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2751. Creating Stability and Prosperity in Afghanistan and the Region

Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Princeton University
Abstract:
The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs convened the colloquium, “Creating Stability and Prosperity in Afghanistan and the Region,” on 26-29 October 2006 in Vienna, Austria. This was the eighth LISD-sponsored colloquium on Afghanistan since 2001 and was the inaugural meeting of a two-year project, “State Security, and Prosperity: Afghanistan, its Neighbors and the Region,” being undertaken by LISD and funded in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Government, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, New York, Central Asia, and Austria

2752. U.S. Blocks Israel-Syria Talks

Author:
Stephen Zunes
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
Even as American officials reluctantly agreed last month to include Syrian representatives in multiparty talks on Iraqi security issues, the Bush administration continues to block Israel from resuming negotiations with Syria over its security concerns. In 2003, President Bashar al-Assad offered to resume peace talks with Israel where they had left off three years earlier, but Israel, backed by the Bush administration, refused. Assad eventually agreed to reenter peace negotiations without preconditions, but even these overtures were rejected.
Topic:
International Relations and Security
Political Geography:
United States and Middle East

2753. Asia: Towards Security Cooperation

Author:
Michael Vatikiotis
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Asia has enjoyed a remarkable climate of peace and security in the post-Cold War era. However, there is much that could have gone wrong. Tensions on the Korean peninsula, in the Taiwan Straits, between China and India, India and Pakistan – the hot spots and fault lines of tension are well known and warily watched. Rarely has serious conflict erupted, though. The last major 'conventional' conflict in Asia was the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, though smaller wars have been fought between states in Kashmir and along the Chinese border with Vietnam. The region is also wracked by protracted internal disputes that generate sustained fears for internal security and destabilized inter-state relations. All the same, for a region that lacks the kind of sophisticated collective security arrangements that have kept the northern hemisphere at peace for the past sixty years, Asia's security environment is remarkably benign.
Topic:
Security, Development, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, India, Taiwan, Asia, Soviet Union, Vietnam, Kashmir, Korea, and Korean Peninsula

2754. Central Asia and the Caucasus: A Vulnerable Crescent

Author:
Anna Matveeva and Thomas de Waal
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The Caucasus and Central Asia – eight countries of the former Soviet Union stretching to the south of Russia and to the west of China – form a chain of weak states, vulnerable to conflict, extremism, and spillover from potential instability in the Middle East, Iran and Afghanistan. Once on the path of the Silk Road, these countries are still transit routes in the world economy rather than major economic players. The overarching problem for the Caucasus countries situated on the eastern fringe of Europe – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, as well as the Russian North Caucasus – is unresolved conflicts that hamper development and poison politics. The Caucasus has become a field for latter-day Great Power battles of influence, in which competing policy agendas, sometimes even from within the same state, make for a fragmented international response that hampers regional integration and development. The autocratic states of Central Asia by contrast risk isolating themselves from the wider world, becoming a source of danger because of their deliberate remoteness. Here the globalized threats of drug trafficking and militant Islam are the biggest potential source of instability. Multilateral organizations such as the UN are still struggling to articulate a coherent response to the two regions as a whole, tending to make more narrow interventions that have limited impact.
Topic:
Security and Development
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Russia, China, Europe, Iran, Central Asia, Asia, Soviet Union, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia

2755. Latin America and the Caribbean: Domestic and Transnational Insecurity

Author:
Arlene B. Tickner
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the end of the Cold War coincided with transitions to democracy in Brazil and the Southern Cone, and the peaceful resolution of armed conflict in Central America. These developments, along with the intensification of globalization processes worldwide, inaugurated a hopeful era of “democratic peace” or “no war” suggesting a decreasing importance for traditional security matters. Although a series of bilateral border disputes continue to simmer in the region, the most intransient ones have been resolved. Indeed, since the 1995 war between Peru and Ecuador, interstate conflict has been all but erased, and military competition has been reduced dramatically. With the exception of Colombia's entrenched civil war and Haiti's faltering state, internal conflicts characterized by significant episodes of political violence have also become a distant memory.
Topic:
Security and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Brazil, Colombia, South America, Latin America, Central America, Caribbean, Haiti, Peru, and Ecuador

2756. Foreign Military Bases in Eurasia

Author:
Zdzislaw Lachowski
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:
On 16 August 2004 the President of the United States, George W. Bush, announced that some 60 000–70 000 US troops stationed in Asia and Europe would be returned to the USA over the coming decade. This realignment of forces signals a major change in US global and regional policies that will affect the structure of US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) base deployment (referred to as 'basing' or 'forward basing' by the military) throughout the world. In the 1990s Russia had begun pulling out of its cold war spheres of influence, but it either halted or began to reverse its base withdrawal process at almost the same time as Bush's plan was made known.
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Eurasia, and Asia

2757. The EU as a Security Actor: The development of political and administrative capabilities

Author:
Pernille Rieker
Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
With its special character in relation to both institutional design and policy content, the EU is often classified as a 'post-modern' security actor. What does this actually mean? What kind of capabilities does a post-modern actor have? This article focuses on the development of political and administrative capabilities in the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy. If it is true that the EU is becoming an increasingly important security actor, we should expect an increase in these kinds of capabilities as well. According to March Olsen (1995) little can be accomplished without capabilities such as rights and authorities, resources, competencies and organizational skills. This should also be true of a presumably 'post-modern' actor like the EU. This paper examines the extent to which the EU has established these kinds of capabilities in relation to its security policy, how they can be characterized and whether they have increased over time.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Government

2758. Civil-Military Cooperation in Multinational and Interagency Operations

Author:
Kristin M. Haugevik and Benjamin de Carvalho
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper discusses obstacles to civil-military cooperation in the context of multinational and interagency operations, with a special focus on assessment functions and processes. As such, the paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing process of developing a framework for assessment of operations within the context of MNE5. The rationale behind this study is to strengthen the basis for and the effectiveness of Effects-Based Assessment (EBA) of performances, effects, and end-states in multinational and interagency operations. The first section starts by identifying a set of key overall challenges to such cooperation, namely civilian and military actors' often lack of knowledge of one another's organizational identities, security concerns, and working procedures. The paper then discusses one of these categories, namely working procedures, in more detail, identifying in the second section the challenge of divergent operational terminologies, and in the third section the challenge of overcoming the information sharing gap when in the presence of similar assessment practices. The main suggestion of this paper is that knowledge about civilian and military operational terminologies and assessment practices is an imperative for successful civilmilitary cooperation in multinational and interagency operations. Such knowledge, we argue, is best obtained if both military and civilian actors respectively open their communication channels with the purpose of sharing information and operational experiences. Furthermore, based on the discussion, the paper raises a number of points which the authors believe would be valuable topics for further developing civil-military cooperation within the context of multinational and interagency operations.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Development, and Government

2759. Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Partnership for Peace Consortium Conference

Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
It is my pleasure to introduce the Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Conference of the Partnership for Peace Consortium. The conference brought together academics and practitioners in defense and security policy from across the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council area to explore how education can be harnessed to enhance the creation of a robust and transparent set of defense institutions in PfP nations. The conference theme was “Strengthening NATO's Partnerships: The Role of Education in Security Sector Reform and Defense Institution Building.” There were three sub-themes, which explored various facets of the overall theme: 1) Defense Education Curriculum—How to ensure it produces the right results for PfP members? 2) Civilian Participation in Defense and Security Policy—Creating a corps of civilian defense professionals. 3) The PfP Consortium—What is its role in promoting security sector reform and defense institution building?
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and NATO
Political Geography:
Europe

2760. FYR Macedonia SALW Annual Export Report 2005

Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons
Abstract:
FYR Macedonia recently published their Annual Arms Export Report for 2005. This is the first such report that they have published and is a very positive move forward in terms of transparency and CSBM measures.
Topic:
Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Development
Political Geography:
Europe