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421. Pyrrhus on the Potomac: How America's post-9/11 wars have undermined US national security

Author:
Carl Conetta
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
America's unique position of power in the post-Cold War era has often inspired comparisons to that of Rome during the rule of Augustus. But the security policy adopted by the United States, especially since the 9/11 attacks, calls to mind a different ancient place and personage: Pyrrhus (318 - 272 B.C.E.), king of Epirus, a Hellenistic realm that comprised what is now northwestern Greece and southern Albania. Plutarch memorializes Pyrrhus as a “great man of war” – but also a fool. Although he waged successful campaigns against Macedonia, the Romans, and others, Pyrrhus was unable to preserve his gains, which came at great cost. In the end, his martial ambitions won him and his kingdom nothing but ruin and disapprobation. He is remembered today in the phrase “Pyrrhic victory”– meaning any victory not worth its cost.
Topic:
Security, Cold War, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States, America, Greece, Albania, and Rome

422. Relics of Cold War: Defence Transformation in the Czech Republic

Author:
Miroslav Tuma
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:
On 28 October 1918, the newly created Czechoslovak Republic—incorporating the historic Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia) and Slovakia— declared its independence after three centuries under Austrian and then Austro- Hungarian rule. This First Republic, initially led by its popular first president, Tomá G. Masaryk, lasted until the resignation of his successor, Edvard Bene, in October 1938. This followed an agreement between France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom forcing Czechoslovakia to cede the Sudetenland to Germany. From March 1939 until the end of World War II Czechoslovakia was split into the German Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia and the nominally independent Slovakian State, which was also under de facto German control. Czechoslovakia regained its independence in 1945. The Communist Party took over government in 1948 and in 1955 Czechoslovakia signed the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (the Warsaw Treaty) along with Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union and, from 1956, the German Democratic Republic. A period of hardline communist rule followed. Attempts at democratic transformation in 1968, the so-called Prague Spring, were ended by a Soviet-led invasion by the forces of fellow Warsaw Treaty Organization members in August 1968, after which the leading reformists were replaced with orthodox Communists. Czechoslovakia's Communist regime relinquished its monopoly on power in November 1989 following more than a week of popular demonstrations, a series of events known as the Velvet Revolution. A former dissident, Václav Havel, was elected president of the renamed Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. On 1 January 1993, the federation was peacefully dissolved and the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic (Slovakia) became independent democratic states. In 1999 the Czech Republic joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and in 2004 it joined the European Union.
Topic:
NATO and Cold War
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, and Slovakia

423. Economic Size Trumps All Else? Lessons from BRICSAM

Author:
Timothy Shaw, Andrew F. Cooper, and Agata Antkiewicz
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Continuing CIGI's BRICSAM research, this paper questions whether size (economic or population) of emerging economies alone is enough to warrant accommodation in the rules and structures of the international system. The global realignment of states following the resulting power vacuum brought on by the end of the Cold War is finally materializing, as a new triangular formation has taken shape: the 'first world' club of the OECD; the 'second world' of emerging economies; and, a heterogeneous 'third world' of the rest. The interplay between and mobility among these groups of states deserves in-depth analysis. The core of this paper observes the economic and social trends of countries in the second tier, and their upwards aspirations towards the top-tier of the global architecture. Traced through a variety of indices, the growth of the BRICSAM group of countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, ASEAN-4 and Mexico) is demonstrated to be a powerful force in international economics and political economy. For the inclusion of these states, a change in the key aspects of global economic governance, the international architecture and geopolitics seems inevitable, and with it, new challenges arise for decision-makers and scholars alike.
Topic:
Cold War, Development, Economics, and Globalization
Political Geography:
Russia, China, India, South Africa, Brazil, and Mexico

424. Third-Party Intervention in International Conflicts: Peacekeeping and Peacemaking in the Post-Cold War Era

Author:
Muzaffer Ercan Yilmaz
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This article evaluates peacekeeping and peacemaking as two major third-party intervention strategies in international conflicts in the post Cold-War era. Peacekeeping is regarded as a needed strategy in situations of violent conflict, but its extensive use is criticized. The study suggests that peacekeeping should be complemented by peacemaking for effective international conflict resolution. By explaining the general characteristics of the two and the complementary relationship between them, a "contingency approach" is reached, stressing that in determining appropriate third-party intervention, different stages of an international conflict should be considered.
Topic:
Cold War and Peacekeeping

425. Turkey's Contribution to Peacekeeping Operations

Author:
Gökhan Koçer
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
In the post Cold War era, a number of crises and armed conflicts threatening the international security have accrued, and most of them are needed to be intervened by international community and international organizations. International peace support operations are realizing not only by UN-led, but also in other international and regional organizations (such as NATO, OSCE etc.) or coalitions of the willing. The number of activities or operations in which Turkey has participated has significantly risen in recent years. In the post Cold War era, Turkey's contribution to international peace support operations has remarkably expanded. In this meaning, Turkey has been actively contributing to several peace support operations with different formations from Kosovo to Afghanistan, from Palestine to East Timor, from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Georgia. The aim of the first section of this paper is to trace Turkey's record in peace support operations that she has participated so far. In the second section, Turkey's contribution and role in peace support operations will be analyzed.
Topic:
Cold War, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Turkey, Palestine, and Georgia

426. Between Utopia and Practice: Conceptualization of Human Security in International Relations

Author:
Sevket Ovali
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
The conception of human security has become one of the most crucial components of security studies in the Post Cold War period. Shifting the focus of security studies from the state to the individual, the concept symbolizes an on-going departure from the realist security conception. Even though its theoretical underpinnings can be traced back to the Enlightenment, the concept appeared in the security studies literature studies during the mid 90s. The proponents of the human security conception faced criticism for being utopist, non-scientific and non-policy oriented. However the developments in international politics and their devastating effects on human lives revealed the links article aims to explore the development and ingredients of the concept of human security, as well as its applicability in daily politics and its revelance for some theoretical issues of the discipline of International Relations.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Cold War

427. The Resistance of the Westphalian System: September 11 and World Politics

Author:
Gökhan Bacik
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This article aims to present several assumptions about world politics since the end of the Cold War. First, as the ancillary argument of this paper, what we have been experiencing since the end of the Cold War era is a sign of a newly emerging world system which bears contradictions with the Westphalian model by focusing on new developments that are inconcistent with the principles of this model. Second, as the basic arguments of this paper, since September 11, the struggle between the Westphalian structure and newly emerging forces has entered a new phase. I take the cognitive process of the current world powers to analyze the struggle between the Westphalian structure and the challenging forces.
Topic:
Cold War and Politics

428. The Rapprochement Between Turkey and the EU: The Transformation Process in the Strategic Perceptions from the 1999 Helsinki Summit to the 2003 Iraq War

Author:
Ramazan Gözen
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This article analyses the rapprochement process between Turkey and the EU which has been developing since the 1999 Helsinki Summit and especially in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq. As a result of differing perceptions of Turkey and the EU in the post Cold War, the Turkey-EU membership process had faced a deep "structural" crisis. However, after some important changes in the years from 1999-2003, Turkey and the EU rediscovered, and approached eachother in such a way that it is incomperable with the past. The basic character of this rapprochement is the strategic transformation in perceptions.
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
Iraq, Europe, and Turkey

429. An Example of Turkey's Multilateral Initiativesin Eurasia: Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation

Author:
Emel G. Oktay
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This study aims at evaluating the dynamics that paved the way for the inception of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) initiative, which was lauched by Turkey taking advantage of the impact of the changes in the international system generated by the ending of the Cold War period. For the evaluation of the success and perenniality of the BSEC initiative, organizational structure and perceptions of member countries are also studied. In addition to important economic cooperation, initiatives aimed at security cooperation in the Black Sea, are also analysed by taking into account their impact upon the regional and international arena. Finally, the achievements of BSEC since its inception in 1992 are evaluated and some suggestions are provided.
Topic:
Cold War and Economics
Political Geography:
Eurasia and Turkey

430. Inevitable Decline versus Predestined Stability: The Structure of Disciplinary Explanations of the Evolving Transatlantic Order

Author:
Gunther Hellmann
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies
Abstract:
The future of NATO has been a hotly debated topic at the center of IR debates ever since the end of the Cold War. It has also been a very complicated one given the discipline's conceptual and theoretical difficulties in studying change. Most analysts now agree that NATO (and the transatlantic order more broadly) are going through some major changes. Yet while there is consensus that the depth as well as the pace of these changes is more far-reaching than in past decades it is unclear exactly how deep and how far these changes reach. In order to come to grips with these changes most of the chapters in this book are exploring the character as well as the sources of these changes. This chapter approaches the topic by examining how the discipline has dealt with the question of the evolution of the transatlantic order in the past. It argues that IR has not been very well equipped conceptually to deal with the phenomenon in question, ie. large-scale processes of change. In applying a typo-logical framework developed by Paul Pierson the chapter discusses what types of causal accounts have dominated in the IR literature – and what this may tell us about particular strengths, biases and potential blind spots in coming to grips with the evolution of this order. In essence it argues that the structure of the most prominent explanations is often quite similar irrespective of paradigmatic descent. Inspite of major differences – inspite, even, of mutually exclusive predictions – as to the expected path of the order ́s evolution realist, liberal and constructivist accounts heavily rely in equal fashion on causal arguments which emphasize large-scale causal processes which are almost always framed in rather statist structural terms even though they essentially entail slow moving causal processes. This temporal dimension of the causal processes presumably shaping the future of the transatlantic order is seldom spelled out in detail, however. Thus, if one examines the debate as a whole one sees a picture of IR scholarship which essentially oscillates between two extremes: the position that NATO (as the core institution of the transatlantic order) was (and is) certain to survive and the position that it was (and is) certain to collapse. What is more, these extremes on a spectrum of possible positions on the transatlantic order ́s evolution between breakdown on the one hand and successful adaptation on the other are not hypothetical but mostly real. Thus, the debate does not gravitate towards the center (ie. a position which, for instance, envisages a loser but still cooperative relationship) after the usual give and take of exchanging scholarly arguments. Rather it mostly sticks with either of the two extreme positions. The chapter illustrates the problems associated with this point in some details and discusses potential remedies.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, NATO, Cold War, and Politics