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22. Iran and the New Geopolitics of Oil - an Annotated Bibliograhy
- Author:
- Luke Patey
- Publication Date:
- 09-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Since its revolutionary birth in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has had a turbulent existence in international relations. From the US hostage crisis to the Iran-Iraq War to the current provocative development of its nuclear program, the short history of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been characterized by its volatile foreign politics. In fact, this is a feature very much resemblant of the country's tumultuous past, born from both its immense energy resources and its geo-strategic location. Regardless if Iran was under the rule of a Shah or the ultimate power of an Ayatollah, since the discovery of oil in the early 1900s, Iran's generous natural endowments have created an intimate link between itself and geopolitical competition.
- Topic:
- Economics, Politics, and Religion
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, and Iran
23. Political Islam in Kenya
- Author:
- Bjørn Moller
- Publication Date:
- 08-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- In the paper, commissioned by Hussein Solomon and Akeem Fadare for their forthcoming anthology on Political Islam and the State in Africa, the focus placed on the political role of Islam in Kenyan politics. Prevalent fears (e.g. in the United States) of the country becoming a hotbed of Islamist radicalism and terrorism are critically examined against the background of the various categories of Kenyan Muslims, their general position in Kenyan society, their grievances, organisation and occasional role in various conflicts. This is all set against a background of Kenyan history, where the role of other religions (Christianity and traditional religion) is also highlighted. The paper concludes with some tentative recommendations for how the (mainly latent) conflicts might be defused.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Politics, and Religion
- Political Geography:
- Kenya, Africa, and United States
24. Bans, Tests and Alchemy: Food Safety Standards and Ugandan Fish Export
- Author:
- Stefano Ponte
- Publication Date:
- 10-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Fish exports are the second largest foreign exchange earner in Uganda. When Uganda's fish export industry started to operate in the late 1980s and early 1990s, one may have thought that fish was being turned into gold. From an export value of just over one million US$ in 1990, the mighty Nile Perch had earned the country over 45 million US$ just six years later. But alchemy proved to be more than the quest of the philosophers' stone to change base metals into gold. From 1997 to 2000, the industry experienced a series of import bans, imposed by the EU on grounds of food safety. Despite claims to the contrary, the EU did not provide scientific proof that fish was actually 'unsafe'. Rather, the poor performance of Uganda's regulatory and monitoring system was used as a justification. The 'system', as the characters of an allegory, has no individual personality and is the embodiment of the moral qualities that 'the consumer' expects from 'responsible operators' in the fish sector. Only by fixing this system of regulations and inspections, and by performing the ritual of laboratory testing did the Ugandan industry regain its status as a 'safe' source of fish. Fish exports now earn almost 90 million US$ to the country. This apparent success story was achieved by a common front comprising government authorities and the processing industry, a high level of private-public collaboration not often seen in East Africa. Yet, important chunks of the regulatory and monitoring system exist only on paper. Furthermore, the system is supposed to achieve a series of contradictory objectives: to facilitate efficient logistics and ensure food safety; to match market demand and take care of sustainability; to implement a top-down food safety monitoring system and a bottom-up fisheries co-management system. This means that at least some food safety-related operations have to be carried out as 'rituals of verification'. Given the importance of microbiological tests and laboratories in the food safety compliance system, alchemic rituals are perhaps a more appropriate metaphor. While the white coats and advanced machinery of present-day alchemists reassure insecure European regulators and consumers, it leaves the Ugandan fish industry in a vulnerable position. In Uganda, fish can now be turned into gold again – but for how long?
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- Uganda, Africa, United States, and East Africa
25. The U.S. and Transatlantic Relations: On the Difference between Dominance and Hegemony
- Author:
- David P. Forsythe
- Publication Date:
- 06-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- It is important to distinguish hegemony from dominance, as various authors like Machiavelli, Gramsci, and Nye have argued. This distinction allows one to appreciate that the first Bush Administration attempted to be a dominant power rather than a hegemonic one. A long list of assertions of essentially unilateral dominant power projections is actually buttressed by two pillars: primary of hard power but also American exceptionalism. By comparison to Europe, the George W. Bush version of American exceptionalism emphasizes traditional and absolute U.S. state sovereignty, a corresponding depreciation of international law and organization, parochialism, and non-muscular multilateralism. Because of all this the U.S. is largely responsible for the crisis in Atlanticism. The Europeans, however, have made their own contributions to this crisis. The crisis needs to be resolved, as the management of various international problems requires trans-Atlantic cooperation. Fortunately there are signs of movement toward this cooperation, although the signals are mixed on the U.S. side.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Diplomacy, and Sovereignty
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
26. Regional Histories of Development and Security: Seguridad a la Americana
- Author:
- Fiona Wilson
- Publication Date:
- 02-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The argument of this paper is that there is nothing new about the political connection made between development and security. This has characterized US relations with Latin America grounded in the Monroe Doctrine (giving the US right to intervene) that dates back to 1823. The focus here is on the 1960's, the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, when the securitydevelopment complex was put firmly in place through the build-up of the region's armed forces militaries and an aggressive, anti-communist ideology under the aegis of the US military. In this context, the paper revisits a visionary paper written by the Brazilian economist Celso Furtado in 1966 when in exile, giving his (Latin American) analysis of the securitydevelopment complex and need to react against US economic hegemony, an important strand in dependency theory.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- United States, Brazil, Cuba, and Central America
27. Missile Defence in the United States
- Author:
- Bertel Heurlin
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The basic arguments of this paper are, first, that the current US-missile defense, being operative from fall 2004, is based upon the former experiences with missile defense, second, that missile defense closely associated with weapons of mass destruction has gained the highest priority in American national security policy due to the 9.11 attacks, and third, that the superior argument for establishing an American missile defense is to maintain global, long term political-strategic superiority.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- United States and Asia
28. Asian Ballistic Missiles and Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Impact of Missile Defences
- Author:
- Bjørn Møller
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The paper analyses critically the threat perceptions of the West, and especially the United States, regarding ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Asian states. Reviewing Southwest, South and Northeast Asia it finds these regions to be more stable as commonly assumed and little evidence to support the assumption that the states in these regions are undeterrable. A deployment by the United States of ballistic missile defences is thus found to be both superfluous and possibly destabilising. However, a mobile boost-phase defence is found to be less potentially destabilising than other missile defence "architectures".
- Topic:
- Security and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- United States and Asia
29. Refugees, Security and Development: Current Experience and Strategies of Protection and Assistance in 'The Region of Origin'
- Author:
- Finn Steppulat
- Publication Date:
- 09-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- On the background of the recently increased political interest in protecting and assisting refugees in their 'regions of origin' this working paper lays out a conceptual framework for analyzing the strategies, conditions and options for support to refugees areas in neighboring countries to countries in conflict. In particular relations between security–or the 'securitization of refugees'–and development and local integration are discussed. The working paper identifies the confinement and lack of freedom of movement of refugees as the major obstacle to local, or rather regional, integration of refugees. Finally, the working paper makes recommendations for action and research in relation to the strategy of protecting and assisting refugees close to the countries they have left.
- Topic:
- Development, Human Welfare, Migration, and Third World
- Political Geography:
- United States
30. Greenland, Denmark and the Debate on Missile Defense: A Window of Opportunity for Increased Autonomy
- Author:
- Kristian Søby Kristensen
- Publication Date:
- 09-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper investigates the debate leading up to the joint Danish-Greenlandic decision to allow the US to upgrade its radar at Thule Air Base, ensuring its integration in the American missile defense. By analyzing how this debate is structured in the Danish Realm, the paper argues that the contentious history of the Air Base strengthens the moral position of the Greenlanders and provides them with valuable argumentative assets in the debate. This debate, the paper concludes, presents the Greenlanders with a window of opportunity facilitating negotiations with the Danish Government, the effect of which is further Greenlandic independence and increasing Greenlandic influence on security policy.
- Topic:
- Security and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, Denmark, and Greenland
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