatively over the coming decades, the United States must make the necessary strategic changes now in order to prevail in this new security environment. The United States should retrain and re-equip military forces for greater Arctic operability, work toward a clear legal understanding of open sea access in newly ice-free waters, and consider implementing a joint circumpolar security apparatus to facilitate adaptation to this new globally-warmed Arctic.
Political Geography:: Russia and United States

2059. Political Theory and Political Science: Can This Marriage Be Saved?

Author:: Terence Ball
Publication Date:: 08-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: The too-often unhappy 'marriage' of political theory and political science has long been a source of anguish for both partners. Should this troubled partnership be dissolved? Or might this marriage yet be saved? Ball answers the former question negatively and the latter affirmatively. Playing the part of therapist instead of theorist, he selectively recounts a number of episodes which estranged the partners and strained the marriage. And yet, he concludes that the conflicts were in hindsight more constructive than destructive, benefiting both partners in heretofore unexpected ways and perhaps paving a path toward reconciliation and rapprochement.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: United States

2060. The Politics of PEPFAR: The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

Author:: John W. Dietrich
Publication Date:: 09-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: In his January 2003 State of the Union Address, President Bush called for the U.S to commit $15 billion over five years to address the international HIV/AIDS epidemic. For several reasons, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) caught many people by surprise. The surprise quickly was followed by excitement, tempered by skepticism.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: United States

2061. China... from the Sea: The Importance of Chinese Naval History

Author:: Benjamin Armstrong
Publication Date:: 12-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: Center for Contemporary Conflict
Abstract:: Since the fall of the Soviet Union, China has become a source of increased focus for military strategists and policy-makers throughout the West and most especially in the United States. With the largest army in the world and obvious aspirations to, at the very least, regional power they mark one of the most significant potential threats to American military supremacy. Studies of China's martial past have been included in the professional reading of many officers in the United States Armed forces. However, there is still one common misperception with regard to China's military history. China, despite what many have written, has an important naval heritage. This heritage may not have been central to the study of Chinese history in the past; however it is important for study in the future. The Chinese government itself has included examples from this history as inspiration for their modern policy and strategy. With this fact in mind it is of vital importance that historians and strategists understand China's naval past.
Political Geography:: United States, China, America, and Soviet Union

2062. The Second Annual CUFI Conference, July 2007: The Christian Zionist Coalition Hits its Stride

Publication Date:: 09-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Christians United for Israel, the Zionist lobby group that has grown by leaps and bounds since its founding two years ago, held its second annual conference in Washington, D.C., July 2007. Attended by political figures and rank-and-file members alike, the AIPAC-style conference showcased the group's formidable financial, organizational, and political strength, signaling that the group seems poised to set the agenda for future Christian Zionist work in the United States.
Political Geography:: United States, Washington, Israel, and Palestine

2063. The Decline of Turkish-American Relations under the Bush Administration and Opportunities for the Final Two Years

Author:: Melissa Maxey
Publication Date:: 01-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Turkey and the United States are close historic allies. Turkish-American relations have, of course, not been perfect. Two main issues have caused small problems throughout the duration of the partnership. Yet the relationship did begin to change under the administration of American President George W. Bush. The United States must shift its policy toward Turkey to stop the downward direction of relations. It must respond to Turkish internal and external pressures. To succeed it needs to work towards resolutions of current and past problems and allow Turkey to fully develop its own leadership role and position as a prominent member of the Europe and the Middle East.
Political Geography:: United States, America, Europe, and Turkey

2064. Building Moderate Muslim Networks

Author:: Angel Rabasa, Cheryl Benar, Lowell H. Schwartz, and Peter Sickle
Publication Date:: 01-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Radical and dogmatic interpretations of Islam have gained ground in recent years in many Muslim societies. Aside from a willingness to resort to violence to compel fellow Muslims to conform to their religious and political views, radicals enjoy two critical advantages over moderate and liberal Muslims. The first is money. Saudi funding for the export of the Wahhabi version of Islam over the last three decades has had the effect, whether intended or not, of promoting the growth of religious extremism throughout the Muslim world. The radicals' second advantage is organization. Radical groups have developed extensive networks over the years, which are themselves embedded in a dense net of international relationships. In this report we describe, first, how network building was actually done during the Cold War—how the United States identified and supported partners and how it attempted to avoid endangering them. Second, we analyze the similarities and the differences between the Cold War environment and today's struggle with radical Islamism and how these similarities and differences affect U.S. efforts to build networks today. Third, we examine current U.S. strategies and programs of engagement with the Muslim world. Finally, informed by the efforts of the Cold War and previous RAND work on the ideological tendencies in the Muslim world, we develop a "road map" for the construction of moderate Muslim networks and institutions. A key finding of this report—which one of our reviewers notes is particularly important—is that the U.S. government and its allies need, but thus far have failed, to develop clear criteria for partnerships with authentic moderates. The net result, already visible, is the discouragement of truly moderate Muslims.
Topic:: International Relations, Cold War, and Islam
Political Geography:: United States

2065. Syria's Relations with Iraq

Publication Date:: 01-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Syrian diplomacy, crowned last November by the re-establishment of bilateral relations and in January by the first state visit of an Iraqi president to Syria in nearly 30 years, seeks to promote Damascus's strategic interests amidst Iraq's continuing violence. Syria initially favored the "managed chaos" that characterized Iraq in the several months following the U.S. invasion because it kept U.S. troops "pinned down" and therefore unlikely to invade Syria. However, the past year's dramatic escalation in sectarian violence, coupled with fears of Iraq's potential disintegration, has impelled Syria to seek greater stability in Iraq. In particular, Damascus has signaled its displeasure with Iraqi Kurdish autonomy, which has emboldened Syria's Kurdish population, estimated at 1.7 million.
Topic:: Diplomacy and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:: United States, Iraq, and Syria

2066. Learning Strategic Depth: Implications of Turkey's New Foreign Policy Doctrine

Author:: Joshua W. Walker
Publication Date:: 07-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Turkey stands at the threshold of all major trends within its neighborhood and is actively seeking to harness the assets that its geography and historical experiences afford it. As a staunch ally of the United States which has traditionally privileged its "strategic partnership," Turkey's global role has shifted from being a Western geo-strategic military deterrent to an exemplary model of a Muslim-majority, secular, and democratic nation. This article offers an introduction to Turkey's new foreign policy doctrine known as "strategic depth" and then seeks to examine its implications for Turkey's emerging role in Europe, the Middle East, Russia, and Central Asia. In the following sections, this article will outline how Turkey is beginning to realize its full potential as a versatile multiregional and increasingly powerful international actor.
Topic:: Foreign Policy
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, Europe, Central Asia, Turkey, and Middle East

2067. The Future of Turkey's Westernization: A Security Perspective

Author:: Tarik Oguzlu
Publication Date:: 07-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: This article argues that Turkey's relations with the Western international community, namely the European Union and the United States, have been going through difficult times over the last couple of years mainly owing to the growing divergences between the security understandings of the parties concerned. Despite the fact that internal factors, such as the ongoing power struggle among domestic actors, have a good deal of explanatory power, the emerging security environment in Turkey's neighborhood, particularly in Iraq, and its impacts on Turkey's internal security have recently become more important in bringing into existence a skeptical Turkish attitude towards the West in general and the westernization process in particular. The changing Western security understanding in the post 9/11 era on the one hand and the growing Western demands that Turkey adopt this understanding should she aspire to become a legitimate part of the West on the other have growingly led the establishment elites in Turkey to challenge the legitimacy of the decades-long westernization/Europeanization process from a security perspective.
Topic:: Security
Political Geography:: United States and Turkey

2068. The Politics of Incirlik Air Base

Author:: Selin M. Bolme
Publication Date:: 07-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: The adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution in the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, doubled with the highly criticized US policy towards the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has placed the İncirlik Air Base at the top of the Turkish political agenda. The İncirlik Air Base has always played a key role in the Turkish-US relations due to its strategic location in the region. The base has been used by the U.S. in many regional events and operations. In every case, its use has brought the status and functions of İncirlik to the fore. However, it is difficult to find any research that particularly focuses on the İncirlik Air Base and its history. Hence, there are many speculations on the status and the functions of the base. The purpose of this article is briefly trace the history of the İncirlik Air Base and describe the obligations of Turkey and the rights of the US under the existing agreements. In the final part, the last crises will be analyzed to assess its impact on Turkish-American relations.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: United States, Turkey, and Armenia

2069. Freeing All God's Children

Author:: Clifford Bob
Publication Date:: 01-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Human Rights and Human Welfare - Review Essays
Institution:: Josef Korbel Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver
Abstract:: Each year since 1999 the U.S. State Department has issued a lengthy report on violations of religious freedoms around the world. In recent years, Human Rights Watch and other major rights organizations have made religious persecution one of their major foci. And the world media now pays significant attention to violations of worship rights. As a result, countries such as Sudan, China, North Korea, Uzbekistan, and others have faced international pressure for their repression of various faiths, especially Christianity.
Topic:: Non-Governmental Organization and Religion
Political Geography:: Africa, United States, China, Sudan, North Korea, and Uzbekistan

2070. "I'm just talking about the law": Guantánamo and the Lawyers

Author:: Marten Zwanenburg
Publication Date:: 01-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Human Rights and Human Welfare - Review Essays
Institution:: Josef Korbel Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver
Abstract:: “Because the legal advice was we could do what we wanted to them there”. This is how a top-level Pentagon official, in David Rose's Guantánamo: The War on Human Rights, explains why detainees held by the United States have been detained at Guantanamo Bay. It is just one illustration of the important role that lawyers have played in the “War on Terror”—a role, along with factors that have or that may have influenced it, that forms the topic of this essay.
Topic:: Government, Human Rights, and Torture
Political Geography:: United States

2071. Global Imbalances, Tanking Dollar, and the IMF's Surveillance over Exchange Rate Policies

Author:: Sitikantha Pattanaik
Publication Date:: 09-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Cato Journal
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: The exchange rate policies of the member countries of the International Monetary Fund could come under more intrusive scrutiny because of the June 15, 2007, decision of the IMF Executive Board on bilateral surveillance. This article highlights why the IMF decision cannot help in addressing the problem of global imbalances, even if it succeeds in delivering further appreciation of the exchange rates of surplus countries against the U.S. dollar. Moreover, there could be enormous challenges for effective implementation of the decision, which may further erode the credibility of the IMF. Even though disorderly correction of global imbalances remains a concern for every country, shifting the burden of adjustment entirely to surplus countries could have potentially damaging implications for international cooperation on global economic challenges. Past experiences of international cooperation to deal with global imbalances and currency misalignments suggest that countries rarely sacrifice their domestic economic priorities. Without appropriate macroeconomic adjustment measures, neither the high and growing U.S. current account deficit nor the savings glut of several surplus countries can be corrected solely by removing exchange rate misalignments.
Political Geography:: United States

2072. Economic Liberty and the Official Law Books in Colonial Massachusetts

Author:: Charles Edward Smith
Publication Date:: 09-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Cato Journal
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Hernando de Soto's The Mystery of Capital traces the essential developments of land registration and titling in 19th century U.S. history. But his chronology omits implementation of mid-17th century English legal reform initiatives in colonial Massachusetts concerning land registration, creditor-debtor law, and market regulations. Massachusetts's legislators were pursuing a reform agenda in an agrarian, semi-literate, and pre-contract society, conditions that are similar to many developing countries today. This article expands on de Soto's work by examining the vehicle that colonial Massachusetts utilized to communicate its ordinances and regulations: the official law books printed and distributed to colonists.
Political Geography:: United States

2073. The Future of the U.S. Postal Service

Author:: Robert Carbaugh
Publication Date:: 09-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Cato Journal
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Structural, legal, and financial constraints have brought the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to the brink of breakdown in the past decade. Faced by declining business brought about by the e-mail revolution and competition from private express companies, the Postal Service has repeatedly requested assistance from the federal government. This culminated in December 2006 with the passage of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which introduces modest re-visions in the pricing and service policies of the Postal Service so as to make it a self-sustaining government corporation. But will it?
Political Geography:: United States

2074. The Terrorism List Issue in U.S. Policy Toward North Korea

Author:: Larry A. Niksch
Publication Date:: 09-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:: International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:: The issue of North Korea's inclusion on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism has been in U.S.-North Korean diplomacy since 2000, but three stages are of particular importance: the first in 2000 in Clinton Administration-North Korean negotiations; the second during the 2003-2004 Six Party negotiations over the North Korean nuclear issue; and the third in the diplomacy around the Six Party nuclear agreement of February 2007. Until 2000, the core element of U.S.-North Korean diplomacy was the Agreed Framework, which Washington and Pyongyang signed in October 1994. It dealt primarily with North Korea's nuclear program, but U.S. obligations specified in the Agreed Framework included economic and diplomatic measures. However, the issue of removal of North Korea from the U.S. terrorism list was omitted from the Agreement. The issue appears not to have been a major object of the negotiations in 1994.
Political Geography:: United States and North Korea

2075. China's Foreign Policy toward North Korea—A US Perspective

Author:: Robert Sutter
Publication Date:: 09-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:: International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:: With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the demise of East-West and Sino-Soviet competition for influence in the Korean peninsula after the cold war, Beijing adjusted Chinese relations to take advantage of economic and other opportunities with South Korea, while sustaining a leading international position in relations with North Korea. In contrast with steady Chinese efforts to use post cold war conditions in order to advance China's relations with South Korea, Chinese foreign policy toward North Korea has been characterized by reactive moves in response to abrupt and often provocative behavior of North Korea, and, to a lesser degree, the United States.
Political Geography:: United States, China, Beijing, North Korea, and Soviet Union

2076. A Changing Paradigm of U.S.-East Asian Relations: Strategic and Economic Perspectives

Author:: Terence Roehrig
Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:: International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:: There is little doubt that portions of the strategic and economic paradigm in East Asia and for U.S.-East Asia relations have in general been changing in dramatic ways for the past ten to fifteen years. Several contributing factors are well known: China's economic rise along with the potential strategic and political role it is likely to play in the future; the possibility of a more assertive Japan that may revise its constitution in an effort to become a “normal” country; and South Korea, in possession of greater economic, military and political power accompanied by the confidence to be a more significant player in the region. Moreover, even the notion of “East Asia” may be less and less relevant as economic integration is no longer bound by old geographic delineations, particularly with the region's growing economic and political ties with Southeast Asia and India, ties that are breaking down some of these regional distinctions. Finally, the United States is facing a more confident and multipolar Asia that is organizing to play a greater role in controlling its future and increasingly will require a different approach than in the past.
Political Geography:: United States, India, East Asia, Asia, Angola, and Southeast Asia

2077. A Nuclear Armed Korea as a Factor in Sino-American Relations

Author:: Elizabeth Van Vie Davis
Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:: International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:: Few things have changed China's foreign policy toward the United States more subtly than the issue of a nuclear Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. The catalysts of these events were, on the one hand, the July 5, 2006, long-range missile test and the October 9, 2006, nuclear weapon test. On the other hand, the Six Party Talks that had been designed perhaps to prevent these very events have also been a catalyst to changes in US-China relations. In part these changes in Chinese foreign policy toward the US are because of changes within China itself. Partly these changes in Chinese foreign policy toward the US reflect China's changing role in the international system. And partly they are in response to US policy toward China. The nexus of these three elements has been a more respectful and open relationship between the two powers, but one still fraught with nuances and complexities.
Political Geography:: United States, China, America, and Korea

2078. Adenauer, Erhard, and the Uses of Prosperity

Author:: William Glenn Gray
Publication Date:: 06-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: German Politics and Society
Institution:: German Politics and Society Journal
Abstract:: This essay explores the relationship between West Germany's “economic miracle” and the goal of reunification in the early postwar decades. It argues that Konrad Adenauer was reluctant to mobilize economic resources on behalf of German unity—instead he sought to win trust by proclaiming unswerving loyalty to the West. Ludwig Erhard, by contrast, made an overt attempt to exchange financial incentives for political concessions—to no avail. Both of these chancellors failed to appreciate how West Germany's increasing prosperity undermined its diplomatic position, at least in the near term, given the jealousies and misgivings it generated in Western capitals and in Moscow. Only a gradual process of normalization would allow all four of the relevant powers—France, Britain, the United States, and the USSR—to develop sufficient trust in the economically dynamic Federal Republic to facilitate the country's eventual unification.
Political Geography:: Britain, Russia, United States, France, and Germany

2079. Spying on Terrorists: Germany in Comparative Perspective

Author:: A. James McAdams
Publication Date:: 08-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: German Politics and Society
Institution:: German Politics and Society Journal
Abstract:: Intelligence and law enforcement agencies in western democracies are turning increasingly to electronic surveillance tools in their efforts to identify and combat new terrorist threats. But this does not mean that they are equally equipped to undertake these measures. As the author shows by comparing surveillance activities in three countries—Great Britain, the United States, and Germany—the Federal Republic's more restrictive legal norms and institutions provide its government with much less freedom of maneuver than its allies.
Topic:: Government, Intelligence, and Law
Political Geography:: Britain, United States, and Germany

2080. Germany's Involvement in Extraordinary Renditions and Its Responsibility under International Law

Author:: Laura Tate Kagel
Publication Date:: 12-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: German Politics and Society
Institution:: German Politics and Society Journal
Abstract:: As investigative journalists and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly uncover the nature and scope of a U.S. government program known for transferring terrorist suspects outside of normal legal and administrative channels, the role of European states has come under scrutiny. To a large degree, these states have erected a “wall of fog,” as a report from the German Institute of Human Rights describes it, blocking access to information that would allow for independent assessments of the human rights implications of the counterterrorism practice known as “extraordinary rendition.”
Topic:: International Law and Terrorism
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, Germany, and Egypt

2081. Full Issue - Volume 1, Issue 1

Publication Date:: 12-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: CTC Sentinel
Institution:: The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
Abstract:: THE COMBATING TERRORISM CENTER at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point is privileged to present the CTC Sentinel, a new monthly online journal devoted to understanding and confronting contemporary threats posed by terrorism, insurgency and other forms of political violence. The CTC Sentinel draws from the Center's network of scholars and practitioners dedicated to the study of terrorism and counter-terrorism to provide the most well-informed forum for the analysis of these most pressing security challenges facing the United States and its allies.
Topic:: Terrorism and War
Political Geography:: United States

2082. Asymmetric Response vs. the Strategic Defense Initiative

Author:: A. Kokoshin
Publication Date:: 09-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:: East View Information Services
Abstract:: The "asymmetric response" to the US Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), put forward by US President Ronald Reagan in 1983, was one of the most interesting examples of complex politico-military strategy (comprising diplomatic, political and propaganda activity, as well as concrete programs for the development of weapon systems and an appropriate scientific and technical base).
Political Geography:: United States

2083. A Different Type of Russian-U.S. Relations

Author:: Alexander Fomenko
Publication Date:: 09-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:: East View Information Services
Abstract:: The near half a century of the Cold War between the USSR and the U.S. and the subsequent 15 years of "NATO enlargement" created in the heads of both the Russians and the Americans a stereotype based on the perception of each other as almost natural geopolitical rivals, doomed to confrontation, if not by geography, then by history.
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, and America

2084. An EU Outlook on the Future of the Kyoto Protocol

Author:: Thomas Legge
Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The European Union has low expectations for the international climate regime after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol effectively expires. The United States is not thought likely to sign up to new binding international commitments, whereas EU countries have experienced unexpected difficulties in implementing existing commitments. As a consequence, the European Union may be prepared to settle for a surprisingly weak follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol. At the same time, the European Union will pursue bilateral and regional climate agreements with like-minded countries, parallel to the UN framework and possibly independently of it. Collectively, such agreements could produce an international climate regime that is more robust than what could be agreed at the consensus-based UN level. Nevertheless, the European Union will continue to support the UN process as the only legitimate forum for international negotiations on climate change.
Topic:: United Nations
Political Geography:: United States and Europe

2085. Analytical Perspectives on the War in Lebanon

Author:: Volker Perthes
Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The summer 2006 war in Lebanon can be perceived through at least five different frames of reference. The US administration saw the war in Lebanon as a local manifestation of the global war on terror. According to this framework, Hezbollah is an Al Qaeda-type enemy, not a national group with a local agenda and constituency; bargaining with Hezbollah is not possible. This point of view makes fighting global terror more difficult and jeopardises the search for stability and peace in the region. Many Israeli and European politicians saw the war as a confrontation between radical Islam and a modern Israeli state, a clash of cultures between Islamic fundamentalists and Western civilisation. This frame of reference, however, fails to recognise the fault line within the Muslim world itself, between those who want to integrate their societies into a globalised world and those who do not. The conflict in Lebanon can also be interpreted as a consequence of the weakening of a state, a framework which underlines the need to strengthen Arab institutions, or as an asymmetrical war between an armed nation state and a guerrilla movement. Finally, the war in Lebanon can be seen as a conflict over power, land, resources and sovereignty - the classic realist perspective. If the international community fails to work toward a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East, another framework will gain strength in the Arab world: one that interprets events according to a theory of non-negotiable conflicts between Western imperialism and radical Islamic resistance.
Topic:: War
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, Middle East, Israel, Arabia, and Lebanon

2086. The US and the EU: An Alliance with no Alternative

Author:: Gianni Bonvicini
Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Review of: Alleanze alla prova : Europa e Stati Uniti tra cooperazione e conflitto. a cura di Carlo Secchi e Enrico Sassoon, Egea, 2006
Political Geography:: United States and Europe

2087. A New Bi-continental Approach to Transatlantic Defence Cooperation

Author:: Michele Nones
Publication Date:: 06-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The prospect of transatlantic cooperation in the field of defence systems depends on reaching an acceptable point of equilibrium. Without it, Europe would find the strategic, political, economic, and industrial risks of total American predominance in this field (with the consequent loss of technical and production expertise) unacceptable. The reduction of the gap between Europe and the United States depends on the integration of the European defence market. This must not be seen as a risk for transatlantic collaboration, but as an opportunity. Building up a transatlantic market could also improve the efficiency of the American market by increasing competition. This collaboration, based not on bilateral, national, or multilateral agreements, but instead on bi-continental cooperation, is the challenge that Europe and the United States must face and meet together.
Topic:: Economics
Political Geography:: United States, America, and Europe

2088. The US: Dangerous to the World or to Itself?

Author:: Emiliano Alessandri
Publication Date:: 06-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Review of: Dangerous nation, Robert Kagan, Knopf, 2006
Political Geography:: United States

2089. Italy's Growing Burden of Choice in Security Policy

Author:: Roberto Menotti
Publication Date:: 09-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: NATO, the EU, and the UN have been the cornerstones of Italy's foreign policy since WWII: although they continue to provide a point of reference, these institutions are undergoing major changes that reflect - and partly create - a very unpredictable international environment. The evolving security agenda, choices made by key allies (especially the United States), and domestic political forces, are putting Italian decision-makers under pressure. There is a serious problem of resource constraints while the country is still unwilling to make clear-cut choices based on unavoidable tradeoffs. The past few years witnessed a mix of continuity and change due to the political orientations of successive governments under these challenging circumstances.
Topic:: Security and NATO
Political Geography:: United States and Italy

2090. HORS-THEMES: Creating a Revolution in Military Affairs: a practical guide

Author:: Christophe Wasinski
Publication Date:: 12-2006
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Cultures & Conflits
Institution:: Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:: L'objectif de l'analyse consiste à appliquer la méthode développée par Bruno Latour - pour étudier le projet technique « Aramis » - à l'élaboration d'une Révolution dans les affaires militaires (RAM) aux Etats-Unis. Par cette méthode, il est possible de décrypter les discours constitutifs d'un projet militaire, de mettre à jour les identités des acteurs concernés ainsi que leurs relations. En fin de compte, l'aspect construit de la RMA est mis en évidence.
Political Geography:: United States

2091. The Dogma of Japanese Insignificance: The Academic Discourse on North Korea Policy Coordination

Author:: Linus Hagström
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Pacific Affairs
Institution:: University of British Columbia
Abstract:: The message of Japanese insignificance in international affairs can be found in many different literatures, including that on the formation of policy towards North Korea in the 1990s and 2000s, in particular in regard to the recurring nuclear crisis. Books and articles on the topic either exclude Japanese foreign policy altogether or tend to emphasize the predominant role, or power, of the United States. Japanese foreign policy, it is implied, is under US control. The aim of this article is to question that dominant view, (1) by demonstrating that there is an undercurrent of statements in the same literature which could well be interpreted as implying Tokyo's exercising of political, economic and perhaps even military power over Washington; (2) by clarifying the conceptual bias upon which the predominant view rests; and (3) by suggesting how another understanding of power is more coherent with the first two points, but at the same time renders the whole question of power in North Korea policy coordination practically a quagmire. By doing so, this article deconstructs the more uniform understanding of power in that discourse and reveals a patchwork of inconsistencies, differences and questions.
Political Geography:: United States, Japan, Washington, North Korea, and Tokyo

2092. Vicarious Traumas: Television and Public Opinion in Japan's North Korea Policy

Author:: Hyung Gu Lynn
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Pacific Affairs
Institution:: University of British Columbia
Abstract:: Critiques of American mainstream and conservative media for their often dubious cheerleading of the US war against Iraq have become familiar elements of recent public discourse. However, such analyses have not generated equivalent intellectual engagement with media representations of North Korea. Considering how difficult it has been to obtain accurate information on North Korea, this relative paucity is surprising. I address this lacuna by analyzing the role of the Japanese media, particularly television, in generating public perceptions of North Korea. Why did Japanese television coverage of North Korea reach saturation points following the 9/17 summit? Why were audiences so receptive? How did television shape public opinion? And how did domestic public opinion influence or constrict Japan's North Korea policy? In answering these questions, rather than simply observe that the abductions themselves have been the most important issue in Japan, or note that there have been temporary increases or decreases in Japanese media coverage of North Korea, I argue that television (and other forms of mass media) herded the public into a relatively constricted range of views through narrow, biased saturation coverage of the issue du jour. An intersection of structural concentration, content isomorphism, malleable audiences and domestic policy conflicts allowed the media not only to set agendas, but to prime the audience and frame the presentation of information. Public opinion, maintained by conservative political lobbies, viewer ratings responses and broadcasting strategies, ultimately constricted the government policy agenda, range and choice in dealing with North Korea, generating very predictable behaviours.
Political Geography:: United States, Japan, America, and North Korea

2093. Considerations on the first (frustrated) action of 'Hezbollah in Venezuela'

Author:: Javier Jordán and Manuel R. Torres
Publication Date:: 10-2006
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Athena Intelligence Journal
Institution:: Athena Intelligence
Abstract:: On the 23rd of October the venezuelan police discoverd two explosive devices nearby the United States embassy in Caracas. The alarm necessitated the evacuation of a school situated a small distance away and two controlled explosions were carried out a few hours later.
Political Geography:: United States

2094. Scientists in Time of War: World War II, the Cold War, and Science in the United States and France

Author:: Dominique Pestre
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:: Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:: Before addressing its central concern––the convergence of science, war, institutions, and politics in the postwar period in France and the United States––, this essay evokes how scientific knowledge had been of importance to warfare and economic elites in the preceding centuries. In the 1940s and 1950s, scientific activities were profoundly redefined. A culture of laboratory solutions, of calculus, and management won the day. For the scientists, that meant versatility and a willingness to work between disciplines and métiers and to confront the nation's main concerns. It also led to increasingly technocratic versions of politics. Due to science, the state became a managerial apparatus, a "modernizer" arbitrating among different scenarios. Contrary to what happened in the United States, science was not center stage in France in the 1940s and early 1950s. The habitus of scientists was that of the prewar period, and they were still not technique- oriented. They had a more cultural definition of their trade and were not opportunists whose aim was to become pragmatically efficient in the world of business and military action. From the mid-1950s, things started to evolve due to a strong economic recovery and because French scientists had now caught up with the latest developments. The final break, however, occurred in France only when de Gaulle abandoned the Algerian war and elected for an autonomous nuclear deterrence system. By putting la stratégie de l'arsenal at the core of national development, de Gaulle significantly transformed French science, society, industry, and the military.
Topic:: Cold War and Politics
Political Geography:: United States and France

2095. The U.S.-ROK Alliance: American Perspectives

Author:: David I. Steinberg
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:: International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:: Non-specialist Americans, if they think of the Korean Peninsula at all, focus on the crisis that the U.S. faces with North Korea over nuclear and missile issues. Yet there are two crises facing the U.S. in that volatile and dangerous location that has been for two millennia a nexus of regional conflict. The first is the more obvious one with North Korea that the Bush administration has yet seriously to address on a bilateral basis, and still seems unwilling to do so at the highest levels; and the second crisis, a stealth one between South Korea and the U.S.– one that is obscured by both a lack of transparency on relations on the part of both governments and by the media in the United States that has under-reported the issue. The prospect of the Bush-Roh summit did raise its visibility, but the meeting itself and its aftermath were poorly reported in the United States and the subsequent limited official statements lacked depth and implied substantial disagreements. The second crisis with South Korea is arguably as profound as the first for longer-range relations and stability in Northeast Asia. Although both are related, they are not coterminous.
Political Geography:: United States, America, and North Korea

2096. Force Restructuring in the ROK-US Military Alliance: Challenges and Implications

Author:: Bruce E. Bechtol, Jr.
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:: International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:: The foreign policy issue regarding the ROK-US alliance that dominated the news headlines in South Korea for much of the spring and summer of 2006 focused on Wartime Operational Control (OPCON) of ROK and US forces and how this command and control relationship would change in coming years. Unfortunately, this issue has received almost no attention in the United States, where security concerns relating to other regions in the world have consistently dominated the headlines. In the view of the author, this has the potential to be extremely dangerous, as South Korea is Washington's 7th largest trading partner, a staunch and loyal ally for six decades, and a country that has become culturally, economically, and politically linked to many aspects of society in the United States.
Political Geography:: United States and South Korea

2097. The U.S. East Asia Strategy and the Korean Peninsula: Retooling Alliance, Asymmetry, and Balancing

Author:: Young Whan Kihl
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:: International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:: A popular Korean saying right after World War II in 1945, as shown below, attests to the Korean people's generally distrustful sentiment toward outside powers. This sentiment of realism also seems to be reflected in both North and South Korea today.
Political Geography:: United States, East Asia, and Korea

2098. Inter-Korean Relations and the Future of the U.S.–ROK Alliance

Author:: Choong Nam Kim
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:: International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:: Relations between the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) are undergoing dramatic changes. So is the security alliance between the United States and South Korea, which was established to deter a common threat from North Korea. The change in South-North Korean relations has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the United States' North Korea policy. At the same time, progress in inter-Korean relations depends to a significant extent upon Washington's North Korea policy. In addition, the strategic landscape of Northeast Asia and the political environment on the peninsula has changed significantly. The foundation of the U.S.–ROK alliance is being undercut by social and political change in South Korea and by a widening gap in the allies' threat perceptions and security priorities. The question of alliance legitimacy and durability has become more pressing than ever before.
Political Geography:: United States, Korea, and Northeast Asia

2099. U.S.-DPRK Relations in the 21st Century: Ramifications of North Korea's Declaration of Independence from the International Community

Author:: C. Kenneth Quinones
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:: International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:: North Korea's July 4 launching of ballistic missiles declared its leader Kim Jong Il's determination to secure its nation's national defense irrespective of the international community's concerns and opposition. Initial international reaction ranged from stunned disbelief to rage. Japan was particularly outraged and took the initiative, with strong support from the United States, to press for UN Security Council passage of a resolution that called for economic sanctions against North Korea. Even China took the rare step of supporting a moderated version of the UN Security Council resolution that censured North Korea, but without reference to sanctions. Absent from most reactions was perspective. RRather than attempting to decipher the consequences, governments focused on punitive measures. How could North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Il be so audacious and foolheardty as to disregard the international community's warnings against launching a single ballistic missile. Here we pursue perspective to better understand Kim Jong Il's motives so that we might better know how to influence his future actions. Whether Kim acted in an appropriate or moral manner is not our concern. In matters of national security, morality, issues of right and wrong, are of secondary concern. Foremost must be the goal to better understand our adversaries so that we can deal most effectively with them. Otherwise, our security will be at greater risk in the future.
Political Geography:: United States and North Korea

2100. China's Approach to the US-ROK Alliance—Background, Status, Outlook

Author:: Robert Sutter
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:: International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:: Among China's neighbors in Asia, Chinese leaders have given highest priority to relations with the governments of northeast Asia, Japan and the administrations of North and South Korea. The salient reasons have included the strategic location of these nations close to the economic centers of China's modernization, their economic, political, and military power and importance to China, and their close involvement with the United States. In terms of the last factor, Chinese leaders have long recognized the central importance of the US alliances with Japan and South Korea, and the related importance of the US military presence in both countries as enabled by the respective alliances.
Political Geography:: United States and China

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