Number of results to display per page
Search Results
332. Peace Operations
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- Major reassessments of UN peacekeeping have tended to follow in the wake of large-scale failures of peacekeeping operations. Continued violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the inability to mount a UN operation in Somalia, and the lack of progress in Darfur may or may not count as major failures. However, it is clear that some kind of reassessment is required.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Peace Studies, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Somalia
333. Small Arms and Light Weapons
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- Small arms and light weapons (SALW) enable and facilitate armed conflict, terrorism, and crime. Today, they remain among the cheapest and most easily accessible instruments for participating in violence. Despite our understanding of the threat posed by SALW to peace and security, development and human rights, deep-rooted differences remain on how to stem their ill effects, in particular the passage of weapons from the licit realm to the illicit. Even the domestic passage of SALW to the illicit realm can, ultimately, have transnational effects, fueling conflict, crime, and terrorism.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Security, War, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
334. America's Security Role in a Changing World: A Global Strategic Assessment
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Academy of Political Science
- Abstract:
- Over the coming decade and beyond, the United States and the international community will face enormously complex security challenges and threats, some of which are not traditionally viewed as security issues. Given the emerging nature of and interdependencies between these threats and challenges, world leaders are increasingly operating in terra incognito.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States
335. Funding for U.S. Efforts to Improve Controls Over Nuclear Weapons, Materials, and Expertise Overseas: A 2009 Update
- Author:
- Matthew Bunn and Andrew Newman
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- The Obama administration is still developing a plan to ensure effective security for all nuclear weapons and weapons-usable nuclear material worldwide within four years, as President Obama outlined in his Prague speech. Because the plan is still in development, the additional funding to implement such an effort was not included in the “steady as you go” fiscal year (FY) 2010 budget request sent to Congress in early May 2009. The $1.3 billion request for programs to improve controls over nuclear weapons, materials, and expertise overseas is essentially the same as the FY 2009 appropriation and $30 million less than the FY 2008 appropriation. The request for all threat reduction programs (including chemical, biological, and missile-related programs as well as nuclear programs) is approximately $1.6 billion, a slight decline from the FY 2009 appropriation. As Kenneth Luongo, president of the Partnership for Global Security, put it in an April 2 press release: “The budget request for FY 2010 needs to be significantly increased across the board if there is any hope of meeting the President's high pri-ority WMD proliferation prevention goals. A stagnant or modestly increased funding profile will be inadequate and amount to business as usual.” If the four-year target is to be achieved, the administration and Congress will need to work together to ensure that these efforts are not slowed by lack of funds.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- United States
336. Liberia: Uneven Progress in Security Sector Reform
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Since independence and for fourteen years of war, Liberia's army, police and other security agencies have mostly been sources of insecurity and misery for a destitute people. The internationally driven attempt to radically reform the security sector since the war's end in 2003 is a major chance to put this right and prevent new destabilisation. Security sector reform (SSR) programs have been unprecedented in ambition but with mixed results. Army reform, entailing complete disbanding of existing forces, has made significant progress despite lack of proper oversight of private military companies (PMCs) and of consensus on strategic objectives. But police and other security reforms are much less satisfactory. The bold approach to army reform was possible due to strong national consensus and the presence of a large, liberally mandated UN presence. Government and donors must sustain their support to maintain hard-won momentum in army reform and, once clear benchmarks are set, give a floundering police force more resources. The drawdown of the UN force, begun in the second half of 2008, underlines the urgency.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, Development, Government, and War
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United Nations, and Liberia
337. Obama, Hillary Clinton, and China: Be Strategic, Be Green
- Author:
- Liu Xuecheng and Robert Oxnam
- Publication Date:
- 02-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- Young and charismatic Barack Obama won a historic victory in the U.S. presidential election. This victory has sparked an international frenzy filled with hope and expectations. Obama, who ran on a platform of “change,” has vowed to rebuild U.S. national power, reshape its international image, and renew its global leadership. However, he will face daunting internal and external challenges—fighting the disastrous financial crisis and economic recession, bringing the war on terror to an end, and coping with emerging powers, including China. What relevance does his victory have for U.S. policy toward China? Will Obama's China policy be one of change or continuity? What would we expect from the Obama administration in cultivating the future course for a China-U.S. constructive and cooperative partnership? These questions are the real concerns of the Chinese people as political power changes hands in the United States.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- United States and China
338. U.S. Institute of Peace Teaches International Security Personnel to Resolve Conflicts without Resorting to the Use of Force
- Author:
- Mary Hope Schwoebel
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United States Institute of Peace
- Abstract:
- Over the past decade, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) has trained members of police and military forces around the world to prepare them to participate in international peacekeeping operations or to contribute to post-conflict stabilization and rule of law interventions in their own or in other war-torn countries. Most of the training takes place outside the United States, from remote, rugged bases to centrally located schools and academies, from Senegal to Nepal, from Italy to the Philippines.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, International Relations, Security, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- United States, Philippines, Nepal, Italy, and Senegal
339. Iran's Nuclear Program: Lessons from Pakistan
- Author:
- Simon Henderson
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- Public anxiety about Iran's nuclear intentions is focused on the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, which in many respects -- in both the public debate and the policy discussion -- resembles the situation in the 1980s when there was growing concern about Pakistan's Kahuta enrichment plant. The lessons that can be draw from that experience are not encouraging. The comparison is particularly appropriate because Iran uses the same high-speed centrifuge technology to enrich uranium as does Pakistan. Photos of Iranian centrifuges show some of them as identical to Pakistani designs developed by the disgraced A.Q. Khan. Iran also claims to be operating more advanced centrifuges using its own modifications.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Nuclear Weapons, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Iran, South Asia, and Middle East
340. In Their Own Words: Making Sense of the International Community's Nuclear Deadline with Iran
- Author:
- Max Mealy
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- After nearly a month of international focus on the civil unrest in Iran following the June 12 presidential elections, the G8 summit in Italy brought renewed global attention to Iran's nuclear program; the summit's leaders promised to reassess international outreach to Iran at the September G20 meeting in Pittsburgh. The following statements from U.S., European, and Israeli government officials on the status of Iran's nuclear program highlight the differing interpretations of Iran's nuclear deadline.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Diplomacy, International Organization, Nuclear Weapons, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Iran and Middle East