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1572. Political and Social Foundations for Reform: Anti-Corruption Strategies for the Philippines
- Author:
- Michael Johnson
- Publication Date:
- 06-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
- Abstract:
- Corruption in the Philippines diverts, delays, and distorts economic development, undermines the quality and credibility of democracy, and reduces the quality of life. That is so not just because of its extent but also because it comes in particularly disruptive and intractable forms. Philippine corruption is an example of the Oligarch-and-Clan syndrome—one found in countries offering significant and expanding political and economic opportunities in a setting of very weak institutions, but a pattern shaped by historical, cultural, and geographical influences specific to the country. Oligarch-and-Clan corruption is particularly disruptive, in development terms. Because of institutional weaknesses and the power of corrupt oligarchs and their followings, it often faces ineffective opposition. More than other syndromes it is closely linked to violence, and sharply limits the state's ability to perform such basic functions as revenue collection, maintenance of institutional foundations for the economy, law enforcement, conflict resolution, and dealing with security threats.
- Topic:
- Political Violence, Corruption, Democratization, Development, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Israel and Philippines
1573. Malaysia's China Policy in the Post-Mahathir Era: A Neoclassical Realist Explanation
- Author:
- KUIK Cheng-Chwee
- Publication Date:
- 07-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Malaysia's China policy in the post-Cold War era – as an instance of a smaller state's strategy toward a proximate and rising great power – has been characterized by three patterns. First, there was a shift from hostility and guarded rapprochement during the Cold War to cordiality and maturing partnership in the post-Cold War era. Second, despite the overall positive development, Malaysia's China policy has remained, in essence, a hedging approach that is driven by both a pragmatic desire to maximize benefits from a closer relationship with the neighboring giant and a contingent calculation to guard against any long-term strategic risks in the uncertain regional environment. Third, such a two-pronged approach, which took shape since the 1990s under Mahathir Mohamad, has endured beyond the Mahathir era. Indeed, under his successors Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Tun Razak, Malaysia has continued to pursue a policy of dualism vis-à-vis China. What explains the enduring continuity of the hedging approach in Malaysia's China policy? This paper adopts a neoclassical realist perspective, arguing that the continuity is attributed to both structural and domestic factors. Domestically, the changing bases of political legitimation in the multi-ethnic country, which highlight the increasing salience of economic performance and political inclusiveness as key sources of moral authority to the UMNO-led coalition government, have necessitated the succeeding leaders to continue pursuing a pragmatic policy aimed at ensuring a stable and productive relationship with China, not least to gain from the steadily growing bilateral trade and the giant's growing outward investment. Structurally, Malaysia's position as a smaller state has compelled it to be constantly vigilant about the uncertainty of state intentions and inter-great power relations, which in turn demands it adopts contingent measures to hedge against longer-term risks. It is such structural and domestic determinants that have fundamentally shaped the country's policy towards China in general and the South China Sea issue in particular, which characteristically bears the mark of a delicate dualism, i.e. an explicit preference for engaging China through bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, but one that is backed by a low-key practice of maintaining and strengthening its traditional military links with its Western security partners.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Cold War, Diplomacy, International Trade and Finance, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- China, Malaysia, and Israel
1574. Birleşmiş Milletler Palmer (Mavi Marmara) Raporu ve Uluslararası Hukuk
- Author:
- Yusuf Aksar
- Publication Date:
- 04-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Uluslararasi Iliskiler
- Institution:
- Uluslararasi Iliskiler
- Abstract:
- 31 Mayıs 2010 tarihinde, İsrail askerlerinin Mavi Marmara başta olmak uzere, Filistin'in Gazze topraklarına insani yardım goturmeyi ve Gazze'ye uygulanan ablukaya dunya kamuoyunun dikkatini cekmeyi hedefl eyen konvoya acık denizde gercekleştirdikleri saldırı ve neticesinde sivil insanların oldurulmesi ve yaralanması olayı uluslararası toplumu derinden etkilemiştir. Olayın her yonunun incelenmesi duşuncesiyle, Birleşmiş Milletler İnsan Hakları Konseyi bir Araştırma Komisyonu (fact-fi nding mission) kurarken, Birleşmiş Milletler Genel Sekreteri de ayrı bir Soruşturma Komisyonu (Panel of Inquiry) oluşturmuştur. Palmer Raporu olarak da bilinen Mavi Marmara olayına ilişkin eski Yeni Zelanda Başbakanı Geoff rey Palmer başkanlığında oluşturulan Birleşmiş Milletler Soruşturma Komisyonu tarafından hazırlanan rapor, Temmuz 2011'de kamuoyuna acıklanmıştır. Raporun en carpıcı bulgusu 4. sayfasında olup şu şekildedir; “deniz ablukası Gazze'den silah girişini onlemek icin konulan bir hukuki guvenlik onlemidir ve uygulanması uluslararası hukuk kurallarına uygundur. Ozellikle, Raporda, İsrail'in Gazze'ye uyguladığı deniz ablukasının ve İsrail askerlerinin yardım konvoyuna mudahalesinin, meşru mudafaa kapsamında uluslararası hukuka uygun olduğu sonucuna varılmış olması, uluslararası alanda buyuk tartışmalara sebep olmuştur. Bu calışmanın amacı, Raporun ulaştığı sonucların, uluslararası hukukta kuvvet kullanma, meşru mudafaa, deniz hukuku (ozellikle deniz ablukası) ve devletin sorumluluğuna yonelik kurallar ile ne kadar uyum icerisinde olduğunu tartışmaktır. Bu sebeple, ilk olarak olayın gelişimi ve Birleşmiş Milletlerin tepkisi kısaca ele alınacak, sonra, İsrail'in uyguladığı deniz ablukası ve hukuka uygunluğu tartışılacaktır. Calışma, tarafl ar arasındaki krize muhtemel cozum onerileri ile sonuclandırılacaktır.
- Political Geography:
- Israel and New Zealand
1575. By Invitation, Mostly: the International Politics of the US Security Presence, China, and the South China Sea
- Author:
- Christopher Freise
- Publication Date:
- 08-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- Much attention has been devoted to the Obama Administration's “Pacific Pivot” and the vocal reassertion of an upgraded security, economic, and diplomatic presence in East Asia by the United States. Commentators have ascribed various rationales to these efforts, including speculation that this is part of a “containment” strategy towards China, a reaction to the US presidential election cycle, or, more benignly, an effort to forestall concerns of American withdrawal from the region. These explanations have some elements of truth, but also fall short of fully describing or understanding the strategic rationale behind these moves.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, Israel, and Asia
1576. Jerusalem, Netanyahu and the two-state solution
- Author:
- Daniel Seidemann
- Publication Date:
- 08-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
- Abstract:
- What are Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's real intentions vis-à-vis Israeli–Palestinian negotiations and the two-state solution? What does he really want? Speculation aside, a great deal can be gleaned about both Netanyahu's core beliefs and his intentions by examining his words and his actions with respect to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is universally recognised as a key permanent status issue, which, for any peace agreement, will require the reconciling of competing Israeli and Palestinian claims as well as recognition and protection of Jewish, Muslim and Christian equities. In the context of the current political stalemate, however, it has become much more than that. Today, Jerusalem is both the volcanic core of the conflict – the place where religion and nationalism meet and combine in a potentially volatile mix – and a microcosm of the conflict and the imbalance of power that characterises developments on the ground.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Treaties and Agreements, and Territorial Disputes
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Arabia
1577. Regional implications of the conflict in Syria: a view from Israel
- Author:
- Yossi Alpher
- Publication Date:
- 04-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
- Abstract:
- Syria is geo-strategically, historically and politically the most central of Middle East countries, hence the over-riding importance of the conflict there. Yet any discussion of the regional implications of that conflict is necessarily highly speculative. Its points of departure are the instances of regional intervention and "overflow" from the situation already taking place. Turkey, with its open support for the armed Syrian opposition, is the leading candidate to establish "safe zones" or even "humanitarian corridors" that could conceivably lead to war. Ankara's growing rivalry with Iran is increasingly being acted out in Syria and is interacting with tensions between Sunni Muslims and Alawites/Shias not only in Syria, but in Lebanon and Iraq as well.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Regime Change, Bilateral Relations, and Territorial Disputes
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Turkey, Middle East, Israel, Arabia, and Syria
1578. The future of Israel-Palestine: a one-state reality in the making
- Author:
- Khalil Shikaki
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
- Abstract:
- With no agreement on a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in sight, one-state dynamics are gaining momentum – a development that will be difficult to reverse or even contain. In the medium and long term, no one benefits from such a development. Indeed, all might lose: an ugly one-state dynamic has no happy ending, and such a solution is rejected by Palestinians and Israelis alike. Instead, the emerging one-state reality increases the potential for various kinds of conflicts and contradictory impulses. The international community too finds itself unprepared and perhaps unwilling to confront this emerging reality, but in doing so it imperils the prospects for peace in the region – the exact thing it seeks to promote.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Treaties and Agreements, and Territorial Disputes
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Arabia
1579. Iranian nuclear weapons: a self-fulfilling prophecy?
- Author:
- Mariano Aguirre
- Publication Date:
- 02-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
- Abstract:
- The debate about the Iranian nuclear programme has heated up over recent months, with the danger that the situation could get out of control and violence may erupt. Currently, the main threatis an escalation of violence between Iran and the U.S. Strategically, an attack will further decrease U.S. legitimacy in a region already in turmoil and will isolate Israel even further. The consequencesof these processes are both serious and unpredictable.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Nuclear Weapons, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Sanctions
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iran, Middle East, and Israel
1580. Rising South Korea: A Minor Player or a Regional Power?
- Author:
- David Shim and Patrick Flamm
- Publication Date:
- 07-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- South Korea’s rising status in regional and global affairs has received much attention in recent years. But in academic, media and policy debates South Korea is usually regarded as a mere middle power that, due to its geopolitical situation, has only limited leeway in its foreign policy. Accordingly, it must constantly maneuver between its larger neighbors: China, Japan and Russia. However, this perspective neglects the fact that the same geopolitical constraint also applies to other states in the region. No country can easily project its power over others. We use the concept of “regional power” as a template to discuss South Korea’s rising stature in regional and global politics. We argue that Seoul seems quite capable of keeping up with other assumed regional powers. Hence, we not only provide a novel account of South Korea’s foreign policy options but also go beyond current approaches by asking about the (undetermined) possibilities for Seoul’s regional relations.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Economics, and Power Politics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Japan, China, Israel, and South Korea