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221. FOREIGN POLICY OF NEW SOUTH AFRICA: REINSERTION AND REGIONAL AFFIRMATION

Author:
Kamilla Raquel Rizzi and Nathaly Xavier Schütz
Publication Date:
06-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:
Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:
South Africa is a country of particular importance to understand contemporary international relations. Located in the southernmost part of the African continent, bordered by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, South Africa occupies a strategic geopolitical and geo-economic position. With the end of the Apartheid regime in the early 1990s, the country entered a phase of international reinsertion, which has as a fundamental component the normalization of relations with other African countries, especially its neighbors in Southern Africa. The goal of this work is to analyze the foreign policy of the New South Africa (from Nelson Mandela to Jacob Zuma), with the main concern of elucidating the role that regional integration has for the South African ambition s in the world system.
Topic:
International Relations
Political Geography:
Canada and South Africa

222. Chinese global investment growth pauses

Author:
Derek M. Scissors
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Chinese foreign investment declined through mid-2014 for the first time since the financial crisis. By sector, energy draws the most investment, but a slump in energy spending means that metals and real estate have been more prominent so far in 2014. The United States has received the most Chinese investment since 2005, followed by Australia, Canada, and Brazil. China invests first in large, resource-rich nations but has also diversified by spending more than $200 billion elsewhere. Chinese investment benefits both China and the recipient nation, but host countries must consider thorny issues like Chinese cyberespionage and subsidies.
Topic:
Economics, Human Rights, International Trade and Finance, Terrorism, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
United States, China, Canada, Asia, Brazil, and Australia

223. Transatlantic Economic Agreements: Parsing CETA and TTIP

Author:
Patricia M. Goff
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
In October 2013, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the Government of Canada had reached a "political agreement" with the European Union on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). The timing of Mr. Harper's statement was not coincidental. Evidence suggests that talks between Canada and the European Union are actually continuing several months after his announcement, if only on technical elements. Nonetheless, it seems the Government of Canada wanted to signal that a successful end to Canada-EU talks was in sight, just as talks between the United States and the European Union were getting under way towards the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The Canadian government did not want to risk a redirection of European energies away from the Canadian negotiation toward their American counterparts.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Europe and Canada

224. The Northwest Territories and Arctic Maritime Development in the Beaufort Area

Author:
John Higginbotham and Marina Grosu
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
The Arctic is facing remarkable climatic and oceanic change that is triggering unprecedented opportunities and challenges for Arctic nations, as well as for countries that do not have Arctic territory but are eager to engage and invest in the region. For Canada and the United States, the Beaufort basin offers unique opportunities for Alaska and Canada's Arctic territories.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, North America, and Arctic

225. Counter Terrorist Trends and Analysis

Author:
Prem Mahadevan
Publication Date:
08-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Counter Terrorist Trends and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
The 2013 hostage sieges in Kenya and Algeria indicate that African jihadist groups are cooperating with one another even as their leaderships wage internal power struggles. Recent events in Iraq are likely to accentuate this trend, by prompting younger commanders to carry out glory-seeking operations in defiance of their chain of command.
Topic:
Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Kenya, Canada, and Algeria

226. A Fairer Deal for Syrians: International commitments needed to arrest the deepening crisis in Syria and the region

Author:
Daniel Gorevan
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
While the world's attention is on crises in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere, the humanitarian crisis in Syria continues to deteriorate beyond anything that could have been envisaged when protests broke out over three years ago. A staggering 190,000 people have been killed and 6.5 million displaced inside the country, and the conflict shows little sign of abating. There are three million registered refugees from Syria in neighbouring countries and an unknown number who have not registered. Jordan's planning minister has highlighted the fact that the presence of Syrian refugees in Jordan is akin to 'the United States absorbing the entire population of Canada'.
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
Iraq, Canada, Syria, and Jordan

227. Foreign Fighters in Syria

Author:
Richard Barrett
Publication Date:
06-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Soufan Group
Abstract:
Over 12,000 fighters from at least 81 countries have joined the civil war in Syria, and the numbers continue to grow. Around 2,500 are from Western countries, including most members of the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. There are also several hundred from Russia. But the great majority are from the Arab World. Most are fighting with rebel groups, and increasingly with the most extreme among them; but many are also fighting with the Government, or with ethnic or faith communities that are trying to protect themselves from both sides. A lot are young, often teenagers, and a fair percentage of those arriving from non-Muslim majority countries are converts to Islam. These and others who share their faith commonly express their motivation as a religious obligation to protect fellow Muslims from attack. This sense of duty is captured by their loose use of the word 'jihad'.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and International Security
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Middle East, Canada, Arabia, Australia, Syria, and New Zealand

228. Should Korea Join the Trans-Pacific Partnership?

Author:
Jeffrey J. Schott and Cathleen Cimino
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
The negotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a megaregional agreement to lower barriers to trade and investment and promote economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region, has been a dynamic process with a number of countries joining the talks in midstream. Since negotiations began in March 2010, participation in the TPP talks has expanded several times to include Malaysia (October 2010), Vietnam (December 2010), Canada and Mexico (October 2012), and Japan (July 2013). In November 2013, Korea announced its interest in participating in the TPP and began consulting with the countries involved. The TPP now has 12 participants. Korea is still considering whether to become lucky 13.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Malaysia, Canada, Asia, Vietnam, Korea, and Mexico

229. The Shale Revolution and the New Geopolitics of Energy

Author:
Robert A. Manning
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
The shale revolution, the combination of computer-aided horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing known as “fracking,” already has had a profound multidimensional impact. After the breakthroughs in information technology (IT) and biotechnology, shale may be the most transformational technological change so far in the twenty-first century. This report argues that shale gas and tight oil has: begun to radically shift global energy markets and redraw the global energy map, forty years after the Arab oil embargo; dramatically shifted the outlook for US energy security and our national strategic calculus; altered geopolitics, making the Western Hemisphere—Canada, the United States, Mexico, Brazil—the new center of gravity for oil and gas production; turned the future of oil debate on its head; debate about whether or not “peak oil” has been reached is over. Now the issue is whether or not we are approaching “peak demand;” has altered market economics to slow the deployment of wind, solar, and nuclear energy and a transition to a post-petroleum economy; yet also reduced US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by displacing coal as a source of electricity; strengthened the US economy with cheap gas prices triggering a resurgence in US manufacturing and; potentially repositioned the United States vis-à-vis the Middle East and Asia.
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, Canada, Asia, Brazil, and Mexico

230. A Call to the Conference of the New England Governors and Eastern Canada Premiers for Bilateral Energy Governance

Author:
Andrew Adams, Lyne Maheu, and Kieran McDougal
Publication Date:
11-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
The Northern Pass Transmission Project is mired in political deadlock due to conflict over its potential impacts and current assessment process. Although the proposal has little political support within New Hampshire, the US Department of Energy (DOE's) assessment process is moving forward. New England has become increasingly dependent on natural gas for power generation, which has dramatically risen in price recently, and the Northern Pass presents an opportunity to diversify the region's electrical supply. However, as the project stands, New Hampshire bears a majority of the economic, social and ecological costs, while receiving little of the regional benefit of affordable, flexible and reliable energy. There may be similar alternatives to the Northern Pass that secure the regional benefits of energy security and reliability while also reducing local costs. Without comparing the Northern Pass against alternative infrastructure projects, policy makers cannot assess which project generates the most net benefits. This policy brief contrasts the local and regional impacts of the Northern Pass, in order to shed light on the deficiencies that arise when analysing energy infrastructure projects in isolation.
Topic:
Economics, Energy Policy, Politics, and Infrastructure
Political Geography:
Canada and England