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201. Gordon Brown Comes to Brussels (Reluctantly)

Author:
Brendan Donnelly
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Despite the belief of some that British Prime Minister Brown's attitudes towards the European Union could not be predicted, much in his period as Chancellor of the Exchequer suggested that Britain's role within the European Union would not be a high priority of his premiership. Early indications bear out this expectation. There will probably not be a British referendum on the Reform Treaty, but the rhetoric employed by Brown's government to describe the Treaty will be negative and minimalist. Although no significant body of British opinion favours with-drawal from the European Union, British popular resentment towards the Union is unlikely to disappear under Brown's leadership.
Topic:
Government and Reform
Political Geography:
Britain and Europe

202. A British Agenda for Europe: Designing Our Own Future

Author:
Stephen Wall
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
Fifty years after the founding of the European Community, an enlarged EU has moved far away from the notions of creating some form of European super-state that have dominated the British debate over its EU policy. If anything, as the results of recent referenda on the EU in France, the Netherlands and Ireland have revealed, British scepticism towards complex institutional reforms is increasingly shared across Europe. Far from taking advantage of this pivotal moment to help drive the EU's future development, much of the popular and political debate in Britain questions whether it is worth being a member of the EU at all.
Political Geography:
Britain and Europe

203. What to Do about Climate Change

Author:
Indur M. Goklany
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The state-of-the-art British-sponsored fasttrack assessment of the global impacts of climate change, a major input to the much-heralded Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, indicates that through the year 2100, the contribution of climate change to human health and environmental threats will generally be overshadowed by factors not related to climate change. Hence, climate change is unlikely to be the world's most important environmental problem of the 21st century.
Topic:
International Relations, Climate Change, Environment, and Globalization
Political Geography:
Britain

204. 'Cast the Net Wider': How a Vision of Global Halal Markets is Overcoming Network Envy

Author:
Johan Fischer
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
This paper explores Malaysia's bid to become the world leader in rapidly expanding halal (lawful or permitted) markets on a global scale. Over the last three decades, a powerful state nationalism has emerged, represented by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the dominant political party in Malaysia. The state has effectively certified standardised and bureaucratised Malaysian halal production, trade and consumption. Now, the vision is to export this model, and for that purpose the network as a strategic metaphor is being evoked to signify connectedness and prescriptions of organisation vis-à-vis more deep-rooted networks. Building on empirical material from research in Malaysia and Britain, I shall show how networks are understood and practised in a metaphorical sense.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Britain, Malaysia, and Asia

205. Volume 1, Issue 8 - Full Issue

Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
CTC Sentinel
Institution:
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
Abstract:
IN RECENT MONTHS, there has been a spate of seemingly good news in the counter-terrorism arena, as former terrorist leaders and clerics have renounced their previous beliefs. Former Egyptian Islamic Jihad head Sayyid Imam al-Sharif (also known as Dr. Fadl), whose treatises al-Qa`ida often cited to justify its actions, has written a new book rejecting al-Qa`ida's message and tactics. Shaykh Salman bin Fahd al-Awda, an extremist cleric whose incarceration in the 1990s by the Saudis reportedly helped inspire Usama bin Ladin to action, went on television to decry al-Qa`ida's operations, asking Bin Ladin, “How much blood has been spilt? How many innocent people, children, elderly, and women have been killed…in the name of al Qaeda?” In the United Kingdom, former members of the radical group Hizb al-Tahrir3 (also spelled Hizb-ut-Tahrir) established the Quilliam Foundation, which describes itself as “Britain's first Muslim counter-extremism think tank.”
Political Geography:
Britain, United Kingdom, and Egypt

206. Sovereign Wealth and Sovereign Power: The Strategic Consequences of American Indebtedness

Author:
Brad W. Setser
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
In the 1870s, the scope of Great Britain's financial empire exceeded the scope of its political empire. Dependence on British investors sometimes was a precursor, though, to informal—or even formal— political control. When Egypt's khedive needed to raise cash to cover his personal debt to private British banks, he sold his large personal stake in the Suez Canal to the British state. Egypt's ruler did little better managing Egypt's public debt: difficulties making payments led Britain and France to assume control over Egypt's treasury and, by 1882, to full British political control.
Topic:
Economics, Government, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Britain, United States, America, and Egypt

207. The Future of American Power

Author:
Fareed Zakaria
Publication Date:
05-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Foreign Affairs
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Despite some eerie parallels between the position of the United States today and that of the British Empire a century ago, there are key differences. Britain's decline was driven by bad economics. The United States, in contrast, has the strength and dynamism to continue shaping the world -- but only if it can overcome its political dysfunction and reorient U.S. policy for a world defined by the rise of other powers.
Political Geography:
Britain, United States, and America

208. Europe Is Losing Out in Global Competition Among Universities: A Talk with Richard Descoings, Head of Sciences Po in Paris

Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
European Affairs
Institution:
The European Institute
Abstract:
Richard Descoings, a reform-minded educator who heads the prestigious Sciences-Po, says in an interview that French universities are boxed into mediocrity by state control and state under-funding. Outside Britain, European universities need more control over their finances to compete in a globalized market.
Topic:
Education and Globalization
Political Geography:
Britain, United States, and Europe

209. Book Review: A Turn to Empire: The Rise of Imperial Liberalism in Britain and France

Author:
Jennifer Pitts
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
A Turn to Empire contributes to a project among liberals in recent years to dust off liberalism's historical complexities. In an elegant, impressively documented, and rigorously argued narrative, Jennifer Pitts asserts that imperialism was not essential to the liberal project, as is so often alleged by its critics, most recently and systematically by Uday Singh Mehta in his important study Liberalism and Empire (University of Chicago Press, 1999).
Political Geography:
Britain, France, and Chicago

210. Britain's Food Supply: Lunch as a Strategic Issue

Author:
Kate Bailey
Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The days when the consumer could command ample supplies of ever-cheaper delicacies from around the world may be over for ever. Food prices are rising dramatically, and probably permanently, hitting the world's leading economies. In developing countries, there have been queues for wheat in Pakistan, a shortage of rice in Bangladesh and Afghanistan has appealed for international help with supplies. Mealtime is about to become an important international issue for everyone.
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Britain, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh

211. Darfur in Context

Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Africa Policy Information Center
Abstract:
Until recently, Sudan could be described as a country at war and at peace. Since gaining independence from Britain in 1956, Sudan has suffered near continual civil war and has been ruled by a series of military dictatorships. While there are many different fronts to Sudan's current conflicts, the two crises that receive the most attention from international media are the genocide in Darfur and the North-South conflict. This Africa Action report outlines current circumstances and explains the linkages and distinctions among conflict areas across Sudan and addresses a series of misperceptions and myths that have impeded an effective international response to the crisis in Darfur.
Topic:
Ethnic Conflict and Genocide
Political Geography:
Britain, Africa, and Sudan

212. Dubyu has gambled his standing away: George W. Bush's media image in Germany and Great Britain 2002 till 2006

Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Media Tenor International
Abstract:
In the mid-term elections, the US voters have fi nally arrived at a view in line with how the German TV news covered the 2004 presidential campaign. The media image of the US President in Germany and Great Britain has not been able to recover from the setbacks of the past few years. It remains questionable whether or not the dismissal of the “scapegoat” Donald Rumsfeld and a more amenable attitude towards the Democrats' political ideas will truly improve his image.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, International Affairs, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
Britain, United States, Europe, and Germany

213. Adenauer, Erhard, and the Uses of Prosperity

Author:
William Glenn Gray
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
German Politics and Society
Institution:
German Politics and Society Journal
Abstract:
This essay explores the relationship between West Germany's “economic miracle” and the goal of reunification in the early postwar decades. It argues that Konrad Adenauer was reluctant to mobilize economic resources on behalf of German unity—instead he sought to win trust by proclaiming unswerving loyalty to the West. Ludwig Erhard, by contrast, made an overt attempt to exchange financial incentives for political concessions—to no avail. Both of these chancellors failed to appreciate how West Germany's increasing prosperity undermined its diplomatic position, at least in the near term, given the jealousies and misgivings it generated in Western capitals and in Moscow. Only a gradual process of normalization would allow all four of the relevant powers—France, Britain, the United States, and the USSR—to develop sufficient trust in the economically dynamic Federal Republic to facilitate the country's eventual unification.
Political Geography:
Britain, Russia, United States, France, and Germany

214. Spying on Terrorists: Germany in Comparative Perspective

Author:
A. James McAdams
Publication Date:
08-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
German Politics and Society
Institution:
German Politics and Society Journal
Abstract:
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies in western democracies are turning increasingly to electronic surveillance tools in their efforts to identify and combat new terrorist threats. But this does not mean that they are equally equipped to undertake these measures. As the author shows by comparing surveillance activities in three countries—Great Britain, the United States, and Germany—the Federal Republic's more restrictive legal norms and institutions provide its government with much less freedom of maneuver than its allies.
Topic:
Government, Intelligence, and Law
Political Geography:
Britain, United States, and Germany

215. Gulf Challenge: Iran's Seizure of British Naval Personnel

Author:
Simon Henderson
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
On March 23, at 10:30 a.m. local Iraqi time, fifteen British naval personnel were seized by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the northern Persian Gulf. The British personnel -- eight from the Royal Navy and seven from the Royal Marines -- were in two light craft returning to the frigate HMS Cornwall after successfully inspecting a merchant ship for goods being smuggled into Iraq. Iran has accused the personnel, who include one woman, of illegally entering Iranian territorial waters, and has threatened to put them on trial. The incident is a diplomatic and military embarrassment to Britain. Meanwhile, fears of escalation in the Gulf have contributed to a global surge in oil prices.
Topic:
International Relations and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Britain, Iraq, United Kingdom, Europe, Iran, and Middle East

216. PolicyWatch #1265: Mr. Brown Comes to America: The U.S.-British Summit

Author:
Simon Henderson
Publication Date:
07-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
On July 29-30, just over a month after taking over from Tony Blair, new British prime minister Gordon Brown will meet with President Bush at Camp David. It will be the first opportunity for direct, substantive discussions between the two leaders and is widely expected to be a difficult summit. Brown is seen as wanting to establish a very different -- and cooler -- relationship with Bush. Although the effect of this public distancing on longstanding U.S.-British cooperation is uncertain at the moment, the change in substance and style will no doubt have implications for current policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the way the two leaders relate in the event of future crises.
Topic:
Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Britain, Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, United Kingdom, and Europe

217. PolicyWatch #1260: British Counterterrorism Efforts: Implications for the United States

Author:
Simon Henderson
Publication Date:
07-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
British police have been praised for their speedy and effective efforts in thwarting terrorist attacks this month in London and Glasgow, as well as for the arrest and subsequent prosecution of four men who attempted to bomb the London transport network on July 21, 2005. Today, those bombers were each sentenced to a minimum of forty years in prison. (Two alleged accomplices, on whose guilt the jury could not agree, face a retrial.) But details of the cases and official comments suggest that Britain's vulnerabilities to al-Qaeda-style terrorism remain acute and could lead to tension with the United States.
Topic:
Terrorism
Political Geography:
Britain, United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and London

218. PolicyWatch #1256: Terrorist Attacks in the United Kingdom: More Faces of al-Qaeda

Author:
Simon Henderson and Michael Jacobson
Publication Date:
07-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
There are fast-moving developments in the British hunt for the terrorist cell that tried to set off two car bombs in central London on June 29. Two men were arrested after they tried to crash a vehicle loaded with flammable material into a Glasgow airport terminal on June 30. And a man and woman were arrested yesterday when their vehicle was stopped on the major highway between London and Scotland. Houses have been searched in several parts of Britain, and the number detained rose to eight today, including one in an undisclosed foreign country.
Topic:
Government, Intelligence, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Britain, United Kingdom, Europe, and Scotland

219. Nigeria-Related Financial Crime and its links with Britain

Author:
Michael Peel
Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
Financial crime linked to Nigeria is a large and pressing problem for the British authorities, which are short of the information and resources needed to deal with it. Nigeria-related financial crime has grown in significance partly because it is not seen as a priority area. Private-sector fraudsters and corrupt public officials and British companies have profited from the general Western focus on terrorist financing, drugs and people-trafficking. Other types of corruption and money-laundering, some of which involve British business people, have often been neglected.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Britain, Africa, Europe, and Nigeria

220. Debunking the 1930s Analogy: Neville Chamberlain's Grand Strategy Re-Examined

Author:
Christopher Layne
Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Peace and Security Studies
Abstract:
The key events of the 1930s Hitler's rise to power, Germany's reoccupation of the Rhineland, the Anschluss with Austria, Munich and the subsequent German occupation of Prague in March 1939, and the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 transpired some seventy years ago. The events of the 1930s or at least Churchill's depiction of them have provided the standard images that have shaped U.S. foreign policy and scholarly research alike: falling dominoes, insatiable dictators, the interdependency of strategic commitments, the importance of demonstrating resolve, and the impossibility of achieving diplomatic accommodation with nondemocratic regimes. But does the myth track with the historical record? Does the 1930s myth accurately explain British grand strategy in the 1930s? Simply stated, my argument is that the 1930s myth as commonly understood in the United States is bad history, and that its use has contributed importantly to a series of dubious policy decisions by U.S. decisionmakers and still does. As I demonstrate, the British, in fact, were not willfully blind to the German threat or indifferent to the need to rearm to meet it. Rather, during the 1930s, London formulated a quintessentially realist grand strategy that attempted to blend deterrence and diplomacy to contain Hitler's Germany (and Japan and Italy), and defend Britain's interests as a world power by avoiding what, for Britain, could only be a disastrous war.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and War
Political Geography:
Britain, United States, Japan, Europe, London, Germany, Italy, and Austria