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1291. Between Russia and the West: Belarus as a Challenge for European Stability and Security

Author:
Anna Kuleszewicz
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
This paper aims to explain that the stable situation of Belarus is important for Western Europe and why any fluctuations may present a challenge for European integrity and stability. Belarus, since the beginning of its independence in 1991 seems to show a great willingness to cooperate closely with Russia, claiming Western Europe and NATO as a potential enemy. In reality, the Belarusian position is much more complicated and ambiguous. Despite it’s close military cooperation with Russia, different tensions between Minsk and Moscow regularly happen and Belarusian authorities are still looking for new foreign partners and new energy suppliers (what was clearly visible in the last months of 2016 and the first period of 2017). Russia, old Belarusian partner, may actually even pose a threat for Belarus, so the country’s authorities have a hard challenge to maintain its stability. Western countries may be open for a new chapter of cooperation with Minsk but any rapid changes in Belarusian foreign preferences may result in unpredictable results and Moscow reaction that – in turn – would be very challenging for the whole European stability and security
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Russia

1292. Nordic States: Towards Unity or Diversity?

Author:
Anna Kobierecka
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
The aim of the article is to examine whether Nordic area can be regarded as a homogenous and successfully cooperating region, which is providing one unified political front. Considering many similarities between Nordic states, as for example shared values (equality, women rights, common love of democracy, peace and welfare state), one could say that Nordic states constitute a single and unitary area. What is more, the linguistic, cultural and historical closeness of those states is a fact, but at the same time many differences can be pointed, especially considering their security and foreign policies. Those aspects seem to be the main obstacle in introducing full cooperation in the region. Nevertheless, it is worth noticing that current international developments and appearance of new threats to security are influencing the Nordic states which, as a result, are changing their attitudes towards security policy. Those factors could lead to introducing new dimensions of their cooperation
Topic:
International Relations
Political Geography:
Nordic Nations

1293. Transcript: The Warren and Anita Manshel Lecture in American Foreign Policy by Robert O. Keohane

Author:
Robert O. Keohane
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Centerpiece
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
n this talk, I will revisit a question that Joe has asked in his work over the last twenty-five years: “Is the American century over?” Joe has given this question a consistently negative answer, and has recently, in a book with this title, extended his expected time frame for the American century to 2041. Before reaching this conclusion, Joe directly addressed the question that seems central to me: Will its internal cultural and political divisions decisively weaken the United States in world politics? He pointed out that “culture wars could adversely affect American power if citizens become so distracted or divided by domestic battles over social and cultural issues that the United States loses the capacity to act collectively in foreign policy” (ACO: 73). But in his answer he claimed that “past culture battles over slavery, prohibition, McCarthyism, and civil rights were more serious than any of today’s issues” (ibid). He did not expect disruption of American power as a result of internal social divisions.
Topic:
Nationalism, Hegemony, Geopolitics, and Populism
Political Geography:
United States and North America

1294. Islamic State Enters Al-Qaeda’s Old Hotbed: Afghanistan and Pakistan

Author:
Mona Kanal Sheikh
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The Islamic State (IS) movement has opened a new chapter in the Afpak region, changing the landscape of militant movements in the area. This article looks at the patterns of rivalry and collaboration between the Islamic State on one side and Al-Qaeda and Taliban-related movements on the other. It also surveys the way Al-Qaeda has developed during the past years where most of the international attention has been devoted to the formation of IS in Iraq/Syria, and shows that Al-Qaeda is still active, though it has become more locally oriented. Finally, the article looks at the prospects for the further expansion of IS especially in Pakistan where, on one side, a range of sectarian anti-Shia movements that resonate with parts of the IS agenda while, on the other side, there is no ideological tradition for embracing the kind of caliphate-jihadism that the IS advocates.
Topic:
Terrorism, Violent Extremism, Al Qaeda, and Islamic State
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Iraq, Middle East, and Syria

1295. Islamic State in Yemen – A Rival to al-Qaeda?

Author:
Maria-Louise Clausen
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The Yemeni state has all but collapsed as the political transition that followed the popular protests in 2011 has been derailed. This has left Yemen without a functioning central government and thus provided a ripe context for the expansion of both al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Islamic State in Yemen. This article focuses on the balance of power between AQAP and Islamic State in Yemen. Yemen is an interest- ing case of the international competition between al-Qaeda and Islamic State as the branch of al-Qaeda in Yemen, AQAP, is one of the strongest. The article argues that AQAP has sought to establish stronger local ties by enmeshing itself with the still strong tribal structures in Yemen whereas IS has sought to carve out a place for itself in Yemen by challenging AQAP on its religi
Topic:
Terrorism, Violent Extremism, Al Qaeda, Islamic State, and Arab Spring
Political Geography:
Middle East, Yemen, and Persian Gulf

1296. Critique of ISIS’ Women Policy

Author:
Zehra Yilmaz
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Turkish Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
Institution:
Turkish Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
Abstract:
This article addresses the policy employed by ISIS with respect to women. ISIS differs from other extremist organisations in terms of its impact on women and specifically, the number of female militants it has recruited from the West. Such high numbers of women joining ISIS is striking when considered in the face of the fact that ISIS is well known to be involved in rather oppressive and barbaric practices in territories under its control. Therefore, the article examined the rea- sons that trigger women to join ISIS and the promises of ISIS for women. The present review builds the policy employed by ISIS with respect to women upon the meanings attributed to women in the founding process of a state and the man- ner in which women experience this process. Focused on the policy employed by ISIS with respect to women, the article carries on the claim of extending beyond a cultural discourse inflicted with orientalist prejudices by addressing the matter from the perspective of the state and its gender perspective in contrary to research studies approaching ISIS and women from a theological standpoint.
Topic:
Religion, Terrorism, Women, ISIS, and Feminism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1297. Iconography of Power of the Pagan Bulgarian Ruler: Images, Symbolism and Tradition

Author:
Oksana Minaeva
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
The ideas of ruler’s power of the pagan Bulgarians and their expression are a question of debates concerning different fields of humanities such as history, archaeology, epigraphy, religious studies, and art history. The discussion proposed tends to seek the ideological basis of the ruler’s power as seen through cosmogonic, religious and political notions preserved in written historical sources, traces of rites and beliefs in mythology and folklore and in the arts. Thus, the three levels of the ruler’s ideology are considered: the written/verbal texts, ritual texts and visual texts in order to find out a set of iconographic formulae of expressing the power of the pagan Bulgarian ruler.
Topic:
Religion, History, Power Politics, and Ideology
Political Geography:
Europe, Bulgaria, and Balkans

1298. Byzantine Satire: The Background in the Timarion

Author:
Iakovos Menelaou
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
In this paper, I examine the twelfth century Byzantine satire Timarion. I seek to analyse the background of the work, through a focus on the plot and characters, the classical sources that influenced the Byzantine author and the issues of date and authorship which should be seen in relation to the targets of his attack. While there is no certainty about the identity of the author, the Timarion was written, probably, by a learned author who had knowledge of classical authors and medical theories of his era. This is obvious in the way he embodies these traditions in his satire. Similarly to satires of the classical period, the Timarion’s attack is directed at several directions.
Topic:
Literature and Byzantine Empire
Political Geography:
Europe, Asia, and North Africa

1299. Living Water (Abur): A Possible Lexical Connection between Romanian, Albanian and Basque

Author:
Şerban George Paul Drugaş
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
I will analyze in this paper the possibility for a common origin of a word that appears in Romanian as abur "vapor, steam", in Albanian as avull (id.), and in Basque with two forms, as ibar "valley, watered meadow" and ibai "river". Romanian abur and Albanian avull are words of the substratum vocabulary of these languages, with a common origin, the Romanian form being more primitive. If a connection between the Basque ibar / ibai and the PIE root of the previous Albanian and Romanian words could be established, then the three words would have had a common origin.
Topic:
Linguistics and Language
Political Geography:
Romania, Spain, and Albania

1300. Brăila at the End of the Nineteenth Century: The Report of Vice-Consul William J. Norcop on the Year 1899

Author:
Cristian Constantin
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
The text proper is preceded by a short historical comment on the activity of the International Trade in the Lower Danube region. The exports and imports of Romania, and her commercial relations with the different European countries had been, from their very beginning, organised on a highly individual basis owing to the initiative and according to the interests of private citizens. The report is an extremely important source for all social aspects related to the Brăila harbour, from statistic dates about export and import, agriculture, navigation, and economic realities in the towns. This document is an alternative to the statistical sources published by the European Commission of the Danube and by the Romanian authorities.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, History, Exports, Trade, and Imports
Political Geography:
Europe and Romania