Search

Begin New Search Political Geography Iraq

751. An Israeli Strike on Iran

Author:
Steven Simon
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Successive Israeli governments have held that a nuclear weapons capability in the region, other than Israel's own, would pose an intolerable threat to Israel's survival as a state and society. Iran's nuclear program—widely regarded as an effort to obtain a nuclear weapon, or put Tehran a “turn of a screw” away from it—has triggered serious concern in Israel. Within the coming year, the Israeli government could decide, much as it did twenty-eight years ago with respect to Iraq and two years ago with respect to Syria, to attack Iran's nuclear installations in order to delay its acquisition of a weapons capability.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, War, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Power Politics
Political Geography:
Iraq, Iran, Middle East, Israel, Tehran, and Syria

752. In Defense of a Concert of Liberal Democracies

Author:
Robert Singh
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
Among the many areas of academic disagreement about US foreign policy at the end of the Bush years, one notable source of relative consensus exists—democracy promotion will assume a very modest part of the Obama Administration's approach to world affairs. Even during the comparatively benign years of the Clinton presidency, opinion surveys consistently demonstrated that democracy promotion was a very low priority among the American public, and only marginally more important to foreign policy elites. Now, amidst grave financial crisis and huge economic instability, liberal democracies are facing the imperatives of securing energy independence and combating climate change. Compounded by shifting changes in the global balance of power and challenges to Washington from both traditional state actors (Russia, Iran, and Venezuela) and continuing threats from militant Islam, institutional liberalism's least pressing task would seem to be the dogged pursuit of a more democratic world. Tarnished in particular by the mismanaged occupation of Iraq and the victory of Hamas in Gaza, serious doubts now remain over not only Washington's capacity to build democracies abroad, but also the very desirability of such efforts.
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Iraq, Iran, Washington, Gaza, and Venezuela

753. Nuclear Iran is Not an Option: A New Negotiating Strategy to Prevent Iran from Developing Nuclear Weapons

Author:
Alon Ben-Meir
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
The relationship between the United States and Iran has increasingly been deteriorating, especially since Tehran began to flex its muscles following the Iraq war in 2003 and continues with its insistence on maintaining its uranium enrichment program. Both sides have grievances against each other that date back to the 1979 Iranian Revolution and beyond. The lack of understanding demonstrated by both sides—of the other's national psyche, history, religion, culture and strategic interests—has compounded the problems and hampered any tangible progress. The Bush Administration's refusal to negotiate directly with Tehran and its preoccupation with Iraq has played to the advantage of the clergy, allowing them time for nuclear advancement with impunity.
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Iran

754. After War. The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy

Author:
Jayne Du
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
Written in a prose of similar to that of Machiavelli's Prince and adapted to the political regime of the twenty-first century, Christopher Coyne's After War provides a policy outlook of framing risks and incentives of reconstruction, with engagement as a main tool used in United States foreign policy to export principles of Western liberalism. The exportation of values is usually concurrent with engagement in a war and as conditions of reconstruction become established, the main tenets of liberalism under democracy and free trade are hopefully sustained and supported by established institutions. This is the central thesis of Coyne's book: to understand how liberal political regimes are exported and developed, barring any reliance on excessive uses of force and military engagement. This story of reconstruction starts in the ashes of World War II and the Cold War, where early and more sanguine efforts in reconstruction evolved into the economic houses of Japan and Western Germany. Yet, Coyne seeks understanding not in the rosy images, but in the stories of contention that still rise from the ashes of US current involvements, namely in Somalia and Haiti; and more recently in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Japan, Iraq, Germany, Haiti, and Somalia

755. Editor's Corner

Author:
Ilan Berman
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
Eight years after September 11th, the focus in the War on Terror is unmistakably shifting. Iraq remains important, and mounting instability in Afghanistan has emerged as a source of serious concern for the Obama Administration and its international partners. More and more, however, policymakers in Washington are beginning to think deeply about "smart power"-the various non-military tools the United States has at its disposal, and how to properly harness them.
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, and Iraq

756. Wanted: A War on Terrorist Media

Author:
Mark Dubowitz
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
No abstract is available.
Topic:
Government and War
Political Geography:
Iraq, Europe, and Israel

757. Adrift in Madrid

Author:
Rafael Bardaji
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
MADRID-Spain was attacked by Islamists on March 11, 2004, but the new government that emerged from the polls three days later never learned the right lessons from that massacre. Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his Socialist government argued that Spain had been attacked because of its presence in Iraq and because of the conservative government's cooperation with the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. Based on this notion, they concluded that by pulling out of Iraq and distancing itself from America, Spain could insulate itself from Islamic terrorism.
Topic:
Government, Islam, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Iraq, America, and Spain

758. The Contours of the Conflict

Author:
Eric R. Sterner
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
There's an old saying that military institutions always prepare to fight the last war, only to be surprised when the next war unfolds in an entirely different manner. Ironically, some in the military remain so focused on preparing for the next war that they have been accused of being prepared to lose the current one. David Kilcullen, combat veteran, senior advisor to both then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and then-Lieutenant General David Petraeus, scholar, counterinsurgency expert, and member of the brain trust that crafted the new strategy for success in Iraq, has authored a book that could help the West avoid that fate. The Accidental Guerrilla melds theory, memoir, policy analysis, and strategic recommendations into an enlightening narrative that can assist the national security community in winning the "Long War" against al-Qaeda and its brand of violent religious extremism.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
Iraq

759. Beyond Market Forces: Regulating the Global Security Industry

Author:
James Cockayne (ed.)
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In late 2008, seventeen states, including the US, UK, China, Iraq, Afghanistan, and others, endorsed the Montreux Document on Pertinent International Legal Obligations and Good Practices for States related to Operations of Private Military and Security Companies during Armed Conflict (2008). This provides important guidance to states in regulating private military and security companies (PMSCs). However, there is a need to do more, to provide increased guidance to the industry and ensure standards are enforced.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, and Markets
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, China, and Iraq

760. Preventing Conflict Over Kurdistan

Author:
Henri J. Barkey
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
The consequences of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq will doubtless be debated for years to come. One result, however, is already clear: the long suppressed nationalist aspirations of the Kurdish people now dispersed across four states—Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria—have been aroused, perhaps irrevocably, by the war. Already in Iraq, Kurdish regions, which have benefited from Saddam Hussein's overthrow, have consolidated themselves into a federal region. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is a reality and a force for further Kurdish empowerment as it seeks to incorporate other Kurdish-majority areas and the oil-rich Kirkuk province in particular into its domain. The KRG's existence and demands have already alarmed all of Iraq's neighbors and the Baghdad government. The issues are far from being settled. If ignored or badly handled, Kurdish aspirations have the potential to cause considerable instability and violence in Iraq and beyond at a particularly delicate time.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Nationalism, and Armed Struggle
Political Geography:
Iraq, Turkey, Middle East, and Kurdistan