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1631. The Spanish Presidency's agenda for conflict prevention and civilian crisis management

Author:
Catriona Gourlay, Jamie Woodbridge, and Lorraine Mullally
Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Security Information Service
Abstract:
According to the Spanish Presidency's website, its ambitions in the field of ESDP are heavily weighted towards enhancing the EU's military crisis management capability and assessing how ESDP could contribute to the EU's response to the threat of terrorism. Government officials are, however, keen to point out that civilian crisis management will not be sidelined and that the Presidency will take seriously its commitment to implement, review and add new dimensions to the EU Programme for the prevention of violent conflict agreed at the Göteburg European Council in 2001.
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

1632. Building Conflict Prevention into the Future of Europe

Author:
Claire Piana
Publication Date:
11-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Security Information Service
Abstract:
The Convention on the future of Europe is critical for the role of the European Union in the promotion of a more peaceful world. This roundtable sought to gain feedback on EPLO's contribution to the debate. EPLO's paper, which is entitled “Building Conflict Prevention into the Future of Europe”, makes recommendations on how to mainstream conflict prevention in the EU Treaty. It is based on the vision of a EU that is inclusive, democratically accountable, and promoting a more peaceful world.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

1633. Europe's Moral Attitudes Toward the Holocaust in Light of the Current Defamation of Israel

Author:
Manfred Gerstenfeld
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Abstract:
The moral aspects of Western attitudes toward the Jews and the Holocaust since World War II have not yet been analyzed systematically. However, the current campaign of hatred against Israel and the Jewish people — unprecedented since the end of the war — recalls many elements of the prewar decades. Yet it is too easy to generalize and describe this as one more outburst of the ancient illness of anti-Semitism.
Topic:
Security, Religion, and War
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, Israel, and Arab Countries

1634. NATO as a Factor of Security Community Building: Enlargement and Democratization in Central and Eastern Europe

Author:
Corneliu Bjola
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
This analysis is primarily concerned with examining the building blocks and mechanisms through which NATO extends its institutional and normative influence and contributes (or not) to reducing chances for military conflict and political tension in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) by integrating the region into the Western security community. In terms of political stakes, the prospects of forming a CEE security community would be seriously undermined if NATO enlargement and partnership programs were perceived as facilitating the evolution of a regional arms race, driven by aggressive foreign policies and sponsored by widespread nationalism and regional mistrust. The formation of the CEE security community would be more likely if the institutional and normative adjustments induced by NATO's cooperative security arrangements were viewed as promoting the democratic development of the political-military structures driven by non-nationalist and region-wide, cooperative attitudes.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, NATO, and Democratization
Political Geography:
Europe

1635. Migration, Population Change, and the Rural Environment

Author:
Richard E. Bilsborrow
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
This article considers issues pertaining to the linkages between rural populations, migration from and to rural areas, and the environment—focusing on developing countries in the latter part of the 20th century. The article concentrates on internal migration, although it does briefly discuss the state of knowledge on the interplay between international migration and the environment. It addresses questions such as: What are the recent—and projected—patterns of rural population growth? How much internal migration in developing nations is towards rural environments? What kinds of rural environments are people moving into, in what countries, and what are the environmental consequences? Are there relationships in the other direction as well—that is, does environmental deterioration play an important role in out-migration from rural areas? And does out-migration from rural areas have environmental effects on the places of migratory origin? The article concludes with policy recommendations.
Topic:
Security, Environment, Migration, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Europe and Asia

1636. U.S.-Russian Relations: Toward a New Strategic Framework

Author:
Eugene B. Rumer and Richard D. Sokolsky
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
In 2001, President Vladimir Putin made a strategic choice for Russia's integration with the West. Indicators of this decision include Putin's quest for better relations with the United States and Europe, his stated commitment to Russian membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), his pursuit of a new relationship with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and his almost casual dismissal of the potential major irritants in the relationship with the United States and its allies—U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, the likelihood of Baltic membership in NATO, sizeable U.S. military deployments to Central Asia, and a growing U.S. military presence in Georgia. Putin has unequivocally crossed these once-insurmountable red lines despite opposition from his closest advisers and the unease of the Russian public over the American presence in Russia's backyard.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, and Georgia

1637. Europe's New Security Vocation

Author:
Michael Brenner
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
The idea of a European Security and Defense Identity (ESDI) has been a feature of the transatlantic security dialogue for a decade. The 1991 Maastricht Treaty foresaw an eventual incorporation of the Western European Union (WEU) as the defense arm of the European Union (EU). Endowing the Union with military capability was a logical extension of the commitment to a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) as stipulated in the treaty. Both ideas, promoted by France and Germany, expressed the general desire of member states to play a more active role in securing the peace and stability of postcommunist Europe. Extending the principle of integration into the foreign policy field served two purposes. It was a means to tighten community bonds in the new, unsettled strategic environment by providing reassurance against the renationalization of defense policies. At the same time, it laid the basis for a collective effort to influence continental affairs consonant with the European venture in an orderly transition to democracy and market economies. The perceived need to add a security building block to the project of "constructing Europe" also reflected apprehension about a possible retreat of the United States from a Europe now free of the Soviet military threat. That possibility added further reason for West Europeans to make contingency plans for an uncertain future.
Topic:
Security and NATO
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, France, Soviet Union, and Germany

1638. The Growing Peace Research Agenda

Author:
Daniel A. Lindley
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
Abstract:
The attacks of September 11 were tragic. However, we are lucky to be fighting this war against terrorism today, rather than in ten to twenty years' time. Bin Laden and other terrorists are seeking biological and nuclear weapons that could kill millions of people. The technological skills and resources needed to make weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are diffusing and becoming easier to obtain over time. Now that we know that some terrorists will stop at nothing, it is imperative to stop terrorists and stop proliferation of biological and nuclear weapons before things get even worse. With a nuclear weapon, bin Laden would have destroyed all of lower Manhattan.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and Middle East

1639. From territorial defence to comprehensive security? European integration and the changing Norwegian and Swedish security identities

Author:
Pernille Rieker
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper analyses the relationship between the European integration process and the recent changes in the Norwegian and the Swedish national security identities. The aim of the paper is to compare developments in the Norwegian and the Swedish security identities in the 1990s and to evaluate the extent and scope of Europeanisation in the two cases. The fact that both Norway and Sweden had very traditional security discourses at the beginning of the 1990s and that it is possible to detect shifts away from this traditionalism in parallel with the development towards a European security dimension should prove that a Europeanisation has indeed occurred. While several researchers have studied the influence of the EU on national institutions and policies, less attention has been given to the Europeanisation of national security identities. This paper is therefore an attempt to fill this gap. The fact that Sweden has become a member of the EU while Norway has not also makes these two countries good cases for examining the extent and scope of their respective Europeanisation.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Europe, Norway, and Sweden

1640. Middle East/Afghanistan — Al-Qaida Threat

Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxford Analytica
Abstract:
Intelligence assessments suggest that the bomb attack on French naval engineers in Karachi on May 8 bore the hallmarks of an al-Qaida operation. There is evidence to suggest that Osama bin Laden and other senior leaders are alive and regrouping, despite significant losses. The campaign against al-Qaida in Afghanistan and elsewhere is entering a new phase.
Topic:
Security and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Europe, Middle East, and Arab Countries