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21. Violent Extremism in Mosul & the Kurdistan Region: Context, Drivers, and Public Perception

Author:
Dlawer Ala'Aldeen, Kamaran Palani, and Khogir Wirya
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Middle East Research Institute (MERI)
Abstract:
The Nineveh Province and Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) are co-located in northern Iraq. They are comparable in terms of ethno-religious and sectarian diversity, history, and political economy. However, since 2003, these two regions and their communities have produced two different environments. Nineveh became extremely vulnerable to violent extremism (VE), while the KRI demonstrated persistent resilience. In this paper, a comparative analysis was carried out to examine public perception of the presence, root causes and drivers of VE, and their perception of the impact of on-going governmental and non-governmental initiatives for the prevention of VE (PVE). The issue occurrence and non-occurrence of VE in two comparable environments, are characterised in a local socio-economic, security and political context. Combined with a comprehensive literature review, the data here shows that: VE should be contextualised within the broader security, governance, and identity crises, both locally in the governorate and nationally in Iraq as a whole. Thus, drivers enabling VE are different depending on the context, as well as the dynamic of other variables through time, which consequently need regular re-evaluation. Such, an understanding is critical for analysing the conditions that could facilitate the rise of extremist groups and VE, and for designing PVE policies. Building resilience against radicalisation and transitioning to PVE is a long-term process that requires systematic and comprehensive investment in building intra- and inter-community trust, and trust between people and the authorities. Taken together, the Nineveh and KRI experience since 2003, highlights the need to focus on key policy priorities, including: countering pull factors, enhancing rule-of-law and good governance; reforming the security sector and state-monopoly of violence; economic reform and empowerment of the youth; and promoting religious moderation.
Topic:
Governance, Public Opinion, Violent Extremism, Radicalization, and Rule of Law
Political Geography:
Iraq, Mosul, and Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI)

22. The Lie Detector and the Stories about It: Narrative of the Fight against Organised Crime in the Function of Capturing the State

Author:
Marija Pavlovic, Bojan Elek, and Milos Jovanovic
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Belgrade Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
How the narrative of the fight against organised crime is used to capture the state? Find out in the latest BCSP analysis. The objective of this report is to analyze the narrative of the fight against organised crime, i.e., the story the authorities are offering the public concerning this topic, for the purpose of establishing how it is used to capture the state. More precisely, the analysis attempts to explain how the polygraph was abused during the declared war on mafia to suspend judicial institutions, ‘cleanse’ some in the eyes of the public or criminalise others outside the statutory criminal procedure, and to identify the consequences of this approach to fighting organised crime. The so-called war on mafia officially began on 19 October 2020, when the President of Serbia used his Instagram profile to announce the final showdown between the state and organised crime. Set forth after a series of unsolved murders that had taken place on the streets of Serbian cities – characterised by experts mostly as mafia-style terminations – it initially looked like a marketing move that preceded the constitution of a new Government. Such understanding was supported by the fact that this was not the first time that government officials declared war on organised criminal groups. Former Minister of the Interior [MoI] declared a similar war almost four years earlier, under similar circumstances. One hero particularly stood out in this war. It was the lie detector, the omnipotent polygraph, used extensively in the previous months as the supreme arbiter of truth. Instead of lengthy court proceedings, complex investigations and obtaining evidence acceptable to the court, the polygraph was used by the highest state officials as a simple tool to directly prove to the citizens whether someone was telling the truth or lying, and to unmistakably determine guilt or innocence. Trials were replaced by media performances involving debates on who passed the lie detector test and who refused to take it, while politicians kept offering to be subjected to it or calling each other out for not doing the same thing, all in the name of the alleged fight against organised crime.
Topic:
Media, Rule of Law, Police, Judiciary, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
Europe and Serbia

23. The Crime-Politics Nexus Entrapping The Balkans

Author:
Bojan Elek and Giorgio Fruscione
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Belgrade Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
We are presenting you the Dossier on organized crime in the Balkans, produced in cooperation between the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) and Belgrade Centre for Security Policy. In some of the countries of the Western Balkans, criminal groups and political elites have grown increasingly interdependent. In particular, Serbia’s and Montenegro’s societies have suffered the most from these links. The two countries have long been considered frontrunners in the EU integration process, whose final completion, however, is difficult to foresee. Similarly, Albania’s EU negotiating process has also been delayed for years, in part because of the country’s role in global drug trafficking schemes. The crime-politics nexus is contributing to the erosion of the rule of law in several Balkan countries, where the risk – or reality – of state capture is increasingly worrisome. In light of recent events, Serbia appears to be the most concerning case as its authoritarian drift currently seems hard to reverse. Which consequences does the situation in Serbia have on other Balkan countries? What impact does state capture have on regional stability? And what is changing for the region’s integration prospects with the EU?
Topic:
Security, Crime, Rule of Law, Organized Crime, and State Capture
Political Geography:
Europe and Serbia

24. What Rule of Law for the European Union? – Tracing the Approaches of the EU Institutions

Author:
Justyna Maliszewska-Nienartowicz and Marcin Kleinowski
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
Although the rule of law is a normative notion, it requires a multidimensional approach. It speaks to important issues of law and politics, and its respect is essential for both legal and social security. It can be observed within the European Union (EU) where the issue of respect for the rule of law by its Member States has gained particular importance. The main goal of our study is to contribute to the academic discourse concerning the EU rule of law. The analysis particularly considers the approaches adopted by the EU institutions to the definition of this concept. Consequently, the first part of the article concentrates on difficulties in defining the rule of law. The second part presents the evolution of the Court of Justice approach toward this concept. The next part contains the analysis of the attitudes presented by other EU institutions in their documents. In the conclusions, it is underlined that although the approaches of the EU institutions towards the rule of have evolved, and they have tried to define it and indicate its main components, certain issues require clarification, e.g., the relations of the rule of law with other values.
Topic:
International Cooperation, European Union, Rule of Law, and Institutions
Political Geography:
Europe

25. State Capture in Mexico: A Theoretical and Historical Review

Author:
Gerardo Rodríguez Sánchez Lara
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to review the works of several academics specialized in the matter of security, which the authors will use as an analytical setting and revision their outcomes to define and understand the concept of state capture. Once the concept of state capture is defined, then the case of Mexico will be analysed. This article intends to discuss several indicators regarding state capture such as the rule of law, how political violence has also influenced the issues of corruption, impunity, and mentions how money laundering prevention serves as a tool for tackling corruption. In order to grasp an understanding what state capture is, we must first develop conceptualizations of corruption, impunity and its classifications, the rule of law, and the state apparatus. This article intends to analyse the implications that all of the above might have with regards to a state captured democracy, from an academic approach.
Topic:
Rule of Law, Financial Crimes, Impunity, Organized Crime, and State Capture
Political Geography:
Mexico

26. Rule-Bending Debates in Recent Finnish EU Policy: Pacta Sunt Servanda?

Author:
Saila Heinikoski
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
Abstract:
The Finnish EU policy line has traditionally been adaptable and compromise-seeking, but recent examples related to the rule-bending of EU law reveal some new tendencies. Finland has stood out from the European mainstream in several cases that relate to the rule-bending of EU law in three different ways: rule-bending by others, collective rule-bending, and its own rule-bending. First, intervening in rule-bending by others has found support in Finnish EU policy. Finland prioritized the rule of law in its 2019 Council presidency, as well as in the Government Report on EU policy published on 28 January 2021. Second, alleged collective rule-bending seems to be linked to the threat of federalism. In negotiations on the recovery and resilience facility in 2020, there was a wide domestic debate on whether the result was consistent with the traditional interpretation of EU treaties. Third, Finland’s own rule-bending of the Schengen Border Code’s six-month limit for internal border controls during the Covid-19 crisis seems to have been quietly accepted, with the Interior Minister acknowledging the existence of an “illegal state of affairs”.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, European Union, Rule of Law, Regionalism, and Federalism
Political Geography:
Europe and Finland

27. The EU-Turkey Visa Liberalization Saga: Lessons from the European Neighborhood

Author:
Ioannis N. Grigoriadis and Ayşe Tuba Uslu
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
Abstract:
This policy paper co-authored by Ioannis Grigoriadis, Senior Research Fellow of ELIAMEP and Head of its Turkey Programme, and Ayşe Tuba Uslu, Senior at the Department of International Relations of Bilkent University, lays out the main challenges for the successful conclusion of the Visa Liberalization Dialogue (VLD) between the European Union and Turkey. It examines the impact of democratic backsliding, the decline of the rule of law, fundamental rights and divergence in the legal framework regarding organized crime and anti-terrorism on the VLD and highlights the mistrust that has developed between the parties. Through a comparison between Ukrainian, Georgian, Moldovan and Turkish VLDs, it aims to highlight how the VLD could come to a successful conclusion.
Topic:
Human Rights, Migration, Rule of Law, Visa, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Middle East, Georgia, and Mediterranean

28. Public Administration in the era of Covid-19: Policy Responses and Reforms underway

Author:
Manto Lampropoulou
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
Abstract:
Covid-19 has caused an unprecedented shock to the state apparatus and has triggered major reforms in the administrative system of Greece. Policy responses to the pandemic have brought about several positive changes towards the modernization and de-bureaucratization of public administration. However, the pace and scale of change vary significantly. The pandemic has acted as a strong driver for the digital transformation of the public sector and the strengthening of e-government policies. Numerous administrative procedures were streamlined, digitalized and simplified, working conditions have become more flexible and several improvements have taken place in service delivery and state-citizen relations. The observed centralisation of decision-making and the often use of fast-track procedures have raised questions of democratic control, transparency and the rule of law, while the emergency measureshave been criticized for the threats they pose for the protection of citizens’ rights, individual liberties and personal data. A key challenge remains the integration the emergency measures of the covid-19 policy agenda into a longer-term programme of administrative reform in the post-covid era.
Topic:
Reform, Democracy, Rule of Law, Public Policy, Transparency, COVID-19, and Digital Policy
Political Geography:
Europe and Greece

29. Non-Consensual Intimate Image Distribution: The Legal Landscape in Kenya, Chile and South Africa

Author:
Michelle Bordachar, Nonhlanhla Chanza, Kailee Hilt, Carlos Lara, Emma Monteiro, and Grace Mutung'u
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:
The non-consensual distribution of intimate images, colloquially referred to as “revenge pornography” or “image-based sexual abuse,” is an unforgiving reality that continues to plague the lives of many within the current digital landscape. It alludes to the non-consensual distribution of photos or videos depicting nudity, partial nudity or sexually explicit acts. This paper provides an overview of the state of the law, both existing and proposed, in three countries in the Global South — Kenya, Chile and South Africa — as it relates to the non-consensual distribution of intimate images. It was prepared under the overall coordination of CIGI’s Kailee Hilt and Emma Monteiro, who also wrote the introduction and conclusion. The three case studies were written by leading experts from Kenya, Chile and South Africa. The authors discuss current and proposed legislation in response to non-consensual intimate image distribution, while also sharing recommendations for further action to address this growing form of gender-based violence within the digital sphere. On June 24, 2021, CIGI held a panel discussion on this topic moderated by Ruhiya Seward, senior program officer at the International Development Research Centre. Grace Mutung’u, Michelle Bordachar and Nonhlanhla Chanza, experts who contributed the case studies in the paper, spoke about this issue as it pertains to Kenya, Chile and South Africa, respectively, and offered recommendations and road maps for further action within the existing landscape.
Topic:
Rule of Law, Sexual Violence, Judiciary, Digital Culture, and Digitization
Political Geography:
Kenya, Africa, South Africa, South America, and Chile

30. Paraguay's Compliance With The Inter-American Human Rights System

Author:
Aníbal Pérez-Liñán, Madeline Soiney, and Andrés Hernández
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Why do new democracies comply with international human rights obligations? We analyze Paraguay’s compliance with all reparation measures requested by the Inter-American Human Rights System over the past two decades. In contrast to most studies, which focus on reparation measures ordered by a single organ in the system, our study covers all orders resulting from friendly settlements, reports published by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. We provide a novel classification of human rights cases, and evaluate three competing explanations for compliance: legal factors, international pressures, and domestic political will. Our analysis of 1,426 reparation-years underscores the importance of changes in political will over time.
Topic:
Human Rights, Democracy, Rule of Law, and Institutions
Political Geography:
Latin America, Paraguay, and Global Focus