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231. A Way Out of the Mesopotamian Morass? The Case for a Partitioned Iraq

Author:
Ivan Eland
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Independent Institute
Abstract:
The United States has plunged into an Iraqi swamp. The swashbuckling victory in the first Gulf War led to the most egregious sin that can be made in the military affairs—hubris and underestimation of the enemy. The U.S. and Soviet superpowers made the same mistake respectively in Vietnam in the sixties and seventies and Afghanistan in the eighties. But as those quagmires fade from memory, government officials apparently have to relearn the same lessons.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Democratization, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, Soviet Union, and Vietnam

232. It Wasn't Inevitable

Author:
Irving Kristol
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
President Ronald Reagan led the West to victory in the Cold War by defying establishment critics. Ignoring those who advocated détente with the Soviet Union, he rebuilt America's military. In spite of those who scoffed at his economic program, his policies reinvigorated the U.S. economy. Together, these restorations of American strength hastened the Soviet collapse.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Economics
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Soviet Union

233. Security Sector Reform in the Southern Caucasus

Author:
Garry Johnson
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
The dissolution of the Soviet Union left its former nations and those of the Warsaw Pact with a mammoth task of reform and restructuring to be carried out in all the political, social and economic spheres of national life. The fundamental challenge facing these countries was simple: could they modernise all the relevant aspects of their society well enough, and quickly enough, to claim a space in the successful community of the Western nations which had emerged strengthened from the Cold War while the window of integration opportunity remained open?
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Cold War
Political Geography:
United States, Central Asia, and Soviet Union

234. Security Sector Governnance in the South Caucasus: Visions and Aims

Author:
Gayane Novikova
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
Security Sector Governance is a new challenge for the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, including the Southern Caucasian states. After 70 years of strong control by a totalitarian regime with powerful security forces, the three countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia –some serious and unexpected problems.
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Central Asia, and Soviet Union

235. Ukrainian Democratic Development and Euro-Atlantic Integration: A Natural Convergence, But A Difficult Path

Author:
James Green
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
For over a thousand years, Ukraine\'s national strength and independence has been linked to democratic self-governance. In the Kyiv Rus, popular assemblies called \'vetches\' elected representatives and provided popular input into governmental policy. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Cossack hetman and foremen were elected by the Cossack Radas, which also debated and approved government policies. Beginning in the 14th century and lasting until the early 19th century, many Ukrainian towns and cities – Lviv, Kyiv, Vinnitsa, Zhytomyr, Chernigiv, Glukhov, Lubny, Poltava – flourished under the political and economic self-government provided by Magdeburg Law, which offered liberation from feudal duties, the election of city authorities, and rule of law. This link continues to the present; the modern Ukrainian state was born out of the convergence of movements for national independence and democracy that brought down the Soviet Union. Although neither of these attributes is yet fully consolidated in the young Ukrainian state, the country\'s best hope for success lies in its democratic elements: a system, albeit imperfect, of electing government officials and legislators, elements within the judiciary willing to uphold human rights and the rule of law, journalists and editors willing to take risks to report the truth, non-governmental organizations that provide a means for citizens to mobilize in order to advance their common interests.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Government
Political Geography:
Europe, Ukraine, and Soviet Union

236. Islam, Islamists, and U.S. Foreign Policy

Author:
Martin Kramer and Gilles Kepel
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
During the Cold War, Washington reached out to some Islamists in order to counter the Soviet threat. Some claim that engaging so-called "moderate" Islamists would serve U.S. interests today. But in any U.S.-Islamist dialogue, the Islamists are certain to demand concessions from the United States, including visas, freedom to raise money for their organizations, U.S. support for their participation in the politics of their home countries, and a reassessment of U.S. policy in the Middle East, including support for Israel. In return, Islamists would propose to condemn terrorist attacks against the United States, and discourage new attacks on American soil.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Cold War, and Religion
Political Geography:
United States, Washington, Middle East, Israel, Soviet Union, and Arab Countries

237. North Korea's Nuclear Ambition: Causes and Consequences

Author:
Mustafa Kibaroglu
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
Because of the inferiority complex first against Japan, then against the United States, the North Korean leadership embarked upon nuclear weapons development program from the inception of their state. Due to the tangible and comprehensive support provided by the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China in the field of nuclear science and technology, North Korea has seemingly passed a significant threshold on the way to become a de facto nuclear weapons state. As of 2004, it is widely believed that North Korea has already extracted enough plutonium for a couple of nuclear warheads. Combined with its 1,350 kilometer-range ballistic missile capability, North Korea stands as one of the most significant threats to regional and global security and stability. In the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States, Russia and China have greatly reduced their support to North Korea and intensified their efforts to mend the differences between that country and the US, just like Japan and South Korea did for long, with a view to not to pave the way to the escalation of a crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
Topic:
Nuclear Weapons and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, China, Asia, South Korea, North Korea, Soviet Union, and Korean Peninsula

238. US Policies toward Central Asia and Effects of the September 11

Author:
Çagri Erhan
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
As is had been the case during the Cold War, Central Asian region was one of the priorities in the US foreign policy in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Howevwr, this gegan to change in the second half of the 1990s as the US became aware of its vital interests in the region. This led to a situıation in which the place accorded to Central Asia in the American national security strategies began to increase. Following September 11 attacks the US started cooperating with the Central Asian republics closely. US troops began to enter the region under the rhetoric of "fight against terrorism" since the end of 2001. Thus, US administration began its military opening toward the region as it had been seeking ways to gain influence in the region since the second half of the 1900s. Wahington realized its aim guickly due to the "temporary approval" of Russia and willingness of the regional countries to cooperate.
Topic:
Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, America, Central Asia, Asia, and Soviet Union

239. The Unique Evolution of the State in the Turkic Republics of the Caspian Sea

Author:
Mert Bilgin
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
Post-Soviet countries are either passing through a transition period, or have already completed it, as an outcome of the neoliberal pressures of international actors. The attempts have focused on reconstruction of the state because of its being conceived as an impediment in front of political and economic liberalization. The states of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan resemble other transition economies in the sense that they share a similar Soviet legacy. Nevertheless, they deviate from the rest by the virtue of natural resources which endow the state the ability to re-produce itself. The state of Azerbaijan has liberated itself from the society by using the natural resource rents, which in turn outmode taxation as an instrument of revenue. Despite Kazakhstan's discernible progress in launching economic reforms, the state has politically kept its solid structure. The Kazakh state has preferred to allocate the natural gas revenues for economic transformation with no political liberalization. Under an autocratic regime, the Turkmen state has strengthened its positioning vis-à-vis the society with no economic and political transformation.
Topic:
Communism, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan

240. From Yugoslavia to Iraq: Russia's Foreign Policy and the Effects of Multipolarity

Author:
Vadim Kononenko
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The aim of this study is to analyze the evolution and political implications of Russia's doctrine of multipolarity. Multipolarity emerged as one of the earliest doctrinal solutions to the post-Soviet Russian foreign policy dilemma, and has remained essential for Russia's strategic behavior since the early 1990s. The multipolarity doctrine describes the post-Cold War world and Russia's place in it. As I argue in this study, Russian “multipolarity” – (the idea of the multipolar world; the vision of Russia as one of its 'poles'; and the understanding of the principles of international politics in the strict terms of realpolitik) is not an ideological resource for Russia's foreign policy but rather, a result of learning how to secure the country' s international status given the scarcity of foreign policy resources available, and the drastic change in the international institutional position of Russia. To sum up the central argument of this study: the multipolarity of Russian foreign policy – both a doctrinal strategy and foreign policy practice – has evolved as a template-like foreign policy approach to solve Russia's strategic dilemma since the demise of the Soviet Union: how to secure its place in the new international structure and compensate for the loss of the international arrangements that disappeared with Soviet might and the bipolar international system as a whole.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Russia, Iraq, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Soviet Union, and Balkans