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1641. Turkey and the European Union at a Crossroads: America's Role

Author:
Soner Cagaptay
Publication Date:
12-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
According to the Financial Times, France and Germany will propose to the December 12-13 European Union (EU) summit that negotiations regarding Turkey's accession to the EU begin in July 2005, providing Ankara achieves further progress in democratic consolidation and human rights. If indeed Turkey is offered a conditional date for EU accession at the Copenhagen summit, this would represent a significant, yet incomplete, step. Turkey needs a direct date from the EU to begin negotiations for joining the union.
Topic:
Security and Religion
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Middle East, France, and Germany

1642. Special Policy Forum Report: Battling for the 'Hearts and Minds' of Middle Easterners, Post-September 11: A Year-End Assessment

Author:
Martin Kramer and Mouafac Harb
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Public diplomacy in the Middle Eastern context is not a new problem. Every non-Muslim state that has projected its power into the Middle East has had to win over the "hearts and minds" of the Muslim population under its control. Muslim Middle Easterners have always viewed the projection of non-Muslim power into the region with suspicion. Nevertheless, America does not have to reinvent the public diplomacy wheel. The United States should learn from the history of the European experience in the Middle East and from its own successful public diplomacy efforts in the Cold War era.
Topic:
Security, Cold War, and Religion
Political Geography:
United States, America, Europe, Middle East, and Arab Countries

1643. Turkish Election Preview: Fragmentation of the Center

Author:
Patrick Clawson and Keith Weissman
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
The people of Turkey go to the polls on November 3, 2002, amid a great deal of political and economic uncertainty. Possible outcomes range from a coherent pro-European Union (EU) coalition to a dramatic change following an outright electoral victory by a party attractive to Islamist voters. In Turkey, the election is widely portrayed as a referendum on the country's EU accession. Lack of progress on key EU reforms (abolition of the death penalty; allowances for Kurdish-language broadcasting and education) during Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's debilitating illness provoked the July political crisis that has led to the upcoming elections. (Parliament approved these reforms in early August.) Polls indicate that a majority of Turks support EU membership. What divides parties and voters is not the principle of membership – which in theory is the logical outcome of Kemal Ataturk's vision of Turkey's European identity – but rather the issue of how much should be conceded to the EU in order to join.
Topic:
Security and Religion
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Middle East, and Arab Countries

1644. Special Policy Forum Report: Europe America / Europe v. America: Alliance Politics in the Middle East

Author:
Josef Joffe and R. James Woolsey
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Although the current campaign against terrorism is just unfolding, America has actually been in the middle of a new "World War" of sorts for some time. In order to understand this war, one must answer three crucial questions: 1) With whom is the United States at war? 2) Why is America at war with these particular adversaries? 3) How should the United States conduct this war, both at home and abroad?
Topic:
Security, Politics, Religion, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
United States, America, Europe, Middle East, and Arabia

1645. Europe and Middle East Terrorism

Author:
Matthew Levitt
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
As President George W. Bush completes his latest European trip — one highlighted by a symbolic Memorial Day speech in Normandy that underscored the link between America's past wars and the current war on terror — his European Union (EU) hosts have begun to implement a policy on terrorism that is fundamentally at odds with the "Bush Doctrine": namely, that those who support, fund, or abet terror are terrorists themselves.
Topic:
Security, Religion, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
America, Europe, Middle East, and Arabia

1646. Public Diplomacy: Effective Strategies for the Future

Author:
Helena Kane Finn
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
The day after a devastating suicide attack on the Israeli town of Netanya killed some twenty people celebrating the Passover Seder, Maria Rosa Menocal published an op-ed in the New York Times entitled "A Golden Age of Tolerance." In it, she reminded readers that "a thousand years ago on the Iberian Peninsula, an enlightened vision of Islam had created the most advanced culture in Europe. . . . [W]hat strikes us today about Al Andalus is that it was a chapter of European history during which Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived side by side, and despite intractable differences and enduring hostilities, nourished a culture of tolerance."
Topic:
Security and Religion
Political Geography:
New York, Europe, Middle East, Israel, and Arabia

1647. Special Policy Forum Report: President Bush and the Middle East — One Year On

Author:
Michael E. Mandelbaum, Robert Hunter, and William Kristol
Publication Date:
02-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
In the wake of the Cold War, certain regions of the world (e.g., Western Europe, Northeast Asia, the Western hemisphere) are both important to the United States and, for the moment, relatively stable. Several other regions (e.g., sub-Saharan Africa, former Soviet Central Asia) are unstable but not as important. The Middle East is the only region that boasts the unhappy combination of being both important and unstable.
Topic:
Security, Cold War, and Religion
Political Geography:
Europe, Central Asia, Middle East, and Arabia

1648. After the Ecevit Visit: Can Turks Pull Together to Complete the Necessary Reforms?

Author:
Helena Kane Finn
Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
The visit of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit to the United States last week was a political and public relations success for his administration, but a few questions remain: Can the Turks continue to implement the economic reforms required by the International Monetary Fund, or will there be slippage when the road gets rough? Can Turkey pull together to complete the legislation necessary to meet the European Union (EU) requirements? Balancing regional and international considerations, will Turkey be able to meet the challenge clearly posed by the deteriorating situation in Iraq? Will Turkey sustain the wise course it has taken in recent months on the Cyprus issue? And, perhaps most important for the long-term health of Turkish society, will it be able to seize the opportunity offered by the resolution of conflict in the Southeast and find ways to successfully integrate all of its citizens?
Topic:
Security and Religion
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Turkey, Middle East, and Arab Countries

1649. Russian Border Policies and Border Regions

Author:
Vasiliy N. Valuev
Publication Date:
12-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
This paper is about a partnership, the aim of which is to create a Europe without divides. A partnership where the vision is to transcend the divide between membership and non-membership and to create co-operation in trade, in stability and security, and in democracy on all levels. The paper examines the implementation of the EU-Russia partnership and its strategy not only on the rhetorical level but also in a micro-perspective seen from a border region (mostly from the EU-side), from a space where the divides whether economic, social or of any other kind are most clearly manifested. As borders manifest social conflict a study of the implementation of the partnership agreement on this micro-level will make visible not only the taken-for-granted assumptions and practices but also new and emerging divides. As a concrete case the creation of a European information society is studied. Will the partners be united in virtual space without divides? Conclusions are drawn on the nature of the partnership, the relationship between the partners and the perspective of a Europe without divides.
Topic:
Security and Migration
Political Geography:
Europe and France

1650. The Implication of the Concept of the French State-Nation and 'Patrie' for French Discourses on (Algerian) Immigration

Author:
Ulla Holm
Publication Date:
12-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
The purpose of the article is to explore how the 'exceptionality' of the concept of the French political state-nation together with the concept of 'patrie' (country) frames what can be said and not said in the discourses on (Maghrebi) immigration. The question is therefore how the building blocks of the definition of the French state-nation and 'patrie' frame the discursive struggle between the dominant and marginalized discourses. Furthermore I will investigate to which extend the discourses on immigration succeed in 'securitizing' the immigrant.
Topic:
Security and Migration
Political Geography:
Europe and France