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981. From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond: democracy and identity in today's India

Author:
Shashi Tharoor
Publication Date:
07-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for the Advanced Study of India
Abstract:
Good afternoon and welcome. I hasten to reassure that I am not Francine Frankel; my name is Peter Geithner, I am a member of the International Advisory Board of CASI. Because Francine is in India as we speak, I have the privilege of introducing our speaker this afternoon. As those of you who have had a chance to read the announcement will, I am sure, agree, to have this afternoon Dr. Shashi Tharoor. He is a most unusual fellow, I think we can all agree. Unusual in the sense that he has managed to pursue not only one, but two careers, and to do so with extraordinary success. As an international civil servant, and now, Undersecretary General of the United Nations for Communications and Public Information, and as one of India's most respected authors. An award‐winning author, I might add, for both his fiction and his non‐fiction writing. On the fiftieth anniversary of India's independence, Dr. Tharoor wrote of India's—and I quote—“extraordinary mixture of ethnic groups, profusion of incomprehensible languages, variations of topography and climate, diversity of religions and cultural practices, and range and levels of economic development.” He also went on to remind us that India's pluralism—and again I quote—“emerges from its geography, is reflected in its history, and is confirmed by its ethnography.” I suspect we will hear more along these lines this afternoon, as Dr. Tharoor speaks to us about, “From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond: Democracy and Identity in Today's India.” Shashi—Dr. Tharoor.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, Nationalism, and United Nations
Political Geography:
India and Southeast Asia

982. Security And Development: Assessing International Policy And Practice Since The 1990s (GFN-SSR Report of the Conference)

Author:
Ann M. Fitz-Gerald
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:
This conference launches IPA's new research program entitled 'Strengthening the Security-Development Nexus: Conflict, Peace and Development in the 21st Century'. Focusing primarily on the role of international actors in conflict prevention, conflict management and post-conflict reconstruction, the conference aims to: a) examine advances that have been made in linking the UN's Agendas for Peace and for Development in the 1990s; b) highlight the challenges faced by the security and development communities in moving towards a shared 'peacebuilding' agenda; c) identify the difficult political, institutional, operational and policy challenges facing practitioners, policymakers and researchers in the changed international environment of the early 21st century. The conference will seek to integrate gender considerations into each of its substantive panels.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Development, Peace Studies, and United Nations

983. The United Nations, the Cold War, and After: A Lost Opportunity?

Author:
Christopher D. O'Sullivan
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia International Affairs Online
Abstract:
The conclusion of the Cold War between 1989-1991 opened new horizons for the United Nations and created expectations that the UN would emerge from the margins of world events to the focus of world politics. But many events since then -- in Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Iraq -- have undermined confidence in international institutions. A history of the UN's activities since the end of the East-West conflict conjures up names of recent infamy, such as Sarajevo, Mogadishu, Kigali, and Srebrenica, and revisits images of failure and impotence in the face of violence. These crises undermined much of the optimism that greeted the end of the Cold War at the United Nations. The founding dream in 1945 of a community of nations defending human rights and promoting collective security still seems as far from being realized as it did during the height of the Cold War.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Cold War, Politics, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Somalia

984. The UN Security Council and Iraq

Author:
Christopher D. O'Sullivan and M. James Wilkinson
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia International Affairs Online
Abstract:
The United Nations Security Council has, in the words of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, “come to a fork in the road . . . (that) may be a moment no less decisive than 1945.”i The US Administration precipitated the crisis when, unable to secure Council approval for using armed force against Iraq, it fashioned its own “coalition of the willing” and drove Saddam Hussein from power. The events surrounding the US action and its aftermath have spawned a vigorous debate over President Bush's policies and whether the Security Council in its present -- or any other -- form can play a serious role henceforth in the quest to ensure international peace and security.
Topic:
United Nations
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Middle East, and Arabia

985. Darfur Rising: Sudan's New Crisis

Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Sudan, where prospects for peace had looked so promising for much of 2003, has become a potential horror story in 2004. The rapid onset of war in its western region of Darfur has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises -- thousands dead and some 830,000 uprooted from homes. Meanwhile, the IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority for Development) peace talks in Naivasha, Kenya between the government and the insurgent Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLA) threaten to deadlock. It is urgent that these talks succeed and that, simultaneously, a parallel process begins to address both the humanitarian and political crises in Darfur.
Topic:
Civil War, Human Rights, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Kenya, Africa, and Sudan

986. Rebuilding Liberia: Prospects and Perils

Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Liberia is a collapsed state that has become in effect a UN protectorate. Whether its political and economic reconstruction can begin depends on how quickly security spreads throughout the country. Squabbles over jobs by leaders of the armed factions have caused near-paralysis in the transitional government. Faction leaders tried to block disarmament until they received more jobs, boding ill for the peace process. The display of cynicism and greed by fighters and political leaders alike has undermined international confidence ahead of the donors' conference that meets in New York, 5-6 February 2004.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, International Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and United Nations
Political Geography:
New York and Liberia

987. Building Civilian Capacity for Conflict Management and Sustainable Peace

Author:
Shepard Forman
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:
Since the early 1990s, the UN system, the World Bank Group, and bilateral donors have been involved in a broad array of state-support and peace-building functions in the aftermath of conflicts – many of them protracted – that have either severely weakened or largely decimated the institutions of governance. Designated variably as post-conflict reconstruction or peace-building, these activities have included a wide variety of administrative and public management tasks, ranging from political observation and negotiation in El Salvador, to technical assistance and advisory services in Mozambique, to the “light [but extensive] footprint” in Afghanistan and the full-fledged governing authority assumed by UNTAET in East Timor and UNMIK in Kosovo.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, United Nations, and Governance
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Kosovo, Mozambique, El Salvador, and Timor

988. Peace Operations: the Civilian Dimension Accounting for UNDP and the UN Specialized Agencies

Author:
Susan Woodward
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:
Complex, multidimensional peacekeeping is a creature of the 1990s. The civilian tasks are those set out in Agenda for Peace (1992), and its 1995 Supplement, while the lessons of the 1990s for UN operations were only codified in the Brahimi Report of August 2000 and its proposed reforms. The explicit contribution to peacekeeping missions of UNDP and the Specialized Agencies, with the important exception of those with an established humanitarian mandate such as UNHCR and WFP, is thus little more than a decade old. Capacity-building reforms within UNDP and the agencies for this conflict-related and post-conflict role date to 2001-2002 at best. Accommodation by the UN system for peacekeeping operations of their now integral role has not begun.
Topic:
Development, International Organization, Peace Studies, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States

989. Terror on the UN Payroll?

Author:
Matthew Levitt
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
On October 4, 2004, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Peter Hansen unapologetically admitted to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that the UN employs members of Hamas. "Oh, I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll," Hansen stated, "and I don't see that as a crime." The fact that Palestinian terrorist groups have increasingly used civilian cover to facilitate their activities remains undisputed (notwithstanding the recent spat between Israel and the UN over drone reconnaissance pictures depicting what Israeli officials claimed were Hamas operatives transporting Qassam missiles in a UN ambulance, but which now appear to have been merely stretchers). In several documented cases, Palestinian terrorists have exploited employment with UN and other agencies to support their groups' activities.
Topic:
Security, Religion, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Arabia

990. Conflicting Motivations: The Private Sector and International Conflict

Author:
Luke A. Patey
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Since the end of the Cold War, the world has been witness to a drastic increase in the number and magnitude of inter- and intra-state wars. These conflicts have predominately taken place within developing and underdeveloped countries and have led to substantial human, economic, and political costs at both local and international levels. The United Nations, along with international financial institutions and the global civil society, has recognized the need for curbing the violence and preventing further outbreaks. However, the political breadth and financial capacities of these organizations cannot ensure sufficient socio-economic recovery through peace-building operations alone. A more progressive approach is required. Responsible and committed engagement from private sector actors can provide a thrust towards reducing poverty in war-torn societies. Over the long term, the private sector in conjunction with international and non-governmental organizations can accelerate the process of postconflict reconstruction and encourage lasting peace through economic prosperity.
Topic:
Economics, Politics, Third World, and United Nations