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302. Food (In)Security in Urban Populations
- Author:
- Paul Teng and Margarita Escaler
- Publication Date:
- 08-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
- Abstract:
- Asia Security Initiative Policy Series: Working Papers ii Abstract The food crisis at the end of the last decade and the resulting food riots that occurred in cities all over the world exposed the vulnerability and fragility of the current global food system and highlighted the increasing problem of urban food security. Urban households were among the hardest hit by the food and economic crises as they saw their purchasing power decline drastically. Though aggregate world food availability was relatively good during this period, access to that food by the urban poor had been severely compromised. This working paper aims to analyse the factors that influence urban food security and argues the case for why an urban focus will increasingly matter in the international discourse on food security. A truly “systems approach” will be needed to study and deal with the many inter-related factors and players in food security. Too often have professional communities maintained disciplinary barriers when addressing such complex problems.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Security, Globalization, and Food
303. Reforming the Inter-American Defense Board
- Author:
- John A. Cope
- Publication Date:
- 08-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- The Western Hemisphere's delegations to the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) should represent and be responsible to ministers of defense or their equivalents, rather than to the armed forces, as is the case in most countries in the Americas today. This breakthrough reform would bring the Board in line with democratic constitutional practices, strengthen Organization of American States (OAS) support for democracy, and help implement the 2003 Mexico City “Declaration on Security in the Americas,” which adopted a broadened multidimensional view of security. The reform could be accomplished without change to the March 2006 statutes and would bring the Board into the OAS General Secretariat associated with the Secretariat on Multidimensional Security.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Political Violence, Civil Society, and Crime
- Political Geography:
- United States and Latin America
304. Sexual Violence Research Initiative: Report of Evaluation Findings
- Author:
- Stephanie M. Townsend
- Publication Date:
- 08-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Sexual Violence Research Initiative
- Abstract:
- The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) is a global project that promotes research on sexual violence in order to improve policy and service delivery. In March 2010 the Global Forum for Health Research commissioned an external evaluation of the SVRI. This report details the methods and findings of that evaluation. Using archival review and key informant interviews, the evaluation assessed key progress indicators and six dimensions of the SVRI's performance:relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, institutional development, complementarity, and sustainability.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Health, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and International Organization
305. Researcher Trauma, Safety and Sexual Violence Research
- Author:
- Elizabeth Dartnall, Jan Coles, Shazneen Limjerwala, and Jill Astbury
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Sexual Violence Research Initiative
- Abstract:
- "I remember well the initial physical sensation I experienced. It was deep bone chilling coldness, which came whenever the women told meabout the depths of their horror, terror and torture. [...] Whenever I am writing from that emotional place of horror I still experience deep seated coldness and my ears feel congested and I feel flu like. This lasts for the length of time that I am immersed in such [emotionally] deep writing." (SVRI discussion board 2009, female researcher, North America).
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Security, Health, Human Rights, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- North America
306. Vicarious Trauma: Understanding and Managing the Impact of Doing Research on Sensitive Topics
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Sexual Violence Research Initiative
- Abstract:
- We do research on sensitive topics because we care. We want to use our research findings to influence how society responds to an issue; to advocate for legislative change or policy improvements, or to strengthen prevention efforts through achieving a better understanding of why something occurs. We also do it because we enjoy learning about our world, and sharing experiences with like minded colleagues. Doing this work can be immensely rewarding. It can also be emotionally challenging. Listening to, reading about and analysing data on some of the most awful things human beings do to themselves and others can cause psychological distress and even physical health problems. By reading a particularly harrowing story; or after a long day in the field being an active empathic witness of trauma, or by analysing and re-analysing traumatic data, traumatic stories can gather in our mind, evoke strong feelings and result in distress and trauma related symptoms. Continuous exposure can result in vicarious trauma.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Health, Human Rights, and Human Welfare
307. Dialoguing Partnerships: An analysis of the dialogue assumptions of the Danish Partnership for Dialogue and Reform
- Author:
- Marie-Louise Koch Wegter and Karina Pultz
- Publication Date:
- 11-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- In 2003, the Danish government launched the Partnership for Dialogue and Reform (PDR) with the dual objective of 1) establishing a basis for improved dialogue, understanding and cooperation between Denmark and the Arab region; and 2) supporting existing local reform processes in the Middle East and North Africa. With the first objective, which is the focus of this study, PDR was intended to demonstrate the trivialization of Huntington's thesis of a clash of civilizations that Al Qaeda, only few years before, had brought back to the limelight of international politics and endeavoured to prove. PDR was to show populations in Europe and the Arab world that there was indeed a strong, shared agenda between the so-called West and the mother-region of the Islamic world and that mutual misconceptions and prejudice could be overcome through the joined pursuit of this agenda of progress.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Islam, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, Arabia, Denmark, and North Africa
308. The U.S.-UAE Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation Agreement: A Gold Standard or Fool's Gold?
- Author:
- Fred McGoldrick
- Publication Date:
- 11-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- It is hard to know what is more disturbing — Iran's continued defiance of UN Security Council Resolutions ordering Tehran to cease its uranium enrichment activities and to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), or the tour that North Korea recently gave to U.S. scientists of its new uranium enrichment plant. Policymakers fear that these programs will enable these states to produce more fissile materials for nuclear weapons.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Nuclear Weapons, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iran, Middle East, and Arabia
309. UN Security Council Enlargement and U.S. Interests
- Author:
- Kara C. McDonald and Stewart M. Patrick
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- Advancing U.S. national interests in an era of global threats depends on effective multilateral action. Global institutions inherited from the past are struggling to adapt to the rise of new challenges and powers. “The international architecture of the 20th century is buckling,” declares the new U.S. National Security Strategy. President Barack Obama has committed his administration to renovating outdated institutions and integrating emerging powers as pillars of a rule-based international order. Renovation of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and its membership must be a core component of this agenda. President Obama's announcement in November 2010 of U.S. support for a permanent UNSC seat for India is a critical first step in this direction.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Diplomacy, International Cooperation, International Organization, United Nations, and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- United States
310. A Third Lebanon War: CPA Contingency Planning
- Author:
- Daniel C. Kurtzer
- Publication Date:
- 07-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- Lebanon has been a flashpoint for Arab-Israeli violence and military confrontations since the mid1970s. Its political system is weak and outside parties continue to vie for political advantage as part of a larger regional conflict. In particular, Syria and Iran provide support for the militant Islamist group Hezbollah as a strategic asset to pressure Israel. Hezbollah now controls most of southern Lebanon, while its political wing has developed a strong presence in the Lebanese parliament. In July and August 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought what became known as the “Second Lebanon War,” which killed and displaced many thousand s of people and destroyed much of Lebanon's infrastructure. Since then Hezbollah has steadily rearmed in contravention of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which requires, inter alia, “the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state” and “no sales or supply of arms and related materiel to Lebanon except as authorized by its government.” Hezbollah's arsenal is more potent in quantity and quality today than it was in 2006. Although the border area between Israel and Lebanon is quieter than at any time in the previous decade, speculation that a third Lebanon war will occur in the next twelve to eighteen months has been steadily rising. Israel could decide the security threat posed by Hezbollah has reached intolerable levels and take preemptive military action. Hezbollah, while outwardly showing no interest in confronting Israel at this time, may for various reasons choose or be pressured by Iran to flex its new military capabilities. As happened in 2006, even small-scale military engagements with limited objectives can escalate into a major conflict. Whatever the precipitating reasons, a new conflict over Lebanon would have significant implications for U.S. policy and interests in the region.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, War, Armed Struggle, and Counterinsurgency
- Political Geography:
- United States, Middle East, Israel, Arabia, United Nations, Lebanon, and Syria