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41. NATO's New Strategic Concept A Comprehensive Assessment

Author:
Jens Ringsmose(ed.) and Sten Rynning(ed.)
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
On 19 November 2010 NATO formally agreed to adopt a New Strategic Concept. After a long, tightly scheduled and generally speaking fairly transparent process the NATO family endorsed an updated understanding of what the core purpose of the Atlantic Alliance is at the Lisbon Summit. NATO's basic text – the Washington Treaty of 1949 – was, as it were, once again re-interpreted within a specific geopolitical context to fit an ever-changing strategic landscape. Or, put differently, with the adoption of the New Strategic Concept NATO sought to bring its basic interests and strategic thinking into line with the security environment as it has evolved since 1999 when the Alliance adopted its last Strategic Concept. Launched to great fanfare and amidst many high expectations this key text entitled 'Active Engagement, Modern Defence' is projected to confer a new strategic direction on NATO and to inform the world about why the Atlantic Alliance is still vital and vigorous.
Topic:
Security, NATO, International Cooperation, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Washington

42. After the Strategic Concept: Towards a NATO Version 3.0

Author:
Trine Flockhart
Publication Date:
04-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
NATO now has a new Strategic Concept entitled Active Engagement – Modern Defence, agreed at the Lisbon Summit on 19 November 2010. The new Strategic Concept is heaped with high expectations, that it will produce what US Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder has called a 'NATO Version 3.0', which will ensure that the Alliance is fit for facing the challenges of the 21st century.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, NATO, International Organization, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States

43. Dealing with Iran: How can the EU Achieve its strategic Objectives?

Author:
Shirin Pakfar
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The European Union has a unique opportunity to prove its relevance as a global foreign policy actor through resolving the international community's standoff with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Using its High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and its member states, the EU should utilize its powerful trade and energy ties with Tehran to embark on a dialogue with the regime that goes beyond the nuclear programme and addresses a broader set of issues of mutual concern.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, and Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Europe, Iran, Middle East, and Tehran

44. European Security Practices vis-à-vis the Mediterranean: Implications in Value Terms

Author:
Pinar Bilgin, Eduard Soler i Lecha, and Ali Bilgic
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper analyses the implications of European security practices vis-à-vis the Mediterranean in value terms as deduced from an analysis of 'facts on the ground' and local actors' perspectives (based on interviews conducted in Algeria, Egypt and Morocco). It is argued that European security practices have had adverse implications for various security referents in the South. While it is too soon to tell whether the so-called 'Arab Spring' has been delayed or brought on by such collaboration, our research shows how Euro-Mediterranean security collaboration has rendered more defenceless the already vulnerable individuals and societies in the South and how Southern Mediterranean states/regimes and societies have become further alienated from each other following such collabo-ration. The paper also highlights how the very practices adopted by European actors to secure the Union and its values may have rendered it less secure insofar as they have had consequences for the very meaning of what it means to be 'European'.
Topic:
Security and Popular Revolt
Political Geography:
Europe, Arabia, Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco

45. Perspectives on security in the Arctic area

Author:
Annika Bergman Rosamond
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This report provides multiple perspectives on security in the Arctic area. A key objective is to demonstrate that, although the Arctic is the site of competing natural resources and land claims, which are emerging from such phenomena as melting ice and new sea routes, there are also many signs of fruitful regional cooperation and sound neighbourly relations. This thesis is supported by the high level of Arctic institutionalisation that has evolved since the end of the Cold War. Despite this, some media outlets have routinely portrayed the Arctic as a possible site of inter-state conflict. Such accounts do not take sufficient account of the collaborative initiatives that take place within the Arctic Council, the Nordic Council of Ministers and the European Union, to mention a few. The Arctic is situated within a complex web of multilateral and bilateral networks, ranging from states to regional institutions. What is more, there is a great deal of emphasis on the involvement of indigenous and local communities in key decision-making processes. This is not to argue that there are no challenges to security and prosperity in the Arctic area, but rather that we need to investigate these against the backdrop of the ongoing institutionalisation of the High North.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Climate Change, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

46. Building Civil Servant Capacity in South Sudan

Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
'Coaching and mentoring for capacity' has become a popular approach to civil servant capacity building in fragile states. in South Sudan, the 'IGAD initiative' is currently deploying 200 coaches and mentors to South Sudan from Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. this brief recaps on some main tenets of the initiative and presents a number of policy recommendations.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Sovereignty, Governance, and Self Determination
Political Geography:
Uganda, Kenya, Africa, Ethiopia, and South Sudan

47. The Non-Western Challenger? The Rise of a Sino-Centric China

Author:
Andreas Bøje Forsby
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
What are the implications of China's rapid rise for international order? This report seeks to answer the question from an identity perspective. The key argument is that China is currently undergoing an identity shift towards Sino-centrism, that is, a self-centering tendency to turn narrative attention towards the internally generated, specifically Chinese hallmarks associated with China's civilizational past and cultural heritage.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Foreign Policy, and Culture
Political Geography:
China and Israel

48. Security Sector Reform and the Dilemmas of Liberal Peacebuilding

Author:
Louise Riis Andersen
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In recent years, Security Sector Reform (SSR) has emerged as a key component of international post-conflict reconstruction efforts. At the same time, however, it is becoming increasingly clear that the holistic approach to SSR that is outlined in policy papers is very difficult to translate into effective interventions in fragile states. This paper identifies two competing approaches for a 'contextualized' SSR-agenda: A monopoly model that focuses on restoring the state's monopoly on the means of violence and a hybrid model that seeks to strengthen local community-based security and justice solutions. The paper argues that as a strategy for intervention, the choice is not simply between a top-down 'imposition' of a universal state model and a bottom-up approach of 'working with what is there'. It is also a choice between direct and indirect forms of rule. This makes the dilemma real for liberal-minded practitioners and observers who for good reasons remain reluctant towards the colonial practice of ruling through middle-men. The paper does not offer a solution to the dilemma. When two imperatives pull in opposite directions, 'answers' are bound to be ad hoc: Specific and contextual, rather than principled and generic. The paper does, however, suggest that part of the way forward may be to move towards a more 'entry-oriented' mode of operation that recognizes that the role of external actors is to help establish a space for security and development solutions, rather than to fill that space.
Topic:
Security, Democratization, Peace Studies, Governance, and Law Enforcement

49. Intervention hangovers in stabilisation operations: Case studies from Afghanistan and Iraq

Author:
Dr. Ann M Fitz-Gerald and Christian Dennys
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper argues that the emergence of stabilisation as a concept out of peace-building, state- building and counter-insurgency theories has carried with it some of the key weaknesses of international intervention, in particular the idea that imposing western liberal systems on non- western societies will contribute towards stability. With reference to two case studies, the Wheat Seed project in Afghanistan and a gas cylinder distribution project in Iraq, the paper argues that stabilisation activities do not engage fully with the underlying premise that stabilisation must support and engender local political legitimacy, in part because of the conceptual baggage that stabilisation has adopted from other areas. The paper concludes by arguing that greater use should be made of the knowledge and histories of non-western state formation, characterized as being non- Weberian, as a counter to the overuse by interveners of the desire to support rational Weberian state structures in other countries.
Topic:
Security, Development, Foreign Aid, and Neoimperialism
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Arabia

50. The Contested Role of Community Policing: 'New' non-state actors in the plural legal landscape of Mozambique

Author:
Helene Maria Kyed
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Since the turn of the millennium 'Community Policing' has become a significant and widespread element of everyday policing in poor rural and urban areas of Mozambique. This development is not unique to Mozambique, but reflected globally. Community policing (CP) has since the 1990s enjoyed widespread popularity as a philosophy and strategy of 'democratic policing' that seeks to substitute centralised, paramilitary-style state policing with active citizen inclusion in policing. In Mozambique, councils of community policing members have been formed since 2001, with the purpose of reducing crime as well as making the state police more transparent and accountable to the public.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Corruption, Crime, and Torture
Political Geography:
Africa and Mozambique