Search

Begin New Search Political Geography Russia

1981. A Gap in OSCE Conflict Prevention

Author:
Indra Øverland
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper argues that local media have been of great importance in the escalation of inter-ethnic conflicts in the former Soviet Union, and that conflict prevention by the OSCE in the region initially did not focus appropriately on media issues. During the past few years, however, media issues have increasingly come to preoccupy the OSCE, chiefly in connection with human rights issues and freedom of speech, but to some extent also as an element of conflict prevention. The importance of local media for OSCE conflict prevention is analysed in terms of the activities of the High Commissioner for National Minorities and Representative on Freedom of the Media, and OSCE annual reports.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Ethnic Conflict, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Russia and Soviet Union

1982. From the pre-G8 2003 Summit seminar in Stockholm on "Strengthening Cooperative Threat Reduction in the Northern Region"

Author:
Ian Anthony and Morten Bremer Maerli
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
In June 2002, the G8 countries pledged 20 billion dollars over ten years to their “Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction” (Global Partnership). Under this initiative, the G8 countries will support specific cooperation projects, initially in Russia, to address non-proliferation, disarmament, counter-terrorism and nuclear safety issues. Among priority concerns are the dismantlement of decommissioned nuclear submarines and the disposition of fissile materials.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Russia

1983. A Jobless Recovery?

Author:
Allan H. Meltzer
Publication Date:
11-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
While Alan Greenspan and most analysts continue to discuss the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs since the Bush administration took office, the Labor Department Household Survey shows such claims to be either wrong or greatly exaggerated.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Economics
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

1984. The YUKOS Affair

Author:
Leon Aron
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
In the early morning of October 25, 2003, masked agents of the Russian security agency, the FSB, stormed the plane of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, CEO and principal owner of Russia's largest private oil company, YUKOS; arrested him; and conveyed him to a Moscow prison. He was charged with tax evasion, fraud, forgery, and embezzlement.
Topic:
Democratization, Economics, and Emerging Markets
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

1985. Free Movement of People, Goods, Services and Capital in View of the Context of Stability Pact

Author:
Mladen Stanicic
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
The Stability Pact is a strategic concept whose aim is to warrant long- term peace and stability in South-Eastern Europe. It is becoming an indispensable element of the global security structure which is currently being constructed in relations between the big powers, the USA, Russia and China, with the active participation of the United Nations, the European Union, international financial institutions and individual countries. As one of the sponsors of the pact, the European Union is keenly interested in stability and peace among its next-door neighbours, some of whom are covered by the pending eastern enlargement. This enlargement is intended to transcend centuries of civilisational and religious divisions in Europe, the causes of many political and armed conflicts in the past. The vision of Europe in the 21st century, reaching all the way to the borders of the former Soviet Union, is that of a multicultural community encompassing states with diverse civilisational, religious, ethnic and cultural characteristics.
Topic:
Security, Globalization, International Cooperation, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, China, Europe, and Eastern Europe

1986. CERI: Barter and Inter-business Transactions in Russia: Trade Normalization in View after the Ruble Crisis of 1998?

Author:
Caroline Dufy
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales
Abstract:
Barter was a prominent issue in public debate during the 1990s in Russia: it prompted a more overall reflection on the nature of the Russian economy and the aim pursued by economic reforms. These major issues shaped a number of divisions: the government opposition portrayed barter as one of the pernicious effects of economic policies that gave priority to finance to the detriment of the national productive sphere. For others, it was to be interpreted as the legacy of the Soviet industrial sector and its lack of competitiveness.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

1987. CERI: Developing Border Cooperation between China and Russia

Author:
Sébastien Colin
Publication Date:
07-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales
Abstract:
Since the resumption of talks between China and Russia – still the Soviet Union when this occurred in the mid-1980s, relations between the two countries have been particularly dynamic. On the international level, the two countries in fact share the same viewpoint on a number of issues. These mutual concerns led to the signing of a strategic partnership in 1997, then a new treaty of friendship in 2001. The complementarity between the two countries in the energy and arms sectors also stimulates cooperation. However, this alliance is not without its limits. The United States, its primary target, can easily short-circuit it, as it did just after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In the field of cooperation, the intensity and structure of trade between the two countries are both inadequate. The rise in trade during the 1990s was very uneven and marked by a drop between 1994 and 1996. The main causes of this are situated at the local echelon along the Chinese-Russian border. After the dynamism characteristic of the 1988-1993 period, the opening of the border triggered new problems, such as illegal Chinese immigration in the little-inhabited border zones of Russia. Although this trend caused friction among the local Russian population, it was mainly the retrocession of certain Russian territories to China when the border was demarcated between 1993 and 1997 that radicalized the inhabitants, paralyzing border cooperation. The Russian and Chinese government played an active role in attempting to resolve most of these disputes, as the Tumen program illustrated. Since then, the various authorities in the two countries have tried to revitalize border cooperation, but a number of problems remain that are mainly economic in nature and vary depending on the border region.
Topic:
Development and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, China, Europe, and Asia

1988. Chechen Militia Threaten Increased Terrorism

Author:
Tamara Makarenko
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, St. Andrews University, Scotland
Abstract:
Chechen resistance movements have reorganised to adjust to the post 11 September 2001 security environment, and appear to be adopting more lethal terrorist tactics. Tamara Makarenko reports.
Topic:
Security, Economics, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, and Moscow

1989. American, European and Russian Cooperation: Security and Defence in the 21st century

Author:
Hella Pick
Publication Date:
04-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
The ramifications of the Iraq crisis are provoking a wholesale reassessment of the post-1945 system of multinational institutions ñ ranging from the United Nations to NATO and the European Union. Underlying such concerns is Americaís use of power and the role it defines for itself in managing its international relations.
Topic:
NATO and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Iraq, America, Europe, and Asia

1990. On the Frontline of an Epidemic: The Need for Urgency in Russia's Fight Against AIDS

Author:
John E. Tedstrom
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
AIDS is a global threat that affects us all. Its destructive reach extends far beyond the sphere of public health, threatening social stability, economic performance, and national security. The United States has struggled with HIV/AIDS for over 20 years. At least 440,000 Americans have died from AIDS -related conditions, many more than would have if American political leaders had acted early in the 1980s to confront the epidemic in its initial stages. Over time, however, the commitment of the U.S. government to prevent the spread of HIV and treat people living with HIV/AIDS produced remarkable results. New infections have dropped from 150,000 per year to 40,000 per year, and AIDS -related deaths have been cut in half.
Topic:
Security, Human Welfare, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, America, Europe, and Asia