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542. Same Ends but Different Means: Change, Continuity and Moscow’s Middle East Policy
- Author:
- Mark N. Katz
- Publication Date:
- 10-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- This chapter is part of an edited volume that gathers analysis on the policy choices pursued by Washington and Moscow in the MENA region and develops case studies of the two powers’ policies in the countries beset by major crises.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Cold War, and Islamism
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Eurasia, Middle East, North America, and United States of America
543. Iraqi-Russian Relations amidst US Security-Focused Engagement
- Author:
- Abbas Kadhim
- Publication Date:
- 10-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- Iraq has a long and complicated history with the United States, and security and military engagements have been the primary driver of the relationship. Iraq’s relations with Russia, on the other hand, have been more transactional and economically-oriented. At a time when there are signs of US disengagement from the Middle East and North Africa while Russian and Chinese activities in the region are increasing, it is useful to trace the past US and Russian strategies in Iraq and assess how the United States could better tailor its strategy toward Iraq in the future in order to achieve durable outcomes that would bring benefits to both sides such as a responsive government, a thriving economy, and security. This chapter is part of an edited volume that gathers analysis on the policy choices pursued by Washington and Moscow in the MENA region and develops case studies of the two powers’ policies in the countries beset by major crises.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Iraq, Eurasia, Middle East, North America, and United States of America
544. The value of the US nuclear power complex to US national security
- Author:
- Robert F. Ichford and Bart Oosterveld
- Publication Date:
- 10-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- In this analysis, the Atlantic Council has set out to estimate the value that the civilian nuclear power sector contributes to the United States’ national security apparatus. Based on a series of inputs, this analysis and conservative estimation found that the nuclear power complex contributes an equivalent of more than $42.4 billion to US national security, as broadly defined. In other words, the lack of a civilian nuclear sector would present an immediate and significant economic shock (and impact on the labor force)—which, in turn, would have immediate and longer-term budgetary implications for the US government. The definition of national security can be viewed narrowly or more broadly, in terms of both the scope of the institutional assets and providers of national security services and the types of functions or services they undertake. This analysis includes both nuclear utilities and nuclear generators, as well as US military and defense facilities, as providing critical national security functions. The utilities and generators provide secure and reliable electricity, accounting for 19.3 percent of total US electricity generation in 2018, and they contribute significantly to the diversified energy-generation mix that the United States enjoys. There are three main reasons for public support of the civilian nuclear industry for national security purposes, which are identified in the analysis that follows. The reasons are 1. the civilian nuclear industry generates a vast investment in human capital, which is a necessary condition for all applications of nuclear energy in the national security apparatus; 2. the civilian nuclear industry and its associated supply chain provide critical risk mitigation and procurement safety to the national security apparatus; and 3. the civilian nuclear industry’s value to national security priorities related to climate change.
- Topic:
- Energy Policy, National Security, Nuclear Power, Economy, and Business
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
545. New risks to global financial stability
- Author:
- Hung Tran
- Publication Date:
- 10-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- The post-2008 financial regulatory reform has strengthened the banking system, bringing the bank-generated liquidity expansion under control. However, central-bank liquidity has been growing significantly for more than a decade, and financial mediation has moved from banks to non-bank financial institutions, and from lending to capital-market transactions. This new system has created new financial imbalances and distortions and pose new areas of vulnerability that require appropriate policy responses. In “New Risks to Global Financial Stability” author Hung Tran, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Business & Economics program, assesses the global financial system weaknesses and outlines steps to promote financial stability. Tran updates a framework, first developed by the Committee on the Global Financial System, to recommend policy responses along three lines of defense: prevention of excess liquidity; strengthening domestic policy measures; and cooperative provision of central-bank liquidity.
- Topic:
- Regulation, Finance, Economy, Business, and Macroeconomics
- Political Geography:
- Canada, North America, and United States of America
546. Present at the re-creation: A global strategy for revitalizing, adapting, and defending a rules-based international system
- Author:
- Ash Jain and Matthew Kroenig
- Publication Date:
- 10-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the United States and other leading democracies built an international system that ushered in an almost 70-year period of remarkable peace and prosperity. After three decades of largely uncontested primacy, however, this rules-based system is now under unprecedented challenge, both from within and without. We need a new strategy— one ambitious enough to meet the moment, and one innovative enough to fit the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, and NATO
- Political Geography:
- China, Canada, Asia, North America, and United States of America
547. Nuclear strategy in a changing world
- Author:
- Rod Lyon
- Publication Date:
- 10-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Australian Strategic Policy Institute
- Abstract:
- The immense destructive power of nuclear weapons continues to shape the international strategic balance, not least Australia’s place as a close ally of the United States in an increasingly risky Indo-Pacific region. What is the continuing utility to America’s allies of extended nuclear deterrence? Where is the risk of nuclear proliferation greatest? How should the world deal with the growing nuclear capabilities of North Korea? Is the nuclear order as sturdy and stable and it needs to be? These and other pressing issues are addressed in this volume by one of Australia’s leading thinkers on nuclear weapons and the global strategic balance, Rod Lyon. Rod’s career spans academic research and teaching at the University of Queensland, and strategic analysis for Australia’s peak intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments (now the Office of National Intelligence). Since 2006 he has been a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and a frequent contributor on nuclear issues to The Strategist, Australia’s best online source of analysis on defence and strategic issues. The 36 pithy articles in this volume offer Rod Lyon’s distilled wisdom on critical nuclear issues, which are increasingly occupying the minds of Australia’s best policy and intelligence thinkers.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, National Security, Nuclear Weapons, and Armed Forces
- Political Geography:
- Australia, Australia/Pacific, North America, and United States of America
548. Beyond evidence versus truthiness: toward a symmetrical approach to knowledge and ignorance in policy studies
- Author:
- Katharina Paul and Christian Haddad
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Austrian Institute for International Affairs (OIIP)
- Abstract:
- Current political developments in established liberal democracies in both Europe and North America have fundamentally called into question the normative relations between truth, knowledge and politics. Whether labeled “posttruth” or truthiness, commentators lament the willful spread and deployment of nonknowledge and ignorance as important political forces. In this paper, we discuss ignorance in its strategic dimension by weaving together insights from the sociology of ignorance with a policy-scientific approach. By means of three empirical vignettes, we demonstrate that ignorance is more than the flipside of knowledge or merely its lack: it is a constitutive feature of the policy process and is thus not uniquely symptomatic of the current era. We conclude by arguing for what we call a symmetrical approach in which ignorance receives the same quality of attention that knowledge has historically received in the policy sciences. To make fully visible the different forms of ignorance that shape policy processes, policy scholars must hone their “agnoto-epistemological sensibilities” to cope with the current challenges and advance a policy science for democracy.
- Topic:
- Post Truth Politics, Public Policy, Truth, and Misinformation
- Political Geography:
- Europe, North America, and United States of America
549. Prospects of a Settlement with the Afghan Taliban: Exit, peace and governance from the Taliban perspective
- Author:
- Mona Kanwal Sheikh and Amina Khan
- Publication Date:
- 01-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- While the Taliban continue to display strength through lethal attacks in Afghanistan, some important steps have also been taken to find a settlement. Interviews with Taliban leaders, commanders and foot soldiers highlight an unprecedented momentum, calling for the international community to identify ways to support the Afghan peace and reconciliation process. Afghanistan continues to face harsh challenges. Even though the Taliban remain united under their current leadership, significant internal developments have taken place, including defections and divisions, but also their changing approach towards the future of Afghanistan. The Taliban interviewed for this report display a high degree of pragmatism towards their original vision of an emirate, and the report questions whether radical opposition to democracy truly defines their identity. Instead it appears that their primary raison d’être is the liberation of Afghanistan, and that they do not reject the idea of elections. They are less concerned with sectarian interpretations or resistance to democracy than to ending the ’US occupation’ and the practice of decisions being ’taken by the occupiers’. Positive developments in the recent past, including overtures by the Afghan government and a willingness on the part of both the US and the Taliban to engage directly with each other, indicate moderate progress towards a negotiated settlement. The report, based on interviews and secondary sources, will be launched at a seminar hosted by DIIS on January 30, 2019. It is authored by senior researcher Mona Kanwal Sheikh and Amina Khan, a PhD scholar focusing on the Afghan Taliban.
- Topic:
- Terrorism, Treaties and Agreements, Taliban, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, South Asia, North America, and United States of America
550. Getting Japan to the Negotiating Table on the North Korea Crisis: Tokyo's evolving security agenda
- Author:
- Luke Patey
- Publication Date:
- 02-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Japan’s absence from frontline diplomacy on the North Korea crisis is undermining inter-national efforts to bring about a lasting peace. A close alliance with Tokyo is essential for American and European interests in East Asia. RECOMMENDATIONS ■ The European Union should consider playing a larger role as a mediator in the North Korean crisis. ■The United States can use its diplomatic weight to help Japan solve the abductee issue with North Korea. ■In the face of their shared security threat, Japan should take steps to ease current tensions with South Korea.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Power Politics, European Union, and Geopolitics
- Political Geography:
- Japan, China, Asia, South Korea, North Korea, North America, and United States of America