Linking peacebuilding,rule of law and security sector reform: the European Union’s experience

The rule of law and security sector reform have become central to peacebuilding initiatives in the past decade and a half, accompanying a surge in international interventions in the periphery. Considered of critical importance to the re-establishment of order and the promotion of peace and development, these two areas of reform have gained importance and, today, feature as priorities in the European Union’s external action beyond its immediate neighbourhood. Such policies, however, have often failed to achieve their stated goals. After reviewing the theoretical relationship between peacebuilding, rule of law reform and security sector reform, this article draws on the Union’s practice to argue that a narrow, formalistic approach to rule of law and security sector reform, one that prioritises the transplantation of a western liberal legal framework, has undermined the aims of curbing instability and fostering development.     

The rule of law ‐ meaning and significance for security policy and reform

Given Russia's history of legal expediency and the emphasis of Western policy on economic liberalization, it is not surprising that Russian reforms have yet to produce a functioning market economy and effective political institutions, including civil‐military control. A Western‐style economic and military model is fundamentally built on the rule of law as a supreme and impartial tool of conflict resolution and distribution of rights and power. Without it, government action cannot be predicted, destroying trust in the institutions and denying private and public activity a basis for long‐term planning which is based on trust and predictability. Without long‐term planning neither companies nor armies can be successful, giving rise to a pseudo‐legal state of de facto laws. For its economic, political and military reforms to be successful Russia needs to emphasize the building of the institutions for developing and predictably enforcing a set of laws, an effort that needs to receive priority support from Western partners.     

‘The unfinished business of democratization’: struggles for services and accountability in South African cities

At the end of July 2009, South African cities became the terrain of violent protests. Several reasons lay behind the social unrest, but protesters were particularly vocal in demanding basic services and houses, reminding the newly elected president of his electoral promises of delivering to the poor. This article analyses two of the most prominent post-apartheid social movements that in the past decade have been confronting the state on issues of services and accountability. These struggles reveal the limits of the unfinished democratization and the dysfunction that characterizes policy and decision-making processes at the local level. These movements are contributing through their existence and actions to the deepening of democracy by creating new spaces for political confrontation and participation that can influence local governance and enhance development.     

The structure-identity nexus: Syria and Turkey’s collapse (2011)

The relation between Syria and Turkey transformed from enmity in the 1990s to détente in the early 2000s, grew into amity after the rise to power of the Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP, Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi) in 2002, and reverted to enmity in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. This research suggests that a combination of structural and identity-based factors, at regional and domestic levels, induced the collapse of the decade-long amity. This paper builds on the notion of a “structure-identity nexus”; and determines the orientation of foreign policy outcomes from the 1990s until 2011. The discussion outlines the merits of a hybrid theoretical perspective by elaborating on Barkin’s idea of ‘realist constructivism’, which draws on two rival traditions, realism and constructivism. The structure-identity framework explains the double transformation in the relationship, considering the return to inter- and intra-state conflict in 2011. The research draws on extensive primary and secondary sources, as well as interviews carried out with key figures. In addition to the relationship between Syria and Turkey, the structure-identity nexus provides potential broader explanations that fuel the shift from amity to enmity in the complex network of states found in the Middle East.     

Correction to: Frankenstein in Grozny: vertical and horizontal cracks in the foundation of Kadyrov’s rule

Asia Europe Journal - Many scholars have suggested that organized violence in Chechnya has ended, and that Russia’s Chechenization policy and Ramzan Kadyrov’s presidency deserve the...     

The internal–external security nexus and EU police/rule of law missions in the Western Balkans

Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) police/rule of law missions in the Western Balkans are increasingly guided by externally imposed normative agendas that respond primarily to EU internal security needs rather than functional imperatives or local realities. In line with these needs, EU police reform efforts tend to prioritise effectiveness and crime fighting over longer- term democratic policing and good governance reforms. In practice this means that police reform initiatives are technocratically oriented, yet value ridden fitting EU security concerns and needs. As a result, the police reform process can be—and often is—disconnected from the political and socio-economic reforms necessary for long-term stability and sustainable peace. Police assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been shaped by a determined albeit questionable focus on organised crime and corruption. The focus of EU police reform in Macedonia on primarily crime-fighting aspects of policing has compromised thefunctioning of the Macedonian police. Similarly, the politics of (non-)recognition of Kosovo's self-proclaimed independence and the intrusiveness of EULEX Kosovo's executive mandate contravene meeting local challenges.     

The limits to judicial independence: Cambodia’s political culture and the civil law

Distinctions between the common and civil law are crucial when considering the rule of law and judicial independence in a political system. The 1993 Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia provides for a democratic government with separation of powers, judicial independence and human rights guarantees consistent with international legal instruments. However, Cambodia ranks poorly in international indices of political interference and corruption in the judiciary and for the rule of law. Drawing on interviews with Cambodian state officials and legal practitioners, the article situates the domestic judiciary within the socio-political environment and constitutional arrangements in which it must operate and examines the limits to judicial independence in the country. The article argues that the lack of judicial independence in contemporary Cambodia is not only attributable to its neopatrimonial political culture but also to the legal-institutional framework established during the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) period. The legal-philosophical underpinnings of civil law, the nature of the civil law system operating in Cambodia, and how it is interpreted locally, are crucial to understanding the limits to judicial independence in the country.     

Re‐inventing the rule of law: Human rights in El Salvador

Recent transitions from authoritarianism to democracy have been front‐page news. Often attention to such transitions has focused on efforts to create and sustain democratic elections and to guarantee open political competition between parties that are committed to majority rule. However, equally important in such transitions is the implementation of the rule of law. This article examines the efforts of one country, El Salvador, to re‐establish the rule of law as part of its passage to liberal democracy. The efforts to implement the Salvadoran peace accords that were signed in January 1992 provide the focus. The United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL) was created to monitor compliance. One important consequence of the accords was the effort to achieve broad reform of the justice system. Salvador's progress here is evaluated both in respect of the degree of compliance with the accords, and, more importantly, in establishing an independent judiciary that will be capable of protecting human rights. Salvador's reforms are compared with other efforts to re‐establish the rule of law in some formerly authoritarian regimes.     

Water power: the domestic and geostrategic dimensions of Turkey’s GAP Project

The Southeastern Anatolia Project (Güneydogu Anadolu Projesi, GAP), which was designed for the socio-economic development of south-east Turkey, has multiple political and strategic dimensions. While GAP was intended to narrow the socio-economic gap between the south-east and the rest of Turkey through development of the region, and to secure Turkey’s future energy needs, the associated hydro-politics intertwine domestic and geopolitics in relation to water flow to downstream riparian states Syria and Iraq, securing Turkey a geostrategic position in the broader Middle Eastern context in terms of regional hydro-hegemony, while also impacting on relations with Kurds at home and in surrounding states.     

Machiavelli’s Science of Statecraft: The Diplomacy and Politics of Disorder

This paper calls into question the extent to which ethical dualism, broadly conceived as raison d’ état, does justice to Machiavelli’s understanding and practice of the diplomatic arts. Arguments are advanced herein that Machiavelli did not so much abandon morality as he sought, through the examples of Rome and antiquity, to find a different remedy for the disorder and violence rampant in the Italy of his day. Machiavelli’s reports in the diplomatic service of Florence illustrate qualities and skills of the diplomat often at odds with the caricature of the immoral statesman.     

The United States’ embargo and Cuba's foreign relations: Missed opportunities for democratization

Many scholars have argued that US policy towards Cuba is counter‐productive: it helps to legitimise the Cuban regime, it restricts the scope for differentiation and debate, it makes elites reluctant towards reform and provides them with an explanation of the economic crisis. Such arguments concern the direct negative effects of US policy. In contrast this article explores the ways in which the US government indirectly inhibits potentially constructive pressures towards change. Third countries, foreign non‐governmental organizations and prominent individuals lend support to Cuba's resistance to the US embargo. This offsets external pressures to democratize, and allows the Cuban regime to convert such empathy into a source of legitimacy at home.     

Is it none of their business? Business and democratization,the case of Turkey

This article explains how the Turkish business' regime preferences have evolved from pro-authoritarian to pro-democratic in the context of dual transitions, in response to changes in incentive structures shaped by domestic, regional and international parameters. It particularly focuses on big business and highlights the central role that greater exposure to international competition during the course of opening up and liberalization played in the evolution of its regime preferences. The article suggests that the central mechanism which has led to the regime preference change is socialization by strategic calculation facilitated by business' increasing incorporation into transnational networks. It asserts that the Turkish big business' experience is particularly interesting because international exposure not only created new opportunities for big business, but also new divisions and rivalries within the business community. These new rivals formed flourishing alliances with the government, with their accompanying claims to power that challenged the big business' previous hegemony in accessing state resources. In the process, big business' fear of losing its privileged status to rival business groups and the resulting uncertainties led big business to associate democratization with higher benefits, as they became increasingly aware of the link between democratization and diminished uncertainties, through their interaction with transnational business networks. Consequently, big business consolidated its pro-democratic stance as shifting domestic alliances enhanced the need for diminishing uncertainties, while internationalization along with the prospect of EU membership increased the cost of status quo.     

Separatists and Spoilers: The UAE’s Way of Proxy Warfare

This article examines the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) involvement in proxy warfare in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. The UAE’s security posture in these volatile regions has evolved remarkably over the last two decades and set the Emirates apart from many of its rivals, peers, and neighbors, such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Most countries have intervened in conflicts in order to affect politics in the center, either by backing pro-government militias or center-seeking rebel groups. The UAE, in contrast, has constructed a portfolio of proxy relationships mostly with separatist groups. Such groups operate in far flung peripheral territories of countries like Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Somalia. They do not seek to seize the state, but to break away from it. This approach to proxy warfare has granted the UAE unique negative control at relatively little cost. Through its proxy networks, the UAE can impede adversaries from consolidating control across the Indian Ocean littoral and maintain influence in the key maritime passages to Europe and Asia.     

The daiku phenomenon: social and cultural influences of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Japan

In the rude awakening of western colonisations in Asia during the nineteenth century, Japan drastically embraced the ‘better and more modern’ western values towards the end of that century—which began with the Meiji Restoration (Meiji Ishin [ ]). Since the nation began frantically learning everything Western—while keeping its traditional values at heart, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony ‘Choral,’ or daiku as it is known in Japan, has been present throughout the turbulent twentieth century. The social and cultural phenomenon known as nenmatsu-no daiku ([ ] A countless number of annual year-end Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony concerts held throughout Japan each year.) is the subject under scrutiny in this paper. Japan’s almost desperate pursue toward westernization and the much-debated Japanese cultural trait, the ‘groupism’ mentality would make the existence of the daiku phenomenon appear to the bewildered outsider as a horrendous mix of the two elements, but is that simply so? Evidently, the sudden influx of western cultures and ideologies from Europe and the U.S.A. is in great part accountable for the continual and prevalent existence of the daiku in modern Japan. However, we must not overlook the underlying home-grown factors, which have kept the phenomenon well and alive even today. This paper intends to discuss the historical background leading to this phenomenon and present a summary of what daiku is, giving examples of different types of performances as a result of the phenomenon. An attempt will also be given to examine the significance Beethoven’s Ninth has for the Japanese in both social and cultural contexts.     

“The pluses of pulses”: haricot beans and women’s empowerment in Ethiopia

This practical note demonstrates the role that haricot beans play in assisting women to become food and nutrition secure, to generate income, and to have sustainable livelihoods that are resilient to shocks. Based on qualitative research among female and male beneficiaries of a pulse innovation project implemented in southern Ethiopia, the note provides a summary of the critical voices of farmers, and the role that haricot beans play in empowering women. It also outlines some of the challenges that the project faced in achieving its empowerment objectives.     

Libya: Teetering Between War and Diplomacy The Islamic State’s Role in Libya’s Disintegration

This analysis explores post-Qaddafi Libya as it becomes a failed state, alongside international efforts to mend its internal rifts and restore an effective government and thereby halt its national disintegration. Attaining a modus vivendi amongst the internal rival political and military actors looks to enable a war effort to loosen the grasp of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which infiltrated Libya’s Mediterranean coast in 2014 and gained a strategic foothold in the heart of Libya and nearby its oil ports – Libya’s economic lifeline. An internal agreement looks to rebuild the state security system that can confront the continuing tribal, ethnic, Salafi-jihadistic, and criminal militarisation of Libya, which also contributes to its bloody chaos. This exegesis focuses on the brief but challenging period of 2014-2016 in terms of the threats to Libya’s governmental and territorial integrity, outlining the principal junctures and actors.     

The privacy rights of rape victims in the media and the law: Perspectives on disclosing rape victims’ names

Denno, Deborah W. (1993). The privacy rights of rape victims in the media and the law: Perspectives on disclosing rape victims' names. Fordham Law Review, 61, 1113–1131.     

Spoiler or facilitator of democratization?: Russia's role in Georgia and Ukraine

In the post-Soviet space, Georgia and Ukraine are broadly perceived as exceptions to the growing authoritarianism in the region owing to the far-reaching political changes triggered by the so-called Colour Revolutions a decade ago. This article examines Russia's reaction to political changes in Georgia and Ukraine in light of the interplay between the democracy-promotion policies implemented by the EU and US and domestic patterns of democratization. We argue that despite the relatively weak impact of EU and US policies vis-à-vis domestic structures, Russia has responded harshly to (what it perceives as) a Western expansionist agenda in pursuit of reasserting its own hegemonic position in the post-Soviet space. However, coercive pressure from Russia has also unintended, counterproductive effects. We argue that the pressure has actually made Georgia and Ukraine more determined to pursue their pro-Western orientation and has spawned democratization, thereby supporting the objectives of the Western democracy promoters.     

The art of commitments: NATO,the EU,and the interplay between law and politics within Europe’s collective defence architecture

Law and politics are the two constituent parts of a collective defence architecture. In Europe, such an architecture currently rests on a series of legal commitments: NATO’s mutual defence clause (Art.5 of the North Atlantic Treaty), but also the EU mutual assistance clause (Art.42.7 TEU) and the EU solidarity clause (Art.222 TFEU). Many asymmetries exist, however, between those legal clauses: they are often overlapping but not always identical with respect to their respective conditions of activation, territorial scopes, binding strengths, and modalities of implementation. Because of those legal asymmetries as well as prevailing political realities, there are many obstacles in fact to a clear-cut division of labour within Europe’s collective defence architecture between NATO and the EU. In Europe, collective defence should thus not be apprehended as a uniform task but rather as the art of balancing multiple legal and political constrains, come what may.