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35402. Global Conditions and Global Constraints: The International Paternity of the Palestinian Nation
- Author:
- Dietrich Jung
- Publication Date:
- 07-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- In a recent article, Michael Mandelbaum depicted Middle Eastern states as the most combative members of the international community. He painted the picture of a region in which “traditional motives for war – gold and God – are still alive” (Mandelbaum 1999). In line with this rather stereotypical perspective, the Middle East is often viewed as a zone of conflict, in which competition for scarce resources (“gold”) inevitably leads to violent encounters between actors that are guided by irrational ideas (“God”). The long and bloody history of the Palestine conflict has contributed a lot to coroberating this image of a region in which violence seems to be endemic. In terminating the so-called Middle East Peace Process, the current “Al-Aqsa Intifada” marks another violent step in this conflict that has frequently escalated to warlike proportions in the form of popular unrest, communal riots, anti-colonial insurgencies, guerilla and terror attacks, as well as civil and inter-state wars. Yet behind these waves of violence and counter-violence, we can easily discern patterns of a kind of nationalist conflict with which European history is far more familiar than the stereotype of Middle Eastern irrationality admits. Despite the academic obsession with proclaiming the “end of territoriality” and the “decline of the nation-state”, the Palestine conflict represents a painful but vivid remnant of those national conflicts that politically characterized the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Europe.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and International Organization
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Palestine, and Arab Countries
35403. Democracy, Human rights and Ethnica Conflicts in the Process of Globalisation
- Author:
- Zlatko Isakovic
- Publication Date:
- 06-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The aim of this paper is to elaborate relationships between democracy, human rights and ethnic conflicts in the globalised world. The first part is devoted to analysis of the impacts of democracy and human rights on the ethnic conflicts, and second elaborates impacts of the conflicts on the democracy and human rights. Both parts are supposed to elaborate the topic within the context of globalised world. The main conclusion is that if a system cannot be qualified as democratic one and respectful for human rights, appears the complex dilemma what should and would come first: developing democracy and/or respecting human rights or eliminating ethnic conflicts or preventing their escalations/deescalating them.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Ethnic Conflict, Globalization, and Human Rights
35404. Austria's Role in an Enlarged European Union
- Author:
- Benita Ferrero-Waldner
- Publication Date:
- 10-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- European unity has come a long way. As early as 1946 – under the impression of the cataclysm of World War II – statesmen like Winston Churchill dreamed of a better Europe. “We must build a kind of United States of Europe”, Churchill said.
- Topic:
- Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Asia
35405. The International Symposium: At the Front Lines of Conflict Prevention in Asia
- Author:
- Hisashi Owada
- Publication Date:
- 07-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Japan Institute Of International Affairs (JIIA)
- Abstract:
- The Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) held an international symposium in July 2001 entitled "At the Front Lines of Conflict Prevention in Asia" and sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA). This is a summary record of the symposium proceedings.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Asia
35406. Humanitarian Action: The Conflict Connection
- Author:
- S. Neil MacFarlane
- Publication Date:
- 01-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
- Abstract:
- This monograph considers the impact of humanitarian action on recent armed conflicts. The proposition that humanitarian initiatives fuel conflict has been an important element of the critique of international responses to war-related need, constituting indeed a fundamental challenge to the humanitarian imperative. Concern about exacerbating conflict through humanitarian action may also reduce the flow of resources from donors to aid agencies. But the connection can also be positive. The view that humanitarian action can and should be designed to promote peace has influenced the programs of agencies operating in complex emergencies.
- Topic:
- Security, Human Rights, and International Organization
35407. Targeted Financial Sanctions: A Manual for Design and Implementation
- Author:
- Thomas J. Biersteker, Sue Eckert, Natalie Reid, and Peter Romaniuk
- Publication Date:
- 01-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
- Abstract:
- In recent years, the concept and strategy of targeted sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, have been receiving increased attention. Practitioners and analysts generally agree that better targeting of such measures on the individuals responsible for the policies condemned by the international community, and the elites who benefit from and support them, would increase the effectiveness of sanctions, while minimizing the negative impact on the civilian population. The considerable interest in the development of targeted sanctions regimes has focused primarily on financial sanctions, travel and aviation bans, and embargoes on specific commodities such as arms or diamonds.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
35408. Terrorism and America: Five Asia Pacific Perspectives
- Author:
- Terutomo Ozawa
- Publication Date:
- 12-2001
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- Just over a decade ago, the phenomenal economic growth of Japan was admired and even feared. It had pursued a successful strategy of industry upgrading to catch up with the West, maximizing bank-based, state-directed financing. Ironically, the very institutional setup that was required for success eventually resulted in a devastating economic downturn. Japan remains languishing in a state of economic stagnation, but that may change: market forces are now driving Japan to carry out major reforms. A market-oriented business environment is crucial, and thus Japan is being propelled toward deregulation and institutional reform. In particular, its traditionally protected, inner-dependent sector must be opened to competition in order to improve efficiency, and obstacles to direct foreign investment must be eliminated. Although the process is a gradual one that has been further hampered by the slump in the U.S. economy, dramatic changes are in motion, creating promising roles and opportunities for foreign investors as well as potential for Japan to realize a new economic vitality.
- Topic:
- Religion and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
35409. "Déjà vu all over again?" Why Dialogue Won't Solve the Kashmir Dispute
- Author:
- Arun R. Swamy
- Publication Date:
- 10-2001
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- The intensification of a long-standing dispute between India and Pakistan over the state of Kashmir has become the cause of international concern. The stakes for these nuclear-armed rivals are high. Each views Kashmir as the validation of its national ideology; each fears that giving it up will result in serious domestic turmoil. Moreover, each country has plausible legal arguments for its claims along with a long history of grievances. The deep differences over Kashmir that divide the two countries have so far proven intractable, and following September 11 the movement toward confrontation accelerated. There has never been a more urgent need for international attention to Kashmir. While diplomatic engagement seems necessary for a resolution of this dispute, past results indicate that simply pressuring the two sides to talk may be disastrous. In order to avoid such results, any effort to intervene in this dispute must be undertaken with an awareness of how it evolved, why it has been so difficult to resolve, and what kinds of solutions to it might realistically be pursued.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and Security
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, Asia, and Kashmir
35410. Terrorism and America: Five Asia Pacific Perspectives
- Author:
- Harry Bhaskara, Gautam Chikermane, Unaloto Ofa Kaukimoce, Amantha R. Perera, and Takeshi Yamashina
- Publication Date:
- 10-2001
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- Three weeks after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., five journalists—from India, Fiji, Japan, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka—visiting the East-West Center on an exchange program accepted an invitation to write about the attacks and "America's War on Terrorism" from the perspective of their own country. Their responses are frank and sometimes anguished. "As global terrorism evolved into a beast out of control, America enjoyed the good life," writes a Sri Lankan. The United States has declared a war on terrorism but, an Indian asks, is it only because now "the grief pours out of American eyes"? In Japan, resentment over America's increasing "unilateralism" coexists with an unprecedented willingness to send troops overseas, says a writer for The Mainichi Newspapers. A Fijian broadcaster notes that calls for international action are accompanied by "unease over violent retaliation." The mixed emotions described by many are dramatically evident in predominantly Muslim Indonesia where, says a newspaper editor, anti-American demonstrations defied President Megawati's assurances of support for the United States.
- Topic:
- Religion and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Japan, America, Indonesia, India, Asia, and Sri Lanka