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121. Security and Sovereignty: Renewing NORAD

Author:
James Fergusson and Dwight Mason
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Security and Sovereignty: Renewing NORAD is the third publication in the Canada Institute's One Issue,Two Voices series. Using expertise from both sides of the Canada–U.S. border, this series is the Institute's contribution to dialogue on policy issues relevant to the bilateral relationship. The focus of this paper is the upcoming NORAD renewal negotiation process.
Topic:
Security, Politics, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States and North America

122. The Mirage of a United Europe

Author:
Robert Vickers
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
MIT Center for International Studies
Abstract:
To most Americans, the prospect of a united Europe has long been viewed not only as a favorable development, but even as an increasingly inevitable one. Our common political, religious and cultural heritage, democratic governments, market economies, and Cold War experiences have all contributed to the perception of Europe as a friend and natural ally of the United States, occasional differences not withstanding. The formation of NATO in 1949 gave a military tone to the developing political alliance between the U.S. and Western Europe, and the beginnings of united Europe in the early 1950s was generally viewed in Washington as a favorable trend that would make Western Europe a stronger economic partner and a stronger ally in the struggle against Soviet Communism.
Topic:
International Relations, Politics, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, America, Europe, Washington, and Soviet Union

123. Prospects for Regional Free Trade in Asia

Author:
Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Yee Wong
Publication Date:
10-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
Frustrated with lackluster momentum in the WTO Doha Round and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, and mindful of free trade agreement (FTA) networks centered on the United States and Europe, Asian countries have joined the FTA game. By 2005, Asian countries (excluding China) had ratified 14 bilateral and regional FTAs and had negotiated but not implemented another seven. Asian nations are also actively negotiating some 23 bilateral and regional FTAs, many with non-Asian partners, including Australia, Canada, Chile, the European Union, India, and Qatar. China has been particularly active since 2000. It has completed three bilateral FTAs—Thailand in 2003 and Hong Kong and Macao in 2004—and is initiating another 17 bilateral and regional FTAs. However, a regional Asian economic bloc led by China seems distant, even though China accounts for about 30 percent of regional GDP. As in Europe and the Western Hemisphere, many Asian countries are pursuing FTAs with countries outside the region. On present evidence, the FTA process embraced with some enthusiasm in Asia, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere more closely resembles fingers reaching idiosycratically around the globe rather than politico-economic blocs centered respectively on Beijing, Brussels, and Washington.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, China, Europe, Washington, Canada, India, Beijing, Asia, Australia, Qatar, Chile, Hong Kong, Brussels, and Macao

124. Regional Histories of Development and Security: Seguridad a la Americana

Author:
Fiona Wilson
Publication Date:
02-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The argument of this paper is that there is nothing new about the political connection made between development and security. This has characterized US relations with Latin America grounded in the Monroe Doctrine (giving the US right to intervene) that dates back to 1823. The focus here is on the 1960's, the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, when the securitydevelopment complex was put firmly in place through the build-up of the region's armed forces militaries and an aggressive, anti-communist ideology under the aegis of the US military. In this context, the paper revisits a visionary paper written by the Brazilian economist Celso Furtado in 1966 when in exile, giving his (Latin American) analysis of the securitydevelopment complex and need to react against US economic hegemony, an important strand in dependency theory.
Topic:
Security, Development, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, Brazil, Cuba, and Central America

125. Security and Intelligence in US-Mexico Relations

Author:
Luis Herrera-Lasso M.
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
The relationship between Mexico and the United States has been defined by the countries' shared border, their economic interaction (which has been growing since the signing of NAFTA), and by their common geopolitical arena.
Topic:
Security and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States and Mexico

126. Andes 2020: A New Strategy for the Challenges of Colombia and the Region

Author:
Daniel W. Christman, John G. Heimann, and Julia E. Sweig
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
The democracies of the Andean region—Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia—are at risk. The problems that characterize other developing regions—including political instability, economic stagnancy, widening inequality, and social divisions along class, color, ethnic, ideological, and urban-rural fault lines—are all present in the Andes. Most important is the region's physical insecurity, due in some countries to ongoing or resurgent violent conflict, and in every country to the lack of state control over significant territory and to porous borders that enable the easy movement of drugs, arms, and conflict. Equally sobering, expectations for strong democracy and economic prosperity in the Andes remain unrealized. Recognizing its interests in the Andes, the United States over the past two decades has spent billions of dollars and significant manpower to stem the flow of illegal drugs from the region northward; to assist local security forces in the fight against drugs, terror, and insurgency; and to promote free markets, human rights, and democratic consolidation. Yet the region remains on the brink of collapse, an outcome that would pose a serious threat to the U.S. goal of achieving democracy, prosperity, and security in the hemisphere.
Topic:
Democratization, Development, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, Colombia, South America, Latin America, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia

127. Narrating Oneself Through Another: Medieval Christians and Their Images of the Saracen

Author:
Paul T. Levin
Publication Date:
11-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for International Studies, University of Southern California
Abstract:
It was Turkish membership in the European Union that the Viennese social worker quoted in the Guardian was against. As the Commission of the European Union has recently delivered a report that suggests the opening up of EU accession negotiations with Turkey, old fears seem to be awakening on the continent; “Turcophobia”, as the Guardian calls it. The liberal Viennese news weekly Profil the same week described the prospect of Turkish membership as “not so much a risk as a danger” in an editorial titled “The Turks at the Gates of Vienna.” But not only Turks are experiencing a resurrection of animosities that many thought were long since buried. In the aftermath of the attacks on September 11, anti-Arab sentiments surged along with verbal and physical attacks on Muslims in both Europe and the U.S. Perhaps the secretly held view of too many in Europe and the “West” is that of Britain's Robert Kilroy-Silk. According to his column in the Sunday Express on September 25 of this year, Arabs are no more than "suicide bombers, limb-amputators, women repressors". This essay digs deep to find the historical roots of today's images of Turks, Arabs, and Muslims.
Topic:
International Relations, International Organization, Regional Cooperation, and Religion
Political Geography:
Britain, United States, Europe, Turkey, and Arabia

128. The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: Regional and Transatlantic Challenges

Author:
Roberto Aliboni
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Transatlantic Relations
Abstract:
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) held their annual meeting in Naples on December 2-3, 2003. The Naples conference was the sixth in the series of such meetings since the founding conference of the partnership, which took place in Barcelona in November 1995. With an annual budget of €1 billion, the EMP is a process of “multi-bilateral” cooperation in the political and security; economic and financial; and social and cultural areas. It involves the European Union (EU), and Cyprus, Israel, Malta, Turkey, as well as seven Mediterranean Arab countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia) and the Palestinian National Authority. In Naples, the Ministers delivered only general declarations regarding contentious issues such as the situation in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian road map, and international terrorism. Predictable and incremental as it was, progress was nevertheless achieved on three main “baskets” of the partnership agenda.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, and Cyprus

129. Future of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and China

Author:
Selçuk Çolakoglu
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
Sino-Russian bilateral relations have steadily developed during the 1990s. With the help of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which was established in 1996, China and Russia had the chance to balance the hegemony of the US in the world and to prevent the interfering of other great powers to central Eurasian issues. Central Asian countries, which have been historically and strategically squeezed between Russia and China, have also taken part in the SCO. With the US military operation of Afghanistan after September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, the new era has started in Central Asia and the SCO has been affected negatively within this process. The attitude of Russia and China is very important for the future of the SCO as an organization. The SCO will be able to protect its entity and continue to develop, as long as the cooperation between China and Russia carries on depending on mutual interests.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, China, Central Asia, and Asia

130. Shoulder to Shoulder - an Interview Series July/August 2003

Author:
Loretta Bondi
Publication Date:
07-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Transatlantic Relations
Abstract:
CTR: Were there any big surprises at this meeting? Ambassador Kuniko Inoguchi: I was positively impressed by the strong participation of African states and other countries most affected by the presence of small arms and light weapons. It was very good to hear their voices directly and very encouraging to see a truly cooperative spirit both in the informal consultations and at the Biennial Meeting with states delivering very focused statements.
Topic:
Human Rights, Regional Cooperation, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States