This book traces the development and impact of regional economic communities (RECs) in Africa and addresses a timely question: do REC members, and the REC itself, positively influence member states’ behaviors towards other members and more broadly, regionally and continentally due to REC membership? ‘Changing member states’ behaviors’ is measured across three ‘interconnected, fundamental dimensions of societal-systems’ proposed by Marshall and Elzinga Marshall in CSP’s Global Repot 2017. These are i) the persistence of conflict or its counterpoint, achieving peace, ii) fostering democratization and better governance, and iii) achieving socio-economic development and (as proposed by this research, a fourth dimension), iv) being active participants in multilateralism? Is membership in a REC ultimately beneficial to the member and other countries in the region? While there are no clear and obvious – at least, discernible traditional – benefits such as increase in trade (perhaps because Africa’s overall trade relative to the world is about 3 percent), there are other non trade benefits (e.g., decrease in conflict, coercion to take certain actions towards peace and refrain from others, coups and wars) presenting in REC member states. These in/actions, abilities, coercions, exclusions and cooperation instances are outlined and discussed in the book.
By virtue of its strategic location at the intersection of Europe and Asia, Turkey plays a pivotal role in the post-cold war system of states. It lies, one could say, at the epicenter of a series of conflicts, real and potential, in both continents. It also has enjoyed noticeable growth in both economic prosperity and democracy since 1980. And because Turkey has been, and remains, a faithful U.S. ally, Washington has called upon it to play a role in the Balkans, Near East, and former Soviet empire commensurate with its new-found political and economic development. "This report analyzes the implications of Turkey's policies and the reactions of Turkey's neighbors in three discrete chapters. The authors focus their conclusions and options for U.S. policymakers on the effect of Turkish policies in Europe, the Middle East, and the former Soviet republics The final chapter summarizes their conclusions with respect to the three regions that are so important in the search for peace and stability in these regions. "John W. MountcastleColonel, United States ArmyDirector, Strategic Studies Institute
Oil and the Kurdish Question critiques the conventional narrative of the Iran-Iraq War and the associated Anfal campaign. This narrative claims that in the last two years (1987-88) of the Iran-Iraq War the Ba’thists dominated the fighting using gas attacks. According to this narrative, the Ba’thists also used gas in a fearsome campaign of extermination against the Kurds of northern Iraq. This book argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the Iraqis trained hard to turn the tables on Iran in the last months of the war and won by superior generalship without the use of gas. Further, it was only when the Iranians conceded defeat that the Iraqi army went north and—in the space of nine days, using conventional arms—suppressed pockets of Kurdish insurgent unrest. The book also examines how publicists exploited the myth of the Kurdish holocaust as justification for America to declare war on Iraq. It exposes a scheme laid out before the war that aimed to defeat Iraq, deconstruct it, and create an autonomous Kurdish Regional Government which would then let lucrative oil concessions to interests mainly in the west. The intrigue accomplished two things: it subverted Iraq’s oil nationalization law which forbade granting concessions to foreigners, and it ended Iraq’s existence as a sovereign nation-state.
Turkey is a rising regional and global power facing, as is the United States, the challenges of political transitions in the Middle East, bloodshed in Syria, and Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. As a result, it is incumbent upon the leaders of the United States and Turkey to define a new partnership "in order to make a strategic relationship a reality," says a new Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)-sponsored Independent Task Force.
Relative to the average of the 1980s, U.S. government spending on international affairs has fallen nearly 20 percent in real terms and will decline by as much as another 30 percent under budget-balancing plans proposed by the president and Congress. An independent Task Force by the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations was asked to assess the consequences of this trend and to make appropriate recommendations. In its Statement, the Task Force concludes that the cuts adversely affect the ability of the United States to protect and promote its economic, diplomatic, and strategic agendas abroad. Unless the trend is reversed, American vital interests will be jeopardized.
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