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341. The International Dimension of the Arab Spring

Author:
Roberto Aliboni
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The Arab revolts are one dimension of the strategic change that is affecting the Middle East and Arab world as a consequence of the failure of the West, especially the United States, to shape the region in line with their views during the last decade. They definitely point to the weakening, or perhaps even the end, of a long period in which US and Western objectives in the region were supported by a large coalition of regional powers with conservative interests. The revolts did not come out of the blue and have quite a different nature and significance from the ones that Western official rhetoric and media tend to assign them. To understand the Arab revolts and work out a fresh Western approach toward the region, the West must frame the revolts in the region's evolving strategic context.
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, and Arabia

342. The EU and the Libyan Crisis - In Quest of Coherence?

Author:
Nicole Koenig
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Throughout the 2000s, Libya's Col. Muammar Qadhafi signed friendship treaties and trade deals with major Western leaders and presented himself as an active partner in the fight against terrorism and illegal migration. While the dictator 'camped' in several European capitals, the European Union (EU) and Libya were negotiating a Framework Agreement aiming at ''the full reintegration of Libya in bilateral and multilateral international relations'' and a fruitful political dialogue on issues of common interest. The events in February 2011 heralded the end of this period of international 'Realpolitik'. On 27 June, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Qadhafi, accusing him of crimes against humanity (murder and persecution). In late August, the veteran tyrant reportedly fled Tripoli.
Topic:
International Relations
Political Geography:
Europe and Libya

343. The Berlusconi Government and Intervention in Libya

Author:
Ben Lombardi
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
This article offers an explanation for Italian decision-making in the early weeks of the Libyan crisis. Of the European NATO allies that have been engaged in military operations, none have been so conflict-ridden as Italy. It is the member of the European Union (EU) whose interests, economic and political, are most directly engaged by the unrest. Rome understood from the outset that those interests would be severely challenged by a policy of confrontation with the Qadhafi regime. Indeed, the government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi sought to maintain its longstanding relationship with Tripoli alongside its traditional solidarity with EU partners and NATO allies. From the beginning, that effort proved very difficult, and was ultimately made impossible by the approval of UN Security Council Resolution 1973 (17 March 2011). Italian leaders were then forced to make choices that they originally had very much wanted t o avoid. By early-April, they endorsed the efforts by both the EU and the NATO-led force to effect Qadhafi's removal and later recognised the rebel alliance. Rome agreed to contribute forces to help enforce the arms embargo and allowed NATO to use seven air bases. Although Italian forces were initially not permitted to engage in combat, by late April even that caveat had been withdrawn.
Political Geography:
Europe, Libya, and Rome

344. Just Good Friends? The European Union's Multiple Neighbourhood Policies

Author:
Michael Emerson
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Who is a neighbour? A family lives in a house, and next door there is a neighbour; maybe the best of friends, but still he is outside, not inside the house. If one sticks to this everyday speech, the European Union is the house and those nearby non-member states are the neighbours.
Political Geography:
Europe

345. The United States and Latin America: The Neighbourhood has Changed

Author:
Peter Hakim
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
More often than not, United States policies toward Latin America and the Caribbean have had the appearance of a kaleidoscope. They are shaped by so many different forces and variables that it is hard to find a consistent pattern of decision-making. On its face, this should not be a surprise – given the enormous variations among the 33 countries of this diverse region and the multitude of interests at play in their relations with the United States.
Political Geography:
United States and Latin America

346. China in its Neighbourhood: A 'Middle Kingdom' not Necessarily at the Centre of Power

Author:
Zhimin Chen and Zhongqi Pan
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
With a new wave of regionalism sweeping around the globe after the Cold War, many researchers of international politics have turned their attention to regions, which has become a catchword and a distinctive perspective for interpreting the dynamic structure of the international system at both regional and global levels. Almost nobody disputes that all major powers engage in regional politics, in addition to global politics, and pay special attention to their respective neighbourhoods. But the different ways in which they conceptualise their neighbourhood policies still remain inadequately explored.
Political Geography:
China

347. European Union Training Mission in Somalia and the Limits of Liberal Peacebuilding: Can EUTM Contribute to Sustainable and Inclusive Peace?

Author:
Kseniya Oksamytna
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
After gaining sad notoriety as a pirate heaven in 2008, Somalia again made head-lines in summer2011as the area worst affected by the East African drought. The areas under the control of Al Shabaab, a radical Islamist group that is fighting the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), are suffering from famine while the group is reluctant to grant access to humanitarian agencies. In this political climate, the EU took the decision on 28 July 2011 to extend its mission to contribute to the training of the Somali Security Forces for another 12 months.
Political Geography:
Europe and Somalia

348. Learning From a Troubled Experience – Transatlantic Lessons from the Nuclear Standoff with Iran

Author:
Riccardo Alcaro
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The dispute over Iran's nuclear programme, widely suspected of having a secret and illegal military objective, is a major flashpoint. A nuclear Iran would alter the balance of power in the strategic Gulf area and seriously weaken the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which Iran is a party as a non-nuclear state. The magnitude of the issue has prompted a number of countries to step in to curb Iran's nuclear plans. The European Union and the United States have been at the forefront of this effort. However, it was only at the end of a gradual, irregular and difficult process that the two sides were able to reach convergence.
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and Iran

349. A Governmentality Approach to Peace Operations

Author:
Elisa Lucia
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
In this book, Laura Zanotti uses Foucault's governmentality theory and genealogical method to trace the formation of the political rationale of the post-Cold War international security regime. Interestingly, she goes beyond the literature focusing on the capacity and legitimacy of international organisations to question how the legitimisation of discourses of international order developed. She convincingly demonstrates that, in the 1990s, discourses of democracy converged with discourses of collective security: democratisation became a means to create a peaceful world and non-democratic states were constructed as ''political monsters'' to be ''normalized''. Democracy was operationalised through the doctrine of ''good governance'', which became the organising principle for UN intervention as a universalised technical solution to achieve peace, democracy and development. In addition, at the beginning of the 2000s, the concept of ''human security'' emerged and converged with these previous discourses. It expanded the definition of international threat and shifted ''the referent and source of legitimacy of international organizations from states to population'' (19). As a consequence, political monsters endangering the human rights of their own population s lost, to a certain extent, their right to full sovereignty, and this opened the way for legitimizing forcible intervention through the ''responsibility to protect'' concept.
Topic:
Security

350. Russia's Dual State

Author:
Felix Hett
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The eagle in Russia's coat of arms has two heads and, on and off since its first sighting in the Middle Ages, scholars have been tempted to identify it with dualisms in Russian politics and society. Richard Sakwa, known to be a meticulous observer of both, doessoagaininhisnewbook,albeitinan innovative way.
Political Geography:
Russia