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31. An Ambiguous Election: Tshisekedi’s First 100 Days in Office

Author:
Jason Stearns
Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:
The Democratic Republic of the Congo held national presidential and legislative elections on December 30th 2018. The elections, which had been delayed by two years, were mired in controversy. The national electoral commission declared opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi the winner of the presidential poll. However, a leak from the same commission, whose results were extremely similar to those released by the Catholic Church’s observation mission, showed that Martin Fayulu, another opposition leader, clearly won the elections.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

32. What’s Good for Women and Girls can be Good for Men and Boys

Author:
Jeni Klugman
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:
It is well known that gender inequality is bad for economic growth. Better gender equality is associated with gains in terms of income, economic growth, and national competitiveness. What is less widely recognized is that greater gender equality—in terms of labor force participation, wages, education, health, and assets—can work to close income gaps in society more broadly.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

33. The Western Balkans Counter-Serious Crime initiative

Author:
Denis Hadžović
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Centre for Security Studies
Abstract:
The location of the Western Balkans makes of it a sensitive area for the proliferation of criminal networks. Albeit regional leaders seem aware of Europe’s changing criminal landscape, considerable gaps in regional cooperation persist. The Integrative Internal Security Governance represents a policy coordination framework designed to foster cross-border cooperation in the region, enabling the Western Balkan countries to cope with internal security challenges in a longterm and self-sustainable perspective. Bosnia and Herzegovina took part in the initiative and committed to implement key priorities that would allow law enforcement agencies to keep pace with the changing nature of this significant threat. However, functionality along the law enforcement chain remains a matter of serious concern. A highly fragmented law enforcement sector still inhibits the country’s ability to detect, investigate and prosecute cases of serious and organized crime, jeopardizing first and foremost human security. In light of country’s integration objectives, Bosnian authorities should reopen discussion on structural reforms, starting from a serious and credible debate on police reform. This would allow Bosnia and Herzegovina to constructively participate in regional initiatives, fulfilling membership criteria, and improving the security of its citizens.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

34. Rethinking the European Union-Western Balkans cooperation on fighting organised crime in light of new challenges brought by the migration crisis

Author:
François Lhoumeau
Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Centre for Security Studies
Abstract:
Faced with the migration crisis it has experienced since 2015, the EU has not presented a unified policy. Moreover, the different approaches to crisis management have undergone various reversals - from a simplified reception policy at the beginning of the crisis to a complete closure of borders from 2016. These policies had a direct impact on the Western Balkans region, then at the centre of the crisis. First a crossing point, the region has been repeatedly asked to be the guardian of EU borders. This has resulted in a significant number of migrants trapped within the borders of the Western Balkans. As the region is mainly a transit point, organised crime has been strengthened around migrant smuggling and human trafficking activities by the policies initiated at the end of 2015. Despite the EU's growing attention to this issue, regional cooperation efforts need to be strengthened. In addition, the EU must use the tools of enlargement to establish a comprehensive strategy based on strengthening the rule of law and maintaining security
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

35. Tourism Across Borders in Israel/Palestine

Author:
Anne Bauer
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Israel/Palestine Creative Regional Initiatives (IPCRI)
Abstract:
This research was conducted as part of IPCRI's project "Tourism Brings Us Closer", funded by the Swiss Embassy, and examines the ways in which tourism can be used as a tool for social and political change. The research is based on focused group discussions with actors in the tourism industry that were conducted within the scope of the project. Thereby, the research analyses the challenges and opportunities identified by people working in the field. The research also offers a set of recommendations that can inform future engagements.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

36. One City, Two Realities

Author:
Mark Miodownik
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Israel/Palestine Creative Regional Initiatives (IPCRI)
Abstract:
This public opinion survey covers different issues of life in Jerusalem of its Israeli and Palestinian residents. It surveys their expressions about local needs, who they view as their local leadership, their social attitudes and ways of communication. It also explores perceptions of violence, life satisfaction and also questions about the future of Jerusalem and municipal elections. ​ This survey is a part of a larger peacebuilding initiative in Jerusalem called “Building Visions for the Future of Jerusalem: A Bottom-Up Approach”. As such, the survey is one of a few ways to collect and give voice to the residents’ needs and perceptions regarding their life in Jerusalem. Its final objectives are to to better understand the foundations for cooperation between the two populations in this contested city, in order to assist in improving their well-being
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

37. Reaching Tibet in July 1900 via British India and Nepal: Journey of the First Japanese, Ekai Kawaguchi

Author:
Monika Chansoria
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Japan Institute Of International Affairs (JIIA)
Abstract:
Archival accounts of 19th centur y Tibet describe it as the forbidden, inaccessible, daunting and remotely unreachable territory of the Himalayas. Lhasa, the religious and administrative capital of Tibet since the mid-17th century literally meant “Place of the Gods” located at an elevation of about 3,600 m (11,800 ft) at the center of the Tibetan Plateau with the surrounding mountains rising to 5,500 m (18,000 ft). The air in this part contained only 68 percent oxygen compared to sea level, thereby indicating the geographic difficulties of the terrain. Tibet has stirred the curiosity amongst explorers, adventurists and researchers as being amongst the few places in the world that fired the imagination of adventurers. Owing to Buddhism, Japan, quite evidently had far more incentive than most others to reach Tibet, and ultimately, Lhasa. It was in the backdrop of these existential conditions that Ekai Kawaguchi (1866-1945) a Buddhist monk became the first Japanese explorer to embark upon a journey fraught with danger and uncertainty in May 1897 from Tokyo, to have succeeded in touching the frontier of the roof of the world, as he stepped on Tibetan soil for the first time on July 4, 1900
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

38. Does Australia have an “Indo Pacific strategy”?

Author:
Thomas Wilkins
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Japan Institute Of International Affairs (JIIA)
Abstract:
The US Department of Defense (DOD) released its longawaited Indo Pacific Strategy Report (IPSR) in tandem with the IISS-Shangrila Dialogue in Singapore on 1 June 2019. This IPSR appears to subsume or extend the earlier Free and Open Indo Pacific (FOIP) strategy (sometimes referred to now as a “vision”) into a more comprehensive regional Indo Pacific Strategy (IPS), that is anchored in the earlier 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS) and 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) documents. Australia has yet to produce an analogous document dedicated to profiling its own “Indo Pacific Strategy”, but with the US iteration in view, it is possible to construct an plausible image of such a strategy in the Australian case by drawing upon various pertinent materials from a range of government sources. Indeed, the notion of an overarching IPs is gradually taking shape in Australian strategic thinking, as testified to by a variety of official documents, including large portions of the 2016 Defence White Paper, and especially 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, alongside other policy statements and initiatives, framed in the context of analysis and debate undertaken by nationally-based strategic commentators. A small case “s” in “Indo Pacific strategy” is specifically employed in this paper to distinguish the author’s conception from any formally mandated government “Strategy”
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

39. The Role for Middle Powers in the Free and Open Indo-Pacific: Looking at Opportunities for Canada and Australia

Author:
John Berkshire Miller
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Japan Institute Of International Affairs (JIIA)
Abstract:
The Indo-Pacific, as a geographic concept that connects the vast oceans of Pacific and the Indian along with the states in between, is not a new idea. Indeed, the idea of a broader geographic region – rather than more traditional subsets such as East Asia, South Asia, or the more expansive Asia-Pacific – has been used for more than a decade by scholars and practitioners in the region. An Indian naval captain began using the concept in geopolitical terms more than a decade ago, but the terminology has not been limited to scholars in Delhi. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, back during his first stint as Prime Minister in 2007, spoke to India’s parliament about his country’s vision for Indo-Pacific noting a “confluence of the two seas”2 and pressed for a need to transcend beyond traditional frameworks that often separated or minimized the geopolitical connections between South Asian and the Indian Ocean region with that of East Asia and the Pacific
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

40. Territorial Annexation of Tibet

Author:
Monika Chansoria
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Japan Institute Of International Affairs (JIIA)
Abstract:
Histor y often tends to repeat itself, or as Spanish-American philosopher, Jorge Agustín Santayana wrote in 1905-06 in The Life of Reason, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. While setting out to write on, or about Tibet, it is inevitable to conclude that there never was, or will be, a long walk to freedom either for Tibet, or for the holy chair of the successive Dalai Lamas – the god and king-in-one incarnation of Chen-re-zi, the Lord of Mercy – the patron deity of Tibet. The Dalai Lama not only governs his subjects in this life, but can influence their rebirth in the next, or as Tibetans believe is the “Ruler in this life, the Uplifter in the hereafter.”1
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus