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901. Luck like the Irish: How emigration can be good for the Western Balkans

Author:
Alida Vračić
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
European Council On Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Western Balkans governments have failed to tap the potential of their vast diaspora – six million strong – around the world. This diaspora possesses the networks, skills, and assets that Western Balkans countries need to develop and to prosper in an age of fierce economic competition. Ireland’s experience sets the standard: today’s “Global Irish” population is a networked diaspora that champions Irish interests throughout the world and has made critical contributions to Ireland’s economic miracle. To follow in Irish footsteps, the Western Balkans urgently needs to gather data, including carrying out comprehensive labour force surveys, to understand the diaspora properly and learn how best to communicate with it. The EU must help. It should introduce circular migration programmes so that educated Western Balkans citizens in EU member states return to their home countries fully equippedto make an even greater contribution than they could have done before leaving
Topic:
International Political Economy and Brexit
Political Geography:
Global Focus

902. Pushing the boundaries: How to create more effective migration cooperation across the Mediterranean

Author:
Tasnim Abderrahim
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
European Council On Foreign Relations
Abstract:
In 2018 Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia roundly rejected EU plans for ‘regional disembarkation platforms’ out of concern: around the cost of hosting migrants on their own soil; for public opinion; and to remind Europe of their own sovereignty. North African governments further point out that they too have migration issues to deal with, including growing pressure on their borders, integration of newcomers, and domestic discontent about migration. While the EU’s concerns about irregular migration are legitimate, the proposal for disembarkation platforms was likely a misstep, as it only fuelled tension in the relationship with its southern neighbours. That said, Europe and North Africa already have a long and mature relationship when it comes to cooperating on migration matters. The 2018 proposal for disembarkation platforms may now be a non-starter. But opportunities remain for the EU to deepen its partnership working with Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia on border control and – although this area is more contested – on migrant returns.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

903. Strength In Numbers

Author:
Wendy Cutler
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Asia Society Policy Institute
Abstract:
Tensions in U.S.-China economic and trade relations have steadily increased over the past year, leading to the imposition of tariffs and counter-tariffs impacting nearly USD $400 billion in two-way trade. At the time of writing, a negotiated solution has yet to materialize, but the two sides have continued to make progress, with a deal seemingly imminent. At the heart of the conflict are challenges posed by China’s state-led economic model, including excessive and under-reported industrial subsidies and other financial assistance, operation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), opaque regulatory measures that advantage domestic producers, forced technology transfer, and centrally directed strategic guidance
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

904. The Avoidable War: Reflections on U.S.-China Relations and the End of Strategic Engagement

Author:
Kevin Rudd
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Asia Society Policy Institute
Abstract:
2018 REPRESENTED A FUNDAMENTAL STRATEGIC TURNING POINT in the 40-year history of U.S.-China relations. This is not just an American view; it is also the Chinese view. Just as it is my own analytical view based on 40 years of observation of this relationship, going back to the time when I was an undergraduate student at the Australian National University. The nature of this change is that the United States, after 40 years of strategic engagement with China following China’s decision under Deng Xiaoping to pursue a domestic policy shift toward economic reform and opening, has concluded that China is no longer a trustworthy strategic partner. The analytical underpinnings of the period of engagement were that China, having embarked upon a series of economic, social, and some political reforms, was incrementally integrating itself into the American-led international rules-based order. This, in turn, was based on China’s decision in 1978 to abandon its policy of support for communist revolutionary movements around the world. This change followed the abandonment of a decade-plus of political radicalism pursued by Mao during the Cultural Revolution. And it followed, perhaps most significantly, China’s decision to embrace one series after another of market-based economic reforms, beginning with the introduction of price-based incentives in agriculture, then light manufacturing, then the services industry before extending across much of the rest of the Chinese economy. On top of this, the normalization of political relations between the United States and China, from Richard Nixon’s visit in 1972 to formal diplomatic recognition under Jimmy Carter in 1979, led to a sustained period of fundamental strategic realignment between China and the United States against a common strategic adversary in the form of the Soviet Union
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

905. Understanding China’s Rise Under Xi Jinping

Author:
Kevin Rudd
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Asia Society Policy Institute
Abstract:
NEXT WEEK MARKS THE 216TH ANNIVERSARY of the founding of the West Point Military Academy. Its founding came less than 20 years after the defeat of the British at Yorktown in 1781. It followed the decision by President Thomas Jefferson to establish the United States Military Academy just after his inauguration in 1801. Indeed, the United States Continental army first occupied this place on January 27, 1778, two years into the Revolutionary War, when things were not proceeding all that well against the British in that great conflagration. So you have been here at West Point since virtually the first birth-pangs of this great Republic
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

906. Xi Jinping, China, and the Global Order: The Significance of China’s 2018 Central Foreign Policy Work Conference

Author:
Asia Society Policy Institute
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Asia Society Policy Institute
Abstract:
ON JUNE 22–23 2018, THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY concluded its Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs, the second since Xi Jinping became General Secretary of the Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission in November 2012. The last one was held in November 2014. These are not everyday affairs in the Party’s deliberations on the great questions of China’s unfolding global engagement.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

907. NATO at Seventy: Filling NATO’s Critical Defense-Capability Gaps

Author:
Wolfgang Schroeder
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
As a young, single-seat fighter pilot based in Germany in the Royal Air Force of the early 1980s, I enjoyed a degree of certainty about my role in life. The world was, to all intents and purposes, a bi-polar place. We knew exactly from where our threat emanated and, indeed, had comprehensive standing plans for dealing with it. In the event of an attack by the Warsaw Pact on NATO’s eastern flank, we had pre-designated areas in which we would interdict any enemy military force heading westwards. We had pre-planned missions for systematically taking down all elements of Soviet air power — be it through suppression of enemy air defense sensors and surfaceto-air systems or denial of his airfields’ operating surfaces. In the event that the conflict escalated too rapidly, or went too far, we even had plans to resort to the ultimate sanction of the pre-planned and graduated employment of tactical nuclear weapons. Our plans, and our skills, were tested on a frequent and regular basis. It was no rare experience to be woken by a siren in the middle of the night to be called to duty. Our response time was measured, as was the ability to demonstrate our preparedness to brief our wartime missions, arm our aircraft, and prove our abilities to be airborne within the allocated time period. The results of these exercises—known as NATO Tactical Evaluations (TacEvals)—were equally rigorous in the Land and Maritime domains. Their results were widely shared within Alliance circles. Achieving a “one” for a TacEval result was every commanding officer’s goal
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

908. Ecology Meets Geopolitics

Author:
Peter Engelke and David Michel
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
Himalayan Asia is a shorthand term referring to the Asian countries that depend on river water from the high mountain ranges of the Tibetan Plateau. As the rivers produced by the Himalayas and other mountain ranges on the Plateau are under increasingly serious pressure, water insecurity threatens much of the continent’s peace and security. Himalayan Asia’s transboundary water dynamics threaten to erode interstate cooperation, including among the continent’s major powers, risk worsening geopolitical competition, and heighten the odds of domestic and interstate conflict. Yet there are viable pathways for avoiding such outcomes, the most important of which treat water as a shared resource to be managed cooperatively.
Topic:
Peace Studies and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Asia

909. Does NATO Facilitate Regional Defence and Security Cooperation in the Balkans?

Author:
Katarina Djokic
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Belgrade Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Despite the low-intensity conflict that is currently prevailing in the Western Balkans, shared political interests and common security threats will push the countries in the region towards enhanced cooperation in the long term. Considering NATO’s strong presence in the region - not least because most countries are either its members or interested in membership - it is worthwhile assessing its contribution to stability through fostering regional cooperation.
Topic:
International Organization and International Security
Political Geography:
Balkans

910. How Can NATO Contribute to Regional Cooperation in the Field of Training and Education?

Author:
Marija Ignjatijevic
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Belgrade Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
NATO shares its expertise with partner countries in order to assist them with defence education and training reform through a set of mechanisms. By joining different NATO initiatives partner countries open up the opportunity to exchange insights and experience in areas of common interest, gain access to the advice and support of NATO experts, as well as to take part in various NATO events and activities. Partnership education and training mechanisms are predominantly designed as bilateral tools - focused on enhancing cooperation and interoperability between the Alliance and the partner.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Regional Cooperation, and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus