History Teaches by Marc Trachtenberg
By Marc Trachtenberg
I started college at Berkeley in 1962 and by the end of my first year there I pretty much knew that I wanted to become an historian, and that in particular I wanted to study the history of international politics. There were times when I was not sure I would actually be able to spend my life in this field, but I did ultimately manage to get a good job and it still strikes me as a little amazing that society was willing to pay me, quite generously in fact, for doing something I really wanted to do.
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What Should CPC Learn from Bo's Removal?
By Wei Rixin
Whereas ultimately only history will shine light on the details of Bo Xilai's departure, it is safe to say even now that this episode reminds the CPC of the necessity and urgency of initiating overdue political reforms for China's long-term national interest as well as the good of the party.
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Misunderstanding Rationality: The Failure of Sanctions against Iran
By Nikolaj Werk
The West urgently has to rethink its understanding of rationality to fully grasp why its continued stricter sanctions on Iran are unlikely to bring about their intended outcome.
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Colombia and FARC: Will the Internal Conflict Reach an End?
By Robert Valencia
Though FARC still poses some degree of threat to the Colombian population, the revolutionary force no longer has the clout it possessed decades ago. The deaths of its rank and file members, its dwindling military power, and mounting rejection from Colombians leave little option for FARC but to reach a peaceful yet uneasy end to the conflict. Otherwise, the Santos administration—and perhaps ensuing administrations—will continue using cutting-edge weaponry that has so damaged FARC while utilizing civilian means to encourage guerrilleros to leave the organization’s ranks and reintegrate into Colombian society.
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The First Year of Insurgency in Syria: What Went Wrong?
By Ozge Zihnioglu
Despite their critical rhetoric and diplomatic gestures in protest the West and other Arab countries have failed to put an end to the Syrian leadership’s brutality in the more than a year since the start of the insurgency.
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A Third Way for the Middle East
By Dwight Bashir
The Arab Spring has reinvigorated debate about the relationship between religion and state across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Missing from the debate is the idea of a “third way” – the full embrace of freedom of religion as a universal right, with a robust competition among various religious perspectives in the marketplace of ideas.
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Turkey’s Reactions to the Arab Spring
By Sebnem Gumuscu
The Turkish government has been using different instruments, such as democracy promotion, Islamic solidarity, and economic interdependence to foster stability while playing for greater influence over the emerging regimes. Yet this instrumentalism, which benefits Turkey in the short term, unless well-balanced by tangible support from the Turkish state in treating the new regimes as equal partners, may decrease Turkish credibility in the medium to long term.
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Yes, You Can Say 'Genocide,' Mr. President.
By Mark Dietzen
Turkey’s state-sanctioned denial of its genocidal past and the hypocritical US failure to speak truthfully about the Armenian Genocide threatens the reputations of both as well as their respective capacities for regional and global leadership.
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Islamic Finance, Risk-Sharing, and International Financial Stability
By Hossein Askari
In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, the fundamental stability of the conventional financial system has been seriously questioned. Excessive leveraging, combined with an inherent asset-liability mismatch, exposes institutions to unsupportable risk, and threatens the overall soundness of the financial system.
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Should the International Criminal Court Impose Justice?
By Steven C. Roach
States adopt policies and strategies designed to serve primarily their own national interests. The International Criminal Court’s recent indictments of Omar al-Bashir and Moammar el-Qaddafi highlight growing concerns with some states’ strategies. My aim is to address these concerns as well as the changing, positive dynamics of imposing international justice.
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International Law at a Crossroads
By Oona A. Hathaway, Sabria McElroy, Sara Aronchick Solow
During the first hundred and seventy years of US history, courts generally applied a strong presumption that treaties could be used by private litigants to press their claims. That presumption began to erode in the wake of World War II, and in 2008 the United States Supreme Court effectively reversed it.
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Peacekeeping: A Barrier to Durable Peace?
By J. Michael Greig and Paul F. Diehl
It is important to recognize the distinctions between the short-term and long-term effects of peacekeeping missions and to understand the ways in which the presence of peacekeepers shapes the incentives of warring sides to reach peace agreements.
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From Oxfam to Exxon, UNICEF to Unilever, CARE to Carrefour: What Lessons Can Development Aid Organizations Pass On to International Businesses about Succeeding in Emerging Markets?
By Peter Uvin and Bhaskar Chakravorti
International development agencies have been at work in emerging and frontier markets for decades. Multinational corporations (MNCs) have only in the last decade focused their activities in these areas in anticipation of greater eco- nomic growth there.
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Confronting Evolving Threats to US Homeland Security
An Interview with Janet Napolitano on international cybersecurity threats, the Department of Homeland Security, immigration, and privacy.
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US Foreign Policy, State-Building, and Humanitarianism in Africa
An Interview with John Prendergast on US foreign policy toward Africa.
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China and Pakistan: Fair-Weather Friends
By Michael Beckley
Two assumptions dominate current debates on US foreign policy toward Pakistan. First, Pakistan shares a robust “all- weather” friendship with China centered on core national interests. Second, Pakistan’s ability to turn to China in times of need insulates it from US pressure and renders hardline US policies counterproductive.
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Negotiating the Insurgency: The Case for Settling Afghanistan’s War and Securing “Negative” Peace
By Jeffrey M. Bernstein
This article evaluates the logic of negotiations in Afghanistan’s counterinsurgency environment and argues that reaching “negative” peace through negotiated settlement is in the best interest of all relevant stakeholders. Rather than being seen as alternatives, negotiating and war fighting must be viewed along a continuum.
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The Forgotten History of Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations
By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Tara Vassefi
Pakistan’s historical and contemporary support for jihadi groups has caused US policy prescriptions over the past decade to focus prominently on the need to change Pakistan’s strategic orientation. In this article, the authors explore one aspect of Pakistan’s strategic calculations that has received insufficient attention in public debate: the degree to which Afghanistan’s aggressions against Pakistan have helped to shape the latter’s support for religious militant groups.
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