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702. Divided we fail: Time for the EU to speak with one voice to Belarus
- Author:
- Anaïs Marin
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
- Abstract:
- The West has come to admit that the Belarusian regime is indifferent to incentives and sanctions alike. The crackdown on the opposition that has been ongoing since Alexander Lukashenka's last fraudulent re-election shows that Belarus is drifting ever further away from democratic values and the EU's “ring of friends”. Reversing this trend requires EU member states to acknowledge that they bear part of the responsibility for the failure of the engagement policy launched in October 2008.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Democratization, and Diplomacy
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Brussels
703. EU's Rejection of Turkey: The Real Underlying Reason
- Author:
- Yalım Eralp
- Publication Date:
- 04-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Global Political Trends Center (GPoT)
- Abstract:
- There are many negative elements in EU-Turkey relations. Some consider the difference in religion as the primary factor. The issue is deeper than that. It is cultural contradiction. When Europe says cultural diversity is richness, it tends to mean cultural integration.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Regional Cooperation, Religion, and Culture
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Turkey
704. Managing Ethnic Conflict: The Menu of Institutional Engineering
- Author:
- Matthias Basedau
- Publication Date:
- 07-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- The debate on institutional engineering offers options to manage ethnic and other conflicts. This contribution systematically assesses the logic of these institutional designs and the empirical evidence on their functioning. Generally, institutions can work on ethnic conflict by either accommodating (“consociationalists”) or denying (“integrationists”) ethnicity in politics. Looking at individual and combined institutions (e.g. state structure, electoral system, forms of government), the literature review finds that most designs are theoretically ambivalent and that empirical evidence on their effectiveness is mostly inconclusive. The following questions remain open: a) Is politicized ethnicity really a conflict risk? b) What impact does the whole “menu” (not just single institutions) have? and c) How are effects conditioned by the exact nature of conflict risks?
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Democratization, Ethnic Conflict, and Governance
705. Palestinian Reconciliation: Plus ÇA Change...
- Publication Date:
- 07-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Hamas and Fatah surprised all with their announcement of a reconciliation accord. What had been delayed since Hamas took over Gaza in 2007 and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Abbas asked Salam Fayyad to form a government in the West Bank was done in Cairo in hours. Shock was matched by uncertainty over what had been agreed and the course it would take. Would the factions produce a national strategy and unify fractured institutions? Or would the agreement codify the status quo? Even some of the more pessimistic scenarios were optimistic. Reconciliation stumbled at its first hurdle, naming a prime minister – though that is not the only divisive issue. Neither side wants to admit failure, so the accord is more likely to be frozen than renounced, leaving the door slightly ajar for movement. Palestinian parties but also the U.S. and Europe need to recognise that reconciliation is necessary to both minimise the risk of Israeli-Palestinian violence and help produce a leader- ship able to reach and implement peace with Israel.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Treaties and Agreements, and Territorial Disputes
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, and Arab Countries
706. Turkey and Greece: Time to Settle the Aegean Dispute
- Publication Date:
- 07-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Normalisation between Greece and Turkey has come far since tensions in the Aegean Sea threatened war three times between the NATO allies. Trade, investments and mutual cooperation and tourism have taken off, sidelining issues like the Cyprus problem, which first stirred up the Aegean dispute in the early 1970s. Frequent bilateral talks and Turkey's unofficial 2011 suspension of military over-flights of Greek islands suggest that the time may be ripe for a solution to that dispute. Turkey's strong new government elected in June is interested in further asserting itself as a responsible regional power, solving problems in its neighbourhood and clearing obstacles to its European Union (EU) accession. With Athens in the midst of a financial crisis and needing any economic lift and increased security it can find, this unnecessary and still potentially dangerous conflict should be resolved. A good strategy would be a synchronised set of steps to prepare public opinion on both sides, leading to a bilateral agreement and including, if needed, eventual re- course to international adjudication.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, NATO, Bilateral Relations, and Territorial Disputes
- Political Geography:
- Turkey and Greece
707. Mission-Wide Strategies for the Protection of Civilians
- Author:
- Cedric De Coning, Andreas Øien Stensland, and Walter Lotze
- Publication Date:
- 07-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- The protection of civilians (PoC) has received increasing levels of attention in United Nations (UN) mandated peacekeeping operations over the course of the past decade. Since 1999, eleven UN peacekeeping operations have been provided with increasingly robust protection of civilians mandates, and the UN System has over the past years focussed increasing levels of attention on the protection of civilians, not only in peacekeeping operations, but indeed across the range of activities undertaken by the UN in support of conflict management, resolution and transformation efforts. Although the wording of the clauses that address the protection of civilians in UN Security Council resolutions has been quite similar to date, the ways in which different missions have implemented these mandates have varied. Because missions operate within differing contexts, each mission is required to develop a unique strategy through which to achieve the common principles and aims of protecting civilians in conflict situations according to the unique setting in which it operates.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Human Rights, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
708. Constraints to Domestic Enterprise Financing in Post-Conflict Liberia
- Author:
- John Gorlorwulu
- Publication Date:
- 07-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development (CGD)
- Abstract:
- Countries emerging from protracted and devastating conflicts are often seen as needing significant external intervention in their financial markets to rebuild their private sector and promote quick and effective economic recovery. Despite enormous challenges, the provision of credit or the implementation of various lending schemes often dominate efforts to promote domestic private-sector recovery in the immediate aftermath of conflict. This approach raises a number of questions: First, how effective are loan programs in the development of domestic enterprises in the immediate aftermath of conflicts? Second, can loan programs work without significant improvements in the business climate? How sensitive is the design of lending programs to the success of domestic enterprise development projects following devastating conflicts? This paper explores the experience of the Liberian Enterprise Development Finance Company, which was established in 2007 to provide medium-and long-term credit to small and medium domestic enterprises. In addition to shedding light on the challenges such an enterprise faces in a post conflict environment, the paper explores whether the strategies employed are effective and if there are opportunities for effecting remedial changes that could improve the outcomes of such a program in post-conflict environments generally.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Civil War, Development, Foreign Aid, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Liberia
709. The role of EU defence policy in the Eastern neighbourhood
- Author:
- Ariella Huff
- Publication Date:
- 05-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Union Institute for Security Studies
- Abstract:
- The launch of the EU's Eastern Partnership in 2009 intended to signal a new, elevated level of EU engagement with its Eastern neighbourhood. Yet there remain several long-simmering and potentially destabilising conflicts in the region, with which EU engagement thus far has been sporadic at best. The Union's use of its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) in the region and to help solve these disputes has been particularly ad hoc and inconsistent, wracked by inter-institutional incoherence and undermined by Member States' inability to agree on a broad strategic vision for engagement with the area.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe
710. The Rise and Fall of Al Qaeda: Lessons in Post-September 11 Transnational Terrorism
- Author:
- Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou
- Publication Date:
- 07-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
- Abstract:
- Al Qaeda rose and fell between 1989 and 2011. Ten years after it conducted its most lethal operation in New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, it had mutated into a movement that no longer resembled what it started as. From a hierarchical and centralised group, led by the bicephalous leadership of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al Dhawahiri, it had become a regionalised and decentralised organisation with several competing leaders following the death of Bin Laden in May 2011.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Islam, Terrorism, Armed Struggle, and Counterinsurgency
- Political Geography:
- New York and Washington