Libri

The History of BUNCIN: The US Bureau of Narcotics Covert Intelligence Network – Open Democracy

In the Watergate summer of 1972, President Richard Nixon’s adviser for law enforcement, Egil Krogh, and his band of Merry Pranksters, commonly known as the Plumbers, were dreaming up new ways to merge the war on drugs with the political war against “campus bums” and Democrats. One of their more bizarre plots wed the Bureau… »

India’s Border Management: Select Documents – IDSA

India shares its borders with all its South Asian neighbours as well with China. Since the borders is man-made and do not follow any natural barrier, they traverse diverse socio-cultural milieus and cut across ethnic, social and economic communities. These characteristics of the borders pose various challenges towards their proper management. Similarly, the vast Indian… »

The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reshaping the World – Carnegie Council

Wildavsky presents the first popular account of how international competition for the brightest minds is transforming the world of higher education–and why this revolution should be welcomed, not feared. Every year, nearly three million international students study outside of their home countries, a 40 percent increase since 1999. Newly created or expanded universities in China,… »

The Attack Coming From Bytes, Not Bombs – the New York Times

Blackouts hit New York, Los Angeles, Washington and more than 100 other American cities. Subways crash. Trains derail. Airplanes fall from the sky. Gas pipelines explode. Chemical plants release clouds of toxic chlorine. Banks lose all their data. Weather and communication satellites spin out of their orbits. And the Pentagon’s classified networks grind to a… »

Regime and Periphery in Northern Yemen – RAND

For nearly six years, the government of Yemen has conducted military operations north of the capital against groups of its citizens known as “Huthis.” In spite of using all means at its disposal, the government has been unable to subdue the Huthi movement. Along with southern discontent and al-Qa’ida-inspired terrorism, the Huthi conflict presents an… »

Reporting Human Rights in the Philippines: A Field Guide for Journalists and Media Workers – IWPR

Reporting Human Rights in the Philippines: A Field Guide for Journalists and Media Workers is a handy-sized book designed to help local journalists improve their awareness and coverage of human rights issues. The book suggests that understanding human rights is essential for media workers in developing and transitional countries; and that countries may not fairly… »

Reconnecting India and Central Asia Emerging Security and Economic Dimensions – CACI

This volume constitutes an overview of the emerging and deepening relations between India and Central Asia in both the political and economic fields. The stability and security of Central Asia is of prime importance for India, which it considers part of its extended neighborhood. Intertwined with Indian concerns is the stability of Afghanistan,… »

Eurabian Follies – Fp

By 2050, Europe will be unrecognizable. Instead of romantic cafes, Paris’s Boulevard Saint-Germain will be lined with halal butcheries and hookah bars; the street signs in Berlin will be written in Turkish. School-children from Oslo to Naples will read Quranic verses in class, and women will be veiled. At least, that’s what the authors of… »

Into EurAsia: Monitoring the EU’s Central Asia Strategy – FRIDE

(PDF) – The EU Strategy for Central Asia was introduced in 2007 to upgrade the EU’s cooperation with the five states of the region: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Concerns in the EU over energy security and the war in Afghanistan dominated the political context at that time. But the strategy sought to take… »

Understanding Iran – RAND

The more that political actors and observers in the United States talk about the Islamic Republic of Iran, the more apparent it becomes that little is known about this uniquely complex polity. And this lack of knowledge transcends partisan and ideological boundaries—all interested players, regardless of their political leanings or underlying motivations, suffer from America’s… »

The Ultimate AfPak Reading List – Fp

A guide to the most critical readings on Afghanistan and Pakistan – by Peter… »

The Beginner’s Guide to Nation-Building – RAND

The U.S. government is not alone in seeking to promote a more professional approach to nation-building. The United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany have recently set up offices similar to that established in the Department of State to manage their countries’ participation in postconflict stabilization and reconstruction. World leaders, meeting in late 2005, agreed to establish… »

What to Read on State Building – Foreign Affairs

In recent years, with the recognition that failing states can threaten U.S. national security and with the difficulties encountered in stabilizing Afghanistan and Iraq, state building has become an increasingly urgent and important topic for both policymakers and scholars. Although it is often confused or conflated with other aspects of political development, such as democratization… »

Living the Information Society in Asia – IDRC/ISEAS

Asian societies are in a period of transition, as people are learn to live with new information and communication technologies (ICTs). Whether at work, at home, at school, or at large, ICTs are having an impact on day-to-day lives. How can mobile phones help to forge relationships within families that have been separated my migration?… »

“Géopolitique de l’Europe” – Diploweb

Présentation du livre de Gérard-François Dumont et Pierre Verluise, Géopolitique de l’Europe, Collection Impulsion, Paris, Sedes, 2009, 320… »

Understanding Africa: A Geographic Approach – Center for Strategic Leadership (CSL)

(PDF) – Immediately following the 2008 U.S. presidential election, which occurred around the time this book was being compiled, a fracas occurred within the media surrounding some post-election campaign gossip that the Republican party’s vice-presidential candidate had revealed during debate and briefing preparations that she did not understand that Africa was a continent, and instead… »

Space Security or Anti-Satellite Weapons? – Stimson Center

(PDF) – An alternative approach to space security holds that the uniquely hostile and fragile nature of outer space makes cooperation not only possible, but mandatory. This view rests on the assumptions that attempts to dominate space will backfire, and that a war in space between major
powers cannot be won and must not be fought…. »

Troubled Waters: Climate Change, Hydropolitics, and Transboundary Resources – Stimson Center

Climate change will particularly affect the world’s shared freshwater resources. Shifting precipitation patterns and increased melting of mountain glaciers will disrupt the upstream sources that nourish river waters, upsetting the timing and quantity of downstream flows. Rising sea levels will exacerbate saltwater intrusion into many rivers’ lower reaches. Stronger storm surges may inundate low-lying coastal… »

Goodbye to oil that: the excesses of today’s quest for crude – the National

Looking for oil was no longer a game for old-timers. The seismic data that was once stored on miles of magnetic tape could now fit on an iPod, and the majors competed ferociously for the most talented young mathematicians and… »

What ambitions for European defence in 2020? – EUISS

We are confronting a fast-changing international system that must be adapted to ensure effective governance in a multipolar world. To ‘multilateralise’ the emerging multipolarity is the European Union’s strategic ambition. To achieve this, the EU needs to unify its international representation and to make its external action more coherent. It would be a terrible mistake… »

Mullahs, Guards, and Bonyads. An Exploration of Iranian Leadership Dynamics – RAND

The Iranian system is one in which the informal trumps the formal, power and influence derive as much (if not more) from personality as from position, and domestic factional dynamics drive policy debates and policymaking. The system is much more than just the institutions authorized in the country’s constitution. A peculiarly Iranian style of checks… »

Lessons of Darkness – the Nation

In Peter Maass’s new book, ‘Crude World’, a global tour of the “violent twilight of oil,” that stinks of corruption. There is also, to cite a few chapter titles, no shortage of plunder, rot, contamination, fear or greed. On the other hand, as Maass illustrates in a chapter on Saudi Arabia, there is very likely… »

Forces of Fortune: The Rise of the New Muslim Middle Class and What it Will Mean for Our World – Carnegie Council

The new book from Vali Nasr (The Shia Revival). A fresh look at the future of religious extremism in the Middle East, suggesting that the great battle… for the soul of the region will be fought not over religion, but over business and… »

Think Tanks and Political Parties in Latin America – IDEA

(PDF) – This publication investigates the characteristics of the historical relationship between think tanks and political parties in Latin America. One conclusion expressed is that politics is not always included in the Anglo-Saxon definition of think thanks, and that this has led to support for think tanks without consideration of the effect these organizations may… »

The India-Pakistan Reconciliation and Other Experiences in Post-Conflict Management – IFRI

The reactions of India and Pakistan to the Mumbai terrorist attack of November 2008 has shown the fragility of the apparent ‘bonhomie’ resulting from the composite dialogue started in 2004. Once again the international community could only hope that the tense situation would not get out of hand. It is still a long way to… »

The End of Influence – Fp

For as long as many can remember, the United States has been the country with money, influence, and power. But all that is changing – by Brad Delong and Stephen… »

Will the Dragon Swat Down the Eagle? – the New York Times

The title of Martin Jacques’s new book, “When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order” has a willfully alarmist ring to it, signaling the rise of China as the new global superpower and the coming fall of America and the rest of the… »

What to Read on Oil – Foreign Affairs

An annotated Foreign Affairs syllabus on oil – selected by EDWARD L…. »

Plan B 4.0 – Earth Policy Institute

By the Worldwatch Institute. A World Bank study of India’s water balance notes that 15 percent of its grain harvest is produced by overpumping. In human terms, 175 million Indians are being fed with grain produced from wells that will be going dry. The comparable number for China is 130 million. Among the many… »

The Soviet Origins of Helmut Kohl’s 10 Points – National Security Archive

Secret messages from senior Soviet officials to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl after the fall of the Berlin Wall led directly to Kohl’s famous “10 Points” speech on German unification, but the speech produced shock in both Moscow and Washington, according to documents from Soviet, German and American files posted. The documents show the American… »

Book Calls Jewish People an ‘Invention’ – the New York Times

The book “The Invention of the Jewish People,” which spent months on the best-seller list in Israel and is now available in English. Mixing respected scholarship with dubious theories, the author, Shlomo Sand, a professor at Tel Aviv University, frames the narrative as a startling exposure of suppressed historical facts. Professor Sand, a scholar of… »

Perceptions and misperceptions in the EU and Turkey: Stumbling blocks on the road to accession – CESS

The EU is impatient about the pace of reforms in Turkey, which nevertheless are remarkable. Turkey feels that the EU is treating it unfairly, holding it to different standards than Bulgaria, Romania and other countries that recently joined the union. Both positions have some merit. The purpose of this book is to identify political obstacles… »

Democracia en América Latina: La sombra de la desigualdad – CIDOB

En los últimos ocho años, uno de cada tres países latinoamericanos ha sufrido como mínimo una gran crisis política. Mientras las economías han crecido a un ritmo sostenido, la pobreza sigue sin disminuir. Incluso la propia idoneidad de las formas democráticas de gobierno comienza a ser… »

Updating Economic Partnership Agreements to Today’s Global Challenges – German Marshall Fund

African and Pacific countries continue to negotiate the challenging Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union. These new agreements have the potential to help African countries accelerate their economic growth and develop more resilient economies. However, the presence of negotiating deadlocks or a sense of fatigue as well as the lack of real appetite… »

Iran’s Relations with China and the West – Clingendael Institute

China and Iran are different quantities. In geography, China is six times Iran: 9,6 vs. 1,6 million sqkm; in demography 18 times: 1.3 billion vs. 73 million; in GDP 12 times: $ 2,645 vs. $ 218 billion. The two asymmetric powers have built a close partnership, short of an alliance since the US completely abandoned… »

Economic Sanctions Reconsidered – Peterson Institute

Economic sanctions continue to play an important role in the response to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, military conflicts, and other foreign policy crises. But poor design and implementation of sanctions policies often mean that they fall short of their desired effects. This landmark study, first published in 1985, delves into the rich experience of sanctions in… »

La geopolitica anglosassone. Dalle origini ai nostri giorni – Edizioni Guerini

Autore: Federico Bordonaro – Anno 2009 Pagine 237

Questo volume presenta al lettore italiano i principali autori del pensiero geopolitico anglosassone dalle origini ai giorni nostri, attraverso l’analisi dei testi teorici e della loro influenza politico-culturale. Particolare attenzione è rivolta al pensiero dei classici (Mahan, Mackinder, Spykman) e a quello dei loro eredi nel periodo… »

European Security and Defence Policy: The first 10 years (1999-2009) – EUISS

This EUISS book examines the evolution of ESDP and breaks new ground in three ways:

- It includes the first comprehensive review of every ESDP operation to date, some 23 missions in total, assessing their achievements and shortcomings.

- It analyses the key relationships between the EU and the United Nations, NATO, the OSCE and the African… »

Israeli Rabbi’s Guide to Killing Causes Firestorm – the Media Line

An Israeli Rabbi living in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank has caused a firestorm in both Israeli and Palestinian media with a new book outlining a series of Jewish theological arguments for killing those who threaten Israel or demand Israeli… »

Democracy’s plight in the European Neighbourhood – Fride/Ceps

In this volume there is a more specific European neighbourhood focus, and the general issues relating to democracy’s travails in more detail in the countries to the south and east of the European Union. The underlying question is whether, in an era of democratic pessimism, the European neighbourhood can offer any more optimistic… »

The Origins of Israel’s Tech Miracle – the Atlantic

Dan Senor and Saul Singer, the authors of the new, best-selling Start-Up Nation, have done the impossible: They’ve written a book that doesn’t examine Israel through the prism of its conflict with the Arabs. Instead, they’ve produced a fascinating and illuminating look at the reasons Israel has become one of the world’s prime incubators of… »

After King Abdullah: Succession in Saudi Arabia – The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Within the next few years, Saudi Arabia is likely to witness dramatic leadership changeovers. King Abdullah, at eighty-six, is already older than any of his predecessors. Since the character of the U.S.-Saudi relationship has often, over the years, been dictated by the personality and style of the Saudi king, the views of potential successors should… »

Negotiating with Iran – Usip

As the United States weighs a change of approach toward the Iranian government after thirty years of confrontation, Middle East expert John Limbert steps up with a pragmatic yet positive assessment of how to engage Iran. In Negotiating with Iran: Wrestling the Ghosts of History (U.S. Institute of Peace Press, September 2009), John Limbert provides… »

Cyberdeterrence and Cyberwar – Rand

The protection of cyberspace, the information medium, has become a vital national interest because of its importance both to the economy and to military power. An attacker may tamper with networks to steal information for the money or to disrupt operations. Future wars are likely to be carried out, in part or perhaps entirely, in… »

Guiding Principles for Stabilization and Reconstruction – Usip

The Guiding Principles for Stabilization and Reconstruction (S&R) manual presents the first strategic “doctrine” ever produced for civilians engaged in peacebuilding missions. It is a practical roadmap for helping countries transition from violent conflict to… »

China as a Neighbor: Central Asian Perspectives and Strategies – Central Asia-Caucasus Institute

(PDF) – Since 2000, China has gained significantly in importance in Central Asia and is now in a position to pose a threat to traditional Russian domination in the region. Exactly how China will intensify its presence in Central Asia and how this alliance/competition with Russia will play itself out is going to depend partly… »

La regione del Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Sviluppo e sicurezza umana in Arabia – Franco Angeli Edizioni

Questa regione rappresenta un unicum nel panorama arabo-islamico e mantiene una sua indubbia priorità sia per l’Occidente sia, oggi ancor di più, per l’Asia – Cina e India in primis. Nel quadro di generale ridefinizione degli equilibri internazionali, non appare per nulla trascurabile anche un ben definito orientamento ad una partnership… »

Israel’s Right to Secure Boundaries – The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 242 of November 1967 is the most important UN resolution for peacemaking in the Arab-Israel conflict. Though carefully negotiated forty years ago in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, it has remained the foundation for all peacemaking efforts — from the Israel-Egypt treaty of peace to the Israel-Jordan… »

L’Europa verde alla prova di Copenaghen – Egea 2009

Carlo Corazza
EcoEuropa
Le nuove politiche per l’energia e il clima
Egea, 2009, 256 pagine, 22… »

Which Way for Hamas? – the New York Review of Books

The Islamic Resistance Movement (in Arabic, Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya—hence Hamas) remains powerful, but nearly four years after winning the 2006 elections, and two years after its gunmen overpowered Palestinian Authority (PA) forces to seize control of the strip, Hamas no longer acts like an opposition suddenly thrust into… »