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15172. Asian Ballistic Missiles and Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Impact of Missile Defences
- Author:
- Bjørn Møller
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- The paper analyses critically the threat perceptions of the West, and especially the United States, regarding ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Asian states. Reviewing Southwest, South and Northeast Asia it finds these regions to be more stable as commonly assumed and little evidence to support the assumption that the states in these regions are undeterrable. A deployment by the United States of ballistic missile defences is thus found to be both superfluous and possibly destabilising. However, a mobile boost-phase defence is found to be less potentially destabilising than other missile defence "architectures".
- Topic:
- Security and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- United States and Asia
15173. Privatisation of Conflict, Security and War
- Author:
- Bjørn Moller
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- The paper assesses the general trend towards privatisation, in the developed as well as the developing world, where even "high politics" is increasingly performed by, or outsourced to, non-state actors. This is both the case for foreign and security politics, including war, where the use by states (as principals) of agents such as guerrilla movements, militias and private military companies (PMCs) is becoming more frequent. The special case of PMCs is analysed at length, coming out in favour of a combined legalisation and regulation, which is found to open up opportunities for military missions such as humanitarian interventions, not least in Africa, which would otherwise not be undertaken.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Foreign Policy, and Development
15174. Security Models and their Applicability to the Gulf: The Potential of European Lessons Applied
- Author:
- Bjørn Moller
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- The paper, written for a joint project of the Gulf Research Center in Dubai and the Bertelsmann Foundation, explores whether the lessons from the transformation of Europe from a conflict formation into a security community could be transferred to the Persian Gulf region. It records and analyses the European experience with "security models" actually applied such as balance-ofpower, nuclear deterrence, arms control and confidence-building, democratic peace, regional integration etc. as well as various alternative models such as common security and defensive restructuring of the armed forces. It further analyses the structure and dynamics of the Persian Gulf region, finding few of the European models to be really applicable. It concludes with outlining two different scenarios for the development of the region after the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and Security
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Europe, and Middle East
15175. The Pros and Cons of Subsidiarity: The Role of African Regional and Subregional Organisations in Ensuring Peace and Security in Africa
- Author:
- Bjørn Moller
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- The paper critically analyses the emerging international norm of subsidiarity according to which "Africa are responsible for African conflicts", which is found to be a possible justification for "buck-passing" on the part of the West, leaving the continent with the fewest military means to deal with the largest number of the most destructive armed conflicts. The paper then provides an overview of the various regional and subregional organisations in Africa, including the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) as well as a host of less important organisations. It concludes with a survey of the various forms of support promised to these organisations by the West.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Africa
15176. Danish and British Euroscepticism Compared: A Sceptical Assessment of the Concept
- Author:
- Catharina Sørense
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- The aim of the working paper is to examine similarities and differences between Danish and British sceptical or negative public attitudes towards the European Union. It looks at problems involved with defining and measuring the phenomenon of popular euroscepticism, before turning to characteristics specific for the case countries. The conclusion drawn from the comparison is that the phenomenon differs significantly even between two countries often associated for a discernible euroscepticism. In conclusion, the contemporary relevance of the study of popular euroscepticism is discussed with reference to the increasing use of referenda as a means to settle political questions in today's EU.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe
15177. Opportunities and Pitfalls in the Migration-Development Nexus: Somaliland and Beyond
- Author:
- Ninna Nyberg Sorensen
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- Against the background of increased human mobility over the last three decades, resurgent interest in the migration-development nexus has stimulated new lines of academic inquiry and pushed policy considerations in new directions. This paper outlines current discussions around the links between migration, development and conflict. It also considers the complex nature of 'mixed flows', the difficulties in distinguishing between forced/political and voluntary/economic migration, and the links to development from these various–and often overlapping–types of flows. The paper uses migration from Somalia/Somaliland as the main example. This case–like the cases of most other sending countries–is of course specific. Still lessons can be drawn that are useful in other contexts, and may provide a basis for constructive discussion of potential opportunities in the current migration and international cooperation regimes.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Development, and Migration
- Political Geography:
- Africa
15178. Marginality or Provinciality: Pskov and Ivangorod at the Intersection of Russia's Transborder Relations
- Author:
- Andrey Makarychev
- Publication Date:
- 10-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- My intention in this paper is to analyze the state of trans-border relationship between Russia, on the one hand, and Latvia and Estonia, on the other, in terms of interplay between central and non-central actors. Two basic concepts–that ones of marginality and provinciality–will be used as points of departure and compared with each other. Each of these concepts develops its own narrative and a discursive strategy. In some instances, these narratives may smoothly complement each other; and yet in other occurrences, they conflict in a manner that fuels "a battle of the story".
- Topic:
- International Relations and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Eastern Europe, Estonia, and Latvia
15179. Russian Conservatism in the Putin Presidency
- Author:
- Sergei Prozorov
- Publication Date:
- 10-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- The article seeks to map the emergent discursive field of conservatism in Russian politics in the context of the reshapement of the political space in the Putin presidency. In the course of Putin's first presidential term 'conservatism' became a privileged mode of political selfidentification in the Russian discourse, functioning as the nodal point of the hegemonic project of the Presidency. Yet, in accordance with the Foucauldian understanding of discourse as a system of dispersion, the article demonstrates the way the conservative discourse is internally fractured into two antagonistic strands, identified by their practitioners as liberal and left conservatisms. While the liberal-conservative orientation supports and sustains the depoliticising project of the Putin presidency, which orders and stabilises the effects of the anti-communist revolution, left conservatism functions in the modality of radical opposition to the Putinian hegemony, thereby contributing to the pluralisation of political space in contemporary Russia. In the present Russian political constellation 'conservatism' is therefore less a name for a stable hegemonic configuration than a designator of the field of political struggle over the very identity of postcommunist Russia. The article concludes with a critical discussion of the relation the two strands of Russian conservatism establish to the period of the 1990s as the 'moment of the political' in the Russian postcommunist transformation.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Asia
15180. Access to ARV Treatment - Aid, Trade and Governance in Uganda
- Author:
- Lisa Ann Richey and Stine Jessen Haakonsson
- Publication Date:
- 10-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- Access to antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) for AIDS treatment creates a field binding local and global governance. Local modalities of AIDS treatment are governed by the context of global trade through the implementation of patents on medicines in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and within the context of global aid through development assistance. While industrialized countries, on the one hand, set aside donations to fight AIDS in developing countries, on the other hand, the same countries use the WTO to prevent developing countries from accessing cheap medicines. Uganda's success in reducing HIV prevalence is unique among African states, and it is considered the most promising candidate for effectively "scaling up" ARV treatment on the basis of its history of dealing with the pandemic. Yet, despite the many interventions addressing HIV/AIDS and dramatic price reductions of ARVs, only a minority of the infected population is currently receiving treatment, and promises of universal coverage for all who need it seem unrealistic. Our paper examines how the disconnect between international and national priorities on the one hand, and between aid and trade on the other, are currently affecting access to ARVs in Uganda. In spite of the political discourse of equality in treatment, the realities of funding suggest the difficult choices will be made from the level of policy to that of individual. Thus, global governance of trade and of aid will both shape and rely on individuals in charge of "implementation" which must be examined outside the sanitizing context of development discourse. We introduce our use of governance in this paper, and then discuss the global governance of aid to AIDS and global governance of trade and AIDS. The second half of the paper examines the Ugandan case study beginning with a political background and examination of aids policy, followed by the history of ARV provision and advocacy for ARVs, a discussion of the national health system and then aid initiatives and trade of ARVs in Uganda. Finally, we draw preliminary conclusions from our case on the conflicts between global and local governance of trade and aid to AIDS.
- Topic:
- Development, Human Welfare, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Uganda and Africa