Electoral Survival of the Most Corrupt Azerbaijan, Georgia, and American Regional Goals; Strategic Insights: v.2, issue 12 (December 2003)

This article appeared in Strategic Insights (December 2003), v.2 no.12Between 15 October and 2 November 2003, contentious elections took place in Azerbaijan and Georgia. Polling was accompanied by government intimidation, results falsification, and clashes between citizens and security forces. Both elections also came at a time when incumbent governments were weak. The election campaigns also drove regime rhetoric about simmering conflicts with neighbors (Azerbaijan) and breakaway groups (Georgia) farther to the right. Because of their strategic location at the nexus of South Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Georgia (along with Armenia) are the pivotal Caucasus countries, indispensable to American interests when it comes to energy, competitive diplomatic power projection, and the War on Terror. During the 1990s, access to Caspian oil and gas drove U.S. policy in Azerbaijan-Georgia. Post-9/11 priorities have hastened the development of American-Caucasus military ties through the Partnerships-for-Peace program and other bilateral initiatives. This document examines why the situation appears to have stabilized in repressive Azerbaijan, while events led to the exit of the incumbent regime in relatively more open Georgia. The document also examines what the evolving situation in Azerbaijan and Georgia means for U.S. strategy

Descifrando el fenómeno de los acaparamientos de tierras en el marco de la Unión Europea: : respuestas jurídico-políticas e incidencia de la producción de los biocombustibles

When we talk about land grabbing, or problems around land, we do not really think that this is a phenomenon that is also occurring within the EU, but rather we think mainly of other parts of the world, such as the Global South, Latin American states or Africa. However, the reality is that in Europe today, the concentration of land under increasingly large farms controlled by fewer hands (partly as a result of land grabbing and reduced access to land for small-scale food producers) is accelerating. The aim of our work is to provide an overall legal, social and political analysis of the phenomenon of land grabbing, particularly of agricultural land, within the EU, presenting the main legal and political challenges that arise ad intra.   We will also focus on the analysis of certain European Directives that have an impact on the Union's policy on biofuels and therefore also on possible ad extra land grabs that are carried out within the framework of the European Union. The issues presented in this work are complex and multidisciplinary, so we can approach them from different perspectives. However, in order to shorten the scope of the study, we have taken into account the basis of land grabbing within the framework of European Union law. In this sense, the scientific method that has been used is the legal-sociological one, insofar as it is the one that we consider the most appropriate for the multidisciplinary approach. This method consists of analyzing the current state of the rules and the interrelationship between the possible legal sources but taking into account the social, economic, political and historical elements that allow to explain the effectiveness, rationale and applicability of the rules. This work has also required the use of a variety of methodological techniques, such as social and legal analysis, legal deduction and induction, description and interdisciplinarity.Cuando se habla de acaparamientos de tierras, o de problemas en torno a la tierra, realmente no se piensa en que éste sea un fenómeno que se está produciendo también en el interior de la UE, más bien pensamos sobre todo en otras partes del mundo, como en el Sur Global, en Estados Latinoamericanos o en África. No obstante, la realidad es que en Europa hoy en día, la concentración de tierras bajo explotaciones cada vez más grandes controladas por menos manos (como resultado, en parte, del acaparamiento de tierras y de la reducción del acceso a la tierra para los pequeños productores de alimentos), se está acelerando. El objetivo de nuestro trabajo es ofrecer un análisis jurídico, social y político general del fenómeno del acaparamiento de tierras, sobre todo de las tierras agrícolas, dentro de la UE, haciendo una presentación de los principales retos jurídicos y políticos que se plantean ad intra. También nos centraremos en el análisis de ciertas Directivas Europeas que tienen incidencia en la política de la Unión sobre los biocombustibles y por tanto también en los posibles acaparamientos de tierra ad extra que se realicen en el marco de la Unión Europea.   Los temas presentados en este trabajo son complejos y multidisciplinares por lo que se pueden abordar desde diferentes perspectivas, sin embargo, hemos tenido en cuenta, para acortarlo al objeto de estudio, la base de los acaparamientos de tierras en el marco del derecho de la Unión Europea. En este sentido, el método científico que ha sido empleado es el jurídico-sociológico, en la medida en que es el que consideramos más apropiado para el enfoque multidisciplinar. Este método consiste en analizar el estado actual de las normas y la interrelación entre las posibles fuentes jurídicas, pero teniéndose en cuenta los elementos sociales, económicos, políticos e históricos que permiten explicar la eficacia, fundamentación y aplicabilidad de las normas. Para la elaboración de este trabajo también se ha requerido el empleo de técnicas metodológicas muy variadas, como el análisis social y jurídico, la deducción e inducción jurídica, la descripción y la interdisciplinariedad. &nbsp

What Georgians think about the Armenian Revolution

Armenia's "velvet revolution" will hardly have any direct impact on Georgia or on the state of Georgian–Armenian relations. However, the events that unfolded in their neighboring country fascinated and amazed the Georgians, even though they did not yet understand the significance of the events. The two countries share important similarities, and both use the other as a point of reference. Many Georgians compared the unfolding events in Armenia with their own "Rose Revolution" in 2003, as well as the two Ukrainian revolutions - the "Orange" and Euromaidan, in 2004 and 2014, respectively. Those revolutions mark critical points in the histories of these countries, albeit in different respects. How can Armenia change, and if it does, how will Georgians view those changes? I will discuss those questions from two perspectives: that of regional balance of power and that of the development of democratic institutions

L’implication de l’Union européenne dans la résolution des conflits au Caucase du Sud

L’Union européenne (ue) a joué un rôle premier comme médiateur dans la guerre qui a opposé en août 2008 la Géorgie et la Russie. Pourtant, l’ ue reste un acteur secondaire dans la région, peinant à s’immiscer dans les processus de résolution de conflit mis en place depuis la fin des différents conflits en Abkhazie, en Ossétie du Sud et au Nagorno-Karabakh. Cet article interroge l’échec relatif de l’ ue> à peser sur les processus de résolution des conflits gelés au Caucase du Sud. Il examine les logiques propres à l’ ue qui expliquent les impasses auxquelles elle doit faire face dans la région : les incertitudes et les ambiguïtés qui entourent la Politique européenne de voisinage (pev) et les autres instruments mobilisés au Caucase du Sud, les divisions et les concurrences intra-européennes.The European Union (eu) has played a central role in mediating the conflict between Georgia and Russia in August 2008. But the eu encounters difficulties and proves to be unable to define a set of strategies that gives it the role it would like to play in the different conflict resolution process in Abkhazia, South Ossetiya and Nagorno-Karabakh. This article intends to analyse the relative failure of the eu in this domain. It examines the logics particular to this supranational organization which could explain why the eu’s involvement in the South Caucasus’ conflict resolution could be considered to be a secondary one: the enp’s uncertainties and ambiguities; competitions between eu’s State-members, between the latter and the European institutions, or within institutions

From roses to bullets: the rise and decline of post-Soviet colour revolutions

The chapter explores the reasons for the colour revolutions’ successes and failures in the post-Soviet space. The article starts with an overview on the colour movement from the first stirrings to the present day. We then propose criteria that will be applied to our analysis, constructed on five variables. The factual analysis of individual countries that follows is built around these five variables

The Epidemiology of Cryptosporidiosis in Victoria, 2001-2009

Cryptosporidiosis is a protozoan parasitic infection that most commonly presents as gastroenteritis and less commonly infects the respiratory and biliary tracts. Enteric symptoms usually include diarrhoea, bloating, cramping, abdominal pain, vomiting and fever. The disease is usually mild and self-limiting but in immunocompromised individuals is prolonged and can lead to death. The infective dose in humans is low and the incubation period ranges from one to 12 days, with an average of seven days. The infectious period lasts from the onset of symptoms, as the oocysts are excreted in the stool, until several weeks after symptoms resolve. The oocysts are widespread and may remain infective outside the body for two to six months, particularly if the environment is moist. They are highly resistant to standard levels of chemical disinfection of water such as chlorine. Outbreaks have been reported in day care centres, and been associated with drinking water, recreational water (waterslides, swimming pools and lakes) and consumption of contaminated beverages. In Australia, increases in notifications tend to occur in the warmer months and over irregular cycles, with more than 3000 cases notified in Australia in 2002, 2005 and 2006. Cryptosporidiosis became notifiable in both Australia and Victoria in 2001, with more than 15,000 cases notified between 2002 and 2009. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology of notified cases of cryptosporidiosis in Victoria for the period 2001 to 2009 in terms of age, sex, location and season

Conflits ravivés, statu quo gelé : Relations russo-géorgiennes après la guerre

Les tensions accumulées dans les relations russo-géorgiennes ont abouti au déclenchement d’une guerre en août 2008, qui réduit les possibilités de Tbilissi de rétablir l’intégrité territoriale du pays. Les causes principales de la confrontation se situent en dehors du cadre strictement bilatéral, reposant plutôt sur le fait que la Transcaucasie est devenue une arène de compétition aussi ardue que dangereuse entre la Russie et les États-Unis. L’Abkhazie et l’Ossétie du Sud sont devenues des éléments de la stratégie de balancing que le Kremlin a adoptée depuis peu pour contrer la pression américaine. En offrant son appui aux séparatistes, Moscou préserve le statu quo sur le terrain, ce qui sert ses intérêts instrumentaux en ne laissant d’autre chance de règlement des conflits que la séparation.Tensions accumulated in Russian-Georgian relationship ended up with an armed conflict in August 2008. This armed confrontation seems to minimize Tbilisi’s possibilities to restitute Georgian territorial integrity. Numerous arguments exist that main causes of the conflict overcome Russian-Georgian bilateral relations, and the main reason of the confrontation is that Georgia has become an arena of competition between Russia and the United States. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are merely elements in the strategy of balancing that Kremlin has adopted to address American pressure in the region. By offering a definitive support to separatist republics, Moscow is preserving the status quo and securing Russian instrumental interests