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2711. Contemporary Indian Views of Europe

Author:
Karine Lisbonne-de Vergeron
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
India was one of the first countries to establish a diplomatic relationship with the European Union (EU), with a visit of several European-based Indian diplomats to the then EEC in 1961. However, the first summit between India and the EU – held in Lisbon in June 2000 – marks the true start of serious bilateral relations. Until then, exchanges had been primarily defined by the accord signed in 1994, which barely took matters beyond general trade points. Lisbon saw the issuance of a Joint Declaration and the signature of the EU–India Civil Aviation Cooperation Agreement, extended until the end of 2006. This wider agenda has expanded over the past five years. Particular progress was made on mutual recognition of regulations at the Hague Summit on 8 November 2004, culminating in the approval of a plan mapping out the so-called 'strategic partnership' in the course of the summit under the British presidency, in Delhi, on 7 September 2005. This consisted of a political declaration and a joint action strategy, advocating reinforced collaboration in a number of fields, including a 'dialogue on democracy', a commitment to 'multilateralism', security issues, cultural exchanges, enhanced cooperation in education within the framework of the Erasmus Mundus programme for higher education, an 'economic policy dialogue', and the encouragement of business-to-business relations. The EU further acknowledged India's role since 2004 in addressing crisis situations in its neighbourhood, especially in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Topic:
Security and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Europe, India, Asia, and Sri Lanka

2712. Iran, its Neighbours and the Regional Crises

Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The Middle East is bedevilled by crises. The war between Hizbullah and Israel, the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, the instability in Iraq and the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme create a climate of deep unease. Iran is involved in all these crises, to a greater or lesser degree, and its regional role is significant and growing.
Topic:
Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Europe, Iran, Middle East, Israel, and Asia

2713. Advancing Reforms in Philippine Election Administration and Management: Toward a Comprehensive Approach

Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
In response to an invitation issued by the president of the Republic of the Philippines, IFES and its CEPPS partners, composed of international development and political party specialists from the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute, deployed a team of representatives in early March 2004 to the Philippines to assess the political situation leading up to the May 10 Presidential and Legislative Elections. As previous IFES projects have outlined, the electoral situation in the Philippines is particularly if not unusually complex, partly due to its long and turbulent history of democracy and its associated electoral process. The team found that the 2004 election cycle was particularly flawed. COMELEC's plans and programs for the May 10 elections were disrupted by the late release of funds by Congress and the Supreme Court's decisions to stop the automation of polling, counting, and transmission of results from taking place. Transition to a computerized central voter registry was similarly abandoned only days before the election and election officers reverted to using manual voters' lists and voter records. Voter education efforts were uncoordinated and poorly implemented. The training of polling officials was done through parallel training programs developed by the Department of Education, COMELEC, and civil society. COMELEC's training was judged to be the least effective of the three and the most poorly organized.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Israel, Asia, and Philippines

2714. Losing Ground: Human Rights Defenders and Counterterrorism in Thailand

Author:
Eric Biel, Neil Hicks, and Michael McClintock
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Human Rights First
Abstract:
In the 1990s, Thailand led the way in democracy and human rights in Southeast Asia. The military largely withdrew from politics, allowing a stable democracy to develop in place of a succession of coups and military governments. The government strengthened its commitment to human rights through a new constitution in 1997 and ratification of four key international human rights instruments.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Democratization, Human Rights, and Armed Struggle
Political Geography:
Asia, Thailand, and Southeast Asia

2715. Madness and War

Author:
Conn Hallinan
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
In the 5th century BC, the Greek tragic playwright Euripides coined a phrase that still captures the particular toxic combination of hubris and illusion that seizes many of those in power: Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad. What other line could better describe British Prime Minister Tony Blair's recent address to his nation's troops hunkered down at Camp Bastion, in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province? Here, Blair said. In this extraordinary piece of desert is where the fate of world security in the early 21st century is going to be decided. While Blair was turning Afghanistan's arid south into the Armageddon of terrorism, the rest of the country was coming apart at the seams. Attacks by insurgents have reached 600 a month, more than double the number in March, and almost five times the number in November of last year. We do have a serious problem in the south, one diplomat told Rachel Morarjee of the Financial Times on November 22, but the north is a ticking time bomb. Suicide bombers have struck Kunduz in the north, where former U.S. protégé Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his Hezb-e-Islami organization are hammering away at the old Northern Alliance. The latter, frozen out of the current government following the 2001 Bonn Conference, is busy stockpiling arms and forming alliances with drug warlords. According to the Associated Press, opium poppy production is up 59%. While Blair was bucking up the troops, their officers were growing increasingly desperate. Major Jon Swift, a company commander in the Royal Fusiliers told the Guardian that casualties were very significant and showing no signs of reducing, and Field Marshall Peter Inge, former chief of the British military, warned that the army in Afghanistan could risk operational failure, military speak for defeat. The Brits don't have a monopoly on madness, however. Speaking in Riga, Latvia on the eve of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meeting, President George Bush said, I am not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete. We can accept nothing less than victory for our children and our grandchildren. In the meantime, the Iraq War that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said would cost $50 billion at the most, was burning up more than twice that each year. The Pentagon just requested $160 billion in supplemental funds for the Iraq and Afghan wars for the remainder of fiscal 2007. Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz says the final costs may exceed $2 trillion.
Topic:
NATO and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, Middle East, and Asia

2716. China: What's the Big Mystery?

Author:
John Feffer
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
The latest recruitment brochure from the Central Intelligence Agency, which beckons the uninitiated to be a part of a mission that's larger than all of us, opens to reveal an image of the red-roofed entrance to Beijing's Forbidden City. From an oversized portrait on the ancient wall, Chairman Mao and his Mona Lisa smile behold the vast granite expanse of Tiananmen Square. The Cold War is over, and the Soviet Union is gone. The cloak-and-dagger games of Berlin and Prague have been replaced by business and tourism. But Chinaland of ancient secrets, autocratic leaders, and memories of suppressed uprisingsstill holds out the promise of world-historical struggle that can help the CIA meet its recruitment goals.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Cold War
Political Geography:
United States, China, Asia, and Soviet Union

2717. Wrangling Over Arms Sales to China

Author:
Rachel Stohl
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
On June 4, 1989, the world watched in horror as the Chinese government's crackdown on student protestors took a deadly turn. As Chinese soldiers fired their weapons indiscriminately and Chinese tanks rolled through Tiananmen Square, an unknown number of students and soldiers were killed. The Chinese military continued its campaign of terror throughout the summer of 1989, drawing strong international condemnation.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Foreign Exchange
Political Geography:
China, Europe, and Asia

2718. Strategic Partnership or Strategic Competition

Author:
Bonnie Glaser and James Nolt
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
As part of our China Focus, we asked two leading scholars to reflect on the tensions and possibilities in U.S.-China relations. Bonnie Glaser is a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. James Nolt is a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute. We asked them first about the potential for a strategic security partnership between the United States and China, then about their economic relationship.
Topic:
Security, Economics, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, China, and Asia

2719. North Korea Returns to the Negotiating Table

Author:
John Feffer
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
North Korea's decision to return to the negotiating table is a win-win-win situation, at least temporarily. The United States, China, and even North Korea gain from the announcement. However, the boost given to each country—a modest “October surprise” for the Bush administration, a diplomatic achievement for China, and a stronger negotiating position for North Korea—will not carry over into the negotiations themselves. A decision to talk, after all, does not translate automatically into a decision to compromise.
Topic:
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Asia

2720. Beware Empires in Decline

Author:
Michael T. Klare
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
The common wisdom circulating in Washington these days is that the United States is too bogged down in Iraq to consider risky military action against Iran or—God forbid—North Korea. Policy analysts describe the U.S. military as “over-burdened” or “stretched to the limit.” The presumption is that the Pentagon is telling President Bush that it can't really undertake another major military contingency.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
Iran and Asia