The Privatization of Security: Lessons from Iraq

Images of private forces in Iraq—killed and mutilated in Fallujah, implicated in prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, and shooting up civilian vehicles—have provided a dramatic illustration of the role private security companies (pscs) now play in U.S. military operations. Though the United States’ use of contractors on the battlefield is not entirely new, the increased number of contractors deployed and the use of private security forces to perform an escalating number of tasks has created a new environment that poses important trade-offs for U.S. policy and military effectiveness and for U.S. relations with other states. This article outlines the history of U.S. contractors on the battlefield, compares that with the use of private security in Iraq, discusses the benefits and risks associated with their use, and proposes some trade-offs that decision-makers in the United States should consider while contemplating their use in the future.     

Humanitarian Intervention After Iraq: Legal Ideals vs. Military Realities

The theory of humanitarian intervention has received new attention since the humanitarian crises of the 1990s and the United States’ becoming the world's sole superpower. The actual practice of humanitarian intervention, however, has declined. It is difficult to forge the political will for it when the countries composing the global organizations that could provide the political legitimacy disagree on an intervention, and with so few countries—mainly the United States and Great Britain—capable of providing the required expeditionary forces. Moreover, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars have diminished the United States’ political will, military capability, and diplomatic credibility to conduct future humanitarian interventions. In particular, those wars precluded its intervention in the current genocide in Darfur. Regional bodies such as the African Union may be the only entities that can, with aid and training, undertake effective interventions.     

伊拉克问题与美国政治

伊拉克战争是新世纪美国安全战略和中东政策调整的产物 ,这次调整既有九一一事件的冲击、新保守主义势力上升等现实因素 ,也有冷战结束后国际格局变迁等历史动因。美国虽然在伊拉克顺利地实现了“政权更迭” ,但在伊拉克政治、安全、社会等方面的重建却面临严峻局势 ,这种局面又对美国政治产生重大影响。以伊拉克问题为核心的美国外交政策辩论是今年大选的一个主要议题。伊拉克局势的发展和小布什政府的政策调整不仅对这次大选有直接影响 ,而且影响新一届政府在伊拉克乃至中东问题上的政策走向。     

ARTICLE WITHDRAWN From a Punitive to a Bargaining Model of Sanctions: Lessons from Iraq

Forward Links to Citing Articles: Retraction . International Studies Quarterly 50:1, p.1
This article has been retracted due to plagiarism     

Union Carbide and James Hardie: Lessons in Politics and Power

In terms of industrial disasters, the chemical release at Bhopal and the long-term production and use of asbestos products are two of the largest and most controversial cases. Both events backfired on the companies responsible, namely Union Carbide and James Hardie (which, in Australia, largely controlled the asbestos products market). Yet in the case of Bhopal most victims have not been adequately compensated and, while compensation seems more assured for Australian asbestos victims, it has been a long and bitter battle for justice. How, in a globalised world, can we ensure that corporate negligence backfires and victims receive justice? This paper presents a framework for understanding how global corporations attempt to inhibit outrage and how to counter their tactics.     

Humanitarian Intervention and Communal Civil Wars:

How do policymakers in democratic nations mobilize support for hard-line strategies? Existing answers to this question emphasize the exaggeration of external threats. Yet this overlooks an important dilemma: because democratic citizens expect their leaders to explore peaceful solutions or less aggressive alternatives when foreign dangers are ambiguous, the same conditions that make threat inflation necessary also make it difficult to employ successfully. To mobilize support for hard-line measures when the public wants its leaders to demonstrate restraint, policymakers may therefore attempt to shift blame onto an adversary by using “counterfeit diplomacy.” Specifically, democratic leaders may adopt more cooperative or less coercive options than they believe are necessary, but which they anticipate will fail. This approach can be a risky one, however, because an opponent might accept a nation's demands, accede to its conditions, or offer counterproposals in the hope of diffusing support for more confrontational measures.     

Polarization Between Occupier and Occupied in Post-Saddam Iraq: Colonial Humiliation and the Formation of Political Violence

This article analyses the mechanisms of colonial humiliation in post-Saddam Iraq. A case study of the city of Fallujah, where participant observation was carried out on two occasions, provides an account for the polarization between its population and occupation forces, which culminated in the partial destruction of the city in November 2004.     

The Arms Collaboration Dilemma: Between Principal-Agent Dynamics and Collective Action Problems

One of the most dramatic developments in the field of armaments has been the rise of international collaboration over the last several decades. Nowhere has this phenomenon been more pronounced than the domain of military aircraft, where few states possess the resources to remain autonomous. Surprisingly, despite the theoretical advantages of interoperability and economies of scale, armaments collaboration has rarely, if ever, proven efficient. This article examines how states have employed governance structures, over time, to improve the collaborative process. To preview the conclusion, a stark trade-off exists between states’ ability to control principal-agent dynamics and minimize collective action problems. Consequently, the dilemma of armaments collaboration is that any attempt to address principal-agent dynamics will aggravate collective action problems and vice-versa. With this in mind, it may be futile to continue reforming armaments collaboration because any governance structures will result in a deleterious combination of principal-agent dynamics and collective action problems.     

Lessons from Democratic Transitions: Case Studies from Asia

In an era when democratization is stalled or in retreat in many parts of the world, it is important to highlight the successful democratic experience of East and Southeast Asia in recent decades. Five consolidated democracies have emerged since the mid-1980s; only Thailand has seen some backsliding with the 2006 coup. The Asian cases provide insights into several major debates in the democratization literature, including the relative importance of culture, history, economic structure, and the optimal sequencing of political and economic reform. This article reviews these issues, with particular attention to the role of outside powers in underpinning democratization. Ultimately, the Asian cases offer evidence for optimism about the prospects of a Fourth Wave of democratization.     

Democracy's Quality and Breakdown: New Lessons from Thailand

In what may amount to a new phase in the study of democratization, assessments of democracy's quality have become quite common. This article attempts to assess democracy's quality in Thailand under the recent Thai Rak Thai government. It begins by enumerating some of the conceptual difficulties that bedevil these measuring exercises. The account makes use of a ‘sequenced’ framework involving electoral mandates, policy responsiveness, and accountability. Analysis reveals a ‘mixed’ record under Thai Rak Thai, one in which the government's strong mandates and high levels of responsiveness were offset by executive abuses, corrupt practices, limits on civil liberties, and gross violations of human rights, behaviours in which many elites and mass-level constituents acquiesced. It shows also, however, that when these elites and constituents sought later to impose accountability, they resorted to direct action, further eroding the quality of democracy. Thus, the article demonstrates too that democracy's quality can be diminished in ways that, far from placating rival elites, so inflame tensions that it can finally break down.     

The Struggle for Sea Power: Lessons from the Great War

The history of the contest for naval mastery during the Great War has particular resonance for today because the United States now faces a serious threat from China's increasing capabilities to wage war at sea. China's naval challenge calls into question America's continued command of the maritime commons. The stakes at risk for the United States in today's contest are just as high as they were a hundred years ago for Britain. Defeat at sea would wreck American global leadership in the twenty-first century just as surely as it would have meant the collapse of British power in the twentieth. What, then, can we learn from past struggles for sea power and America's entry into the First World War that offers guidance for understanding our current strategic predicament?     

在民族与国家之间--对阿拉伯地区政治的观念解读

阿拉伯世界存在着多重政治认同,这是该地区政治生态环境复杂多变的重要根源.其中,尤以阿拉伯民族主义对地区政治的影响最为深远.首先,它使阿拉伯国家陷入建立主权国家还是民族国家的政治认同标准之争;其次,它使阿拉伯国家不断面临着国家利益优先还是民族利益优先的执政理念困扰;最后,它要求阿拉伯国家统一对外立场而引起阿拉伯内部及其与外部世界的关系紧张.     

可治理性与社会凝聚:拉美国家的经验

拉美国家的可治理性总体上处于缓慢持续提高的过程,可治理性持续改善的制度基础、体制条件、政策条件和民众基础均有所改善.但是,拉美国家在可治理性方面仍有许多难题,远未实现理想的可治理性.随着民主化进程的深化和经济转型的实现,拉美国家的可治理性缺陷更加明显,在体制、制度和政策设计、政府执政能力和执政水平、经济和社会权利等各个方面均有所体现.可治理性缺陷加剧了社会矛盾,损害了社会环境,降低了民众的认同感和对未来的预期,损害了社会凝聚.拉美国家社会凝聚的增强,在一定程度上有赖于可治理性程度的进一步改善.