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3092. An India-Pakistan Detente: What It Could Mean for Sustainable Development in South Asia and Beyond
- Author:
- Toufiq A. Siddiqi
- Publication Date:
- 08-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- India and Pakistan have had volatile relations ever since they became independent of Britain in 1947. Frequent hostility has stifled cooperation between the two countries and inhibited development in the region. Recently, however, tensions show signs of easing. In March 2004, India's then prime minister visited Pakistan to attend a South Asian regional summit. Flights, bus service, and cricket matches between the two countries have resumed; India's newly elected government continues to support the process. Peace could bring a wide range of benefits not only to India and Pakistan but to the wider region as well. For example, it could enable cooperation on importing energy via a natural-gas pipeline, which would support environmentally sound development. The improved road and rail system that would necessarily accompany a pipeline would also support the goal of building an Asian highway network and the resurgence of cross-border trade, another likely consequence of détente. These benefits could spread far beyond India and Pakistan into the wider west, central, and south Asian region.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, South Asia, and India
3093. The Politics of Environmental Policy with a Himalayan Example
- Author:
- Piers Blaikie and Joshua Muldavin
- Publication Date:
- 06-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- How we arrive at knowledge—and how we draw on knowledge to make policy—have been the subject of vigorous debate and analysis. Simple models of expertise and action are gradually yielding to a more complex vision of how truth speaks to power and power talks back. The Himalayan region—where scientists, statesmen, and citizens confront a unique set of environmental challenges and political legacies—provides a powerful case study. For more than a century, it was believed that over-use by local farmers and pastoralists threatened fragile mountain and river environments. Beginning in the colonial era and continuing into the present, governments have strictly curtailed traditional land-use practices. In the 1980s, scholars began to question the science on which those restrictive laws were based. But new science has not, in most cases, led to new policy. This disconnect inspires questions about the nature of both science and policy, their influence on each other, and whether each could benefit from greater openness to the insights of people who fall outside the narrow roles of expert and politician.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Development
- Political Geography:
- Asia, Australia/Pacific, and Southeast Asia
3094. Tourism in a 'Borderless' World: The Singapore Experience
- Author:
- T.C. Chang
- Publication Date:
- 05-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- The development of tourist destinations that transcend national borders, first envisioned in the 1950s, gained momentum in the 1990s. Whether facilitated by large regional organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) or bilateral agreements, countries—especially smaller ones— have worked to identify and leverage their neighbor's strengths. Singapore, for example, adopted a national tourism plan based on the concept of "borrowed attractiveness." It has compensated for its limited natural resources and high costs by collaborating with Indonesia and Malaysia, which contribute cheaper labor and land in exchange for infrastructure, financing, and expertise. The city-state also aggressively sells its tourism expertise overseas and aspires to be Asia's tourism hub. But Singapore's experience demonstrates that regional tourism, while diversifying tourism development opportunities, can also perpetuate inequities between wealthier and poorer collaborators and present serious challenges to businesses operating in unfamiliar settings.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Development
- Political Geography:
- Asia, Australia/Pacific, Singapore, and Southeast Asia
3095. The Saudi Security Apparatus: Military and Security Services - Challenges and Developments
- Author:
- Anthony H. Cordesman and Nawaf Obaid
- Publication Date:
- 08-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- Both Saudi Arabia's security situation, and the Saudi security apparatus, are undergoing major changes. Saudi Arabia no longer faces a major threat from Iraq, but must deal with the growing risk that Iran will become a nuclear power. This confronts Saudi Arabia with hard strategic choices as to whether to ignore Iran's efforts to proliferate, seek US military assistance in deterring Iran and possibly in some form of missile defense, or to acquire more modern missiles and its own weapons of mass destruction.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Development, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, Iran, Middle East, and Arabia
3096. The Euro-Med Partnership and Sub Regionalism: A Case of Region Building?
- Author:
- Stephen C. Calleya
- Publication Date:
- 04-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- Stephen Calleya focuses on sub-regionalism as a tool of region building within the EMP. This paper's main concern is the question of whether, in view of the present EMP difficulties, subdividing the southern Mediterranean into various sub-regions (such as the Maghreb and the Mashreq) may be an efficient tool of region building. By taking account of regional relations among southern Mediterranean states and sub-regional initiatives, Calleya discusses several options and conditions under which sub-regionalism within the EMP could contribute to Euro- Mediterranean region building. Calleya argues that if the EU is serious about having a significant positive impact on regional integration in the Mediterranean in the short term, it is necessary to develop an adequate strategy for supporting more directly all regional sub-groupings in the southern Mediterranean.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Development
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Maghreb
3097. Industrialization and Urbanization: Did the Steam Engine Contribute to the Growth of Cities in the United States?
- Author:
- Sukkoo Kim
- Publication Date:
- 09-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- Industrialization and urbanization are seen as twin processes of economic development. However, the exact nature of their causal relationship is still open to considerable debate. This paper uses firm-level data from the manuscripts of the decennial censuses between 1850 and 1880 to examine whether the adoption of the steam engine as the primary power source by manufacturers during industrialization contributed to urbanization. While the data indicate that steam-powered firms were more likely to locate in urban areas than water-powered firms, the adoption of the steam engine did not contribute substantially to urbanization.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
3098. Azerbaijan: Turning Over a New Leaf?
- Publication Date:
- 05-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Oil-rich Azerbaijan, which borders Iran, Turkey and Russia and is still scarred from its defeat by Armenia ten years ago, gives cause for both hope and concern. The October 2003 election of Ilham Aliyev to the presidency that his late-father, Heydar, had held almost from independence, highlighted the stark choices which now face the country. Its government is a carefully designed autocratic system, which the father and former Soviet-era politburo member began to construct in the late 1960 s, with heavy reliance on family and clan members, oil revenues and patronage.
- Topic:
- Development, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Iran, Turkey, Eastern Europe, Armenia, and Azerbaijan
3099. Serbia's U-turn
- Publication Date:
- 04-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- In politics and policies, Serbia increasingly resembles the Milosevic-era without Milosevic. Its reaction to the catastrophic mid-March 2004 near collapse of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), the strong showing by ultra-nationalists in the 28 December 2003 parliamentary elections and the subsequent two-months of squabbling before democratic parties could form a minority government that depends for survival on the support of Milosevic's old party all are signs that more trouble lies ahead. In 2004 Serbia can anticipate continued political instability, increasingly strained relations with the West and further economic decline. The spasm of ethnic cleansing of Serbs by Albanians in Kosovo has raised the prospect of Kosovo partition, strengthened the nationalist right wing and increased anti-Western sentiment. Instability and economic weakness could hasten moves by Montenegro towards independence, while Kosovo tensions could spill over into the Presevo valley, Sandzak and even Vojvodina.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Central Asia, Kosovo, Serbia, and Albania
3100. Collapse In Kosovo
- Publication Date:
- 04-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- On 17 March 2004, the unstable foundations of four and a half years of gradual progress in Kosovo buckled and gave way. Within hours the province was immersed in anti-Serb and anti-UN rioting and had regressed to levels of violence not seen since 1999. By 18 March the violence mutated into the ethnic cleansing of entire minority villages and neighbourhoods. The mobs of Albanian youths, extremists and criminals exposed the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR) as very weak. Kosovo's provisional institutions of self-government (PISG), media and civil society afforded the rioters licence for mayhem. The international community urgently needs new policies -- on final status and socio-economic development alike -- or Kosovo instability may infect the entire region.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Central Asia, Kosovo, United Nations, and Albania