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101. Policing in Palestine: Analyzing the EU Police Reform Mission in the West Bank

Author:
Madeline Kristoff
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
International efforts for security sector reform (SSR) and state building more broadly, have faced major challenges in the Palestinian Territories. Donor countries struggled to overcome an unwillingness at home to use aid funding for police reform purposes, while managing Israeli obstructionism and security concerns, rivalries between Palestinian police generals and a lack of Palestinian preparedness for the technical and practical aspects of police reform. In this context, the European Union Coordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support (EU COPPS) was established in 2005 as an EU Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) mission; the European Union Police Coordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support (EUPOL COPPS), the followup EU police mission, began in 2006. The role of EUPOL COPPS was to provide support to the Palestinian Civil Police (PCP) for immediate operational priorities and longer-term transformational change.
Topic:
Corruption, Peace Studies, Treaties and Agreements, Territorial Disputes, and Law Enforcement
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, and Arabia

102. Fighting climate change: A structural shift towards renewable energies requires concerted policy action

Author:
Patrick Matschoss
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Renewable energies will be the major contributor to any future low carbon energy system and the share may be as high as nearly 80% of the world's energy supply by 2050. Renewable energies have vast potential but require a set of coherent policies to reach necessary deployment rates, because the market place neither accounts sufficiently for their climate change-related and wider benefits nor for the benefits of technological learning, making them appear less competitive than they really are. Renewable energies can be integrated in all supply systems and end-use sectors but at some point they will require investment and change. In electricity, an enhanced Pan-European network infrastructure (smart grid) would smooth variability and the remaining non-renewable generation capacity would be highly flexible. Energy security would be enhanced by greater efficiency and a broader and less import-dependent energy portfolio with less vulnerability to energy price volatility. Network stability needs to be addressed but some renewable energies are fully dispatchable and part of the solution. The transition to renewable energies is possible and beneficial, not only due to climate change but also because it serves energy security concerns and necessary infrastructure improvements. The EU's proposed long-term strategy concerning emission reductions and competitiveness, as well as the related legislation, is moving in the right direction and it is up to the member states to pick this up and push it forward.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe

103. The European Commission in the 21st Century. Core Beliefs on EU Governance

Author:
Liesbet Hooghe
Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
Abstract:
What lives in the European Commission at the beginning of the 21st Century? This paper charts Commission officials' views on the governance, ideological direction, and policy scope of the European Union, employing data from a large survey conducted in Autumn 2008. First, the Commission is not a hothouse for supranationalism. True, supporters of a supranational Union with the College of Commissioners as the government of Europe and member states in the back seat are the largest minority, but they are outnumbered two-to-one by state-centric, pragmatist, and ambivalent officials. There are striking differences in distribution by nationality, gender, and department. Second, where do Commission officials stand on ideology? The answer is that the Commission is broadly representative of European societies, at least on traditional economic left/right issues, though decidedly more socio-liberal. Ideological views are not randomly distributed across services, with social DGs significantly more social-democratic than DGs handling market integration. Officials from new member states are more market-liberal than their 'western' colleagues. Finally, are Commission officials indeed bureau-maximizers? We find that, on the whole, Commission officials want more EU authority in the eleven policy areas that we asked them to evaluate, but their desire to centralize is selective and measured. It seems driven by functional imperatives – centralization where scale economies can be reaped – and by values and ideology rather than by a generalized preference for maximal Commission power. In short, the bureaucratic politics argument has been overstated.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and Governance
Political Geography:
Europe

104. How to Negotiate under Co-decision in the EU: Reforming Trilogues and First-Reading Agreements

Author:
Lukas Obholzer and Christine Reh
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The Constitutional Affairs Committee is currently reviewing the European Parliament's Rules of Procedure to increase the effectiveness, transparency and inclusiveness of first-reading agreements under co-decision. This CEPS Policy Brief takes a stand as to which rules should be adopted to achieve these objectives. Given the steep rise of early agreements and Parliament's role as a guarantor of EU legitimacy, we place a premium on inclusiveness and transparency. The rules suggested are designed to maintain efficiency for technical proposals, facilitate effective decision-making on urgent files and increase the overall legitimacy of legislative decision-making in the EU.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and Governance
Political Geography:
Europe

105. The P5 +1, Iran and the Perils of Nuclear Brinkmanship

Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
The nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West have had their share of dashed expectations, but even by this peculiar standard, the recent diplomatic roller coaster stands out. Brimming with hope in Istanbul, negotiators crashed to earth in Baghdad, a few weeks later. That was not unexpected, given inflated hopes, mismatched expectations and – most hurtful – conviction on both sides that they had the upper hand. But if negotiations collapse now, it is hard to know what comes next. Washington and Brussels seem to count on sanctions taking their toll and forcing Iran to compromise. Tehran appears to bank on a re-elected President Obama displaying more flexibility and an economically incapacitated Europe balking at sanctions that could boomerang. Neither is likely; instead, with prospects for a deal fading, Israeli pressure for a military option may intensify. Rather than more brinkmanship, Iran and the P5+1 (UN Security Council permanent members and Germany) should agree on intensive, continuous, technicallevel negotiations to achieve a limited agreement on Iran's 20 per cent enrichment.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Nuclear Weapons, Treaties and Agreements, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:
Europe and Middle East

106. Religion and Peacebuilding: Reflections on Current Challenges and Future Prospects

Author:
Susan Hayward
Publication Date:
08-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
The field of religious peacebuilding has begun to move closer to the mainstream of conflict resolution practice and theory. The 2011 unrest in the Middle East and North Africa—the Arab Spring—reflects ongoing challenges and opportunities for the field. American and European nongovernmental organizations, agencies in the U.S. government, academia, and international organizations—sectors that once held religious issues at a distance or understood religion mainly as a driver of violence—increasingly engage religious communities and institutions as partners in creating peace. Meanwhile, religious organizations that have been involved in creating peace for decades, if not longer, increasingly have institutionalized and professionalized their work, suggesting ways that religious and secular organizations could coordinate their efforts more closely. The U.S. Institute of Peace's own programs on religion reflect the development of the wider field, having moved from research and analysis to on-the-ground programming to foster interfaith dialogue in the Balkans, Nigeria, Israel-Palestine, and Sudan. In addition, it has trained religious actors in conflict management in Sri Lanka, Iraq, and Colombia and developed peace curricula based on Islamic principles for religious and secular schools in Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and elsewhere. As the U.S. field of religious peacebuilding continues to develop, challenges include integrating further with secular peacebuilding efforts, engaging women and youth and addressing their priorities, working more effectively with non-Abrahamic religious traditions, and improving evaluation, both to show how religious peacebuilding can reduce and resolve conflict and to strengthen the field's ability to do so.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Islam, Peace Studies, Religion, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, Europe, and Arabia

107. Implementing an arms trade treaty: mapping assistance to strengthen arms transfer controls

Author:
Mark Bromley and Paul Holtom
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:
It is widely recognized that many states parties to an arms trade treaty (ATT) will need assistance to fulfil their treaty obligations. The issue of international assistance has been consistently raised by United Nations member states throughout the UN process of negotiating an ATT.For example, states will need assistance to establish and strengthen their legislative and administrative frameworks as well as their licensing and enforcement capacities in order to enable them to exert greater control over international transfers of conventional arms. The creation of an ATT will require the expansion of existing assistance programmes as well as the development of new approaches and efforts specifically designed to assist states with treaty implementation. For example, the European Union (EU) already provides funds for technical and material assistance for states to develop or strengthen transfer control systems and is willing to expand these activities to help states implement an ATT. International assistance has been promoted as one of the positive outcomes for states parties to an ATT that are neither major exporters nor importers of conventional arms.
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe and United Nations

108. Beyond the Asterisk Agreement

Author:
Pasqualina Lepore
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
In the context of the ongoing EU-mediated dialogue, Serbia and Kosovo have reached several agreements, the most important of which being that on regional representation and cooperation. Also known as the “asterisk agreement”, the agreement reached in February 2012 allows Kosovo to represent itself at all regional meetings with the nameplate of “Kosovo*”. While widely appreciated by the international community, it has generated divergent interpretations in Belgrade and Pristina and has provoked turmoil in both countries. On the whole, the agreement has enhanced Kosovo's and Serbia's path towards the EU, with the mandate for a feasibility study for the former and EU candidacy for the latter being achieved. However, the agreement has not addressed the key bones of contention between the parties, namely North Kosovo and Pristina's status. As a result, the situation remains unsustainable and a more comprehensive solution needs to be found.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Diplomacy, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe, Kosovo, Serbia, and Balkans

109. The Transatlantic Bargain

Author:
Karl-Heinz Kamp, Robert E. Hunter, Sean Kay, Mark D. Ducasse, Lawrence S. Kaplan, Diego A. Ruiz Palmer, Karl Kaiser, John Ikenberry, Wallace J. Thies, Michael Ruhle, Stanley R. Sloan Rob de Wijk, and Charles L. Barry
Publication Date:
02-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
This project, on The Transatlantic Bargain, is designed to take a fresh look at the most basic elements of relations between the United States (and Canada) on one side of the Atlantic and European allies and partners on the other side. The requirement to take a fresh look derives from the radical changes that have taken place in so many areas in recent years, along with the need both to gain a basic understanding of the interests and values that motivate governments and peoples on the two sides of the North Atlantic and to provide a solid grounding of analysis to help shape polices for the future.
Topic:
NATO, International Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and North America

110. Setting a Standard for stakeholdership. Industry Contribution to a strengthened Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention

Author:
Jean Pascal Zanders (Ed.)
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, more commonly known as the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), was opened for signature on 10 April 1972. Upon entering into force on 26 March 1975, it was the first treaty ever to ban completely a whole category of weapons. Together with the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the BTWC forms one of the pillars through which the international community deals with weapons of mass destruction.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Arms Control and Proliferation, Peace Studies, Treaties and Agreements, War, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Europe