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342. Living with Hugo: U.S. Policy Toward Hugo Chávez's Venezuela
- Author:
- Richard Lapper
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- The popularity of the new political and economic model being developed in Venezuela has been a consistent source of aggravation for the U.S. government. Since first winning the presidency in December 1998, Hugo Chávez has been able through repeated electoral victories and radical constitutional reform to dominate Venezuela's government and public institutions. Undaunted by stiff U.S. opposition, President Chávez has launched what he calls a Bolivarian revolution, named after Simón Bolívar, a nineteenth-century leader of Latin America's independence wars. Chávez has reasserted the role of the state in the Venezuelan economy and developed extensive social programs to advance an anti- U.S., anti-capitalist crusade. New or newly reinvigorated alliances with established U.S. adversaries have helped internationalize Chávez's aims. Most alarming to those concerned with the health of Venezuelan democracy, Chávez and his allies have concentrated political power in the hands of the executive, curtailed the independence of the judiciary, shown limited tolerance for domestic critics, and openly intervened in the electoral politics of neighboring states.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States, South America, and Latin America
343. Generating Momentum for a New Era in U.S.-Turkey Relations
- Author:
- Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall and Stephen Cook
- Publication Date:
- 06-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- The growing schism between the West and the Islamic world is one of the primary challenges confronting American foreign and defense policymakers. As a consequence, the relationship between the United States and Turkey—a Western-oriented, democratizing Muslim country—is strategically more important than ever. Turkey has the potential to be an invaluable partner as Washington endeavors to chart an effective course in its relations with the Muslim world. However, to achieve this level of cooperation, U.S.-Turkey relations must be repaired and modernized.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Diplomacy
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, Washington, Turkey, and North America
344. U.S.-India Nuclear Cooperation
- Author:
- Michael Levi and Charles Ferguson
- Publication Date:
- 06-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- The United States has long sought to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and to build a relationship with India, a rising power but a nuclear pariah since it first exploded an atomic bomb in 1974. In announcing a sweeping negotiated framework for nuclear cooperation with India on July 18, 2005, followed by an agreement on details on March 2, 2006, the Bush administration has stirred deep passions and put Congress in the seemingly impossible bind of choosing between approving the deal and damaging nuclear nonproliferation, or rejecting the deal and thereby setting back an important strategic relationship. Yet patience and a few simple fixes would address major proliferation concerns while ultimately strengthening the strategic partnership—provided Congress and the administration work together.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Diplomacy
- Political Geography:
- United States, India, Asia, and North America
345. Avoiding Conflict in the Horn of Africa: U.S. Policy Toward Ethiopia and Eritrea
- Author:
- Terrance Lyons
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- In 2006, the Horn of Africa witnessed major escalations in several conflicts, a marked deterioration of governance in critical states, and a general unraveling of U.S. foreign policy toward the strategically located region. The U.S.-brokered Algiers Agreement to end the 1998–2000 border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea is at a crossroads. Ethiopia has resisted implementing the decisions made by the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission (EEBC), Eritrea has imposed unilateral restrictions on the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), and both states have rejected the EEBC's plans to demarcate the border unilaterally. In Sudan, implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement remains incomplete, and the violence in Darfur continues to rage and spill into Chad. In Somalia, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has failed to establish itself outside of Baidoa and its rival, the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), has seized control of Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia. The rapid rise of the UIC in mid-2006 in particular amplified prospects for regional conflict as Ethiopia and Eritrea sent significant military support to the opposing sides. On December 6, 2006, the UN Security SudanCouncil unanimously endorsed Resolution 1725, a plan supported by Washington to deploy African troops to prop up the authorities in Baidoa. The Islamic Courts have stated that this intervention will be regarded as an invading force and will escalate, rather than reduce, the conflict.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Development
- Political Geography:
- Uganda, Africa, United States, Washington, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea
346. Challenges for a Postelection Mexico: Issues for U.S. Policy
- Author:
- Pamela K. Starr
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- After two decades of profound yet incomplete economic and political reforms, Mexico stands at a crossroads. Its economy is now one of the most open to international trade and capital flows among emerging markets, in stark contrast to the insular development model on which Mexico relied for more than half a century. Mexico also carried out a transition to democratic politics during the last decade, after seventy-one years under single-party, authoritarian rule. Many commentators heralded the 2000 election of an opposition leader to the presidency as the capstone of this process, but it was only one important step in a long, gradual transition. President Vicente Fox promised additional steps that would consolidate previous economic and political advances and place the country on an irreversible path to becoming a fully competitive market democracy. The last six years in Mexico have been characterized instead by political stalemate, leaving an unfinished agenda of structural change that is essential for long-term economic growth, job creation, and the deepening of democratic practices.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy and Diplomacy
- Political Geography:
- United States and Mexico
347. Reforming U.S. Patent Policy: Getting the Incentives Right
- Author:
- Keith E. Mascus
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- America's robust economic competitiveness is du e in no small part to a large capacity for innovation. That capacity is imperiled, however, by an increasingly overprotective patent system. Over the past twenty-five years, American legislators and judges have operated on the principle that stronger patent protection engenders more innovation. This principle is misguided. Although intellectual property rights (IPR) play an important role in innovation, the recent increase in patent protection has not spurred innovation so much as it has impeded the development and use of new technologies.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and America
348. Foreign Investment and National Security: Getting the Balance Right
- Author:
- David M. Marchick and Alan P. Larson
- Publication Date:
- 07-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- Despite the significant benefits that foreign investment brings to the U.S. economy, a recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 53 percent of Americans believe foreign ownership of U.S. companies is “bad for America,” a sentiment that reached a boiling point with the proposed acquisition of the U.S. port operations of P Steam Navigation Company by Dubai Ports World (DPW). The DPW case brought to the public's attention the little-known executive committee charged with reviewing the security risks of foreign investment—the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)—and ignited a flurry of congressional activity to change its mandate and operations under the Exon-Florio Amendment to the Defense Production Act of 1950.
- Topic:
- Security, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, and Dubai
349. Afghanistan's Uncertain Transition From Turmoil to Normalcy
- Author:
- Barnett Rubin
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- Before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and all that followed, Afghans and the handful of internationals working on Afghanistan could hardly have imagined being fortunate enough to confront today's problems. The Bonn Agreement of December 2001 providing for the "reestablishment of permanent government institutions" in Afghanistan was fully completed with the adoption of a constitution in January 2004, the election of President Hamid Karzai in October 2004, and the formation of the National Assembly in December 2005.
- Topic:
- Development and War
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, and Asia
350. National Security Consequences of U.S. Oil Dependency
- Publication Date:
- 10-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- The lack of sustained attention to energy issues is undercutting U.S. foreign policy and U.S. national security. Major energy suppliers—from Russia to Iran to Venezuela—have been increasingly able and willing to use their energy resources to pursue their strategic and political objectives. Major energy consumers—notably the United States, but other countries as well—are finding that their growing dependence on imported energy increases their strategic vulnerability and constrains their ability to pursue a broad range of foreign policy and national security objectives. Dependence also puts the United States into increasing competition with other importing countries, notably with today's rapidly growing emerging economies of China and India. At best, these trends will challenge U.S. foreign policy; at worst, they will seriously strain relations between the United States and these countries.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States and Middle East