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4702. The Future of Peacekeeping Operations: Fighting Political Fatigue and Overstretch
- Author:
- Richard Gowan
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
- Abstract:
- In the last sixth months, NATO and the UN have both confronted the possibility that their largest individual peace operations may fail. In Afghanistan, NATO troops have struggled to contain the Taliban. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) the UN was unable to halt rebel attacks that displaced as many as 250,000 people last September.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, International Cooperation, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Taliban and Democratic Republic of the Congo
4703. Survey of US Security Sector Reform
- Author:
- Jake Sherman
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
- Abstract:
- This report by Jake Sherman for Safer world provides an overview of the US Government's arrangement for monitoring and evaluating (M) the support it provides to security sector reform. It examines the M systems that already exist for similar types of work as well as looking at any specific treatment given to SSR, before also identifying outstanding needs, challenges and any trends and opportunities that exist for improving M in this area.
- Topic:
- Security, Government, and Intelligence
- Political Geography:
- United States
4704. The Purposes of Peace Operations
- Author:
- William J. Durch and Madeline L. England
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
- Abstract:
- Ever since the United Nations started asking its member states, in the late 1940s, for military officers to observe cease-fires and, in the 1950s, for armed troops to monitor borders and supervise force separations, the purposes of these activities have been dictated case by case, heavily influenced by prevailing global and regional politics and by the national interests of countries on the UN Security Council—the five permanent members in particular. Peacekeepers have been deployed to act as fair witnesses (observing and reporting the facts but without the duty or ability to alter the situation on the ground other than through such reporting); as referees of a peace accord (judging compliance but relying on larger powers to enforce it); as “police” (impartially enforcing an accord through their own authority and means in the short term, using force as necessary, minimally and proportionately, but leaving the long-term verdicts and results to others); as state-builders (in collaboration with the local parties, shifting primary emphasis from security to development as circumstances and local capacity permit); or as state surrogates (responsible for reconstruction of the apparatus of governance, and for governing until such apparatus, and the human capacity to run it, can be prepared to supplant such outside support).
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, Cold War, International Organization, Non-Governmental Organization, Peace Studies, and United Nations
4705. Strengthening Security Sector Governance in West Africa
- Author:
- Jake Sherman
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
- Abstract:
- The Center for International Cooperation's Security Sector Reform project, funded by the Royal Government of Norway, undertook a comparative study of legislative oversight of security sector reform (SSR) in West Africa during 2008.
- Topic:
- Security, Civil War, and Democratization
- Political Geography:
- Africa
4706. The Afghan National Development Strategy: The Right Plan at the Wrong Time?
- Author:
- Jake Sherman
- Publication Date:
- 02-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
- Abstract:
- In 2005, the Government of Afghanistan initiated a process leading to the formulation of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS). The ANDS was formally launched at the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan in Paris on June 12, 2008. According to the Paris Conference Declaration, the strategy will be the “roadmap for joint action [by donors and the Afghan government] over the next five years and sets our shared priorities.”
- Topic:
- Security, Civil Society, Development, and War
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan
4707. Challenges and Prospects for the EU's Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: Recommendations to the European Commission for the Stockholm Programme
- Author:
- Sergio Carrera, Elspeth Guild, and Anaïs Faure Atger
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
- Abstract:
- The upcoming Swedish presidency of the EU will be in charge of adopting the next multiannual programme on an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ), during its tenure in the second half of 2009. As the successor of the 2004 Hague Programme, it has already been informally baptised as the Stockholm Programme and will present the EU's policy roadmap and legislative timetable over these policies for the next five years. It is therefore a critical time to reflect on the achievements and shortcomings affecting the role that the European Commission's Directorate-General of Justice, Freedom and Security (DG JFS) has played during the last five years in light of the degree of policy convergence achieved so far. This Working Document aims at putting forward a set of policy recommendations for the DG JFS to take into consideration as it develops and consolidates its future policy strategies, while duly ensuring the legitimacy and credibility of the EU's AFSJ within and outside Europe.
- Topic:
- Security, International Law, International Organization, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Europe
4708. Cyberspace and the National Security of the United Kingdom: Threats and Responses
- Author:
- Paul Cornish, Rex Hughes, and David Livingstone
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- Cyberspace and the National Security of the United Kingdom provides a general overview of the problem of cybersecurity. The aim of the report is to inform debate and to make the case for a more coherent, comprehensive and anticipatory policy response, both nationally and internationally. In every area, society is becoming increasingly dependent upon information and communications technology (ICT). With dependency come exposure and vulnerability to misuse, criminality and even attack. Criminals and extremists are able to take advantage of the same 'global technological commons' upon which society is becoming so dependent. Cybersecurity has become a fast-moving and complex security challenge, one which requires a coordinated, agile and mutually reinforcing response from all those who benefit from the global ICT infrastructure.
- Topic:
- Security, Crime, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom and Europe
4709. North Africa: The Hidden Risks to Regional Stability
- Author:
- Claire Spencer
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- North Africa may not be as stable as it looks: socio-economic and political pressures are fracturing the consensus between governments and governed and may overtake terrorism and criminality as the region's main destabilizing forces. With political leadership in the region effectively a lifelong position, the growth of authoritarianism is undermining the prospects for achieving political and economic liberalization. Despite the worsening global economic climate, a window of opportunity exists to accelerate socially sensitive and productive domestic investment and open space for greater autonomous political and economic development. Success depends on renegotiating the social contracts on which North Africa's states are based. A broadening of participation, above all through the extension of legal employment, targeted investment on education, health and skills, and the establishment of independent legal and regulatory frameworks, will go some way towards addressing socio-economic stresses. A change in the political environment, however, requires a re-evaluation of how the region's security climate is seen from outside, with adjustments in the kind of support given to regional governments by its key international partners, the European Union and the United States.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Islam, and International Security
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, and Arabia
4710. Controversies over missile defense in Europe
- Author:
- Raimo Väyrynen
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
- Abstract:
- The plan to deploy an anti-missile system in Central Europe has been one of the most controversial security policy issues in the past few years. The Bush Administration pushed hard for the deployment of the radar site in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland, largely because it would provide an additional layer in the global anti-ballistic missile defense of the United States. In both of these countries, public opinion has been against the deployments and the governments have had to negotiate between external and internal pressures pushing them in different policy directions. Russia has been adamantly opposed to the missile defense plan, issuing both threats and suggesting alternative ways to diminish the threat that the United States feels from Iran. The result has been a political stalemate that has further complicated otherwise tense relations between Moscow and Washington, D.C. With the arrival of the Obama Administration, there is a pause in the missile dispute, but no permanent resolution of the conflict is in sight.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Security, Defense Policy, Nuclear Weapons, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, Iran, Washington, Poland, Moscow, and Czech Republic