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2822. Political Parties in Tajikistan
- Author:
- Saodat Olimova and Anthony Bowyer
- Publication Date:
- 11-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Academy of Political Science
- Abstract:
- The main events that took place in Tajikistan in the first few years after independence was attained were characterized by the two diverse processes: the crises in the old political system and its consequent collapse, and the development of a new political system.The political development of sovereign Tajikistan was strongly influenced by Soviet political traditions and the stereotypes of political conduct that formed during the Soviet Union. The bipolarization of political forces at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s in the USSR did not stimulate the formation of democratic alternatives in political behavior, and in fact limited political choices to the rigid dichotomy of “democracy – anti-democracy,†both for the electorate and the political elites, which eventually led to the breakout of civil war in Tajikistan. The complexity of the situation in Tajikistan was that the elites were just as divided and diverse as the Tajik demographic composition itself, consisting of various ethno-cultural sub-ethnic and ethno-regional groups. Immediately after independence was attained, regional elites of diverse ideological and foreign policy orientations began scrambling for power in the new sovereign state. In 1992-1993 the conflict exploded into a civil war led by two main conflicting camps – the National Front and the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) (a coalition of opposition parties).During the conflict a significant shift of elites took place, as the previously governing elite of Soviet times from Soghd (formerly Leninabad) Oblast in northern Tajikistan was removed from power. The Kulyab regional elite ascended to power, and played the main role during the war in pushing out other regional elites to the periphery of power.Â
- Topic:
- Democratization and Government
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe
2823. Election Law Compendium of Central and Eastern Europe
- Publication Date:
- 08-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Academy of Political Science
- Abstract:
- The objective of this work is to provide a comprehensive collection of the election laws of developing democracies in Central and Eastern Europe. The editor is all too conscious of the difficulty in keeping abreast of the dynamic and vast changes in democratic processes taking place in this area of the world, as reflected in the ever-changing bodies of law governing the conduct of elections.
- Topic:
- Democratization and Government
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Eastern Europe
2824. Palestinian Elections
- Publication Date:
- 08-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Academy of Political Science
- Abstract:
- The International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), as well as a representative of the Government of Norway, jointly organized a pre-election assessment mission to the West Bank and Gaza between July 14 and July 24, 2002. The purpose of the mission was fourfold: 1) to evaluate the pre-electoral environment and identify the requirements of the Palestinian Authority, political parties, civil society and the international community to establish a meaningful electoral process; 2) to identify the elements of the process that are most vulnerable and the obstacles that must be overcome; 3) to assess the state of technical preparations for elections; and 4) to recommend electoral reform measures that could enhance the transparency and credibility of the process.
- Topic:
- Government and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Norway, and Palestine
2825. Elections and International Civilian Policing: History and Practice in Peace Operations
- Author:
- Jeff Fischer
- Publication Date:
- 06-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Academy of Political Science
- Abstract:
- This paper explores the role that international civilian police (CIVPOL) have played in transitional elections and profiles specific electoral missions in which CIVPOL have performed a supporting role. The paper continues with a summary and analysis of the electoral activities and responsibilities undertaken by CIVPOL in the case studies. The conclusion looks ahead to areas of potential institutional support to enhance the effectiveness of international civilian policing in electoral missions through capacity development, standardized training, and integrated planning and support of CIVPOL in democracy development.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Development, and Government
2826. Filling the Vacuum: Prerequisites to Security in Afghanistan
- Publication Date:
- 03-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Academy of Political Science
- Abstract:
- As a result of 23 years of war and civil conflict, and despite the recent removal of the Taliban and establishment of an Interim Authority, Afghanistan remains a country in chaos. Unless and until Afghanistan is at least modestly stable and secure, it will continue to represent a risk to the region and the world. The global order is still grappling with the question of failed states, but one lesson is certain: when governments fail, warlords, drug barons, or terrorists fill the vacuum. The only sure way to eliminate terrorism and extremism in Afghanistan is to support its leaders and people in their quest for internal stability and security, according to their own rich traditions and history.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Government, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Middle East, and Taliban
2827. Electoral Conflict and Violence: A Strategy for Study and Prevention
- Author:
- Jeff Fischer
- Publication Date:
- 02-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Academy of Political Science
- Abstract:
- An electoral process is an alternative to violence as it is a means of achieving governance. It is when an electoral process is perceived as unfair, unresponsive, or corrupt, that its political legitimacy is compromised and stakeholders are motivated to go outside the established norms to achieve their objectives. Electoral conflict and violence become tactics in political competition.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Development, and Government
2828. Why are Israel's Public Relations so Poor?
- Author:
- Dan Diker
- Publication Date:
- 10-2002
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
- Abstract:
- The Israel State Comptroller's report released on October 7, 2002, leveled unprecedented criticism on Israel's public relations efforts. The State Comptroller revealed that "since its establishment in 1948, Israel's intelligence organs have not succeeded to respond to the broad-based propaganda and incitement by the Arab world." The report also emphasized that "the lack of a central authority to direct and coordinate all government information bodies to execute a public relations policy is the main factor accounting for Israel's longstanding failures in this field."
- Topic:
- Security, Government, and Religion
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Arabia
2829. The Islamic Arab Minority in the Jewish State
- Author:
- Zeidan Atashi
- Publication Date:
- 06-2002
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
- Abstract:
- A summit of religious leaders on the Middle East was held in Alexandria, Egypt, on 20-22 January 2002. The summit was held at the initiative of Dr. George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, and more than a dozen senior Muslim, Jewish, and Christian leaders from the Middle East attended, among them rabbis from Israel and sheikhs from Egypt and the Palestinian Authority who had received approval from their governments.
- Topic:
- Security, Government, Islam, and Religion
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Palestine, Arab Countries, Egypt, and Alexandria
2830. The Role Of Transition Assistance: The Case Of Indonesia
- Author:
- Glenn Slocum and Jean DuRette
- Publication Date:
- 03-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United States Agency for International Development
- Abstract:
- The Center for Development Information and Evaluation (CDIE) has responsibility for conducting Agency-wide evaluations on assistance topics of interest to USAID managers. In 2000, USAID began an evaluation of the role of transition assistance, with a specific emphasis on the role and activities of the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) in the Bureau of Humanitarian Response (BHR).
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, Economics, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Indonesia and Southeast Asia
2831. Negotiating the End of Transition: A Network Approach to Political Discourse Dynamics, Hungary 1997
- Author:
- Péter Csigó and Balázs Vedres
- Publication Date:
- 12-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University
- Abstract:
- The initial question of this paper is how the large scale social process of postsocialist transition ends. We argue that transition is closed by discursive innovations in the political field, rather than just spontaneous crystallization. The political field is depicted as a dynamic symbolic structure that is an arena of local action. First the possible discourse positions are extracted from the two mode network of speech acts and statements. Then using these typical positions the dynamics of responses and responses to responses is explored. We give an account of an emergent univocal government position that represents a successful role claim (an exit from the loops of local action) on the government's side to coherently frame the end of transition.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- Europe
2832. The Influence of Women and Racial Minorities Under Panel Decision Making on the U.S. Court of Appeals
- Author:
- Sean Farhang and Gregory Wawro
- Publication Date:
- 12-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This paper assesses the impact of gender and race on judicial decisions on the federal Court of Appeals, paying particular attention to the institutional nuances of decision-making on three-judge appellate panels within circuits. Our central question is whether and how racial minority and women judges influence legal policy on issues thought to be of particular concern to women and minorities. Proper analysis of this question requires investigating whether women and minority judges influence the decisions of other panel members. We find that the norm of unanimity on panels grants women influence over outcomes even when they are outnumbered on a panel.
- Topic:
- Ethnic Conflict, Gender Issues, and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States
2833. Achieving a Final Status Settlement for Kosovo
- Author:
- Janusz Bugajski, R. Bruce Hitchner, and Paul Williams
- Publication Date:
- 08-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Public International Law Policy Group
- Abstract:
- On November 19, 2002, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the National Albanian American Council, and the Dayton Peace Accords Project held a one-day conference in Washington, D.C., at CSIS, entitled “The Future of Kosovo.” The conference was attended by U.S. policymakers, congressional representatives, regional specialists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), business leaders, journalists, as well as key activists and analysts from Kosovo. The vital question of Kosovo's emerging status was discussed openly with a view to producing a subsequent report offering concrete recommendations to the U.S. administration, U.S. legislators, and major international organizations on the question of Kosovo's future status.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- America, Europe, Washington, Kosovo, and Albania
2834. Annual Report to Congress on the Safety and Security of Russian Nuclear Facilities and Military Forces
- Publication Date:
- 09-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Abstract:
- Moscow will continue to devote scarce resources to maintaining its nuclear forces. Nevertheless, the aging of Russia's strategic systems and Putin's military reform plan to shift resources to the general purpose forces probably will result in Russia having fewer than 2,000 strategic warheads by 2015. Even with ongoing reductions, Moscow probably will retain several thousand nonstrategic nuclear warheads in its inventory because of concerns over its deteriorating conventional capabilities.
- Topic:
- Security, Government, and Nuclear Weapons
- Political Geography:
- Russia
2835. Cities as Economic Development Tools
- Author:
- Nigel Harris
- Publication Date:
- 12-2002
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- Increasing globalization – the economic integration of national economies – and the resulting governmental decentralization have obliged cities in many countries to take seriously the economy of the city. On the other hand, unless cities can be made to work, national economic growth is seriously impeded. Hence, city managers become increasingly important in economic management. The old fatalism – that economic growth is a matter exclusively for national governments – comes under threat.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Development, Government, and Politics
2836. Mobility in Bulgaria and the European Union: Brain Drain, Bogus Asylum Seekers, Replacement Migration, and Fertility
- Author:
- Kristen Ghodsee
- Publication Date:
- 11-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- The collapse of communism in 1989 in Bulgaria was initially uneventful. Todor Zhivkov, the longest ruling leader in the Eastern Bloc, simply resigned. Democratic elections were held. Bulgaria had none of the wide-scale violence and chaos that characterized the transitions of the other Balkan states, most notably Romania and Yugoslavia. The effects of the social, political, and economic changes in Bulgaria, however, were just as devastating. The communists renamed themselves “socialists” and won the elections as the Bulgarian economy began a drastic contraction from which it has never recovered. The standard of living for ordinary Bulgarians dropped severely and new criminal elements appeared in society for the first time. The so-called “robber Barons” of Bulgaria pillaged what was left of the state's assets and set themselves up as the country's new elite. Meanwhile, the nearby wars and embargoes in the former Yugoslav republics gave the new Bulgarian Mafia ample opportunities to solidify their positions by smuggling arms and fuel into neighboring Yugoslavia.
- Topic:
- Government, International Organization, Migration, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria
2837. Toward a North American Community? - A Conference Report
- Publication Date:
- 06-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- The “Toward a North American Community?” conference hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on June 11, 2002, examined the current relationships between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and investigated the future of North American integration.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
- Political Geography:
- North America
2838. Toward an Uncivil Society? Contextualizing the Decline of Post-Soviet Russian Extremely Right-Wing Parties
- Author:
- Andreas Umland
- Publication Date:
- 06-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- This paper uses some findings of research into non-Russian civil societies and ultra-nationalisms as well as selected examples of non-party Russian right-wing extremism to illustrate that the relative decline in radically nationalist party politics towards the end of the 1990s should not be seen as an unequivocal indication that „anti-liberal statism“ has lost its appeal in Russia. It also attempts to show that the considerable diversification in the non-governmental, not-for-profit sector of Russian society since the mid-1980s cannot be regarded as exclusively beneficial in terms of Russia's polyarchic consolidation, and further democratization. Not only is a Russian „civic public“ or „civic community“ developing only slowly. Some of the more significant preand post-Soviet groups, movements, and trends within the Russian voluntary sector are unsupportive, or explicitly critical of liberal democracy. A number of major non-state institutions and networks in Russian society contain ultra-nationalist, fundamentalist, and, partly, protofascist sub-sectors that question using the construct „civil society“ to designate them. These organizations' or groupings' primary function is less — or not at all — to enhance peoples' inclination and ability to participate effectively in political activities that could promote further democratization. Instead, they provide — sometimes expressly so — a medium for the spread of radically particularistic world views, ascriptive notions about human nature, and illiberal or/and bellicose political ideas, as well as an organizational training ground for potential political activists holding such ideas.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Democratization, Government, and International Organization
- Political Geography:
- Russia
2839. Defense White Papers in the Americas: A Comparative Analysis
- Author:
- John Cope and Laurita Denny
- Publication Date:
- 04-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- In preparation for the October 2000 Defense Ministerial of the Americas (DMA) in Manaus Brazil and at the request of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) studied the global trend toward the creation of Defense White Papers. The study aimed to understand the nature of these documents in order to prepare the U.S. delegation to discuss the tendency in Latin America and the Caribbean during the DMA. The INSS study team found no agreement about what constitutes a 'white paper' other than each is a consensus statement on a topic. The team examined 15 defense documents worldwide and interviewed participants in the development process and independent analysts. The results suggest that the formative, often difficult, process through which governments must move to solidify their approach to national security defense policy, and the structure to implement it and build consensus for it is the essential part of a 'white paper,' providing a constructive experience that benefits the country. Governments tended not to want a template for this process, although at the working level there is some interest in the experience of other states. Defense White Papers become highly stylized nationalistic documents that reflect a state's unique domestic circumstances and international geopolitical situation. The attached chart provides an overview comparison of the Defense White Paper processes of Canada, the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and South Africa. Past efforts by U.S. agencies to design templates have failed.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Latin America, Caribbean, and Chile
2840. An E-Parliament to Democratize Globalization: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
- Author:
- Robert C. Johansen
- Publication Date:
- 11-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
- Abstract:
- Human beings have struggled for centuries to gain control of their own destinies, particularly to shape the political decisions that affect their lives. By the late twentieth century, nearly 60 percent of the world's people had achieved democratic governance. But now, because of interdependence and globalization, people living in national democracies have begun to lose their grip on decisions that affect them. Throughout the world, many decisions impacting citizens of one country are made by people living outside their country or by impersonal market forces that are not accountable to anyone and that often subordinate the needs of many people to the prosperity of a few.
- Topic:
- Globalization, Government, and Science and Technology