java script is required for this page
Library Bulletins

Foreign Affairs Documentation Bulletin (November 2015)

Ministry of External Affairs Library
Patiala House
New Delhi

Foreign Affairs Documentation Bulletin
(November 2015)

 

CONTENTS
AFRICA1
ARAB WORLD2
ASIA3
ASIA PACIFIC4
AUSTRALIA5
BENIN13
BULGARIA14
BURUNDI15
CHINA16
COLOMBIA17
COTE D'IVOIRE18
ETHIOPIA19
EUROPE21
EUROPEAN UNION22
FOREIGN POLICY25
GHANA26
GUINEA27
INDIA28
ISRAEL31
LATIN AMERICA38
MALI42
MIDDLE EAST44
MOZAMBIQUE45
PAKISTAN46
ROMANIA47
RUSSIA48
RWANDA49
TUNISIA50
UGANDA51
UK52
USA53
AUTHOR INDEX
SUBJECT/KEYWORD INDEX

 

                AFRICA
                      -CIVIL VIOLENCE                                        

                                                                                               

                1.            Goldsmith, Arthur A      

                                     Elections and civil violence in new multiparty regimes: Evidence from Africa
                                    Journal of Peace Research,5, 2015: 607-621 ,52 , September

The introduction of multiparty competition around the world following the Cold War raises the specter of rising civil violence during election periods in emerging democracies and hybrid regimes. Yet there are also plausible theoretical reasons to expect dropping civil violence around elections in these states or, alternatively, no significant change in the level of such conflict. This article tests these hypotheses in Africa with the aid of event data on the daily rate of civil violence incidents (1997–2013). It asks if civil violence in that region is more frequent, less frequent or constant during election cycles compared to other times. To guard against definitional and data selection problems encountered in some prior cross-national studies of elections and use of force, the research design emphasizes the relative risk of social conflict at the national level. The analysis suggests three distinct patterns in Africa. Given countrywide norms, election periods in most countries run the same relative risk of a day with violent events as do non-election periods. A subset of African countries exists, however, with more civil violence during elections when judged against the national reference line for conflict. There is a smaller group of countries where the risk of electoral civil violence is comparatively low. While caution should be exercised in interpreting the findings, the policy implication is that no general reason exists to preclude or defer elections in Africa as a way to minimize social conflict associated with political campaigns, although there may be specific reasons to do so in particular countries.

***1. Africa-Civil violence 2. Africa-Elections 3. Africa-Electoral civil violence       

42541   

                                                                                               

ARAB WORLD
      -ELECTIONS                                 

                                                                                               

                2.            Miguel, Carolina de, Jamal, Amaney A and Tessler, Mark              

                                    Elections in the Arab World: Why Do Citizens Turn Out?                                                                                                                     Comparative Political Studies,11, 2015: 1355-1388 ,48 , September

 

This article examines the determinants of voting in competitive authoritarian regimes in the Arab world. In contrast to scholars who view elections in the Arab World purely as patronage contests, we argue that citizens also care about policy outputs and use turnout as a way to signal their approval or disapproval with the regime. We draw on the literature on economic voting in democratic regimes to develop an argument about economic voting under authoritarian conditions, and we propose a mediation model to get at the mechanisms of economic voting. We test our argument with original data based on surveys conducted in seven Arab countries between 2006 and 2009. Our results show that although patronage helps to explain turnout, especially among high-income citizens, policy outcomes are also important in the calculus of voting. Most voters turn out to vote to show approval of the regime and its economic performance.

***1. Arab World-Elections 2. Arab World-Electoral authoritarianism 3. Arab World-Electoral behavior

42511   

                                                                                               

                ASIA
                      -TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS-EUROPE                                            

                                                                                               

                3.            Simon, Luis        

                                    Europe, the rise of Asia and the future of the transatlantic relationship                                                                   
                                    International Affairs(UK),5, 2015: 969–989 ,91 , September

This article examines how, in a global strategic context presided by the rise of Asia and the US rebalance towards that region, Europeans are contributing to transatlantic burden-sharing—whether individually or through the EU/NATO. As Asian powers reach westward and the US shifts its strategic priorities eastward, classical geostrategic delimitations become gradually tenuous. Particularly important are the ‘middle spaces’ of the Indian Ocean, central Asia and the Arctic, in that they constitute the main avenues of communication between the Asia–Pacific and the European neighbourhood. The article seeks to understand how evolving geostrategic dynamics in Europe, the ‘middle spaces’ and the Asia–Pacific relate to each other, and how they might impinge on discussions on transatlantic burden-sharing. It is argued that the ability of Europeans to contribute                                                                          

                                    ***-Keywords/Subject                

                                                                                                               

to a more equitable transatlantic burden-sharing revolves around two main tenets. First, by engaging in the ‘middle spaces’, Europe's key powers and institutions are helping to underpin a balance of power in these regions. Second, by stepping up their diplomatic and economic role in the Asia–Pacific, strengthening their security ties to (US) regional allies and maintaining an EU-wide arms embargo on China, Europeans are broadly complementing US efforts in that key region. There are a number of factors that stand in the way of a meaningful European engagement in the ‘middle spaces’ and the Asia–Pacific, including divergent security priorities among Europeans, the impact of budgetary austerity on European defence capabilities and a tendency to confine foreign policy to the immediate neighbourhood. The article discusses the implications of those obstacles and outlines some ways in which they might be overcome.

 

***1. Asia-Transatlantic relations-Europe 2. Asia-Pacific-Middle spaces 3. NATO               

42546   

                                                                                                               

                ASIA PACIFIC
                      -TRADE RELATIONS                                  

                                                                                                               

                4.            Wesley, Michael              

                                                Trade agreements and strategic rivalry in Asia
                                                Australian Journal of International Affairs,5, 2015: 479-495 ,69 , October

 

The Asia Pacific is currently beset by two contradictory trends: growing economic interdependence and deepening strategic rivalry. Amidst these trends, new sets of regional trade agreements are being negotiated, primarily the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). This article argues that these proposals represent a third phase of competitive regionalism in the Asia Pacific, which will be more complex than the previous two rounds. This complexity is driven by two factors: this time, rivalry is not over scope or leadership but regional order; and this time there is a greater number of leading players in the rivalry.

 

***1. Asia Pacific-Trade relations 2. Asia Pacific-Trade agreement 3. Asia Pacific-Regional comprehensive economic partnership                                                  

                                                42500   

                                                                                                               

                AUSTRALIA
                      -FREE TRADE AGREEMENT                                    

                                                                                                               

                5.            Capling, Ann and Ravenhill, John              

                                                Australia's flawed approach to trade negotiations: and where do we sign?                                                           Australian Journal of International Affairs,5, 2015: 496-512 ,69 , October

 

Economists have warned for many years that preferential trade agreements (PTAs) will not necessarily increase economic welfare in Australia given the relatively small size of the economy and the country’s lack of negotiating coin. The Productivity Commission cautioned in its major report on PTAs that there seemed to be a mindset of ‘agreements for agreement’s sake’, in part because of fears of missing out on a bandwagon that has attracted Australia’s major trading partners. Political and security considerations have played an important role in shaping Australia’s approach to PTAs. When politics trumps economics in negotiations of PTAs there is a risk of a rush to premature agreement that produces sub-optimal outcomes, that undermines broader plurilateral and global negotiations, and that introduces new and undesirable distortions in trade and public policies. Various theoretical approaches to trade policymaking provide insights into why Australian governments have been willing to conclude these sub-optimal deals.

 

***1. Australia-Free trade agreement 2. Australia-Trade policy 3. Australia-Preferential trade agreement        
42501   

***-Keywords/Subject                

                                                                                               

                6.            Faunce, Thomas              

Australia's embrace of investor state dispute settlement: a challenge to the social contract ideal?
Australian Journal of International Affairs,5, 2015: 595-609 ,69 , October

 

This paper explores the origins of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) treaties and their implications for the Australian social contract. This analysis includes how and why ISDS emerged in NAFTA, was rebuffed with the failure of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), and became incorporated into most subsequent bilateral US trade and investment agreements. The paper considers Australia's exposure to ISDS—first through using it in bilateral investment agreements in nations with inadequate governance mechanisms to support the rule of law, then turning against it when a multinational tobacco company tried to use the mechanism to overturn scientifically endorsed, democratically approved and constitutionally validated tobacco plain packaging measures. The paper concludes by exploring the hypothesis that an alternative governance vision can be achieved in which the system of investment arbitration and trade law is made coherent with presumptively more democratically legitimate normative systems such as constitutional and international law.

***1. Australia-Free trade agreement 2. Australia-Investor state dispute settlement 3. Australia-Trade policy                                                       

42506   

                      -FREE TRADE AGREEMENT-USA                                          

                                                                                               

                7.            Moir, Hazel V J 

                                                The patent price of market access in the AUSFTA
                                                Australian Journal of International Affairs,5, 2015: 559-576 ,69 , October

 

New generation trade agreements reach far behind borders, affecting many areas of domestic policy not previously associated closely with trade. One of the most uneasy of these areas is intellectual property, particularly patent monopolies. The USA has been a major force behind the extended reach of patent monopolies using preferential trade agreements. The patent and data exclusivity provisions of the AUSFTA were proposed by the USA. This paper provides detailed evidence about how such ‘TRIPS+’ policies compare to a balanced patent policy—one equally favouring creators and users of technology. Australia has never had an active patent agenda, but since AUSFTA has been willing to accept in its bilateral and regional trade deals highly prescriptive rules that tie the hands of future governments. The overall trend has thus been toward increasing imbalance, with Australian patent policy now having a very broad reach and very low eligibility standards. This particularly affects the cost of medicines, where large numbers of relatively uninventive patents surround a blockbuster drug and delay the market entry of generic alternatives. In addition to outlining the costs of Australia’s current patent policy approach, the paper concludes by highlighting a more balanced and less costly way forward.

***1. Australia-Free trade agreement-USA 2. Australia-Innovation policy-USA 3. Australia-Trade policy                                                   

                                                42504   

                                                                                               

                      -TRADE POLICY                                          

                                                                                               

                8.            Mathews, John A            

                                                Trade policy, climate change and the greening of business
                                                Australian Journal of International Affairs,5, 2015: 610-624 ,69 , October

 

There is under way a worldwide greening of industry, driven by the huge demand generated by China and India as emerging industrial giants whose growth cannot be accommodated by ‘business as usual’ fossil-fuelled development—for reasons having as much to do with energy security as concerns over global warming and climate change. While the role played in this process by fiscal and industry policies (e.g. carbon taxes and other market-based incentives) is well understood (even if not pursued currently in Australia), the potentially powerful leverage to be exercised by trade policy is under-recognised. There are some positive developments such as a proposed Environmental Goods Agreement being discussed in Geneva, while there are negative developments

***-Keywords/Subject                

                                                                                                               

embodied in various bilateral and regional trade agreements such as the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, to which Australia has committed itself. There are rising levels of conflict over trade and climate change mitigation measures, in actions brought at the WTO against countries looking to promote green industries through measures like local content requirements being attached to foreign direct investment, or by countries imposing border tax adjustments against exporters who allegedly fail to implement carbon taxes. The issues involved are discussed in this paper and possible ways forward are proposed, along with some implications for Australia.

 

***1. Australia-Trade policy 2. Australia-Free trade agreement 3. Australia-Greening of business
42507   

                9.            Thurbon, Elizabeth         

The abandonment of procurement-linked strategic activism in Australia:
standing still with room to move
Australian Journal of International Affairs,5, 2015: 577-594 ,69 , October

 

In this paper I examine the extent to which preferential trade agreements (PTAs) limit the Australian government's ability to use public procurement for local industry development ends. I do so not only by examining Australia's PTA obligations, but also by examining how other governments with similar obligations—such as Korea—are using public purchasing policies to promote local industrial advancement. I find that the PTA obligations of the Australian and Korean governments leave them both significant scope to use public purchasing strategically. Interestingly, however, Australian policymakers have been standing still in the room that remains, and even abandoning PTA-compliant procurement-linked development policies. South Korean policymakers on the other hand have been capitalising on every inch of space left open to them—and even experimenting with new forms of strategic public purchasing that nonetheless comply with their international obligations. I conclude by offering some suggestions as to how we might explain these countries’ radically different approaches to procurement policy, despite their very similar international obligations.

***1. Australia-Trade policy 2. Australia-Industry policy-South Korea 3. Australia-Free trade agreement-South Korea
42505   

                                                                                                               

                      -TRADE RELATIONS-USA                                        

                                                                                                               

                10.          Armstrong, Shiro             

                                                The economic impact of the Australia–US free trade agreement
                                                Australian Journal of International Affairs,5, 2015: 513-537 ,69 , October

The Australia–United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) came into effect in 2005. It was the second preferential trade agreement that Australia signed, after its agreement with Singapore, and marked a departure from the primacy of Australia's previous trade policy of unilateral and multilateral trade liberalisation toward preferential liberalisation. This paper assesses the economic effects of AUSFTA by applying the Productivity Commission's gravity model of trade from its Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements review. The evidence reveals AUSFTA resulted in a fall in Australian and US trade with the rest of the world—that the agreement led to trade diversion. Estimates also show that AUSFTA is associated with a reduction in trade between Australia and the United States.

***1. Australia-Trade relations-USA 2. Australia-Trade policy-USA 3. Australia-Free trade agreement-USA              

42502   

                                                                                                               

                11.          Faunce, Tom     

How the Australia-US free trade agreement compromised the pharmaceutical
benefits scheme
Australian Journal of International Affairs,5, 2015: 473-478 ,69 , October

 

Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) has unquestioned democratic legitimacy as a piece of public health policy. The PBS was approved by a majority of people in a majority of States in the 1940's Constitutional referendum that added s 51 xxiiiA to the Constitution. Legislation based on that power to establish the PBS was deemed constitutional by the High Court of Australia after a series of challenges against it by the professional association representing Australian medical practitioners. The PBS has since been operating for over half a century to provide evidence-based, cost-effective and equitable access to healthcare for Australians. The scheme's success can partly                

***-Keywords/Subject                

                                                                                                               

be appreciated through lower average pharmaceutical prices for the government compared with other developed countries.

***1. Australia-Trade relations-USA 2. Australia-Trade policy-USA 3. Australia-Free trade agreement-USA
42499   

                12.          Weatherall, Kimberlee 

The Australia-US free trade agreement’s impact on Australia’s copyright trade
policy
Australian Journal of International Affairs,5, 2015: 538-558 ,69 , October

 

The Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) required extensive changes to Australian copyright law. This paper assesses the impact of these changes one decade on. It considers, first, whether the costs and/or benefits predicted in 2004 have eventuated, finding clear evidence that AUSFTA has undesirably constrained domestic copyright policy, but no clear evidence either of the feared financial costs to society, or, importantly, the touted benefits to copyright owners. The most significant impact of AUSFTA’s copyright provisions, however, appears to have been on Australia’s copyright trade policy. Pre-AUSFTA, Australia promoted multilateral standards and mostly sought to comply with, but not exceed, international IP standards. Post-AUSFTA, Australia has pursued an approach akin to that of the US: endorsing international copyright rules that are significantly stronger, and more detailed. The paper queries whether this shift has been in Australia’s national interest, and raises interesting questions of path-dependence in policymaking and trade negotiations that warrant more, and broader attention in the literature.

***1. Australia-Trade relations-USA 2. Australia-Copyright trade policy 3. Australia-Free trade agreement-USA              

42503   

                                                                                                               

                BENIN
                      -CAR TRADE                                 

                                                                                                               

                13.          Beuving, Joost  

American cars in Cotonou: culture in African entrepreneurship and the making
of a globalising trade
Journal of Modern African Studies,3, 2015: 317-338 ,53 , September

 

Traders in Cotonou (Bénin), a prominent hub in the Euro–West African second-hand car trade, traditionally sold cars imported from Europe. Since the 2000s however, more and more cars are being imported from the US. Anthropological study of one group of entrepreneurs active in this new business, traders from Niger, reveals an African entrepreneurship at work that follows a distinct social pattern: traders are groomed in close kinship ties in West Africa and then develop new social ties with overseas migrants. Their trade thus becomes embedded in more globalised networks, yet at the same time it loosens and that works against profitable business. Close analysis of their careers reveals a cultural pattern that compels entrepreneurs to become traders, economic opportunity notwithstanding. Whether this is representative of Africa's changing place in the global economic order remains to be seen; however, this article suggests how culture in entrepreneurship may be key to understanding that.

***1. Benin-Car trade 2. Benin-Entrepreneurship           

42534   

                                                                                                               

                BULGARIA
                      -ENERGY POLICY-RUSSIA                                      

                                                                                                               

                14.          Maltby, Tomas 

Between Amity, Enmity and Europeanisation: EU Energy Security Policy and the
Example of Bulgaria's Russian Energy Dependence
Europe-Asia Studies,5, 2015: 809-830 ,67 , July

Considering the development of the Bulgarian energy security strategy this article analyses how the country has adapted to EU membership and to energy security challenges, such as disruptions to Russian gas supplies in 2006 and 2009 and rising gas prices. Utilising a conceptual lens which synthesises Regional Security Complex Theory and Europeanisation, the article offers an explanation of energy policy changes. It concludes that conceptions of Russia as an energy security guarantor                                                                                                           

***-Keywords/Subject                                                                

have changed since Bulgaria's EU accession and that Bulgarian energy policy has undergone a qualified reorientation away from a positive dependence on Russian energy sources, towards a convergence with EU priorities of diversification and a single energy market.

***1. Bulgaria-Energy policy-Russia 2. European Union-Energy security policy 3. Bulgaria-Gas energy-Russia  

42551   

                                                                                                               

                BURUNDI
                      -SOCIOECONOMIC VULNERABILITY                                  

                                                                                                               

                15.          Grauvogel, Julia               

                                                Regional sanctions against Burundi: the regime's argumentative self-entrapment
                                                Journal of Modern African Studies,2, 2015: 169 - 191 ,53 , June

 

This paper examines the impact of regional sanctions on the trajectory of the Burundian regime following the 1996 coup. Despite the country's socioeconomic and geopolitical vulnerability, the Buyoya government initially withstood the pressure from sanctions. Through a vocal campaign against these measures, the new government mitigated the embargo's economic consequences and partially re-established its international reputation. Paradoxically, this campaign planted the seed for long-term comprehensive political concessions. While previous literature has attributed the embargo's success to its economic impact, the government actually responded to the sanction senders' key demand to engage in unconditional, inclusive peace talks once the economy had already started to recover. Based on a novel framework for studying the signalling dimension of sanctions, I show how the regime's anti-sanctions campaign, with its emphasis on the government's willingness to engage in peace talks, backfired, with Buyoya forced to negotiate after having become entrapped in his own rhetoric.

 

***1. Burundi-Socioeconomic vulnerability 2. Burundi-Geoplotical vulnerability 3. Burundi-Buyoya government      

42529   

                                                                                                               

               CHINA
                      -STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP-LATIN AMERICA                                 

                                                                                                               

                16.          Yu, Lei  

                                                China's strategic partnership with Latin America: a fulcrum in China's rise
                                                International Affairs(UK),5, 2015: 1047–1068 ,91 , September

 

China has over the last two decades been committed to creating a strategic partnership with Latin American states by persistently extending its economic and political involvement in the continent. China's efforts in this regard reflect not only its desire to intensify its economic cooperation and political relations with nations in Latin America, but also its strategic goals of creating its own sphere of influence in the region and enhancing its ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ power in order to elevate China's status at the systemic level. With access to Latin American markets, resources and investment destinations, China may sustain its economic and social progress that bases its long cherished dream of restoring its past glory of fuqiang (wealth and power) and rise as a global power capable of reshaping the current world system. The enormous economic benefits deriving from their economic cooperation and trade may persuade Latin American nations to accept the basic premise of China's economic strategy: that China's rise is not a threat, but an opportunity to gain wealth and prosperity. This will help China gain more ‘soft’ power in and leverage over its economic partners in Latin America, and thereby help it to rise in the global power hierarchy.

***1. China-Strategic partnership-Latin America 2. China-Economic relations-Latin America        

42547   

                                                                                                               

                COLOMBIA
                      -CIVIL WAR  
                                                                                                               

                ***-Keywords/Subject                

                                                                                               

                17.          Oppenheim, Ben et. at.               

                                                True Believers, Deserters, and Traitors: Who Leaves Insurgent Groups and Why
                                                Journal of Conflict Resolution,5, 2015: 794-823 ,59 , August

 

Anti-insurgent militias and states attempt to erode insurgent groups’ capacities and co-opt insurgent fighters by promising and providing benefits. They do so to create a perception that the insurgency is unraveling and to harness inside information to prosecute more effective counterinsurgency campaigns. Why do some insurgents defect to a paramilitary group and others exit the war by demobilizing, while still others remain loyal to their group? This article presents the first empirical analysis of these questions, connecting insurgents’ motivations for joining, wartime experiences, and organizational behavior with decisions to defect. A survey of ex-combatants in Colombia shows that individuals who joined for ideological reasons are less likely to defect overall but more likely to side-switch or demobilize when their group deviates from its ideological precepts. Among fighters who joined for economic reasons, political indoctrination works to decrease their chances of demobilization and defection to paramilitaries, while opportunities for looting decrease economically motivated combatants’ odds of defection.

***1. Colombia-Civil war 2. Colombia-Militias 3. Colombia-Internal armed conflict            
42526   

                                                                                               

                COTE D'IVOIRE
                      -ELECTIONS                                 

                                                                                               

                18.          Klaus, Kathleen and Mitchell, Matthew I              

Land grievances and the mobilization of electoral violence: Evidence from Côte
d’Ivoire and Kenya
Journal of Peace Research,5, 2015: 622-635 ,52 , September

 

Recent studies have asked why elites resort to violence, yet many overlook the process and dynamics of mobilizing violence. How do politicians convince their supporters to fight? This article argues that in multi-ethnic and democratizing societies where land and property rights are weak and politicized, land grievances can provide leaders with a powerful tool to organize electoral violence. We develop a theory to show how land grievances can give rise to violent mobilization when leaders frame elections as a threat to the land security of supporters or an opportunity to reclaim land or strengthen land rights. Conversely, land grievances are ineffective when citizens do not believe that elections signal a credible threat to their land security or an opportunity to strengthen land rights. We further specify how the type of land grievance shapes the logic and form of violent action. Grievances based on land insecurity shape a pre-emptive logic of violence, while grievances based on competing land claims often shape an opportunistic logic of electoral violence. The article examines the validity of our theory using a comparative case study between zones of escalation and non-escalation of violence during post-electoral crises in Kenya (2007–08) and Côte d’Ivoire (2010–11). By observing the variation between positive and negative cases, the article identifies factors that foment and constrain the mobilization of election violence.

***1. Cote d'Ivoire-Elections 2. Cote d'Ivoire-Electoral violence 3. Kenya-Elections 4. Kenya-Electoral violence            

42542   

                                                                                               

                ETHIOPIA
                      -GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT                                         

                                                                                               

                19.          Fourie, Elsje      

                                                China's example for Meles' Ethiopia: when development ‘models’ land
                                                Journal of Modern African Studies,3, 2015: 289-316 ,53 , September

The past decade has seen the rapid rise of concepts such as the ‘China Model’ and the ‘Beijing Consensus’, yet more recent trends suggest a waning of their popularity. This article finds that the problem with the literature on the China model lies less with the concept itself than with a tendency to apply the term in an atheoretical and unempirical manner. From 2005 until at least 2012, Ethiopian elites from the upper echelons downwards were indeed engaged in a conscious and voluntary attempt to emulate aspects of China's perceived developmental successes. Drawing on interviews with 46 such elites, as well as on theories of lesson-drawing and cross-societal emulation, the study suggests that China may act as an example to countries seeking to achieve rapid     

***-Keywords/Subject                                                                                                                

modernisation and to navigate the perilous waters of political and economic globalisation. It is only by historicising and contextualising the ‘China Model’ within the older story of selective incorporation by certain ‘latecomer’ countries, however, that its true influence – and limits – can be understood.

***1. Ethiopia-Growth and development 2. China-Economic and political system             

42533   

                                                                                                               

                      -PUBLIC ORDER POLICING                                                                                                     

                20.          Baker, Bruce     

                                                Unchanging public order policing in changing times in East Africa
                                                Journal of Modern African Studies,3, 2015: 365-389 ,53 , September

 

This article offers a political analysis of the practices and motives of public order policing in Ethiopia and Uganda. It offers an explanation of the continuation of forceful tactics against political protest in a context of changing methods of information gathering, organisation and mobilisation by urban activists resulting from their access to internet and communication technology. It finds the two regimes, as anocracies, are caught between legally allowing protest and yet, conscious of their fragility, determined to crush opposition. For the latter approach, their militarist leaderships rely heavily on continued police violence. The paper concludes that failure of the police to adapt their public order policing to the new protest environment leaves them increasingly ineffective and unpopular. It is likely to provoke an escalation of violence and may both undermine the legitimacy of their regimes and reverse their attempts to open political space that justified their rebellions against former autocracies.

 

***1. Ethiopia-Public order policing 2. Uganda-Public order policing        

42536   

                                                                                                               

                EUROPE
                      -DEMOCRACY AND VIOLENCE                                             

                                                                                                               

                21.          Bulutgil, H Zeynep          

                                                Social cleavages, wartime experience, and ethnic cleansing in Europe
                                                Journal of Peace Research,5, 2015: 577-590 ,52 , September

 

What explains ethnic cleansing? Recent research has used systematic evidence to explore the causes of civilian victimization and mass killings. Yet, comparable studies that focus on ethnic cleansing are still rare. This article conceptualizes ethnic cleansing as a group-level phenomenon that is distinct from civilian victimization or mass killings and studies its causes by using systematic evidence from Europe 1900–2000. The article makes two theoretical moves. First, it highlights the salience of non-ethnic cleavages such as social class as a background condition that has the ability to hinder ethnic cleansing. Second, it distinguishes between two causal mechanisms, one that considers wars as ‘strategic environments’ and the other as ‘transformative experiences’, that relate to the proximate causes of ethnic cleansing. Using original data from 20th-century Europe, the empirical analysis offers two main findings. First, it shows that salient social cleavages, measured through levels of land inequality, political competition, and support for left-wing parties, substantially decrease the risk of ethnic cleansing. Second, the analysis suggests that the arguments that underscore psychological mechanisms related to wartime experiences provide a better explanation for ethnic cleansing than the arguments that emphasize the role of strategic wartime aims. This finding is further supported by a brief discussion of key cases in which both causal mechanisms predict ethnic cleansing. The results highlight the importance of treating ethnic cleansing as a conceptually separate phenomenon and offer implications for the debate on democracy and mass ethnic violence.

***1. Europe-Democracy and violence 2. Europe-Social cleavages 3. Europe-Civilian victimization               

42540   

***-Keywords/Subject                

                                                                                               

                EUROPEAN UNION
                      -ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT-AFRICAN, CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC                                              

                                                                                               

                22.          Langan, Mark and Price, Sophia

Extraversion and the West African EPA Development Programme: realising the
development dimension of ACP–EU trade?
Journal of Modern African Studies,3, 2015: 263-287 ,53 , September

 

West African elites have successfully argued for an Economic Partnership Agreement Development Programme (EPADP) as part of free trade negotiations with the European Commission. ECOWAS officials state that the EPADP is necessary to realise the ‘development dimension’ of trade. In particular, they have (re)articulated Europe's own narratives relating to Aid for Trade and private sector development – insisting that the European Commission delivers on its promises. Accordingly, European negotiators have conceded the principle of the EPADP, stating that around €6•5 billion will be delivered. This article, however, examines the likely (in)capacity of the EPADP to meaningfully marry trade and development in the context of premature liberalisation under Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). Crucially, it argues that West African extraversion in terms of EPADP resources may entrench predatory elites while locking-in ECOWAS states into inequitable trade structures that re-embed poverty in the region.

 

***1. European Union-Economic partnership agreement-African, Caribbean and Pacific 2. European Union-Trade relations-African, Caribbean and Pacific 
 

42532   

                                                                                               

                      -NEOLIBERAL GOVERNMENTALITY                                    

                                                                                               

                23.          Isleyen, Beste  

The European Union and neoliberal governmentality: Twinning in Tunisia and
Egypt
European Journal of International Relations,3, 2015: 672-690 ,21 , September

As a response to the Arab uprisings that started in 2010, the European Union has emphasised, more determinated than ever, the urgency of inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development in the Arab region. The central objective of this article is to understand the nature and operation of European Union support for development following Arab mass movements. More specifically, it examines the European Union’s Twinning instrument in Egypt and Tunisia through a neoliberal governmentality framework, with a major focus on visualisations, technologies and subject formation. This approach enables us to observe the application of an agenda through which Twinning intervenes into non-economic domains of governance in the target countries and aims at shaping these spheres by economic rationalities and techniques. By constructing change around local governance capabilities, the Twinning programme acts upon individual skills, institutional arrangements and relationships, deploys benchmarking techniques, and empowers subjects and government behaviour in order to bring conduct to certain economic logics and exercises. The outcome is the rendering of Tunisian and Egyptian socio-economic development open to enterprise-based, calculative and professionalised operations that make local conditions serviceable to neoliberal governing patterns, linkages and practices of business, capital production and investment.

 

***1. European Union-Neoliberal governmentality 2. Tunisia-Socio-economic development 3. Egypt-Socio-economic development     

42516

               

                      -POLITICS AND POLICY                                           

                                                                                               

                24.          Pemstein, Daniel, Meserve, Stephen A and Bernhard, William T               

                                                Brussels Bound: Policy Experience and Candidate Selection in European
                                            Elections
                                                Comparative Political Studies,11, 2015: 1421-1453 ,48 , September

Parties in list systems must select candidates to best accomplish their electoral, organizational, and policy goals. In particular, parties must balance nominees’ policy-making potential against other aspects of candidate quality, such as electoral viability. We exploit the unique variation in candidates and parties in European elections to study this trade-off. We develop a statistical ranking model to examine how parties facing varying strategic contexts construct electoral lists and apply it to a novel data set chronicling the political backgrounds of candidates in the 2009 European parliamentary elections. Parties that place high salience on the target legislature, are well                                                                                           

***-Keywords/Subject                                                                                                                

positioned to influence policy once in office, and have less access to competing policy-making venues place particular emphasis on institution-specific policy-making experience relative to other types of candidate experience. This systematic variation in parties’ candidate nomination strategies may fundamentally alter legislative output and partisan policy influence.

***1. European Union-Politics and policy 2. European Union-Political parties      

42513                                                                                                   

                                                               

                FOREIGN POLICY                                             

                                                                                                               

                25.          Johnson, Jesse C             

                                                The cost of security: Foreign policy concessions and military alliances
                                                Journal of Peace Research,5, 2015: 665-679 ,52 , September

 

It is well recognized that military alliances can provide their members with important security benefits. However, less attention has been paid to the policy concessions states must grant others to enter into military alliances. To study this aspect of alliances, I develop a three-actor bargaining model of alliance formation that endogenizes both external threat and policy concessions. Specifically, a target state bargains with a potential defender over the concessions it must make to ally and then responds to a potential challenger. The model suggests that what is important for policy concessions in alliances is not just the power of the threatened state but its power relative to its challenger and how an alliance will change the distribution of power. I test implications of this model using data on promised policy concessions formalized in alliance treaties and find strong support for the hypotheses. More specifically, I find that states are willing to make more concessions in exchange for an alliance when they are unlikely to defeat their challengers alone and when their allies have a large effect on their probability of winning in war. These findings refine existing theories of alliances and offer the first large-N analysis of policy concessions in alliances.

***1. Foreign policy 2. Security

42543   

                GHANA               
                      -OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY                                       

                                                                                                               

                26.          Ablo, Austin Dziwornu and Overa, Ragnhild        

Networks, trust and capital mobilisation: challenges of embedded local
entrepreneurial strategies in Ghana's oil and gas industry
Journal of Modern African Studies,3, 2015: 391-413 ,53 , September

 

In December 2010 Ghana pumped its first oil and a local content law was passed in 2013 to promote local participation in the oil and gas industry. This paper examines Ghanaian entrepreneurial activities and the dynamics of local participation in the emerging oil and gas sector. We explore Ghanaian entrepreneurs' strategies of mobilising networks to acquire information, build trust, raise financial capital and reduce risk with the aim to gain entry, win contracts and participate in the oil and gas industry. We argue that the resources and strategies activated by entrepreneurs embedded in the context of the Ghanaian business environment are inadequate and problematic when deployed in the context of the international oil and gas industry. The international oil companies' cost-intensive standard requirements and state officials' informal interventions further limit local firms' prospects for participation in the oil and gas industry.

 

***1. Ghana-Oil and gas industry 2. Ghana-Entreprenership      

42537   

                                                                                                               

                GUINEA              
                      -BISSAU-DRUG TRAFFICKING
                                                                                                              

               

***-Keywords/Subject                

                                                                                               

                27.          Shaw, Mark       

Drug trafficking in Guinea-Bissau, 1998–2014: the evolution of an elite
protection network
Journal of Modern African Studies,3, 2015: 339-364 ,53 , September

 

Guinea-Bissau has been regularly described as a ‘narco-state’. Yet, few studies analyse how drug trafficking has evolved here. Based on extensive interviews in Guinea-Bissau over several years, this paper documents the process. It concludes that using the term ‘narco-state’, where much of the state has little or no capacity, is inappropriate. A better approach is to analyse the actions of key players as an elite protection network. In Guinea-Bissau, that network did not act on its own, but relied on a series of ‘entrepreneurs' who operated as an interface between traffickers and the elite. While the military as an institution is often said to be in charge of trafficking, exclusive control by high-ranking military personnel within the elite network only occurred relatively late. Senior soldiers' attempts to provide more than just protection, and to enter the drug market themselves, led to the network's undoing.

***1. Guinea-Bissau-Drug trafficking 2. Guinea-Bissau-Drug market       

                                                               

                                                42535   

                                                                                               

                INDIA                                   

                      -FOREIGN ECONOMIC POLICY                                             

                                                                                               

                28.          Nolke, Andreas et. at.   

Domestic structures, foreign economic policies and global economic order:
Implications from the rise of large emerging economies
European Journal of International Relations,3, 2015: 538-567 ,21 , September

 

The rise of the large emerging economies of Brazil, India and China can easily be counted among the most important contemporary structural changes in the global political economy. This article attempts to determine whether these countries have a common institutional model for governing their economies and addresses the implications of these commonalities for global economic institutions. The approach consists of three major steps: first, a general ideal type for encompassing capitalism in these large emerging economies is constructed, and dubbed ‘state-permeated market economy’; second, we compare these countries empirically, with regard to the features highlighted by the ideal type and in contrast to other varieties of capitalism; and, finally, we extrapolate some long-term implications for the global economic order, based on the assumption that foreign economic policies will be informed by domestic institutional structures. Based on these three steps, we conclude that a further deepening of the liberal global order is highly unlikely.

 

***1. India-Foreign economic policy 2. India-Global governance 3. China-Foreign economic policy 4. Brazil-Foreign economic policy  

42515   

                                                                                               

                      -MILITIA POLITICS                                     

                                                                                               

                29.          Staniland, Paul 

                                                Militias, Ideology, and the State
                                                Journal of Conflict Resolution,5, 2015: 770-793 ,59 , August

 

Research on militias portrays them as subservient proxies of governments used to achieve tactical goals. The conventional wisdom, however, ignores the diversity of state–militia relations. This article outlines four distinct strategies that states can pursue toward militias, ranging from incorporation to suppression. It then argues that regime ideology shapes how governments perceive and deal with militias. A new theory of armed group political roles brings politics back into the study of militias. Comparative evidence from India and Pakistan shows that varying regime ideological projects contribute to different patterns of militia–state relations. These findings suggest that political ideas ought to be central to the study of political violence, militias should be studied in direct dialog with other armed groups, and a traditional focus on civil war should be replaced by the broader study of “armed politics.”

 

***1. India-Militia politics 2. India-Militia-state relations 3. Pakistan-Militia politics 4. South Asia-Militia politics    

42525   

***-Keywords/Subject                

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                               

                      -POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT                                            

                                                                                                               

               30.          Thachil, Tariq and Teitelbaum, Emmanuel            

Ethnic Parties and Public Spending: New Theory and Evidence From the Indian
States
Comparative Political Studies,11, 2015: 1389-1420 ,48 , September

 

Social scientists largely see ethnic politics as inhibiting public goods provisioning within developing democracies. Such parties are thought to uniformly rely on distributing excludable benefits to co-ethnics, rather than on providing public goods to all. We argue that ethnic parties can vary substantially in how they mobilize support and behave in office. Much of this variation depends on the breadth of the identity they activate. Although “narrow” ethnic parties do indeed entrench patronage politics, the rise of more “encompassing” ethnic parties can actually improve levels of voter autonomy, expand the effective size of winning coalitions, and increase spending on broadly available public goods. We develop and test this argument with evidence from the Indian states, including a nationally representative survey of 20,000 Indian voters and a panel data set of 15 major states over four decades.

***1. India-Politics and government 2. India-Political economy 3. India-Politics of growth/development   

42512   

                                                                                                               

                ISRAEL
                      -JEWISH SETTLEMENT                                             

                                                                                                               

                31.          Friedman, Shimi              

                                                Hilltop youth: political-anthropological research in the hills of Judea and Samaria
                                                Israel Affairs,3, 2015: 391-407 ,21 , July

 

In the first decade of this century, a new social group, popularly called the ‘hilltop youth’, came to the attention of Israeli society. This group consisted of a small number of young people who took part in aggressive political actions including illegal settlement endeavours throughout Judea and Samaria. Before their arrival at the various wilderness outposts, these youth had not developed any political outlook in regard to Jewish settlement in these areas; it was only during their period of habitation did they tend to adopt and utilize views informed by ideological and cultural extremism. The manifestation of this socio-political phenomenon will be analysed from sociological and anthropological perspectives in order to shed light on social aspects of Israeli society, as well as to elucidate frequently unclear political and policy implications in the larger Middle Eastern context. In addition, this article describes the significance of a youth subculture that has emerged in this frontier political space, and which has often been cast in criminological terms. To buttress the claims advanced in this study, a psychological-sociological approach is also employed.
 

***1. Israel-Jewish settlement 2. Judea and Samaria-Jewish settlement              

42521   

                32.          Lebovitz, Asaf   

Regional framing: Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip in the eyes of the security
elite
Israel Affairs,3, 2015: 422-442 ,21 , July

 

The dominant societal discourse of actors comprising Israel's security networks influences their choices for solutions to the perceived existential threat to the state from the demands and actions of the Palestinian authorities. Israeli elites, who are identified with the liberal discourse, propose to solve this problem by withdrawing, either unilaterally or via a peace process, from the Judea and Samaria region conquered in the 1967 war. This discourse requires the ‘securitization’ of the political process and the framing of Israeli control of Judea, Samaria and Gaza as an existential burden. By framing the security narrative in this way, the liberal elite seeks to draw support from most Israelis, who subscribe to an alternative ethno-national discourse, for abandoning the region.

 

***1. Israel-Jewish settlement 2. Judea and Samaria-Jewish settlement              

42523   

***-Keywords/Subject                

                                                                                                               

                33.          Leon, Nissim     

Self-segregation of the vanguard: Judea and Samaria in the religious-Zionist
society
Israel Affairs,3, 2015: 348-360 ,21 , July

 

The religious-Zionist settlement movement combines revolutionary national action with a conservative, religious way of life. On the one hand, the leaders of the religious-Zionist settlement movement see themselves as spearheading a national mission with pan-Jewish significance. On the other hand, living in the movement's communities entails a certain degree of segregation from general society. A religious-Zionist settlement is also a community-based tool for Orthodox self-defence against what is perceived by a fundamentally conservative society as different and threatening to its religious way of life and continuity. A selective religious enclave, such as the religious-Zionist settlement, which is not too distant from the centres of employment, commerce, services, and entertainment in central Israel, is also an efficient arrangement for moderating friction with secular society. In addition, Judea and Samaria provide environments for the development of a distinctive suburban lifestyle among the religious-Zionist core populations, enabling them to be part of the new Israeli middle class at a price that young couples and (usually large) religious families can afford.
 

***1. Israel-Jewish settlement 2. Judea and Samaria-Jewish settlement              

42520   

                                                                                                               

                34.          Orkibi, Eithan    

Judea and Samaria in Israeli documentary cinema: displacement, oriental space
and the cultural construction of colonized landscapes
Israel Affairs,3, 2015: 408-421 ,21 , July

 

This article argues that Israeli documentary cinema represents Judea and Samaria as an oriental space. An analysis of some prominent films reveals common conventions used by filmmakers in the cinematic representations of the region. These conventions establish a series of distinctions between ‘here’ and ‘there’, such as domestic versus foreigner, familiarity versus strangeness, safety versus danger, and belonging versus alienation. The orientalization of Judea and Samaria is considered here as a rhetorical strategy that enables filmmakers to perform a cultural construction of the region as a colonized landscape.
 

***1. Israel-Jewish settlement 2. Judea and Samaria-Jewish settlement              

42522   

                                                                                                               

                35.          Pedahzur, Ami and McCarthy, Holly        

Against all odds – the paradoxical victory of the West Bank settlers: interest
groups and policy enforcement
Israel Affairs,3, 2015: 443-461 ,21 , July

 

The settlers constitute a minority group whose goals are becoming increasingly unpopular among Israelis. As a result, the degree of legitimacy granted to them by the government gradually eroded over the years. However, their project still thrives. Their impressive success can be attributed to their focus on the bureaucracy. As early as the 1960s, the settlers engaged in a constant effort to identify actors in state and semi-state agencies that had common interests with them. At first they mobilized supporters from within those agencies. Later they made any effort to fill available positions with their own people. Today, the settlers' movement in Israel has fused itself with the relevant elements within the bureaucracy to a degree that many state agencies serve as extensions of the settler movement.
 

***1. Israel-Jewish settlement 2. Judea and Samaria-Jewish settlement              

42524   
 

                      -JEWISH SETTLEMENTS          

                                          ***-Keywords/Subject                      

                                                                                               

                36.          Billig, Miriam     

                                                The Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (1967–2008): historical overview
                                                Israel Affairs,3, 2015: 331-347 ,21 , July

This study describes the establishment and subsequent growth of settlements in Judea and Samaria, areas captured from Jordan during the Six Day War in 1967. In particular, the motivations and processes of these undertakings are examined from three different perspectives: time, place and society. A distinction is made between settlements that were initiated or tacitly approved by the government and those that were undertaken by private organizations or individuals, often flaunting a government freeze on building. The relative impact of ideology versus pragmatic considerations in shaping colonization in this region is also assessed. Quantitative data on demographic developments are integrated into the presentations of various communal morphologies that constitute the physical configurations and social fabric of the settlement enterprise.

 

***1. Israel-Jewish settlements 2. Judea and Samaria-Jewish settlements          

42519   

                                                                                               

                37.          Meisels, Tamar

                                                Settlement in Samaria: the ethical dimension
                                                Israel Affairs,3, 2015: 313-330 ,21 , July

 

This essay presents the interests of settlers and settler nations in a new and favourable light, with reference to the Jewish settlements in Samaria in particular. It sets out two lines of argument supporting the inclusion of the Jewish settlement blocs in Samaria into the State of Israel. It argues that taking existing national settlements into account as a major factor in marking boundaries has both distinctly liberal foundations (in John Locke's Second Treatise) and liberal-national appeal. The paper also considers historical reasons for supporting the Zionist settlement project from the start, and within Samaria in particular. Finally, it addresses the complicated and controversial issue of settlement in disputed territories. Ultimately I suggest that Israel has a particularly strong case for entitlement to the territories to which it lays claim, though these interests must compete with countervailing considerations and may not always prevail.

 

***1. Israel-Jewish settlements 2. Israel-Disputed territories settlement             

42518   

                                                                                               

                LATIN AMERICA               
                      -ELECTION                                    

                                                                                               

                38.          Gonzalez-Ocantos, Ezequiel, Jonge, Chad Kiewiet de and Nickerson, David W    

                                                Legitimacy Buying: The Dynamics of Clientelism in the Face of Legitimacy Challenges
                                                Comparative Political Studies,9, 2015: 1127-1158 ,48 , August

 

Although elections have become the norm not only in democratic regimes but also in autocratic ones, the legitimacy of the electoral process in different countries is often contested. Facing strong international pressures to prove democratic credentials, eventual winners have a strong incentive to ensure high levels of voter turnout. Conversely, leaders of parties likely to lose the election have an incentive to reduce turnout—for example, through boycotts—to delegitimize the election. In such situations, turnout is a major dimension of competition. To overcome the potential delegitimizing effects of low turnout, incumbents will often turn toward clientelistic mobilization, as high turnout can be a powerful rejoinder to those who denounce elections as a sham and can put observers’ concerns about the legitimacy of the electoral process to rest. We develop a theory to explain how such campaigns will target particularistic benefits. We argue that what we term “legitimacy buying” will be primarily aimed at “staunching the bleeding” of supporters who are usually consistent voters but have doubts about the legitimacy of the election. This theoretical prediction departs from theories used to explain vote buying in contexts in which the legitimacy of the elections is largely uncontested by significant groups in society. The theory is supported by data from a list experiment on vote buying conducted after the Honduran 2009 elections, which occurred in the wake of President Zelaya’s ousting and in the midst of a boycott promoted by his supporters.

***1. Latin America-Elections 2. Latin America-Voting Behavior 3. Latin America-Politics


***-Keywords/Subject                

42509   

                                                                                                               

                      -POLITICS                                     

                                                                                                               

                39.          Cordova, Abby and Hiskey, Jonathan     

                                                Shaping Politics at Home: Cross-Border Social Ties and Local-Level Political Engagement
                                                Comparative Political Studies,11, 2015: 1454-1487 ,48 , September

 

The dramatic rise of democratic regimes around the world has coincided with an equally significant increase in migration, characterized by an unprecedented movement of people from emerging to established democracies. Through analysis of survey data from six Latin American countries, we offer an empirical evaluation of theoretical mechanisms through which migration can shape the political behaviors of non-migrants in sending nations. We find that individuals who have strong cross-border ties that connect them with relatives living in the United States are more likely to participate in local politics, sympathize with a political party, and persuade others to vote for a party. Those effects are influenced by the positive impact of cross-border ties on civic community involvement, political interest, and political efficacy. Moreover, the evidence suggests that frequent usage of the Internet among non-migrants with strong cross-border ties results in increased political knowledge, which contributes to their greater political interest and efficacy.

 

***1. Latin America-Politics 2. Latin America-Political behavior 3. Latin America-Political engagement     

42514   

                                                                                                               

                40.          Holland, Alisha C and Palmer-Rubin, Brian            

                                                Beyond the Machine: Clientelist Brokers and Interest Organizations in Latin America
                                                Comparative Political Studies,9, 2015: 1186-1223 ,48 , August

 

Organizational membership is one of the strongest, yet overlooked, predictors of vote buying across Latin America. We argue that this relationship is driven by the fact that politicians outsource some of their vote-buying efforts to interest associations. In contrast to the existing literature that focuses on party brokers, who are loyal to a single political machine, we introduce the concepts of organizational brokers, who represent interest associations and renegotiate ties to political parties between election cycles, and hybrid brokers, who split their loyalties between an interest association and a single political party. We illustrate the operation of these alternative broker types through case studies of street-vending organizations in an uninstitutionalized party system, Colombia, and peasant organizations in an institutionalized party system, Mexico. Attention to the role of brokers and the organizations that they represent has implications for political accountability, collective action, and the persistence of clientelism.

 

***1. Latin America-Politics 2. Latin America-Political party system          

42510   

                                                                                                               

                41.          Joby Schaffer and Andy Baker   

                                                Clientelism as Persuasion-Buying: Evidence From Latin America
                                                Comparative Political Studies,9, 2015: 1093-1126 ,48 , August

 

In distributing clientelistic payoffs to citizens, the best strategy a party machine can pursue, we argue, is to target citizens who are opinion-leading epicenters in informal conversation networks. This persuasion-buying strategy carries the highest potential yield for the party because the payoff can create a social multiplier: The effect of the clientelistic gift can be magnified via the conversion of multiple voters within a payoff recipient’s personal networks. Using cross-sectional survey data from 22 Latin American countries and a panel survey from Mexico, we confirm that individuals who engage in frequent political persuasion and who are located in large political discussion networks are the most likely recipients of clientelistic payoffs. We also show that a finding that is key to previous theories, namely, that loyal partisans are the most likely targets of clientelism, is driven by omitted-variable and endogeneity bias.

 

***1. Latin America-Politics 2. Latin America-Persuasion buying strategy 3. Latin America-Voting behavior             

42508   

***-Keywords/Subject                

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                               

                MALI
                      -DEMOCRACY                                             

                                                                                                               

                42.          Wing, Susanna D             

                                                ‘Hands off my constitution’: Constitutional reform and the workings of democracy in Mali
                                                Journal of Modern African Studies,3, 2015: 451-475 ,53 , September

 

Constitutions in Africa are often considered fragile. Mali is an example of both constitutional crisis and constitutional durability. While Mali was upheld as a democratic model, the 2012 military coup might lead one to argue that Mali's recent history reflects constitutional weakness. However, the swift reinstatement of the constitution, popular commitment to its preservation, and attempts to pursue the post-coup transition in a constitutional manner all illustrate the domestic and international legitimacy of Mali's 1992 constitution. This article analyses the process of the proposed Malian constitutional referendum that, though constitutional in itself, contributed to the March 2012 overthrow of President Touré. It argues that the history of participatory constitutionalism in Mali contributed to the movement against the referendum. Constitutional reform is a necessity for an enduring constitution and this article sheds light on constitutional reform in states with weak legislatures, and illustrates the process of reform and the political divide that surrounded it in Mali. It provides a unique analysis of the crisis in Mali while at the same time making a contribution to our understanding of constitutionalism and constitutional reform in Africa.

***1. Mali-Democracy 2. Mali-Constitutional reform      

42539   

                                                                                                               

                      -ISLAMIC INSURGENCY                                          

                                                                                                               

                43.          Boeke, Sergei and Schuurman, Bart        

                                                Operation ‘Serval’: A Strategic Analysis of the French Intervention in Mali, 2013–2014
                                                Journal of Strategic Studies,6, 2015: 801-825 ,38 , October

 

In 2013, France launched Operation ‘Serval’ to halt the southwards advance of Islamist insurgents in Mali. Using a Clausewitzian analytical framework, this article provides an assessment of France’s political and military aims in Mali and the degree to which they have been attained. Clear political goals, coordinated international diplomacy, an effective use of military force and blunders by the rebel forces turned ‘Serval’ into a short-term success. Strategically, however, the mission has proven unable to address the conflict’s underlying causes. Serval’s long-term effect is probably better measured by what it prevented than what it contributed.

***1. Mali-Islamic Insurgency 2. Mali-Operation serval 3. Diplomacy                       

42544   

                                                                                                               

                MIDDLE EAST
                      -ENERGY SECURITY                                  

                                                                                                               

                44.          Cheon, Andrew and Urpelainen, Johannes         

                                                Escaping Oil’s Stranglehold: When Do States Invest in Energy Security?
                                                Journal of Conflict Resolution,6, 2015: 953-983 ,59 , September

 

Modern economies and militaries are fundamentally dependent on oil, but the study of energy security has fallen out of favor in the field of international relations. We develop and test a theory of when and how states invest in energy security. We argue that states implement policies to improve their energy security when they perceive a risk of a militarized dispute and international oil markets are dominated by a small number of Middle Eastern producers. Empirically, we show that industrialized countries with reasons to worry about their security have significantly increased their public investment in energy research and development in response to an increase in the Middle East’s share of the world oil supply.

 

***1. Middle East-Energy security 2. Middle East-Energy Research and development    

42527   

                                                                                                               

                                                ***-Keywords/Subject                

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                               

                MOZAMBIQUE
                      -LAND LAW, 1997                                      

                                                                                                               

                45.          Kaarhus, Randi and Dondeyne, Stefaan

Formalising land rights based on customary tenure: community delimitation and
women's access to land in central Mozambique
Journal of Modern African Studies,2, 2015: 193-216 ,53 , June

 

he Mozambican Land Law of 1997 intends to provide flexible rules of access to land, while securing local people's customary rights, as well as equal rights for women and men. Drawing on participant observation during a ‘land delimitation’ process in central Mozambique, this article analyses the complex negotiation ensuing from the implementation of the Land Law in a local community. It shows how the delimitation process provided spaces for asserting – male – roles of power and authority, while local women were increasingly marginalised in the process. By presenting oral testimonies from women in the community, the authors seek to balance the account, providing women's perspectives on the highly gendered character of interests in, access to, and exclusion from land. The analysis ends with the question: What would be required to provide a space for local women to articulate their interests in a secure access to land during the delimitation process itself?

 

***1. Mozambique-Land law, 1997 2. Mozambique-Land rights

42530   

                PAKISTAN
                      -US DRONE ATTACKS                                               

                                                                                                               

                46.          Fair, C Christine, Kaltenthaler, Karl and Miller, William    

                                                Pakistani Political Communication and Public Opinion on US Drone Attacks
                                                Journal of Strategic Studies,6, 2015: 852-872 ,38 , October

 

Conventional wisdom holds that Pakistanis are overwhelmingly opposed to American drone strikes in their country’s tribal areas and that this opposition is driven by mass media coverage of the loss of life and property the strikes purportedly cause. Using an approach based in the literature in political communication and public opinion, we argue this conventional wisdom is largely inaccurate. Instead, we contend that awareness of drone strikes will be limited because Pakistan is a poor country with low educational attainment, high rates of illiteracy and persistent infrastructure problems that limit access to mass media. Moreover, because of these same country characteristics, Pakistanis’ beliefs about drone strikes will be shaped primarily by informal, face-to-face political communication, rather than through more formal media sources. We test this argument using data that we collected by fielding a 7,656 respondent, nationally-representative survey carried out in Pakistan in 2013. The results of the statistical analysis support our arguments.

 

***1. Pakistan-US Drone attacks 2. Pakistan-Counter terrorism 3. Pakistan-Public opinion on drone attacks 

42545   

                ROMANIA
                      -POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT                                            

                                                                                                               

                47.          Hein, Michael   

The Fight Against Government Corruption in Romania: Irreversible Results or
Sisyphean Challenge?
Europe-Asia Studies,5, 2015: 747-776 ,67 , July

The fight against political, especially government, corruption has dominated Romanian political discourse for many years. However, the vast majority of the political elite have continuously opposed the prosecution and conviction of defendants of corruption crimes. After a long constitutional conflict that seriously inhibited the fight against government corruption between 2006 and 2009, law enforcement agencies finally began to experience some success. Nevertheless, the extent of government corruption has remained consistently high. This article analyses the struggles that have occurred between 2004 and 2013 in the fight against government corruption in Romania and particularly examines the interplay between formal and informal factors in this field.

 

***1. Romania-Politics and government 2. Romania-Government corruption 3. Romania-Anti corruption policy                                                                                                                             

***-Keywords/Subject                

42549   

                                                                                                               

               RUSSIA
                      -FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT                                         

                                                                                                               

                48.          Smith, Natalya and Thomas, Ekaterina   

The Role of Foreign Direct Investment and State Capture in Shaping Innovation
Outcome in Russia
Europe-Asia Studies,5, 2015: 777-808 ,67 , July

 

This article explores the linkage between foreign direct investment, grand corruption (that is, state capture) and innovation in Russia's regions in between 1997 and 2010. The results indicate that during the period under investigation both foreign direct investment and state capture were the significant determinants of innovation outcome. What is also interesting is that a positive impact of state capture on innovation through foreign firms, and a negative impact—through exporting—was observed.

***1. Russia-Foreign direct investment 2. Russia-State capture

42550   

                                                                                                               

                RWANDA
                      -PARTY CAPITALISM                                

                                                                                                               

                49.          Behuria, Pritish

                                                Between party capitalism and market reforms – understanding sector differences in Rwanda
                                                Journal of Modern African Studies,3, 2015: 415-450 ,53 , September

 

Different strategies have been used by the Rwandan government to promote capitalist accumulation. In some sectors, party and military owned enterprises are predominant. In others, the government has chosen to embrace market-led reforms. Ultimately, the vulnerability experienced by ruling elites contributes to the choice of how capital accumulation is promoted in different sectors. Ruling elites use party and military enterprises to centralise rents and establish control over the direction of economic policy. However, centralising rents is a political choice and excludes individuals from developing access to rents. The pyrethrum sector shows that the use of such groups has resulted in unequal outcomes despite increases in productivity. Reduced international prices have stunted further productivity. Conversely, the mining sector shows evidence of the pursuit of market-led reforms. These reforms have been accompanied by rapid growth in domestic production and exports. Foreign investment was necessary in order to bring capital and expertise to the sector. However, the government has struggled to retain the capacity to enforce legislation and discipline foreign investors in line with national priorities. Both sectors show evidence that ruling elites have been prompted by vulnerability to commit to economic development. Constraints that have accompanied strategies pursued in these sectors have forced the government to work ‘reactively’ to achieve strategic targets.

 

***1. Rwanda-Party capitalism 2. Rwanda-Market reforms         

42538   

                                                                                                               

                TUNISIA
                      -MEDIA FREEDOM                                    

                                                                                                               

                50.          Kim, HeeMin, Whitten-Woodring, Jenifer and James, Patrick     

                                                The Role of Media in the Repression–Protest Nexus: A Game-theoretic Model
                                                Journal of Conflict Resolution,6, 2015: 1017-1042 ,59 , September

Idealized independent media function as “watchdogs.” Indeed, human rights nongovernmental organizations have argued that media freedom will improve human rights. This makes sense intuitively, yet recent formal and empirical studies show that the effect of independent media varies across regime types. We explore the relationship among media, government, and citizen protest movements and employ a game-theoretic model to investigate how the equilibria vary depending on regime type and media independence. In terms of equilibrium, we find that media watchdogging is most active in autocracies (and not in democracies), especially when the government’s perceived             

                                                                                                               

               

***-Keywords/Subject                

                                                                                                               

capability to repress public protest is declining. Uncertainty about the government’s ability to repress plays a central role in accounting for the manifestation of media watchdogging in conjunction with public protest. Illustrations from Tunisia and North Korea are provided to highlight equilibria derived from the formal model that vary as a product of perceptions about the government’s ability to repress.

 

***1. Tunisia-Media freedom 2. North Korea-Media freedom 3. Tunisia-Government repression on media 4. North Korea-Government repression on media             

42528   

                                               

                                                                                                               

                UGANDA
                      -FOOD INSECURITY                                  

                                                                                                               

                51.          Pottier, Johan   

                                                Coping with urban food insecurity: findings from Kampala, Uganda
                                                Journal of Modern African Studies,2, 2015: 217-241 ,53 , June

 

Research carried out in two densely populated wards of Kampala in 2012 shows that food-insecure households dropped, or significantly decreased, their consumption of matoke, the plantain staple, soon after its availability declined and the market price rose. They shifted to a diet for which the base was a stiff maize porridge (posho), eating just one meal a day. Many such households were headed by grandparents, single grandmothers especially. For the full set of household heads interviewed (118), access to rural family land (kibanja) stood out as critical for achieving year-round urban food security. With few exceptions, households that farmed ‘at home’ – about half the sample – saw themselves as food secure. Access negotiations, however, could be difficult, especially for women. The growing number of grandparents responsible for raising grandchildren and nieces/nephews, many of whom were orphaned, has given rise to a new discourse whereby care is increasingly given to maternal grandchildren.

 

***1. Uganda-Food insecurity 2. Uganda-Urban food insecurity               

42531   

                                                                                                               

                UK
                      -FOREIGN POLICY-SYRIA                                       

                                                                                                               

                52.          Strong, James   

                                                Interpreting the Syria vote: parliament and British foreign policy
                                                International Affairs(UK),5, 2015: 1123–1139 ,91 , September

 

This article presents three distinct interpretations of how parliamentary war powers affect British foreign policy more generally, based on a detailed analysis of the debate preceding the vote in parliament in August 2013 on whether Britain should intervene in the Syrian civil war. The first interpretation treats parliament as a site for domestic role contestation. From this perspective, parliamentary war powers matter because they raise the significance of MPs' doubts about Britain's proper global ‘role’. The second interpretation treats parliament as a forum for policy debate. There is nothing new about MPs discussing international initiatives. But now they do more than debate, they decide, at least where military action is involved. From this perspective, parliamentary war powers matter because they make British foreign policy more cautious and less consistent, even if they also make it more transparent and (potentially) more democratic in turn. The final interpretation treats parliament as an arena for political competition. From this perspective, parliamentary involvement exposes major foreign policy decisions to the vagaries of partisan politicking, a potent development in an era of weak or coalition governments, and a recipe for unpredictability. Together these developments made parliament's war powers highly significant, not just where military action is concerned, but for British foreign policy overall.

 

***1. UK-Foreign policy-Syria 2. Syria-US led military campaign 

42548   

***-Keywords/Subject                

                                               

                                               

                USA
                      -FOREIGN POLICY-CHINA                                      

                                                                                               

                53.          Wei, Chi-hung  

                                                Engaging a State that Resists Sanctions Pressure: US Policy toward China, 1992−1994
                                                Millennium: Journal of International Studies,2, 2015: 429-449 ,43 , January

 

Why did President Bill Clinton, while having linked human rights to China’s most-favoured-nation (MFN) status in 1993, delink the two issues in 1994, despite the fact that China had not improved its human rights record? This article explains Clinton’s linkage-delinkage policy reversal in terms of ‘strategic co-constitution’. After Tiananmen, Washington was concerned about China’s human rights abuses, arms proliferation and unfair trade practices. During 1992−3, Clinton initiated a ‘strategic social construction’ process that translated human rights into the linkage policy. Clinton stressed that a humane, democratic China would neither proliferate weapons nor engage in unfair trade practices. In 1994, however, a pro-MFN coalition persuaded Clinton that open trade could better advance US security, economic and human rights interests in China. Framing their rhetoric in ways that resonated with the exiting US concerns over China, pro-MFN actors led a strategic social construction process that redefined Clinton’s China policy toward engagement.

***1. USA-Foreign policy-China 2. USA-Foreign relations-China 3. USA- Linkage policy-China      

42552   

                                                                                               

                      -FOREIGN POLICY-NON-STATE ALLIES                                             

                                                                                               

                54.          Grynaviski, Eric 

                                                Brokering cooperation: Intermediaries and US cooperation with non-state allies, 1776–1945
                                                European Journal of International Relations,3, 2015: 691-717 ,21 , September

 

International Relations scholars tend to focus their attention on agents with institutional sources of power, such as presidents. Yet, decades of scholarship in other fields has shown that ordinary individuals–traders, missionaries, and soldiers–often have the ability to shape international cooperation and conflict. Under what conditions do individuals distant from institutional power shape international politics? I argue that intermediaries — key figures who broker deals between parties — are crucial for cooperation when information is low and contact between the parties is sparse. To demonstrate the argument that intermediaries matter, I investigate alliances between the US and its non-state allies — non-state political communities abroad and in North America — between 1776 and 1945. In each case, there are intermediaries who are uniquely suited to broker cooperation by identifying partners for cooperation, explaining others’ interests, providing reassurances, and managing identity issues. These intermediaries are often those who we tend to think of as unimportant political agents. However, because they fill key information roles, they have unexpected sources of political power. Using four case studies, I test to see whether intermediaries’ perform

 

***1. USA-Foreign policy-Non-state allies 2. USA-Miltary policy-Non-state allies              

42517   

                                    ***-Keywords/Subject

AUTHOR INDEX

Ablo, Austin Dziwornu26
Andy Baker41
Armstrong, Shiro10
Baker, Bruce20
Behuria, Pritish49
Bernhard, William T24
Beuving, Joost13
Billig, Miriam36
Boeke, Sergei43
Brink, Tobias Ten28
Bulutgil, H Zeynep21
Capling, Ann5
Cheon, Andrew44
Claar, Simone28
Cordova, Abby39
Dondeyne, Stefaan45
Fair, C Christine46
Faunce, Thomas6
Faunce, Tom11
Fourie, Elsje19
Friedman, Shimi31
Goldsmith, Arthur A1
Gonzalez-Ocantos, Ezequiel38
Grauvogel, Julia               15
Grynaviski, Eric54
Hein, Michael47
Hiskey, Jonathan39
Holland, Alisha C40
Isleyen, Beste23
Jamal, Amaney A2
James, Patrick50
Joby Schaffer41
Johnson, Jesse C25
Jonge, Chad Kiewiet de38
Kaarhus, Randi45
Kaltenthaler, Karl46
Kim, HeeMin50
Klaus, Kathleen18
Langan, Mark22
Lebovitz, Asaf32
Leon, Nissim33
AUTHOR INDEX 
Maltby, Tomas14
Mathews, John A8
May, Christian28
McCarthy, Holly               35
Meisels, Tamar37
Meserve, Stephen A24
Miguel, Carolina de2
Miller, William46
Mitchell, Matthew I18
Moir, Hazel V J7
Nickerson, David W38
Nolke, Andreas28
Oppenheim, Ben17
Orkibi, Eithan34
Overa, Ragnhild26
Palmer-Rubin, Brian40
Pedahzur, Ami35
Pemstein, Daniel24
Pottier, Johan51
Price, Sophia22
Ravenhill, John5
Schuurman, Bart43
Shaw, Mark27
Simon, Luis3
Smith, Natalya48
Staniland, Paul29
Steele, Abbey17
Strong, James52
Teitelbaum, Emmanuel30
Tessler, Mark2
Thachil, Tariq30
Thomas, Ekaterina48
Thurbon, Elizabeth9
Urpelainen, Johannes44
Vargas, Juan F17
Weatherall, Kimberlee12
Wei, Chi-hung53
Weintraub, Michael17
Wesley, Michael4
Whitten-Woodring, Jenifer50
Wing, Susanna D42
Yu, Lei16

SUBJECT/KEYWORD INDEX

 
Africa
     -Civil violence
1

Arab World
     -Elections

2
Asia
    -Transatlantic relations-Europe
3
Asia Pacific
    -Trade relations
4
Australia 
   -Free trade agreement5-6
   -Free trade agreement-USA7
   -Trade policy8-9
   -Trade relations-USA10-12
Benin
    -Car trade
13
Bulgaria
    -Energy policy-Russia
14
Burundi
    -Socioeconomic vulnerability
15
China
    -Strategic partnership-Latin America
16
Colombia
    -Civil war
17
Cote d'Ivoire
    -Elections
18
Ethiopia
    -Growth and development
19
    -Public order policing20
Europe
    -Democracy and violence
21
European Union 
    -Economic partnership agreement-African, Caribbean and Pacific22
    -Neoliberal governmentality23
    -Politics and policy24
Foreign policy25
Ghana
    -Oil and gas industry
26
Guinea
    -Bissau-Drug trafficking
27
India 
    -Foreign economic policy28
    -Militia politics29
    -Politics and government30
SUBJECT/KEYWORD INDEX 
Israel
    -Jewish settlement
31-35
    -Jewish settlements36-37
Latin America
    -Elections
38
    -Politics39-41
Mali
    -Democracy
42
    -Islamic Insurgency43
Middle East
    -Energy security
44
Mozambique
    -Land law, 1997
45
Pakistan
    -US Drone attacks
46
Romania
    -Politics and government
47
Russia
    -Foreign direct investment
48
Rwanda
    -Party capitalism
49
Tunisia
    -Media freedom
50
Uganda
    -Food insecurity
51
UK
    -Foreign policy-Syria      
52
USA
    -Foreign policy-China
53
    -Foreign policy-Non-state allies54

 

 
 
MEAs App twitter Facebook Google plus YouTube flickr