Department of Social Sciences at West Point, United States Military Academy
Abstract:
Changes in the global arms market during the 1990s heralded a global downsizing of national military establishments, shrinkage of national defense industries, and a domestic loss of appetite for conventional weaponry in the United States. One of the many results has been the increased significance of foreign exporting. Through enhanced exporting, advanced arms producing states, namely the United States, have been able to assist their defense industry and military establishments survive the post-cold war downturn in domestic demand for conventional arms. These international level changes also led to second-order domestic efforts to reform the arms export processes within the United States.
The recent meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Asia Pacific's premier track-one security dialogue, has been applauded as a watershed for the institution—and rightly so. The group's pledge to fight international terrorism breathed new life into the forum. But the real significance of this year's meeting is to be found in the substance of those commitments. Implementation of the measures endorsed at this year's get-together would mark a turning point in the ARF, shifting both its focus and its role.
As the World Cup soccer tournament, co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, was beginning, Mr. Aidan Foster-Carter raised the issue of whether the two countries could take advantage of the unprecedented occasion to finally overcome their decades of hostility and forge a truly lasting friendship (“South Korea and Japan: High Time These Neighbors Put Future Before Past,” PacNet No. 22A, June 3, 2002). Although it was an interesting essay, I found the ending odd. He concluded by asking whether South Korea and Japan could finally move forward, but he coyly avoided an answer although it seemed that the answer was obvious to him.
Will the U.S. and North Korea ever sit down and talk? In all probability, yes! But the odds remain strong that the dialogue, when and if it happens, will largely remain a dialogue of the deaf, especially given the new ground rules recently laid out by Washington.
The release of Noble Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in Rangoon has been greeted with a mixture of relief and apprehension. While skeptics line the gallery, her National League for Democracy (NLD) Party and the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) have embarked on a phase of dialogue that promises to move from confidence building to policy, and importantly, ethnic minority leaders have been assured that they will participate in this next phase of talks.
Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao's first visit to the United States this week has put the spotlight on the upcoming Chinese leadership transition. But will the changeover be a true transfer of power?
For most states in the Asia Pacific, multilateralism is the third leg of the stool supporting regional security. For them, the other legs are a dependable U.S. commitment to the region (anchored by its bilateral alliances) and the development of robust bilateral relationships throughout the region.
The "Dear Leader" is flirting with Russia these days. For the past few weeks, there have been reports of various engagements between high officials of Pyongyang and Moscow. They range from trifles like Chairman Kim Jong-il's joining Russian officials to celebrate Russia's Maslenitsa festival to seemingly endless dialogue on economic cooperation. In addition to friendly gestures such as inviting a Russian orchestra to the North's prestigious Mansudae Assembly Hall to perform, Konstantin Pulikovski, representative of Russia's Far East, came to discuss a series of economic cooperation projects with the North. Some reports even suggest Chairman Kim is making a habit of visiting Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov once a week. The latest highlight is the North's proposal that Russia establish a joint nuclear reactor, which Moscow said it would "consider."
The third consultation in the 'Living with the Megapower: Implications of the war on terrorism' series explored the role of religion and ideology in the causes behind the events of 11 September 2001 and the subsequent reaction to these events. The importance of public opinion and the impact of the media were also examined in the day-long session. Were old theses like Samuel P Huntington's 'clash of civilizations' now more relevant or do we need new concepts and approaches to better understand the growing importance of religion and ideology in the language, culture and politics of the current 'war on terrorism'?
This analysis focuses on possible multinational solutions aimed at enhancing the effectiveness and cost efficiency of multinational operations.All things being equal, multinational forces are less effective than purely national forces of a similar size. However, multinational operations have the advantage of potential greater strength in numbers and additional capabilities when several states cooperate.
Topic:
Security, NATO, Human Rights, and International Organization