Content Type: Special Report / Publication Year: within 10 Years

4801. Women's Leadership in Latin America

Author:: Laura Albornoz Pollman
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Latin America, with its history of female heads of state, seems to be a rising global leader in terms of notable women in top-level leadership roles. What is the region's secret sauce? Does this phenomenon translate to the empowerment of women throughout Latin American societies? And are women rising to the top across sectors?
Topic:: Gender Issues
Political Geography:: Latin America

4802. Report of the Task Force on the Future of Iraq

Author:: Ryan C. Crocker
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: The report of the Task Force on the Future of Iraq chaired by Ambassador Ryan Crocker offers a strategy for how the United States can build on the success that the Iraqi government and its coalition partners have had in liberating areas once occupied by ISIS, in order to bring about a lasting defeat of the extremist group and to and secure US national security interests in Iraq over the long term.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Iraq

4803. Meeting the Russian Hybrid Challenge

Author:: Franklin Kramer and Laura Speranza
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Since its takeover of Crimea in 2014, Russia has become increasingly emboldened, undertaking actions that, rather than propping up a failing regime, strike directly against the functioning of Western democracy. Employing a combination of "hybrid" actions–political, diplomatic, informational, cyber-, economic, covert and low-level force–the Kremlin has targeted countries not only on the fringes of its sphere of influence, but in the heart of Europe and even the United States.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Russia

4804. Why Africa Matters to US National Security

Author:: Grant Harris
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: African nations have rarely been perceived as essential partners in the pursuit of US national security and economic interests, but a re-assessment of Africa’s strategic importance is past due. Transnational threats emanating from the continent continue to evolve, and trade and investment relationships have deepened. A better and broader understanding of the threats and opportunities posed by the countries of Africa is urgently needed, both to strengthen United States-Africa bilateral relations and to create a coherent regional policy.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Africa

4805. A Roadmap for US Engagement with Colombia

Author:: Roy Blunt and Ben Cardin
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: The Atlantic Council’s Colombia Peace and Prosperity Task Force, co-chaired by Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), has been working for the past year to put forward recommendations for continued US engagement in Colombia. Today, Colombia is a strategic US partner. Its achievements and experience fighting international networks of organized crime have transformed the country into an exporter of security expertise and training. It is the view of this high-level Task Force that Colombia continues to symbolize a bipartisan US foreign policy success story. Read our report to find out the task force's full recommendations.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Colombia

4806. Building a Better Future

Author:: Luis Cosenza
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: To many Americans, the difficult issues facing Central America’s Northern Triangle—El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—may seem distant. But the future of the United States is tied to these countries as some of our closest neighbors. Geography alone demonstrates that their stability and prosperity is critical to our national interest.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4807. Gender Equality as a National Security Priority

Author:: Julia M. Santucci
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
Abstract:: The Obama administration made efforts to advance gender equality around the world one of its core national security and foreign policy priorities, based on the premise that countries are more stable, secure, and prosperous when women enjoy the same rights as men, participate fully in their countries’ political systems and economies, and live free from violence. A growing body of research makes a compelling case about these links. Former Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Cathy Russell and former National Security Advisor Tom Donilon sum up much of the evidence in this Medium piece, noting that advancing gender equality around the world helps grow global gross domestic product, decreases hunger, strengthens the prospects for peace agreements to succeed, and counters violent extremism.1
Topic:: Gender Issues
Political Geography:: America

4808. The Euro's Difficult Future

Author:: Luigi Bonatti
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: In The Euro’s Difficult Future – Competitiveness Imbalances and the Eurozone’s North-South Divide author Luigi Bonatti, a professor of economics at the University of Trento in Italy, stresses that the existing North-South competitiveness divide creates growing tensions between member countries and fuels hostility towards European Union institutions. The paper illustrates why this competitiveness divide is structural, cannot be tackled by macroeconomic policies, and could threaten the euro’s survival.
Topic:: International Political Economy
Political Geography:: Europe

4809. International Food Security Coordination in Support of Human Security and the SDGs

Author:: Ann Tutwiler and Laura Frigenti
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Aspen Institute
Abstract:: The International Forum on Food Security Coordination, hosted by the Aspen Institute’s Energy and Environment Program in May 2016 in Rome, explored how to deepen cross-sector coordination on food security and better link existing initiatives, in the context of an ongoing global humanitarian crisis. This report summarizes the forum roundtable, as participants discussed the new context affecting food security and strategies for improving international alignment and financing of humanitarian aid.
Topic:: Food Security and International Development
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4810. Canada' s Trade Minister Is Ready to Make a Difference at the WTO

Author:: François-Philippe Champagne
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:: There is an inverse relationship between the number of kilometres François-Philippe Champagne travels and the amount of attention he receives. Canada’s trade minister was in Morocco over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend for a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting, and in Mexico less than a week later for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first official visit to the country.
Topic:: International Political Economy and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Canada

4811. The Kurds Have Opened Pandora’s Box

Author:: Bessma Momani
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:: The Kurds of Iraq have been patiently waiting for the right time to secede from the troubled state. Monday's referendum turnout was high and the result was clear: 92 per cent are overwhelmingly in favour of independence. While many Kurds felt the time was right to have a referendum on the question of independence, it is the worst time for all regional stakeholders and the Kurds may have made it more difficult for themselves to realize their national dream.
Topic:: International Security and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Iraq and Kurdistan

4812. Is Canada Really Moving beyond Its Colonial Past?

Author:: Joshua Nichols and Robert Hamilton
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:: Justin Trudeau’s government has made a number of policy decisions which would refocus Crown-Indigenous relations. Joshua Nichols and Rob Hamilton place these changes in the context of the last 150 — if not 250 — years of Canadian history
Topic:: Post Colonialism and International Development
Political Geography:: Canada

4813. Mapping the Global Legal Landscape of Blockchain and Other Distributed Ledger Technologies

Author:: Julie Maupin
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:: Blockchain, tangle and other distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) are pushing a broad array of previously centralized global economic activities toward decentralized market structures. Governments should tackle the new regulatory conundrums of an increasingly disintermediated global economy by focusing on DLTs’ individual use cases rather than its underlying enabling technologies. Grouping the known use cases by common characteristics reveals three broad categories of blockchain-law interfaces. For ease of reference, this paper labels these the recycle box, the dark box and the sandbox. Each raises distinct legal, regulatory and policy challenges deserving of separate analysis.
Topic:: Science and Technology and International Security
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4814. Environmental Gems in Trade Agreements: Little-known Clauses for Progressive Trade Agreements

Author:: Jean-Frederic Morin and Rosalie Nadeau
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:: Trade agreements contain an increasing number of environmental provisions. Some of these provisions now relate to precise environmental issues, such as biodiversity or hazardous waste management. Certain trade agreements even devote entire chapters to environmental protection. However, the rate of innovative environmental clauses per agreement has declined over the years. This paper draws attention to some of the lesser-known provisions encountered in five agreements or fewer. These “legal one-hit wonders” do not often reach the billboard, despite their uniqueness and creativity.
Topic:: Environment and International Political Economy
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4815. Modi: Three Years On

Author:: Husain Haqqani and Arpana Pandey
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Hudson Institute
Abstract:: arendra Modi led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power during the May 2014 elections, promising radical changes. The party’s electoral manifesto outlined numerous problems that threatened Indian society, while promising to protect social values and enact “urgent changes” in the economy, agriculture, energy, education, and governance.1 Observers from around the world hailed the BJP’s victory as a success, and believed that a pro-business government assuring fundamental changes would tap into India’s unfulfilled economic potential.
Topic:: International Relations
Political Geography:: Middle East

4816. The Qatar Crisis

Author:: Marc Lynch and Stephanie Dahle
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS)
Abstract:: On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates launched a campaign against Qatar. Tensions between these Gulf Cooperation Council members were nothing new, but few anticipated the sudden escalation or the intensity of the campaign. The anti-Qatar campaign leaders then failed to achieve a rapid resolution of the crisis in their favor through a Qatari capitulation. More than four months later, the GCC remains badly divided and both sides are increasingly entrenched in their positions. To make sense of this political conflict, POMEPS is pleased to release this collection of essays by a wide range of leading scholars published in The Monkey Cage and in POMEPS Studies over the last several years. The collection is divided into four major sections: the origins and course of the current conflict; regional responses; how the Arab uprisings impacted the GCC; and background on the divisive question of Islamism and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Topic:: International Political Economy and International Security
Political Geography:: Middle East

4817. The Palestinian Arabs in Israel: Reconceptualizing the Past

Author:: Arik Rudnitzky
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies
Abstract:: Arik Rudnitzsky examines changes in the historiography of Arab society in Israel and shows how new contributions highlight the elements of resistance that prevailed among the Arab population in the years following the establishment of the state.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention and International Security
Political Geography:: Israel and Palestine

4818. Refugees and Migration Movements in the Middle East

Author:: Marc Lynch
Publication Date:: 03-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS)
Abstract:: The Middle East has experienced a dramatic flood of refugees and forced migration over the last fifteen years. The UN High Commission on Refugees reports more than 16 million refugees and 60 million displaced persons around the world today, including asylum seekers and the internally displaced. The wars in Syria and Iraq have produced the greatest share of the Middle East’s refugees in recent years, but many more have fled wars and failed states in Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Neighboring states have faced severe challenges in absorbing millions of refugees, while North African states and Turkey have emerged as key transit hubs for refugee flows into Europe.
Topic:: Human Rights, International Security, International Affairs, and Refugee Crisis
Political Geography:: Middle East

4819. The EU and Australia: Shared Opportunities and Common Challenges

Author:: Melissa Conley Tyler and Antonia Mochan
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Australian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:: When Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop and I launched the EU-Australia Leadership Forum – last September in Brussels – she made a passionate case for our friendship, and for a strong and united Europe. She remembered thousands of Australians who died fighting in our continent during the world wars, and the 70 years of peace that a united Europe has made possible for its member states. She celebrated economic prosperity inside Europe, and the European Union’s contribution to a global order based on rules, on cooperation, on sustainable development.
Topic:: International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Europe and Australia

4820. Cybersecurity Campaign Playbook

Author:: Belfer Center
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:: People join campaigns for different reasons: electing a leader they believe in, advancing an agenda, cleaning up government, or experiencing the rush and adrenaline of campaign life. These are some of the reasons we got involved in politics. We certainly didn’t sign up because we wanted to become cyber experts and we’re guessing you didn’t either
Topic:: International Affairs and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4821. Taking Stock: Estimating Vulnerability Rediscovery

Author:: Trey Herr, Bruce Schneier, and Christopher Morris
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:: How often do multiple, independent parties discover the same vulnerability? There are ample models of vulnerability discovery, but little academic work on this issue of rediscovery. The immature state of this research and subsequent debate is a problem for the policy community, where the government’s decision to disclose a given vulnerability hinges in part on that vulnerability’s likelihood of being rediscovered and used maliciously by another party. Research into the behavior of malicious software markets and the efficacy of bug bounty programs would similarly benefit from an accurate baseline estimate for how often vulnerabilities are discovered by multiple independent parties.
Topic:: Cybersecurity
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4822. A Lasting Defeat: The Campaign to Destroy ISIS

Author:: Ash Carter
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:: On December 11, 2016, just before my time as Secretary of Defense would end, I stepped off a C-130 transport plane onto a cold and dusty patch of northern Iraq that had been on my mind for more than a year: an Iraqi military airfield called Qayyarah West. Q-West, as it was known to the American military, was a talisman of progress on one of the defining issues of my time as secretary, the fight to defeat ISIS. A year before, General Joe Dunford and I had briefed the President on a plan to energize the counter-ISIS fight. We had laid out a series of military tasks, in Iraq and Syria, that would lead us to the liberation of ISIS’ strongholds in Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria. Q-West was a fulcrum of that plan. Ejecting ISIS and turning the airstrip into a logistics hub was essential to seizing Mosul, just 40 miles to the north.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4823. Market Mechanisms and the Paris Agreement

Author:: Robert Stavins and Robert Stowe
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:: The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements has released a volume of seventeen briefs summarizing research on options for elaborating the Paris Agreement's Article 6, the evolution of market-based systems, and how these two processes might best support each other. The briefs are designed to be readily accessible — and, it is hoped, useful — to negotiators, policy makers, and other stakeholders, as they consider how to elaborate the Paris Agreement in order to realize its potential to effectively address global climate change. Most authors were participants in a research workshop conducted by the Harvard Project on July 6, 2017, and the volume builds upon the discussions in that forum. Participants included twenty of the world's leading researchers focusing on market mechanisms and the Paris Agreement, coming from the disciplines of economics, political science, international relations, and law — and based in Europe, the Republic of Korea, and the United States.
Topic:: International Affairs and Global Political Economy
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4824. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Cyber Readiness at a Glance

Author:: Melissa Hathaway
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Cyber Readiness at a Glance is the ninth study in a series of country reports assessing national-level preparedness for cyber risks based on the Cyber Readiness Index (CRI) 2.0 methodology. This report provides the most in-depth analysis to date of Saudi Arabia's current cyber security posture and its efforts to strengthen the country's security and resilience in the wake of significant cyber threats to the nation.
Topic:: International Security and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:: Saudi Arabia

4825. What’s Left of the Soviet Union Warsaw East European Review Editorial Discussion

Author:: Pawal Kowal and John S Micgiel
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:: “All we have left of the Soviet Union are jokes...” I’d like to ask you all somewhat perversely, besides jokes, is there any good memory left behind from this empire? Did the Soviet Union leave anything good behind? I mean the Soviet Union not as the Soviet Union itself, but also as the whole region, in other words the Warsaw Pact countries, as well as other communist countries and parties in the world. So, we see the empire as Alexei Salmin, the Russian political scientist, views it – as a concentrated orb: the Russian Federation, around it the USSR, then the Warsaw Pact, followed by other communist countries and finally the Comintern, and after its dissolution, parties cooperating with the Kremlin from all over the world. So, we see the entire empire, not just the Soviet Union, and the question is this – did it leave anything good behind? Surely every empire leaves something good behind
Topic:: International Relations, International Affairs, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:: Poland

4826. Contemporary Russia: Authoritarian or Totalitarian?

Author:: Roman Bäcker
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:: Questions regarding definitions of authoritarianism and totalitarianism date from the interwar period. This article draws on the classic approaches and argues that the definition of Juan Linz, with changes suggested by Roman Bäcker (2011), and may o er a solid base for understanding the location of each non-democratic regime on a continuum determined by two extreme ideal types: authoritarianism and totalitarianism. e former is de ned here by three essential features: bureaucratic sovereignty (or siloviki), social apathy and emotional mentality. e latter is identified by references to: state-party apparatus sovereignty, mass and forced mobilisation, and political gnosis. these categories are useful to deal with the research problem considering where Russia is on this continuum, after the annexation of Crimea. It requires, however, carrying out an in-depth analysis on three levels: sovereignty, social behaviour and social consciousness. is article aims to reveal how to identify and approach these analytical levels.
Topic:: International Affairs and Authoritarianism
Political Geography:: Russia

4827. Using Public Space in Kharkiv by Protesters in 2013-2014

Author:: Denys Kutsenko
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:: The space of post-Soviet city centres used by protesters was especially analysed by Ukrainian and Russian scholars after the Orange Revolution, Euromaidan and Russian anti-election protests in 2011-2012. There were also works devoted to the Tahrir Square (Cairo, Egypt)1 and Taksim Square (Istanbul, Turkey)2, which appeared after Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and wave of demonstration and civil unrest in Instanbul in 2013. After protests in Russia and Ukraine city movements like coffee urbanism or hipster urbanism became more active and ideas of new urbanism spread with new strength.
Topic:: International Relations and International Security
Political Geography:: Ukraine

4828. President Putin’s Internet and “Information Warfare”

Author:: Kazimierz Wóycicki
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:: The war that Russia is conducting against Ukraine today is not only related to breaking the post-World War II rules of engagement, but is also being run in a new way, which was to a certain degree unknown before. is phenomenon had been named “hybrid warfare”, initially mainly paying attention to the military aspect of the issue, symbolically represented by “little green men”. e focus of attention has been shifting to what military actions of hybrid-war are often accompanied by intense propaganda activities, with the Internet as the main tool. they are planned and carried out in Russia, possessing extensive resources in Russian literature on so-called “information warfare”.
Topic:: International Security and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:: Russia

4829. Communication of Ethnic Groups in the Public Space: the Case of Daugavpils

Author:: Vladislav Volkov and Oksana Ruzha
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:: Interethnic communication is viewed as a form of social communication that happens “between people of different cultures”. Researchers associate the importance of studying such communication with the need to analyse the possibilities for mutual understanding of effective interaction between people of different cultures (Rogers, Hart, Miike 2002, p. 5, 7). Communication between people of different cultures can encompass a wide range of characteristics and goals – from the desire to put forward legitimate claims of ethnic identity to bias against other groups, from the establishment of associative relationships between groups prior to their dissociation (Kim 2006, p. 284, 291), from imposing the dominant culture’s standards and exclusion of non-dominant cultures from public life to the positive recognition of ethno-cultural minorities in the common cultural space (Young 1996, p. 29), etc.
Topic:: Ethnic Conflict and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe

4830. Public and Private Hate Speech in Poland

Author:: Grażyna Drzazga and Magda Stroińska
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:: Words can be like tiny doses of arsenic: they are swallowed unnoticed, appear to have no e ect, and then after a little time the toxic reaction sets in after all,” wrote Victor Klemperer in his study of the language of the third Reich (Klemperer 1946/2000: 15-16). the importance of language for effective persuasion has been acknowledged by the teachers of rhetoric and orators since the age of antiquity. In modern times, there were both politicians who practiced deception through language for political or other gains, and also those who studied the effects of language-based manipulation. Among the most profound research on the mechanisms and effects of propaganda, one could name the writings of George Orwell, Friedrich Hayek, or Michał Głowiński. In this paper, we focus on one particularly disturbing aspect of propaganda: the use of hate speech. e reason for this choice of topic is the unprecedented explosion of populism all over the world, and the spread of perhaps its strongest weapon – hate through political and social fearmongering and use of what Klemperer referred to as ‘poisonous language’.
Topic:: Political Violence and Political stability
Political Geography:: Poland

4831. The Crimean Crisis through the Perspective of Russia-NATO relations

Author:: Richat Sabitov
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:: Russian foreign policy and European security is continuing to receive special attention in light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. An analysis of Russia- NATO relations is necessary to understand Moscow’s behaviour in the so-called “near abroad” – the territory of the former Soviet republics. It is, therefore, important to study Russia’s reaction to Ukrainian aspirations towards Europe and the implications it holds for the Crimean Peninsula’s status
Topic:: International Security and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Crimea

4832. How the Socialist Economy was destroyed in the USSR (One reason for the collapse of the country)

Author:: Rudolf Pikhola
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:: On 25 September 1990, one of the rst meetings of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Russia was held in the building of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. e agenda consisted of the issue of ensuring the economic sovereignty of Russia in the USSR. Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Yuri Skokov, responsible for industrial policy, spoke with bitterness about his meeting with Minister of Metallurgy of the USSR Seraphim Baibakov: “We spoke to him about our sovereignty, and he said: ‘I’m sorry, but last year I became an owner of property and a legal successor of state property.’ Kolpakov became Krupp. Now he creates 10-15 companies, leaving a small management structure. It is presidential rule in the steel-casting complex.”
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Russia

4833. Virtual Social Networks in Post-Soviet and Western Societies (Analysis based on Facebook, VK and Odnoklassniki)

Author:: Kateryna Nasonova
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:: Nowadays virtual social networks have become the most frequently visited Internet resources. Although the Internet space exists as an open area of communication – overcoming linguistic, spatial and temporal barriers – certain internet products, like social networks, are gaining popularity in particular geographical areas. For example, Facebook, which is popular all over the world, failed to gain much of a foothold in countries of the former USSR. ere, the Facebook niche is dominated by such networks as VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. It shows that virtual social networks are a re ection of the community functioning in real-time, space and area. Social network users are not relieved of the burden of group, religious or ethnic identity, nor the ideology of the dominant society in the process of virtual communication. Such virtual activity becomes an expression of the system of coordinates and philosophical orientations that emerges during the process of socialization. Further, we can presume that the unpopularity of Facebook in former countries of the USSR is due to the impact of the post-Soviet mentality on the formation of virtual social networks, like VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. To con rm this thesis, we conducted a comparative analysis of three virtual social networks: VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and Facebook. these sites are quite similar in structure and function. However, they distinguish themselves from one another through the conceptual framework around which their user audience communication is built.
Topic:: International Affairs and Social Media
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4834. The Georgia-NATO Strategic Partnership and Regional Security – The Wales and Warsaw NATO Summits

Author:: Vakhtang Maisaia
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:: he NATO Wales and Warsaw Summits held in 2014 and in 2016, were historic events due to the complex processes associated with them. The Summits have generated much discussion and are comprised of decisive issues and decisions. In the last Warsaw Summit, up to ten documents were adopted, including the final communique, which was for the first time quite “thick” for and more detailed, compared to previously adopted documents (about 139 items). For the first time in the last few decades, the European Union and NATO came to a consensus and adopted a common declaration, where they expressed their united position on common problems within the frameworks of Transatlantic security, and agreed on plans for further strategic cooperation (EU-NATO Joint Declaration 2016). Most importantly, the representatives of both organisations declared a common approach toward threats emanating from the East and South (i.e. Russia and ISIS). At this stage, the Alliance identi ed three geostrategic special regions for more active operations in the context of strategic defence and deterrence. ose regions became the main issue of the summit: the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. NATO must boost its support for the Southern ank via crisis management capabilities and strengthened partnerships (Lorenz “NATO at a Critical Crossroads”, 11). In general, NATO has returned to a collective defence strategy. is is a new game where the South Caucasus is becoming a “red frontier” line between the main actors: NATO and Russia. It seems that the priorities of NATO and Russia in the region are evolving within the framework of the so-called “security dilemma”, where both parties are trying to build up their military capabilities and tools of political pressure on the countries of the region, competing with each other in various geostrategic dimensions. is includes intensive NATO military exercises in Georgia and implementation of the Comprehensive Assistance Package, as well as strengthening military potential in the territories of occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia, not to mention the establishment of a joint air defence system with Armenia, and strengthening the Caspian Flotilla by Russia.
Topic:: NATO, International Trade and Finance, and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4835. Forward

Author:: John S Micgiel and Pawel Kowal
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:: Twenty- five years ago, we bade farewell to the Soviet Union, but after a quarter- century we still feel how much of its empire it left behind. It was not an “ordinary” empire because its essential feature was a totalitarian system. ideological pressure of Soviet Russia has changed the social structures of great swathes of the globe. e legacy of the USSR is a fascinating research topic, unfortunately today one rarely raised by researchers.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Russia

4836. Contributors

Author:: Pawel Kowal
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw
Abstract:: List of contributors in latest review
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4837. Conference Report: Climate Change and Sustainable Investment in Natural Resources: From Consensus to Action

Author:: Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment
Publication Date:: 03-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:: A conference report on CCSI’s Conference on “Climate Change and Sustainable Investment in Natural Resources: From Consensus to Action” is available here, and a shorter outcome document , which was disseminated at COP22, is available here. These documents summarize the discussions at the eleventh annual Columbia International Investment Conference, which took place on November 2-3, 2016, at Columbia University. The Conference offered a high-level opportunity to discuss how countries can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement, while also advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular the important implications for the world’s approach to natural resource investments. It featured leaders from government, the private sector, civil society, and academia, and brought together nearly 400 participants. In the lead-up to the Conference, CCSI also published a Blog Series on the Earth Institute’s State of the Planet Blog.
Topic:: Climate Change and International Political Economy
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4838. Cambio climático y salud. Mayor impacto en los más vulnerables

Author:: Ana Belén Sanchez
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Fundación Alternativas
Abstract:: La Fundación Alternativas presenta un nuevo estudio: ¨Cambio climática y salud. Mayor impacto en los más vulnerables¨. Informe encargado y financiado por DKV y ECODES; ha sido elaborado por ana Belén Sánchez y Waleska Guerrero Lemus.
Topic:: Climate Change
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4839. Informe sobre sostenibilidad en España 2017

Author:: Ana Belén Sanchez
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Fundación Alternativas
Abstract:: Lo que este IIº Informe sobre sostenibilidad plantea es que conviene pasar a la acción, sin más demora, si queremos evitar situaciones catastróficas. Los datos son concluyentes. En 40 años hemos doblado las emisiones de carbono, dentro de unos años habrá más plásticos que peces en los mares, con la desaparición de miles de especies marinas; la energía sigue dependiendo de materias fósiles y 7 millones de personas mueren al año por contaminación. Los desórdenes atmosféricos se suceden, amenazando territorios y millones de personas. Es como si la madre naturaleza protestara ó castigara los despropósitos de sus descarriados hijos, los humanos.
Topic:: International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Spain

4840. The state of the European Union 2017: Relaunching Europe

Author:: Fundación Alternativas
Publication Date:: 06-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Fundación Alternativas
Abstract:: The year since the publication of our previous report in April 2016 has been nothing short of an annus horribilis for the European Union. The victory for Leave in the UK referendum was followed by the triumph of Donald Trump in the US elections and his stated support for the further weakening of the EU, an attitude that the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has described as a threat. At the same time, there have been a number of significant events, both in Europe and elsewhere in the world, which we analyse in this 6th Report on the State of the EU, produced in partnership between Fundación Alternativas and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation
Topic:: International Political Economy and Brexit
Political Geography:: Europe

4841. VI Informe sobre El estado de la Unión Europea 2017: Relanzar Europa

Author:: Fundación Alternativas
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Fundación Alternativas
Abstract:: El periodo comprendido entre la publicación del anterior Informe –abril 2016– y el actual se podría calificar, sin exagerar, como el annus horribilis de la Unión Europea (UE). Al referendo británico que se inclinó por la ruptura con la Unión, el brexit, se ha sumado el triunfo de Donald Trump en las elecciones norteamericanas y su manifestado deseo de que se produzcan nuevos brexits. Una amenaza en palabras del presidente del Consejo Europeo Tusk. Entre medias se han sucedido muchos acontecimientos en la vida europea y global que se analizan en este VI Informe sobre el estado de la UE, producto de la colaboración de la Fundación Alternativas y de la Fundación Friedrich Ebert.
Topic:: International Political Economy and Brexit
Political Geography:: Europe

4842. The impact and consequences of Brexit on acquired rights of EU citizens living in the UK and British citizens living in the EU-27

Author:: Antonio Fernández Tomás
Publication Date:: 04-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Fundación Alternativas
Abstract:: La Fundación Alternativas presenta un nuevo estudio: ¨The impact and consequences of Brexit on acquired rights of EU citizens living in the UK and British citizens living in the EU-27¨. Informe encargado y financiado por el Parlamento Europeo, ha sido elaborado por Antonio Fernández Tomás y Diego López Garrido.
Topic:: International Political Economy and Brexit
Political Geography:: Europe

4843. Informe sobre el estado de la cultura en España 2017. Igualdad y diversidad en la Era Digital

Author:: Fundación Alternativas
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Fundación Alternativas
Abstract:: Un año más el Observatorio de Cultura y Comunicación de la Fundación Alternativas (OCC/FA) aborda la edición del Informe sobre el Estado de la Cultura en España (ICE 2017). En esta ocasión la publicación coincide con los inicios de una legislatura que ha llegado después de un largo año de incertidumbre. Estamos de nuevo ante una oportunidad, que esperamos esta vez se aproveche, de dar a la cultura en su institucionalidad el papel y el reconocimiento que merece. Estamos de acuerdo en que los cambios que está provocando la que ha venido a llamarse cuarta revolución industrial han comenzado a incidir en todos los aspectos de la sociedad, y que la cultura se está viendo afectada de manera clara. No obstante, si asumimos este periodo como una ocasión para dar respuestas adecuadas a los múltiples desafíos a los que nos enfrentamos, podremos salir airosos del momento disruptivo y seguir avanzando por la senda del progreso.
Topic:: Multiculturalism
Political Geography:: Spain

4844. Informe sobre la Democracia en España 2016

Author:: Rubén Ruiz-Rufino
Publication Date:: 02-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Fundación Alternativas
Abstract:: El Informe sobre la Democracia en España nació con el objetivo de analizar el funcionamiento de la democracia española y los desafíos derivados del afán por mejorar sus instituciones. En las distintas ediciones continúa proporcionando una información sobre acontecimientos y decisiones colectivas, de utilidad para el análisis, el debate social y la formación de la opinión pública. Para la realización del Informe sobre la Democracia en España (IDE 2016), el Laboratorio de la Fundación Alternativas designó un Consejo Asesor que, junto con el director del IDE, debatió su estructura y orientación a lo largo de varias sesiones, conoció los trabajos en curso y la propuesta de documento final. Un equipo de investigadores contratado por el Laboratorio llevó a cabo la recogida de la información, la elaboración de los datos relevantes y la redacción inicial de los diferentes capítulos que componen este IDE. La edición final correspondió a la dirección del mismo.
Topic:: International Affairs and Democracy
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4845. New challenges to Human Security: Environmental Change and Human Mobility

Author:: Georgetown University nstitute for the Study of Diplomacy
Publication Date:: 04-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Abstract:: Climate change and shifting weather patterns are not the Tinker Bells of science or of policy. Disbelief, or denial, or a suspension of research will not make melting icecaps, rising sea levels, desertification, and floods go away. There may be legitimate debate on the pace of these changes, or whether there is a meaningful difference between the degrees of global warming that will result in inconvenient, catastrophic, or apocalyptic scenarios. But the empirical data is there. There is change and it affects human security—whether food can be grown, if water is available, and which lands are likely to become uninhabitable. And these needs, along with other drivers, will influence where humans live—and whether they must abandon their homes. As people are forced to migrate simply to survive, we face the possibility of major shifts in human settlement patterns, along with increased competition for resources.
Topic:: Environment and Human Rights
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4846. "Your World My World"

Author:: Casimir A. Yost
Publication Date:: 04-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Abstract:: Let me join in welcoming you toWashington, DC, a city President Kennedy described as having “northern charm and southern efficiency.”I am not sure that in the intervening 60+ years Washington has become either more charming or more efficient..
Topic:: Diplomacy
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4847. Iraqi security forces and popular mobilization forces

Author:: Jessa Rose Dury-Agri, Omer Kassim, and Patrick Martin
Publication Date:: 12-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Institute for the Study of War
Abstract:: The liberation of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham’s (ISIS) urban holdings in Iraq was necessary but not sufficient to secure America’s vital national interests. ISIS has lost neither the will nor the capability to fight, even as it withdraws into desert hideouts and sleeper cell formations in November 2017. Rather, dispersed ISIS militants have begun an insurgent campaign in northern and western Iraq as some of its foreign fighters have returned to their home countries to serve in ISIS’s external operations network.
Topic:: Islam, War, and International Security
Political Geography:: Iraq and Middle East

4848. Ten Challenges of Brazilian Foreign Policy

Author:: Matias Spektor
Publication Date:: 12-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI)
Abstract:: Throughout its 18 years of existence, the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI) has established itself as one of Brazil’s most important centers for critical reflection on international relations. As a result of Brazil’s accession on the international stage in recent decades, Brazil now enjoys a position of appropriate prominence within the global scenario. As one of the most important international relations think-tanks in the country, CEBRI has an important mission to fulfill, and to shed light on the main contemporary global issues in an independent, nonpartisan and pluralistic way.
Topic:: International Relations
Political Geography:: Brazil

4849. Assessing and Redefining Policies towards Africa in a New Global Scenario: Intersecting Perspectives between Brazil and Morocco

Author:: CEBRI
Publication Date:: 07-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI)
Abstract:: In July, representatives from the public and private sectors, think tanks, and academia, discussed, over a day, themes common to Brazil and Africa, explored ways to bring the two regions together, and inaugurated, in practice, a new phase of inter-Atlantic interaction.
Topic:: International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Africa

4850. Might and Right in World Politics

Author:: Dr Jans Woischnik
Publication Date:: 12-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI)
Abstract:: In the last decade of the 20th century, when the Cold War came to an end, there was a growing understanding that International Law was consolidated as legitimation body for state actions. It was the beginning of a new peaceful world order, the world hoped that an old problem of geopolitics could finally be fully addressed by the International Law, a problem which the Athenian General Thucydides observed already more than 2000 years ago, according to which in the realm of the international, “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”. In this new world order right was supposed to finally come before might.
Topic:: International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4851. Meeting U.S. Deterrence Requirements

Author:: Robert Einhorn and Steven Pifer
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: In conducting its Nuclear Posture Review, the Trump administration needs to consider how best to meet U.S. deterrence requirements in a changing security environment. Today’s most pressing challenges to U.S. deterrence goals come not from the threat of a massive nuclear attack against the U.S. homeland but from the possibility that nuclear-armed adversaries will use the threat of escalation to the nuclear level to act more aggressively in their regions and prevent the United States from coming to the defense of its allies and partners.
Topic:: International Security
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4852. Private sector cyber defence

Author:: Wyatt Hoffman and Ariel Levite
Publication Date:: 06-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The cyber revolution and ever-growing transfer of human activities into the virtual world are undermining the social contract between modern states and their citizens. Most governments are becoming unable and unwilling to protect citizens and private enterprises against numerous, sophisticated cyber predators seeking to disrupt, manipulate, or destroy their digital equities. Inevitably, states are focused on protecting governmental assets and national infrastructure, leaving themselves with modest residual capacity and resolve to underwrite other cybersecurity risks. Faced with this reality, private entities are reluctantly but increasingly complementing their passive cybersecurity practices with more assertive “active cyber defense” (ACD) measures. This approach carries substantial risks, but if guided by bounding principles and industry models, it also has the potential for long-term, cumulative benefits.
Topic:: International Affairs and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4853. The Summer of Our Discontent: Sects and Citizens in Lebanon and Iraq

Author:: Maha Yahya
Publication Date:: 06-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Lebanon’s and Iraq’s political systems are based on sectarian and ethnic power-sharing. In summer 2015, both countries faced popular protests demanding better governance. These protests began over poor service provision but escalated into opposition to the countries’ overarching power-sharing systems. These demonstrations were framed as nonsectarian, civic responses to deteriorating conditions and corrupt leadership. While protestors raised hopes that change was possible, their curtailment by the sectarian leadership underlined the challenges of political transformation in divided societies.
Topic:: International Relations and International Security
Political Geography:: Middle East

4854. The Geographic Trajectory of Conflict and Militancy in Tunisia

Author:: Anouar Boukhars
Publication Date:: 07-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: More than six years after the revolution that ousted former president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia’s border regions remain hotbeds of social discontent and agitation. Aggrieved youth increasingly express their anger through fiery protests, street violence, and in some cases violent extremism. In response to this ongoing social unrest and terrorism, the Tunisian government has developed hardline security policies, whose effects often exacerbate social tensions, political violence, and militancy. Breaking this vicious cycle requires Tunisia’s government to rethink its approach to the border regions.
Topic:: International Relations
Political Geography:: Tunisia

4855. Trumps National Security Strategy: A new brand of mercantilism

Author:: Salman Ahmed and Alexander Bick
Publication Date:: 08-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The sixteen national security strategies issued by presidents Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama reaffirmed U.S. leadership of a liberal international order, even as they acknowledged it enabled the rise of others and eroded U.S. economic dominance. President Donald Trump may decide that is no longer tenable. His forthcoming national security strategy will be closely scrutinized to understand what “America First” means for the U.S. role in the world and whether it represents a shift toward a narrower, neo-mercantile approach.
Topic:: International Political Economy
Political Geography:: America

4856. India’s Strategic Choices: China and the Balance of Power in Asia

Author:: Rajesh Rajagopalan
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: India is a rising power, but its transformation is occurring in the shadow of China’s even more impressive ascent. Beijing’s influence will almost certainly continue to grow and has already upset Asia’s geopolitical balance. India must decide how to secure its interests in this unbalanced environment by choosing among six potential strategic options: staying unaligned, hedging, building indigenous military power, forming regional partnerships, aligning with China, or aligning with the United States. A closer alignment with Washington likely represents India’s best chance to counter China, while efforts to foster regional partnerships and cultivate domestic military capabilities, although insufficient by themselves, could play a complementary role.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: India

4857. Are India-Pakistan Peace Talks Worth a Damn?

Author:: Ashley Tellis
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The international community’s routine call for continuous India-Pakistan dialogue is not only misguided but also counterproductive. This entreaty, which often follows major Pakistani-supported terrorist attacks in India, fails to recognize that the security competition between the two nations is not actually driven by discrete, negotiable differences. Rather, the discord is rooted in long-standing ideological, territorial, and power-political antagonisms that are fueled by Pakistan’s irredentism, its army’s desire to subvert India’s ascendency as a great power and exact revenge for past Indian military victories, and its aspirations to be treated on par with India despite their huge differences in capabilities, achievements, and prospects.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: India

4858. When corruption is the operating system

Author:: Sarah Chayes
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: In some five dozen countries worldwide, corruption can no longer be understood as merely the iniquitous doings of individuals. Rather, it is the operating system of sophisticated networks that cross sectoral and national boundaries in their drive to maximize returns for their members. Honduras offers a prime example of such intertwined, or “integrated,” transnational kleptocratic networks. This case thus illustrates core features of the way apparently open or chaotic economies are in reality structured worldwide—and some of the dynamics that are driving climate change, persistent inequality, and spiraling conflict.
Topic:: Corruption and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Honduras

4859. Envisioning the Future: Iranian and Saudi Perspectives on the Post-Oil Economy

Author:: Wael Abdul-Shafi
Publication Date:: 04-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: EastWest Institute
Abstract:: Falling oil and gas prices and shrinking demand across global energy markets pose enormous challenges for energy exporting countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia and lead to decreasing revenues from this sector. Despite differences in the structures of their respective national economies, both countries share common challenges in adapting to this new situation. High youth unemployment rates, an underrepresentation of women in the workforce, a public sector unable to absorb the high numbers of university graduates as well as environmental degradation and pollution, all constitute major problems for both countries and their economies. But, while solving many of these issues would ideally demand bilateral cooperation, a political climate of mutual mistrust and enmity currently inhibits such a process.
Topic:: International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Iran and Saudi Arabia

4860. Chinease Investment in Europe: A country level approach

Author:: Thomas Renard
Publication Date:: 12-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:: Belgium may not be China’s prime destination for investment in Europe, but as in other neighboring countries these investments are increasing in quality and quantity. Chinese investments are mostly welcomed and encouraged by the government, its agencies and the business community. However, a recent failed deal with EANDIS, a public energy company, has also raised some concerns about the economic and security implications of (some) Chinese investments. Belgian intelligence services, notably, argue for a bit of caution vis-à-vis China. While these two visions could be complementary, they remain held by distinct communities that seem reluctant to acknowledge and listen to one another. As a result, the Belgian response to China’s economic offensive remains overwhelmingly reactive and uncoordinated.
Topic:: International Political Economy
Political Geography:: China

4861. The Great Powers Have Their Ways

Author:: Sven Biscop
Publication Date:: 12-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:: How will the great powers behave? That is what determines the future world order – or the absence of order. Could it be that China and the EU have found an alternative for the old-fashioned grand strategies that Russia and the US are again pursuing
Topic:: International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4862. A World in Flux

Author:: Johan Verbeke
Publication Date:: 12-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:: Scholars and pundits alike have been qualifying our times as of “transition and turbulence”, “disorder” and “strategic unease”. Other concepts that recur in discussions on the present state of the world are ‘uncertainty’ and ‘unpredictability’. They all seem to point to a world in flux. Let’s see what that means.
Topic:: International Security
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4863. Strengthening Israel’s Foreign Service

Author:: Mitvim
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Mitvim: The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies
Abstract:: Israel’s Foreign Service needs improvement, as has become profoundly evident over the last few years. Israel’s foreign policy is not based on clear guiding principles, Israel lacks a full-time Foreign Minister, and responsibility for core foreign policy issues has been transferred from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to other governmental entities. This situation is detrimental diplomatically and to Israel’s national security and foreign relations
Topic:: International Security
Political Geography:: Israel

4864. Yearbook of Slovakia's Foreign Policy

Author:: Peter Brazani
Publication Date:: 12-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Slovak Foreign Policy Association
Abstract:: Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis. As an old Latin adage has it, times change, and we change with them. The year 2017 was no different in that regard, and change continued to be the buzz word in the realm of international relations. Political trends became unpredictable and complex, sometimes even tectonic. It does not come easy to me to say that the world did not become a more stable and safer place last year. We saw turmoil and regional tensions, with the international community starting to lose consensus on some key issues previously understood as common interests. These changes are no longer situational. They are early warnings of new, long-term tendencies, stemming from protracted conflicts, social inequality, isolationism and lack of trust. Changing constants have placed new demands on our foreign policy, and on us as diplomats.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Slovakia

4865. Integration Without Membership: Potential and limits of Ukraine’s Association with the EU

Author:: Alexander Duleba
Publication Date:: 07-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Slovak Foreign Policy Association
Abstract:: Integration Without Membership: Potential and limits of Ukraine’s Association with the EU
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Ukraine

4866. Ukraine and the Energy Union

Author:: Alexander Duleba
Publication Date:: 07-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Slovak Foreign Policy Association
Abstract:: Ukraine and the Energy Union
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe

4867. Is there a Shared Transition Experience?

Author:: Miriam Lexmann, Zsuzsanna Végh, and Maja Bobić
Publication Date:: 07-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Slovak Foreign Policy Association
Abstract:: Is there a Shared transition Experience?
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe

4868. Advocacy Strategy for the EU Integration of the Western Balkans

Author:: Ana Marjanović
Publication Date:: 01-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Slovak Foreign Policy Association
Abstract:: Advocacy Strategy for the EU Integration of the Western Balkans
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe

4869. The Manchester Attack: Assessing Threats to Major Events and Soft Targets

Author:: The Soufan Group
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: The Soufan Group
Abstract:: From Paris to Istanbul, sports and entertainment venues, to include stadiums, convention centers and arenas – often easily accessed and filled with large groups of people – have become increasingly attractive targets. While there is a history of targeting stadiums around the world, the increased prevalence of these attacks, along with new tactics, may forecast future activity that requires both public and private sector stakeholders to examine existing efforts and implement new measures to enhance safety and security
Topic:: Intelligence and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Britain

4870. Beyond the Caliphate: Foreign fighters and the threat of returnees

Author:: Richard Barrett
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: The Soufan Group
Abstract:: As the so-called Islamic State (IS) loses territorial control of its caliphate, there is little doubt that the group or something similar will survive the worldwide campaign against it so long as the conditions that promoted its growth remain. Its appeal will outlast its demise, and while it will be hard to assess the specific threat posed by foreign fighters and returnees, they will present a challenge to many countries for years to come.
Topic:: International Affairs and Counter-terrorism
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4871. the EU's common security and defence policy after Brexit

Author:: Christine Nissen
Publication Date:: 12-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:: This week constitutes yet another step towards the materialization of an ‘EU defence union’. On 13 November the so-called ‘PESCO’ provision was launched, which allows groups of willing EU member states to make binding commitments to each other on security and defence. 23 EU member states immediately signed up to participate, and since then, Ireland and Portugal have also joined in, which means that the only hold outs are Malta, Denmark and the United Kingdom. At the European Council summit held on 14-15 December, EU leaders will welcome the PESCO initiative cementing their willingness to significantly strengthen the EU as a framework for European security and defence cooperation. This week, EU foreign ministers will adopt the decision establishing PESCO as well as unveil the first common projects, which will drive their engagement in the years to come. 17 concrete projects are now on the table, including an European Medical Command, the creation of a crisis response centre and a plan for increased military mobility.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4872. U.S. Trade policy under Trump

Author:: Peter Gibbon and Jakob Vestergaard
Publication Date:: 07-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:: A few weeks ahead of the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to be held in Buenos Aires from 10 to 13 December, the international trade community is gripped with a mixture of angst, disbelief and despair. Although US President, Donald Trump, made radical statements during his presidential campaign – including the infamous statement that the “WTO is a disaster” [for the US] – few expected much of that to translate into actual policies when he was elected and appointed President. Yet, this is very much what has in fact happened over the past 10 months.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: America

4873. New Thinking on Innovation

Author:: CIGI
Publication Date:: 12-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:: Innovation is at the centre of the current economic policy discourse in Canada. Innovation drives productivity and with it, standards of living. Innovation is the process of using ideas, typically in the form of intellectual property (IP), to offer new or improved products or services for the same or lower overall cost of production. This collection of essays, which were first published online in the spring of 2017, marshalls new thinking on innovation, and brings together a community of scholars and practitioners who offer fresh approaches to innovation in Canada, and Canada’s place in the world. The essays discuss the role that international trade plays in stimulating innovation, including the nature of trade agreements; consider domestic policy on innovation; and examine how global processes such as the World Trade Organization and the Group of Twenty might foster a climate in which the innovation strategies of smaller countries could be accommodated. An epilogue maps the key themes to emerge from the discussion and suggests a framework for an IP-centric innovation strategy. Rapid developments in technologies, often referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, are upending established structures in every part of the economy and society. As in other facets of international negotiations, the starting point in efforts to bring order to and shape the current technology-fuelled environment for the global good is national policies and postures.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4874. The Case for a WTO Climate Waiver

Author:: James Bacchus
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:: There is a looming collision between the rules frameworks of the two separate international institutions that have been created and entrusted with addressing trade and climate change. Links between trade and climate change can no longer be ignored by either the World Trade Organization (WTO) or the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Neither has considered the consequences of the trade restrictions that are likely to be part of many national measures enacted to address climate change, which will fall within the scope of the WTO Agreement and will surely lead to a lengthy WTO dispute settlement process. Such trade-restrictive national measures will be fed by domestic fears of “carbon leakage” and a loss of national competitiveness, and WTO disputes resulting from such measures will confront numerous unanswered legal questions due to an absence of relevant WTO jurisprudence. To minimize the political risks of such a collision to both the WTO and the COP, and to combine the most benefit for the climate with the least risk to trade, a WTO climate waiver is urgently needed. The adoption of a WTO climate waiver should be only the first of the ways in which WTO members revise and realign WTO rules in accordance with the objectives of sustainable development.
Topic:: Climate Change
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4875. 2017-18 Key Strategic Issues List

Author:: Todd E Col Key
Publication Date:: 07-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:: Today's global security environment remains volatile, uncertain, ano complex. Resurgent, revanchist, and unstable states, and radical terrorist organizations continue to challenge the international order, undermine peace and stability, and threaten U.S. interests. In the face of this, the United States Army remains America's combat force of decision. If the political leaders of the United States decide to deploy its Army, the Nation's opponents know they will be defeated. This certainty is the foundation of America's deterrent capability
Topic:: International Security
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4876. Armed Robotic Systems Emergence: Weapons Systems Life Cycles Analysis and New Strategic Realities

Author:: Dr. Robert J. Bunker
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:: Armed robotic systems—drones and droids—now emerging on the battlefield portend new strategic realities not only for U.S. forces but also for our allies and future potential belligerents. Numerous questions of immediate warfighting importance come to mind with the fielding of these drones and droids that are viewed as still being in their experimental and entrepreneurial stage of development. By drawing upon historical weapons systems life cycles case studies, focusing on the early 9th through the mid-16th-century knight, the mid-19th through the later 20th-century battleship, and the early 20th through the early 21st-century tank, the monograph provides military historical context related to their emergence, and better allows both for questions related to warfighting to be addressed, and policy recommendations related to them to be initially provided.
Topic:: International Security
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4877. Evaluation of the 2015 DoD Cyber Strategy: Mild Progress in a Complex and Dynamic Military Domain

Author:: Mr. Jeffrey L. Caton
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:: In 2011, the Department of Defense (DoD) released its Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace, which officially recognized cyberspace as an operational domain akin to the traditional military domains of land, sea, air, and space. This monograph examines the 2015 DoD Cyber Strategy to evaluate how well its five strategic goals and associated implementation objectives define an actionable strategy to achieve three primary missions in cyberspace: defend the DoD network, defend the United States and its interests, and develop cyber capabilities to support military operations. This monograph focuses on events and documents from the period of about 1 year before and 1 year after the 2015 strategy was released. This allows sufficient time to examine the key policies and guidance that influenced the development of the strategy as well as follow-on activities for the impacts from the strategy. This inquiry has five major sections that utilize different frameworks of analysis to assess the strategy:
Topic:: International Security
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4878. Closer Than You Think: The Implications of the Third Offset Strategy for the U.S. Army

Author:: Samuel R White Jr
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:: The Defense Innovation Initiative (DII), begun in November 2014 by former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, is intended to ensure U.S. military superiority throughout the 21st century. The DII seeks broad-based innovation across the spectrum of concepts, research and development, capabilities, leader development, wargaming, and business practices. An essential component of the DII is the Third Offset Strategy—a plan for overcoming (offsetting) adversary parity or advantage, reduced military force structure, and declining technological superiority in an era of great power competition. This study explored the implications for the Army of Third Offset innovations and breakthrough capabilities for the operating environment of 2035-2050. It focused less on debating the merits or feasibility of individual technologies and more on understanding the implications—the second and third order effects on the Army that must be anticipated ahead of the breakthrough.
Topic:: Science and Technology and Military Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4879. "Middle Neighborhoods: Action Agenda for a National Movement"

Author:: Paul C. Brophy, Pamela Puchalski, and Stephanie Sung
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: American Assembly at Columbia University
Abstract:: "Middle Neighborhoods: Action Agenda for a National Movement" is a report that summarizes discussions on policy, practice, and research, as well as priorities and recommendations for action following the meeting, held November 15-16, 2017 in Baltimore
Topic:: Social Movement and Domestic Politics
Political Geography:: America

4880. From Polar Sea to Straight Baselines: Arctic Policy in the Mulroney Era

Author:: Adam Lajeunesse and Robert Huebert
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:: In 1985, the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announced the drawing of straight baselines around the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, defining the full extent of the country’s Arctic maritime sovereignty and enshrining that sovereignty in legislation for the first time. This decision was a reaction to the voyage of the US Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Sea through the Northwest Passage that summer, an expedition that both sparked a political crisis and led to years of negotiations between Canada and the United States to settle the precise status of the northern waters. This volume contains documents surrounding that policy shift and the subsequent negotiations, which students, academics, and policy makers can use to chart the development of Canadian policy and Canadian-American relations in the Arctic. From this, readers can gain a greater understanding – not only of Canadian history – but of the nature of Canadian Arctic policy, and why it exists in its present form.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4881. Northern Skytrails: Perspectives on the Royal Canadian Air Force in the Arctic from the Pages of The Roundel, 1949-65

Author:: Richard Goette and P. Whitney Lackenbauer
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:: This volume examines the role of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in the Arctic through the pages of The Roundel, the service magazine that ran from 1949-65. Readers will gain a deeper appreciation of the air force’s efforts to develop a greater sense of Arctic “air-mindedness” in the early Cold War through articles explaining the history of the RCAF’s engagement in the Arctic and Subarctic, lessons observed during postwar operations, life at isolated stations, and roles in continental defence. Access to these insights (which span from resupply missions to social relations with host communities and indigenous peoples) remains important today, when the RCAF is being called upon to prepare to respond to safety and security challenges in an increasingly complex Arctic region.
Topic:: Cold War and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Canada

4882. Arctic Show Trial: The Trial of Alikomiak and Tatamigana, 1923

Author:: P. Whitney Lackenbauer and Kristopher Kinsinger
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:: This volume brings together archival documents and newspaper reports related to the landmark 1923 trial of Alikomiak and Tatamigana, the first Inuit tried and executed for murder under Canadian law. This show trial, designed by the federal government to show the Inuit that authorities would no longer tolerate acts of violence, was meant also to demonstrate Canada’s Arctic sovereignty to the world. The conviction and execution of Alikomiak and Tatamigana caused controversy at the time, and this volume encourages further discussion and debate about the legal aspects of the case, the media coverage of it, and the interactions between the legal cultures of Inuit and the Canadian state.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Canada

4883. Errors Exposed: Inuit Relocations to the High Arctic, 1953-1960

Author:: Shelagh Grant
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:: In 1953, the Government of Canada announced plans to resettle Inuit from areas of dwindling food resources to the High Arctic where game and fur animals were reported in abundant supply. That August, seven families from the Inukjuak (Port Harrison) area in northern Quebec and three families from Pond Inlet were resettled in communities at Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island and at Grise Fiord, near the Craig Harbour police post on Ellesmere Island. This volume makes Shelagh Grant’s important interpretations and research on these controversial relocations available to the public and provides essential background to understand the Government of Canada’s 2010 official apology for the Inuit High Arctic relocation.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Arctic

4884. Turkey and the OIC: Greater Economic Cooperation, Opportunities and Challenges

Author:: Bilal Bağış and Çağlar Yurtseven
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Center for Strategic Research (CSR)
Abstract:: This paper aims to analyze potential future areas of greater cooperation between Turkey and the other OIC member economies. It then provides some specific policy recommendations. In particular, the paper aims to contribute to economic policymaking efforts in terms of the potential future areas of increased cooperation. Broadly speaking, the Muslim world has immense savings-holding accumulated over the past few decades. Human and physical capital potentials are extremely high. Yet, there are also huge economic disparities and extremely diverse demographic dynamics. This paper is built on the idea that a crucial strategy to boost economic development and social prosperity is an intense economic, financial and strategic integraton of the OIC members. In particular, countries with common historical, cultural and even religious backgrounds have much to gain from such specific collaboration efforts. In that line, this paper deals with opportunities and challenges regarding the strategic position of Turkey. It focuses on sectors in which Turkey has a comparative advantage within the OIC league. It further analyzes the reasons Turkey and the other OIC economies must cooperate and build stronger economic ties. The paper suggests that such a modern economic cooperation or a strategic union that is strengthened by historical, social and cultural roots is both inevitable and to the benefit of all parties.
Topic:: International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Turkey

4885. The UK's Foreign, Defence, and Security Policy After Brexit

Author:: Hugh Sandeman
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: LSE IDEAS
Abstract:: In November 2017 the Global Strategies Project at LSE IDEAS brought together a group of British politicians, senior officials, and other experts at Ditchley Park to discuss options for the UK’s foreign, defence, and security policy after Brexit. This report summarieses that discussion, which covered the UK’s future relations with Europe, the US, and China, as well as the relationship between policymakers and the British public.
Topic:: International Security
Political Geography:: Europe

4886. Enhancing Decision Making in Foreign and Security Policy

Author:: LSE Ideas
Publication Date:: 02-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: LSE IDEAS
Abstract:: In late 2016 thirty British politicians, officials and former officials, officers, and experts met to discuss ways in which the UK foreign policmaking leaves the country vulnerable to strategic errors.
Topic:: Security and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4887. Hybrid Warfare in the Middle East

Author:: LSE Ideas
Publication Date:: 02-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: LSE IDEAS
Abstract:: This report considers the hybrid warfare techniques of Daesh, Al Qaeda, the Taleban, and Iran, and makes specific suggestions on how the UK and other Western countries can better counter this threat. The report is sistilled from discussions with senior British officials, academics, and current practitioners in the media, strategic communications, and cyber security
Topic:: Security and International Affairs
Political Geography:: Middle East

4888. New Challenges, New Voices: Next Generation Viewpoints on Transatlantic Relations

Author:: LSE Ideas
Publication Date:: 02-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: LSE IDEAS
Abstract:: The future of the transatlantic relationship is rarely out of the headlines in Europe or North America. Despite the closeness, the relationship faces – as it has always done – new and familiar challenges.
Topic:: International Relations
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4889. The Pentagon’s Pivot: How Lead Users Are Transforming Defense Product Development

Author:: Adam Jay Harrison
Publication Date:: 02-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:: Historically, the Department of Defense (DOD) has relied on strategic forecasting to determine specifications for new military products. These specifications are codified in formal product requirements that drive new product development (NPD). The rapid rate of technology change combined with increasing uncertainty in the global security environment challenges the ability of DOD to make accurate longterm predictions about future military product needs. To improve the efficacy of capability development, many DOD agencies and the Defense Industrial Base are exploring NPD strategies based on the insights of lead users with direct exposure to emerging military-technology problems. This paper details emerging approaches to military NPD that incorporate lead users; that is, practitioners who experience and proactively solve needs ahead of the market.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4890. Developing an Innovation- Based Ecosystem at the U.S. Department of Defense: Challenges and Opportunities

Author:: Adam Jay Harrison, Bharat Rao, and Bala Mulloth
Publication Date:: 02-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:: The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is looking at new ways to spur entrepreneurship and innovation among its stakeholders and related constituencies.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4891. China’s Future SSBN Command and Control Structure

Author:: David C. Logan
Publication Date:: 05-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:: China is developing its first credible sea-based nuclear forces. This emergent nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) force will pose unique challenges to a country that has favored tightly centralized control over its nuclear deterrent. The choices China makes about SSBN command and control will have important implications for strategic stability. Despite claims that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force will be responsible for all Chinese nuclear forces, Chinese SSBNs currently appear to be under the control of the PLA Navy. However, China may choose to revise its command and control structures as its SSBNs begin armed deterrent patrols. There are three broad command and control models, allocating varying degrees of authority to the PLA Navy or the Rocket Force.
Topic:: International Affairs
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4892. Trade Update 2017: Out of the Shadows

Author:: Paul Holtom and Irene Pavesi
Publication Date:: 09-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Small Arms Survey
Abstract:: The Small Arms Survey’s Trade Update 2017: Out of the Shadows provides an overview of the international trade in small arms and light weapons in 2014, identifies the world’s top and major exporters of small arms and light weapons, and assesses changes in trade patterns from 2013 to 2014. The Update also presents the 2017 edition of the Small Arms Trade Transparency Barometer, which scores key exporters from the most to the least transparent. The main findings include the following: In 2014, the top exporters of small arms (those with annual exports of at least USD 100 million), in descending order, were: the United States, Italy, Brazil, Germany, South Korea, Austria, Turkey, the Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Croatia, Israel, Spain, Switzerland, and Japan. Brazil exported more than USD 500 million worth of small arms for the first time during 2001–14. In 2014, the top importers of small arms (those with annual imports of at least USD 100 million), in descending order, were: the United States, Canada, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Australia, Iraq, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The United States remains the world’s largest importer, but the value of its imports declined for the first time since 2001, from USD 2.5 billion in 2013 to USD 2.2 billion in 2014. The international small arms trade was worth at least USD 6 billion in 2014. Ammunition accounted for 38 per cent of global transfers. The value of ‘military firearm’ shipments increased by 49 per cent between 2013 and 2014, from USD 475 million to USD 708 million. In contrast, the value of the trade in pistols and revolvers declined by 16 per cent, from USD 1 billion to USD 845 million. The 2017 edition of the Small Arms Trade Transparency Barometer identifies Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Serbia as the most transparent top and major small arms exporters. Iran, Israel, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the least transparent major exporters. The average score in the 2017 Barometer is 11.33 out of 25 points. The areas that have seen the most improvement over the past year are: comprehensiveness (+17 per cent), access and consistency (+12 per cent), licences denied (+11 per cent), and clarity (+4 per cent). In their first ATT annual reports, Austria, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Liberia—none of which had reported small arms transfers to the UN Register—provided information on small arms transfers, thus increasing overall transparency on international small arms transfers. Although Iran, North Korea, and the UAE rarely, if ever, recorded small arms exports worth USD 10 million or more in Comtrade, Survey research indicates that they are major small arms exporters. It is more difficult to determine the status of Saudi Arabia, which appears to be a significant re-exporter of small arms.
Topic:: Arms Control and Proliferation, Arms Trade, Transparency, and Trade
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4893. First MPOME Regional Workshop Report: Making Peace Operations More Effective

Author:: Emile LeBrun
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Small Arms Survey
Abstract:: This Report summarizes the formal contributions made by presenters at the first MPOME Regional Workshop and the discussions that ensued. The workshop was held at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, Ghana.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:: Africa, Ghana, and Global Focus

4894. Isolation and Endurance: Riek Machar and the SPLM-IO in 2016-17

Author:: John Young
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Small Arms Survey
Abstract:: Isolation and Endurance: Riek Machar and the SPLM-IO in 2016-17 follows on from an earlier Small Arms Survey paper by the author (Young, 2015). It begins where the earlier paper left off with the signing of the ARCSS and ends with the first anniversary of the agreement’s collapse in July 2017. Like the earlier study, this research is based on many visits by the author and his assistant to Juba, Greater Upper Nile, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Sudan to carry out interviews with SPLM-IO officials, Nuer civilians, and others; specific visits to Addis Ababa and Khartoum between 10 and 26 May 2016; attendance at relevant conferences; and an examination of the growing secondary literature and news reports on the conflict in South Sudan. The primary focus of the study is on the political development of the SPLM-IO, and no attempt is made to provide a comprehensive analysis of the organization’s military activities or examine conditions at the local level.
Topic:: Military Affairs, Conflict, and Isolation
Political Geography:: Uganda, Kenya, Africa, Sudan, and Ethiopia

4895. Making a Tough Job More Difficult: Loss of Arms and Ammunition in Peace Operations

Author:: Eric G. Berman, Mihaela Racovita, and Matt Schroeder
Publication Date:: 10-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Small Arms Survey
Abstract:: This Report highlights results of research into the loss of arms and ammunition in a range of peace operations. Losses include assault rifles and pistols, armoured vehicles and numerous types of light weapons that in aggregate represent thousands of weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition. Making a Tough Job more Difficult: The Loss of Arms and Ammunition in Peace Operations focuses on United Nations- and regional organization-led peace operations. The materiel is lost in a variety of ways and settings—described in the report. Some loss of arms and ammunition in peace operations is inevitable given the challenges peacekeepers face in conflict and post-conflict settings. The report shows, however, that considerable quantities of arms and ammunition are lost or redistributed due to less-than-best practice and poor oversight. It also finds that the UN’s system for managing and controlling the movement of contingent-owned equipment provides the framework for weapons and ammunition management but that greater access to the policies, procedures, and guidelines of both UN and non-UN peace operations would improve understanding of existing control measures and the gaps in these controls.
Topic:: Arms Control and Proliferation, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4896. Global Violent Deaths 2017: Time to Decide

Author:: Claire McEvoy and Gergely Hideg
Publication Date:: 12-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Small Arms Survey
Abstract:: Lethal violence claimed 560,000 lives in 2016—more than one person every minute of every day of the year. Global Violent Deaths 2017: Time to Decide, a report from the Small Arms Survey, shows that while the global conflict death rate dropped in 2016, the global homicide rate increased for the first time since 2004. Although this does not necessarily indicate a new trend, it does signal growing insecurity in non-conflict areas. Of the five countries with the highest death rates in 2016—Syria, El Salvador, Venezuela, Honduras, and Afghanistan—only two had active armed conflicts. The study also elaborates scenarios for the future based on current trends, to assess the number of people that could be saved if states implement effective violence reduction initiatives in support of Agenda 2030, as opposed to more negative outcomes if trends worsen. If prevailing trends remain unchanged, the annual number of violent deaths is likely to increase to 630,000 by 2030. On the contrary, if states commit themselves to effectively address conflict and armed violence, the number of annual deaths could be lowered to 408,000 by 2030—even considering the population increase. In total, over the next twelve years, approximately 1.35 million lives could be saved. Within the Agenda 2030 framework and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, states have an unprecedented opportunity to save lives. It’s time to decide.
Topic:: Security, Sustainable Development Goals, and Violence
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, Syria, Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador, and Global Focus

4897. Preserving and Strengthening the U.S.-Mexico Relationship

Author:: Dan Restrepo, Michael Werz, and Joel Martinez
Publication Date:: 01-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Center for American Progress - CAP
Abstract:: The United States and Mexico share far more than a 1,989-mile border.1 The two countries share a deep, complex history. This history is marked by ups and downs; by war and cooperation; by competition and collaboration; by the movement—northbound and southbound—of millions of people across a shared border in search of a better future; by a trickle of trade and today’s flow of more than $1.5 billion of goods and services crossing the border every day.* As the new U.S. administration transitions from rhetoric to reality and from campaigning to governing, it will inherit a U.S.-Mexico relationship in perhaps the best shape it has ever been. But it will also inherit a relationship threatened by President Donald Trump’s repeated vilification of Mexico and Mexicans. If that vilification becomes official U.S. policy, it will harm the United States—at home, throughout the Americas, and around the globe—because of the profound transformations that have unfolded over the past 30 years in Mexico and in the bilateral relationship itself.
Topic:: Diplomacy, International Trade and Finance, Regional Cooperation, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:: North America, Mexico, and United States of America

4898. Setting the Terms for U.S.-Egypt Relations

Author:: Daniel Benaim, Mokhtar Awad, and Brian Katulis
Publication Date:: 02-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Center for American Progress - CAP
Abstract:: Donald Trump’s first meeting as president of the United States with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al Sisi offers a significant opportunity but also some risks for U.S. security interests and values. U.S.-Egypt ties have witnessed historic strains in the past few years at a time when the broader Middle East slipped into a state of violent fragmentation that threatens both U.S. interests and the global order. The region faces the confluence of global terrorist networks based within its territories; civil wars, state collapse, and mass migration; proxy battles between regional and global powers; and tensions between authoritarian states and young populations facing high unemployment. Egypt currently appears tenuously positioned to avoid the worst fates of its neighbors. However, Cairo’s new political and economic order remains inchoate and brittle, lacking a concrete plan for defeating terror networks, advancing large-scale job creation, or offering more effective or representative governance. Instead, the country’s civic space has been smothered to deny openings for the open exchange of ideas needed to defeat extremism, while Egypt’s economy goes from crisis to crisis.
Topic:: Diplomacy, Military Strategy, Bilateral Relations, Counter-terrorism, and Peace
Political Geography:: Africa, North America, Egypt, and United States of America

4899. Common Ground for the United States, Japan, and China in Southeast Asia

Author:: Brian Harding
Publication Date:: 03-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Center for American Progress - CAP
Abstract:: Over the past decade, Southeast Asia’s economic and geopolitical profile in the world has risen dramatically. Its $2.5 trillion economy is a rare bright spot for global growth.1 Plus, the increasingly integrated Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, is a rare example of a regional political structure writing its own destiny—in this case, the agenda for the emerging regional security architecture of the Asia-Pacific.2 The region has also emerged, however, as a nexus for a range of transnational threats, ranging from trafficking in illicit goods to extreme weather events that are a result of climate change.3 Yet the region’s vital sea lanes have only grown more important, with more than half of the world’s merchant tonnage and one-third of global maritime traffic transiting the region every day on their journey from the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean to the economic powerhouses of Northeast Asia.4 The world has taken note of the opportunities presented by increased involvement in Southeast Asian affairs, as well as the challenges the region faces. Governments and multinational companies across the world are ramping up engagement with the region bilaterally with individual countries and multilaterally with ASEAN. Southeast Asian countries wholeheartedly welcome this global interest for both economic and strategic reasons. Economically, despite the region’s promise, all but Singapore and Brunei are developing countries in desperate need of foreign investment to continue their upward trajectories. Most critically, the region faces a multitrillion-dollar infrastructure gap that constrains economic growth and perpetuates inequality.5 With indigenous capital and even the commitments of international development banks unable to meet demand on this scale, investment by major powers is essential for the region to achieve its potential. Strategically, Southeast Asian countries welcome engagement by a wide range of outside powers to ensure that the region’s partnerships are highly diversified. As a grouping of small countries with modest military and economic power, robust partnerships with a range of actors ensure that no single outside power can dominate regional affairs. In essence, the region prefers a balance of power—or in Indonesian parlance, dynamic equilibrium. While welcoming and encouraging international involvement in regional affairs, Southeast Asian nations also naturally seek to do so on their own terms. For countries making national decisions regarding foreign investment or security cooperation with an outside power, these smaller countries can often find themselves in a position of weakness relative to the outside power. However, collectively, ASEAN provides a platform that allows each country to punch above its weight, providing a venue to make certain issues ASEAN issues rather than national issues for the purpose of creating greater leverage with outside powers. Quite remarkably, despite its flaws, the bloc has managed to maintain its position in the region as the driver of Asia-Pacific regionalism, while outside powers routinely reiterate the importance of “ASEAN centrality.”6 This report outlines findings from a recent trilateral dialogue, organized by the Center for American Progress, of Southeast Asia experts from the United States, Japan, and China. It describes the current state of U.S., Japanese, and Chinese engagement in Southeast Asia and presents four areas for potential U.S.-Japan-China collaboration with Southeast Asian partners on shared challenges.
Topic:: Diplomacy, International Cooperation, International Trade and Finance, Partnerships, and Strategic Interests
Political Geography:: Japan, China, Asia, North America, Southeast Asia, and United States of America

4900. Erdoğan’s Proposal for an Empowered Presidency

Author:: Alan Makovsky
Publication Date:: 03-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Center for American Progress - CAP
Abstract:: On April 16, the Turkish people will vote on a package of constitutional amendments passed by Turkey’s Parliament on January 21, 2017, that greatly expands the powers of the presidency. If the package passes the nationwide referendum, it will broaden and deepen the de jure powers of the presidency, giving it authority over all executive branch institutions, including the military. It would give the president the power to appoint key senior-level judges and other judicial officials without parliamentary—or any other—review. It would abolish the post of prime minister, with the president assuming the powers of that office. And it would allow, under certain circumstances, the president to serve three terms totaling just short of 15 years. In short, Turkey’s long-standing parliamentary political system would be transformed into something more appropriately called a presidential system, in which an “executive presidency”1 amasses unprecedented power in the hands of one man. The referendum will take place amid the ongoing erosion of Turkish democratic institutions, freedom of speech, and political rights. Moreover, the referendum campaign and the vote itself will be held under some of the least democratic circumstances imaginable—namely, emergency rule.
Topic:: NATO, International Cooperation, Governance, Authoritarianism, and Leadership
Political Geography:: Europe, Turkey, and Asia

Search

Search Constraints

Search Results

Refine your search

Topic

Political Geography

Content Type

Publishing Institution

Author

Publication Year

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS