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50421. NATO at 60: A Hollow Alliance

Author:
Ted Galen Carpenter
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization celebrates its 60th birthday, there are mounting signs of trouble within the alliance and reasons to doubt the organization's relevance regarding the foreign policy challenges of the 21st century. Several developments contribute to those doubts. Although NATO has added numerous new members during the past decade, most of them possess minuscule military capabilities. Some of them also have murky political systems and contentious relations with neighboring states, including (and most troubling) a nuclear-armed Russia. Thus, NATO's new members are weak, vulnerable, and provocative—an especially dangerous combination for the United States in its role as NATO's leader.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, NATO, International Cooperation, and International Security
Political Geography:
Russia and North Atlantic

50422. Pakistan and the Future of U.S. Policy

Author:
Malou Innocent
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
A spreading Islamic insurgency engulfs the amorphous and ungoverned border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. After initial victories by the United States and the Northern Alliance in autumn 2001, hundreds of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters fled Afghanistan to seek refuge across the border in Pakistan's rugged northwest. Since 2007, the number of ambushes, militant offensives, and targeted assassinations has risen sharply across Afghanistan, while suicide bombers and pro-Taliban insurgents sweep through settled areas of Pakistan at an alarming pace. For better and for worse, Pakistan will remain the fulcrum of U.S. policy in the region—its leaders continue to provide vital counterterrorism cooperation and have received close to $20 billion in assistance from the United States, yet elements associated with its national intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, covertly assist militant proxy groups destabilizing the region
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, International Cooperation, Islam, and War
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, United States, South Asia, and Asia

50423. Bright Lines and Bailouts: To Bail or Not To Bail, That Is the Question

Author:
Vern McKinley and Gary Gegenheimer
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
A financial-institution bailout involves government intervention through a transaction or forbearance targeted to a financial institution or group of financial institutions. The action is preemptive as the financial institution does not fail and go out of business, but remains a going concern, benefiting creditors, shareholders, or counterparties. In the absence of a bailout, the financial institution would either be forced to go through receivership or bankruptcy in the prescribed legal form, or have its role in financial intermediation disrupted.
Topic:
Economics, Government, Political Economy, and Privatization
Political Geography:
United States

50424. Alliance Reborn: An Atlantic Compact for the 21st Century

Author:
Hans Binnendijk, Julianne Smith, Daniel Hamilton, Charles Barry, Stephen Flanagan, and James Townsend
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Transatlantic Relations
Abstract:
We have an open but fleeting moment to forge a more effective Atlantic partnership. We must seize it now. European and North American allies have allowed their relations become discordant, yet the times demand vigor and unity. Courageous decisions need to be taken to breathe new life and relevance into the Atlantic partnership, which must be recast to tackle a diverse range of serious challenges at home and abroad. Reaching consensus on long term strategy should be of high priority. Leaders should go beyond providing direction to the NATO institution and take a higher plane, charting in an Atlantic Compact the future of their partnership in ways that relate the security, prosperity and freedom of their people and their nations to the world as a whole.
Topic:
NATO, International Cooperation, International Organization, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

50425. The Transatlantic Economy 2009

Author:
Daniel S. Hamilton and Joseph P. Quinlan
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Transatlantic Relations
Abstract:
After a five-year boom in prosperity, the transatlantic economy has fallen into what could be perhaps its deepest recession since World War II. Although the U.S. was the epicenter of the financial crisis, many European banks have exposure to U.S. subprime loans and embraced the risky lending practices of their American counterparts. The financial crisis and attendant recession underscore the deep integration of the transatlantic economy. Notions of “decoupling” are mistaken and are likely to lead to serious policy errors. Never before have Europeans and Americans had a greater stake in each other's economic success. Each has a substantial interest in the other's ability to weather current difficulties and to emerge in sound shape from the crisis.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, Globalization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

50426. Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2009

Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:
After several years of continuous expansion, reform and resiliency, in 2008 global peacekeeping was pushed to the brink. This publication warned in 2006 that peacekeeping faced a risk of overstretch. In 2007 it highlighted the mounting pressures on peacekeeping organizations, while stressing that peace operations had shown surprising resilience. By 2008 peacekeeping was spread increasingly thin, in many respects the victim of its own success. Our thematic review that year was by Lakhdhar Brahimi and Salman Ahmed. It cautioned that we risked unlearning the central lesson of the Brahimi Report: that peacekeeping is not a substitute for an effective political process.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Organization, Non-Governmental Organization, and Peace Studies

50427. Rapid Deployment of Civilians for Peace Operations: Status, Gaps, and Options

Author:
Bruce Jones, Shepard Forman, Jake Sherman, Rahul Chandran, Yoshino Funaki, Anne le More, and Andrew Hart
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:
The May 2008 thematic debate in the UN Security Council debate identified three primary weaknesses in international performance to support stabilization and early recovery from conflict: A strategic gap – there was no evidence of strategy that encompassed political, security, development and humanitarian tools across bilateral and multi-lateral actors, and no framework for prioritization. A financing gap – the instruments of international assistance are neither flexible nor dynamic enough. Further, and specific gaps were identified for: standing capacity for strategic planning at country level; support to political processes and implementation of agreements; funding that is realistic, flexible and responsive; there is a gap in the ability to spend development money early. A series of capacity gaps – in leadership and implementation, in sheer availability of civilian resources, and in purposeful training.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Security, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, United Nations, and International Security

50428. Providing Aid in Insecure Environments: 2009 Update- Trends in violence against aid workers and the operational response

Author:
Abby Stoddard, Adele Harmer, and Victoria DiDomenico
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:
In 2008, 260 humanitarian aid workers were killed, kidnapped or seriously injured in violent attacks. This toll is the highest of the 12 years that our study has tracked these incidents. The absolute number of attacks against aid workers has risen steeply over the past three years, with an annual average almost three times higher than the previous nine years. Relative rates of attacks per numbers of aid workers in the field have also increased — by 61%. The 2008 fatality rate for international aid workers exceeds that of UN peacekeeping troops.
Topic:
Security, Political Violence, Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, and International Organization

50429. The Future of Peacekeeping Operations: Fighting Political Fatigue and Overstretch

Author:
Richard Gowan
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:
In the last sixth months, NATO and the UN have both confronted the possibility that their largest individual peace operations may fail. In Afghanistan, NATO troops have struggled to contain the Taliban. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) the UN was unable to halt rebel attacks that displaced as many as 250,000 people last September.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, International Cooperation, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Taliban and Democratic Republic of the Congo

50430. Delivering on Global Prosperity and Other Key Challenges

Author:
Richard Gowan
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:
The London Summit on 2 April marks a potential turning-point in making international institutions fit for the 21 st century – but it is not clear how farreaching its impact will be. The Summit affirms the status of the G20 as a forum to address institutional reform. While it may begin to lay the groundwork for an overhaul of the Bretton Woods institutions, it is far from guaranteed that even major reforms of the global financial framework will stimulate comparable progress in security cooperation, over climate change or on international law.
Topic:
Globalization, International Cooperation, International Organization, Non-Governmental Organization, and Political Economy