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2212. SIPRI compendium on Article 36 reviews
- Author:
- Dr Vincent Boulanin and Maaike Verbruggen
- Publication Date:
- 12-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
- Abstract:
- Article 36 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions imposes a practical obligation on states to review the legality of all new weapons, means or methods of warfare before they are used in an armed conflict. To encourage more widespread compliance with the obligation of Article 36 and support confidence building in the area of legal reviews, SIPRI has developed a compendium of existing national Article 36 review procedures. The compendium describes how the review process is conducted in the following countries: Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- Topic:
- International Security
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
2213. The Razumkov Center Newsletter
- Author:
- Razumkov Center
- Publication Date:
- 02-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Razumkov Centre
- Abstract:
- In 2016, Razumkov Centre has improved its position in the Global Go To Think Tank Index Report annually presented by the Lauder Institute of the University of Pennsylvania (USA) since 2006. It is the only representative from Ukraine in nomination «Top Think Tanks Worldwide».
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
2214. The Effect of House Prices on Household Borrowing: A New Approach
- Author:
- James Cloyne
- Publication Date:
- 09-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
- Abstract:
- We investigate the effect of house prices on household borrowing using administrative mortgage data from the UK and a new empirical approach. The data contain household-level information on house prices and borrowing in a panel of homeowners, who refinance at regular and quasi-exogenous intervals. The data and setting allow us to develop an empirical approach that exploits house price variation coming from idiosyncratic and exogenous timing of refinance events around the Great Recession. We present two main results. First, there is a clear and robust effect of house prices on borrowing, but the responsiveness is smaller than recent US estimates. Second, the effect of house prices on borrowing can be explained largely by collateral effects. We study the collateral channel in two ways: through a multivariate and non-parametric heterogeneity analysis of proxies for collateral and wealth effects, and through a test that exploits interest rate notches that depend on housing collateral.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
2215. A Fresh Examination of the Proliferation Dangers of Light Water Reactors
- Author:
- Victor Gilinsky
- Publication Date:
- 10-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Nonproliferation Policy Education Center
- Abstract:
- Even before the ink was dry on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in l968, officials in the U.S. State Policy Planning staff had privately warned their superiors that non-weapons member states to the treaty could come within weeks of acquiring a nuclear arsenal by amassing nuclear weapons useable fuels claiming that these were intended for peaceful purposes. The advice was quietly filed away. Six years later, with India’s “peaceful” nuclear explosion, the warning seemed more salient. Still, even after a series of studies pointing out the military risks associated with proliferating civilian nuclear technology, most policy makers believed that the danger was speculative and still, at worst, many years away.
- Topic:
- Arms Control and Proliferation and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
2216. The Changing Balance of Power in the Age of Emerging Cyber Threats
- Author:
- Ivo Tsekov
- Publication Date:
- 06-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
- Abstract:
- This paper addresses one of the key issues of the international security agenda today: the role of cyber warfare in the changing security landscape of the 21st century. Cyber warfare involves the actions by a nation-state or international organization to attack and attempt to damage another nation's computers or information networks through IT means. While a great deal has already been written on the topic, there needs to be a stronger examination of how the combination of cyber weapons with traditional strategic approaches might impact strategic choices related to cyber war. In order to understand whether there is a security competition in cyberspace, it is necessary to assess the current balance of power. Therefore, the issue of cyber warfare has relevance to practitioners, policy-makers, and scholars in the national, regional and international levels
- Topic:
- Power Politics and Cybersecurity
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
2217. Taiwan, Submarines, and Competitive Strategies for U.S.-China Competition
- Author:
- Henry Holst
- Publication Date:
- 01-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Project 2049 Institute
- Abstract:
- Taiwan’s Indigenous Defense Submarine (IDS) program has spurred a small but fierce debate over the merits of Taiwan’s submarine aspirations. This study argues that the discussion surrounding Taiwan’s IDS program fails to consider the potential long-run strategic benefits for the United States. Taiwan’s IDS program could spur greater PLA budgetary allocation in an area of favorable U.S.-China technological asymmetry: anti-submarine warfare (ASW). Given the high probability of greater PLA investment in high-end war fighting capabilities, larger PLA spending on ASW is comparatively less threatening to U.S. regional interests than other capabilities within high-technology confines. This study concludes by recommending a reevaluation of the long-run strategic merits of assisting Taiwan’s pursuit of a submarine program.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- China
2218. The Inflated Yet Unsolvable North Korean Nuclear Threat
- Author:
- Boyan Boyanov
- Publication Date:
- 09-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
- Abstract:
- After Pyongyang conducted its fourth nuclear test on the 5th of January 2016 and declared it a successful experiment with a hydrogen bomb, the international community resumed its appeals for finding a definitive solution to the issue with North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. What impresses is the routine of the international response following the North Korean habitual act of defying the nuclear nonproliferation system: diplomatic condemnation mostly coming from the United States, South Korea, Japan, and, in a far more restrained manner – from China. When Pyongyang launched a satellite in space two days later, Seoul responded by shutting down the Kaesong industrial complex – a mutually beneficial industrial zone where South Korean companies employ North Korean labor1 . Even this seemingly harsh action does not constitute a precedent. At that time it was not very demanding to foretell the execution of consequential U.S. – South Korea military drills to display the U.S. resolution to be constantly involved in whatever is happening on the Korean Peninsula and to dismay the latest great leader of the North. Indications appear to suggest that China, completely in terms with its traditional business-asusual foreign policy, would not apply overwhelmingly dutifully the up-to-date UNSC sanctions imposed on Pyongyang2 . Then, after months of expected scolding from abroad, Pyongyang remained true to its own behavioral logic and conducted a fifth nuclear test on September 9 2016, the repercussions of which are yet to unfold
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
2219. The Complex Ties between Poverty and Exclusion
- Author:
- Michelle Nicholasen and Lucie White
- Publication Date:
- 01-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- To what extent does poverty contribute to social exclusion? How can the exclusion of particular groups be reduced? These were just two of the questions scholars addressed at the Social Inclusion and Poverty Eradication Workshop on November 17–18, 2016, a two-day event co-sponsored by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Center for European Studies, and the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP). The conference was convened by Weatherhead Center Director Michèle Lamont, Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies and professor of sociology and of African and African American studies at Harvard University; and Hilary Silver, professor of sociology and urban studies and professor of public policy at Brown University. Though the related challenges of poverty and exclusion have been exhaustively studied individually, their mutual interplay, in their socioeconomic and historical contexts, have rarely been mapped in a nuanced way. As Lamont and Silver emphasized in their remarks, only by subtle analysis of these interactions can responsive strategies be designed to alleviate the impacts of either factor. Lamont addressed the theme of intersection by calling for the reintroduction of the concept of “culture” into the study of poverty and social exclusion. Supporting this frame, keynote speaker Vijayendra Rao, lead economist for the World Bank’s Development Research Group, emphasized working within a local culture to help citizens arrive at their own solutions for more social engagement.
- Topic:
- Poverty, Culture, World Bank, Discrimination, Socioeconomics, and Exclusion
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
2220. he Power of Restraint in the “Golden Age” of Arms Control: A Tribute to Thomas C. Schelling
- Author:
- David C. Atkinson
- Publication Date:
- 01-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- Thomas Schelling’s passing last month represents a great loss to many in this community and beyond. He leaves a remarkably rich intellectual legacy. Among his many achievements, Schelling’s influence on the theory and practice of arms control cannot be overstated. He produced his seminal works on the subject—Strategy and Arms Control, published with Morton Halperin in 1961, and Arms and Influence, published in 1966—during his twelve years in residence at the Center for International Affairs (1959–1971). I had the pleasure of spending time with Professor Schelling at his home in Bethesda while researching my book on the history of the Center in 2005. Two things stood out from that conversation then, and perhaps even more so now in retrospect. First, Schelling was deeply committed to policy-relevant research, and his long life of work reflects that fact. Secondly—and relatedly—his work on the efficacy and control of nuclear weapons remains a singular benchmark for research in the field and a profoundly erudite and intelligent guide for today’s policy makers, just as it was for their predecessors some sixty years ago.
- Topic:
- Arms Control and Proliferation, Military Strategy, Nuclear Power, and Weapons
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus