Publisher's Comment

The extent to which post-communist European and Eurasian countries have instituted democratic politics varies widely. The countries possessing the generally accepted attributes of a democratic polity are without exception members of the European Union and most of the countries that have moved in that direction in recent years are prospective members. This article examines the association between membership in the EU and the development of a democratic polity. It suggests the aspiration to membership and awareness of the EU's political condition for membership contributed, along with attributes related to spatial location, political antecedents, transitional politics, and economic ties, to the development of a democratic polity.     

Space Engagement with Russia and Ukraine: Preventing Conflicts and Proliferation

The collapse of the Soviet Union brought about a number of serious concerns that space and missile technologies—including weapons-related technologies—might be exported by Russia and Ukraine to states that might use them for hostile purposes. In fact, inadvertent contribution to ballistic missile programs through space collaboration and technology sharing is considered one of the major “routes” of missile technology proliferation. Incidentally, in the case of Russia and Ukraine, out of all the potential risks associated with technology transfers, proliferation of ballistic missile technologies has been the major concern for the Western nations, and engaging these two countries in joint space projects has been viewed as a powerful incentive to comply with missile nonproliferation norms and ideals.     

The ‘informal sector’ and the political economy of development

This paper takes an initial step in integrating insights from two sets of literature which have focused on central aspects of development with unfortunate independence. It highlights politically valuable resources, which are identified in the political economy literature, and shows that the informal sector literature provides ample evidence that these resources in general are (i) scarcely available to informal entities, (ii) poorly valued in their possession, and (iii) more often collectively unexploited by them. Overall, there seems to be an important though neglected bias in how the political system in less developed countries formulates, crafts, and implements policy.     

Crimes and Security

This essay considers the role that the value of security might play in criminalisation. While endorsing security as a legitimate rationale for the creation of a criminal offence, it examines some existing offences that are created or structured in a particular way for security reasons. This is done through a two‐stage analysis. Stage one considers the consequences of adopting an offence or offence definition if it was interpreted ideally and complied with perfectly. Stage two considers how we can expect the offences to operate in the real world given imperfect compliance and non‐ideal interpretation.     

Conceptualizing “Ethnicity” and “ethnic conflict”: A controversy revisited

The literature on “ethnicity” and “ethnic conflict” still fails to yield either definitional precision or usable empirical referents for the study of either phenomenon. This article offers a critique of the key literature on these subjects and a propositional inventory summarizing points of scholarly agreement, a discussion of the empirical problems that face scholars in this field, and, finally a general model for the analysis of particular ethnic conflicts, including consideration of the correlative tangents of resolution intervention.     

The New Political Economy of Natural Resources in Latin America

Anthony Bebbington and Jeffrey Bury, eds., Subterranean Struggles: New Dynamics of Mining, Oil, and Gas in Latin America. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013. Photographs, maps, figures, tables, abbreviations, bibliography, index, 361 pp.; hardcover $60, paperback $30. Noel Maurer, The Empire Trap: The Rise and Fall of U.S. Intervention to Protect American Property Overseas, 1893–2013. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013. Illustrations, map, tables, figures, notes, bibliography, index, 568 pp.; hardcover $39.50; ebook available. Michael L. Ross, The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012. Illustrations, tables, abbreviations, appendixes, bibliography, index, 312 pp.; paperback $22.95, ebook available. Elana Shever, Resources for Reform: Oil and Neoliberalism in Argentina. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012. Map, figures, notes, bibliography, index, 231 pp.; hardcover $70, paperback $22.95, ebook $22.95.     

Palestine’s Membership in the Commonwealth as a Contribution to a Lasting Peace in the Middle East

With the re-election of Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu for another four-year term as prime minister of Israel there is a real danger that the peace process has reached an irrevocable impasse. It is argued that bold moves must be considered by the international community to breathe life back into the peace process. To coax Netanyahu into negotiations real pressure must be brought to bear on his government to respect the international consensus on Palestinian statehood and to halt settlement activity in occupied territory. To coax the Palestinian leadership back into a negotiation process with Israel, membership in the Commonwealth should be considered as a stepping stone to membership in the United Nations, to be followed by Israel’s membership in the Commonwealth—but on condition that Israel agrees to abide by international law, and respect the international consensus on the two-state solution, completely freeze settlement activity, including in East Jerusalem, and on condition that Palestine agrees to enter into final status negotiations with Israel to conclude a peace treaty to resolve all remaining disputes.