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9301. Asian Conflicts Report: The Geopolitics of Extremism: ISIS in Asia

Author:
Carl Ungerer and Katy Dr. Oh Hassig
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Asia and Europe share a border, but not much else. Although the Mongols invaded Eastern Europe, and Marco Polo made it to China, a common assumption among policy makers and academics alike has been that the security challenges and perspectives between these contiguous continents have had little in common, and less to learn from each other. Past efforts to build academic and policy bridges have been nascent at best. But today’s threats to global and regional security have no problem crossing international borders. From the rise of violent extremism to the threat of pandemic diseases and cyber criminals, solutions to security problems will overwhelm any national, or indeed regional, effort to ‘go it alone’. Increasingly, as transnational threats become simultaneously local and global, the challenge for countries across both Asia and Europe is to find points of common interest and opportunities for genuine security cooperation.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, International Security, Violent Extremism, and ISIL
Political Geography:
Asia

9302. The Silk Road, Sand Castles and the U.S. China Rivalry

Author:
Alan Guidetti
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Rumours in American media and within policy circles in Washington hint at a shift in the making in US policy towards China. Accordingly, the carefully managed balance between cooperation and constraint, which was designed to accompany and guide the rise of China, might give way to a more confrontational US posture. The cause for a reorientation in US policy is ascribed to the assertiveness of Beijing in the territorial disputes and land reclamations in the China Seas. However, the growing US nervousness about China, as illustrated by blunt warnings to Beijing by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, goes beyond the Chinese build-up of artificial islands, which fuels the current dispute. Washington recently opposed Chinese efforts to set up the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a central pillar of the “New Silk Road” project that will advance the centrality of China within the Eurasian space and beyond. As competition rises between the two powers, sources of tension multiply, thereby increasing risks of conflict.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Economics, Power Politics, and Hegemony

9303. EU home affairs diplomacy: why, what, where – and how

Author:
Hugo Brady and Roderick Parkes
Publication Date:
09-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
Home affairs matters such as border control, crime-fighting and counter-terrorism are all increasingly subject to international rule-setting and cooperation. The European Union is facing up to this challenge, under pressure of events but also thanks to a high degree of coordination between home affairs officials and diplomats. With its near abroad now host to mass movements of migrants, radical Islamist groups and transnational organised crime networks, the Union is investing in making the relationship between internal and external security processes more substantive. But enhanced coordination can only work if Europeans adopt the right geographical focus, toolkit and strategy. This Chaillot Paper explores the genesis of ‘home affairs diplomacy’ and how it has taken shape, and highlights the challenges as well as the opportunities that bringing together different policy communities (at both national and EU level) generates for a more confident and more ‘strategic’ European approach to an outside world that has become more connected and more complex than ever before.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Migration, International Security, European Union, and Counter-terrorism

9304. CSDP in action – What contribution to international security?

Author:
Thierry Trady
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
This Chaillot Paper looks at CSDP operations and missions, and explores how they fit into the broader crisis management environment and multilateral efforts towards international peace. It highlights the inherent constraints facing CSDP and how these inevitably limit its overall impact or degree of success. The paper also examines the EU’s added value and the extent to which CSDP is moving forward at various levels.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Defense Policy, International Security, Peacekeeping, and European Union

9305. Europe: The Current Situation and the Way Forward

Author:
Wolfgang Schäuble
Publication Date:
04-2015
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Columbia University World Leaders Forum
Abstract:
This World Leaders Forum program features an address by Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's Federal Minister of Finance, titled Europe: The Current Situation and the Way Forward. The address will be followed by a panel discussion and question and answer session with the audience.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Regional Cooperation, and Monetary Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

9306. Revising U.S. Grand Strategy Toward China

Author:
Robert D. Blackwill, Henry A. Kissinger, and Ashley J. Tellis
Publication Date:
04-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
"China represents and will remain the most significant competitor to the United States for decades to come. As such, the need for a more coherent U.S. response to increasing Chinese power is long overdue," write CFR Senior Fellow Robert D. Blackwill and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Senior Associate Ashley J. Tellis in a new Council Special Report, Revising U.S. Grand Strategy Toward China. "Because the American effort to 'integrate' China into the liberal international order has now generated new threats to U.S. primacy in Asia—and could result in a consequential challenge to American power globally—Washington needs a new grand strategy toward China that centers on balancing the rise of Chinese power rather than continuing to assist its ascendancy." The authors argue that such a strategy is designed to limit the dangers that China's geoeconomic and military power pose to U.S. national interests in Asia and globally, even as the United States and its allies maintain diplomatic and economic interactions with China.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Diplomacy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
China

9307. Enhancing U.S. Support for Peace Operations in Africa

Author:
Paul D. Williams
Publication Date:
05-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
The number of UN peacekeepers is at a record high, with nearly 110,000 uniformed deployed "blue helmets" worldwide, most of them in Africa. But the status quo is "untenable," warns Paul D. Williams, author and associate professor of international affairs at George Washington University, in a new Council Special Report, Enhancing U.S. Support for Peace Operations in Africa. Unrealistic mandates, unsustainable supplies of personnel, hostile host governments, and mission creep have undermined peace operations, Williams writes. "Given the growing interest in fostering a stable and prosperous Africa, the United States should wield its political influence to address these challenges."
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Humanitarian Aid, War, Fragile/Failed State, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Africa

9308. On Target? EU Sanctions as Security Policy Tools

Author:
Iana Dreyer and Jose Luengo-Cabrera
Publication Date:
09-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
This Report, the outcome of an EUISS Task Force on sanctions, offers valuable insight into a practice that is now part and parcel of the Union's ‘security’ policy toolbox. It aims to shed more light on an EU policy area that is still under-researched at a time when sanctions are becoming more important in terms of their number, scale and political salience.
Topic:
Security, Sanctions, and European Union

9309. Arctic Security Matters

Author:
Juha Jokela
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
The Arctic region is currently undergoing major and rapid transformation, both environmentally and economically. This report, the outcome of a EUISS Task Force, examines how these changes carry significant political implications, and highlights the new security challenges that are emerging in the region.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Politics, and Biosecurity
Political Geography:
Arctic

9310. Women & Armed Conflicts and the issue of Sexual Violence

Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
This report derives from a colloquium on the theme of ‘Women & War’ organised jointly by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) which took place on 30 September 2014 in Brussels. The proceedings of this colloquium have been written by the speakers or by the Delegation of the ICRC in Brussels on the basis of audio recordings of the event.
Topic:
Gender Issues, War, Peacekeeping, and Women