Tag Archive for UN

NATO’s Role and Relevance in Post-Conflict Reconstruction And Challenges in Implementing the Comprehensive Approach

February 18, 2013 International Relations, Paid Content, Prevent/Contain Intl. Conflicts No comments

“NATO’s Role and Relevance in Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Challenges in Implementing the Comprehensive Approach” by Kapok Tree Diplomacy

PREVIEW  to follow. Includes a Table of Contents. Complete essay is 5,821 words, 22 pages double-spaced, 60 references

Section One – NATO – Brief History and Background

Pre Cold War.  Hoehn and Harting note that increasing tensions with the Soviet Union over its Berlin Blockade (1948), China’s “short-lived embrace of Moscow” (5), and Communist incursions in Czechoslovakia and Korea led the United States, Canada and ten other Western European states to form NATO as a defensive alliance and formulate a policy of Soviet “containment” designed to “keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down” in April of 1949 (8). Despite occasional disagreements over burden-sharing and a dust-up with France, alliance members “deterred the Soviets, and integrated Germany into a collective defense system for the West” over the next 40 years (Duignan 43), moving from a posture of deterrence to détente in a manner consistent with its values of “democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law” (NATO “Treaty”).

Post Cold War. NATO’s success with facilitating European integration and deterring the Soviet threat was rewarded with the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and Soviet Union in 1991 (Medcalf 196-197), as NATO “found itself without an enemy” for the first time in its history, earning a “bloodless victory … without firing a shot” (Duignan 46, 48). The collapse of the Soviet Union encouraged NATO to enlarge its membership into Eastern Europe (1999) and launch the Partnership for Peace (PfP) for military cooperation and dialogue with non-NATO states (1994) despite lingering doubts regarding NATO’s post-Cold War purpose and identity (Duignan 58). Read more

Challenges Facing Outside Actors in Balancing Punitive and Reconciliatory Measures in Nation/State-Building and the Optimum Division of Labor to Overcome Them

February 17, 2013 International Relations, Paid Content, Post Conflict Reconstruction No comments

“Challenges Facing Outside Actors in Balancing Punitive and Reconciliatory Measures in Nation/State-Building and the Optimum Division of Labor to Overcome Them” by Kapok Tree Diplomacy

PREVIEW

I.    Punitive and Reconciliatory Measures Available in Nation/State-Building

A.    Definitions

B.     Tasks of Nation/State Building (NSB)

C.     Punitive and Reconciliatory Measures Available in NSB Processes

1.     Military Security

2.     Political

3.     Economic

4.     Justice and Reconciliation

II.    Challenges Facing Outside Actors in Nation/State Building

A.    Military/Security Pillar – Challenges Facing IOs, Coalitions and MNFs, and  States

B.    Political and Governance Pillar – Challenges Facing IOs, Coalitions and MNFs, and States

C.    Economic Pillar – Challenges Facing IOs, Coalitions and MNFs, and States

D.    Justice and Reconciliation Pillar – Challenges Facing IOs, Coalitions and MNFs, and States

III.    Section Three – Optimum Division of Labor to Meet NSB Challenges

A.    Proper Mix – International, Regional, Local, Multilateral & Bilateral

B.    Military/Economic/Political Division of Labor

IV.    Summary

Section One – Punitive and Reconciliatory Measures Available in Nation/State-Building

Definitions.  Nation-building and state-building are similar but not identical concepts with context often determining which term is applicable. Mary Thida Lun defines nation-building as “the indigenous and domestic creation and reinforcement of the complex social and cultural identities that relate to and define citizenship within the territory of the state” (v).   Read more

The Interconnectedness of Military, Political and Economic Tools in Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Reconstruction

February 17, 2013 Free Content, International Relations, Post Conflict Reconstruction No comments

(C) Kapok Tree Diplomacy. Jan. 2011. All rights reserved. Jeff Dwiggins. 12.5 pages, double-spaced, 3,310 words. 30 references.

Introduction                                       FREE CONTENT

Post-conflict reconstructionFor the last twenty years following the end of the Cold War, the nature of conflict has transitioned from mostly interstate conflicts to predominantly intrastate conflicts characterized by a “complex web of social, economic, cultural, political and religious factors” (Bercovitch & Jackson 3). As the context underlying conflict has changed, the approaches to conflict resolution (CR) and post-conflict reconstruction (PCR) have adapted as well. Policy-makers have a variety of military, political and economic tools at their disposal to contend with the security, welfare and political representation issues resulting from fragile and failed states.

This essay will analyze the policy tools available for CR and PCR, and, in doing so, answer the following questions:

(1)   To what extent are the political, economic and military tools available to policymakers for use in conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction interconnected?

(2)  Has the application of such tools become considerably more challenging since the end of the Cold War? If so, how and why? If not, why not?

Section One of the essay will provide a brief summary of how the environment of conflict has changed since the end of the Cold War. Section Two will analyze the military tools. Section Three will cover the political tools, and Section Four will address the economic tools. Section Five will include a brief summary of how these tools are interconnected, but the assertion that they are interconnected will be made in each section of the essay.

Likewise, the question of whether the application of these tools has become considerably more challenging since the end of the Cold War may be answered in the affirmative with the how and why addressed throughout each section of the paper. Section Six will conclude the paper with a brief summary of the essay.

The views and opinions expressed in this paper are completely my own and do not represent the views or opinions of the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of the Navy (DON) or any of the Armed Forces.

Read more

Civil War and Crisis in Côte d’Ivoire – An Analysis of the Steps Taken by the International Community to Prevent, Manage and Resolve the Conflict

February 13, 2013 International Relations, Paid Content, Prevent/Contain Intl. Conflicts, Uncategorized No comments

“Civil War and Crisis in Côte d’Ivoire – An Analysis of the Steps Taken by the International Community to Prevent, Manage and Resolve the Conflict ” by Kapok Tree Diplomacy

PREVIEW – Civil War and Crisis in Côte d’Ivoire – An Analysis of the Steps Taken By the International Community To Prevent, Manage and Resolve the Conflict

February 13, 2013 Free Content, International Relations, Prevent/Contain Intl. Conflicts No comments

(C) Kapok Tree Diplomacy. Oct 2010. All rights reserved. Jeff Dwiggins.

Essay consists of 11 pages, double-spaced + 26 references (3,293 words)

Table of Contents (TOC)

I.                 Introduction

A.    Summary of the Sources and Causes of the Conflict

B.    Background

II.              Actions of the Main Actors

A.     France                                               

B.     Burkina Faso

C.     The United Nations (UN)

III.           United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI)

IV.            UN Security Council (UNSC)

A.     ECOWAS and the African Union (AU)

B.     FN Zone Commanders

C.     Independent Electoral Commission (CEI)

D.     President Laurent Gbagbo and his party, the Front Populaire Ivoirian (FPI)

E.     Prime Minister Guillaume Soro and the Forces Nouvelles (FN)

F.     The World Bank (WB)

V.              The Ouagadougou Political Accord (OPA)

A.     Genesis of the OPA

B.     Key Components

PREVIEW

Actions of the Main Actors

France.  After a failed military coup on September 19, 2002, France quickly moved 700 troops into Côte d’Ivoire under a 1961 pact obligating it to defend its former colony from any external invasion (Kohler 31). But France also had 16,000 citizens and 210 subsidiaries of French companies (Kohler 31), in addition to $3.5 billion Euros in direct investment in industries like oil, gas, banking, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications to protect (Busch 52). Read more

International Law’s Expansion into Individual Affairs: A Tug of War over Tradition, Jurisdiction and Universal Human Rights

February 10, 2013 Free Content, International Relations, Intl Law No comments

Introduction – (C) Kapok Tree Diplomacy, July 2010, All rights reserved. Jeff Dwiggins, author.

FREE CONTENTFort Derussy Park, Honolulu

As international law extends beyond traditional state-to-state interactions into matters directly involving the rights and wrongs of individuals, its pervasive encroachment directly collides with domestic law on important issues of supremacy, customary norms, jurisdiction, human rights and sovereign immunity. Courts often struggle to navigate the chasm between the two realms of international and domestic law and produce cogent, universally accepted decisions that fall within uncontested limitations and clear jurisdictions.

This paper will explore the challenges, benefits and trade-offs of a non-traditional application of international law in cases involving individuals where the dynamics of tradition, jurisdiction and human rights interact in overlapping spheres of domestic and international law, producing a compelling tug of war between competing interests.  I’ll begin by examining the issue of international and universal human rights.

The posts, views and opinions expressed on this site are completely my own and do not represent the views or opinions of the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of the Navy (DON) or any of the Armed Forces.

Section One – International Human Rights v. The Interests of States

The Preamble of the United Nations (UN) Charter calls upon member states to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small,” while Articles 55 encourages member states to promote “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion” (“Preamble” and “Chapter IX”). A thorough reading of the Charter, however, doesn’t uncover any definition or mandate for human rights which has complicated a universal embrace of uniform standards for human rights. Read more

The Extent That Theories of Cooperation Harmonize With Reality in Contemporary International Relations

January 24, 2013 Free Content, International Relations, IR Theories No comments

January 30, 2010 – Jeffrey R. Dwiggins, Copyright, Kapok Tree Diplomacy –

FREE CONTENT

The Extent That Theories of Cooperation Harmonize With Reality in Contemporary International Relations

International relations theorists have presented distinctly different views on both the prospects for cooperation among states and the environmental and structural constraints impeding it for decades. This essay will explain and analyze the main views put forth in Robert Keohane‘s Regime and Complex Interdependency Theory, Bruce Russett’s Democratic Peace Theory, David Held’s democratization of global politics, and conclude with Robert Jervis’s ideas on the effectiveness of creating institutions to increase cooperation.

The views of Jervis will bring us full circle with realist and neo-realist views of cooperation. Throughout the essay, I will assess to what extent the arguments of these theorists are convincing. Do these theories of cooperation harmonize with reality in contemporary international relations? The following essay will explain how and why they do, and in other cases how and why they do not.

Theories of Cooperation

Keohane – Regimes and Complex Interdependency Theory.  Keohane defines cooperation as occurring when “actors adjust their behavior to the actual or anticipated preferences of others, through a process of policy coordination” (“Cooperation” 491).  The definition leaves some room for why actors would adjust their behavior at all.  Keohane implies that the answer is found in mutual interests that are of equal importance (“Cooperation” 490). When such mutual interests are present, actors will want to bargain and negotiate as opposed to the manipulation and coercion that prevail under divergent interests and lead to strife. Read more