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1411. Kuwaiti National Security and the U.S.-Kuwaiti Strategic Relationship after Saddam

Author:
W. Andrew Terrill
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:
The U.S.-Kuwait military relationship has been of considerable value to both countries since at least 1990. This alliance was formed in the aftermath of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's brutal invasion of Kuwait and the U.S. decision to free Kuwait with military force in 1991. Saddam's later defeat and removal from power in 2003 eliminated an important rationale for the alliance, but a close look at current strategic realities in the Gulf suggests that Kuwait remains an important U.S. ally. It is also an ally that faces a number of serious national security concerns in the turbulent post-Saddam era, some of which will require both Kuwaitis and Americans to rethink and revise previous security approaches, particularly to meet the shared goals of reducing terrorism and regional instability.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Foreign Policy, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Kuwait, and Arabia

1412. Roots of Terror

Author:
Corinna Johnson
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:
The Women in International Studies (WIIS), Georgetown University, in cooperation with the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), U.S. Army War College, conducted a colloquium, “The Roots of Terror: Understanding the Evolving Threat of Global Terrorism,” on February 12, 2007. This colloquium brought together over 150 U.S. and international government officials, academic experts, think tank members, and college faculty. The moderators and speakers were outstanding scholars and practitioners from an impressive array of universities, think tanks, and government and private agencies. The speakers' goals were to examine (1) recruitment and support strategies used by terrorist organizations, (2) the environments that enable terrorism, and (3) implications for the future of counterterrorism. A panel was devoted to each of these goals. Media coverage included C-SPAN live broadcast and rebroadcast and a talk-radio interview with an SSI participant. The colloquium addressed timely strategic issues, supported the research and publication missions of both the U.S. Army War College and Georgetown University, and promoted mutually beneficial relationships with universities, national security research institutes, and government agencies.
Topic:
International Relations, Political Economy, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States

1413. Global Climate Change: National Security Implications

Author:
Douglas Johnson
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:
On March 29-31, 2007, the Strategic Studies Institute and the Triangle Institute for Security Studies conducted a colloquium on “Global Climate Change: National Security Implications.” Other supporting organizations included the Army Environmental Policy Institute, The Center for Global Change (Duke University), Creative Associates, The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions (Duke University), The Environmental Change and Security Program (The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars), and the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Topic:
International Relations, Climate Change, and Globalization
Political Geography:
North Carolina

1414. Inexcusable Absence: Why 60 Million Girls Still Aren't in School and What to do About It

Author:
Marlaine Lockheed and Maureen Lewis
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The images of girls returning to school in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban drew attention to the lack of educational opportunities for girls all too common in many developing countries. Girls' education is indisputably crucial to development, and the development community has worked hard to get more of them into school. The result: since 1960, there have been remarkable increases in primary school enrollment rates for both boys and girls in developing countries. In most countries, girls' participation has converged with that of boys, bringing gender equity to the educational systems of many poor countries. But the international community has largely overlooked a key issue: that out of the remaining 60 million girls ages 6-11 still not in school, 70 percent belong to socially excluded groups.
Topic:
International Relations, Education, Gender Issues, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Taliban

1415. Do Visas Kill? Health Effects of African Health Professional Emigration

Author:
Michael Clemens
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The emigration of highly skilled workers can in theory lower social welfare in the migrant-sending country. If such workers produce a good whose consumption conveys a positive externality—such as nurses and doctors in a very poor country—the loss can be greater, and welfare can even decline globally. Policies to impede emigration thus have the potential to raise sending-country and global welfare. This study uses a new database of health worker emigration from Africa to test whether exogenous decreases in emigration raise the number of domestic health professionals, increase the mass availability of basic primary care, or improve a range of public health outcomes. It identifies the effect through two separate natural quasi-experiments arising from the colonial division of the African continent. These produce exogenous changes in emigration comparable to those that would result from different immigration policies in principal receiving countries. The results suggest that Africa's generally low staffing levels and poor public health conditions are the result of factors entirely unrelated to international movements of health professionals. A simple model proposes that such results would be explained by segmentation of health workforce labor markets in the sending countries. The results further suggest that emigration has caused a greater production of health workers in Africa.
Topic:
International Relations, Health, and Migration
Political Geography:
Africa

1416. Why Are There So Few Black-Owned Firms in Africa? Preliminary Results from Enterprise Survey Data

Author:
Vijaya Ramachandran and Manju Kedia Shah
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Much of the growth in Sub-Saharan Africa in the past decade has come from extractive industries, rather than from private, entrepreneurial activity. Furthermore, non-extractive activity in the private sector is often dominated by firms owned by ethnic minorities. This paper analyzes the characteristics of the formal private sector in five countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular emphasis on Black African-owned (indigenous) firms. We find that indigenous firms start smaller and grow more slowly; however their rate of growth is positively influenced by whether the owner-entrepreneur has a university degree. We do not find overwhelming evidence that credit is the binding constraint but we do find that indigenous firms get less access to trade credit than firms owned by minority entrepreneurs. Finally, we discuss policy solutions that might enable a larger number of indigenous entrepreneurs to enter and survive in a vibrant, multi-ethnic private sector.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:
Africa

1417. North Korea-Russian Relations: A Strained Friendship

Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
North Korea's relations with Russia have been marked by unrealistic expectations and frequent disappointments but common interests have prevented a rupture. The neighbours' history as dissatisfied allies goes back to the founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with Soviet support and the Red Army's installation of Kim Il-sung as leader. However, the Soviets were soon written out of the North's official ideology. The Sino-Soviet split established a pattern of Kim playing Russian and Chinese leaders off against each other to extract concessions, including the nuclear equipment and technology at the heart of the current crisis. Since Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang in 2000, diplomatic initiatives have come undone and grandiose economic projects have faltered. Russia is arguably the least effective participant in the six-party nuclear talks.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and International Relations
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, North Korea, and Pyongyang

1418. Kosovo Countdown: A Blueprint for Transition

Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Kosovo's transition to the status of conditional, or supervised, independence has been greatly complicated by Russia's firm support of Serbia's refusal to accept that it has lost its one-time province. Recognition of conditional independence has broad international, and certainly European Union (EU) and American, support. Under threat of Moscow's veto, the Security Council will not revoke its Resolution 1244 of 1999 that acknowledged Serbian sovereignty while setting up the UN Mission (UNMIK) to prepare Kosovo for self-government pending a political settlement on its future status. Nor will the Council be allowed to approve the plan for a conditionally independent Kosovo devised by the Secretary-General's special representative, Martti Ahtisaari, earlier this year and authorise the EU-led missions meant to implement that plan.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Development, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Kosovo, Moscow, and Serbia

1419. Nigeria: Ending Unrest in the Niger Delta

Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
The Niger Delta is again at risk of sliding into chaos. The 29 May 2007 inauguration of new federal and state governments offered an opportunity to resolve longstanding conflicts afflicting the oil-rich, deeply impoverished region. Six months later, the opportunity is unravelling amid new violence and criminality. Decisive action is necessary to stop militant violence and criminal hostage-taking, initiate quick-impact development projects that can build public confidence in President Umaru Yar'Adua's administration and tackle constitutional and legal issues that have fuelled unrest in the region.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Development
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

1420. Serbia: Maintaining Peace in the Presevo Valley

Publication Date:
10-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Southern Serbia's Albanian-majority Presevo Valley is one of the rare conflict resolution success stories in the former Yugoslavia. Outwardly, it is increasingly normal, with no major incidents in over three years. Yet, tensions linger: massive unemployment is still the single largest problem but the shadow of Kosovo's future status darkens the political landscape. How Kosovo's final status is determined in the next months will have a profound impact. If formal partition or large-scale violence accompanies independence, the peace could unravel; in a worst case scenario, ethnic cleansing in southern Serbia would be accompanied by significant, cross-boundary, two-way refugee flows. All parties – local Albanian politicians, the Serbian government and the international community – need to work with greater urgency on developing the region's economy and ensuring that developments in Kosovo do not disrupt its peaceful progress.
Topic:
International Relations and Security
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, Serbia, and Balkans