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531. The Syria Accountability Act Taking the Wrong Road to Damascus

Author:
Claude Salhani
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
On December 12, 2003, President Bush signed into law the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003, a law designed to pressure Syrian president Bashar Assad's government to work more aggressively in fighting terrorism at home and abroad. Implementation of the new measures, which combine punitive economic sanctions with diplomatic pressure, threatens to escalate into a new conflict in the Middle East. Some influential people in Washington welcomed such a confrontation, believing that it would lead to regime change in Damascus similar to the one that was effected in neighboring Iraq.
Topic:
Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Washington, Middle East, Arabia, and Syria

532. Syria Under Bashar (I): Foreign Policy Challenges

Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Since the end of the Iraq war, Washington and Damascus have been locked in a dialogue of the deaf. U.S. policy has been reduced to a series of demands and threats. Syrian policy, with President Bashar still struggling to formulate and implement a coherent strategy, has been mainly wait-and-see – offering a few concessions and hoping to weather the storm while refusing to relinquish what it sees as trump cards (support for Hizbollah and radical Palestinian groups) so long as the conflict with Israel continues. Despite the current deadlock, however, the current regional situation presents an opportunity for an intensive, U.S.-led diplomatic effort to revive the Israeli-Syrian peace process and thereby achieve significant changes in Syrian policy.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Foreign Policy, Politics, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Washington, Israel, Arabia, and Syria

533. A Short History of the Washington Consensus

Author:
John Williamson
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
The term “Washington Consensus” was coined in 1989. The first written usage was in my background paper for a conference that the Institute for International Economics convened in order to examine the extent to which the old ideas of development economics that had governed Latin American economic policy since the 1950s were being swept aside by the set of ideas that had long been accepted as appropriate within the OECD. In order to try and ensure that the background papers for that conference dealt with a common set of issues, I made a list of ten policies that I thought more or less everyone in Washington would agree were needed more or less everywhere in Latin America, and labeled this the “Washington Consensus.” Little did it occur to me that fifteen years later I would be asked to write about the history of a term that had become the center of fierce ideological controversy.
Topic:
International Relations, Debt, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:
Washington and Latin America

534. The Defense Monitor, Challenging Conventional Threat

Author:
Rachel Stohl, Victoria Samson, Marcus Corbin, and Tomas Valasek
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
This issue of The Defense Monitor presents several of the projects currently underway at the Center for Defense Information, and describes how the work of CDI is making a difference, inside and outside of Washington, D.C. Of the many and varied CDI initiatives, highlighted here are projects on several of the hot topics of the day: the arms trade, small arms and light weapons; security cooperation with Europe; missile defense and space weapons; and, the war in Iraq, the size and shape of the military, and the role of Congress in overseeing and ensuring national security. At a time when too often public debate is cut short and poorly informed, in these and other areas CDI continues to supply the independent information. Its well-grounded analysis, and creative solutions are vital to help policy-makers make sound choices, and to support a healthy discourse on important national security issues affecting the nation and the world.
Political Geography:
Iraq, Europe, and Washington

535. Africa's Debt Iraq's Debt - Washington's Double Standard

Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Africa Policy Information Center
Abstract:
This week when the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) hold their annual spring meetings in Washington, DC, Africa's debt crisis will hardly appear on their agenda.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Economics, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, Iraq, Washington, Middle East, and Arabia

536. From America's protégé to constructive European. Polish security policy in the twenty-first century

Author:
Marcin Zaborowski
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
Following the events of 11 September 2001, Poland emerged as one of the United States's key allies, arguably its protégé, in Central and Eastern Europe. The close affinity of interests on security matters between the United States and Poland became particularly apparent in Iraq, where Warsaw proved to be a strong and highly vocal supporter of Washington. However, at the same time, Poland has been progressively drawn into the internal workings of the EU, and as a consequence its perspectives on European security have evolved towards a more 'EU-positive' attitude. This, coupled with disappointment over the war in Iraq, has meant that Poland's Atlanticism is increasingly questioned, with calls for a more pro-European attitude growing. This paper will reflect upon these debates and argue that Poland's Atlanticism is indeed changing. Focusing on the Iraq conflict and perspectives towards the EU's security ambitions, this paper will show that Warsaw has strived to reconcile its Atlanticism with a concomitant engagement in the European Union's CSFP and ESDP. The paper concludes that Poland's Atlanticism is likely to be toned down in the future as Poland becomes more focused on developing its policies in an EU context and in cooperation with individual member states.
Topic:
Security and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States, America, Europe, Washington, and Poland

537. NATO Membership Is A Realistic Goal If Ukraine Shows Courage And Resolve

Author:
James Green
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
For many Ukrainians today, the possibility of membership in NATO seems like a far-off dream. Yet ten years ago this January, when NATO Heads of State meeting in Brussels confirmed the Alliance's openness to “democratic states to our East,” the goal of NATO membership must have seemed just as unreal to the populations of other Eastern and Central European countries. Who could imagine that a Romania just beginning to recover from the political and economic devastation wrought by Ceausescu's misrule could possibly meet the “principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law” set forth in the North Atlantic Treaty? That NATO would cross Russia's 'red line' and invite the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to join the Alliance? Or that the Alliance would accept the candidacy of Bulgaria, considered by many in the Soviet Union as the 'Sixteenth Republic'? Yet all these nations, plus Slovakia and Slovenia, will be joining NATO in June 2004 at the Istanbul Summit. Added to Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, which joined the Alliance at the Washington Summit in 1999, ten Central and Eastern European countries will have joined NATO in the ten years since the Brussels Summit. The success of these Eastern and Central European countries in overcoming scepticism, pessimism, and the burden of their difficult histories – and in the process transforming themselves from post-communist societies into members of the community of Euro-Atlantic democracies – is proof that far-off dreams can come true if a nation's leaders have clear political vision and will, supported by a systematic and resolute approach to implementing reforms.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and NATO
Political Geography:
Europe, Washington, and Ukraine

538. US-Mexico Border Control in a Changing Economic and Security Context

Author:
Peter Andreas
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Although far from Washington and Mexico City, it is perhaps only a slight exaggeration to say that U.S.-Mexico relations begin and end at their shared 1,933-mile-long border. Indeed, the degree of harmony or conflict in the relationship increasingly depends on how the border and border control matters are politically managed. The border is both one of the busiest and one of the most heavily policed territorial lines in the world, where many of the most critical and sensitive issues in the bilateral relationship, such as trade, migration, and drug trafficking, come together. In fact, much of U.S. policy toward Mexico has been driven by the twin objectives of facilitating authorized border crossings and deterring unauthorized crossings. Balancing these tasks has always been politically and bureaucratically frustrating and cumbersome, but both the challenge and the stakes have grown substantially as counterterrorism has been added to and redefined the border control agenda since September 11, 2001.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Economics
Political Geography:
United States, Washington, and Mexico

539. 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

540. Collision Avoidance: U.S.-Russian Bilateral Relations and Former Soviet States

Author:
Eugene B. Rumer
Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
The year 2003 was a difficult one in U.S.- Russian relations, and 2004 promises to be even more challenging. Disagreements between Washington and Moscow over Iraq were the most visible in a series of events that also included American concerns about Chechnya, the authoritarian tilt in Russian domestic politics, Russia's fading media freedom, selective prosecution of independent-minded businessmen, and meddling in the internal affairs of its neighbors. Together, these events add up to a trend that spells trouble for the ambitious U.S.-Russian strategic framework inaugurated by President George W. Bush and President Vladimir Putin in 2002. Yet rarely if ever has the need for greater cooperation between the two countries been more urgent than it will be in 2004 and the years to come.
Topic:
International Relations and Security
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Washington, Soviet Union, and Moscow