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432. Analyzing Post-Conflict Justice and Islamic Law
- Author:
- Whitney Parker, Scott Worden, Shani Ross, and Sahar Azar
- Publication Date:
- 03-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United States Institute of Peace
- Abstract:
- Post-conflict justice mechanisms such as truth commissions, war crimes tribunals and reparations programs have emerged as a fundamental building block of durable peace settlements in Latin America, Africa and Asia. They are relatively rare, however, in Muslim countries recovering from conflict-despite the fact that social and criminal justice is a fundamental principle of Islamic law.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Crime, Islam, War, Law Enforcement, and Law
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Asia, Arabia, and Latin America
433. Between conditionality and engagement: Revisiting the EU's democracy promotion in the Eastern neighbourhood
- Author:
- Kristi Raik
- Publication Date:
- 04-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
- Abstract:
- The EU needs to place a stronger emphasis on promoting democracy in its Eastern neighbourhood. A new approach should combine limited, focused conditionality with increased openness and multi-level linkages. Conditionality is often effective in promoting faster and better reforms where the home-grown will to democratise is present (as in Moldova, for example). It is not likely to work as a transformative policy, bringing about change from authoritarianism to democracy in the neighbourhood. The goal of tying neighbours to Europe should prevail over the principle of political conditionality. Economic integration and visa freedom have to be pursued with all neighbouring countries. This makes democratisation more likely to occur in the longer term. Engagement, providing it is not limited to political leaders, can be a successful strategy to push for democratic change. Cooperation with (semi-)authoritarian governments has to be accompanied by strong support for civil society and multiple links with the populations. Ukraine is a test case of the EU's ability to use association agreements as a tool for democracy promotion. The involvement of neighbours in the negotiation process offers a possibility to shape their domestic agendas. At the same time, there must be 'red lines': the EU should emphasize that it will not sign the agreements with countries having major problems with democracy.
- Topic:
- Democratization
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Arabia
434. Andrea Carcano. L'occupazione dell'Iraq nel diritto internazionale
- Author:
- Mirko Sossai
- Publication Date:
- 02-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- The renewed interest in the law of belligerent occupation probably reached its peak in 2009, when various monographs were published by distinguished authors as well as by younger scholars. The book under review originated from a doctoral thesis defended by Andrea Carcano at the University of Milan. His investigation focuses on the 2003 occupation of Iraq as the ideal test-case to verify whether the existing legal regime is adequate to address the challenges posed by present-day scenarios, including Afghanistan, Congo, and the Arab–Israeli conflict. The book is divided into three parts. The first one comprises two chapters, which present respectively the legal framework of belligerent occupation and the other applicable norms of international law. Chapter I takes a historical perspective on the legal concept of occupation, which the author considers functional to the subsequent analysis for two main reasons: to investigate the underlying values guiding the development of the law of belligerent occupation; and to compare current theories regarding the role of the law in such a situation with similar arguments upheld in the past (at 13). Carcano identifies three epochs, which modelled different concepts of occupation. The first one is valid until the Modern Age and is influenced by the Roman law tradition: occupation is considered as 'conquest and exploitation of the territory'. The modern notion of occupation, defined as 'administration and effective control', emerged during the 18th century, at the time of the consolidation of sovereign states in Europe. Whereas Vattel had already in theory identified the differentiation between sovereignty and private ownership, it was August Heffter, a century later, who first recognized the legal implications of the distinction between occupatio bellica and debellatio (at 24). Finally, the last model is that of the occupation as 'transformation': Carcano identifies it as 'a military action aimed at the radical …
- Topic:
- Development and International Law
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Europe, Israel, Paris, and Arabia
435. On the Record: Mourning Usama bin Laden
- Publication Date:
- 05-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- The following is a sampling of reactions from various Islamist leaders, commentators, and organizations following the death of Usama bin Laden.
- Topic:
- Islam, Terrorism, and Armed Struggle
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Arabia
436. The Arab Wave
- Author:
- Eugene Rogan
- Publication Date:
- 05-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The National Interest
- Abstract:
- Contrary to so much conventional wisdom, the struggle for democracy in the Middle East is not new. The events of 2011 have deep roots in the nineteenth century. Islamic culture and self-governance are not mutually exclusive.
- Topic:
- Islam
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Arabia
437. Demystifying the Arab Spring
- Author:
- Lisa Anderson
- Publication Date:
- 05-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Foreign Affairs
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- In Tunisia, protesters escalated calls for the restoration of the country's suspended constitution. Meanwhile, Egyptians rose in revolt as strikes across the country brought daily life to a halt and toppled the government. In Libya, provincial leaders worked feverishly to strengthen their newly independent republic. It was 1919. That year's events demonstrate that the global diffusion of information and expectations -- so vividly on display in Tahrir Square this past winter -- is not a result of the Internet and social media. The inspirational rhetoric of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points speech, which helped spark the 1919 upheavals, made its way around the world by telegraph. The uprisings of 1919 also suggest that the calculated spread of popular movements, seen across the Arab world last winter, is not a new phenomenon. The Egyptian Facebook campaigners are the modern incarnation of Arab nationalist networks whose broadsheets disseminated strategies for civil disobedience throughout the region in the years after World War I. The important story about the 2011 Arab revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya is not how the globalization of the norms of civic engagement shaped the protesters' aspirations. Nor is it about how activists used technology to share ideas and tactics. Instead, the critical issue is how and why these ambitions and techniques resonated in their various local contexts. The patterns and demographics of the protests varied widely. The demonstrations in Tunisia spiraled toward the capital from the neglected rural areas, finding common cause with a once powerful but much repressed labor movement. In Egypt, by contrast, urbane and cosmopolitan young people in the major cities organized the uprisings. Meanwhile, in Libya, ragtag bands of armed rebels in the eastern provinces ignited the protests, revealing the tribal and regional cleavages that have beset the country for decades. Although they shared a common call for personal dignity and responsive government, the revolutions across these three countries reflected divergent economic grievances and social dynamics -- legacies of their diverse encounters with modern Europe and decades under unique regimes.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- United States, Libya, Arabia, Egypt, and Tunisia
438. Terrorism After the Revolutions
- Author:
- Daniel Byman
- Publication Date:
- 05-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Foreign Affairs
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- On December 17, Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor, set himself on fire to protest police harassment. His death incited unrest throughout Tunisia; less than a month later, protests toppled Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Egypt, the most populous and influential country in the Arab world, soon followed suit. Al Qaeda met both these dramatic events with near silence. Only in mid-February did Osama bin Laden's Egyptian deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, officer comments. But even then, he did not directly address the revolutions or explain how jihadists should respond. Instead, he claimed that the Tunisian revolution occurred "against the agent of America and France," gamely trying to transform Tunisians' fight against corruption and repression into a victory for anti-Western jihadists. On Egypt, Zawahiri offered a rambling history lesson, ranging from Napoleon to the tyranny of the Mubarak government. He released his statement on Egypt on February 18, a week after Hosni Mubarak resigned, and offered little guidance to potential followers on how they should view the revolution or react to it. U.S. politicians are moving quickly to claim the revolutions and al Qaeda's muted response as victories in the struggle against terrorism. "This revolution is a repudiation of al Qaeda," declared Senator John McCain during a visit to Cairo on February 27. And indeed, looking out from bin Laden's cave, the Arab world looks less promising than it did only a few months ago. Although bin Laden and al Qaeda have been attempting to overthrow Arab governments for more than 20 years, the toppling of the seemingly solid dictatorships in Tunisia and Egypt caught them flat-footed and undermined their message of violent jihad. Nevertheless, al Qaeda and its allies could ultimately benefit from the unrest. For now, al Qaeda has greater operational freedom of action, and bin Laden and his allies will seek to exploit any further unrest in the months and years to come.
- Topic:
- Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- United States, Arabia, Egypt, and Tunisia
439. The Many Faces of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
- Author:
- Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou
- Publication Date:
- 05-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
- Abstract:
- Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (“Tandhim Al Qaeda fi Bilad Al Maghrib Al Islami”, commonly referred to by its French acronym AQMI) is a reformed version of an Algerian terrorist group formed in September 1998, Al Jama'a Al Salafiya lil Da'wa wal Qital (Salafist Group for Predication and Combat, GSPC). Born in the context of the waning Algerian civil war that had raged in that country between 1992 and 1998, with an estimated 150,000 dead, the GSPC carried with it three consequential elements: the violent legacy of the civil war and its heavy toll on Algerian society; an entrenched radical Islamist identity prone to armed violence; and a design on the part of this group to not disarm and perpetuate its armed insurrection.
- Topic:
- Islam, Terrorism, Armed Struggle, and Counterinsurgency
- Political Geography:
- Arabia, Algeria, and North Africa
440. Strategic Pretence or Strategic Defence? Britain, France and the Common Security and Defence Policy after Libya
- Author:
- Julian Lindley-French
- Publication Date:
- 04-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
- Abstract:
- With British and French aircraft undertaking most of the air operations over Libya and some fiftyfive years on from the Suez debacle, historical irony abounds. On November 2 2010, London and Paris agreed the Defence and Security Cooperation Treaty1 (see box below). On the face of it the accord is by and large military-technical: to develop co-operation between British and French Armed Forces, to promote the sharing and pooling of materials and equipment including through mutual interdependence, and leading to the building of joint facilities. This it is hoped will promote mutual access to each other's defence markets, through the promotion of industrial and technological co-operation. But what has the treaty to do with the European Union (EU) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)? Does the treaty mark the first step on the road to regalvanising Europe's strategic defence or is it simply the strategic pretence of two aging, failing powers unable to accept a world that has moved on?
- Topic:
- NATO, Democratization, Regime Change, and Insurgency
- Political Geography:
- Britain, France, Libya, Arabia, and North Africa