Publishing Institution: - CIAO Search Results

39201. Getting Democracy Promotion Right in Egypt

Author:: Amy Hawthorne
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Three years into Egypt's post-Mubarak transition, the near-term prospects for democratization are bleak. The military-security alliance that ousted the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, in July 2013 is consolidating power. Government repression against the Islamist opposition, and more recently against secular dissenters, is harsher and society is more polarized than in any point in recent memory.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Democratization, Diplomacy, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:: Middle East, North America, and Egypt

39202. Negotiating Libya's Constitution

Author:: Duncan Pickard and Karim Mezran
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Among the many problems facing Libya's troubled transition to democracy is the challenge of constructing a state in a country with a legacy of weak institutions. Muammar al-Qaddafi's brutal forty-two-year dictatorship employed a policy of de-institutionalization, leaving the presence of the state feeble throughout the country. Those organs that were powerful, including the secret security apparatus, lost their leader with Qaddafi's fall in 2011, leaving a power vacuum that nonstate actors have scrambled to fill. Some of the most influential political groups in Libya today are militias formed during and after the revolution. Although some are loosely affiliated with the ministries of interior or defense, most, if not all, do not demonstrate any particular loyalty to the government. Militias have kidnapped the prime minister (the militia responsible called it an “arrest”), assassinated judges and police officers, physically occupied the office of the justice minister, and engaged in an urban battle in Tripoli. They also seek to advance their political interests—which vary, but include influence over officials, rent seeking, and some Islamist agendas—with threats against ministries or officials. And yet the state relies on militias to provide essential security services such as running checkpoints and protecting the airport because no ministry force is up to the task. The ascendancy of these militias points to two troubling realities: the state lacks a monopoly over the use of force and the country faces an ongoing deterioration of the rule of law.
Topic:: Security, Democratization, and Reform
Political Geography:: Libya and North Africa

39203. The Hard Reality for International Climate Agreements in the United States

Author:: Bill Brownell and Scott Stone
Publication Date:: 04-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: The release of the second installment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report on March 31, 2014, provoked the usual calls for urgent and immediate action in response to climate change, including in particular at the international level in the form of a new climate treaty built upon domestic regulatory regimes. Irrespective of whether these calls for action are overly strident or carefully measured, the law plays a central role. In almost any discussion, the breadth and stringency of national and sub-national regulations and the extent to which a treaty can make them “legally binding” assumes paramount importance. But this emphasis on law is misplaced, because it runs headlong into the hard reality that would confront any international climate agreement in the US Senate. And given the soaring use of coal around the world, it also draws attention and resources away from far more achievable opportunities to develop and deploy advanced coal technologies that would allow the world's most abundant, accessible, and affordable energy resource to meet critical energy needs in balance with each country's environmental, economic, and security priorities.
Topic:: Security, Climate Change, Economics, and Energy Policy
Political Geography:: United States and North America

39204. NATO's Framework Nations: Capabilities for an Unpredictable World

Author:: Franklin D. Kramer
Publication Date:: 04-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: As the Ukraine crisis demonstrates, in an unpredictable world, military capabilities can be a critical factor. The longstanding goals of the United States and its NATO allies have been to create a Europe whole and free, and globally to support such goals through collective defense, crisis management, and cooperative security. Ukraine raises the issue of how best to accomplish those ends. As part of the Ukraine response, there have been and will continue to be diplomatic, economic, and energy efforts. However, one key element will be to create more effective integrated capabilities that will support NATO's military tasks, and thus the values and goals that NATO represents.
Topic:: NATO, Diplomacy, and Economics
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, Ukraine, and North America

39205. Turkish-Iranian Rapprochement and the Future of European and Asian Energy

Author:: Pinar Dost-Niyego and Orhan Taner
Publication Date:: 04-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: The recent events in Ukraine have revived the question of European dependence on Russian natural gas. The security of Europe's natural gas supply has been a consistently important issue in Russian-European Union (EU) relations. Russia provided 34 percent of EU gas in 2012, and Russian policies can have a direct impact on EU supplies. After the West-Russian confrontation over Ukraine, a lot has been said about the 'US shale gas revolution' and the possibilities of the United States becoming an energy exporter for future European energy needs. Although US energy independence seems to promise new perspectives for future European energy security, as well as for the balance of power in the Middle East, this is not for this decade. We cannot expect that the European Union would be able to cut off all of its energy relations with Russia, but we can foresee–or at least agree–that the European Union should diversify its natural gas supplies.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Economics, and Energy Policy
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, Europe, Ukraine, Middle East, and Asia

39206. Disrupt or Be Disrupted: How Governments Can Develop Decisive Military Technologies

Author:: James Hasik and Byron Callan
Publication Date:: 04-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Just what makes a military technology disruptive? How does one know who will disrupt, and who will be disrupted? How can we aim to develop disruptive technologies, and how can we spot them before others use them to disrupt our security? Recent studies suggest that five factors matter most in developing those technologies into real military capabilities: financial resources, industrial readiness, systems integration, cultural receptivity, and organizational capacity. Prototyping and field experimentation leverage all these factors, and help make the potentially disruptive ultimately decisive in war.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, Science and Technology, Military Strategy, and Governance

39207. The Challenge of Federalism in Yemen

Author:: Rafat Al-Akhali
Publication Date:: 05-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: The 2011 protests against corruption, lack of accountability, limited access to basic services, and the extreme centralization of power transformed Yemen. In November of that year, the main political parties signed a transition plan, brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council, which provided the framework and process to achieve a peaceful transfer of power. Two of the key steps agreed upon in the transition plan were the convening of the National Dialogue Conference (NDC), followed by drafting a new constitution based on the outcomes of the National Dialogue.
Topic:: Corruption, Government, Governance, and Reform
Political Geography:: Middle East and Yemen

39208. No Arab Spring for Algeria

Author:: Karim Mezran and Mohsin Khan
Publication Date:: 05-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: The popular uprisings that swept the Arab world in 2011 passed Algeria by. While there were sporadic street demonstrations calling for political change, principally in the country's capital Algiers, they quickly petered out due to lack of support from the general public. Unlike in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, the political power system in Algeria remained intact. The autocratic government of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has been the president since 1999, retained complete control, culminating in his reelection on April 17 for a fourth term despite his obviously failing health.
Topic:: Democratization, Governance, Social Movement, Popular Revolt, and Reform
Political Geography:: Middle East, Libya, Arabia, North America, Egypt, and Tunisia

39209. Easing US and EU Sanctions on Iran

Author:: Kenneth Katzman
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Since the seizure of US hostages in Iran following the 1979 revolution, the US government has imposed a succession of economic penalties against the Islamic Republic. The complexity and severity of these sanctions intensified following Iran's resumption of a uranium enrichment program in 2006. However, there are a variety of ways to provide extensive sanctions relief should there be a deal placing long-term restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities.
Topic:: Economics, Energy Policy, Nuclear Weapons, Sanctions, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:: Europe, Iran, Middle East, and North America

39210. Losing Syria and Iraq to Jihadists

Author:: Faysal Itani
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Jihadists are steadily capturing territory and resources and establishing a state in Syria and Iraq. The most capable jihadist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS), now controls swathes of territory, energy resources, and sophisticated military hardware in both countries. Although the extremists are currently occupied with fighting other nonregime armed groups and the Syrian and Iraqi regimes, these efforts are a means to an end: building a state from which to confront and target the United States, its allies, and its interests in the region. These jihadist groups also bring boundless suffering to the populations they control, and serve as a magnet for and inspiration to jihadists worldwide.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Terrorism, Armed Struggle, Sectarianism, and Sectarian violence
Political Geography:: United States, Iraq, Middle East, and Syria

39211. Inside Libya's Wild West

Author:: Valerie Stocker
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: The fall of Muammar Qaddafi's regime in 2011 after four decades of authoritarian rule gave rise to numerous armed groups competing for territory and influence. More than three years since the uprising began, persistent instability threatens not only Libya's fragile democratic transition but also security in North Africa and the Sahel zone. Tripoli is at the center of a power struggle among competing political factions. Benghazi is the scene of ever more brutal political violence, which now risks drawing the country into a civil war. Then there is the southwestern province of Fezzan, Libya's "Wild West," where human trafficking and smuggling thrive and transnational jihadists hide.
Topic:: Security, Terrorism, Governance, and Sectarianism
Political Geography:: Libya and North Africa

39212. India and Pakistan: The Opportunity Cost of Conflict

Author:: Shuja Nawaz and Mohan Guruswamy
Publication Date:: 04-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: India and Pakistan, born out of a single British-ruled entity in 1947, have continued an implacable rivalry marked by periodic wars and hostilities as well as through proxies. This unending conflict has led them to invest heavily in their militaries and even to choose nuclear weaponry as a deterrence on the part of Pakistan toward India and on India's part toward both Pakistan and China. Although there have been occasional moves toward confidence building measures and most recently toward more open borders for trade, deep mistrust and suspicion mark this sibling rivalry. Their mutual fears have fuelled an arms race, even though increasingly civil society actors now appear to favor rapprochement and some sort of an entente. The question is whether these new trends will help diminish the military spending on both sides.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Reform
Political Geography:: Pakistan, China, India, Asia, and Southeast Asia

39213. Beyond Data Breaches: Global Interconnections of Cyber Risk

Author:: Jason Healey
Publication Date:: 04-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: The internet and associated information technology (IT), which often go by the name 'cyberspace,' give modern societies, economies and lives benefits that are too numerous to count. But the dark side of our dependence on the internet goes far beyond the day-to-day headlines of cyber crime, identity theft or concerns about online espionage or loss of privacy.
Topic:: Defense Policy, Globalization, Science and Technology, and Reform

39214. The State of Arab Transitions: Hope Resilient Despite Many Unmet Demands

Author:: Mirette F. Mabrouk and Stefanie A. Hausheer
Publication Date:: 02-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Three years after the citizens of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen took to the streets demanding freedom, dignity, and greater economic opportunity, they are struggling with a harsh reality: political change is a slow, painful process. In many cases, the goals of the revolutions are far from being realized. Yet despite the lack of momentum—and in some cases, notable setbacks—there is a recognition that the wall of fear has been broken. This profound shift means that citizens in these countries will continue to demand basic freedoms and more accountable governments that deliver for their people.
Topic:: Democratization, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and Social Movement
Political Geography:: Middle East, Libya, Yemen, Egypt, and Tunisia

39215. US-Cuba: A New Public Survey Supports Policy Change

Author:: Jason Marczak and Peter Schechter
Publication Date:: 02-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Why is now the right moment to commission a poll on the US public's views toward Cuba and US-Cuba relations? Why is a new, nonpartisan Latin America center reaching out to grab the third rail of Latin American foreign policy in the United States? Both good questions. Sometimes in foreign policy, structural impediments or stark policy differences will stymie progress in a certain area. Relations with China could not proceed until the United States recognized a “one China” policy that forever downgraded US relations with Taiwan. An activist foreign policy with Africa was impossible until the United States denounced apartheid.
Topic:: International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Reform
Political Geography:: Africa, United States, China, Cuba, and Latin America

39216. Companions in Competitiveness: How France and the United States Can Help Each Other Succeed in the Twenty-first Century

Author:: Nicholas Dungan
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Competitiveness encompasses all the factors that will serve to make a society, an economy, and a country successful in the globalized world of the twenty-first century. France and the United States rank among the most competitive countries overall, but both have seen their position decline in recent years in key attributes of competitiveness.
Topic:: Economics, International Cooperation, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, and France

39217. Produced Water: Asset or Waste?

Author:: Blythe Lyons
Publication Date:: 05-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: US national security is enhanced by energy security. The United States is enjoying a unique opportunity to bolster its energy security by increasing domestic production of oil and gas resources. The recent explosion in domestic unconventional production will allow an expanded bandwidth of US responses to the turmoil in the Middle East and Europe. If further exploited, the move toward energy self-sufficiency also gives the United States a cushion to reassess its global strategic policies. Expanding the domestic resource base further provides the United States with an industrial advantage in global commerce.
Topic:: Energy Policy, International Trade and Finance, National Security, and Oil
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, and Middle East

39218. Libya's Faustian Bargains: Breaking the Appeasement Cycle

Author:: Karim Mezran, Jason Pack, and Mohamed Eljarh
Publication Date:: 05-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: The proximal cause of Libya's current problems in the security sector, the economy, and the transition to constitutional governance is the Libyan authorities' policy of appeasement of their opponents. Some analysts have absolved the post- Qaddafi authorities-the National Transitional Council (NTC), General National Congress (GNC), government, cabinet, and ministries-of both their agency and responsibility for the current problems by blaming Qaddafi-era policies, Libya's primordial social and regional structures, and the absence of institutions (such as a national army or civil society) for most challenges currently facing the country. These factors are, indeed, key components of the troubles and constitute the root causes of the current situation. However, these preexisting factors have been exacerbated and mutated by the practice of appeasement.
Topic:: International Security and Governance
Political Geography:: Libya and North Africa

39219. The Gulf Rising: Defense Industrialization in Saudi Arabia and the UAE

Author:: Bilal Y. Saab
Publication Date:: 05-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Because of their sizeable financial resources, close relations with Washington, and privileged access to the top transatlantic defense companies, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are in a unique position to explore opportunities and make important strides in the military-industrial domain that other countries can simply ill-afford to make. Moreover, over the past decade, globalization and the information technology (IT) revolution in military affairs (RMA) have opened up the international defense market and made it less exclusive, allowing Saudi Arabia and the UAE to overcome some of the key scientific and technological challenges that accompany the building and sustaining of indigenous defense industries.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, and Arms Control and Proliferation
Political Geography:: Middle East and Saudi Arabia

39220. Will Brazil Get What It Expects from the World Cup?

Author:: Ricardo Sennes
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Like any other international mega-event, hosting the FIFA World Cup brings the promise of a positive long-term legacy for Brazil. It is a unique opportunity for visibility among more than 3 billion people worldwide who will either attend or watch the games on television. The exposure from the games has the potential to draw national and international investments before, during, and after the thirty-two teams compete for the Cup.
Topic:: Civil Society and Economics
Political Geography:: Brazil and South America

39221. NATO in an Era of Global Competition

Author:: Magnus Nordenman
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: As NATO winds down its long combat operation in Afghanistan, the Alliance is facing a new and dynamic security environment that is more strategically constraining and competitive than at any time since the end of the Cold War. This is spurred by a set of long-term trends that are driving a transformation of global arrangements and power relationships and is further reinforced by fiscal austerity and uncertain political leadership on both sides of the Atlantic. Furthermore, along with these long-term challenges, increasing turbulence in the Middle East and the Ukraine crisis mean that NATO today has serious security concerns to tend to on the immediate periphery of Alliance territory.
Topic:: NATO, Demographics, Science and Technology, and International Security
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, Ukraine, Middle East, Asia, and Syria

39222. Uncertain Energy: The Caribbean's Gamble with Venezuela

Author:: David L. Goldwyn and Cory R Gill
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: It has been nearly ten years since the launch of Petrocaribe, a program designed to win the political loyalty of the Caribbean states through generous credit subsidies to help import Venezuelan crude oil and products. Recipient states have grown dependent on high-cost, high-carbon fuels for power generation and Venezuelan credit to balance their budgets.
Topic:: Economics, Energy Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Oil
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, Caribbean, and Venezuela

39223. All Elements of National Power: Moving Toward a New Interagency Balance for US Global Engagement

Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: To deal effectively with long-range global trends and near-term security challenges, the United States requires a broader application of all elements of national power or risks continued disjointed efforts in US global engagement. A transformed interagency balance is a hedge against uncertainty in a dramatically changing world.
Topic:: Diplomacy, National Security, International Security, and Military Strategy
Political Geography:: United States

39224. The Political Economy of Bad Data: Evidence from African Survey Administrative Statistics

Author:: Amanda Glassman and Justin Sandefur
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Global Development
Abstract:: Across multiple African countries, discrepancies between administrative data and independent household surveys suggest official statistics systematically exaggerate development progress. We provide evidence for two distinct explanations of these discrepancies. First, governments misreport to foreign donors, as in the case of a results-based aid program rewarding reported vaccination rates. Second, national governments are themselves misled by frontline service providers, as in the case of primary education, where official enrollment numbers diverged from survey estimates after funding shifted from user fees to per pupil government grants. Both syndromes highlight the need for incentive compatibility between data systems and funding rules.
Topic:: Development, Foreign Aid, Foreign Direct Investment, Governance, and Developing World
Political Geography:: Africa

39225. Delivering on a Data Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author:: Amanda Glassman and Alex Ezeh
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Global Development
Abstract:: Despite improvements in censuses and household surveys, the building blocks of national statistical systems in sub-Saharan Africa remain weak. Measurement of fundamentals such as births and deaths, growth and poverty, taxes and trade, land and the environment, and sickness, schooling, and safety is shaky at best. The challenges are fourfold: (1) national statistics offices have limited independence and unstable budgets, (2) misaligned incentives encourage the production of inaccurate data, (3) donor priorities dominate national priorities, and (4) access to and usability of data are limited. The Data for African Development Working Group's recommendations for reaping the benefits of a data revolution in Africa fall into three categories: (1) fund more and fund differently, (2) build institutions that can produce accurate, unbiased data, and (3) prioritize the core attributes of data building blocks.
Topic:: Development
Political Geography:: Africa

39226. The Quality of Official Development Assistance 2014

Author:: Nancy Birdsall, Homi Kharas, and Nabil Hashmi
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Global Development
Abstract:: The Quality of Official Development Assistance (QuODA) measures donors' performance on 31 indicators of aid quality to which donors have made commitments. The indicators are grouped into four dimensions associated with effective aid: maximizing efficiency, fostering institutions, reducing the burden on partner countries, and transparency and learning. The 2014 edition finds that donors are overall becoming more transparent and better at fostering partner country institutions but that there has been little progress at maximizing efficiency or reducing the burden on partner countries. The World Bank's concessional lending arm, the International Development Association (IDA), performs very well in QuODA, ranking in the top 10 of 31 donors on all four dimensions. The United States ranks in the bottom half of all donors on three of the four dimensions of aid quality and last on reducing the burden on partner countries. The United Kingdom ranks in the top third on three of four dimensions of aid quality and scores particularly well on transparency and learning. The Global Fund ranks in the bottom third on fostering institutions but ranks in the top third on the other three dimensions of aid quality, including the top spot in maximizing efficiency.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, Foreign Aid, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:: United States and United Kingdom

39227. Too Close for Comfort Cases of Near Nuclear Use and Options for Policy

Author:: Patricia Lewis, Benoît Pelopidas, Heather Williams, and Sasan Aghlani
Publication Date:: 04-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University
Abstract:: Nuclear weapons have not been detonated in violent conflict since 1945. The decades since then are commonly perceived – particularly in those countries that possess nuclear weapons – as an era of successful nuclear non-use and a vindication of the framework of nuclear deterrence. In this narrative, the fear of massive retaliation and a shared understanding and set of behaviours are believed to have prevented the use of nuclear weapons. Yet the decades since 1945 have been punctuated by a series of disturbing close calls. Evidence from many declassified documents, testimonies and interviews suggests that the world has, indeed, been lucky, given the number of instances in which nuclear weapons were nearly used inadvertently as a result of miscalculation or error.
Topic:: Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, International Security, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:: Washington

39228. Trade policy issues in the Wider Europe – that led to war and not yet to peace

Author:: Michael Emerson
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: This paper looks at the trade policy landscape of the EU and the wider Europe, with a focus on issues arising from the signature on 27 June 2014 of Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTAs) between the EU and three East European countries (Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), and actual or prospective issues relating to the customs union of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan (BRK), and the Eurasian Economic Union whose founding treaty was signed on 29 May 2014.The huge expansion of intercontinental free trade area negotiations currently underway, in which the EU is an active participant alongside much of the Americas and Asia, stands in contrast with Russia's choice to restrict itself to the Eurasian Economic Union, which is only a marginal extension of its own economy. Alone among the major economies in the world, Russia does not seek to integrate economically with any major economic bloc, which should be a matter of serious concern for Moscow. Within the wider Europe, the EU's DCFTAs with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia are a major new development, but Russia now threatens trade sanctions against Ukraine in particular, the economic case for which seems unfounded and whose unilateral application would also impair the customs union.The Belarus-Russia-Kazakhstan customs union itself poses several issues of compatibility with the rules of the WTO, which in turn are viewed by the EU as an impediment to discussing possible free trade scenarios with the customs union, although currently there are far more fundamental political impediments to any consideration of such ideas. Nonetheless, this paper looks at various long-term scenarios, if only as a reminder that there could be much better alternatives to the present context of conflict around Ukraine.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Asia

39229. ECB Policy and Eurozone Fragility: Was De Grauwe Right?

Author:: Ana-Maria Fuertes, Elena Kalotychou, and Orkun Saka
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: Paul De Grauwe ' s fragility hypothesis states that member countries of a monetary union such as the eurozone are highly vulnerable to a self – fulfilling mechanism by which the efforts of investors to avoid losses from default can end up triggering the very default they fear. The authors test this hypothesis by applying an eclectic methodology to a time window around Mario Draghi ' s " whatever it takes " (to keep the eurozone on firm footing) pledge on 26 July 2012 . This pledge was soon followed by the announcement of the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) program me (the prospective and conditional purchase by the European Central Bank of sovereign bonds of eurozone countries having difficulty issuing debt) . The principal components of eurozone credit default swap spreads validate this choice of time frame . An event study reveals significant pre – announcement contagion emanating from Spain to Italy, Belgium, France and Austria. Furthermore, time – series regression confirms frequent clusters of large shocks affecting the credit default swap spreads of the four eurozone countries but solely during the pre – announcement period. The findings of this report support the fragility hypothesis for the eurozone and endorse the Outright Monetary Transactions programme.
Topic:: Economics, Foreign Exchange, International Trade and Finance, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:: Europe, France, Belgium, and Italy

39230. Trade Hallucination: Risks of Trade Facilitation and Suggestions for Implementation

Author:: Jeronim Capaldo
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:: Official estimates tend to overstate the benefits of trade facilitation and ignore its costs. When all underlying assumptions are brought to light, expecting large gains appears unreasonable. At the same time, estimated employment benefits may easily turn into net losses.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:: Europe

39231. India 2014: Return of the One-Party Dominant System

Author:: Neera Chandhoke
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The current elections, which gave to the BJP a majority in Parliament, have brought back the one-party dominant system that was once used to describe the hegemony of the Congress party, and the lack of an opposition. The "new" one-party dominant system is however dramatically different from the original one. The BJP unlike the Congress is a cadre based party and subscribes to a distinct ideology. It is also headed by the powerful figure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose image looms larger than the party and his colleagues. India will witness a qualitatively different style of governance in the next five years.
Topic:: Democratization, Power Politics, and Governance
Political Geography:: India and Southeast Asia

39232. The Southern Gas Corridor: Europe's Lifeline?

Author:: David Koranyi
Publication Date:: 04-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The Ukraine crisis brought European energy security and with it the Southern Gas Corridor back into the spotlight. The crisis is far from over, but it is already clear that both the scope and nature of Russia's relations with the European Union (EU) and the United States cannot remain unchanged. As the strategic context changes and Europe becomes more and more concerned about Russia's behaviour and reliability as an energy supplier, particularly for natural gas, the relative importance of alternative sources will grow further. Europe is in the midst of rethinking its entire energy and gas supply security strategy. The Southern Gas Corridor can and should be a critical component in this context, while its prospects should be assessed realistically. It is by no means a short-term solution, yet in the medium-term, the Corridor has the potential to become a major source of gas for Europe. The EU should deploy robust energy diplomacy as well as resources to speed up its development.
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, Europe, and Ukraine

39233. US Policies toward Liquefied Natural Gas and Oil Exports: An Update

Author:: Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Cathleen Cimino
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:: Unconventional extraction methods, namely horizontal drilling and fracking, are transforming global energy production, consumption, and trade. Th e extraction of large amounts of oil and gas from shale formations has led to an unprecedented surge of domestic production in the United States. Th e US Department of Energy (DOE) is now processing more than 40 applications from domestic producers to export liquefi ed natural gas (LNG). While experts still disagree about the magnitude and duration of the energy boom, we are at the "dawn of a US oil and gas renaissance" (Houser and Mohan 2014).
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Monetary Policy
Political Geography:: United States and North America

39234. Regime Change, Democracy, and Growth

Author:: Caroline Freund and Mélise Jaud
Publication Date:: 04-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:: The empirical literature on the relationship between democracy and growth has yielded conflicting results. Cross-country studies have failed to identify a significant impact of democracy on growth, while within-country studies have found a strong positive effect of the transition to democracy on growth. We reconcile the conflicting evidence by showing that the positive effect of democratic transitions results from regime change as opposed to democratization. We identify over 100 transitions in the last half-century with various outcomes: to and from democracy, some partial, and some failed. The variety of experiences allows us to compare the growth outcome of democratic transitions with that of other transitions rather than with a no-transition counterfactual. Conditioning on regime change filters out selection effects and shows that transition to democracy yields no growth dividend compared to other types of regime change. We also show that countries that democratize slowly do not gain from regime change. These results suggest that the growth dividend from political transition results from swift regime change rather than from democratization.
Topic:: International Relations, Democratization, and Economics
Political Geography:: Brazil

39235. Labor Market Slack in the United Kingdom

Author:: David G. Blanchflower and David N. F. Bell
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:: This paper examines the amount of slack in the UK labor market and finds the downward adjustments made by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to both unemployment and underemployment invalid. Without evidence to support its assessment of the output gap, the MPC reduces the level of unemployment based on its claim that long-term unemployment does not affect wages. The authors produce evidence to the contrary and present arguments on why the MPC's halving of the level of underemployment in the United Kingdom is inappropriate. Bell and Blanchflower set out arguments on why they believe the level of slack is greater than the MPC calibrates. Consistent with that is the fact that real wages in the United Kingdom continue to fall.
Topic:: Economics, Markets, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:: United Kingdom and Europe

39236. Energy - A Geopolitical Game Changer?

Author:: Michael Leigh
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Energy trade cannot overcome longstanding political conflicts. There are no 'peace pipelines' anywhere in the world. Rather peace is a condition for investment in pipelines and other forms of energy infrastructure. Where political breakthroughs have been achieved, however, energy trade can reinforce cooperation between states and contribute to regional stability. These considerations are particularly pertinent to the Cyprus settlement talks and Middle East Peace Process, against the background of energy discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Middle East

39237. Can Gas Catalyse Peace in the Eastern Mediterranean?

Author:: Ayla Gurel and Laura Le Cornu
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The economic rationale for energy collaboration between Turkey, Cyprus and Israel is compelling. Cyprus and Israel need commercially viable export routes for their gas while Turkey is eager to diversify and increase its gas supplies. Hydrocarbon resources could potentially be a catalyst for both bringing about a Cyprus settlement and a Turkey-Israel rapprochement. A trilateral cooperation scheme involving a Turkey-Israel pipeline and an LNG plant in Cyprus could offer strong commercial incentives to all parties. But it would require bold political vision on the part of the region's leaders, coupled with backing from influential external actors with an interest in reconciliation and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Topic:: Economics
Political Geography:: Turkey, Israel, and Cyprus

39238. An EU-South Mediterranean Energy Community: The Right Policy for the Right Region?

Author:: Simone Tholens
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The European Commission has spelled out its policy ambition for EU energy cooperation with the southern neighbourhood with plans for the establishment of an 'Energy Community'. Its communications make clear that an Energy Community should be based on regulatory convergence with the EU acquis communautaire, much in the same vein as the existing institution carrying the same name; the Energy Community with Southeast Europe. It is puzzling that the Commission insists on repackaging this enlargement concept in a region with very different types of relationships vis-à-vis the EU, especially when considering the lukewarm position of key stakeholders in the field. According to them, any attempt to introduce a political integration model in this highly sensitive issue area in the politically fragmented MENA region might run the risk of hurting the incremental technical integration process that has slowly emerged over the past few years.
Political Geography:: Europe

39239. Governance Barriers to Renewable Energy in North Africa

Author:: Anthony Patt, Nadejda Komendantova, and Stefan Pfenninger
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Solar power in the North African region has the potential to provide electricity for local energy needs and export to Europe. Nevertheless, despite the technical feasibility of solar energy projects, stakeholders still perceive projects in the region as risky because of existing governance issues. Certain areas of solar projects, such as construction, operation and management, are the most prone to governance risks, including lack of transparency and accountability, perceived as barriers for deployment of the projects. It is likely that large-scale foreign direct investment into solar energy will not eliminate existing risks, but might even increase them. Furthermore, the recent political changes in the region have addressed some governance risks but not all of them, especially bureaucratic corruption. Stakeholders recommend a broad set of measures to facilitate development of solar projects in the region, ranging from auditing of individual projects to simplification and unification of bureaucratic procedures.
Topic:: Development and Governance
Political Geography:: Europe and North Africa

39240. Geopolitical Implications of the US Unconventional Energy Revolution

Author:: Nicolo Sartori
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The unconventional oil and gas revolution is certainly a game changer in the current international political setting, since it will bring the United States close to energy self-sufficiency. However, it seems unlikely that this new energy status will dramatically redefine US foreign policy and security priorities. In strategic regions such as the Middle East, US interests are expected to remain unchanged, while the new energy status will contribute only in part to modifying the US approach towards the EU's energy posture vis-à-vis Russia. What the new American energy condition is likely to change are the tools and policy options available to Washington to cope with the strategic challenges - China's power in primis - emerging in the multipolar international relations system.
Topic:: Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, and Washington

39241. Europe's Defence Dilemma

Author:: Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Fifteen years ago, the European Union (EU) launched a Common European Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Since then, the CSDP has been the focus of a growing body of political and scholarly evaluations. While most commentators have acknowledged shortfalls in European military capabilities, many remain cautiously optimistic about the CSDP's future. This article uses economic alliance theory to explain why EU member states have failed, so far, to create a potent common defence policy and to evaluate the policy's future prospects. It demonstrates, through theoretical, case study-based and statistical analysis, that CSDP is more prone to collective action problems than relevant institutional alternatives, and concludes that the best option for Europeans is to refocus attention fully on cooperation within a NATO framework.
Topic:: Security, NATO, and Economics
Political Geography:: Europe

39242. The World's Second Oldest Profession: The Transatlantic Spying Scandal and its Aftermath

Author:: Robert Dover
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The revelations from the former National Security Agency contractor, Edward Snowden, in July 2013 will have an enduring impact on the modern business of intelligence and the communication strategies of governments and non-state based adversaries alike. Snowden's revelations do not mark a fundamental divergence from the general understanding of intelligence. In making these implied understandings public, however, Snowden has changed the political dynamic around mass surveillance. The revelations amplify a tension within several layers of social contract from interactions between governments to those between governments and citizens. Long-term, diplomatic relations between the US and European governments should remain largely unaffected.
Topic:: Intelligence
Political Geography:: United States

39243. Afghanistan's Legacy: Emerging Lessons of an Ongoing War

Author:: Stephen Biddle
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Washington Quarterly
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: In an important sense, emerging debates on the war's lessons are premature. The war in Afghanistan is not over; nor is it ending anytime soon. Nevertheless, before conventional wisdom consolidates, two observations on counterinsurgency are worth considering now: whether it can work and how to approach governance reform.
Topic:: Security, War, Governance, and Reform
Political Geography:: Afghanistan and America

39244. India's Role in a Changing Afghanistan

Author:: Shashank Joshi
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Washington Quarterly
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: For India, the Western drawdown of forces in Afghanistan will represent the greatest adverse structural shift in its security environment for over a decade. Yet, a fundamental congruity of interests between Washington and New Delhi, and opportunities for cooperation, remain.
Topic:: Security, NATO, and Environment
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, Washington, and India

39245. India: A Reluctant Partner for Afghanistan

Author:: Sandra Destradi
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Washington Quarterly
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: If the West wants to harness the potential of cooperating with India in Afghanistan, it needs a better appreciation of India's engagement and motivations, as well as of New Delhi's assets and concerns about Afghanistan's future.
Topic:: Security and Government
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, India, and New Delhi

39246. Iran's Foreign Policy in Post-Taliban Afghanistan

Author:: Kayhan Barzegar
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Washington Quarterly
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Since 2001, this Iranian scholar argues, Iran has sought to establish security and stability, while advancing regional cooperation in Afghanistan. The only way to manage conflict in the post-exit era is for the West to accept the legitimacy of increased regional cooperation, including Iran's involvement.
Topic:: Foreign Policy and Economics
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, Iran, and Taliban

39247. Iran's Continuing Interests in Afghanistan

Author:: Sumithra Narayanan Kutty
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Washington Quarterly
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: When it comes to Afghanistan's future, the United States ironically has more in common with Iran than it does with Pakistan. As Western troops draw down, a look inside Iran's enduring interests, means to secure them, unique assets, and goals that may or not conflict with other regional actors.
Topic:: Government and War
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, United States, and Iran

39248. Table of Contents

Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: No abstract is available.

39249. NATO'nun Dönüsümü

Author:: Ali L. Karaosmanoglu
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: Berlin Duvari yikilip Sovyet/Varsova Pakti tehdidi ortadan kalktiktan hemen sonra, NATO degisen uluslararasi sisteme kendini uyarlamaya basladi. Bu süreç zor ve sorunlu olmasina ragmen, önemli basarilar kaydetti. Ama "Nato yasayabilecek mi?" sorusu hep gündemde kaldi. Bu inceleme iddiali öngörüler yerine aktörlerin egilimlerine ve ortamdaki degismelere isaret ederek bir düsünme ve tartisma zemini hazirlamanin gayreti içinde olmustur. Uluslararasi sistemdeki yapisal degisiklikleri irdeleyip, Ittifakin yeni durumlara uyum saglamak için ne gibi politikalar uyguladigini ve söz konusu dönüsümün önündeki engelleri elestirel bir yaklasimla incelemistir. Ortak siyasi iradenin olusmasinin ve askeri yapi ve stratejinin yeni sartlara uyarlanmasinin sinirlarini açikliga kavusturmaya çalismistir. Bu çerçevede askeri doktrin çalismalari ve Afganistan tecrübesi arasindaki etkilesim ve dönüsüm süreci üzerindeki etkileri ele alinmistir. Ayrica sonuç bölümünde, genisleyen Avrupa-Atlantik Bölgesindeki NATO askeri operasyonlarinin mesruiyet sorununa da deginilmistir
Political Geography:: Afghanistan

39250. Füze Tehdidi ve NATO Füze Kalkani: Türkiye Açisindan Bir Degerlendirme

Author:: Sitki Egeli
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: ABD ve NATO'nun son yillarda üzerine önem ve öncelikle egildigi füze savunma kalkaninin teme - linde, Iran'in nükleer silah edinme emellerinin dogrudan bir uzantisi olarak degerlendirilen Iran'in balistik füze envanterinden duyulan kaygilar ve tehdit algilamalari yatmaktadir. ABD'nin 2010 yilinda gündeme getirdigi ve NATO ülkeleri nezdinde kabul gören EPAA (European Phased Adaptive Approach) adli füze savunma yaklasimi, Türkiye'nin füze tehdidi karsisindaki geleneksel yak - lasimlariyla uyumlu oldugundan Ankara tarafindan da benimsenmis ve Türkiye EPAA için kritik önemde bir ülke konumuna yükselmistir. Diger taraftan, aslinda ABD'nin tahsis ettigi askeri ve tek - nolojik kaynaklar üzerine insa edilen EPAA yapilanmasinda, NATO'nun Avrupali müttefiklerinin katkilari ve olasi bir çatismanin seyri üzerindeki kontrolleri sinirli düzeyde kaldigi gibi, EPAA'ya yönelik olarak önemli bazi teknolojik, operasyonel, takvimsel ve siyasi/stratejik belirsizlikler mevcuttur. Diger taraftan, EPAA'nin ilerleyen safhalarinda Türkiye'nin yeni bazi talep ve oldu-bittilerle karsi karsiya kalabilecegi ihtimali göz ardi edilmemeli, bu olasiliklarin Rusya ile iliskiler ve Bati ile iliskilerde ABD-Avrupa dengesinin gözetilmesi gibi farkli açilardan hesaba katilmasi gerekmektedir.
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, India, and East Asia

39251. Enerji Güvenligi: NATO'nun Yeni Tehdit Algisi

Author:: Mitat Çelikpala
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: Enerji güvenligi, ana amaci Ittifak üyelerini askeri tehditlere karsi savunmak olan NATO'nun öncelikli konu basliklari arasina ancak son on yilda girebilmistir. Bu çalismada, NATO'nun Soguk Savas sonrasi dönemde düzenlenen zirvelerinde yayinlanan zirve bildirgeleri ve stratejik konseptler ile çesitli NATO zeminlerinde yapilan tartismalar isiginda, enerji güvenliginin NATO için tasidigi anlam ve önem üzerinde durulmaktadir. NATO'nun enerji güvenligi kavramina yaklasimi degerlendirilerek, önümüzdeki süreçte enerji güvenligi konusunun NATO çerçevesinde ne yönde sekillenebilecegi ortaya konmaya çalisilmaktadi.
Political Geography:: Russia

39252. NATO'nun Gelisen Tehdit Algisi: 21. Yüzyilda Siber Güvenlik

Author:: Salih Biçakci
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: Siber uzayin sivillesmesiyle birlikte Vestfalya sisteminin getirdigi ulus devlet modeli derinden etkilenmistir. Soguk Savas sonrasinda ortaya çikan bu yeni dönemde nükleer savasin ve çekismenin izlerini görmek mümkündür. Siber Uzayin günümüzde karsi karsiya kaldigi tehditler ve bunlarin henüz netlesmemis sinirlari örneklerde net olarak görülmektedir. NATO gibi uzun soluklu bir güvenlik ittifakina ve üyelerine bu yeni güvenlik ortaminda yapilan siber saldirilar, gelecek adina önemli ipuçlari vermektedir. Bu makalede NATO'nun bu yeni tehditlere karsi aldigi tedbirler ve belirlenen siber güvenlik stratejileri ortaya çikaran süreç tartisilmisti.

39253. NATO-AB İlişkilerinde İşbirliği ve Çatışma Dinamikleri

Author:: Sinem Akgül Açikmese and Cihan Dizdaroglu
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: NATO's supremacy in the security and defence structures of the Euro-Atlantic region during the Cold War era has prevented the development of a self-sustained European security mechanism. With the end of the Cold War, specifically with the St. Malo Summit in 1998 which was a breakthrough in the advancement of the Common Security and Defence Policy, the NATO-EU relationship became pronounced. Since then, opportunities for and difficulties of collaboration have both defined this inter-institutional relationship between NATO and the EU. Despite a series of arrangements for strengthening the institutional framework of NATO-EU relations as well as the Berlin-plus agreements, the argument of an effective cooperation between two organizations would be misguided. Particularly, discrimination against the non-EU NATO allies as well as the existence of challenges such as decoupling and duplication are hampering progress in NATO-EU relations. This article aims at shedding a light on the limited cooperation between these two organizations by focusing on the current challenges.
Topic:: NATO and Cold War
Political Geography:: Europe and Berlin

39254. Fred HALLIDAY, The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics and Ideology

Author:: Mustafa Yetim
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: Oxford Üniversitesi ile Londra'daki Dogu ve Afrika Çalismalari Okulu'nda (The School for Oriental and African Studies) ögrenim gören ve doktorasini 1985-2008 arasi Profesör olarak görev yaptigi Londra Ekonomi Okulu'ndan (London School of Economy) alan Fred Halliday, önde gelen Uluslararasi Iliskiler uzmanlarindandir. Uzmanlik alani Ortadogu olan ve bölge ile ilgili pek çok kitap ve makalesi bulunan Halliday, 2008'de emekli olduktan sonra Barselona Uluslararasi Çalismalar Enstitüsü'nde arastirmaci profesör olarak görev yapmis ve 2010 yilinda 64 yasinda vefat etmistir.
Political Geography:: Africa, Middle East, and London

39255. Ali BALCI, Türkiye Dis Politikasi: Ilkeler, Aktörler, Uygulamalar

Author:: Ramazan Erdag
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: Türkiye'nin dis politikasina iliskin olarak literatürde en çok bilinen iki eser Baskin Oran'in editörlügünü yaptigi Türk Dis Politikasi (Cilt I, II, III) ile Willam Hale'in Turkish Foreign Policy since 1774 baslikli çalismalaridir. Oran ve Hale eserlerinde Türkiye'yi dis politikada geleneksel olarak denge politikasi benimseyen ve uygulayan bir ülke olarak tanimlamaktadir. Ayrica her iki eser uluslararasi sistemde Türkiye'yi orta büyüklükte bir devlet olarak tanimlamakta, bu tanimdan hareketle Türkiye'nin dis politikasindaki sinirlamalari ve imkânlari ortaya koymaktadir. Bu baglamda Ali Balci'nin 2013 yilinda Etkilesim yayinlarindan çikan Türkiye Dis Politikasi: Ilkeler, Aktörler, Uygulamalar adli eseri Oran'in üç cildinin bir sentezi ve Hale'in eserinin ise güncellenmis bir biçimi olarak görülebilir. Öte yandan Balci'nin çalismasinin en göze çarpan yani Türkiye'nin son dönemdeki dis politika tutumunu sistem, aktör ve yapi baglaminda ele almasidir. Yazar dis politika olusumunda iç politikadan bagimsiz, yekpare bir siyaset izlenemeyecegi fikrinden hareketle; Türkiye'nin dis politikasindaki degisim ve kirilmalari iç politikada yasanan iktidar mücadeleleri ve kimlik tartismalari üzerinden okumaktadir.
Topic:: Foreign Policy
Political Geography:: Turkey

39256. Boko Haram and the Kidnapping of the Chibok Schoolgirls

Author:: Zia Ur Rehman and Jacob Zenn
Publication Date:: 05-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: CTC Sentinel
Institution:: The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
Abstract:: ON MARCH 1, 2014, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Pakistani government agreed to a month-long temporary cease-fire to negotiate a peace deal. A few days after the announcement, two little-known militant groups-Ahrar-ul-Hind and Ansar-ul-Mujahidin-carried out two terrorist attacks in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and Hangu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, killing dozens of people. Although the cease-fire ended in April due to disagreements between the Pakistani government and the TTP, the attacks by Ahrar-ul-Hind and Ansar-ul-Mujahidin appeared to reveal that there are factions within the TTP that strictly oppose any negotiation with the government.
Political Geography:: Pakistan

39257. Economic forecast summary: July 2014

Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Economist Intelligence Unit
Abstract:: The Economist Intelligence Unit has lowered its 2014 forecast for real GDP growth to 2.2% from 2.5%. Employment and consumer confidence are strong but the weather-induced slump in the economy at the start of the year was worse than first thought. We expect real GDP to expand by more S economic outlook than 3% at an annual rate in the final three quarters of 2014 and by 3.2% in 2015. Job growth has averaged 231,000 a month over the past four months, and the unemployment rate of 6.3% is the lowest for five years.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, Labor Issues, and Financial Crisis

39258. Explaining the Trajectory of Golkar's Splinters in Post-Suharto Indonesia

Author:: Yuddy Chrisnandi and Adhi Priamarizki
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:: Following the implementation of Law No. 2/1999 on political parties by former president Bacharuddin Jusuf Habbibie, the multiparty system has been championed as the more prominent feature of the rapidly democratized Indonesian political landscape in the post-Suharto era. he implementation of such a law replaced the three-party system that had previously been dominated by the single hegemonic political vehicle of the New Order, Golkar or Golongan Karya [the Functional Groups], for almost 26 years. In the 1999 General Elections (GE), Indonesia witnessed an exuberance of new political parties. A total of forty-eight new political parties joined the 1999 election, the first free and fair democratic election since the 1955 GE. While the number of political parties may seem overwhelming, such a political turnout is not surprising given the degree of plurality of Indonesian society. In the 2004, 2009, and 2014 GE respectively, 24, 38, and 12 national political parties competed.
Topic:: Democratization, Politics, and Governance
Political Geography:: Asia and Southeast Asia

39259. Old Scores and New Grudges: Evolving Sino-Japanese Tensions

Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: Enmity between China and Japan is hardening into a confrontation that appears increasingly difficult to untangle by diplomacy. Positions on the dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku island group are wide apart, and politically viable options to bridge the gap remain elusive. New frictions have arisen. China's announcement in November 2013 of an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ), overlapping that of Japan's and covering the disputed islands, deepened Tokyo's anxiety that Beijing desires both territory and to alter the regional order. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's provocative visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in December 2013 triggered a bitter argument as to whether Japan has fully atoned for its Second World War aggression, a still vivid sore in the region. Amid heightened suspicion and militarisation of the East China Sea and its air space, the risks of miscalculation grow. Leadership in both countries needs to set a tone that prioritises diplomacy to calm the troubled waters: November's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit might provide such an opportunity.
Topic:: Diplomacy, Bilateral Relations, Territorial Disputes, and Hegemony
Political Geography:: Japan, China, Asia, Tokyo, and Island

39260. The Transparency Rules and Transparency Convention: A good start and model for broader reform in investor-state arbitration

Author:: Lise Johnson
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:: In July 2013, after nearly three years of work, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) adopted a set of arbitration rules that will help open some investor-state arbitrations to public view. The UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration (Transparency Rules) were crafted with input from governments, academics, arbitration practitioners, and non-governmental organizations, and approved by consensus by the member states. When applied, the Transparency Rules will require disclosure of information submitted to, and issued by, arbitral tribunals throughout proceedings, mandate open hearings and expressly allow for participation by non-parties to a dispute. The Transparency Rules also guard against disclosure of confidential information and establish a repository in which all information will be published.
Topic:: International Law, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:: United Nations

39261. The Scottish Doughnut: A safe and just operating space for Scotland

Author:: Katherine Trebeck and Malcolm Sayers
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: We live on a fragile planet which is under increased human stress, to the extent that we are transgressing several of the planetary boundaries as mapped out by the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC). We share this planet with over seven billion fellow human beings, too many of whom face extraordinary challenges in building a life free of poverty, indignity, powerlessness and fear. While a small number of people are using the most resources, simultaneously too many are unable to lead lives in which they can flourish and live with dignity.
Topic:: Economics, Environment, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: United Kingdom and Europe

39262. Climate and Environmental Change: Views from Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility

Author:: Alexandra Wanjiku Kelbert
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: How are rapid recent food price changes linked to climate and environmental change? How do people who are vulnerable to these changes view these links? This note explores the views of people living on low and precarious incomes on these connections, based on research designed to explore experiences of food price volatility in 2012, through qualitative research in 23 research sites in 10 countries. The research was not specifically designed to study perceptions of climate and environmental change; these views are collected here because they offer interesting, relatively unmediated insights into how people perceive the causal connections between their food security and environment across varied social and ecological settings.
Topic:: Security, Agriculture, Climate Change, Economics, and Food

39263. The G20 and Gender Equality: How the G20 can advance women's rights in employment, social protection and fiscal policies

Author:: Shawna Wakefield
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: In its "World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development?, the World Bank asserted that gender equality was a core development objective in its own right and also "smart economics?. The same year, in their Los Cabos Declaration, G20 leaders committed to tackling the barriers to women?s full economic and social participation and to expanding opportunities for women in their countries. Oxfam supports this commitment, and calls on the G20 to go further and assess the entirety of their agenda and actions in the light of development and rights-based commitments to women?s rights and gender equality.
Topic:: Economics, Gender Issues, Labor Issues, and Reform

39264. The BRICS Development Bank: Why the world's newest global bank must adopt a pro-poor agenda

Author:: Lysa John
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: In July 2014, a new multilateral and Southern-led development bank is expected to be launched by the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – better known as the BRICS. The BRICS Development Bank will provide a fresh source of finance for developing and emerging economies to meet their development needs. Little has been made public regarding the proposed Bank's core mandate or activities but while governments negotiate the technicalities of the Bank, it is critical that they also provide a solid vision of the principles, priorities and objectives on which the Bank's activities and operations will be premised. This policy brief recommends that these include commitments to: ending extreme poverty and inequality, with a special focus on gender equity and women's rights; aligning with environmental and social safeguards and establishing mechanisms for information sharing, accountability and redress; leadership on the sustainable development agenda; the creation of mechanisms for public consultation and debate; and the adoption a truly democratic governance structure.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Gender Issues, International Cooperation, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Africa, Russia, China, Europe, India, Asia, South Africa, Brazil, and South America

39265. Inequality in South Africa: A two part document on the current understanding and dimensions of inequality in health, gender and livelihoods

Author:: Nicola Deghaye, Tamlyn McKenzie, and Petronella Chirawu
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Recognising inequality is at the heart of the South African 'development problem', Oxfam commissioned the Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division (HEARD) to produce this report, which is divided into two parts, to enable an understanding of the dimensions of inequality in South Africa and to provide Oxfam with a set of basic measures against which it could measure its success in dealing with inequality.
Topic:: Security, Gender Issues, Health, and Food
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

39266. New Directions in Asia-Pacific Economic Integration

Author:: Peter A. Petri and Ambassador Tang Guoqiang
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Book
Institution:: East-West Center
Abstract:: The year 2014 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first APEC Ministerial Meeting and the twentieth anniversary of APEC’s Bogor Goals. It’s time to shape the future by building on past achievements. If we look at the past 25 years of economic cooperation and integration in the Asia-Pacific region, I think it can be roughly divided into three stages.
Topic:: Economics, International Cooperation, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:: Asia

39267. Trade and Innovation in Global Networks-Regional Policy Implications

Author:: Dieter Ernst
Publication Date:: 05-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: East-West Center
Abstract:: This Think Piece explores how integration into international trade through global networks of production (GPNs) and innovation (GINs) might affect a region's innovation capacity. As regions across the globe are progressively integrated into those global networks - some certainly more than others - these regions are all faced with a fundamental challenge: How might progressive integration of its firms into GPNs and GINs affect learning, capability development and innovation? Will network integration unlock new sources of industrial innovation? Or will it act as a poisoned chalice that will sap and erode the region's accumulated capabilities?
Topic:: Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Labor Issues

39268. Western–Chinese Academic Collaboration in the Social Sciences

Author:: Sascha Klotzbücher
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: It would be naïve to pretend that politics and the actual needs of governance do not play a role in social sciences in any part of the world. However, the political dismissal of faculty members in Chinese universities, along with other political interventions reported in recent Western media, reveals the outspoken trend toward scientific professionalisation and scientific autonomy in a different light.
Political Geography:: China

39269. Shifting Ideologics of Research Funding: The CPC's National Planning Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences

Author:: Heike Holbig
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: For more than two decades, the National Planning Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences (NPOPSS) has been managing official funding of social science research in China under the orbit of the Communist Party of China's (C PC) propaganda system. By focusing on "Major Projects", the most prestigious and well-funded program initiated by the NPOPSS in 2004, this contribution outlines the political and institutional ramifications of this line of official funding and attempts to identify larger shifts during the past decade in the "ideologics" of official social science research funding – the changing ideological circumscriptions of research agendas in the more narrow sense of echoing party theory and rhetoric and – in the broader sense – of adapting to an increasingly dominant official discourse of cultural and national self-assertion. To conclude, this article offers reflections on the potential repercussions of these shifts for international academic collaboration.
Political Geography:: China

39270. The Impact of Changing Incentives in China on International Cooperation in Social Science Research on China

Author:: Doris Fischer
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: Over the past three decades, China's fast economic development has induced considerable changes in China's university and research institution landscape, research financing and academic career incentives. This paper argues that these changes have affected the motivation and the ways in which Chinese scholars engage in international research cooperation. Most recently it has been observed that strong pressures on scholars and scientists – especially at leading academic institutions – to excel in international publications while simultaneously fulfilling their obligation to generate income for their institutions can lead to a dilemma with regard to international research cooperation: Those institutions and scholars most interesting for foreign scholars to cooperate with may be the ones with the least amount of both incentive and time to enter into serious cooperation. This article invites us to reflect on the implications of these changes in the incentive structure for cooperation in social science research on China.
Political Geography:: China

39271. Changes in International Research Cooperation in China: Positive Perspectives

Author:: Josef Gregory Mahoney
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: This paper discusses how cooperation between Chinese researchers and their foreign counterparts has changed. The paper draws on current literature and the author's experience as a researcher in the US and in China, arguing that while cooperation has increased overall, it has done so in ways that have crowded out old forms of cooperation or made them passé. The paper focuses particularly on how changes at leading Chinese research institutions have impacted international cooperation, both positively and negatively, and suggests ways in which foreign scholars might effectively pursue new avenues for cooperation and exchange.
Political Geography:: China

39272. "Embedded Research" in Collaborative Fieldwo

Author:: Sascha Klotzbücher
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: In the era of the "scientific development concept" of the Hu/Wen leadership, agents of knowledge transfer that eventually translates into policy comprise not only think tanks for policy formulation in central-state institutions but also researchers in universities supporting policy implementation at local levels. Well-established patterns of local scientific advisory frame collaborative fieldwork in Sino-Western scientific projects on local governance. However, there is a gap between our active integration into these patterns during fieldwork and our ability to clarify them as resources, reconstruct the selection of research topics and contextualize the research results within our academic discourses. Analysing site-finding, data collection, aggregation and dissemination of a research project with Chinese public health researchers on rural health service reform in Xinjiang between 2005 and 2010, I argue that fieldwork and the role performed as a scientific advisor for the political principal is the localized and daily interface where politics crosses into science.

39273. Let's Not Go There: Coping with (Pre-) Selection Bias in Collaborative Field Research

Author:: Christian Gobel
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: Field research in China often requires the researcher to cooperate with two kinds of actors: research collaborators, such as those at universities or official think tanks, and local officials. These actors facilitate or enhance field access, but such access comes at the price of a potential "pre-selection bias" in data collection. Some scholars have argued that dependence on these "gatekeepers" introduces a significant bias into research outcomes. I argue, however, that the constraints faced by China scholars in their field studies are not absolute, but function by degree. The CCP is monolithic neither in its organization nor in the thoughts of its agents, and close collaboration with local partners can help remove normative bias rather than necessarily introducing it. Most importantly, an argument built exclusively on the power of structural constraints discounts China scholars' most crucial abilities: to learn, to think critically and to research holistically.
Political Geography:: China

39274. Religious Revival among the Zhuang People in China: Practising "Superstition" and Standardizing a Zhuang Religion

Author:: Ya-ning Kao
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: This paper examines two cases of Zhuang religious revival involving multiple actors. It shows how consideration of "superstition" (迷信, mixin) places some religious practice outside the institutional framework when discussing the modern concept of religion in China. In this paper, I particularly focus on two main dimensions of religious revival among the Zhuang people. The first is a grassroots dimension that involves the revival of a so-called "superstitious" cult in which Zhuang people along the Sino-Vietnamese border carry out shamanic rituals to make offerings to a powerful chief-turned-deity, Nong Zhigao, and his wife. The second dimension is a top-down dynamic and involves a series of projects conducted by Zhuang officials, scholars and business persons, which aim to standardize a Zhuang religion, known as Mo religion. These two cases of religious revival demonstrate the varied strategies utilized by different actors in response to government policies regarding religion in China.
Political Geography:: China

39275. Of Canons and Commodities: The Cultural Predicaments of Nuosu-Yi "Bimo Culture"

Author:: Olivia Kraef
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: The Nuosu are a subgroup of the so-called Yi ethnic group. Today around two million Nuosu live in Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province and translocal urban contexts, such as Chengdu and Beijing. For many centuries, the Nuosu have cultivated a belief system composed of a combination of animism and ancestor worship. Since the resurrection of religious activity across China that began in the early 1980s, this faith – represented by the three types of religious practitioners known as bimo, sunyi, and monyi – has reportedly been experiencing a comprehensive revival at folk level. For the bimo, this revival has been paralleled and increasingly overlaid by a scholarly reappraisal of Nuosu religion under premises other than religious. Bimo practice and identity have thus become subsumed under the illustrious concept of "bimo culture". In this article, I trace the genealogy of the concept of "bimo culture" as part of a cultural canon of and for the Yi which is intended to promote development at the local level but which is also contributing to a weakening of the status of the bimo and Nuosu ritual life in Liangshan today.

39276. Re-Fusing Ethnicity and Religion: An Experiment on Tibetan Grounds

Author:: Martin Saxel
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: The relation between ethnicity and religion has had a troubled history in the People's Republic of China. Conflating religious practice with ethnic culture is considered to carry the risk of breeding "splittism" – especially in Tibet and Xinjiang. While in the post-Mao era the outright hostility against religion has given way to a religious revival, keeping religion and (nationality) politics separate has remained a major concern for the Chinese Communist Party. Religion is supposed to be a private matter that does not interfere with politics. Against this backdrop, a recent phenomenon in the Tibet Autonomous Region is all the more remarkable: the (re-)fusion of ethnicity and religion under the label of cultural heritage and its protection. This paper approaches this officially endorsed re-fusion ethno-graphically and examines its wider implications. I argue that endorsing religion as an attribute of Tibetan heritage corresponds to the concept of defining public spaces and events in which religious practice is legitimate and expected. Simultaneously, religious practices outside these dedicated spaces and events become even more problematic, leading to everyday Buddhist practices, such as circumambulation, being seen as (and performed as) political acts.
Political Geography:: China

39277. Table of Contents, Volume 28.2 (Summer 2014)

Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: This issue features essays by Roger Berkowitz on "Drones and the Question of 'The Human'" and Alan Sussman on the philosophical foundations of human rights; a special centennial roundtable on "The Future of Human Rights," featuring Beth A. Simmons, Philip Alston, James W. Nickel, Jack Donnelly, and Andrew Gilmour; a review essay by Jens Bartelson on empire and sovereignty; and book reviews by Dale Jamieson, Tom Bailey, and Simon Cotton.
Topic:: Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs

39278. Why Human Rights Are Called Human Rights

Author:: Alan Sussman
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: The title of this essay is rather ambitious and the space available is hardly sufficient to examine two words of almost limitless expanse—“human rights”—whether standing alone or in tandem. This requires that I begin with (and remained disciplined by) what a teacher of mine, Leo Strauss, called “low facts.” My low facts are these: We call ourselves humans because we have certain characteristics that define our nature. We are social and political animals, as Aristotle noted, and possess attributes not shared by other animals. The ancients noted this, of course, when they defined our principal behavioral and cognitive distinction from the rest of the natural world as the faculty of speech. The Greek word for this, logos, means much more than speech, as it connotes word and reason and, in the more common understanding, talking and writing, praising and criticizing, persuading and reading. While other animals communicate by making sounds of attraction or warning, leaving smells, and so on, none read newspapers, make speeches, publish their memoirs, or write poetry.
Topic:: Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs

39279. "Climate Matters: Ethics in a Warming World"

Author:: Dale Jamieson
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: This is the inaugural volume in the Amnesty International Global Ethics Series, edited by Kwame Anthony Appiah. John Broome, the author of this volume, is a trained economist, distinguished philosopher, and a lead author of the 2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. He is very well suited to fulfill the mandate of the series, which is to "broaden the set of issues taken up by the human rights community." It is thus surprising that the book does not discuss human rights (or rights at all), nor locate itself in relation to much of the relevant literature. Nevertheless, this is an excellent book, displaying the author's characteristic virtues of clarity, concision, precision, and intellectual honesty.
Topic:: Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs

39280. "Global Justice and Avant-Garde Political Agency"

Author:: Tom Bailey
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: In Global Justice and Avant-Garde Political Agency , Lea Ypi proposes a novel approach to political theory in relation to the issue of global equality. She fiercely criticizes the tendency to abstract from the realities of political agency in "ideal" theorizing, since, she insists, such abstraction renders the conclusions drawn practically irrelevant and indeterminate. But she also refuses to treat current political practices and norms as given constraints in the manner of "nonideal" theorizing, on the grounds that the selection of relevant practices and norms is always morally loaded and their analysis inevitably conservative. Instead, Ypi proposes that theory begin with a specific political conflict, diagnose the failure of existing practices and norms to resolve it, and, in this light, develop better practices and norms. She calls this approach "dialectical" insofar as it considers political practices and norms to develop progressively in resolving emerging political problems, and "activist" or "avant-garde" in its responding and contributing to political change through appropriate political agents.
Topic:: Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs

39281. "Fairness in Practice: A Social Contract for a Global Economy"

Author:: Simon Cotton
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: We are all familiar with the claim that the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are unjust or otherwise objectionable. Yet this claim faces substantial hurdles in motivating corrective action. Most significantly, wealthy states face political pressures against moderating their bargaining positions. But this is not the only problem. First, there remains the suspicion that these rules are not, in fact, objectionable, or that they are only mildly so—perhaps "bad" but not "unjust." After all, no country is forced to be subject to them; the WTO is a voluntary institution. Second, we still have to determine what rules would be just. Is it really the job of the WTO to compensate for inherent inequalities between countries? In this book, the first philosophical work devoted exclusively to "fair trade," Aaron James seeks to combat the second of these challenges directly. In doing so, he also combats the first.
Topic:: Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs

39282. Drones and the Question of "The Human"

Author:: Roger Berkowitz
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: Domino's Pizza is testing "Domicopter" drones to deliver pizzas, which will compete with Taco Bell's "Tacocopter" drones. Not to be outdone, Amazon is working on an army of delivery drones that will cut out the postal service. In Denmark, farmers use drones to inspect fields for the appearance of harmful weeds, which reduces herbicide use as the drones directly apply pesticides only where it is needed. Environmentalists send drones into glacial caves or into deep waters, gathering data that would be too dangerous or expensive for human scientists to procure. Federal Express dreams of pilotless aerial and terrestrial drones that will transport goods more cheaply, reliably, and safely than vehicles operated by humans. Human rights activists deploy drones over conflict zones, intelligently searching for and documenting abuses for both rhetorical and legal purposes. Aid agencies send unmanned drones to villages deep in jungles or behind enemy lines, maneuvering hazardous terrain to bring food and supplies to endangered populations. Medical researchers are experimenting with injecting drone blood cells into humans that can mimic good cholesterol carriers or identify and neutralize cancerous cells. Parents in Vermont are using flying drones to accompany children to school, giving a whole new meaning to helicopter parenting. And Pilobolus, a New York dance company, has choreographed a dance in which drones and humans engage each other in the most human of acts: the creation of art.
Topic:: Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Denmark

39283. The Future of the Human Rights Movement

Author:: Beth A. Simmons
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: The modern human rights movement is at a critical juncture in its history. It has been nearly seventy years since the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and some of the oldest and most active human rights organizations have been operating around the world for about forty years. More than twenty years have passed since the end of the cold war, and the time when people spoke in triumphal terms of the global success of Western values is now a fading memory. International human rights are ensconced as firmly as ever in international law and institutions, but what about the future of the "human rights movement"?
Topic:: Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs

39284. Against a World Court for Human Rights

Author:: Philip Alston
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: Too much of the debate about how respect for human rights can be advanced on a global basis currently revolves around crisis situations involving so-called mass atrocity crimes and the possibility of addressing abuse through the use of military force. This preoccupation, as understandable as it is, serves to mask much harder questions of how to deal with what might be termed silent and continuous atrocities, such as gross forms of gender or ethnic discrimination or systemic police violence, in ways that are achievable, effective, and sustainable. This more prosaic but ultimately more important quest is often left to, or perhaps expropriated by, international lawyers. Where the politician often finds solace in the deployment of military force, the international lawyer turns instinctively to the creation of a new mechanism of some sort. Those of modest inclination might opt for a committee or perhaps an inquiry procedure. The more ambitious, however, might advocate the establishment of a whole new court. And surely the most "visionary" of such proposals is one calling for the creation of a World Court of Human Rights. A version of this idea was put forward in the 1940s, but garnered no support. The idea has now been revived, in great detail, and with untrammeled ambition, under the auspices of an eminent group of international human rights law specialists.
Topic:: Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs

39285. What Future for Human Rights?

Author:: James W. Nickel
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: Like people born shortly after World War II, the international human rights movement recently had its sixty-fifth birthday. This could mean that retirement is at hand and that death will come in a few decades. After all, the formulations of human rights that activists, lawyers, and politicians use today mostly derive from the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the world in 1948 was very different from our world today: the cold war was about to break out, communism was a strong and optimistic political force in an expansionist phase, and Western Europe was still recovering from the war. The struggle against entrenched racism and sexism had only just begun, decolonization was in its early stages, and Asia was still poor (Japan was under military reconstruction, and Mao's heavy-handed revolution in China was still in the future). Labor unions were strong in the industrialized world, and the movement of women into work outside the home and farm was in its early stages. Farming was less technological and usually on a smaller scale, the environmental movement had not yet flowered, and human-caused climate change was present but unrecognized. Personal computers and social networking were decades away, and Earth's human population was well under three billion.
Topic:: Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs
Political Geography:: United States, Japan, China, Europe, Asia, and United Nations

39286. State Sovereignty and International Human Rights

Author:: Jack Donnelly
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: I am skeptical of our ability to predict, or even forecast, the future—of human rights or any other important social practice. Nonetheless, an understanding of the paths that have brought us to where we are today can facilitate thinking about the future. Thus, I approach the topic by examining the reshaping of international ideas and practices of state sovereignty and human rights since the end of World War II. I argue that in the initial decades after the war, international society constructed an absolutist conception of exclusive territorial jurisdiction that was fundamentally antagonistic to international human rights. At the same time, though, human rights were for the first time included among the fundamental norms of international society. And over the past two decades, dominant understandings of sovereignty have become less absolutist and more human rights–friendly, a trend that I suggest is likely to continue to develop, modestly, in the coming years.
Topic:: Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs

39287. The Future of Human Rights: A View from the United Nations

Author:: Andrew Gilmour
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: Ever since the Charter of the United Nations was signed in 1945, human rights have constituted one of its three pillars, along with peace and development. As noted in a dictum coined during the World Summit of 2005: "There can be no peace without development, no development without peace, and neither without respect for human rights." But while progress has been made in all three domains, it is with respect to human rights that the organization's performance has experienced some of its greatest shortcomings. Not coincidentally, the human rights pillar receives only a fraction of the resources enjoyed by the other two—a mere 3 percent of the general budget.
Topic:: Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Europe and United Nations

39288. From Empire to Sovereignty — and Back?

Author:: Jens Bartelson
Publication Date:: 08-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: Sovereignty apparently never ceases to attract scholarly attention. Long gone are the days when its meaning was uncontested and its essential attributes could be safely taken for granted by international theorists. During the past decades international relations scholars have increasingly emphasized the historical contingency of sovereignty and the mutability of its corresponding institutions and practices, yet these accounts have been limited to the changing meaning and function of sovereignty within the international system. This focus has served to reinforce some of the most persistent myths about the origin of sovereignty, and has obscured questions about the diffusion of sovereignty outside the European context.
Topic:: Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Europe

39289. Immigrant Access to Higher Education

Author:: Leani García and Kate Brick
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: As the costs of higher education continue to reach new heights, access to in-state tuition for public universities and colleges is often the determining factor in whether students will be able to continue their education beyond high school. Despite having grown up and been residents of states often longer than the typical residency requirements, undocumented immigrant youth, also known as DREAMers—named after the Senate's DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act—have historically been excluded from this critical state benefit. But this is changing.
Political Geography:: California and Colorado

39290. The Future of Latin American Studies

Author:: Charles Hale
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: The field of Latin American studies has been a target for critics ever since it became a prominent feature of the U.S. academic landscape in the 1960s. Earlier critiques were quite severe, often permeated by the premise that studying Latin America from the North (and even the very concept of "Latin America" as an object of study) connoted the region's racial and cultural inferiority. This was further aggravated by the inability to fully disentangle Latin American research from U.S. economic and geopolitical interests. Even the most apparently benign scholarship was considered to be a reinforcement of North-South hierarchies of knowledge and power.
Political Geography:: Latin America

39291. Protest U.

Author:: Indira Palacios-Valladares
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: Millions of students have taken to the streets across Latin America in recent years in protests that reflect an unprecedentedly broad mobilization of popular opinion.
Political Geography:: Latin America

39292. Student Debt in the Americas

Author:: Carolina Ramirez
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: The promise of upward mobility for Latin America's new middle classes has led to swelling university enrollment rates, but also to growing debt.
Political Geography:: Latin America

39293. Academic Brain Drain

Author:: Jesus Velasco
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: A recurrent theme in the immigration debate is how the United States can keep and attract the world's brightest minds. President Barack Obama and others favor maintaining and perhaps even expanding the number of visas for high-skilled immigrants. In his 2013 State of the Union address, Obama said the U.S. needed to "attract the highly skilled entrepreneurs and engineers who will help create jobs and grow our economy." A few days later, on January 29, 2013, at El Sol High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, Obama underlined the point: "Right now, there are brilliant students from all over the world sitting in classrooms at our top universities[.]but once they earn that diploma, there's a good chance they'll have to leave the country[..]That's why we need comprehensive immigration reform."
Topic:: Immigration
Political Geography:: United States

39294. Indigenous Enrollment

Author:: Álvaro José Mejía Arias
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: Since its formation in February 1971, the Consejo Regional Indígena del Cauca (Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca—CRIC) has made the education of young Indigenous Colombians one of its most important goals.
Political Geography:: Colombia

39295. Bridge Institutions in Higher Education

Author:: Carol Stax Brown
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: The United States and Latin America are both struggling to find ways to improve participation in quality education in the face of a labor-market skills gap. But all too often, policymakers, businesses and educators have looked to elite universities as a way of meeting those gaps. While important for high-end jobs, labor market and social demands also require us to look elsewhere.
Political Geography:: United States

39296. Higher Ed: Private Investors Get Into the Game

Author:: Gabriel Sanchez Zinny
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: The combination of sustained economic growth in Latin America, a region-wide expansion of the middle class, and a newly competitive business environment has boosted demand for quality education, and stoked desires for alternatives.
Political Geography:: Latin America

39297. The Pull and Example of Science Education in the United States

Author:: Timothy DeVoogd
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: I expected high school biology students. Instead, I was facing 120 middle school students who were on an outing to Maloka, an innovative science museum in Bogotá.On the fly, I changed my presentation on how the brain works into a series of demonstrations. At the end, I was awed by the questions: "My mother has epilepsy; why is it that she doesn't recognize me when she has a seizure?" "I have a pet bird. Does he learn like I do?"
Political Geography:: United States, Brazil, and Riyadh

39298. MOOCs in Development: Fad or Future?

Author:: Juan Cristobal Bonnefoy
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: Those following tech and continuing education news have been surprised by the rising popularity of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The basic promise for professionals in Latin America and the Caribbean is quite alluring: free online access to a world-class knowledge base. But questions remain. Will this new learning methodology last, or fade quickly once the novelty is gone?
Political Geography:: Latin America

39299. The Dominican Republic and Haiti: A Shared View from the Diaspora

Author:: Richard André
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: In a landmark ruling, the Dominican Republic's Constitutional Court last September stripped an estimated 210,000 individuals—most of whom are Dominicans born to Haitian sugar cane workers—of their citizenship, effectively leaving them stateless. The ensuing outcry from the international community has included Junot Díaz and Edwidge Danticat—two of the best-known contemporary authors from the island of Hispaniola. Friends for over 20 years, Danticat (from Haiti) and Díaz (from the D.R.) have been relentless in their condemnation of the ruling. In a written exchange moderated by Americas Quarterly production editor and Haitian-American Richard André, Díaz and Danticat discuss the roots and legacies of racism and conflict in the neighboring nations, the impact of the court's ruling, and the responsibility of the diaspora to build bridges between Dominicans and Haitians and defend human rights at home and abroad.
Political Geography:: Island

39300. The Dominican Republic and Haiti: Shame

Author:: Santiago A. Canton and Wade H. McMullen, Jr.
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: Juliana Deguis Pierre was born in 1984 in Los Jovillos, Dominican Republic, 72 miles (116 kilometers) west of Santo Domingo. Under the country's constitutional recognition of birthright citizenship, Deguis—the daughter of two undocumented Haitian immigrants working in the sugar cane fields—was issued a birth certificate recognizing her Dominican nationality. Now 29 years old, she has never traveled outside her native country. She speaks fluent Spanish and hardly any Creole.

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS