The strategic depth doctrine of Turkish foreign policy

Turkey's heavy involvement in Middle Eastern politics following the end of the Cold War eroded its Western image in the eyes of most Europeans and strengthened the hands of those who have traditionally argued against Turkey's EU membership by referring to the unbridgeable inherent differences between the parties in terms of cultural, historical, religious, and geographical considerations.     

A strategic view of South African trade policy in relation to the future global trading environment

This paper puts forward a strategic view of what South African trade policy should be doing in relation to the future global trading environment. The future is uncertain, but if the past is prologue, South African trade policy needs to be positioned for a continuation of the commodity cycle, and to exploit markets in emerging economies, including Africa, more fully. Simultaneously, it needs policies to spur labour-intensive services and manufacturing exports, both because these will be needed if commodity markets are less robust and because of their employment-creating potential. South Africa's current strategy, however, is inflexible, heavily focused on domestic concerns and is in danger of placing South African exporters at a disadvantage in accessing the growing emerging economies. It also gives rise to an inherent tension between the interests of South Africa and the African region in trade negotiations. Having as the central tenet of trade policy a commitment to deal with tariffs on a case-by-case basis will not serve South Africa well in the global economy that is likely to emerge over the next 15 years. A simpler tariff structure would facilitate the conclusion of free trade agreements and actually make industrial policy more effective.     

The nuclear option in India's security policy

Notwithstanding its good international citizenship on arms control, its low defense expenditures, and its democratic institutions that are largely taken for granted by the West, India's ambiguous nuclear posture is a self‐inflicted wound that will not heal so long as it neither acquires nor renounces nuclear weapons, says Ramesh Thakur. He argues that India has four options: to become an overt NWS, to reject the NPT but sign the CTBT, to renounce the nuclear option, or to maintain its present threshold status while keeping open the nuclear option. Thakur was head of the Peace Research Centre at the Australian National University and has been appointed as vice rector at the United Nations University, Tokyo.     

The debate over south Africa's foreign policy

South Africa is no exception to the rule that there tends to be continuity in a state's foreign policy even in the event of far‐reaching domestic political change. But given the new South Africa's debt to a global human rights campaign, the emphasis on ‘staking out the moral high ground’ in the rhetoric of the country's new decision‐makers and of commentators is not surprising. The article discusses the creative tension between the claims of morality and the constraints of realpolitik in the debate on the formulation of the new South Africa's foreign policy. It identifies both differences and overlaps in the approaches of realists and radicals to the conduct of the country's foreign policy.     

The Cortes of Castile and Philip II's fiscal policy

Summary

This article analyses the evolution of the fiscal policy of the Crown of Castile in the reign of Philip II in relation to the salient characteristics of the tax system and of the political and constitutional structure of the kingdom. The character of the Kingdoms of Castile as an aggregate of autonomous communities coordinated by the superior authority of the monarch was reflected in a fiscal system based upon the delegation to local authorities of the management of the most important royal taxes (alcabalas and servicios) and thus upon principles of autonomy and decentralization which made negotiation with the Kingdom in the Cortes, both with regard to the total sum and to the conditions of its collection, unavoidable. The financial needs of Philip II led him to try to overcome the rigidities of this system by extending the fiscal powers of the Crown by means of the creation of new taxes or the increase of those already in existence, as well as by redefining the constitutional processes of negotiation with the Cortes and the cities. Nevertheless, Philip II neither succeeded in getting acceptance for all his demands nor did the pressure to which he subjected the Kingdom generate any significant change in the nature of the Castilian fiscal system nor in the politico‐constitutional bases which sustained it.     

The use of technology and leadership in enhancing strategic cooperative policing within the SADC region

ABSTRACT

The globalisation processes driving development and the transnational nature of crime require the collaboration of police within regions using sophisticated technology to combat crime. This article examines the role of technology and leadership in enhancing cooperative policing. Following a successful safety strategy during the 2010 Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) Soccer World Cup (SWC) tournament in South Africa, the aim of the article is to demonstrate how technology and strategic leadership contributed to the success of this event. The research conducted consisted of an extensive review of existing research publications on the state of policing in southern Africa; and a conference presentation by Lieutenant-General Pruis about policing the SWC from which key policing lessons have been extracted. The literature survey revealed the challenges of police forces and policing in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as being primarily resource constraints, and socio-political environments that are not always conducive to effective policing. Conclusions drawn are that some of the lessons from the SWC, such as planning, budgeting, strategic leadership, regional and international cooperation of security personnel, community involvement, an informed media strategy and the use of technology to support these processes, can be replicated in regional policing operations.     

The dams of Northern Sudan and the policy of demographic engineering

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the deteriorating situation in Northern Sudan linked to policies of demographic engineering, embedded in plans for the further construction of dams along the Nile River in the North by the Government of Sudan. Although the generation of power and agricultural irrigation are the declared purpose of the dams, the fact is, these dams will, as past dam constructions have, cause a massive displacement of the Nubian, Manasir and Amri-Hamdab people far from their ancestral lands. With the collaboration of the Egyptian government the areas vacated will be repopulated with Egyptian peasants, as part of both governments’ plan to alter the demographics of North Sudan.     

The titularization of Latvian secondary schools: The historical legacy of Soviet policy implementation

Abstract

Few would deny that the Soviet occupation has had an effect on post-restoration policy making and implementation in Latvia. Indeed, many commentators of post-Soviet politics insist that we must come to terms with the Soviet to understand the post-Soviet. In our view, the effects of the Soviet legacy on the policy process are clearly apparent in post-restoration Latvia, specifically in the area of language education policy. This article argues that both Soviet and post-Soviet policy making and implementation can be characterized in three ways: duplicity, a Soviet ethos, and “professionalization”. In what follows, we first engage with the Soviet policy process in general and the 1958–59 education reforms specifically. Based on interviews with education professionals, teachers and parents, we then analyze Latvian education laws and their implementation in 2004, highlighting the legacy of Soviet governance.     

The precarious state of international order: Assessment and policy implications

The international order is becoming increasingly precarious as a result of the pressures of globalisation and inadequate policy responses by many states, most importantly the United States, which still holds a pivotal role in building and sustaining international order. The present state of affairs in global governance is characterised by 1) an overwhelming concentration of power at the level of interstate relations but 2) a diffusion of power if we look at the totality of international relations, 3) the erosion of state authority and political legitimacy, 4) the growing importance of markets and of 5) fundamentalist ideologies, 6) the declining utility and the paradoxical impact of force on political order, and 7) by the still indispensable but increasingly fragile base of international order in functioning statehood at the national level. Overall, this situation reflects a mismatch between political demands on and the actual supply of international order whose present state leaves much to be desired. By way of conclusion, the article offers some policy recommendations about how to change the present precarious situation.     

The world bank,health policy reforms and the poor

Over the years, since the mid-1990s, World Bank-prescribed health policy reforms have successfully introduced market-based private-managed healthcare model in the developing world. This article presents a portrait of the private healthcare model, explores the factors that facilitated the introduction of this model in developing countries and examines the impact of the model on the health rights and health conditions of the poor. It argues that health reforms designed to promote private-managed care in developing countries affect the poor severely and violate their basic health rights, the rights to stay disease-free and lead a healthy life. A host of factors produced by the private-managed care model, most notably reduced social spending on public health, dismantling of public health systems and the ever expansionary grip of private sector health services have effectively diminished the health rights of the poor.     

The role of Britain in West German foreign policy since 1949 1

Anglo‐German relations since 1949 have been a curious mixture of harmony and tension. This paper looks at the reasons both for cooperation and conflict and some of the ways in which German perceptions of Britain have changed since 1949. Attitudes to security, economic integration and political identity produced a complex pattern, where each side at times had unrealistic expectations of the other. Recently published documents from the Auswärtiges Amt for 1963–64 give an insight into the ‘official mind’ of German foreign policy at a critical moment.