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992. Global Terrorism: Multilateral Institutional Responses to an Extraordinary Threat
- Author:
- Eric Rosand
- Publication Date:
- 04-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- In recent years, the traditional tendency to treat non state actors that resort to terrorist violence as a domestic issue has given way to an increasing focus on international—and multilateral—responses Nationalist/ separatist terrorist groups such as the Kurdistan Peoples Party (PKK) in Turkey, the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) generated only limited responses at the multilateral level. The emergence of transnational terrorism in the 1970s led to a spate of international law-making to facilitate inter-state cooperation in response to hijacking, hostage-taking and other forms of terrorism. But only with the emergence of Al Qaeda, with its extraordinary global reach, has the transnational threat moved to the top of the agenda of international for a such as the United Nations and G8.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Globalization, International Law, Terrorism, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Turkey, Sri Lanka, Colombia, and Kurdistan
993. The UN Security Council's Counterterrorism Program: What Lies Ahead?
- Author:
- Alistair Millar, Eric Rosand, and Jason Ipe
- Publication Date:
- 10-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- Since September 2001, the Security Council and its various counterterrorism-related subsidiary bodies have made significant contributions to the global counterterrorism campaign, primarily through norm setting and institution building and by keeping terrorism on the political agenda while engaging in dialogue with—and stimulating the activities of—states and multilateral bodies. Yet, rather than together constituting a comprehensive strategy to address the global terrorist threat, each Council initiative has had an improvisational, ad hoc quality. Following each major terrorist attack—often against one of its own members—the Council's response has extended well beyond the specific incident at hand with little regard to its relation to the already existing Council program.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Peace Studies, Terrorism, United Nations, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and International Security
994. Jordan: Little presence outside WEF
- Publication Date:
- 06-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Media Tenor International
- Abstract:
- Coverage on the Middle East continues to be very prominent in many countries, particularly the United States, where close to 80% of all its international coverage is devoted to the region. In German television, other European countries together received the same volumes as the Middle East. This is a very high ratio, considering that German troops are only involved in Afghanistan, and not in other Arab countries. Coverage on the Middle East is considerably subdued in South African television when compared to other measured countries, perhaps because events in Europe received considerably more attention. German television committed the largest share of its coverage to international news (44%), followed by the United States and Britain (37%), while Arab television dedicated 29% of its coverage to the international arena. The lowest share of international focus was in South African television news (24%).
- Topic:
- Political Violence, Islam, Terrorism, War, and Mass Media
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, Europe, Middle East, and Arabia
995. Understanding Islamic Charities
- Author:
- Jon B. Alterman and Karin von Hippel
- Publication Date:
- 12-2007
- Content Type:
- Book
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Since 9/11, intelligence agencies, independent commissions, and private-sector analyses have repeatedly asserted that terrorist organizations rely heavily on funding from Islamic charities. This alleged support for acts of violence and terrorism in the Islamic charitable sector-and a seeming toleration of such activities-raises serious questions. Is a significant portion of this charitable sector a front for terrorist activities? Or is a small minority tainting the good deeds of the majority? How do legitimate charities relate to their illegitimate peers, if at all, and how can one distinguish between the two? How do organizations that have both bona fide charitable operations and armed wings blend their charity with acts of violence? How much are the charitable and social service arms of such blended organizations intended as recruitment mechanisms for a fundamentally violent set of goals?In general, Western understanding of Islamic charities remains limited. This volume, therefore, seeks to answer some of the more important questions related to philanthropy in the Muslim world. How do these charities operate? How are they funded? And how, in some cases, are they involved in terrorist activities? The authors explore the variety of roles that Muslim philanthropies play in different countries, their interactions with national and international institutions, and the boundaries and connections between their philanthropic roles and their political impacts.
- Topic:
- Islam and Terrorism
996. Law the Lone Superpower: Rebuilding a Transatlantic Consensus on International Law
- Author:
- Frances G. Burwell and William H. Taft IV
- Publication Date:
- 04-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- Throughout 2006, allegations of U.S. involvement in "renditions" of suspected terrorists from Europe to prisons in Afghanistan and elsewhere reverberated around European capitals. Charges that the United States had established secret prisons in some European countries raised the temperature even further. The European Parliament and the Council of Europe initiated investigations, while some European leaders called for the United States to close its detention facility in Guantanamo, describing the facility as contrary to international law.
- Topic:
- Terrorism and Torture
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, and Europe
997. Nothing to Laugh At
- Author:
- Davvid Warszawski
- Publication Date:
- 01-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Foreign Policy In Focus
- Abstract:
- On January 15, a Moroccan court gave editor Driss Ksikes and journalist Sanaa al-Adzi three-year suspended sentences for publishing jokes related to Islam. Here, Dawid Warszawski of Poland's leading daily Gazeta Wyborcza comments on the case.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Islam, Religion, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- North Africa
998. Bush's SOTU: Annotated
- Author:
- Stephen Zunes
- Publication Date:
- 01-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Foreign Policy In Focus
- Abstract:
- President George Bush gave his 2007 State of the Union address on January 23. While the speech covered many domestic issues, Bush also laid out his foreign policy approach to Iraq, Iran, terrorism, and democracy promotion. Excerpts from the president's speech are in italics; my comments follow.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Government, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Iran, and Middle East
999. Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of the US War on Terror
- Author:
- David Gold
- Publication Date:
- 04-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs
- Abstract:
- In October of 2003, then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wrote a memo to his top advisers asking how we would know whether the US was winning the Global War on Terror. This question may have been mistimed but it was perfectly appropriate. In this paper, I use the framework of cost-benefit analysis to identify some of the issues that would need to be addressed in order to answer Rumsfeld's question. The most difficult issue is that there is no accepted definition as to what constitutes victory, or success, so there is no way to identify the ultimate benefits. Available evidence does suggest that while there are numerous identifiable sources of costs, it is far less clear where the benefits are located. The conclusion, necessarily qualitative in nature, is that the costs have been many and the benefits few.
- Topic:
- National Security, Political Economy, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- United States and Middle East
1000. New Challenges for Peacekeeping: the “War on Terror”
- Author:
- Richard Gowan and Ian Johnstone
- Publication Date:
- 03-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- Efforts to predict the future of peacekeeping almost always prove to be unsuccessful. In 1958, United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld reported to the General Assembly on the lessons of the UN Emergency Force deployed to Egypt during the Suez crisis two years before. He surrounded his observations with qualifications, as some “circumstances are of such a nature that it could not reasonably be expected that they would often be duplicated elsewhere. Nor can it be assumed that they provide a sufficient basis to warrant indiscriminate projection of the UNEF experience in planning for future United Nations operations of this kind.” Sure enough, when the UN began to deploy to the Congo two years later, the 1958 report was to prove “not especially pertinent” to the task at hand.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Peace Studies, Terrorism, and War
- Political Geography:
- Egypt