Number of results to display per page
Search Results
4752. Protecting Civilians and Protecting Ideas: Institutional Challenges to the Protection of Civilians
- Author:
- Benjamin de Carvalho and Jon Harald Sande Lie
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- Although the Protection of Civilians (PoC) today is largely embedded in the UN system as a whole, there are a number of issues still critical to address at the institutional level for the PoC to inform a shared culture of protection effectively. These include addressing the extent to which preparations for civilian protection are an integral component of mission planning, and whether protection activities are part of the mission's mandate per se or a mere part of its many tasks. Also of key concern is the extent to which operational capacity is achieved and designed to enhance protection.
- Topic:
- Security, Civil Society, Human Rights, and United Nations
4753. Sovereign wealth funds: much ado about some money
- Author:
- Charles Kovacs
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- The first sovereign wealth fund (SWF) was established by Kuwait in 1953, and was followed by many others from 1973-4, after the first oil crisis. Since then, each major jump in oil and gas prices increased the number and size of SWFs; after 2000, countries with large trade surpluses also began to establish SWFs. By April 2009, SWFs had grown to $3-5 trillion of assets under management, invested mostly in high quality bonds. Equity investments have been a much smaller part of their portfolio and began to grow only in the 1990s. This trend has since accelerated with at least 698 documented equity investments between June 2005 and March 2009.
- Topic:
- Security, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Sovereign Wealth Funds
- Political Geography:
- Kuwait
4754. Robust Peacekeeping: The Politics of Force
- Author:
- Jean-Marie Guéhenno
- Publication Date:
- 11-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
- Abstract:
- Robust peacekeeping and, in particular, protection of civilians garnered significant attention in 2009. In January, the Australian and Uruguayan governments hosted a conference on civilian protection designed to convince wary member states. In November, the Security Council's open debate on protection of civilians in armed conflict consid-ered the findings of an independent panel on implementing protection mandates. Looking ahead, the Council's mandate renewal for the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), scheduled for December 2009, is expected to strengthen the mission's protection capacity. Furthermore, in April 2010, the International Forum for the Challenges of Peace Operations in Australia will also focus on protection issues. These discussions have taken place against the backdrop of a number of reform efforts, including the Department of Peacekeeping/Department of Field Support “New Horizon” project and the French/UKinitiative in the Security Council – itself motivated by the siege of Goma in 2008.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, Peace Studies, and War
4755. EU and GCC Strategic Interests in the Mediterranean: Convergence and Divergence
- Author:
- Roberto Aliboni
- Publication Date:
- 12-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- While sharing a number of interests in the Mediterranean and Middle East region, the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council have pursued different patterns of strategic concerns and relations. Nevertheless, a potential for developing common EUGCC perspectives exists, as the Mediterranean and Middle East region are both part of the EU and the GCC neighbourhood and are a common location for investment. Diplomatic convergence on a number of issues could contribute to improving security and political cooperation as well, despite the fact that this is stymied by divergent views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
- Topic:
- Security, International Cooperation, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Arabia
4756. The Stockholm programme: Europe's next step to be an "area of freedom, security and justice"
- Author:
- Toby Archer
- Publication Date:
- 12-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
- Abstract:
- The Stockholm Programme sets the agenda for the European Union's actions for the next five years in the area of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). It is the next step towards the goal of making the EU into an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). Justice and Home Affairs became the third pillar of the EU after the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993. Originally, it was firmly intergovernmental area of policy-making but some parts were transferred to the supranational first pillar when the treaty of Amsterdam came in to force 1999. In the same year the EU decided it need a focused plan for cooperation in this field for the next five years; and the Tampere Programme was produced. This was followed in 2004 by the Hague Programme that ends this year, and the Stockholm Programme will lay out the next five years of JHA cooperation. Producing the programme has been complicated due to both the sensitive nature of many of the issues covered and by doubt until recently over whether the Lisbon Treaty would be ratified. The ratification of Lisbon changes the power balance between the European Commission, Council and Parliament and this has ramifications for the JHA area. With the success of the EU single market and the end of border controls within the EU, to stop crime within the EU, to guarantee the rights of citizens who are moving between EU member states, and to manage people from third countries who are seeking to come into the EU, requires cooperation across the Union. The Stockholm Programme seeks to lay out what path this should take. Migration policy is an important and difficult part of the programme. How Europeanised dealing with irregular migrants and asylum seeker should be has been one of the politically difficult areas within the programme.
- Topic:
- Security, Civil Society, and Law
- Political Geography:
- Europe
4757. Medvedev's amendments to the law on defence: The consequences for Europe
- Author:
- Yury E. Fedorov
- Publication Date:
- 11-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
- Abstract:
- In November 2009, the 'Law on Amendments to the “Law on Defence”' proposed by President Medvedev entered into force. It allows the Kremlin to dispatch troops outside Russia for four purposes: to counter armed attacks against Russian armed forces, other troops and bodies deployed beyond its borders; to counter or prevent an armed attack against another country if this country has requested Russia to do so; to protect Russian citizens abroad from an armed attack; and to combat piracy and guarantee the safety of shipping. The law is an attempt to close the gap between Moscow's strategic goals, primarily the establishment of its geopolitical dominance over the former Soviet republics, and Russia's legislation, which restricted its ability to deploy armed forces beyond national borders. In effect, the amended legislation enables the Kremlin to deploy its armed forces abroad in a wide range of situations, precisely because of a lack of clear criteria. The wording of 'Medvedev's amendments' sheds light on some plans and scenarios that may be taking shape in Moscow. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that Russia may plan to ignite large-scale disturbances and ethnic clashes in Sevastopol or in Latvia and Estonia, which may be used as a pretext for Russian military intervention. A Russo-Ukrainian conflict in Crimea would pose not so much a military as a political challenge for Europe and the West. Even though Ukraine does not belong to these organizations, if NATO and the EU failed to respond to Russian intervention in Crimea with strong political and economic measures, their strategic relevance would be seriously undermined. If NATO did not defend its member states in the Baltic, the strategic role of the Alliance would be reduced to zero. The aforementioned scenarios fall into the worst-case category, yet there are numerous precedents in Russia's history which demonstrate that worst-case scenarios can become reality. European dependence on Russian energy supplies and interest in Russia's support in resolving the Iranian nuclear problem and the conflict in Afghanistan, as well as the Obama administration's interest in Russia's partnership in nuclear issues, constrain Western ability to respond. However, the West could and should make it quite clear that new Russia's military interventions will result in the country's political ostracization. Furthermore, the West could propose and develop an internationally recognised mechanism regulating the most important aspects of humanitarian intervention. In particular, it should minimise the ability of individual states to make unilateral decisions to intervene militarily if the UN Security Council were unable to make firm decisions. Such mechanisms could be discussed and developed in the frameworks of the UN, the OSCE, the so-called Corfu process and similar international forums.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, and Law
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Asia
4758. Negotiating Provisions Defining the Crime of Aggression, its Elements and the Conditions for ICC Exercise of Jurisdiction Over It
- Author:
- Roger S. Clark
- Publication Date:
- 11-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- In February 2009, the International Criminal Court's Special Working Group on the Crime of Aggression concluded its efforts to draft the 'provision' called for in Article 5(2) of the Rome Statute 'defining the crime [of aggression] and setting out the conditions under which the Court shall exercise jurisdiction with respect to this crime'. It produced two draft Articles: Article 8bis, the 'definition', and Article 15bis, the 'conditions'. There was substantial agreement on the definition (and on 'Elements' of the crime produced in June 2009); there was much disagreement concerning the conditions. The author examines the most significant drafting issues. For the definition, these include: applying General Assembly Resolution 3314 to individual responsibility; articulating the 'leadership' nature of this crime; the threshold requirement that the violation of the United Nations Charter be 'manifest'; and consistency with provisions in the Statute, especially those in the 'general part'. In respect of conditions, the difficult issue surrounds the role of the Security Council and the many variations on that theme in draft Article 15bis. The contribution concludes with a fundamental procedural question: can the amendment be applied erga omnes or does it apply only to those states specifically accepting it?
- Topic:
- Security and United Nations
4759. Central Asia: Living in Afghanistan's shadow
- Author:
- Martha Brill Olcott
- Publication Date:
- 11-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
- Abstract:
- The absence of a functional government in Afghanistan has been creating economic and security challenges for the Central Asian states since their founding in 1991. Long frustrated by the international community's failure to end the Afghan civil war through negotiation, the 2001 September 11 attack created the expectation among these countries that the US would intervene successfully in Afghanistan, leading to an economic recovery that would advance the development of all the states in the region.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Central Asia
4760. The EU Strategy for Central Asia says 'security'. Does this include Security Sector Reform?
- Author:
- Jos Boonstra
- Publication Date:
- 11-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
- Abstract:
- Central Asia faces a broad range of security challenges. Due to the region's position at the crossroads between Russia, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and the Caspian Sea it is confronted with a range of trans-national issues such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, organised crime and terrorism. Central Asia also encounters specific regional threats including scarcity of water resources for generating power and irrigation purposes, which is currently causing tension. On a national level the five Central Asian republics face the threat of instability due to bad governance and the harsh impact of the economic crisis.
- Topic:
- Security
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia, China, Europe, Iran, and Central Asia