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21. Pakistan's future policy towards Afghanistan

Author:
Qandeel Siddique
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
What factors are likely to govern the course of Pakistan's future policy vis-à-vis Afghanistan? This question has increasing relevance for regional security, especially in the light of the imminent endgame in Afghanistan and of the ongoing dialogue with the Taliban. This report probes the implications of the volatile US–Pakistan relationship and of Indo–Pak rivalry in the Af–Pak war theatre, in particular for Pakistan's reliance on militant extremist groups to secure and further its strategic interests. Developments pertaining to the role and engagement of the United States in the region and Indian ties to Afghanistan and the US affect Pakistan's perceived power status in the Indian subcontinent. The extent to which Pakistani interests are met in the process and out - come of brokering a deal with the Taliban is an additional determinant of whether Pakistan will continue with, or veer from, the status quo.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Foreign Policy, NATO, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Pakistan and Afghanistan

22. No Easy Way Out: Traditional Authorities in Somaliland and the Limits of Hybrid Political Orders

Author:
Markus Virgil Hoehne
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Somalia has been without effective state institutions since 1991. Over the past two decades, moderately effective state-like institutions have been rebuilt in Somaliland and Puntland in northern Somalia, but they do not enjoy international recognition and are limited in power and scope. This text concentrates on the integration of non-state actors, particularly traditional authorities, during the process of state-formation in Somaliland. Arguably, this integration has brought about a hybrid political system that functioned quite well during the first years of existence of Somaliland. Hybrid political systems are currently of great interest in various African settings, including the possibility of integrating traditional authorities into (local) government in South Sudan. These systems, however, mix modes of legitimacy of different political actors in a way that, in the long run, either undermines the democratic capabilities of modern states or seriously damages the credibility and effectiveness of traditional authorities. Thus, hybrid political systems may be a way to stabilize politics in a transitory phase (e.g., after civil war or independence) but they are not the easy way out of the dilemma that state institutions in many African states are weak, have only a very limited outreach and in many regards lack popular legitimacy.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Civil Society, Fragile/Failed State, and Governance
Political Geography:
Africa and Somalia

23. Libya: Beyond Regime Change

Author:
Henrik Boesen Lindbo Larsen
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
NATO's intervention in Libya has highlighted the risks connected with enforcement of humanitarian principles in Europe's neighbourhood through engaging in regime change. The EU now seems to remain the only viable forum if the Western states wish to play a more permanent role in Libya.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Regime Change, and Insurgency
Political Geography:
Europe, Libya, Arabia, and North Africa

24. Liberal or Illiberal? Discord within the Danish-Swedish Pacific Community

Author:
Pertti Joenniemi
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Rather than being amiable, the Danish-Swedish relations have more recently turned somewhat contested. Arguments like the other being quite illiberal have frequently been aired in the public debate. The aim of the paper is hence to explored the rift in order to pursue broader questions about the relationship between two neighbouring countries actually quite similar to each other and broadly recognized not only as liberal and democratic, but also seen as inherently peaceful due to their belonging to the rather pacific community of Nordic countries. Does the crux of the issue consist of similarity having turned too intimate and therefore intolerable, or are Denmark and Sweden instead on their way to sliding apart with their previously rather homogeneous nature in decline and the increase in differences then also amounting to discord and distrust? Answers are sought for by probing the debate and more generally by revisiting relevant theorizations, including the traditional ways of accounting for the pacific nature of Nordic commonality. The findings are then placed in a broader IR-perspective as to use of democracy and liberal values in the construction of similarity and difference, i.e. departures crucial in the ordering of political space.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Democratization, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Europe

25. Politics Prevail in EU Enlargement

Author:
Julie Herschend Christoffersen
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
On 9 December 2011, the European Council will discuss Serbia as a future member of the EU. Serbia has come a long way in the past ten years, and the captures of alleged war criminals in recent years have underlined the commitment to a European future on the part of the Serbian government. However, Kosovo remains a serious obstacle for Serbia's EU dreams, as the latest developments in the region have demonstrated. The internal division of the EU on the issue complicates the matter further. Once again, politics prevails in EU enlargement. This DIIS Policy Brief focuses on some of the underlying dynamics of the EU enlargement.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Democratization, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Europe and Balkans

26. Growing Jasmines: What should the EU do in Tunisia now?

Author:
Fabrizio Tassinari, Ulla Holm, and Helle Malmvig
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The EU misread the situation in Tunisia. However, the fact that the EU approach did not work as expected should not lead now to a hasty overhaul of the existing policy framework. But the EU will have to be clearer, smarter and stricter about how its policy instruments are implemented.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Regime Change, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Europe, Arabia, and North Africa

27. Popular Nationalism in China and the Sino-Japanese Relationship: The Conflict in the East China Sea

Author:
Erik Beukel
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The Sino-Japanese relationship is a highly complex one, marked both by Japan's aggressive wars from the 1930s on and the present economic interdependence between the two countries. Focusing on the role of the territorial conflict in the East China Sea, this DIIS Report considers how China's leaders handle anti-Japanese nationalism by adopting a Janusian stance and pursuing both China's basic interest in close economic relations with Japan and also domestic stability. After a review of Chinese and Japanese sovereignty claims in the area and of the rise of nationalism since the early 1980s, four crises over the East China Sea are examined to identify the character of and changes in China's policy. For the last ten years China's leaders have attempted to conduct a more pragmatic policy towards Japan and evade the pernicious shadow of history. But this policy faces critical problems both in a growing popular nationalism in China and in the Japanese government's lack of willingness to restrain their own nationalists and the absence of legal possibilities for them to do so.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Economics, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Japan, China, Israel, and Asia

28. Conflict and cooperation in local water governance–Inventory of local water-related events in Tiraque District, Bolivia

Author:
Vladimir Cossio, Rocío Bustamante, and Thomas Skielboe
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Recent years have witnessed an increasing focus on water as a source of conflict. So far, much of the focus has been on the risk for transboundary water conflicts. Our current knowledge on local water conflicts is however more limited, and tends to be based on sporadic accounts of local water conflicts rather than on systematic empirical evidence. At the same time, the extent and nature of local water cooperation is often overlooked, just as we know little about the particular role of the poorest in water conflict and cooperation.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Regional Cooperation, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
Latin America

29. Conflict and cooperation in local water governance – Inventory of local water-related events in Douentza District, Mali

Author:
Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde, Moussa Djiré, Abdoulaye O. Cissé, Amadou Keita, and Anna Traoré
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Recent years have witnessed an increasing focus on water as a source of conflict. So far, much of the focus has been on the risk for transboundary water conflicts. Our current knowledge on local water conflicts is however more limited, and tends to be based on sporadic accounts of local water conflicts rather than on systematic empirical evidence. At the same time, the extent and nature of local water cooperation is often overlooked, just as we know little about the particular role of the poorest in water conflict and cooperation.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
Africa and Mali

30. Cooperación y Conflicto en torno a la Gestión Local del Agua en el municipio de Condega, Nicaragua

Author:
Helle Munk Ravnborg, Roberto Rivas Hermann, Tania Paz Mena, and Ligia Gómez
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
La investigación internacional “Competencia por el agua: Entendiendo el Conflicto y la Cooperación en torno a la Gestión Local del Agua” llevaba a cabo en los países de Bolivia, Mali, Vietnam, Zambia y Nicaragua, tiene como objetivo principal “Contribuir a la gestión local sostenible del agua, en beneficio de los pobres rurales y otros grupos en desventaja en los países en desarrollo, a través de un mayor conocimiento de la extensión y la intensidad de los conflictos y la cooperación local por el agua”. Como resultado de la investigación se pretende la elaboración de recomendaciones de políticas internacionales, nacionales y locales para la mejora en la gestión del agua para lo cual se realizan diferentes esfuerzos investigativos en el tema como el caso del presente documento.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
Latin America