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11041. South Ossetia: The Burden of Recognition

Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
South Ossetia is no closer to genuine independence now than in August 2008, when Russia went to war with Georgia and extended recognition. The small, rural territory lacks even true political, economic or military autonomy. Moscow staffs over half the government, donates 99 per cent of the budget and provides security. South Ossetians themselves often urge integration into the Russian Federation, and their entity's situation closely mirrors that of Russia's North Caucasus republics. Regardless of the slow pace of post-conflict reconstruction, extensive high-level corruption and dire socio-economic indicators, there is little interest in closer ties with Georgia. Moscow has not kept important ceasefire commitments, and some 20,000 ethnic Georgians from the region remain forcibly displaced. At a minimum, Russians, Ossetians and Georgians need to begin addressing the local population's basic needs by focusing on creating freedom of movement and economic and humanitarian links without status preconditions.
Topic:
Political Violence, Humanitarian Aid, and Insurgency
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

11042. Ghosts of crises past: Comparing Japanese policy effectiveness in the 1970s oil crises and contemporary climate change

Author:
Alexandru Luta
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Due to the immense strain they put on policymakers, the oil crises of the 1970s and the contemporary challenge of anthropogenic global warming must represent two of the greatest tests of Japanese energy policy of the past 50 years. As such, the policy response to the oil crises had been effective, but the challenges posed by global warming have not been met with equal success–and this situation partly stems from the measures adopted in response to the previous crisis.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Oil, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Japan

11043. The political constraints on Russia's economic development: The visionary zeal of technological modernization and its critics

Author:
Katri Pynnöniemi
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
To understand the political constraints on Russia's economic development, three dimensions should be explored simultaneously. The relations between Russia and the outside world (where Russia stands in comparison to others, and what it is prepared to do to advance its position), Russia's relations with its own past (the evolution of the Muscovite matrix), and the relations between ideas and political action (“the practical value of ideas in solving political dilemmas”). In this paper I will briefly discuss the first two aspects and then focus more closely on the third.
Topic:
Development
Political Geography:
Russia

11044. The evolving post-crisis world

Author:
Stephen Grenville
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
The worst of the global financial crisis (GFC) is over, but it has left scars, principally in the form of fiscallydriven debt increases, balance sheets that still need repair and high unemployment in the principal crisis countries. There is also unfinished business from the precrisis period, in the form of external imbalances. More positively, the crisis offers lessons about economic policymaking that may improve the way things are done. Of course the main lessons are for the developed countries that were at the centre of the crisis. But the countries of the region had to cope with the backwash, and in doing so lessons were learned. In addition, the lessons in the crisis countries, learned in an environment of extreme stress, may have relevance for the emerging market economies of this region.
Topic:
Development, Emerging Markets, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
China, India, and Asia

11045. The Formation of Preferences in Two-level Games: An Analysis of India's Domestic and Foreign Energy Policy

Author:
Joachim Betz and Melanie Hanif
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper examines the formation of India's energy‐policy strategy as an act of doubleedged diplomacy. After developing an analytical framework based on the two‐level game approach to international relations (IR), it focuses on the domestic context of policy preference formation. India's energy strategy is shaped by a shortage of energy and the scarcity of indigenous reserves; these problems have together resulted in agrowing import dependence in order to sustain economic growth rates, outdated cross‐subsidies, overregulation, and nontransparent bureaucratic structures which are adverse to private investment. The Indian government still dominates the energy sector, but large electoral constituencies within the country exert a considerable indirect influence. The paper analyzes how all these domestic necessities combine with India's general foreign policy goals and traditions to form an overall energy strategy. We finally discuss how this strategy plays out in a competitive international environment where global resources are shrinking (with most claims already distributed) and environmental concerns are on the rise.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Energy Policy, Environment, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
India

11046. Covering Corruption: The Difficulties of Trying to Make a Difference

Author:
Rosemary Armao
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
It is often taken for granted that a free press shining a light on wrongdoing is the way to ntrol corruption. The World Bank, with an eye to the economic potential of honest government, promotes this, as do United Nations agencies and the U.S. and European governments, which spend millions of dollars to develop media with corruption-fighting power. And brave journalists have endured threats and attacks and have even died reporting about corruption. In June and July of 2010 alone, three Philippino and a Greek journalist-working in different media and on different topics, but all exposing corruption-were gunned down. Covering corruption is more dangerous than covering war.
Topic:
Corruption, Democratization, Development, Mass Media, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

11047. The Lisbon enigma: crisis management and coherence in the European Union

Author:
Federico Santopinto
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
Abstract:
Before the adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon, the several crisis management tools at the European Union's disposal were divided between two institutions: the European Commission and the European Council. The commission represented the community (the first pillar), and the council the intergovernmental systems (the second pillar). The creation of a new post of High Representative of the Union and the institution of a new External Action Service are intended to put an end to this commission-council dualism. The target of the reforms is clear: providing the EU with the capacity to adopt a comprehensive approach linking its several assets (including the military one) under a common, coherent, crisis management approach.
Topic:
Security, Regional Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and Governance
Political Geography:
Europe

11048. Conference report: New Power Relations in Latin America and their Global Influence

Author:
Augusto Varas
Publication Date:
03-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
Abstract:
Significant changes have taken place in the distribution of political power in Latin American countries over the past decade, at both national and hemispheric level. A growing trend toward trans-regionalisation is evident in the political and trade relations of these countries. Changes in regional power dynamics have been further hastened as Latin American countries have distanced themselves from the United States. Moreover, the weakness of US hemispheric policy, resulting from the loss of strategic regional influence, has been compounded by the political and ideological changes in Latin America over the past decade.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Globalization, Political Economy, and Power Politics
Political Geography:
United States and Latin America

11049. The Arab State: Assisting or Obstructing Development?

Author:
Paul Salem
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
Good governance is key to improving peoples' lives; but the Arab world falls short on many governance indicators. Most Arab states remain highly authoritarian, although there is a growing dynamism in civil society and among opposition parties, both secular and Islamist. Problems in governance have impeded development in the Arab world and limited the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, and Governance
Political Geography:
Middle East and Arab Countries

11050. Building Cooperation in the Eastern Middle East

Author:
Paul Salem
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
As a long-standing order breaks down, Turkey, Iran, and the Arab states of the Levant and the Gulf face both new competition and fresh opportunities for cooperation. The implosion of Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion removed an important buffer state, drawing Turkey, Iran, and the Arab states closer, creating friction between them, but also new common interests. The planned U.S. withdrawal from Iraq will force Iraq's neighbors to find new ways of managing those interests.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Cooperation, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Turkey, Middle East, and Arab Countries