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2941. Transforming the Italian Armed Forces, 2001-13

Author:
Francesco N. Moro and Fabrizio Coticchia
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Italian armed forces have undergone important transformations since the end of the Cold War. Exogenous changes in the strategic and operational environment have driven a reshaping of armed forces in all NATO countries, but the differences between the national responses that have emerged has not always been thoroughly analysed. Deep restructuring in military doctrine, field experience linked to intense force deployment and budgetary constraints interact in shaping the direction of transformation, sometimes in ways that deviate from classic hypotheses on what drives change in the military. The picture that emerges is a complex one, where relevant innovations co-exist with the persistence of problems that call into question the sustainability of the Italian defence model.
Topic:
NATO and Cold War
Political Geography:
Italy

2942. Pakistani Opposition to American Drone Strikes

Author:
C. Christine Fair, Karl Kaltenhaler, and William Miller
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
AMERICA'S EMPLOYMENT OF WEAPONIZED unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), popularly known as "drones," to kill alleged terrorists in Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas (FATA) fuels sustained controversy in Pakistan. Pakistani outrage has steadily deepened since 2008, when the United States increased the frequency of the strikes. The increasing use of "signature strikes" has been particularly controversial in (and beyond) Pakistan, because such strikes are targeted at "men believed to be militants associated with terrorist groups, but whose identities aren't always known." Whereas personality strikes require the operator to develop a high level of certainty about the target's identity and location, based on multiple sources such as "imagery, cell phone intercepts and informants on the ground," operators may "initiate a signature strike after observing certain patterns of behavior." When conducting signature strikes, the United States assesses that the individuals in question exhibit behaviors that match a pre-identified "signature" (for example, pattern of observable activities and/or personal networks) that suggests that they are associated with al Qaeda and/or the Pakistani or Afghan Taliban organizations. Because the identity of the target is unknown, even during the strike, it is possible that these persons are innocent civilians, a possibility that both current and former U.S. government officials concede. While the George W. Bush administration employed both personality strikes from 2004 and signature strikes from 2008 in Pakistan, the administration of Barack Obama has redoubled the use of both types. This has ignited public protests against the drones in Pakistan, particularly in Pakistan's urban areas—far removed from the tribal areas where drones are employed. It has also galvanized a vigorous debate within Pakistan's National Assembly, which tried, but ultimately failed, to curtail the strikes.
Political Geography:
Pakistan and America

2943. Did History End? Assessing the Fukuyama Thesis

Author:
John Mueller
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
John Mueller reflects on Francis Fukuyama's 1989 essay that advanced the notion that history had come to an end in the sense that “liberalism, democracy and market capitalism” had triumphed as an ideology and that effective future challenges were unlikely to prevail. He concludes that Fukuyama seems to have had it fundamentally right and that his celebration of the “autonomous power of ideas” is justified.

2944. Contesting the U.S. Constitution through State Amendments: The 2011 and 2012 Elections

Author:
Sean Beienburg
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
SEAN BEIENBURG examines attempts at amending state constitutions in the 2011 and 2012 elections and finds that they were efforts to influence the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. He argues that some elected state officials see themselves as legitimate challengers of Supreme Court decisions. In addition, he finds that national interest groups use state constitutions as platforms for federal constitutional politics, and that such efforts were predominantly, though not exclusively, conservative in the last two election cycles.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
United States

2945. Democracy beyond the State: Insights from the European Union

Author:
Achim Hurrelmann
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
ACHIM HURRELMANN looks at lessons that could be drawn from the European Union about the democratization of other non-state entities. He argues that the EU's non-state character is no insurmountable obstacle to democratization. The “democratic deficit” of the European Union is rooted in the institutional design of its multilevel system and is further influenced by limited and uninformed citizen participation in EU politics.
Political Geography:
Europe

2946. Managing Group Interests in China

Author:
Yongshun Cai
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
Yongshun Cai discusses why both powerful and weak interest groups in China have been able to pursue their interests successfully. He finds that both groups have access to sources of power and that their success depends partly on the state's policy priorities. By assisting weak groups to pursue their interests, the state enhances its legitimacy and resilience.
Political Geography:
China

2947. Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American

Author:
H.W. Brands
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
Having elsewhere assessed the structural forces that shaped America's rise to global power, Joseph Nye now turns to the personal elements. What role, he asks, did individuals, in particular presidents, play in the twentieth-century emergence of the United States as the arbiter of world affairs? Nye finds wanting the existing literature on presidential leadership as overemphasizing "transformational" presidents and blurring the line between presidential ethics and presidential efficacy.
Political Geography:
United States and Germany

2948. Early Start: Preschool Politics in the United States

Author:
William T. Gormley, Jr.
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
In 1971, Senator Walter Mondale introduced an ambitious Comprehensive Child Development Act that passed both houses of Congress. It was promptly vetoed by President Richard Nixon, who denounced it as an endorsement of "communal approaches to child rearing" (p. 82). Andrew Karch believes that this "watershed" moment had profound, lasting effects on preschool politics in the United States.
Political Geography:
United States

2949. Issue May 2014

Author:
Arabinda Acharya
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Counter Terrorist Trends and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
Assessing extremism requires an understanding of jihadist authority and how it relates to the vanguard role of Al Qaeda. Contrary to conventional thinking, Al Qaeda is not the supreme authority in the hierarchy of Salafi - jihadist doctrine; neither are all significant elements of the jihadist threat, many of which are decentralized, directly associated with Al Qaeda, as is the case with the Islamic State of the Levant (ISIL).
Topic:
Islam
Political Geography:
United States

2950. Conditionality and Compliance: The Shaky Dimensions of NATO Influence (The Georgian Case)

Author:
Shalva Dzebisashvili
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
It is no secret that NATO exerts global influence, and is an organization without which the international security architecture would be difficult to imagine. Its capacity to exert influence ranges from the very material dimension of military power to the elusive and intangible effects of functional professionalization. Its unifying power was recognized long before the fall of the Berlin Wall, motivating Karl Deutsch to assign to it the quality of the "Community" in the North Atlantic area. The paradigm of the Cold War heavily influenced the way scholarship evaluated the Alliance. Despite numerous and valuable attempts, the majority of academic contributions to the study of NATO remained policy-driven. The discussion was subsumed by broader regional security studies and international relations scholarship that repeatedly brought up the question of the Alliance's organizational purpose and durability, leaving other significant questions unexamined. This article will attempt to address the existing scholarly deficit by focusing on a particular aspect of NATO analysis: the Alliance's capacity to influence aspirant countries' policy making (formulation and implementation) in the defense area and, by doing that, to ensure compliance with commonly agreed norms and standards.
Topic:
NATO and Cold War
Political Geography:
North Atlantic, Georgia, and Berlin