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611. Virtual water and the Kyoto consensus'

Author:
S. Merrett
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
The Editor of Water International published in the March 2003 issue a paper by Stephen Merrett containing a critique of the “virtual water” concept as well as replies by Tony Allan and Christopher Lant. This discussion paper is a rejoinder to Allan and Lant that also raises the stakes by considering the relation of “virtual water” to an emerging Kyoto consensus on water resources management.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, Environment, and International Law

612. Missile Defense in Asia

Author:
Walter B. Slocombe, C. Richard Nelson, Michael P.C. Carns, and Jacques S. Gansler
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
The prospect of North Korea developing both nuclear weapons and long–range missiles has been at the core of the U.S. rationale for early deployment of a missile defense and of Japan's interest in defense for itself. In the face of North Korea's missile programs and its acknowledgement of an active program to develop nuclear weapons, the problem of defense against those weapons assumes new urgency — as does the question of how defenses affect the broader dynamic of security in Northeast Asia.
Topic:
Security and International Law
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, Asia, and North Korea

613. International Law for an Uncertain Environment

Author:
Barbara Koremenos
Publication Date:
11-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for International Studies, University of Southern California
Abstract:
For the past twenty years, the theoretical literature on international cooperation has focused on overarching questions about whether cooperation is possible and how important it is. The seminal contributions of the 1980s increased our theoretical understanding of the possibility of cooperation. Yet we know empirically that cooperation is pervasive. Hundreds of multilateral agreements are signed each year. If we count bilateral agreements as well, the number jumps to thousands. This is not to say that cooperation is easy. In fact, given the challenges of successful cooperation, it is time for the theoretical literature to focus not on whether cooperation can occur at all, but on more focused questions regarding how the actual institutions of cooperation work and through what means they have their impact on state behavior.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Government, International Cooperation, and International Law

614. Understanding Balkan Organized Crime: A Key to Success in Iraq?

Author:
Mark Edmond Clark
Publication Date:
07-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia International Affairs Online
Abstract:
In your estimation, what would it take to get organized crime in Southeastern Europe under control? Mark Clark: A successful fight against organized crime typically would require the successful change of culture in the society in which it exists. Organized crime groups maintain their control by creating and maintaining an environment of fear within the societies that they operate. Practically as a prerequisite, they must possess the capacity to kill and commit other acts of extreme violence against friend and foe alike. To that extent, history would show that few in any society have had the strength to stand up against them. However, organized crime also survives often because the society in which it exists, accepts it. In the Balkans, peoples of the different ethnic groups have typically lived in rural communities, based on agrarian economies, and for the most part have been isolated and provincial, with little interest in making dramatic transformations regarding the place of organized crime. In the cosmopolitan cities and areas of almost each state, organized crime has also developed real influence. Perhaps a cause for that might be the successive migrations to the cities and towns, thereby assuring that there would always be segments of the population that accepted organized crime and would welcome the goods and services criminal groups could provide.
Topic:
Security, Government, and International Law
Political Geography:
Middle East

615. International Law and the Just and Justifiable in Secessionist Conflicts: The Cases of Tatarstan and Chechnya (1990-94)

Author:
Olya Gayazova
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The statistics on self-determination conflicts are worrisome. Some 67 armed self-determination conflicts have occurred in the world since 1955, not counting the wars of independence in the former European colonies. Of them, 35% are 'ongoing' and have been in that phase for the median duration of 17 years. Another 30% of these conflicts are of a 'contained' status. Yet another 15% have ended with agreements, which are 'contested' by parties within the minority group or the government, or both. All in all, 80% of armed self-determination conflicts - instead of being settled - persist and are apt to inspire new generations of freedom fighters (for some) and terrorists (for others).
Topic:
International Law
Political Geography:
Russia

616. Tribunal Penal International Pour Le Rwanda: Pragmatisme De Rigueur

Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Il y a un an, le Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda (TPIR) traversait une période de grande tension. En même temps que s'imposaient à lui des échéances claires quant à la fin de son mandat, le TPIR faisait face à trois défis essentiels: fixer un programme réaliste des poursuites lui permettant d'achever ses travaux d'ici 2008, date fixée pour l'achèvement des procès en première instance, établir un calendrier judiciaire reflétant ses priorités et la nécessité d'améliorer sa productivité, résister à la pression d'un gouvernement rwandais déterminé à empêcher toute poursuite contre des membres de son armée. Sur ces trois fronts, l'année qui vient de s'écouler aura marqué l'entrée du TPIR dans une phase de pragmatisme.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Ethnic Conflict, International Law, Treaties and Agreements, and United Nations

617. Global Environmental Institutions: Perspectives on Reform

Author:
Duncan Brack and Joy Hyvarinen
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
One of the key issues on the agenda of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in August/September 2002 was 'international sustainable development governance'-how international institutions concerned with the nexus of economic, social and environmental issues should be structured. There is broad consensus that the international decision-making architecture in this area needs improving, but less agreement on what it should look like.
Topic:
Environment, International Law, International Organization, Science and Technology, and United Nations

618. Postmodern Power and Transnational Policing: Democracy, the Constabulary Ethic and the Response to Global (In)Security

Author:
James Sheptycki
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
This paper argues that democratic control of policing, transnational and otherwise, is problematic in the contemporary period because of the nature of the postmodern power system. It describes the parameters of the policing field and notes that its separate sectors have different ways of being accountable to different sets of interests. Further is describes the transnational policing regime as a global polycentric power system and argues that there is no point from which the policing field could be governed. The paper then describes policing at the 'hard edge of postmodernity' showing what is at stake. The paper advances a normative conception termed the 'constabulary ethic' and argues that this might provide a moral compass for the nascent transnational subculture of policing. The minimum social conditions necessary for the emergence of the constabulary ethic are described and the principles that provides its 'normative glue' are elucidated. The paper ends by citing some practical examples where something like the constabulary ethic has been achieved.
Topic:
Security, Democratization, Globalization, and International Law
Political Geography:
United States

619. Perejil/Leila and the Euro-Med Partnership

Author:
Roberto Aliboni
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
During the Spanish-Moroccan crisis over the Perejil/Leila islet both the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) have squarely supported Spanish sovereignty. They have completely ignored the special co-operation promoted with the Mediterranean countries from the mid-1990s onwards. This is particularly true with respect to the EU-initiated Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, whose ambitious agenda contemplates an articulated political and security agenda of collective cooperation with the Southern Mediterranean countries, including Morocco. For a number of reasons, the partners have failed to turn their aims into a practical reality. Nonetheless, co-operation is still on the agenda and the parties to the scheme are still apparently committed to it. It is true that one witnessed the same kind of response from the Arab side. The Arab League supported Moroccan claims just as unambiguously as the Western or European side did Spain. How can one explain that precisely at the time when the spirit of Euro-Med co-operation was most necessary it vanished?
Topic:
Security and International Law
Political Geography:
Europe, North Atlantic, Spain, North Africa, and Morocco

620. Italian Legal Framework

Author:
Federico Casolari
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
On 1 April 2001 the first conventions between European Community and third Countries on the single currency entered into force. The agreements in question, as already mentioned, are the Monetary Agreement between the Italian Republic (I.R.), on behalf of the European Community, and the Republic of San Marino (29 November 2000), and the Monetary Agreement between I.R., on behalf of the European Community, and the Vatican City (29 December 2000).
Topic:
International Law and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States and Europe