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10821. Arab League Summit Report

Author:
Omar Sheira and Muhammed Ammash
Publication Date:
04-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Global Political Trends Center
Abstract:
The 26th Arab League Summit, held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, came amidst a series of divisive crises in the Middle East and North African region: in Yemen, a Saudi Arabian-led coalition initiated a campaign of airstrikes to counter the advance of the Houthi rebellion; in Libya, a multiparty civil war continues between rival governments and Islamist-oriented groups; in Syria, the civil war enters its fifth year, prolonging the conflict and adding more parties; and in Iraq, the government leads an offensive against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), to regain territory which was seized by the group in the Summer of 2014. Meanwhile, Iran also has an alleged role in the crises in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, which was referenced during the Summit. In addition to these issues, the agenda of the Arab League Summit also aimed to monitor the implementation of past recommendations, express support for Palestine and Somalia, and discuss ways to combat extremist groups.
Topic:
Security, Diplomacy, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Palestine, and Arab Countries

10822. Externalizing the Crisis: Buffer Zones Around the EU

Author:
Emma Burström
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Global Political Trends Center
Abstract:
With the Syrian civil war soon entering its fifth year of armed conflict, the European Union is facing the largest influx of people in its history. Over 710,000 refugees and irregular migrants, of which a majority were Syrians, entered EU territory in the first 3 quarters of 2015 only (FRONTEX, 2015). Despite several informal top-level meetings between the EU member states and a pledge to relocate 160,000 refugees from the two main reception countries Greece and Italy, concrete action has yet to be taken and, as of yet, less than two hundred have been resettled within the EU (European Commission (d), 2015). Attempts to manage the influx of refugees and irregular migrants on a supranational level have been met with resistance from the governments of the member states. As the situation deteriorates and the number of people arriving shows no sign of abating, the member states are desperately looking outside the EU for solutions. Hoping to persuade transit countries to participate in refugee protection, and to contribute to stronger borders, the EU is engaging in various projects and negotiations focusing on its near abroad, with the aim of creating a buffer against the migrants. This policy update will briefly explore the history and implementation of these buffer zones, from the visa restrictions during the Yugoslav wars in the 90’s to the increasing use of ‘safe third countries’ today. Further, the positive and negative aspects of these buffer zones will be examined with the objective of: 1) detecting the possible risks of human rights violations, poverty, and insecurity, that closed border could cause; and 2), highlighting the potential benefits to the refugees and irregular migrants, the host countries, and the refugee sending countries, that could be the result of well-constructed policies.
Topic:
European Union, Refugees, Conflict, and Syrian War
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, and Syria

10823. The Notion of Stability in a Changing Climate & Environment of the MENA Region

Author:
Katarína Hazuchová
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Global Political Trends Center
Abstract:
It has been only roughly four decades since the environmental securities in the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) region has increasingly gained prominence. On one hand, water scarcity and on the other hand climate change, are threatening fragile social, ecological resilience and economic stability in a region already stricken by turmoil and violence.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Political stability, and Resilience
Political Geography:
Middle East and North Africa

10824. Between Evolution and Stagnation – Immunities in a Globalized World

Author:
Heike Krieger
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
Immunities here have, on the one hand, been calls for the limitation or even the abolition of immunities, in particular based on the argument of a lack of responsibility for grave violations of human rights. Contrarily, opposed tendencies can be observed which raise ideas such as the extension of the scope of persons to be protected by immunities, resting upon the pluralization of actors in the globalized world. This article examines these two contradictory aspects of development of immunities in public international law and how they might interrelate with each other. It analyses how the simultaneous evolution and stagnation of immunities can be explained. For that purpose the contribution evaluates at first the current state of the legal development. Further, it takes a look at a certain stagnation of legal development and clarifies the structural parameters within public international law which have led to such a stagnation. In this context, it is critically dealt with the question, whether immunities meet the demands of a globalized world. Lastly, this article addresses the development regarding a denial of immunity in cases of grave human rights violations and asks how it could be more cautiously brought forward.
Topic:
Globalization, Human Rights, and Legal Theory
Political Geography:
Global Focus

10825. Opening the Forum to the Others: Is There an Obligation to Take Non-National- Interests Into Account Within National Political and Juridical Decision-Making-Processes?

Author:
Sergio Dellavalle
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
Decisions taken in a national forum affect the interests of individuals who, as non-citizens, are excluded from the decision-making-process. In the contemporary world, individuals and social groups can be severely harmed as a result of decisions taken far away from the place where they live and often even without any direct intervention. The issue of the consideration of non- national interests within national decision-making-processes is thus becoming increasingly important. The contribution begins with a brief analysis of the concept of solidarity, as the legal obligation to take into account non-national interests has been labelled in the international law scholarship. In contemporary international law, solidarity is a principle to be interpreted and further developed, rather than a right articulated in firm rules. Yet, from the epistemological point of view the legal system is always based on extra-legal concepts and reasoning. Thus, the reference in legal principles to non-legal arguments should not be regarded as a disadvantage but as a precious contribution to the inescapable link between legal and extra-legal discourses. On the basis of this assumption, the article concentrates on the main extra-legal reasons that have been brought into the debate in order either to deny both the existence of a duty of solidarity within the lex lata as well as the necessity to introduce it de lege ferenda; or, on the contrary, to maintain the paramount importance of such a duty. The analysis will end with some considerations on how the political and juridical forum could be concretely opened up, through proper legal and institutional arrangements, to a deliberation that gives access to the arguments of the others.
Topic:
International Law, National Security, and Legal Theory
Political Geography:
Global Focus

10826. The ‘Bonn Powers’ of the High Representative in Bosnia Herzegovina: Tracing a Legal Figment

Author:
Tim Banning
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
The article traces the legal basis of the so-called ‘Bonn Powers’ that are claimed by the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) as the basis for its extensive legislative, judicative, and executive decisions. The OHR’s presence in BiH offers a very controversial example of how international institutions may exercise international public authority. The OHR has attracted far-reaching criticism and it has in fact been argued that its practice of adopting binding decisions runs contra to the main purpose of the civilian international presence in BiH. The contribution offers an analysis that substantiates such criticism on legal grounds. It discusses exemplary OHR decisions that reach far into the legislative, the executive, and the judicial domain of BiH and analyses possible legal sources for the broad powers claimed by the OHR. It explores the limits of the OHR’s original mandate in light of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and it looks at the implied powers doctrine as a basis for the OHR’s claims. It also considers a conferral of the ‘Bonn Powers’ on behalf of the United Nations Security Council. The article concludes that the ‘Bonn Powers’ do not qualify as a legal power and that their existence is merely a powerful, but delusive legal fiction.
Topic:
Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Legal Theory, UN Security Council, and Authority
Political Geography:
Europe and Bosnia and Herzegovina

10827. Determining the Relationship Between International and Domestic Laws Within an Internationalized Court: An Example From the Cambodian Extraordinary Chambers’ Jurisdiction Over International and Domestic Crimes

Author:
Melanie Vianney-Liaud
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
Internationalized criminal tribunals such as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) differ from traditional international criminal tribunals by a lesser degree of internationality. The ECCC emerged through an international agreement but their mixed composition and operating rules are also defined in Cambodian Law. The relationship between the ECCC’s Agreement and Law has not been clearly stated, which generates questions since both texts are not always consistent. This paper proposes, through the study of the provisions of the ECCC Law relating to the ECCC’s subject-matter jurisdiction, to determine the impact of such discrepancies on the activity of the Chambers. The decisions of their judicial bodies on the application of Articles 3, 4 and 5 which provide for the ECCC’s jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, genocide and certain domestic crimes have allowed to cope with the uncertainty generated by those differences. However, a bigger issue remains which is due to the ECCC’s particular hybrid structure. Composed of national judges in the majority, ECCC’s decisions may only be taken if the required qualified majority is reached, which implies the need for an agreement with their international counterparts.
Topic:
International Law, Sovereignty, Legal Theory, and Jurisdiction
Political Geography:
Asia and Cambodia

10828. The origin of the South American Defense Council. An Argentinean perspective from two models in friction / El origen del Consejo de Defensa Suramericano. Modelos en pugna desde una perspectiva argentina

Author:
Nicolás Comini
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
The South American Defense Council creation was a gradual, complex and multidirectional process. From the beginning, two organizational models marked the negotiations pulse. The forum of politic dialogue and coordination was in constant friction –direct and indirect, depending of the momentum- with the collective security alliance option. The first one was promoted by Brazil and the second one by Venezuela. The article examines Argentina’s position during the work group negotiation of the Council facing both models. In addition, it also analyzes how that position affected the Council’s profile. Argentina went through an unconfident position to an explicit support to the new institution. The main reasons are in this paper.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Regional Cooperation, Integration, and South American Union (UNASUR)
Political Geography:
South America and Latin America

10829. Tools of modification and extension of the area of strategic influence of Russia / Herramientas de modificación y ampliación del área de influencia estratégica de Rusia

Author:
Samuel Morales
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
This document analyzes the tools that at present Russia uses with the intention of modifying and extending his area of strategic influence in the East of Europe. It centers fundamentally on the external action of Russia after the change of Government on Ukraine. The document tries to give response, first, to which they are the intentions of Russia with regard to his relations with the European Union; secondly if Russia uses as political tool his energetic resources; and thirdly, if the actions of not linear war developed in the peninsula of Crimea form a part structurally of the external action of Russia. In his development it does not think that the Euromaidan constitutes a point of inflexion in the strategic Russian thought, but rather the point of decision of a strategic approximation to the new world order presented in 2007 and that was applied by the first time in Georgia's war in 2008.
Topic:
Security, War, International Affairs, Territorial Disputes, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
Russia, Eurasia, and Ukraine

10830. Organizative Culture and Military Innovation: the Case of the Israel Defense Forces / Cultura organizativa e innovación militar: el caso de las Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel

Author:
Javier Jordán
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
The organizational culture influences the adaptation to change, also in the armies. This article presents a case study on the organizational culture of the Israel Defense Forces and the way it encouraged innovation after the deficiencies detected in the Lebanon war in the summer of 2006.
Topic:
War, Armed Forces, Hezbollah, and Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Lebanon