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Begin New Search Political Geography Global Focus Publication Year within 10 Years

1251. Divided at the centre: Germany, Poland, and the troubles of the Trump era

Author:
Piotr Buras and Josef Janning
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
European Council On Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Berlin and Warsaw have very different ideas about how to respond to the challenge Trump’s presidency poses to Europe. While Germany emphasises the need to strengthen Europe’s resilience and unity, the Polish response has been to embrae the opportunities of the new political reality and enhance its bilateral partnership with the US. These differing approaches may aggravate the crisis in the Polish-German bilateral relationship and negatively affect the European Union’s defence integration and arms control policies. Warsaw should use NATO as the framework for discussions on strengthening the American military presence in Poland. Germany should be open to a strategic debate on the issue and no longer hide behind concerns about the NATO-Russia Founding Act (which Russia has abrogated). Instead of talking about “European sovereignty”, Poland and Germany should join other member states in clearly defining the vulnerabilities that the EU as a whole must address, including those resulting from US policy.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1252. Under the gun: Rearmament for arms control in Europe

Author:
Gustav Gressel
Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Council On Foreign Relations
Abstract:
The decrepitude of arms control treaties in Europe is becoming increasingly apparent at the same time as Russia continues to act as a revisionist power. Russia’s unpredictability and lack of transparency is part of its competitive advantage. It will therefore not give this up by returning to arms-control agreements of the late cold war or negotiating new ones. Arms control is an integrated part of Russia’s military strategy: to advance its own military position while weakening that of its enemies. As a result, it is open to arms-control agreements that would entrench its military superiority in eastern Europe and prevent the technological gap between Russia and the West from growing. This logic creates an opportunity for the West. If Europe engages in rearmament, enhances its militaries’ combat-readiness and capacity to quickly conduct large-scale, sustainable deployments to eastern Europe, it will deprive Russia of its relative military superiority. Moscow will then be willing to talk on arms control. Europeans still need to agree a common approach on what they want to achieve vis-à-vis Russia, however. Otherwise, they will be divided and public support for rearmament will falter.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1253. The United States and China— A Relationship Adrift: The New War in Trade, Investment, and High Technology

Author:
Asia Society Policy Institute
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Asia Society Policy Institute
Abstract:
HISTORY TEACHES US THAT PICKING WHEN ONE AGE ENDS AND ANOTHER BEGINS is a tricky business. None of us has the powers of reflection, perception, or anticipation to identify when certain tipping points of historical significance are reached. And when we reach such conclusions, it’s usually with the full benefit of 20/20 hindsight, which for those of us working in the rarefied world of contemporary public policy is not particularly useful
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1254. Carbon Market Cooperation in Northeast Asia: Assessing Challenges and Overcoming Barriers

Author:
Jackson Ewing
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Asia Society Policy Institute
Abstract:
ACROSS ALL ERAS AND IN ALL PLACES, POLICYMAKERS MAKE DECISIONS on incomplete information. It is fundamental to public leadership—particularly at the highest levels—that decisions taken reflect some personal judgment of the existing evidence and arguments at hand. Uncertainty of outcome and the risk of unintended consequences are ever-present
Topic:
International Affairs and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1255. Ties That Bind: Quantifying China’s public diplomacy and its “good neighbor” effect

Author:
Samantha Custer and et al
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Asia Society Policy Institute
Abstract:
This paper aims to increase the understanding of scholars, practitioners, and observers of Chinese public diplomacy regarding which tools Beijing deploys, with whom, and with what effects. To this end, AidData—a research lab at William & Mary—in collaboration with the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), collected both qualitative and quantitative data on Chinese public diplomacy activities in the EAP region from 2000 through 2016
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1256. Development as Dignity

Author:
Dapo Oyewole, Andrew Quinn, and Holly Kear
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
What is development? What does it look like? Development means different things to different people and in an increasingly polarized world, voices from the Global South are urgently needed to provide a balance of perspectives, lest we hear mostly one side of a multifaceted story. The Aspen New Voices Fellows writing in this anthology all agree that fundamentally, development is about dignity. Dignity of people. Dignity of planet. Dignity of life. The stories in this collection reflect this quest for dignity and share engaging insights and moving stories from diverse countries in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. The authors challenge us, inspire us and force us to open our eyes to the many ways we can truly see and foster ‘development as dignity.’
Topic:
International Affairs and International Development
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1257. Global Magnitsky Sanctions: Raising the Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Bar

Author:
Samantha Sultoon
Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
Economic sanctions have become a policy tool-of-choice for the US government. Yet sanctions and their potential pitfalls are often misunderstood. The Economic Sanctions Initiative (ESI) seeks to build a better understanding of the role sanctions can and cannot play in advancing policy objectives and of the impact of sanctions on the private sector, which bears many of the implementation costs.
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1258. Water Crises, Security and Climate Change

Author:
Geoffrey Kemp and Luke Hagberg
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for the National Interest
Abstract:
The historically severe drought in Syria from 2006-2011 led to the migration of rural communities to already overburdened urban centers, which concurrent with the state’s mismanagement of freshwater resources, helped foment the social unrest and the uprisings against President Bashar al-Assad. The ongoing conflict has had repercussions around the globe with refugees fleeing to, and having an unmistakable political impact upon, neighboring states and Europe. The war in Yemen was rooted in the Arab Spring, but while the attempts to overthrow President Ali Abdullah Saleh were eventually successful, the political transition was not. The overextraction of Yemen’s groundwater led to an unprecedented water crisis that has been exacerbated by the civil war. Terrorist cells, militant insurgencies, and foreign interventions have undermined efforts to reform the Yemeni government and address this humanitarian catastrophe.
Topic:
International Security, International Affairs, and Water
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1259. Extended Deterrence in a Changing Asia: A U.S.–Japan–South Korea Dialogue

Author:
Paul Saunders
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for the National Interest
Abstract:
2012 was a year of political transitions in East Asia, with important elections in Japan and South Korea, a major Communist Party Congress in China to select a new leadership team, and a consolidation process underway in North Korea following the death of Kim Jong-il in late 2011. It was also of course a year of political campaigns in the United States that concluded with President Barack Obama’s re-election. And finally, perhaps due to these many simultaneous transitions, 2012 was a year of hope and anxiety; uncertainty about the future drove questions and speculation, intensifying the contest between possibility and destiny that underlies so many discussions of whether and how our choices can shape the world in which we live.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1260. Allied and Lethal: Islamic State Khorasan’s Network and Organizational Capacity in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Author:
Amira Jadoon
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
Abstract:
In the years following its official formation in January 2015, the Islamic State Khorasan (ISK) has conducted some of the most devastating attacks in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, persisting in the face of U.S. airstrikes, Pakistani military operations, and clashes with the Afghan Taliban. But what exactly is ISK? What are the broader contours of ISK’s lethality, targets, and tactics in Afghanistan and Pakistan? More broadly, what explains ISK’s demonstrated ability to survive and thrive in the AfPak region, and what do its operational trends and alliances collectively tell us about its future trajectory?
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus