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4822. Modernized Deterrence and Revitalized Dialogue - Adapting the Harmel Report to post-2014 Europe
- Author:
- Tobias Aust
- Publication Date:
- 05-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- NATO Defense College
- Abstract:
- Th e year 2014 marked an infl ection point in NATO‘s relations with Russia after the Cold War: Moscow moved from a potential “strategic partner to a strategic competitor.”2 With the illegal annexation of Crimea, the intervention in the Ukraine, and the continued intimidation of NATO member states, Russia violated central principles of the Euro-Atlantic security order, such as the inviolability of frontiers and the non-use of force.3 Th is in turn has led to calls in NATO for reinforced deterrence, especially from East Europe, while other NATO allies have argued for concurrent dialogue with Moscow.
- Topic:
- NATO, Diplomacy, Military Strategy, and Deterrence
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Europe, and Eastern Europe
4823. Russia’s hybrid warfare in the form of its energy manoeuvers against Europe: how the EU and NATO can respond together?
- Author:
- Vira Ratsiborynksa
- Publication Date:
- 06-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- NATO Defense College
- Abstract:
- NATO continues evolving and adapting to new security challenges and threats coming from the East and the South. At the NATO Summit in Warsaw in July 2016 the member states of the Alliance reaffi rmed their commitments on the core purposes of the Alliance: collective defense, crisis management and cooperative security. Th e Warsaw Summit marked a shift from reassurance to deterrence posture sending a signal that the Alliance is ready and is able to meet the challenge of hybrid threats. Th e changing security landscape in the Eastern fl ank reinforces NATO’s need to strengthen its core ‘hard power’ principles as well as update its ‘soft power’ infl uence on issues such as energy security.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, NATO, Energy Policy, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Europe, North Atlantic, and North America
4824. The internal nature of the Alliance’s cohesion
- Author:
- Thierry Tardy
- Publication Date:
- 10-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- NATO Defense College
- Abstract:
- NATO Summits take stock of recent political and security developments, assess how they affect the Alliance’s posture and adaptation agenda, and decide on possible new directions. From the outside, a key feature of any Summit is also what it reveals about NATO’s political cohesion and relevance. The political cohesion of an international organization results from a general consensus among its key member states about its mandate, objectives and methods of operation. Relevance is about the extent to which an institution delivers on its mandate and therefore serves its purpose; relevance may be real or perceived, but is in any case essential to political cohesion. Cohesion and relevance can be undermined in at least three different ways. First, an institution’s cohesion and relevance are jeopardized whenever that institution proves unable to effectively deliver on the mandate it was established for. Second, cohesion and relevance are at stake when member states no longer agree on the objectives or methods of the institution, and as a consequence on the level of resources to allocate to it. Third, institutions’ cohesion and relevance may suffer from a lack of public buy-in for what they are and do. At all levels, the assessment results from a mix of rational analysis and a dose of manipulated subjectivity.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, NATO, Regional Cooperation, and Military Strategy
- Political Geography:
- Europe, North Atlantic, North America, and Western Europe
4825. Projecting stability in practice? NATO’s new training mission in Iraq
- Author:
- Kevin Koehler
- Publication Date:
- 10-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- NATO Defense College
- Abstract:
- Since the 2016 Warsaw Summit, the notion of projecting stability has made a return to NATO’s policy discourse. A central tenet of this agenda is the idea of securing the Alliance by stabilizing its periphery: “If our neighbours are more stable, we are more secure”, says the Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. At the core of this approach is therefore an attempt at shaping the security environment in NATO’s neighbourhood, relying to a significant extent on partnership with individual countries and other international organizations. But how does projecting stability work in practice? Can NATO develop a type of small-footprint, large-effect interaction with partners in its periphery? How can potential interest asymmetries between NATO and partners be addressed in this context? The new NATO
- Topic:
- NATO, Imperialism, Regional Cooperation, and Political stability
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Europe, North Atlantic, Middle East, and North America
4826. The US Withdraws From The UN Human Rights Council
- Author:
- Veronika Bílková
- Publication Date:
- 07-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of International Relations Prague
- Abstract:
- In mid-June 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council. It sat in the Council for the third time since the establishment of the organ in 2006. This time, however, it left its three-year mandate (2017–2019) unfinished. The paper analyses the four main arguments that the US put forward to justify its withdrawal from the Council. It shows that while some of the arguments have some merit, none is truly convincing. The paper also warns against any re-assessment of the current Czech candidacy to the Council.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, International Law, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- North America, Czech Republic, and United States of America
4827. Egypt, a future gas supplier to the European Union?
- Author:
- Jan Mazač and Lukáš Tichý
- Publication Date:
- 04-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of International Relations Prague
- Abstract:
- The main objective of the external dimension of the EU energy policy in line with the Energy Union strategy is primarily to ensure energy security by diversifying external energy supplies, transport routes and suppliers, mainly in the gas domain. Egypt’s recent offshore and onshore gas discoveries increased its natural gas reserves estimate. Its natural gas production is thus expected to double in 2020 and transform the country back into a gas supplier in the eastern Mediterranean region. The European Union (EU) should thus strengthen its relations with Egypt to allow its gas production to reach European markets.
- Topic:
- Energy Policy, Markets, Oil, European Union, and Gas
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, North America, and Egypt
4828. How Social Inequalities Affect Sustainable Development: Five Causal Mechanisms Underlying the Nexus
- Author:
- Bettina Schorr
- Publication Date:
- 01-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Postgraduate Program on Sustainable Development and Social Inequalities in the Andean Region (trAndeS)
- Abstract:
- Since the publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987, social inequality has been a topic of concern for the international development community. In the last decade, given the rise of global inequality the subject gained even more prominence as several international organizations (UNDP, World Bank, OECD) began emphasizing the negative impact of social inequality on human well-being. The Agenda 2030, the current development strategy adopted by the United Nations in 2015, elevated “reducing inequality” to one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Goal No. 10). This paper connects with this growing concern over the impact of social inequalities on the opportunities for sustainable development. It proposes a research agenda for the social sciences to contribute to the debate by identifying the causal mechanisms that constitute the nexus between social inequalities and sustainable development. The focus on these intermediary steps is important in order to understand in more detail the barriers that social inequalities pose for more sustainable social, economic and ecological arrangements. This is especially necessary when it comes to designing or implementing strategies (political or technological) that aim to promote sustainable development, above all in highly unequal societies.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Inequality, Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainability, and Ecology
- Political Geography:
- Argentina, Latin America, and Chile
4829. Unpacking the 2030 Agenda as a Framework for Policymaking
- Author:
- Gonzalo Alcalde
- Publication Date:
- 01-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Postgraduate Program on Sustainable Development and Social Inequalities in the Andean Region (trAndeS)
- Abstract:
- The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is more than a set of goals and targets: it is a comprehensive “plan of action” that countries are translating into relevant policies. While this plan recognizes a need for different national paths towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it also provides guidance for policymaking, establishing means of implementation and follow-up and review mechanisms that are indivisible from the SDGs. Moreover, analyzing the 2030 Agenda as a framework for policymaking reveals general principles that are both explicit and implicit in the UN’s Transforming Our World document. After examining previous relevant UN and OECD frameworks; official 2030 Agenda documents; current international literature on the SDGs, and consulting key 2030 Agenda stakeholders in Peru, this paper identifies eight general principles for sustainable development policymaking in 2030 Agenda implementation that are relevant to all SDGs and sectors, and suggests areas for further research.
- Topic:
- Development, United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals, Economic Development, Sustainability, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Political Geography:
- Latin America, Peru, and Global Focus
4830. Inequality in the Twenty-First Century: A Review on Rockstars of the Realm
- Author:
- Martyna Berenika Linartas
- Publication Date:
- 01-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Postgraduate Program on Sustainable Development and Social Inequalities in the Andean Region (trAndeS)
- Abstract:
- Not only has been economic inequality on the rise, but also the research agenda on inequality has moved decisively from the fringes to the center of policy and academic interest. This new concern and concentration in respect to this topic, data records, and methodological approaches have given rise to a vast amount of literature. It is for this reason that I review the most important recent works engaging with the origins of economic inequality – a debate which remains highly controversial. The usual categorization to explain the different storytelling – “to be or not to be neoliberal” – seems inappropriate. In this review on “the rockstars of the realm” (Thomas Piketty, Anthony Atkinson, Branko Milanovic and Walter Scheidel), I argue that the question and reason behind different approaches is instead: politics or the economy, which is the master that defines the space for action? The gradually established allegory of “the mirrored hourglass of inequality” illustrates the salience of this cleavage.
- Topic:
- International Political Economy, Political Economy, Capitalism, Inequality, Neoliberalism, and Economic Inequality
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus