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622. Macedonia - A country in crisis
- Author:
- Erwan Fouéré
- Publication Date:
- 09-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- Macedonia is a country in deep trouble. Under a veneer of normality lies a climate of deep mistrust between all the political parties and between the main ethnic communities. Several incidents of inter-ethnic violence took place in the capital city earlier this year and are on the increase. Political dialogue, insofar as it exists between the parties, remains confrontational.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Corruption, Ethnic Conflict, Politics, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Europe
623. The American sequester - and us
- Author:
- Eva Gross
- Publication Date:
- 04-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- European Union Institute for Security Studies
- Abstract:
- Following President Obama's budget proposal on 8 April, the US has embarked on another round of negotiations in attempts to reach a fiscal deal. Differences between the two sides (Democrats insist on taxing the wealthy whereas Republicans insist on spending cuts) have their roots in respective party doctrines, and the current gridlock displays the exceedingly partisan nature of the current US political process. Although the origins of this dispute are clearly to be found in domestic politics, they increasingly have foreign policy implications as well. They are likely to have an impact across the Atlantic - where fiscal austerity and budgetary cuts are equally underway, albeit for reasons that do not entirely coincide - and an effect on EU-US security cooperation.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Economics, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States
624. Bounding Cyber Power: Escalation and Restraint in Global Cyberspace
- Author:
- Ronald J. Deibert
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- Cyberspace is the global communications and information ecosystem, and it is now deeply embedded in all aspects of society, economics and politics. As cyberspace has grown in size and significance, the security of the domain has become highly contested among states, the private sector and civil society. This paper is divided into two parts: The first half focusses on the forces that are contributing to escalating international tensions and conflicts in cyberspace, largely driven by state-based concerns around national security. From this perspective, the exercise of state power in cyberspace is growing (to borrow an old phrase) in “leaps and bounds.” The second half employs a different meaning of “bounding power” — which refers to tying down, checking or restraining the exercise of power — and outlines steps that might be taken to lead us down an alternative path, whereby security and openness are both protected and preserved.
- Topic:
- Security, Civil Society, Economics, Politics, Science and Technology, and Governance
625. A Country on a Tightrope: The Economic Crisis and the End of an Era in Spanish Politics
- Author:
- Oscar J. Martin Garcia
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- This commentary tries to study the current socio-economic crisis in Spain and the end of the political era which began with transition to democracy in the second half of the 1970s. Following pages deal with the intense rise of the unemployment rate and the social drama caused by the increase of material inequalities in Spain. It also analyzes the political crisis that threatens to destroy the institutional model which was crafted after 40 years of harsh dictatorship. All these factors are provoking political suspicion and social despair among some sectors of Spanish society. But there are not only feelings of disappointment and defeat in Spain. The large-scale protests that have engulfed the country over the last two years represent a powerful social force for grass-root democratic regeneration in this part of the Iberian Peninsula.
- Topic:
- Politics
- Political Geography:
- Spain
626. European Union and Turkey in the Post Arab Spring Era: Mapping Strategic Interests in the Turbulent Neighborhood
- Author:
- Jakub Wodka and Sarah Kuzmicz
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- This article explores the strategic importance Turkey holds to the European Union and how Ankara could contribute to the EU's achieving the status of a veritable global power. It seeks to understand how the often contradictory threads (democratization vs. creeping authoritarianism) in the recent transformation of Turkish domestic politics affects its European credentials. The main argument of the paper is that it is in the core interest of both parties to align their policies in the neighboring regions, namely the Balkans, Caucasus, and the Middle East, especially in the post Arab Spring era. What hinders the genuine EU-Turkey partnership is often the political and tactical short-sightedness of both parties rather than the factual divergence of strategic interests.
- Topic:
- Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Turkey, and Middle East
627. Re-Imagining the Ottoman Past in Turkish Politics: Past and Present
- Author:
- Ali Erken
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- The article analyses the use of Ottoman past as a central theme in Turkish politics since the 1960s. It discusses how the revivalist discourse treats the question of westernization and shapes the perception of young activists towards the Ottomans. As confrontational themes with the West surfaced more frequently, the search for a new “order” became more tangible. Furthermore, the negative outlook of the Republican historiography towards the Ottoman heritage was dismissed, especially among young and educated followers of the MHP and MSP-RP. This orientation gained more widespread acceptance among the mass during the AK Party years as a result of the government's revisionist foreign policy and increasing frequency of the references to the Ottoman history in the party leadership's discourse.
- Topic:
- Politics
- Political Geography:
- Turkey
628. Turkey and the European Union: Processes of Europeanization, with index
- Author:
- ÇIĞDEM HAJIPOURAN BENAM
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- ALMOST eight years on from the start of accession negotiations, the view of Turkey-European Union (EU) relations is somber. The Union is too busy with its enlargement fatigue and economic turmoil, whereas Turkey has been experiencing a confidence boom as a result of its impressive economic performance and proactive foreign policy, pushing the two parties further apart. However, despite this gloomy picture in Turkey's EU membership negotiations, change has been and is taking place in Turkish politics. A crucial question, therefore, is without the full membership perspective what is triggering change in Turkey? Is this change a sign of a continuing process of 'Europeanization'? If yes, how do we explain this? How far does it relate to the appeal of the EU membership and how far can Turkey's various policy fields be Europeanized? What are the limits of Europeanization and under what conditions does it work better? Why are there diverging levels of transformation in different policy fields? These are some of the questions Turkey and the European Union: Processes of Europeanization comprehensively answers.
- Topic:
- Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Turkey
629. Rusya ve Polonya'da Din, Kimlik, Siyaset (Religion, Identity and Politics in Russia and Poland)
- Author:
- Suna Gulfer IHLAMUR ÖNER
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- STARTING FROM 1980s different religions “went public” all around the world and reclaimed their agency in the public sphere. However, while in this process of 'deprivatization' certain religious traditions such as Catholicism became the focus of many research initiatives, the Eastern Orthodox tradition attracted little scholarly attention. The book Religion, Identity and Politics in Poland and Russia, which is based on Sevinç Alkan Özcan's Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Marmara University in Istanbul in 2010, does justice to these two traditions with its focus on the role and stance of the Polish Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church within the context of church-state relations, public space, civil society and democratization in two post-communist countries: Poland and Russia. In these two countries, Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity, despite interruptions during the communist rule, play a determining role in church-state relations, political patterns, national identity and social sphere. The book offers a well-structured comparative analysis and valuable insights into the experiences of these two major representatives of Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity in Eurasia during the pre-communist, communist, and post-communist era.
- Topic:
- Politics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Eurasia, and Poland
630. Prisoners of Ourselves: Totalitarianism in Everyday Life Turkey and the Dilemma of EU Accession Towards a Social History of Modern Turkey: Essays in Theory and Practice
- Author:
- Laurence Raw
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- ALTHOUGH written from a variety of perspectives at different points in history, all three books reviewed here offer penetrating insights into Turkish politics past and present, as well as commenting on how they are interpreted both inside and outside the country. Written in English, while he was guest professor at the University of Marburg, Germany (having quit his post at Boğaziçi University in protest at the law curtailing academic freedom), Gündüz Vassaf's Prisoners of Ourselves comprises a series of meditations mostly written between October 1986 and March 1987. His basic thesis is straightforward enough: although human beings consider themselves members of the free world, they are actually subject to totalitarian rule. He surveys some familiar binaries—for example, madness and sanity—and shows how they are used to curtail individual liberties. Western historians have conventionally accepted that the Nazi period in Germany was one of collective madness. However the validity of that judgment can be called into question in the light of Adorno and Horkheimer's research, which discovered that anti-semitism in the United States was much higher than it had been in Germany after Hitler came to power. Vassaf concludes that everyone is part of that “collective madness,” in which one nation is willfully prioritized over another as a means of sustaining power (p. 35). Anyone questioning that notion is abruptly silenced.
- Topic:
- Politics and History
- Political Geography:
- United States, Turkey, and Germany