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451. European Union Defense Policy: An American Perspective

Author:
Leslie S. Lebl
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
For almost 50 years, proposals by the European Union to develop a common foreign and security policy for all member states failed. Since the late 1990s, however, the situation has changed. Despite, or perhaps because of, member states' disagreements over Iraq, the EU probably will continue to develop common foreign and security policies, and the European Commission may begin to play a role in developing new European military capabilities.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Iraq, America, Europe, and Middle East

452. A Political Agenda for Region-building? The EMP and Democracy Promotion in North Africa

Author:
Richard Gillespie
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
Abstract:
Richard Gillespie concentrates on the promotion of democracy as one of the instruments of Euro- Mediterranean region building in the framework of the EMP. In particular, this paper assesses the record of the EU's democracy promotion in North Africa. Gillespie emphasizes the obstacles, and the causes for hesitation within the EU to an effective promotion of democracy. He further examines the set-backs in light of post-Barcelona international events, such as the breakdown of the Middle East peace process, 9/11, the Iraq war, and the eastern enlargement of the EU. Gillespie argues that, in spite of constraints, the EMP could still prove to be a valuable framework for the promotion of democracy in the long run. This is especially the case if the EU will act as democracy promoter in a more energetic manner than hitherto, and if local developments in North Africa actually help place democracy more firmly on the political agenda. Richard Gillespie.
Topic:
International Relations and Democratization
Political Geography:
Iraq, Europe, Middle East, and North Africa

453. Practices and their Failures: Arab-Israeli Relations and the Barcelona Process

Author:
Joel Peters
Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
Abstract:
Joel Peters focuses on the failed peace-making practices of the Middle East multilateral track process launched at Madrid in 1991. He thus uses the dynamics within Arab-Israeli relations to inform an assessment of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Peters shows that conflicts of interests and rivalries among the participating parties emerged as soon as the multilateral peace talks moved from the discussion of ideas to the stage where decisions on the actual implementation of cooperation projects had to be reached. Thus, the demise of the multilateral talks and the subsequent slowdown in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process were underway before the launching of the EMP. The failure of developing peace-making practices within the multilateral Arab-Israeli peace talks inevitably spilled over to the EMP from the outset.
Topic:
International Relations and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Arabia, and Barcelona

454. Political Conditionality of Economic Interactions in the Middle East; Turkey's Relations with Iran, Iraq, and Syria

Author:
Mustafa Aydin and Damla Aras
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
The political logic (i.e., political perceptions of the ruling elite in a given country and nature of the political relations with other countries) determines economic activity, not the other way around, among the proto-capitalist states of the Middle East. As the political ties has primacy in the region in determining the course of economic relations, even market oriented democratic (or quasi-democratic) countries have to accept the prominence of political-strategic relations when dealing with such states. This paper will examine the interrelated fluctuation of trade and political tensions between Turkey and its immediate Middle Eastern neighbours - Iran, Iraq, and Syria. It will highlight the political determinants of the relationship between these countries; will discuss the role of the US as the independent variable; and will assess the possible effects of the emergence of Justice and Development Party government in Turkey on country's political and economic relations with its Middle Eastern neighbours.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Europe, Iran, Turkey, Middle East, and Syria

455. An American Grand Strategy for the Middle East: A Report of the Aspen Strategy Group

Author:
Kurt M. Campbell
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara was fond of saying that the Middle East was the graveyard of American diplomatic hopes and dreams, and this is a man who knows something about disappointment in global politics (as well as cemeteries). Now, the United States has embarked upon an ambitious mission to remake the Middle East – rebuilding war-ravaged and leader-abused countries in Afghanistan and Iraq, seeking to settle the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, blocking further nuclear proliferation, pushing the region to embrace political moderation and reform, and hopefully improving America's image in the region in the process. There are unintentional though unavoidable echoes of the “best and the brightest” in this campaign as the U.S. embarks upon a global crusade (call it what it is) to help re-direct the course of one of the world's dominant civilizations and the institutions that have served it so poorly. This uniquely American sense of mission and manifest destiny is apparent in a range of endeavors worldwide but it is in the Middle East where U.S. ambitions approach the point of audacity.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Democratization
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Middle East

456. The 'Khmer Islam' community in Cambodia and its foreign patrons

Author:
Milton Osborne
Publication Date:
11-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
Apart from brief references to the arrest in May 2003 of suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah in Phnom Penh and the later revelation that Hambali (Riduan Isamuddin) had spent six months in Cambodia before being captured in Thailand, the international media have paid little attention to Cambodia's 'indigenous' Islamic community, the Khmer Islam (Islamic Cambodians), numbering around 500,000 in a total population of 12-13 million. Generally described as 'Chams', the majority are the descendants of immigrants from the once-powerful kingdom of Champa located on the central coast of modern Vietnam. But Cambodia's Islamic community also includes the descendants of Malay settlers, perhaps 15% of the total. Members of this latter group are known as Chvea. For the most part living apart from the ethnic Cambodian population both during colonial times (1863-1953) and following independence, the Khmer Islam community played little part in politics. During the Pol Pot regime (1975-79) members of the community suffered grievously, with an estimated 90,000 dying from executions, overwork and hunger and disease out of a total of250,000. Following the fall of Pol Pot the position of the Cambodian Islamic community has attracted the interest of co-religionists in the Middle East and Southeast Asia who have contributed substantial funds for the construction of mosques, the support of Koranic schools and financing of participation in the haj. At the same time there has been a substantial growth in the interchange between members of the Khmer Islam community and fellow Muslims in southem Thailand and Malaysia. Overall, the community remains generally poor and disadvantaged and so potentially unlnerable to external influences.
Topic:
International Relations and Religion
Political Geography:
Middle East, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia

457. New Horizons in United States Relations with South Asia

Author:
Christina Rocca
Publication Date:
07-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for the Advanced Study of India
Abstract:
Good afternoon and welcome. Those of you who have received the invitation will know what Ms. Rocca is engaged in and what her background is. I simply want to express my personal appreciation and delight that we are able to host Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca this afternoon. Ms. Rocca has specialized in issues relating to some of the most complex cultures and political conflicts affecting United States foreign policy right now, and as you might have noticed, her range goes from the Middle East, to Central Asia, to the Caucasus, to South Asia—and I know she has many stories she could tell us that we would love to hear.
Topic:
International Relations and Politics
Political Geography:
United States, South Asia, Caucasus, and Middle East

458. From Diplomatic Talking Shop to Powerful Partnership?

Author:
Halle Malmvig
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
NATO plans to play a greater role in the Middle East. At the upcoming summit in Istanbul, the Alliance is expected to boost its neglected cooperation programme with seven states in the Middle East - the so-called Mediterranean Dialogue. The Dialogue is to be turned into a Partnership programme modelled on the Partnership for Peace (PfP) experience. This brief argues that NATO only can play a limited role in the efforts to reform and strengthen relations with Middle Eastern states. NATO does not have the political and economic tools necessary for tackling the root causes of the security problems in the Middle East, and there is a real danger that increased cooperation on terrorism and defence reform may undermine the overall goal of democratic and genuine change in the region.
Topic:
International Relations, NATO, and Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Middle East

459. The Palestine Question in the Wake of the War in Iraq

Author:
Michael Irving Jensen
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
By mid-January 2003 the American Assistant Defence Minister, Paul Wolfowitz, stated that America would work intensively in order to create a Palestinian State as soon as the War in Iraq was over. In Denmark and other European countries a number of politicians issued similar statements, and peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis became an argument to justify a war against Iraq. Even people who were not convinced by the necessity of war began to argue that something positive would eventually emerge from the war – especially in the case of the Palestine Question. Their argument held that the Americans had to do something constructive in the Middle East. They needed to engage more seriously, and they had to demonstrate to the Arab world that although part of the "war against terror" might be taking place in the Arab world, it was not a war against the Arab world, or against Islam, for that matter. Thus, it was only logical to engage the US in the Middle East, and thereby do the utmost in order to force the Israeli occupation to cease. Despite the huge American problems in "post-war" Iraq the question of Palestine is still very high on the agenda not only in the Middle East, but globally.
Topic:
International Relations and War
Political Geography:
Europe and Middle East

460. Challenges of Security Sector Governance in Kuwait

Author:
Ghanim Al-Najjar
Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
The security apparatus in Kuwait is divided into three main institutions, namely the Army, the Police, and the National Guard. The division of labour amongst the three institutions is clear. While the army is re sponsible for external defence duties (since offensive war is prohibited by the Constitution), the police are responsible for internal security, and the National Guard is responsible for providing emergency and supporting duties. According to the Constitution, the army is headed by the Amir (the Head of State) being the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, while in reality the army is headed by the Minister of De fence who is currently Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Alsabah, and operationally headed by the Chief-of-Staff Fahad Alamir. Although the military side of the army is run on a daily basis by the military staff, the Ministry of Defence that is basically civilian in its composition has a major impact on any work and decision-making that affects army affairs. The police on the other hand are completely administered through the Ministry of the Interior; the current Minister of the Interior is Sheikh Nawwaf Alahmad Alsabah. The currently Under-Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior is Nasser Alothman and he is assisted by seven Assistant Under-Secretary's for administering the daily operations of the police. Six out of the seven Under-Secretaries are police officers. Almost 90% of the top management of the Ministry of the Interior is made up of police officers, and this situation differs greatly from the state of affairs that is to be found in the Ministry of Defence. The National Guard is an independent institution of the Armed Forces, which reports directly to the Supreme Council of Defence, which is headed by a senior sheikh (currently Sheikh Salim Alali Alsabah and his deputy Sheikh Mishal Alahmad Alsabah).
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Defense Policy, and Governance
Political Geography:
Middle East and Kuwait