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321. The International Legal Status of the Vatican/Holy See Complex

Author:
John R. Morss
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article offers a re-examination of the international legal status of what is here termed the Vatican/Holy See complex (VHS), focusing on claims to statehood. The problematic ‘effect’ of Vatican City, of the Holy See, of the papacy and of associated entities is interrogated at the level of international law, entering as little as possible into administrative or theological distinctions. The various grounds cited as supporting status amounting to statehood are argued to be inadequate. The continuing exchange of representatives with states by the VHS is missionary and hierarchical in character and is reflective neither of the reciprocity of peers nor of customary obligation going to law. Agreements entered into by the papacy with the Kingdom of Italy (the Lateran Pacts) in 1929, relating to the status of the geographical territory known as Vatican City, cannot be determinative of international status. Nor can membership of international agreements and organizations confer a status amounting to statehood. Events and practices since 1929 have not substantially altered international status as of 1870. The Roman Catholic Church is but one of many faith-based international movements, and since the eclipse of the papal state nearly one-and-a-half centuries ago, the status in international law of its temporal headquarters in Rome should not be privileged.
Topic:
International Law, Religion, Sovereignty, and History
Political Geography:
Europe, Italy, and Vatican city

322. EJIL Editors’ Choice of Books 2015

Author:
Sarah Nouwen, Christian Tams, Jan Klabbers, and Jean d'Aspremont
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
At the end of 2014, we invited the EJIL Board members to reflect on the books that had had a significant impact on them during the year. Their contributions, posted on EJIL: Talk!, were met with great interest and curiosity. As the end of another year approaches, we decided once more to invite our Board members to look back on their reading in 2015. In the following pieces Sarah Nouwen, Christian Tams, Jan Klabbers and Jean d’Aspremont write about the books they read or re-read this year and which they found inspiring, enjoyable or even ‘must reads’ for their own work or international law scholarship in general.
Topic:
Human Rights, International Law, History, and Courts
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, and South Sudan

323. Cuba and its Exile: Political Generations

Author:
Silvia Pedraza
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues
Abstract:
Using the concept of political generations, Pedraza traces the evolution of the Cuban exile, mostly in Miami, and the Cuban revolution, in the island. Political generations refers to young people that in their transition from adolescence to adulthood experienced dramatic historical events that marked their consciousness. Pedraza identifies several major political generations that developed during the course of the Cuban revolution and its exile.
Topic:
Migration, History, Diaspora, Sociology, Immigrants, and Memory
Political Geography:
Cuba, Latin America, Caribbean, North America, and United States of America

324. Pakistan’s Nuclear Development (1974-1998): External Pressures

Author:
Iram Khalid and Zakia Bano
Publication Date:
01-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
Pakistan detonated its nuclear test on May 28, 1998 in the Chagai hills which is along the western border of the province, Baluchistan. Many personalities and organizations were involved in developing the nuclear device against a backdrop of political, security and economic constraints, as well as opportunities. India’s 1974 nuclear explosion had proved a fundamental flashpoint for Pakistan‘s nuclear program. Pakistan decided to accomplish its vow to “eat grass or go hungry” in its mission on its advance for the nuclear weapons. Pakistan’s nuclear program evolved under immensely intricate and challenging security dilemmas and circumstances. Historical experience, a combination of cultural nuances, idiosyncrasies of personalities, and domestic politics existed throughout the nuclearization process. Pakistan faced regional crises, geographical compulsions, technical challenges, global politics, external pressure and international propaganda to nuclear materials know-how.
Topic:
Security, Nuclear Weapons, History, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, India, and Punjab

325. A Historical Analysis of Trends in Pakhtun Ethno-Nationalism

Author:
Shahida Aman and Muhammad Ayub Jan
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
Although, historically, the first political manifestations of Pakhtun nationalism may be traced to Bayazid Ansari’s (1525-85) Roshani movement (Gregorian, 1969 :43-45; and Misdaq, 2006: 36-39) and Khushal Khan Khattak’s (1513-89) rebellion against the Mughal rule, however, its ethno-nationalist roots are usually mapped out from the pre-partition mobilization of common Pakhtun masses by the Khudai Khidmatgar (servants of the God) movement of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. Starting off as a social reform society, the Khudai Khidmatgars metamorphosized into first an anti-colonial nationalist movement, evolving on the eve of partition of India, into one of ethnic nationalism. The post-independence period witnessed calls for attainment of either an independent Pakhtunistan or greater autonomy for the Pakhtun regions within a federal structure of the state. The irredentist trend in Pakhtun ethno-nationalist politics manifested itself in the controversial Pakhtunistan issue that strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistani state’s growth and rise in ethnic Pakhtun share in the civil-military bureaucracy witnessed greater integration of Pakhtuns within the polity of Pakistan and a dampening of separatist tendencies in them. Renaming of NWFP as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and extension of provincial autonomy under the 18th Amendment further boosted Pakhtun ethnic integration into the state of Pakistan. More recently, however, Pakhtun ethno-nationalist movement is believed to be assuming a distinct fervor. The rise of Taliban phenomenon in the tribal belt and settled districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been labeled as a violent manifestation of Pakhtun ethnonationalism manifested in an Islamist garb. The paper, besides analyzing the integrationist and the separatist (irredentist) trends in Pakhtun ethno-nationalist politics, also aims at exploring the more recent phenomena of its construction around the conceptual framework of ‘ethnicizing Islam’ in the Pakhtun context. It argues that the current Islamist manifestation of Pakhtun ethno-politics is a product of Pakistani state’s attempts at subduing the irredentist Pakhtun strain (that bothered the state throughout the 1960s and the 1970s in Pakhtunistan issue) through support to the Islamist movement inside Afghanistan, especially in later half of 1970s and in the wake of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This paper analyzes the Pakhtun ethno-nationalist struggle, especially in the earlier decades as a South Asian Studies 30 (2) 232 form of class struggle to attain political power in the state. As such, it primarily adopts a Marxist lens to the problem of ethnic nationalism among the Pakhtuns for the beginning phase of it. Most of the analyses are historical in a sense that the paper traces the history of Pakhtun ethno nationalism in Pakistan. Moreover, the paper does not claim to be a consummate effort, rather it proposes that there are alternative explanations as plausible as this one to understand the issue.
Topic:
Nationalism, History, Ethnicity, and Class
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, India, and Punjab

326. Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy: Spring 2015

Author:
Jennifer Rowland, Nada Zohdy, Brian Katulis, Michael Wahid Hanna, Faysal Itani, Muhammad Y. Idris, Joelle Thomas, Tamirace Fakhoury, Farouk El-Baz, Kheireddine Bekkai, Amira Maaty, and Sarah McKnight
Publication Date:
01-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Our Spring 2015 volume captures the troubling developments of the past year in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2014, the Syrian conflict that has so beguiled the international community spilled over into Iraq, with the swift and shocking rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). ISIS is causing the ever-complex alliances in the region to shift in peculiar ways. In Iraq, US airstrikes provide cover for Iranian-backed militias fighting ISIS; while in Yemen, the United States supports a Saudi intervention against a different Iranianbacked armed group that has taken control of the Yemeni capital. Meanwhile, simmering political disputes in Libya escalated into a full-blown civil war, sparking concern in neighboring Egypt, where the old authoritarian order remains in control despite the country’s popular revolution. The Gulf countries contemplate their responses to record-low oil prices, continuing negotiations between the United States and Iran, and the threat of ISIS. And Tunisia remains one of the region’s only bright spots. In November, Tunisians voted in the country’s first free and fair presidential elections. This year’s Journal brings new analysis to many of these complex events and broader regional trends. We begin with the positive: an exclusive interview with former Tunisian Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa. In this year’s feature articles: Brian Katulis zooms out to assess the Obama administration’s record in the Middle East over the past six years; Michael Wahid Hanna refutes the notion that the Iraqi and Syrian borders will need to be redrawn as a result of ISIS’ takeover; and Faysal Itani analyzes the US coalition’s strategy to defeat ISIS, arguing that it cannot succeed without empowering Sunni civilians. Muhammed Idris and Joelle Thomas turn to economics in an assessment of the United Arab Emirates’ efforts to go green. Tamirace Fakhoury points out a blind spot in the study of the Middle East and North Africa: how large diaspora communities affect political dynamics in their home countries. Farouk El-Baz takes us to Egypt, where he proposes a grand economic plan to pull the country out of poverty and set it on a path toward longterm growth. From Egypt, we move west to the oft-neglected country of Algeria, where Kheireddine Bekkai argues for more inclusive education policies on national identity. Finally, Amira Maaty comments on the region’s desperate need for robust civil societies, while Sarah McKnight calls for improvements in Jordan’s water policies.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Development, Environment, Migration, History, Natural Resources, Social Movement, Islamic State, Economy, Political stability, Arab Spring, Military Intervention, Identities, and Diversification
Political Geography:
Middle East, Algeria, North Africa, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and United States of America

327. The socialization between the professional groups of the foreign policy. The case of the institutionalization of the French civil-military activities in former Yugoslavia | La socialisation entre groupes professionnels de la politique étrangère Le cas de l’institutionnalisation des activités civilo-militaires françaises en ex-Yougoslavie

Author:
Grégory Daho
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
This article intends to explain the transformation of the foreign policy since the end of the Cold War through the hypothesis of the evolution of the interactions between the professional groups: military, diplomats and industrialists. Using the genesis of French civil-military activities in Bosnia and in Kosovo between 1992 and 2001 as empirical framework, we endeavor to objectify the cross-sector dynamics which permeate with the bureaucratic competition between administrations, the mobilizations of senior officials and the interministerial division of labor in matter of international crises management. We wonder to what extent the international crises “managers” form an institutional space, a professional group or a social field in process of empowerment within the current foreign and defense policy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, International Cooperation, War, History, and Sociology
Political Geography:
Europe, Yugoslavia, and Balkans