Search

Begin New Search Publishing Institution Danish Institute for International Studies

131. Blue Helmets and Grey Zones: Do UN Multidimensional Peace Operations Work?

Author:
Louise Riis Andersen and Peter Emil Engedal
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Multidimensional peace operations have emerged as one of the key instruments for addressing and managing the complex challenges related to violent conflict and state fragility in the Global South. Based on a reading of existing literature Louise Riis Andersen and Peter Emil Engedal provide an overview of what we know of the UN's ability to assist war-torn societies in laying the foundations for lasting peace. The basic message of the report is that peacekeeping works, but statebuilding fails: In general, multidimensional UN-led peace operations have been successful at preventing the resumption of war, yet they have not succeeded in establishing effective and legitimate institutions of governance. The report also concludes that while the system is far from perfect, the UN peacekeeping apparatus has been reformed and strengthen considerably in the past decade. Outstanding challenges relate to contextualising interventions and ensuring local ownership, as well as to maintaining the normative consensus on the role of UN peace operations.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Peace Studies, War, Peacekeeping, and Reform
Political Geography:
United Nations

132. Japanese and South Korean Environmental Aid: What are their life stories?

Author:
Aki Tonami and Anders Riel Müller
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Environmental aid has become a major component of foreign aid, as environmental degradation and climate change have arisen as global concerns. Japan contends it has committed itself to the protection of the global environment since the 90s, and environmental aid has been an important part of that effort. South Korea has recently become an emerging actor in the development aid community and has also started to market its green diplomacy through programs such as the Global Green Growth Institute. Meanwhile, both Japanese aid and Korean aid have been criticized for being driven by their economic interests rather than altruism and that they focus too strongly on infrastructure projects.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, Peace Studies, United Nations, War, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Japan

133. DIIS WORKING PAPER 2013:20 1 Power and Change: Locating Institutional Change Theories in a Power Context

Author:
Lily Salloum Lindegaard
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This working paper aims to better understand the drivers of institutional change. To do this, it locates diverse institutional change theories, specifically path dependency, gradu¬al institutional change and institutional bricolage, in a power context and reflects on the power-related aspects of each theory. It then develops a novel approach of a power analysis of institutional change, which allows for the combined use of institutional change theories despite their diverse theoretical underpinnings and thus offers a thorough, highly complex consideration of institutional change.
Topic:
International Affairs, Political Theory, Power Politics, and Reform
Political Geography:
Europe

134. Danish Foreign Policy Yearbook 2013

Author:
Hans Mouritzen (ed) and Nanna Hvidt (ed)
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This year's volume presents the official outline of Denmark's foreign policy in 2012 by Claus Grube, Permanent Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Besides that Ravinder Kaur contributes with the first academic inquiry into the causes of the Danish-Indian diplomatic deadlock in the extradition case concerning Niels Holck (the prime accused in the Purulia arms drop case). Mette Skak addresses the role of the emerging BRICS powers (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in Danish foreign policy and offers her policy recommendations. Hans Branner shifts to a diachronic perspective. In his article about Denmark 'between Venus and Mars' he stresses elements of continuity in Danish foreign policy history; activism is not solely a post-Cold War phenomenon. Derek Beach turns to the scene of the current European economic crisis, analysing and interpreting the Fiscal Compact agreed during the Danish EU Presidency.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Economics, International Affairs, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Europe, India, South Africa, Brazil, and Denmark

135. Migration brokerage, illegality, and the state in Anglophone Cameroon

Author:
Maybritt Jill Alpes
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Migration brokers are important participants in the increasingly commercialized policing of borders. Focusing on connections between migration brokers and state authorities, a new DIIS Working Paper by Maybritt Jill Alpes asks how migration brokers relate to the realm of the law, as well as how the law relates to migration brokerage. By examining illegality only when it becomes visible to aspiring migrants and brokers in the context of departure, the paper illuminates how state regulation is intimately intertwined with the emergence of migration brokerage. The argument of the paper provides a counter-point to studies of migration and illegality that often adopt an implicitly statist perspective by categorising brokers as either legal or illegal, as well as by framing brokers as agents that work 'against' the state. The paper draws on case material from Anglophone Cameroon, in the work of two NGOs that engage in so-called 'travel consultations'. It contributes to on-going discussions within the 'Migration Industry and Markets for Migration Control Network'.
Topic:
Crime, Migration, Non-Governmental Organization, Immigration, Law Enforcement, and Law
Political Geography:
Cameroon

136. Ambiguous endings: Middle East regional security in the wake of the Arab Uprisings and the Syrian civil war

Author:
Helle Malmvig
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The Middle East regional security order is under rapid transformation. The Arab Uprisings and the Syrian War are changing not only the relationship between state and societies, but also some of the region's core norms and historical divisions. This report analyses key changes in regional security order the Middle East in the period after 2010. It identifies five key issues where regional order is changing: State-society relations Relations with the West and foreign policy posturing The impact of the Iran-Syria –Hezbollah Axis (the Resistance Front) and radical-moderate divide The Sunni-Shia rift and the rise of identity politics The Saudi-Qatar rivaling, and the role of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Civil War, Islam, and Insurgency
Political Geography:
Middle East, Arabia, Syria, and Qatar

137. Five Pillars of a Successful Transition in Afghanistan Post 2014

Author:
Khalid Aziz
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Most of the conditions for a successful transition into a stable Afghanistan would require appropriate bureaucratic and institutional mechanisms to ensure that the momentum for change is harnessed and that timely follow-ups take place. The major parties with stakes in the security of Afghanistan will need a roadmap and a framework for achieving the policy outcomes identified in this policy brief.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Islam, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan

138. How to Reduce Migrant Worker Recruitment Costs

Author:
Philip Martin
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Recruitment matches workers with jobs, a process that is often complicated by asymmetric information, viz. employers know more about the jobs they are offering than job seekers, who know more about their abilities than employers. Economists have developed a variety of models to explain how employers screen applicants to find the workers best suited to fill the jobs they offer, and how workers signal their ability to employers by earning degrees and certificates.
Topic:
Economics, Markets, Migration, and Labor Issues

139. Education for young people in fragile situations – the need for support

Author:
Birgitte Lind Petersen
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
With massive unemployment, insecure livelihoods and unpredictable political transitions in many fragile states, there is an urgent need to train and educate young people – tomorrow's citizens. Governments and donors now realise this, yet, according to recent documentation, donors commit only 10% of what is needed to educate and train youth in fragile situations, and provide even less. UNESCO, among others, points to the serious underfunding as the most problematic aspect of aid to education in fragile states, especially at secondary school level.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Demographics, Education, War, and Labor Issues

140. Understanding human smuggling as a human rights issue

Author:
Theodore Baird
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Human smuggling plays a central role in migration from areas affected by conflict and poverty to areas of relative safety. The terms 'smuggling' and 'trafficking' are often used synonymously in public discussions and the media. The accepted international definitions of smuggling and trafficking were not devised until the end of the 1990s. In international law, with the signing in December 2000 of the United Nations Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, a distinction was made in order to aid authorities in managing and prosecuting individuals involved. Human smuggling and trafficking are covered under the two Protocols to the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), which were negotiated in Vienna under the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, with the UN Centre for International Crime Prevention serving as secretariat, in the 'Vienna Process'. The Smuggling Protocol was signed at a meeting convened in Palermo, Italy, as one of what were dubbed the 'Palermo Protocols'. The following definition of human smuggling is widely accepted by governments and academic communities.
Topic:
Economics, Human Rights, Migration, Labor Issues, and Border Control
Political Geography:
Italy