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1012. Interview with Brian Urquhart
- Author:
- Robert Sedgwick
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Columbia International Affairs Online
- Abstract:
- RS: Let's start at the beginning. In 2003 Colin Powell went to the UN and declared Iraq to be in violation of Resolution 1441 (passed Nov. 2002). A subsequent resolution was drawn up authorizing the use of force but was withdrawn when it became evident that three of the permanent members of the Security Council were going to veto it. The United States then went to war without the support of the Security Council in what many have condemned as a flagrant violation of international law. Were you at the time and are you now at all concerned about the legal consequences of the invasion and what kind of precedent it may have set?
- Political Geography:
- United States and Iraq
1013. Twelver Sh'ite Islam: Conceptual and Practical Aspects
- Author:
- Christoph Marcinkowski
- Publication Date:
- 07-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- Recent political events surrounding the Iranian “nuclear crisis”, as well as the still unsettled fate of Iraq have resulted in a renewed interest in the Shi'ite dimension of Islam among political observers. This paper attempts to present an outline of some of the “essential features” of Twelver Shi'ite Islam as it distinguishes itself today from majority Sunnism. In particular, the different approaches of Sunnite and Shi'ite Muslims towards the issue of religious and political authority - resulting in history often in violent clashes - have been highlighted. Moreover, throughout their history, Shi'ites had put high emphasis on intellectual pursuit and reasoning, on philosophy and science. Although the paper focuses of the “Twelver Shi'ites” (today numerically and politically the strongest Shi'ite group), the today rather un-political Isma'ilis or “Sevener” Shi'ites, too, shall be referred to briefly, as they have also some pockets in Singapore among the Indian Muslim community. Of special interest to the political observer of contemporary Islam shall be the status of Shi'ite clerics (Arab. 'ulama') vis-à-vis their Sunnite colleagues.
- Topic:
- International Relations, National Security, and Religion
- Political Geography:
- Iraq
1014. Pugwash Newsletter: To the Pugwash Community
- Publication Date:
- 06-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
- Abstract:
- The first half of 2006 witnessed continuing sectarian violence and domestic insurgency in Iraq and the inability of Iran and the international community to find a politically acceptable means for ensuring adequate transparency and confidence that Iran's nuclear technology program would not be diverted to military purposes. To that end, the Pugwash Conferences and the Center for Strategic Research in Tehran co-sponsored an international conference in April 2006 covering both Iran's nuclear energy program and the equally important issue of Iraq and regional stability (see p. 35). Unfortunately, little progress was made on either issue, whether at the conference or by the international community. When added to the continuing stalemate in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process occasioned by the election of a Hamas government, the outlook for Middle East stability could not have been more bleak.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
1015. Fragile States and U.S. Foreign Assistance: Show Me the Money
- Author:
- Stewart Patrick and Kaysie Brown
- Publication Date:
- 08-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- The Bush administration has increasingly acknowledged that weak and failing states represent the core of today's global development challenge. It has also recognized that such states are potential threats to international peace and security. But despite the rhetoric, it has yet to formulate a coherent strategy around fragile states or commit adequate resources towards engaging them. Excluding funding for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and HIV/AIDS, the administration's FY07 budget request proposes to spend just $1.1 billion in direct bilateral assistance to fragile states—little more than a dollar per person per year. In this new working paper, CGD research fellow Stewart Patrick and program associate Kaysie Brown urge U.S. policymakers to consider increasing aid to fragile states and to think creatively about how and when to engage these troubled countries. The authors also call for the policy community to integrate non-aid instruments into a more coherent government strategy. To put its money where its mouth is, the U.S. should treat aid to weak and failing states as a form of venture capital, with high risk but potentially high rewards.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Afghanistan, United States, and Iraq
1016. The Economics of Young Democracies: Policies and Performance
- Author:
- Nathan Converse and Ethan Kapstein
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- Since the “third wave” of democratization began in 1974, nearly 100 states have adopted democratic forms of government, including, of course, most of the former Soviet bloc nations. Policy-makers in the west have expressed the hope that this democratic wave will extend even further, to the Middle East and onward to China. But the durability of this new democratic age remains an open question. By some accounts, at least half of the world's young democracies—often referred to in the academic literature as being “unconsolidated” or “fragile”—are still struggling to develop their political institutions, and several have reverted back to authoritarian rule. Among the countries in the early stages of democratic institution building are states vital to U.S. national security interests, including Afghanistan and Iraq.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, Economics, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, China, and Iraq
1017. After Baker-Hamilton: What to Do in Iraq
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Slowly, incrementally, the realisation that a new strategy is needed for Iraq finally is dawning on U.S. policy- makers. It was about time. By underscoring the U.S. intervention's disastrous political, security, and economic balance sheet, and by highlighting the need for both a new regional and Iraqi strategy, the Baker-Hamilton report represents an important and refreshing moment in the country's domestic debate. Many of its key – and controversial – recommendations should be wholly supported, including engaging Ira n and Syria, revitalising the Arab-Israeli peace process, reintegrating Baathists, instituting a far-reaching amnesty, delaying the Kirkuk referendum, negotiating the withdrawal of U.S. forces with Iraqis and engaging all parties in Iraq.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy and Development
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, and Middle East
1018. The Next Iraqi War? Sectarianism and Civil Conflict
- Publication Date:
- 02-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- The bomb attack on a sacred Shiite shrine in Samarra on 22 February 2006 and subsequent reprisals against Sunni mosques and killings of Sunni Arabs is only the latest and bloodiest indication that Iraq is teetering on the threshold of wholesale disaster. Over the past year, social and political tensions evident since the removal of the Baathist regime have turned into deep rifts. Iraq's mosaic of communities has begun to fragment along ethnic, confessional and tribal lines, bringing in stability and violence to many areas, especially those with mixed populations. The most urgent of these incipient conflicts is a Sunni-Shiite schism that threatens to tear the country apart. Its most visible manifestation is a dirty war being fought between a small group of insurgents bent on fomenting sectarian strife by killing Shiites and certain government commando units carrying out reprisals against the Sunni Arab community in whose midst the insurgency continues to thrive. Iraqi political actors and the international community must act urgently to prevent a low-intensity conflict from escalating into an all-out civil war that could lead to Iraq's disintegration and destabilise the entire region.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Ethnic Conflict, and Religion
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Middle East, and Arabia
1019. Iraq and the Kurds: The Brewing Battle over Kirkuk?
- Publication Date:
- 07-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- As all eyes are turned toward efforts to stabilise Iraq, the conflict that has been percolating in Kirkuk remains dangerous and dangerously neglected. That struggle is equal parts street brawl over oil riches, ethnic competition over identity between Kurdish, Turkoman, Arab and Assyrian-Chaldean communities, and titanic clash between two nations, Arab and Kurd. Given the high stakes, the international community cannot afford to stand by, allowing the situation to slip into chaos by default. It needs to step in and propose a solution that addresses all sides' core concerns without crossing their existential red lines. The most viable negotiated outcome, which a special UN envoy should mediate between leaders of Kirkuk's communities as well as representatives of the federal government and the Kurdish federal region, would rest on the following provisions: Postponing the constitutionally-mandated referendum on Kirkuk's status which, in today's environment, would only exacerbate tensions; Designating Kirkuk governorate as a stand-alone federal region falling neither under the Kurdish federal region nor directly under the federal government for an interim period; Equitable power-sharing arrangements between Kirkuk's four principal communities; and continued reversal of past abuses, including managed return of those who were forcibly displaced by previous regimes; facilities and compensation for those brought by previous regimes (including their offspring) who agree to leave voluntarily; resolution of property disputes via the established mechanism; and a process by which former Kirkuk districts can either be restored to Kirkuk governorate or remain where they are.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention and Security
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Middle East, Kurdistan, and Kirkuk
1020. Iraq's Muqtada Al-Sadr: Spoiler or Stabiliser?
- Publication Date:
- 07-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- With stepped-up U.S.-led raids against Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, Jaysh al-Mahdi, and media allegations of the militia's responsibility for widespread and particularly horrendous sectarian killings in Baghdad on 9 July, the Shiite leader and his movement have become more central than ever. The war in Iraq radically reshuffled the country's political deck, bringing to the fore new actors and social forces, none more surprising and enigmatic, and few as critical to Iraq's stability, as Muqtada al-Sadr and the Sadrist movement he embodies. Largely unknown prior to the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime and bereft of resources Shiites typically must possess to assert their authority, Muqtada al-Sadr at first was dismissed as a marginal rabble-rouser, excluded from the political process and, after he flexed his muscles, decreed wanted “dead or alive” by the U.S.-led coalition. Learning the hard way, the U.S. and its allies have had to recognise the reality of the Sadrists' strength.
- Topic:
- Democratization and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, and Middle East