UN reform and NATO transformation: the missing link. Egmont Paper, no. 10, November 2005

From NATO’s perspective, Kofi Annan’s report In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All at first sight seemed hardly relevant.(1) In dealing with regional organizations, it nowhere explicitly mentioned the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This was all the more surprising because Annan thus bypassed NATO’s active involvement in the implementation of a number of post-conflict peace-building settlements, based on UN Security Council resolutions, in areas such as Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. In the weeks after the publication of Annan’s report, NATO’s Secretary- General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, on several occasions expressed his support for his UN counterpart’s reform package. In a keynote address in Brussels, among others, he argued that ‘NATO will increasingly act in concert with other institutions’, including the UN, pointing at NATO’s cooperation on the ground in the Balkans and Afghanistan

Refugee issues in the 21st century: challenges to humanity and world diplomacy

The current flow of human beings escaping their countries’ turmoil is not a temporary surge or a passing crisis. Mass migration, accompanied by sudden surges of people, will be a permanent challenge to 21st century states and world order. Recent surges of refugee and asylum claimants are testing the capacity of states and eroding traditions of welcome in receiving countries for refugee and migrants alike. At the same time, the intersection of forced migration, human rights, and conflict presents a unique challenge for world foreign policy in this 21st century. These three factors are already beginning to combine in ways that undermine traditional understandings of national security and offer ample reason to revisit traditional divisions of labour between diplomacy, defence, economic social development policy around the world. Accordingly, this paper has three objectives. Firstly, this paper provides a brief overview of refugee issues in the 21st century with major issue of forced migration, human rights, and conflict and its implications. Secondly, this paper highlights emergent issues and challenge faced by the countries around the world regarding refugees and humanity. Thirdly, this paper discusses the challenge of world diplomacy when it comes to the issue of refugee and humanity. Finally, the paper will highlights the ways in which world foreign policy must adapt to meet the challenges they facing today regarding this issue

Postcolonial transitions on the southern borders of the former Soviet Union: the return of Eurasianism?

As the Soviet Union dissolved into a new territorial reality, it released the doubly repressed histories of Tsarist and Soviet imperium. In the states to the south of the new Russian Federation, the post-soviet jostled with the postcolonial as nations were reinvented across a vast swathe from the Caucuses through Central Asia. In the process, the old Russian linguistic duality between Russki (the ethnic Russian) and Rossiiskii (the citizen of Russia) founds its echo in Russia itself — which encompasses over 20 million Muslims — and in the newly sovereign states — all with large Russian minorities and even larger Russian-speaking populations. For the Azeris, Uzbeks and Kazaks, the repositioning of nation against a recent past of Russian dominance was significantly more problematic. In Chechnya, formally in the Russian Federation, it has reached a cathartic war. The argument here uses international human rights instruments as a litmus test of this troubled recent history. The controversial concept of Eurasia — now resurgent in Russian politics — may not necessarily mean the reinscription of Russian domination, but seeks to offer an alternative to the Atlantic Empire

The strategic chain linking Pakistan, India, China, and the United States

The 15-month Brookings Institution project focused on the “strategic chain” linking Pakistan, India, China, and the United States—a series of relationships that are resulting in some of the most active nuclear weapons, missile, and missile defense programs anywhere in the world today. The project’s main goal was to identify policies and measures that could promote stability and reduce incentives for arms build-ups between key pairs of protagonists, regionally, and globally, while also contributing to a better understanding of the various strategic interconnections among these four nuclear-armed powers.Project on Advanced Systems and Concepts for Countering WMDGrant/Agreement No. N00244-15-I-003

Obama, Trump, and Xi: Three South China Sea Strategies in the U.S.-China Battle for Global Hegemony

The South China Sea is one of the world\u27s largest regions of untapped resources and fisheries. Moreover, one-third of all global trade flows through its waters. Due to its rapid ascension to great power status, China has been able to aggressively expand into the region and both build new islands and lay claim to already existing ones. With no other countries capable of or willing to push back against Beijing, the United States stepped in. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the strategies undertaken by the Obama administration and the Trump administration in the face of China’s expansion as a whole, and then specifically related to the South China Sea. The thesis also examines Xi Jinping’s rise to power and how his foreign policy has challenged both American presidents’ approaches. This qualitative study concludes with assessing the effectiveness of the three presidents’ strategies and how they situate in the greater rivalry, and provides an outlook for what the future of the South China Sea conflict and greater Sino-U.S. relations will look like

What a Difference a Decade Makes:Understanding Security Policy Reversals Between the Organisation of African Unity and the African Union

No other African Union (AU) institution represents as significant a departure from the past as the African Peace and Security Architecture, a framework for anticipating and responding to crises, and conflicts on the continent. The Architecture lays the foundations for African peacekeeping missions, the promotion of human security, and provides the Union with a legal right of intervention. A decade prior to the AU’s establishment, African governments had resolutely rejected a more modest expansion in the security competencies of its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity. This chapter investigates what prompted this volte-face from African governments, highlighting the significance of democratisation in pivotal states in the 1990s, the influence of African humanitarian tragedies during the same period and the nature of decision-making at the AU

India: Domestic Issues, Strategic Dynamics, and U.S. Relations

[Excerpt] President Barack Obama’s Administration has sought to build upon the deepened U.S. engagement with India begun by President Bill Clinton in 2000 and expanded upon during much of the past decade under President G.W. Bush. This “U.S.-India 3.0” diplomacy was most recently on display in July 2011, when the second U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue session saw a large delegation of senior U.S. officials visit New Delhi to discuss a broad range of global and bilateral issues. Many analysts view the U.S.-India relationship as being among the world’s most important in coming decades and see potentially large benefits to be accrued through engagement on many convergent interests. Bilateral initiatives are underway in all areas, although independent analysts in both countries worry that the partnership has lost momentum in recent years. Outstanding areas of bilateral friction include obstacles to bilateral trade and investment, including in the high-technology sector; outsourcing; the status of conflict in Afghanistan; climate change; and stalled efforts to initiate civil nuclear cooperation. India is the world’s most populous democracy and remains firmly committed to representative government and rule of law. Its left-leaning Congress Party-led ruling national coalition has been in power for more than seven years under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an Oxford-trained economist. New Delhi’s engagement with regional and other states is extensive and reflects its rising geopolitical status. The national economy has been growing rapidly—India’s is projected to be the world’s third-largest economy in the foreseeable future—yet poor infrastructure, booming energy demand, and restrictive trade and investment practices are seen to hamper full economic potential. Despite the growth of a large urban middle-class, India’s remains a largely rural and agriculture-based society, and is home to some 500-600 million people living in poverty. This report will be updated periodically

Culture shock as part of a cultural diversity training programme in the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) : a critical analysis

In a survey conducted, as part of this research, 83,33% of participating South African diplomats indicated that the effects of cultural diversity and culture shock are underestimated. As South African diplomats are expected by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) to work effectively in a crosscultural environment abroad, the psychological disorientation caused by culture shock could have a negative effect when working and living abroad. Severe culture shock could cause a high level of strain, which could influence the ability of diplomats to adapt effectively abroad, including spouse or partner dissatisfaction resulting from culture shock depression. This could lead to a diplomat requesting to return to his or her home country, with the associated high financial costs. Cultural diversity training is defined by various authors as one aspect that could assist in minimising culture shock since training provides knowledge, insight and skills to deal with the negative effects of culture shock when deployed abroad. Furthermore, the South African Public Service Act [1994] requires that human resource managers within government departments, such as DIRCO, have the responsibility to ensure that staff are effectively utilised and trained. The question that subsequently directed this research was the following: What should be included in the curriculum of a training programme aimed at minimising culture shock among South African diplomats? The research assessed the current culture shock training programme at DIRCO against international best practice, and it was found that a cultural diversity training programme in culture shock should comprise specific fundamentals, components and defining attributes relevant to definitions and explanations on culture, culture-specific information, cross-cultural skills, conflict resolution and dealing with culture shock in terms of cultural diversity, which has the potential of reducing culture shock among South African diplomats effectively. This research also found that there appears to be a gap in the scholarly literature and knowledge within the field of Public Administration on the defining attributes of a cultural diversity training programme with the potential of reducing culture shock among diplomats. Ongoing research is encouraged and recommended in this particular field of study within the public sector.Public AdministrationD.P.A

Disparities between American and Chinese Perceptions on Chinese Foreign Policy

There has been a dangerous gap between American and Chinese perceptions of Chinese foreign policy, a gap contributing to acceptance of the Thucydides Trap. With the help of a theoretical framework and empirical evidence, this paper aims to summarize and understand the differences, in an effort to help overcome them and prevent a self-fulfilling prophecy. The author identifies five variables that shape perceptions and then categorizes Chinese foreign policy along several dimensions. Using the South China Sea and the Belt and Road Initiative as case studies, the author finds that US and Chinese interpretations of Chinese behavior along these dimensions are influenced by different variables. While the Chinese views are more affected by history, American perceptions are driven by considerations of power. The two countries understand both identity and norms differently, as well. By showing where the two countries\u27 perceptions diverge, the author hopes to help reduce misunderstandings. The paper concludes with some practical recommendations along these lines