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50111. Uganda Election Report

Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
This Open Society Foundations report assesses Uganda's level of preparedness to hold elections in February 2011 and makes recommendations for electoral reform ahead of the elections, if 2011 polls are to be credible. It highlights the disconnect between Uganda's legal framework in theory and that of its implementation in reality, and points to a level playing field in Ugandan politics.
Topic:
Elections, Democracy, Election watch, Domestic Policy, and Polls
Political Geography:
Uganda

50112. Parity—Expanding Equitable Insurance Coverage for Addiction and Mental Health Treatment

Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
On January 1, 2010, the Wellstone-Domenici Parity Act went into effect, expanding access to mental health and addiction treatment coverage in many employer-sponsored group health plans. The new federal law applies to group health plans covering 50 or more employees that provide any level of coverage for treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. Those plans are now required to cover mental health and substance use disorders benefits at “parity,” or in the same way as they cover other medical and surgical services. Simply put, “parity” is the treatment of addiction and mental illness in insurance benefits in the same way as other medical conditions. When the law is fully implemented, it is estimated that 140 million Americans could have improved access to addiction and mental health treatment services should they need it.
Topic:
Health, Health Care Policy, Mental Health, Drugs, and Equality
Political Geography:
United States

50113. Security Matters

Author:
Centre for European Security Studies
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for European Security Studies
Abstract:
Natalia Gherman is Moldova’s deputy foreign minister and chief negotiator with the EU. CESS spoke to her in Chis¸ina˘u during the second in a series of UNDP workshops on EU negotiations organised by CESS and its partners. Ms Gherman had just returned from a visit to The Hague and Berlin where she spoke to her colleagues about the visa liberalisation regime, one of the main priorities for Moldova in its relations with the EU.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

50114. Security Matters

Author:
Centre for European Security Studies
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for European Security Studies
Abstract:
Central Asia presents a broad spectrum of security challenges. These range from religious terrorism, organised crime and simmering ethnic quarrels to endemic corruption, environmental decline and a disintegrating infrastructure. Besides, the danger of instability is heightened by a lurking receptiveness to religious extremism among returned migrants.
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

50115. Harmony and War: Confucian Culture and Chinese Power Politics

Author:
Yuan-kang Wang
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Columbia University Press
Abstract:
Confucianism has shaped a certain perception of Chinese security strategy, symbolized by the defensive, nonaggressive Great Wall. Many believe China is antimilitary and reluctant to use force against its enemies. It practices pacifism and refrains from expanding its boundaries, even when nationally strong. In a path-breaking study traversing six centuries of Chinese history, Yuan-kang Wang resoundingly discredits this notion, recasting China as a practitioner of realpolitik and a ruthless purveyor of expansive grand strategies. Leaders of the Song Dynasty (960–1279) and Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) prized military force and shrewdly assessed the capabilities of China’s adversaries. They adopted defensive strategies when their country was weak and pursued expansive goals, such as territorial acquisition, destruction of their enemies, and total military victory, when their country was strong. Despite the dominance of an antimilitarist Confucian culture, warfare was not uncommon in the bulk of Chinese history. Grounding his research in primary Chinese sources, Wang outlines a politics of power crucial to understanding China’s strategies today, especially its policy of “peaceful development,” which, he argues, the nation has adopted mainly because of its military, economic, and technological weakness in relation to the United States.
Topic:
International Relations, Political Theory, and History
Political Geography:
Asia
Publication Identifier:
9780231522403
Publication Identifier Type:
ISBN

50116. Reaching for Justice: The participation of victims at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia,

Author:
Johanna Herman
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre on Human Rights in Conflict
Abstract:
This policy paper is based on research in Cambodia, assessing the activities and strategies regarding participation of victims before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), funded by the University of East London Promising Researcher grant. It is hoped by the international community and by Cambodian civil society that the participation of victims will play a key part in ensuring that the ECCC has a lasting impact on Cambodia. The ECCC, in common with other hybrid tribunals, is expected to engage the affected society and victims, since it is located within the country rather than based elsewhere as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) are. This policy paper reviews how the victim participation process functioned during the first case and the preparation for the second case at the ECCC, and offers insights to improve practice at the ECCC and other courts that are undertaking other forms of victim participation
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

50117. Great Power Politics and Strategic Narratives

Author:
Andreas Antoniades, Alister Miskimmon, and Ben O'Loughlin
Publication Date:
03-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Global Political Economy, University of Sussex
Abstract:
Great powers use strategic narratives to establish and maintain influence in the international system and to shape the system itself. This is particularly the case in periods of transition in the international system when challengers to hegemonic powers emerge. Strategic narratives are an important tool which must be considered alongside material resources as a determinant of whether emerging great powers are able to shape a new systemic alignment. Strategic narratives are a tool through which great powers can articulate their interests, values and aspirations for the international system in ways that offer the opportunity for power transitions that avoid violent struggle between status quo and challenger states. Complicating this picture, however, is a complex media ecology which makes the process of projecting strategic narratives an increasingly difficult one. Analysis of international political communication within this media ecology is central to evaluating how strategic narratives are projected and the interactions that follow. We argue that empirical analysis of the formation, projection and reception of strategic narratives in that media ecology offers a framework through which to generate important findings concerning power transition, domestic and international legitimacy, and recognition and identity - important because many international relations scholars thus far failed to take into account the difference such narratives make, and can make.
Topic:
Military Strategy, Geopolitics, Grand Strategy, and State Actors
Political Geography:
United States and Middle East

50118. Azerbaijan’s Accession to World Trade Organization (WTO); Pros and Cons

Author:
Vugar Bayramov
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD)
Abstract:
Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD) together with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) have published new policy paper titled as “Azerbaijan’s accession to the WTO: Assessing the macroeconomic consequences for the economy of Azerbaijan”. The paper analyzes the macroeconomic consequences for Azerbaijan’s economy in case the country joins the World Trade Organization (WTO ). Existing studies primarily draw on qualitative methods, while for this study a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model of the economy is calculated to simulate the consequences of WTO accession. The authors are able to generate numeric forecasts for macroeconomic variables as a measure for welfare and elaborate how WTO accession, interpreted as an external shock to the economy, would affect these variables. This study is, therefore, a unique contribution to the public and academic debate as it is the first study to quantitatively gauge the effects of accession beyond qualitative arguments. To contextualize the quantitative findings, several independent experts were interviewed to compile their opinions on WTO accession. The results of this study suggest positive welfare effects of WTO accession through increases in income, consumption and savings. However, the forecasts generated through our model reveal that exports would plummet as a consequence of accession. This must be of particular concern for the Azerbaijani economy with its oil and energy sector currently being the main driver of gross domestic product, foreign direct investment and exports. As a consequence, the Azerbaijani economy needs to diversify rapidly and decrease its dependence on oil to realize positive effects on general welfare that could be triggered through WTO accession. Whether these positive effects will materialize in the long run is hard to predict, although the qualitative evidence cited in this study suggests that accession would bring along important incentives for diversification.
Topic:
Economics, Oil, World Trade Organization, and Trade
Political Geography:
Azerbaijan and South Caucasus

50119. On the Palestinian issue, how much credit should Europe get amongst Arab opinion for its economic and political support?

Author:
Ralitsa Trifonova
Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic Studies (CSS)
Abstract:
The formulation in the Council of Ministers’ of the European Union statement, issued on 8 December 2009, that within “an agreed time-frame” an independent Palestinian state should emerge on the Middle East’s political map raised hopes for a breakthrough in the remaining unsolved more than 60 years Palestinian issue. Together with the statement of the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Moscow in the late 2009, this formulation is viewed by members of the Palestinian National Authority itself as a sign, in being specific in contrast with previous statements excluding a set timeframe for the establishment of a viable independent Palestinian state. After the unveiled Israeli violations of the international law during the last war over Gaza, a lot of voices not only in Palestine, but from all over world are revealing the impatience, reaching its nadir as Israeli behaviour does not represent threat only to the Palestinian people, but to the whole international system, especially when it shelled the headquarters of one the United Nations agencies on 15 January 2009. Some analysts believe that after the continued over 60 year’s failure of the USA to reach any significant progress to the benefit of the Palestinian people, it is high time Europe entered the Middle East arena as the third party, which would lead the two parties of the IsraeliPalestinian issue to a balanced solution, which does not reply on forced compromise. As the distrust of the Palestinian people with the USA is growing, Europe would only play a positive role if it were a trust-worthy ally itself. In order to give this alternative a positive perspective, we need to go back to the beginning of the European involvement in the Palestinian issue, to follow its own history of internal development, to explore the character of its economic aid and the existence of political support to the Palestinian people in their most turbulent and crucial moments in last four decades.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Human Rights, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, and Negotiation
Political Geography:
Europe, Israel, Palestine, and United States of America

50120. Europe in Yemen: Still Much to Do

Author:
Lorenzo Piras
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic Studies (CSS)
Abstract:
The international community is helping Yemen by providing support in many different areas, most notably in the governance sector and in the fight against poverty and hunger. The European Union, acting through the European Commission, is one of the main donors to Yemen, and the individual Member States are actively engaged in the country, both backing the government’s development and social plans and carrying out some autonomous projects. This article will examine the state of the art European intervention in Yemen, with regard to both EC-funded development programmes and, in a broader perspective, to the strategic goals of Brussels in the country. The weaknesses of the European action in Yemen and the criticism it drew, especially from other Middle Eastern countries, will then be anazlyzed. Lastly, this piece will try to highlight how and with which objectives European efforts should be structured in order to stabilize Yemen effectively
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, Political stability, and Development Aid
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, and Yemen