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Begin New Search Political Geography Global Focus Publication Year within 10 Years

2221. Is Democracy in Decline?

Author:
Marc F. Plattner
Publication Date:
01-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Democracy
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
For 25 years, the Journal of Democracy has been “taking the temperature” of democracy around the globe. Here in our twenty-fifth anniversary issue, we feel compelled to confront head-on the question of whether democracy is in decline. Why? There are two aspects to the answer, which although intertwined are in some measure separable. The first deals with what is actually taking place on the ground: How many countries are democratic? Is their number rising or shrinking? What is the situation with respect to such liberal-democratic features as freedom of the press, rule of law, free and fair elections, and the like? The second, more subjective, aspect concerns the standing of democracy in the world: How is it viewed in terms of legitimacy and attractiveness? It is in this latter dimension that the evidence, or at least the widespread perception, of decline is most striking. Democracy’s supporters must undertake a clear-eyed appraisal of democracy’s current decline and summon the resolve and seriousness of purpose needed to reverse it.
Topic:
Democracy, Political stability, and Legitimacy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2222. The Authoritarian Resurgence: Autocratic Legalism in Venezuela

Author:
Javier Corrales
Publication Date:
04-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Democracy
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
This paper contributes to the literature on dynamics of hybrid regimes, i.e., whether these regimes stay stable, or instead, turn more democratic or more autocratic with time. Venezuela since the mid-2000s is an example of the latter. I first focus on how this happened in Venezuela. I posit that the turn toward greater authoritarianism occurred through autocratic legalism. This refers to the use, abuse, and disuse of the law to disempower veto players. I then focus on the “why” question. The main cause of Venezuela’s regime dynamics is a combination of external factors (increasing tolerance from abroad) and the ruling party’s declining electoral competitiveness at home and institutional path dependence.
Topic:
Democratization, Authoritarianism, Elections, and Democracy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2223. Authoritarianism Goes Global: Countering Democratic Norms

Author:
Alexander Cooley
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Democracy
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
Over the past decade, the international backlash against liberal democracy has grown and gathered momentum. Authoritarians have experimented with and refined a number of new tools, practices, and institutions that are meant to shield their regimes from external criticism and to erode the norms that inform and underlie the liberal international political order. These global political changes and systemic shifts have produced new counternorms that privilege state security, civilizational diversity, and traditional values over liberal democracy. The effects of these changes are most visible in the narrower political space that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are facing, the shifting purposes that regional organizations are embracing, and the rising influence of non-Western powers as international patrons.
Topic:
Security, Authoritarianism, Democracy, Diversity, and NGOs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2224. The Rise of the World’s Poorest Countries

Author:
Steven Radelet
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Democracy
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
For more than two decades now, the majority of the world’s poorest countries have been making some of the fastest and biggest development gains in history. The momentous progress achieved since the early 1990s is unprecedented. One-billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty, the child death rate has been cut in half, life expectancy has increased significantly, millions more girls are enrolled in school, deaths in civil wars have dropped by three-quarters, average incomes have almost doubled, food production has increased by half, and democracy has spread like never before in the world’s poorest countries, notwithstanding with many setbacks, obstacles, and imperfections along the way. Some of these gains—especially the declines in poverty and child mortality—rank among the greatest achievements in human history. Yet few people are aware that this progress is even happening.
Topic:
Poverty, Economic Inequality, Mortality, and Quality of Life
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2225. Fixing fragile states: a country-based framework

Author:
Seth Kaplan
Publication Date:
11-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
Abstract:
Although there is growing awareness in the development field of the need to better assess fragile states and customise policies to their particular needs, there has been limited progress in these areas. The new Country Fragility Assessment Framework, which systematically examines the societal and institutional sources of fragility, can help decision-makers make more precise diagnoses and better target interventions. It builds on the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States, but offers a more comprehensive framework to assess the forces that can drive a society together or apart. It does this by analysing 12 societal and institutional sources of fragility. The combination of poor social cohesion and poor institutionalisation yields a vicious cycle as instability and underdevelopment feed each other. Social divisions hamper efforts to improve governance and foster economic opportunity, which in turn create discontent and a zero-sum struggle for power and resources. As such, change must target one of these two elements. Even though the framework does not directly provide solutions, it can be used to suggest policy options that are most likely to work, or at least rule out some that will surely fail.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Fragile States, and Institutionalism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2226. NATO and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda: Time to Bring It Home

Author:
Marriet Schuurman
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The year 2015 is a year of global reflection: celebrating the seventy years of the United Nations, the twenty years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for gender equality and women’s empowerment, the end year of the Millennium Development Goals, and the fifteenth anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325). Together, these milestones urge us to reflect on what difference these groundbreak­ing international institutions and collective efforts have actually made.
Topic:
Gender Issues, United Nations, Feminism, and Diversity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2227. Gender and the Security Sector: Towards a More Secure Future

Author:
Julie L. Arostegui
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
In recent decades, the nature of war has changed dramatically. Internal conflicts are be­ing waged by opposing armed groups, often divided along ideological or ethnic lines that increasingly target civilians and wreak havoc on society with severe physical, psychologi­cal, social, political, and economic consequences. With the changed nature of conflict has come an increasing demand to consider its var­ied effects on women and girls, men and boys, and to address their specific needs be­fore, during, and after conflict. There is also an increasing awareness of the importance of including women in peace and security processes. Women are 50 percent of the popula­tion and a critical part of society and, without them, real and sustainable peace cannot be achieved. They are not merely victims of conflict; they also play active roles as combatants, peace builders, politicians, and activists, and are often in the strongest posi­tion to bring about peace in their communities. Women around the world have emerged as voices of peace, mobilizing across communities and using their social roles and networks to mediate and mitigate violence. They have demanded attention to the com­plex issues of peace and peace building, and the needs of the communities involved, rather than to just cease-fires and power sharing. The international community has responded with a framework for addressing women, peace, and security, which includes United Nations (UN) Security Council resolu­tions and binding international law. Regional bodies such as the European Union, NATO, and the African Union have also developed strong frameworks around gender equal­ity and women’s rights in order to build sustainable peace, driven by advocacy by women’s groups and the experiences of conflict.
Topic:
Security, Gender Issues, Peace, and Social Roles
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2228. What Role for the Security Sector? An SSR Approach to Implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

Author:
Aiko Holvikivi
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The United Nations Security Council resolutions on “Women, Peace and Security” identify security sector reform (SSR) as a tool for their implementation.[1] Nonetheless, the resolutions are often seen as the purview of women’s organizations and the responsibility of ministries of foreign affairs, leaving the role of security sector institutions and their obligations for reform murky.[2] On the other hand, a body of literature oriented toward practitioners and policymakers charts out the rationale and practical tools for ensuring SSR interventions are gender responsive. This literature tends to view the women, peace and security resolutions as a tool for integrating gender perspectives in SSR interventions.[3] However, this literature’s ultimate goal remains the good governance of the security sector. In this article, I seek to bridge this gap through an examination of the roles and responsibilities of the security sector in implementing the women, peace and security agenda.[4] More precisely, I examine the processes and principles associated with security sector reform, and argue that its technical components and ultimate objectives are key to the implementation of the women, peace and security agenda. In other words, I ask what SSR can bring to the women, peace and security agenda, rather than how the integration of gender furthers SSR. As other contributions in this volume have already introduced the women, peace and security agenda, the following section focuses on the concept and key tenets of SSR and engages in a brief discussion on mainstreaming gender into SSR interventions. The analysis that follows is structured around the four pillars of the women, peace and security agenda, and examines what reform and good governance of the security sector can contribute to the realization of these goals. In other words, it identifies roles and responsibilities for the security sector in implementing this agenda. The final section summarizes how SSR is key to the implementation of the women, peace and security agenda, and how SSR approaches can complement its further development.
Topic:
Security, Gender Issues, Reform, Women, and Peace
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2229. Begging the Question: What Would a Men, Peace and Security Agenda Look Like?

Author:
Callum Watson
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The starting point for much of the scholarship examining gender in International Relations and security studies can be neatly summarized in a question that Cynthia Enloe asked in 1989, namely “Where are the women?” [1] The following decade was marked by several milestones in the inclusion of women in the international security agenda such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action produced at the Fourth World Conference for Women in 1995 and the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in 2000. After fifteen years and six further resolutions, academics, practitioners, and policymakers alike have begun to ask a similar question, but this time of the gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda, namely “Where are the men?” In this article, I first examine the historical background of work conducted on men and masculinities in peace and security at the international level. Subsequently, I outline some of the reasons why a “Men, Peace and Security” agenda is yet to clearly develop in international policy circles. Finally, I offer some suggestions on what a Men, Peace and Security agenda would look like by mirroring the four pillars of the Women, Peace and Security framework, namely protection, prevention, participation, and relief and recovery.
Topic:
Security, Gender Issues, Reform, Women, and Peace
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2230. GAO Report on Combating Terrorism

Author:
Foreign Terrorist Organization Designation Process and U.S. Agency Enforcement Actions
Publication Date:
09-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The Department of State (State) has developed a six-step process for designating foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) that involves other State bureaus and agency partners in the various steps. State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT) leads the designation process for State. CT monitors terrorist activity to identify potential targets for designation and also considers recommendations for potential targets from other State bureaus, federal agencies, and foreign partners. After selecting a target, State follows a six-step process to designate a group as an FTO, including steps to consult with partners and draft supporting documents. During this process, federal agencies and State bureaus, citing law enforcement, diplomatic, or intelligence concerns, can place a “hold” on a potential designation, which, until resolved, prevents the designation of the organization. The number of FTO designations has varied annually since 1997, when 20 FTOs were designated. As of December 31, 2014, 59 organizations were designated as FTOs, with 13 FTO designations occurring between 2012 and 2014.
Topic:
Terrorism, Counter-terrorism, War on Terror, and Foreign Interference
Political Geography:
Global Focus