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262. Russia's Decline and Uncertain Recovery
- Author:
- Thomas E. Jr. Graham
- Publication Date:
- 05-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- For much of the first decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the issue of reform—of transition to free-market democracy—dominated discussions of Russia in Russia itself and in the West. Russian president Boris Yeltsin advocated reform; Western governments declared their support and offered their assistance. This was particularly true of the U.S. government. President Clinton's administration came into office in 1993 determined to assist Russia in its transformation into “a normal, modern state—democratic in its governance, abiding by its own constitution and by its own laws, market-oriented and prosperous in its economic development, at peace with itself and the rest of the world,” as deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott, the chief architect of the U.S. administration's Russia policy, was wont to put it.
- Topic:
- Economics and Government
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Europe, Asia, and Soviet Union
263. The United States and Russia in Central Asia: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran
- Author:
- Fiona Hill
- Publication Date:
- 08-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- Before 1991, the states of Central Asia were marginal backwaters, republics of the Soviet Union that played no major role in the Cold War relationship between the USSR and the United States, or in the Soviet Union's relationship with the principal regional powers of Turkey, Iran, and China. But, in the 1990s, the dissolution of the Soviet Union coincided with the re-discovery of the energy resources of the Caspian Sea, attracting a range of international oil companies including American majors to the region. Eventually, the Caspian Basin became a point of tension in U.S.-Russian relations. In addition, Central Asia emerged as a zone of conflict. Violent clashes erupted between ethnic groups in the region's Ferghana Valley. Civil war in Tajikistan, in 1992-1997, became entangled with war in Afghanistan. Faltering political and economic reforms, and mounting social problems provided a fertile ground for the germination of radical groups, the infiltration of foreign Islamic networks, and the spawning of militant organizations like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The IMU first sought to overthrow the government of President Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan, later espoused greater ambitions for the creation of an Islamic caliphate (state) across Central Asia, and eventually joined forces with the Taliban in Afghanistan. With the events of September 11, 2001 and their roots in the terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, Central Asia came to the forefront of U.S. attention.
- Topic:
- Cold War and Religion
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia, United States, China, Europe, Iran, Central Asia, Turkey, Asia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Taliban, and Soviet Union
264. Terrorist Financing
- Author:
- Maurice R. Greenberg, Lee S. Wolosky, and William F. Wechsler
- Publication Date:
- 10-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- Unlike other terrorist leaders, Osama bin Laden is not a military hero, a religious authority, or an obvious representative of the downtrodden and disillusioned. He is a rich financier. He built al- Qaeda's financial network from the foundation of a system originally designed to channel resources to the mujahideen fighting the Soviets.
- Topic:
- Security, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Soviet Union
265. U.S. Policy Toward the Former Yugoslavia
- Author:
- Steven E. Meyer
- Publication Date:
- 08-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- As long as the Cold War framed the international arena, relations between the United States and Yugoslavia were—for the most part—fairly clear and predictable. Both sides played their assigned roles well in the larger East-West drama. For the U.S., Yugoslavia—after Tito and Stalin split in 1948—was the useful, even reliable, strategically-placed, communist antagonist to the Soviet Union. Certainly, Washington complained at times about Yugoslavia's preference for nonalignment and lamented the fact that it was not part of the Western alliance. The fact that Yugoslavia was indeed a communist state that Moscow could not control, however, more than compensated for these “short comings.” As a reward, the U.S. courted Tito, provided economic aid, and paid virtually no attention to how he ran the country—even his brutal rise to power after World War II was of little consequence.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Cold War, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, Washington, Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia
266. Europe's New Security Vocation
- Author:
- Michael Brenner
- Publication Date:
- 03-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- The idea of a European Security and Defense Identity (ESDI) has been a feature of the transatlantic security dialogue for a decade. The 1991 Maastricht Treaty foresaw an eventual incorporation of the Western European Union (WEU) as the defense arm of the European Union (EU). Endowing the Union with military capability was a logical extension of the commitment to a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) as stipulated in the treaty. Both ideas, promoted by France and Germany, expressed the general desire of member states to play a more active role in securing the peace and stability of postcommunist Europe. Extending the principle of integration into the foreign policy field served two purposes. It was a means to tighten community bonds in the new, unsettled strategic environment by providing reassurance against the renationalization of defense policies. At the same time, it laid the basis for a collective effort to influence continental affairs consonant with the European venture in an orderly transition to democracy and market economies. The perceived need to add a security building block to the project of "constructing Europe" also reflected apprehension about a possible retreat of the United States from a Europe now free of the Soviet military threat. That possibility added further reason for West Europeans to make contingency plans for an uncertain future.
- Topic:
- Security and NATO
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, France, Soviet Union, and Germany
267. Criteria for Success of Failure in Security Sector Reform: The Case of Latvia
- Author:
- Janis Arved Trapans
- Publication Date:
- 04-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- Since 1991 Latvia no longer has been in the Soviet world and is intent on returning to the Western community of nations--politically, economically, and socially. Politically, Latvia has restored a democratic, parliamentary system of government. Economically, it is bringing back a free market system. Socially, it wants to have what is generally called a “civil society”. All this influences defence reform. When Latvia regained independence and the Soviet Army withdrew, according to a NATO Parliamentary Assembly Report “(All) that was left behind consisted of 26 sunken submarines and ships leaking acid, oil, and phosphorous. On this foundation Latvia began building its armed forces.” The military infrastructure was in ruins and equipment and logistical support were almost non-existent. Latvia had to build everything ab initio and that demanded resources and time. However it did not inherit a large bloc of former Warsaw Pact as the national forces of a newly sovereign state. It did not have to reduce a massive military force structure or restructure redundant defence industries, deprived of domestic markets, as many other transition states have had to do. Latvia's reform problems have been different from those in other Central European countries. In some ways, Latvia was in a less advantageous situation than other transition states, in other ways, in a better one.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, NATO, Democratization, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Soviet Union, and Latvia
268. The Russian Federal Border Service: Lessons for Planning and Establishing Border Security Systems
- Author:
- Vladimir Mochalov
- Publication Date:
- 03-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- Following the disintegration of the USSR, there was no decrease in the total length of the Russian border in comparison with that of the Soviet Union (more than 60'000 km²). The number of bordering countries rose from fifteen to sixteen. Furthermore, 13'500 km² of new boundaries were created. This figure represented a fifth overall length of the border). Yet, the new boundaries were not formalised in legal terms, they were not appropriately equipped and, in fact, lacked border guard control.
- Topic:
- Security, Government, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Asia, and Soviet Union
269. Europe and the Middle East: Towards A Substantive Role in the Peace Process?
- Author:
- Roland Dannreuther
- Publication Date:
- 08-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
- Abstract:
- The Middle East is the region where Europeans have, arguably, most strongly felt their loss of great power status. During the nineteenth century, European powers encroached upon, occupied and annexed various territories in the Middle East. With the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire after World War 1, Britain, and to a lesser degree France, became the undisputed external actors in the region and in large part created the modern Middle Eastern state system. Although a certain degree of power was devolved to local leaders, Britain and France ensured their prerogatives over foreign and defence issues and assumed responsibility for regional stability. Other powers, such as the Soviet Union and the United States, were not absent from the region but did not essentially challenge the European hegemony. The Soviet Union's power projection had been greatly reduced in the aftermath of revolution, civil war and internal consolidation; the United States deliberately abstained from assuming a political role, with all its tainted colonial connotations, and only demanded an 'open doors' policy in relation to its trade and commercial interests. In this relatively unchallenged strategic environment, Britain had a remarkable freedom to act as the principal regional security actor. In practice, the period of British dominance was to be relatively brief, being characterised by one historian as 'Britain's moment' in the Middle East, and was also increasingly to be frustrated by the growing inter-ethnic conflict in Palestine.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Britain, Europe, Middle East, France, and Soviet Union
270. Security Factors and Responses in the Emerging Mediterranean Strategic Setting
- Author:
- Roberto Aliboni
- Publication Date:
- 07-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- During the Cold War, threats coming from across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe and the Western world in general were strictly related to the East-West confrontation. National security was not endangered by possible attacks from the Mediterranean or Middle Eastern countries as such but by the East-West escalation South-South conflict could be able to give way to. In this sense, the Arab-Israeli conflict was a central threat to Western security. What was frightening was not the military power of the regional countries but their alliance with the Soviet Union and the possibility of what at that time was called horizontal escalation (as opposed to East-West direct vertical escalation).
- Topic:
- Security and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Israel, Soviet Union, and North Africa