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111. "Mixed Signals" Still? The EU's Democracy and Human Rights Policy Since the Outbreak of the Arab Spring

Author:
Daniela Huber
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
For the last two decades, the EU has sent mixed signals concerning democracy and human rights to its Mediterranean neighbourhood. Has this changed since the outbreak of the Arab Spring? After observing the EU's response to the revolutions in two key countries, Tunisia and Egypt, this paper finds that signalling to Tunisia has become more coherent, while it remains ambiguous towards Egypt - a trend reinforced by US foreign policy in the region. In order to send a coherent message, the EU has to outline more concretely, what are the benchmarks and rewards for progress. For signalling to be effective, bilateral and multilateral dialogues are key. While bilateral dialogue platforms do exist, they should meet more frequently and at the highest levels. A multilateral dimension is conspicuously missing in the array of instruments set up by the EU in response to the Arab Spring, but would be crucial not only in order to understand the different democracy languages spoken, but notably also to anchor reform and set regional standards for it.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Democratization, Human Rights, and Regime Change
Political Geography:
Europe, Arabia, Egypt, and Tunisia

112. Toward a Single, Global Digital Economy: The First Report of the Aspen Institute IDEA Project

Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The Internet is the most robust medium of information exchange in history. Two billion people are now connected, and at current growth rates everyone with Internet access will join the Internet community within a decade. Barring technological and political disruptions, the world's populace will then be on a single common digital platform. The global medium can provide unparalleled personal well-being, economic growth and beneficial social change.
Topic:
Democratization, Economics, Globalization, Political Economy, Science and Technology, Communications, and Regime Change

113. Regime Change in the Middle East: Problems and Prospects

Author:
Daniel Byman
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
DANIEL BYMAN discusses the diplomatic and security implications of the Arab Spring. He finds that new alignments have begun in the Arab world and that the regionʼs stability is being shaken. He argues that these changes affect an array of declared U.S. interests.
Topic:
Security and Regime Change
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, and Arabia

114. Burma/Myanmar's By-Elections: Will Personalities Trump Institutions?

Author:
Tin Maung Maung Than
Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
By-elections in electoral democracies usually elicit very little excitement beyond the affected constituencies. However, Burma/Myanmar's recent by-elections held most of Asia and the West in rapt attention, with droves of international observers, media representatives, and curious foreigners flocking to Myanmar on an unprecedented scale. As anticipated, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won 43 of the 44 seats that it contested, subsequently hailed as the “victory of the people.” The lead-up, campaigning, and the actual voting, along with the post-election euphoria, resembled a regime-changing national election rather than a series of by-elections that secured the NLD a very minor 6.4 percent of the overall seats in the parliamentary Union Assembly's Lower and Upper Houses. The current government of President U Thein Sein most likely regarded these by-elections as a means of legitimizing its mandate to govern and enhance its own reform credentials.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Human Rights, Politics, Regime Change, and Political Activism
Political Geography:
Asia and Myanmar

115. Humanizing security? The EU's responsibility to protect in the Libyan crisis

Author:
Marlene Gottwald
Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The European Union's response to the Libyan crisis, ranging from the use of humanitarian aid to the option of a military intervention, can be regarded as a first test case for the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) after the Lisbon Treaty. Although aimed at improving the coherence and effectiveness of the EU's foreign and security policy, it has come as no surprise that the expectations shed by the Lisbon Treaty and its newly created institutions such as the European Union External Action Service (EEAS) were premature. As a consequence, a gap opened up between the EU's rhetoric and the actual actions taken during the Libyan crisis.
Topic:
Regime Change
Political Geography:
Europe, Libya, Arabia, North Africa, and Lisbon

116. Tunisie : relever les défis économiques et sociaux

Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Dans un contexte arabe marqué par des transitions bâclées ou sanglantes, la Tunisie fait encore figure d'exception. Depuis le 14 janvier 2011, ce n'est pas seulement la tête de l'ancien régime, symbolisé par l'ancien président Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, qui est tombée. C'est tout un système qui se trouve bouleversé, principalement dans le cadre d'un consensus relativement large. Mais les défis qui pourraient menacer ces progrès existent. Parmi ceux-ci, deux en particulier sont étroitement liés : restaurer la sécurité et mener une véritable lutte contre l'impunité. Pour le nouveau gouvernement d'union, dénommé Troïka et emmené par le mouvement islamiste An-Nahda, la clé demeure dans un dialogue large, permettant de réformer les forces de sécurité sans trop les provoquer, rendre justice aux victimes de la dictature sans céder à la chasse aux sorcières, et garantir une justice efficace tout en tenant compte des limites du système judiciaire en place.
Topic:
Corruption, Democratization, Economics, Regime Change, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Arabia and North Africa

117. Arc of Convergence: AQAP, Ansar al-Shari'a and the Struggle for Yemen

Author:
Christopher Swift
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
CTC Sentinel
Institution:
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
Abstract:
THE MAY 21, 2012, suicide attack on Yemeni soldiers parading in Sana`a's al-Sabin Square marked a turning point in Yemen's struggle against al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and its subsidiary, Ansaral-Shari` a. Coming two weeks after Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi's pledge to purge terrorists from “every district, village, and place,” the perpetrators cast the bombing as a retaliatory strike. “The primary target of this blessed operation was the defense minister of the Sana`a regime and his corrupt entourage,” proclaimed Ansar al-Shari`a's Madad News Agency. “It came in response to the unjust war launched by the Sana` a regime's forces in cooperation with the American and Saudi forces.”
Topic:
Regime Change
Political Geography:
Yemen, Arabia, and Sinai Peninsula

118. The Emerging Order in the Middle East

Author:
Marina Ottaway, Paul Salem, Nathan J. Brown, and Sinan Ülgen
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
After more than a year of Arab uprisings, the emerging political order in the Middle East is marked by considerable shifts within individual countries as well as at the regional level. Domestically and internationally, new actors are emerging in strong positions and others are fading in importance. Islamist parties are on the rise with many secular forces losing power. And across the region, economic concerns have risen to the fore. These domestic changes have implications for both regional and international actors. There are a number of more ambitious economic and political steps the West should take to respond to these power shifts and engage with these new players.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Democratization, Regime Change, and Governance
Political Geography:
Middle East and Arabia

119. The Economic Agenda of the Islamist Parties

Author:
Ibrahim Saif and Muhammad Abu Rumman
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
Islamist parties have gained newfound political power across the Arab world. Four parties in particular—Tunisia's Ennahda, Egypt's Freedom and Justice Party, Morocco's Justice and Development Party, and Jordan's Islamic Action Front—have either made a strong showing at the ballot box or are expected to in upcoming elections. Their successes have dredged up fears about their political and social ambitions, with worries ranging from the enforcement of sharia law to the implications for Western tourists on these countries' beaches. Meanwhile, the parties' economic platforms have largely been overlooked, despite the serious challenges that lie ahead for the economies of the Arab world.
Topic:
Corruption, Democratization, Islam, Political Economy, Regime Change, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, and Arabia

120. Complex global governance and domestic policies: four pathways of influence

Author:
Steven Bernstein and Benjamin Cashore
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
In the immediate aftermath of the first (1992) Rio Summit, a surge of optimism about multilateral environmental treaties led to a burst of scholarship on 'regime' compliance and effectiveness. Until then, the literature on international regimes —which had already dominated the study of international institutions for a decade—had largely focused on explaining their rise, maintenance/stability and fall, or debating their importance vis-à-vis formal organizations on the one hand or broad structural features of the system on the other. Environmental regimes became an especially fruitful laboratory for exploring questions of compliance and effectiveness because the newer generation of treaties—in areas such as protection of endangered species, regulation of chemicals or emissions, or protection of biodiversity—was notably and increasingly focused on attempts to influence domestic practices, policies and policy-making processes rather than simply to constrain or modify the external behaviour of states.
Topic:
Regime Change