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452. Algeria: President Bouteflika\'s Second Presidential Term
- Author:
- Ulla Holm
- Publication Date:
- 11-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- For the second time, the Algerian president, Bouteflika has been elected president. He has now another five years for restoring the economy and for demonstrating that the army and the security forces no longer will be the hidden puppeteers of politics. The Algerians are asking themselves whether Algeria is on the way to further democratization after the sacking of the influential army Chief, Lamari. This Brief discusses whether there is a possibility of withdrawal of the army to the barracs due both to Bouteflika\'s and the army\'s wish to getting closer to the EU and to the US.
- Topic:
- Security, Democratization, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Africa
453. Strengthening African Security Capacities
- Author:
- Lousie Mørup
- Publication Date:
- 10-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- In preparation for the expected Danish membership of the UN Security Council in 2005 DIIS organised a conference to discuss how to strengthen African conflict prevention and management capacities and make the most of Denmark's Africa Programme for Peace. This brief sums up some of the main ideas which were presented at the conference. The discussion bore witness to the complexity of the issue and the tremendous tasks ahead facing the African regional organisations, and made it clear to this author that Denmark has to prioritise its efforts to a few areas where it can make a difference in the two years of its expected UN Security Council membership.
- Topic:
- Security, Peace Studies, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Africa
454. Water and Conflict - Lessons Learned and Options Available on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Water Governance
- Author:
- Helle Munk Ravnborg
- Publication Date:
- 08-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Over the last decade, water scarcity has increasingly been coupled with international security. Hitherto, the focus of concern has been transboundary water resources and international efforts have been devoted towards establishing institutions for cooperation on the management of such transboundary water resources. Such efforts appear to be successful in mitigating potential conflicts and therefore need to be sustained. At the same time, however, several observers point to the risk that local water conflicts will increase in numbers and intensity. This calls for improved understanding of the nature, extent and social, economic and political implications of such local water conflicts as well as better understanding of how to achieve effective water governance, i.e. a legislative, institutional and regulatory framework which promotes equitable access to and environmentally and economically sound management of water. These are some of the conclusions emerging from a Danida-funded study carried out by DIIS on Conflict Prevention and Mitigation in Water Resources Management, which are further expanded in this DIIS brief.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, International Relations, Security, and Environment
455. From Diplomatic Talking Shop to Powerful Partnership?
- Author:
- Halle Malmvig
- Publication Date:
- 05-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- NATO plans to play a greater role in the Middle East. At the upcoming summit in Istanbul, the Alliance is expected to boost its neglected cooperation programme with seven states in the Middle East - the so-called Mediterranean Dialogue. The Dialogue is to be turned into a Partnership programme modelled on the Partnership for Peace (PfP) experience. This brief argues that NATO only can play a limited role in the efforts to reform and strengthen relations with Middle Eastern states. NATO does not have the political and economic tools necessary for tackling the root causes of the security problems in the Middle East, and there is a real danger that increased cooperation on terrorism and defence reform may undermine the overall goal of democratic and genuine change in the region.
- Topic:
- International Relations, NATO, and Diplomacy
- Political Geography:
- Middle East
456. The Palestine Question in the Wake of the War in Iraq
- Author:
- Michael Irving Jensen
- Publication Date:
- 02-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- By mid-January 2003 the American Assistant Defence Minister, Paul Wolfowitz, stated that America would work intensively in order to create a Palestinian State as soon as the War in Iraq was over. In Denmark and other European countries a number of politicians issued similar statements, and peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis became an argument to justify a war against Iraq. Even people who were not convinced by the necessity of war began to argue that something positive would eventually emerge from the war – especially in the case of the Palestine Question. Their argument held that the Americans had to do something constructive in the Middle East. They needed to engage more seriously, and they had to demonstrate to the Arab world that although part of the "war against terror" might be taking place in the Arab world, it was not a war against the Arab world, or against Islam, for that matter. Thus, it was only logical to engage the US in the Middle East, and thereby do the utmost in order to force the Israeli occupation to cease. Despite the huge American problems in "post-war" Iraq the question of Palestine is still very high on the agenda not only in the Middle East, but globally.
- Topic:
- International Relations and War
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Middle East
457. The Commodification of Violence, Private Military Companies, and African States
- Author:
- Anna Leander
- Publication Date:
- 06-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- This article argues first that there is an increasing commodification of the use of force in many African states and it takes the example of the increased role of private military companies (PMCs) on the continent as epitomizing this development. Moreover, it points out that this commodification is widely accepted as both African and foreign governments, international organisations, NGOs, and private firms are relying on private firms. The article proceeds to spell out how this commodification affects state authority. It argues that the commodification of force poses problems for state authority both by undermining the direct control of states over the use of force and by undermining the basis of its authority. The article does not claim that state authority and the use of public force in Africa are unproblematic, nor that PMCs are the sole responsible for a situation they invariably worsen. Its aim is to underscore that it is a chimera to believe that reliance on PMCs is unproblematic for state authority and to clarify some of the mechanisms by which public authority is undermined by processes privatizing the use of force. Ultimately, the particularity of African states is likely to be reinforced rather than reduced by the commodification of the use of force on the continent.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Africa
458. Disenchanted Conscription: A Military Recruitment System in Need of Justification
- Author:
- Anna Leander
- Publication Date:
- 06-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The Economist's point of view is a widely shared one. It also seems warranted by current trends in policy-making in developed democracies. The US, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Portugal have abolished or are phasing out conscription. Even France, mother of citizens armies through the revolutionary levée en masse, just saw (literally as the event was broadcasted as a main feature of the evening television news) its last conscript leave the armed forces. The Nordic countries and Germany have not abolished conscription, but conscripts make up a shrinking share of the armed forces, which governments plan to shrink even further. For many observers this confirms that they simply lag behind. They will soon be brought to reason and abolish conscription. But this is a simplistic understanding of what determines the fate of conscription.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Government, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- United States, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, and Portugal
459. International Law and the Just and Justifiable in Secessionist Conflicts: The Cases of Tatarstan and Chechnya (1990-94)
- Author:
- Olya Gayazova
- Publication Date:
- 03-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The statistics on self-determination conflicts are worrisome. Some 67 armed self-determination conflicts have occurred in the world since 1955, not counting the wars of independence in the former European colonies. Of them, 35% are 'ongoing' and have been in that phase for the median duration of 17 years. Another 30% of these conflicts are of a 'contained' status. Yet another 15% have ended with agreements, which are 'contested' by parties within the minority group or the government, or both. All in all, 80% of armed self-determination conflicts - instead of being settled - persist and are apt to inspire new generations of freedom fighters (for some) and terrorists (for others).
- Topic:
- International Law
- Political Geography:
- Russia
460. Constructivism and the Role of Institutions in International Relations
- Author:
- Stefano Guzzini
- Publication Date:
- 03-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Although Italy, in comparison to its Northern neighbours, is not a country of constructivists (Lucarelli and Menotti 2002), many of the themes crucial to constructivism are common currency in Italian academia. For constructivism stands for a series of debates in social theory which made a perhaps late yet virulent intrusion into the discipline of International Relations. Its content is probably best understood as the focus which bundles recent discussions on epistemology and the sociology of knowledge, on the agent-structure debate and the ontological status of social facts, and on the reciprocal relationship between these two.
- Topic:
- International Relations
- Political Geography:
- Europe