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182. The “Deal of the Century”: The Final Stage of the Oslo Accords
- Author:
- Joseph Massad
- Publication Date:
- 11-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Al Jazeera Center for Studies
- Abstract:
- Donald Trump’s “Deal of the century” is the final phase of the 1993 Oslo Accords, which formalized the final liquidation of the Palestinian anti-colonial national struggle for independence and liberation. The “Deal” is nothing more or less than the last step of the so-called “peace process.” In order to understand the aims of the “Deal,” we need to go back to the Oslo Accords, which anticipated this step and assiduously prepared the ground for it. Since the beginning of the so-called “peace process” inaugurated in Madrid in 1991, the PLO, through its unofficial negotiators, conceded Palestinian rights one by one, in a gradual process culminating in the official PLO signing of the Declaration of Principles in Washington D.C. on September 13, 1993.
- Topic:
- International Security and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
183. Imran Khan CPEC Diplomacy: Remodelling Trade Politics between Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and China
- Author:
- James M. Dorsey
- Publication Date:
- 10-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Al Jazeera Center for Studies
- Abstract:
- Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan lands in Beijing on November 3, the latest head of government to seek a renegotiation of commercial terms and/or focus of projects related to China’s infrastructure and energy-driven Belt and Road initiative. He follows in the footsteps of his Malaysian counterpart, Mahathir Mohamad has suspended US$26 billion in Chinese-funded projects; while Myanmar is negotiating a significant scaling back of a Chinese-funded port project on the Bay of Bengal from one that would cost US$ 7.3 billion to a more modest development that would cost US$1.3 billion in a bid to avoid shouldering an unsustainable debt. China has also witnessed pushback and rising anti-Chinese sentiment in countries as far flung as Kazakhstan, Nepal, and Denmark
- Topic:
- Diplomacy and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
184. Jamal Khashoggi: The Intellectual and his ‘Incomplete’ Chapter…!
- Author:
- Jamal Khashoggi and Mohammed Cherkaoui
- Publication Date:
- 10-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Al Jazeera Center for Studies
- Abstract:
- Saudi intellectual and journalist Jamal Khashoggi was among a diverse group of panelists at a joint international conference, hosted by Aljazeera Centre for Studies (AJCS) and Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Washington June 12, 2018, to discuss the topic “Shaping a New Balance of Power in the Middle East: Regional Actors, Global Powers, and Middle East Strategy”. In the morning, participants in the first panel “Dynamics of Political Geography in the Middle East” and the second panel “Non-State Actors and Shadow Politics” gave rather deconstructive perspectives on several recent trends in the politics of the region. They probed into several modalities of what seems to be competitive strategies of various global and regional actors and non-state actors in the Gulf, the Middle East, and North Africa.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
185. The 3-R Dilemma: Religiosity of Peace, Realism of War, and Regressed Subidentities in the Middle East [Part 2]
- Author:
- Mohammed Cherkaoui
- Publication Date:
- 10-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Al Jazeera Center for Studies
- Abstract:
- North Africa and the Middle East are struggling with their present; let alone how to shape their future. The promise of the 2011 uprisings has turned into growing malaise and widespread deception by the poor performance of Islamist, secular, military, nationalist, and other brands of Arab governments. After seven years of high expectations, the Arab story of reform and democratization has become a daunting cliffhanger. The main question now is how we got here. Why there is so much concentration of conflict and violence in this strategic region located at the heart of the world with enormous natural and human resources. Why is there still dire shortage of democratic steps and civility in the Arab public discourse across the region? One good example in Saudi Arabia, Tweeter has served as the best weapon of mass stigmatization of Qatari officials and their allies. Another intriguing question; what prevents Arab societies from forging a smooth path to modernity, welfare, and democracy? Are there any real prospects of an Arab age of enlightenment to help address this difficult Arab pregnancy of democracy?
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
186. The 3-R Dilemma: Religiosity of Peace, Realism of War, and Regressed Subidentities in the Middle East [Part 1]
- Author:
- Mohammed Cherkaoui
- Publication Date:
- 10-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Al Jazeera Center for Studies
- Abstract:
- North Africa and the Middle East are struggling with their present; let alone how to shape their future. The promise of the 2011 uprisings has turned into growing malaise and widespread deception by the poor performance of Islamist, secular, military, nationalist, and other brands of Arab governments. After seven years of high expectations, the Arab story of reform and democratization has become a daunting cliffhanger. The main question now is how we got here. Why there is so much concentration of conflict and violence in this strategic region located at the heart of the world with enormous natural and human resources. Why is there still dire shortage of democratic steps and civility in the Arab public discourse across the region? One good example in Saudi Arabia, Tweeter has served as the best weapon of mass stigmatization of Qatari officials and their allies. Another intriguing question; what prevents Arab societies from forging a smooth path to modernity, welfare, and democracy? Are there any real prospects of an Arab age of enlightenment to help address this difficult Arab pregnancy of democracy?
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
187. The Presumed Trump-Kim ‘Denuclearization’ Deal: A View from Tokyo
- Author:
- Koki Ishigohoka
- Publication Date:
- 11-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Al Jazeera Center for Studies
- Abstract:
- President Donald Trump is considering holding a second summit with Chairman Kim Jong-un “sometime next year, sometime early next year [2019].” (1) The Trump-Kim relationship, which was clearly an attitude of mutual diversion at first, has now entered a new phase. Russia and China are providing major support to North Korea, with the aim of holding a five-way round of talks including South Korea and the United States. (2) Since heading his new government in 2012, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to be cut out of the loop despite his ‘new level of pressure’.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
188. Policy Evolution Under the Clean Air Act
- Author:
- Richard Schmalensee and Robert Stavins
- Publication Date:
- 11-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- The U.S. Clean Air Act, passed in 1970 with strong bipartisan support, was the first environmental law to give the Federal government a serious regulatory role, established the architecture of the U.S. air pollution control system, and became a model for subsequent environmental laws in the United States and globally. We outline the Act’s key provisions, as well as the main changes Congress has made to it over time. We assess the evolution of air pollution control policy under the Clean Air Act, with particular attention to the types of policy instruments used. We provide a generic assessment of the major types of policy instruments, and we trace and assess the historical evolution of EPA’s policy instrument use, with particular focus on the increased use of market-based policy instruments, beginning in the 1970s and culminating in the 1990s. Over the past fifty years, air pollution regulation has gradually become much more complex, and over the past twenty years, policy debates have become increasingly partisan and polarized, to the point that it has become impossible to amend the Act or pass other legislation to address the new threat of climate change.
- Topic:
- Climate Change and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
189. GHG Cap-and-Trade: Implications for Effective and Efficient Climate Policy in Oregon
- Author:
- Todd Schatzki and Robert Stavins
- Publication Date:
- 11-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- Like many other states, Oregon has begun to pursue climate policies to attempt to fill the gap created by the lack of effective climate policy at the Federal level. After adopting a variety of policies to address climate change and other environmental impacts from energy use, Oregon is now contemplating the adoption of a greenhouse gas (GHG) cap-and-trade system. However, interactions between policies can have important consequences for environmental and economic outcomes. Thus, as Oregon considers taking this step, reconsidering the efficacy of its other current climate policies may better position the state to achieve long-run emission reductions at sustainable economic costs.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
190. The Dilemma of the African Development Bank: Does Governance Matter for the Long-Run Financing of the MDBs?
- Author:
- Nancy Birdsall
- Publication Date:
- 12-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- Does governance matter for the long-run financing of the multilateral development banks? The structure of governance of the legacy MDBs (the World Bank and the four major regional development banks founded in the twentieth century) ideally should minimize any tradeoff between the confidence of creditor shareholding countries, on which an MDB’s own financing depends, and the sense of ownership, legitimacy, and trust of borrowing countries, on which the MDB’s effectiveness in supporting development in those borrowing countries depends. Among the five legacy MDBs, the African Development Bank stands out as the one where the governance arrangements, including the distribution of shares and votes between borrowers and nonborrowers, most favors borrowers. Indicators of the AfDB’s relative financial strength (a measure of creditworthiness based on sovereign members’ vote shares, and a measure of the capacity of each bank’s members to engage in collective action or cooperation in raising financing) indicate that its current governance is likely to make it less competitive than its sister MDBs in sustaining creditor (or “donor”) confidence in its operations over the long run, and thus in raising substantial capital and concessional resources. The governance problem is most obvious in the case of the African Development Bank’s African Development Fund, which today has only about 15 percent of the resources the World Bank has for Africa. The creditors of the AfDB have sufficient control to ensure the Bank’s financial soundness (and AAA rating), but a collective action constraint in pushing for reforms in the Bank’s operations. The paper concludes with ideas for long-run reform of governance at the African Development Bank, modeled more closely on the governance of the Inter-American Development Bank.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus