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682. Iran: Time for a New Approach
- Author:
- Robert M. Gates, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Susan Maloney
- Publication Date:
- 07-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- Twenty-five years after its Islamic revolution, Iran represents a challenge and an opportunity for the United States. The issues at stake reflect the urgent and multifaceted dilemmas of U.S. security in the post–9/11 era: nuclear proliferation, state support of terrorism, the relationship between religion and politics, and the imperative of political and economic reform in the Middle East. At this time, as Iraq—Iran's neighbor and historic adversary—embarks on a difficult transition to post-conflict sovereignty, and as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) extends its scrutiny of Iranian nuclear activities, Iran looms large on the U.S. policy agenda. Recognizing this relevance to vital U.S. interests, the Task Force advocates selectively engaging with Iran to address critical U.S. concerns.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, Iran, and Middle East
683. Russia and Europe: A Finnish View
- Author:
- Henrikki Heikka
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- In recent months, several prominent Finnish politicians have criticized the Finnish government for lack of vision in its foreign policy. Liisa Jaakonsaari, Chairman of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and a prominent social democrat), has argued that the government “lacks one thing, and with it, everything: a vision”. Member of the European Parliament Alexander Stubb (the Conservative party's vote puller in the last EP elections) has publicly called contemporary Finnish foreign policy as “pitiful tinkering” (säälittävää näpertelyä). Editorial writers have begun to recycle the old the term “driwftwood” (ajopuu), a term originally coined to describe Finland's flip-flopping during World War II, in their attempts to find an appropriate label for the present government's foreign policy.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Democratization, Diplomacy, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Europe, Finland, and Asia
684. Shaping U.S. Policy on Africa: Pillars of a New Strategy
- Author:
- Johnnie Carson
- Publication Date:
- 09-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- In the four decades since most African states achieved independence, the continent has never been a foreign policy priority for the United States. During the early years of American engagement with Africa, Washington focused its attention on preventing communist countries from gaining major military bases or monopolistic concessions over any of the continent's important strategic minerals. Although the United States provided large amounts of development assistance and food aid to a number of African states, most American interest and support was directed toward African countries and leaders who were regarded as Cold War allies. In those countries still struggling for independence, the United States usually supported African insurgents who were pro-Western and anticommunist in their orientation. In South Africa and Namibia, Washington generally professed great sympathy for eventual majority rule and independence but largely supported the status quo out of fear that liberation groups allied with the Soviet Union or China would win power in any political transition.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, China, America, Washington, and Soviet Union
685. Missile Defense All Over Again
- Author:
- Michelle Ciarrocca
- Publication Date:
- 10-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Foreign Policy In Focus
- Abstract:
- Under President Clinton, it became U.S. policy to deploy a National Missile Defense (NMD) system "as soon as technologically feasible." However, Clinton's commitment to missile defense was tempered by his pledge to base a deployment decision on four criteria: the overall cost of the program, its technical feasibility, an assessment of the ballistic missile threat facing the United States, and the impact that NMD might have on arms control and arms reduction efforts. In contrast, President Bush has set no criteria to constrain deployment.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States
686. U.S. Military Bases in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Author:
- John Lindsay-Poland
- Publication Date:
- 08-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Foreign Policy In Focus
- Abstract:
- The United States maintains a complex web of military facilities and functions in Latin America and the Caribbean, what the U.S. Southern Command (known as SouthCom) calls its "theater architecture." U.S. military facilities represent tangible commitments to an ineffective supply-side drug war and to underlying policy priorities, including ensuring access to strategic resources, especially oil.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States, Latin America, and Caribbean
687. A Way Out of the Mesopotamian Morass? The Case for a Partitioned Iraq
- Author:
- Ivan Eland
- Publication Date:
- 10-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Independent Institute
- Abstract:
- The United States has plunged into an Iraqi swamp. The swashbuckling victory in the first Gulf War led to the most egregious sin that can be made in the military affairs—hubris and underestimation of the enemy. The U.S. and Soviet superpowers made the same mistake respectively in Vietnam in the sixties and seventies and Afghanistan in the eighties. But as those quagmires fade from memory, government officials apparently have to relearn the same lessons.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Democratization, and War
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, Soviet Union, and Vietnam
688. Foreign Policy-Making in the Clinton Administration: Reassessing Bosnia and the "Turning Point" of 1995
- Author:
- Séastien Barthe and Charles-Philippe David
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Raoul Dandurand Chair of Strategic and Diplomatic Studies, Université du Québec à Montréal
- Abstract:
- The conflict that ravaged Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995 was one of the central international problems that the Clinton White House had to face during its first term. The “issue from hell”, as Warren Christopher famously dubbed it in 19933, was emblematic of the Clinton administration's failure, during the period of January 1993 to late summer 1995, to formulate foreign policies that could produce the results desired by the policy-makers in the West Wing.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy and Development
- Political Geography:
- United States, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Eastern Europe
689. "Foreign Policy Is Not What I Came Here to Do" Dissecting Clinton's Foreign Policy-Making: A First Cut
- Author:
- Séastien Barthe and Charles-Philippe David
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Raoul Dandurand Chair of Strategic and Diplomatic Studies, Université du Québec à Montréal
- Abstract:
- Some presidents fit a pattern. But though Clinton does bear comparison with some of his predecessors, he combines elements of several types and defies (for now) definitive categorization.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy and Development
- Political Geography:
- United States and Eastern Europe
690. America Adrift? Myths and Realities About the United States in the New World
- Author:
- Joseph M. Grieco
- Publication Date:
- 11-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for International Peace and Security Studies
- Abstract:
- The war in Iraq continues; its wisdom and consequences for the United States and the Middle East cannot yet be fully assessed. Still, it may be said that the lead-up to the war largely put to rest the view that an American president can readily respond to external threats with unilateral military force, and need not take into account the views of allies and the United Nations. Presidents, even those with unilateralist inclinations, such as that at present, are constrained to remain committed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the UN Security Council because large majorities of the American public want their government to have allies and UN authorization when the United States goes to war. Americans are likely to want allies and international authorization because their possession increases the chances of pre-war coercive diplomatic success and, if war is necessary, success during and after it at lower cost. They may also want allies and international authorization for another reason, namely, to obtain a "second opinion" on the wisdom and the intentions of their leaders in taking them down a path that may end in war.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, NATO, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, America, and Middle East