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461. Cooperation or Democratisation? The EU's Conflicting Mediterranean Security Discourses

Author:
Helle Malmvig
Publication Date:
07-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper argues that the EU's strategy towards the Southern Mediterranean states has been marked by a simultaneous presence of two conflicting and mutually incompatible security discourses. Each of these discourses entail different conceptualisations of how security is to be achieved, who is the referent object of security, and which type of relationship exists between Self/the EU and Other/the Southern Mediterranean. This, the paper suggests, has resulted in an uneasy and contradictory EU policy toward the region, while at the same time causing suspicion and mistrust on part of the Mediterranean states.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Europe

462. Strengthening African Security Capacities

Author:
Lousie Mørup
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In preparation for the expected Danish membership of the UN Security Council in 2005 DIIS organised a conference to discuss how to strengthen African conflict prevention and management capacities and make the most of Denmark's Africa Programme for Peace. This brief sums up some of the main ideas which were presented at the conference. The discussion bore witness to the complexity of the issue and the tremendous tasks ahead facing the African regional organisations, and made it clear to this author that Denmark has to prioritise its efforts to a few areas where it can make a difference in the two years of its expected UN Security Council membership.
Topic:
Security, Peace Studies, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Africa

463. Road Maps and Final Destinations for Israel and Palestine

Author:
Michael Emerson and Nathalie Tocci
Publication Date:
04-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The Quartet was born at a meeting of foreign ministers in Madrid in April 2002, in response to Israeli army incursions into the Palestinian territories and in an attempt to give a fresh impetus to Western efforts to revive the lapsed Middle East peace process. The Quartet consists of the EU, Russia, the US and the United Nations. Given the relative passivity of the Russian and UN participants, the Quartet is effectively being driven by the US and the EU. While not yet successful in re-activating the peace process, it confirms in principle for the EU for the first time since the end of the Clinton period that the peace process is no longer the exclusive domain of the US, and that the US appears to welcome a more active European role as a political player, rather than just a payer of aid.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Arabia, and United Nations

464. Myth and Narrative in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Author:
Deborah West
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
The function of narratives was discussed at great length. It was suggested that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, each side's narrative is rooted in fear and insecurity, albeit for different reasons. Each side fears destruction, and, in another sense, each side fears peace. If peace comes, each side will have to reorganize it- self. This process is difficult because it is psychologically easier to organize against a clearly defined opposing force than without one. In order to move be- yond the traditional opposition, each side must recognize and legitimize the other side's fears as well as its own.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Middle East and Arabia

465. Reconsidering the Peace Corps

Author:
Lex Rieffel
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
The Peace Corps is one of the smallest instruments in the foreign policy toolkit of the United States. It is a “boutique” agency with a superb reputation. The Bush administration has proposed doubling the number of Peace Corps volunteers working in developing countries to 14,000 by 2007, still below the 1966 peak of over 15,000 volunteers.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Agriculture, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
United States

466. The Hinge to Europe: Don't Make Britain Choose Between the U.S. and the E.U.

Author:
Anatol Lieven
Publication Date:
08-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
The vital U.S. relationship with Britain is much more fragile than many Americans think. Thanks to the Bush administration policy on a range of issues, hostility to the United States among the British public is higher than it has been since the Vietnam War. Only the personal commitment and moral courage of Tony Blair made British participation in the Iraq War possible—and the result has been seriously to endanger his leadership at home. Above all, Americans must understand that the strategy of this British government, and of the British foreign policy establishment in general, is to avoid having to make a definitive choice between Britain's alliance with the United States and its place in the European Union. If Washington forces Britain to choose between the two, it may not choose the United States, and a collapse of the relationship with Britain would leave the United States without a single major Western ally. The consequences for U.S. power and influence in the world would be nothing short of disastrous.
Topic:
International Cooperation and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Britain, United States, United Kingdom, America, Europe, and Vietnam

467. Afghanistan: Are We Losing the Peace?

Author:
Marshall Bouton, Frank G. Wisner, Nicholas Platt, Mahnaz Ispahani, and Dennis Kux
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Nineteen months after the defeat of the Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies, Afghanistan remains a long way from achieving the U.S. goal of a stable self-governing state that no longer serves as a haven for terrorists. Indeed, failure to stem deteriorating security conditions and to spur economic reconstruction could lead to a reversion to warlord dominated anarchy and mark a major defeat for the U.S. war on terrorism. To prevent this from happening, the Task Force recommends that the United States strengthen the hand of President Hamid Karzai and intensify support for security, diplomatic, and economic reconstruction in Afghanistan.
Topic:
Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, and South Asia

468. Iraq: The Day After- Chairs' Update

Author:
Thomas Pickering and James Schlesinger
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
This memorandum focuses on key challenges in the postwar period in Iraq. It supplements the March 12, 2003, report, Iraq: The Day After, prepared by the Independent Task Force on Post-Conflict Iraq and sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. That report contained some 30 recommendations for U.S. postwar policy in Iraq. While some of the Task Force's recommendations addressed contingencies that did not occur (such as the use of weapons of mass destruction by Iraqi forces or large-scale refugee flight), the bulk of the recommendations remain applicable some three months after the release of the initial report. This supplement highlights a few key areas of continuing concern that we believe require attention by the administration.
Topic:
Development and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Middle East

469. Anti-terrorism and Peace-building During and After Conflict

Author:
Ekaterina Stepanova
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:
Since the tragic events of 11 September 2001, much has been said about potential links between the fight against terrorism and peace-building. In the meantime, the fight against terrorism and peace-building have, by and large, continued to be implemented separately and by different sets of actors.
Topic:
Security, Peace Studies, and Terrorism

470. Parliamentary Control of Security Policy - The Experience of Poland

Author:
Agnieszka Gogolewska
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
In representative democracies, parliaments play a crucial, albeit sometimes neglected or underestimated role in assuring a proper functioning of the democratic civilian control of the security sector. In that sense, parliaments represent an important link in the chain of democratic institutions exercising such control. It would be wrong however to assume that the controlling functions of the legislatures are realised in much the same way as the executive or civilian bureaucracy exercises them. In democratic systems parliaments are an institutional expression of popular legitimacy and accountability, therefore their controlling role is more general and principle-driven that is the case of other institutions, directly responsible for managing security sector.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Government, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Poland