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1. After Ukraine – NATO should stay vigilant on the Middle East

Author:
Jakob Aroe Jorgensen and Adam Gardner
Publication Date:
06-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Threats emanating from the Middle East still pose serious security challenges to NATO, though some see the crisis in Ukraine as the most serious security challenge yet to the alliance in the post-Cold War era. NATO must remain vigilant towards these threats, not allowing the crisis in Ukraine to eclipse all other contingencies.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, NATO, Arms Control and Proliferation, Sovereignty, and Territorial Disputes
Political Geography:
Ukraine and Middle East

2. Building Civil Servant Capacity in South Sudan

Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
'Coaching and mentoring for capacity' has become a popular approach to civil servant capacity building in fragile states. in South Sudan, the 'IGAD initiative' is currently deploying 200 coaches and mentors to South Sudan from Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. this brief recaps on some main tenets of the initiative and presents a number of policy recommendations.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Sovereignty, Governance, and Self Determination
Political Geography:
Uganda, Kenya, Africa, Ethiopia, and South Sudan

3. "Let us Rebuild our Country" Migration-development scenarios in Ghana

Author:
Nauja Kleist
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In recent years, there has been a reconfiguration of the relationship between states and international migrants. From an overall perception of migration as a problem to be solved, a number of international development agencies, policy makers, and academics are taking the position that migration contributes to national development – if well managed. This aspiration indicates the (re-)discovery of non-resident citizens or former citizens as populations to be governed by their states of origin. The implications of this aspiration are examined in this working paper, focusing on migration-development scenarios in Ghana. The paper is inspired by anthropological and critical development studies on statecraft and public policy, approaching migration-development scenarios as a cultural and political object of study. Using the theatrical metaphor of scenario, it analyzes actually implemented policies as well as policy visions and debates, focusing on the underlying narratives and imaginaries of how migration and development are interlinked and can be governed.
Topic:
Development, Government, Migration, Sovereignty, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

4. The refugee, the sovereign and the sea : EU interdiction policies in the Mediterranean

Author:
Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper starts from the encounter between a European navy vessel and a dinghy carrying boat refugees and other desperate migrants across the Mediterranean or West African Sea towards Europe. It explores the growing trend in the EU of enacting migration control at the high seas or international waters – so-called interdiction. It is argued that these forms of extraterritorial migration control aim at reconquering the efficiency of the sovereign function to control migration, by trying to either deconstruct or shift correlate obligations vis-à-vis refugees and other persecuted persons to third States. In both instances, European States are entering into a sovereignty game, in which creative strategies are developed in order to reassert sovereign power unconstrained by national and international obligations.
Topic:
Human Welfare, International Law, Migration, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
Europe and West Africa

5. The U.S. and Transatlantic Relations: On the Difference between Dominance and Hegemony

Author:
David P. Forsythe
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
It is important to distinguish hegemony from dominance, as various authors like Machiavelli, Gramsci, and Nye have argued. This distinction allows one to appreciate that the first Bush Administration attempted to be a dominant power rather than a hegemonic one. A long list of assertions of essentially unilateral dominant power projections is actually buttressed by two pillars: primary of hard power but also American exceptionalism. By comparison to Europe, the George W. Bush version of American exceptionalism emphasizes traditional and absolute U.S. state sovereignty, a corresponding depreciation of international law and organization, parochialism, and non-muscular multilateralism. Because of all this the U.S. is largely responsible for the crisis in Atlanticism. The Europeans, however, have made their own contributions to this crisis. The crisis needs to be resolved, as the management of various international problems requires trans-Atlantic cooperation. Fortunately there are signs of movement toward this cooperation, although the signals are mixed on the U.S. side.
Topic:
International Relations, Diplomacy, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

6. The EU's Security Policy Towards the Mediterranean: An (Im)possible Combination of Export of European Political Values and Anti-terror Measures?

Author:
Ulla Holm
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The Southern part of the Mediterranean has been put high on the EU-security agenda after 9/11. The Working paper makes the argument that the EU-politics towards its Arab Mediterranean neighbours are staggering between a status quo oriented politics and a politics of export of democracy. The tension is seen as an expression of two conceptualizations of the Mediterranean and the uneasy combination of four contradicting concepts on the relationship between the Mediterranean and the EU. The first conceptualization is about the Mediterranean as a cultural cradle of great civilizations. The other one is about the Mediterranean as a conflict-ridden zone. These conceptualizations are interlinked in the discourses on how to export security to the South and which kind of security the EU has to promote. The inter-linkage between the two conceptualization of the Mediterranean is furthermore linked up to two oppositional representations of the EU: the EU as an exporter of democracy and the EU as being a model to copy but not an empire-builder. This results in the following dilemmas caused by the oppositional relationship between four concepts: Respect for cultural diversity and export of political shared values. Respect for Arab sovereignty and export of European political values. The opposition between the four concepts is sharpened by Islamic terrorism which underlines the uneasy 'marriage' of the four concepts.
Topic:
Economics and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
Europe and Arabia

7. Wars and the Un-making of States: Taking Tilly Seriously in the Contemporary World

Author:
Anna Leander
Publication Date:
12-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
That war makes states has become part of international relations (and political science) folklore. There are good reasons for this. The idea can be evoked with reference to venerable classical masters of our trade, including Weber, Hintze and Elias, or more recent ones such as Finer or Tilly. Moreover, the argument dovetails beautifully with the anti-liberalism underlying much realist thinking in international relations. It stresses the violent foundations of power and states as opposed to liberal stress on the role of power growing out of legitimacy and common action. And finally, the argument is useful from two perspectives. Analytically, it enables observers to make positive sense of the messy reality of war in large parts of the world: it is just an inevitable step on the way to state formation (Cohen, Brown et al. 1981). And politically it provides a welcome excuse for not getting too closely involved with that messy reality. If wars make states, well then the best thing is to allow them to be fought out (Herbst 1996-7).
Topic:
Government, Sovereignty, and War

8. Intrastate Conflicts, International Interventions and their Implications on Security Issues, Case of Kosovo

Author:
Enika Abazi
Publication Date:
09-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Intra-state conflicts are not a new phenomenon. Since 1945 they have been more frequent and more violent than inter-state warfare (SIPRI-UNESCO Handbook, 1998: 13-25). With the end of the Cold War these tendencies exuberated following mostly in the lines of ethno-national and separatist-armed conflicts, bringing a significant shift in the perception of security issues and alternative approaches to it, especially in Europe. In particular, the changing dialogue of sovereignty, identity and security and international responsibility appears to be increasingly significant. Considering that the prepositions in IR depend on both empirical validity and logical soundness a theoretical exercise on the case of intra-state conflicts questions the validity of the traditional state developed concept of security. The path is open for new interpretations and understanding of normative, operational and structural issues in contemporary world politics.
Topic:
Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
Europe

9. Borders, Territoriality and the Military in the Third Millennium

Author:
Peter van Ham
Publication Date:
08-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Under the contradictory impact of globalization, regionalism and nationalism, the importance of borders is both declining and increasing—but above all it is changing. In some cases, it is declining and borders are becoming more permeable as regions integrate. In others, the salience of borders is growing as a contribution to national identity and as a protection of scarce natural resources. Both regional and national borders are, moreover, increasingly challenged by the rapid growth of activities and forces which are, by their very nature, non-territorial, tendentially rendering borders irrelevant. All these developments have military implications which are explored in the paper, including the changing role of border and territorial defence, transnational military threats to national security and 'non-territorial warfare'. A special emphasis is placed on the geopolitical implications of a defensive restructuring of the armed forces.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Globalization, Nationalism, Politics, and Sovereignty

10. Will the EU use Northern Dimension to solve its Kaliningrad dilemma?

Author:
Lyndelle Fairlie
Publication Date:
08-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
A Northern Dimension for the European Union is now taking shape. Originally a Finnish initiative, it tries to take a regional view of the Baltic area which includes member states, EU applicants such as Poland and the Baltic states and Russia. The Northern Dimension specifically mentions the Russian oblast of Kaliningrad. There is very little time left to develop an Action Plan which the EU Council can adopt at the December Helsinki summit. This essay addresses the question of whether or not the EU will use Northern Dimension to solve its Kaliningrad dilemma.
Topic:
International Relations, International Organization, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Eastern Europe, and Asia