A Means to an End or an End in Itself? The EU Integrated Approach to Conflict in Mali. College of Europe EU Diplomacy Paper 05/2019

Since the unrest in Mali in 2012, the European Union (EU) has become heavily engaged in the stability of the country, where today two Common Security and Defence Policy missions and a range of EU security, development and governance tools are deployed. This commitment, combined with the deep-seated security problems in Mali, necessitates using various EU instruments coherently, particularly in light of the so-called integrated approach in the EU Global Strategy. This paper explores how effective the EU has been in acting cohesively and strategically, taking an ‘integrated approach’ to conflict. It assesses the EU’s integrated approach in Mali through three lenses: civil-military synergies, the security-development nexus and a ‘multi-phased’ approach. It argues that meaningful synergies are being created, particularly between security and development actions. However, amalgamating EU tools through innovations such as the Programme of support for enhanced security in the Mopti and Gao regions and for the management of border areas (PARSEC) and operational actions under Article 28 TEU has become an end in itself – a ‘laboratory of experimentation’ for the EU – rather than a means to tackle underlying instability in Mali. This is not what the integrated approach aims to achieve and there is instead a focus on implementing ad hoc programmes without a long-term plan for the future of the country, behind which all EU tools can unite. This is damaging not just for Mali but for the EU’s credibility as a global security actor

Aid for Trade effectiveness: What do evaluations say?.

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Israel-Sino relations through the prism of advocacy groups

Advocacy for the state of Israel – in the sense of attempting to favourably shape public and elite perceptions and discourses about the Jewish state and the nature of its conflict with the Palestinians and the surrounding Arab states – has been, and continues to be, of pivotal concern to both the Israeli government and pro-Israeli organisations operating in the United States and elsewhere. What underlines this advocacy – understood here to unfold through multiple media, academic, and political spaces – is a desire to [1] reinforce political (and cultural) identification and support for Israel and its narrative, and [2] more pressingly, to contain alternative critical discourses about the state and its role in various Middle Eastern conflicts. Although the US has been the main focus of these advocacy efforts – which is a natural byproduct of its position as a global hegemonic empire, the susceptibility of its political system to special interests, and more significantly, due to the presence of a sizable and influential Jewish American community sympathetic to Israeli and Zionist interests – there are signs of a nascent and increasingly sustained Israeli/Zionist advocacy effort directed at China (amongst other theatres) that, while conditioned by a unique Chinese cultural and political topography, seeks to influence prevailing attitudes and perceptions amongst Chinese scholars and political elite in ways conducive to the preservation and maximisation of Israeli interests over the long-term. This paper is interested in examining this advocacy within the Chinese context, and argues that there are two distinguishable forms of advocacy

Power dynamics in an era of big data

In this Strategic Update, Stacy Langworthy investigates a force under-explored and under-theorised in the world of International Relations and policy making: big data. Who can hold it? Who can harness it? What can it do

Evaluating the Energy Security Implications of a Carbon-Constrained U.S. Economy

Examines how factors linked to U.S. energy security would be affected in eight scenarios in which carbon emissions are limited to a certain level. Assesses the feasibility of and need for low-carbon technology

Bringing the ports and port diplomacy back-in:A comparative study of the role of Hong Kong, Macao and Shanghai in contemporary EU-China relations

This thesis aims to bring back the prism of port-cities and port diplomacy to understanding the contemporary relationship between the EU and China. By drawing various concepts from international politics, port studies and political geography, the thesis highlights the crucial role played by port-cities as a vector of economic and political power, via their role as an interface between the “port host”, in the thesis China, and port visitors, in the thesis the European Union. The suggested framework will then be applied to analyse the contemporary EU-China relations through three selected case studies: Hong Kong, where the first European colony was established in 1842; Macao, where the first European settlement was established in 1557; and Shanghai, where the first batch of treaty ports opened by the Europeans without turning Shanghai as a colony of one nation. At the end of the thesis, the thesis will discuss a new academic concept, namely the civilian sea power, and how the academic concept is applicable to contemporary diplomatic studies and international politics

Internal Barriers in the Transition of Enterprises from Central Plan to Market

While a number of transition countries have been able to make significant progress with macroeconomic stabilization, little is being done to understand and to address the horrendous difficulties and barriers that attend the process of transition at the level of the enterprise. Not knowing what to change and what to leave in place -either because of its intrinsic value or because of its impenetrable and unyielding nature- exacerbates the complexity of the challenge. The purpose of this paper is to present the insights revealed by our study on the barriers obstructing the transition of enterprises from central plan to market. Stakeholders' fears and institutional uncertainty seem to be the major impediments to the transition of enterprises from central plan to market. It is the fears of "being independent and self responsible, not having the protecting 'umbrella' of the state", of ignorance of markets, of "too many fast changes", of "losing one's own job", of "increased unemployment" and most importantly the fear of "losing power and status". These fears are all derived from a deep suspicion of the consequences of any change. Thus workers fear the loss of job and of the enterprise umbrella, managers fear the loss of power and status and boards fear financial losses and loss of ownership. The insights gained apply to most transition countries. Differences from country to country are a matter of degree. The degree of effectiveness and stability of the market economy to which the system is transforming will greatly depend on the degree of transmutation of local, social value systems to the new values and practices, which market oriented systems will be able to contain and integrate. Efforts to introduce management techniques suited to a market economy will almost certainly fail, unless the techniques chosen from the arsenal of contemporary market oriented management methods, complement and build upon local traditional managerial values. Successful transition might hinge more upon overcoming internal barriers of enterprises, than upon any other single factor of this complex and arduous process. Local as well as western managers and investors should spend time and efforts to understand the concealed logic of the barriers encountered during the implementation of each change. They should address the fears of individual stakeholders (employees, potential partners, clients, suppliers and public officials) with whom they are dealing. They should be mindful of how deeply certain attitudes may be ingrained and should not overlook the value of experience, existing skills and the prevailing managerial behavior that can be usefully built upon; they should expect to work hard and long at change before it really occurs.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39634/3/wp248.pd

Terrorism and cyber attacks as hybrid threats: defining a comprehensive approach for countering 21st century threats to global peace and security

Multimodal, kinetic and non-kinetic threats to international peace and security, including cyber-attacks, low intensity asymmetric conflict scenarios, global terrorism, piracy, transnational organized crime, resources security, retrenchment from globalization and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, were identified by NATO as ‘hybrid threats,’ which state actors are ill-equipped to handle. This interdisciplinary article predicts that military doctrines, traditional concepts of war and peace, and legal perceptions will be challenged by the nature of these threats