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19141. Attacks on Nuclear Infrastructure: Opening Pandora's Box?

Author:
Malfrid Braut-Hegghammer
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Advocates argue that air strikes against the nuclear infrastructure of a targeted state can deny it the option of producing nuclear weapons or at least create delays in its nuclear weapons program. Critics counter that such attacks may intensify the state's determination to acquire nuclear weapons and make a difficult problem more challenging in the long term. Despite the apparent appeal of targeted strikes, states rarely resort to them.
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United States and Iraq

19142. Crossing the Rubicon: The Perils of Committing to a Decision

Author:
Dominic Tierney and Dominic D.P. Johnson
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in 49 B.C., he broke an ancient law forbidding any general to enter Italy with an army-thus making war with Rome inevitable. Ever since, "crossing the Rubicon" has come to symbolize a point of no return, when the time for deliberation is over and action is at hand. When decisionmakers cross the Rubicon, or stop debating which of several options to pursue and start implementing a chosen policy, the psychological effects can shape the political world in powerful ways-including the outbreak of war.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Diplomacy, Politics, and War
Political Geography:
Iraq

19143. W[h]ither the Kyoto Protocol? Durban and Beyond

Author:
Daniel Bodansky
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
On December 31, 2012, the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period will expire. Unless states agree to a second commitment period, requiring a further round of emissions cuts, the Protocol will no longer impose any quantitative limits on states' greenhouse gas emissions. Although, as a legal matter, the Protocol will continue in force, it will be a largely empty shell, doing little if anything to curb global warming.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, International Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and United Nations

19144. The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates

Author:
Michael Williams
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
In his book The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates, Peter T. Leeson uses economics to describe the seemingly bizarre and contradictory behaviour of 17th and 18th century pirates. In the epilogue, Leeson describes pirates as sadistic pacifists, womanizing homosexuals, treasure-lusting socialists and madmen who outwitted the authorities (though apparently not in the end…). The task of making all of those behaviours appear rational seems daunting, but through the skilful implementation of economic reasoning, Leeson does exactly that.
Topic:
Economics

19145. International Intervention in Local Conflicts: Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution since the Cold War

Author:
Emre İşeri
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
At a time of Arab 'revolutions', particularly the one in Libya , once again - following the impotence of international community in Bosnia, Somalia and, Rwanda in the 1990s - there have emerged a heated debate on the concept of international intervention. This poses one of the toughest tests for an international society that is built on Westphalian principles of state sovereignty, non-intervention, and the non-use of force. It is expected from sovereign states to act as protectors of their citizens' security and well-being, but a hard question arises when states act like gangsters toward their own people and/or they are impotent to find a lasting peaceful solution to their local conflicts. Should those 'tyrannical' states be considered as legitimate actors of the international society and immune from international interventions? As related questions in this regard, what are the responsibilities of other states to enforce newly emerging global human rights norms against governments violating them? What are the obstacles on the way of effective international intervention? In the light of these questions, the volume is compiled of thirteen essays that were categorised into five parts examining the impact of international intervention on the resolution of local conflicts as well as the roles of local actors in determining the course.
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Libya, Arabia, Rwanda, and Somalia

19146. Kurds of Modern Turkey: Migration, Neoliberalism and Exclusion in Turkish Society

Author:
Alper Kaliber
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
Being a national security issue since the establishment of Turkish Republic in 1923, the Kurdish question has several and deep rooted connotations for politics and society in Turkey. Even if it was excessively securitized and long classified as a national taboo by the Turkish state, the Kurdish question has increasingly occupied a central status in Turkish politics since the 1980s. As a consequence of excessive securitization, academic or otherwise any work problematizing the official state line was subjected to silencing, marginalization or even ban. The intellectuals, academics, civil society activists demanding recognition of a separate Kurdish identity and cultural/collective rights of the Kurds were often blamed as being traitors and prosecuted and punished in some cases. In the 1980s and 1990s researching and publishing on the Kurdish question amounted to assuming grave risks or confronting fierce public reaction for researchers. Thus, there was an acute lack of academic research concerning the most important issue of Turkish politics.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Turkey and Kurdistan

19147. The Faces of Terrorism: Social and Psychological Dimensions

Author:
Dylan Kissane
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
In the decade since the 9/11 terrorist attacks there have been countless books and articles published that have sought to explain Islamist terrorism and explore policy responses to terrorism from the Muslim world. A smaller sector of the literature has sought to place Islamist terror in its international political context, drawing parallels with terrorism in the Basque country, Northern Ireland and domestic groups in the United States. A smaller sector again seeks to explore not only to describe such terrorism and explore policy responses to it but also to dig deeper and uncover the motivations that drive terrorists and those that respond to acts of terrorism to. Such works are, by necessity, interdisciplinary, drawing, of course, on political science and international relations but also sociology, psychology, economics and public policy studies, among many other fields. This sub-segment of the much broader field of terrorism studies offers the reader a chance to understand all aspects of terrorism in a variety of contexts, from what motivates a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber in Sri Lanka to what explains Irish Republican Army tactics in the mainland United Kingdom, from how military power is used to counter sub-state terrorist elements to how those terrorist actors are recruited in the first place. Broader in its conception of the notion of terrorism and wise to the complexities that terrorism should engender in policy debates, books that fall into this sub-segment of the field are both the most challenging to read and, when well executed, the most rewarding for the scholar of international politics.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
United States, United Kingdom, and Sri Lanka

19148. The Co-Learning Approach to Capacity-Building and Training for Security Sector Reform Practitioners - Including a Toolkit of Ten Co-learning Applications

Author:
David M. Law
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Security Sector Management
Institution:
Centre for Security Sector Management
Abstract:
Security Sector Reform (SSR) is a complex, technical and highly political subject that is generally addressed under difficult circumstances. Set in a unique environment – characterised by the convergence of donor interests and recipient requirements; post-conflict situations, transitional periods or developing countries; adult participants with clear case-specific knowledge and experiences to share; and the need to carry out concrete reform programmes – SSR capacity-building and training activities demand a distinctive approach. The co-learning approach described in this article addresses these challenges as educational opportunities that can lead to positive learning outcomes for participants and facilitators alike, at the same time as they can provide practical support for ongoing SSR processes.
Topic:
Security and Reform

19149. Oil Resources, Militancy, and the Post-Amnesty Challenges in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

Author:
J. Tochukwu Omenma
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Security Sector Management
Institution:
Centre for Security Sector Management
Abstract:
This paper argues that the exclusionary system of the indigenous people of the Niger Delta from the production and the distribution of oil resources is a factor that drives the militancy in the Niger Delta. The conceptual background to this argument is based on the analysis of the unmet demands of the Niger Delta people, which is cashed in on by the politicians and the youths to disrupt social order. The amnesty programme, as implemented by the government, is considered palliative if placed side by side with the critical demands of the oil communities. This paper identifies some technical problems of the post amnesty programme, which constitute a challenge to sustainable peace. However, the author concludes that the main sources of threat to the fragile peace in the region are the non-involvement of the oil communities in the rehabilitation process; the revenue derivation percent; and the rebellious character of Henry Oka's faction of MEND. To mitigate conflict in the long run depends on the capacity of President Jonathan Goodluck to mobilize material and human resources to improve on the lives of the Niger Delta people.
Topic:
Oil
Political Geography:
Nigeria

19150. Security Sector Reform (SSR) in Insecure Environments: Learning from Afghanistan

Author:
Mark Sedra, Major Gen (ret.) Andrew Mackay, and Geoff Burt
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Security Sector Management
Institution:
Centre for Security Sector Management
Abstract:
The uneven impact of security sector reform (SSR) in Afghanistan, despite nearly a decade-long commitment and billions of dollars invested, demonstrates the immense and perhaps insurmountable challenge of effectively implementing the process amidst an active conflict. The SSR model was largely developed for post-conflict and post-authoritarian environments featuring favorable political conditions for reform. In Afghanistan, the SSR project and the Bonn political dispensation has faced progressively greater levels of violence with each passing year, reaching the level of a full-blown war covering large parts of the country by 2008. In the absence of a genuine political settlement with the Taliban and other stakeholders, the SSR process has been conceived of and applied as a means to confront the growing insurgency, rather than as part of a larger state building and democratization project, as it was intended. It is difficult to imagine a more inhospitable environment for SSR than the one that confronted Afghan and international state builders in the wake of the Taliban's ouster in late 2001. Over two decades of intense civil war left little institutional infrastructure and human capacity to build upon; public attitudes toward the state and security sector were marked by mistrust and suspicion; and insecurity, whether caused by insurgent activity, crime or inter-communal violence was widespread.
Topic:
Security and Reform
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Taliban