CIAO DATE: 05/2011
Volume: 21, Issue: 0
May 2010
Letter from the Editors (PDF)
Megan Ansdell
Space debris increasingly threatens the provision of satellite services that have become integrated into the operations of the global economy and U.S. military, such as GPS precision timing and navigation. While studies suggest that annually removing as few as five massive pieces of debris in critical orbits could significantly stabilize the space debris environment, countries have hesitated to develop space debris removal systems due to high costs and classic free rider problems. This paper argues that the United States should take the lead in immediately developing systems to remove space debris with the greatest potential to contribute to future collisions. Although leading by example will entail certain costs and risks, U.S. leadership in preserving the near-Earth space environment will result in not only long-term benefits for the United States, but also the fulfillment of U.S. national space policy and broader U.S. foreign policy objectives
The Logic of E.U. Enlargement: Exporting Stability or Inheriting an Empire. (PDF)
Velibor Jakovleski
The European Union (E.U.) has served as an anchor of order and stability in Europe for decades and continues to play an important role in shaping its external environment through enlargement, or the process of expansion through the accession of new member states. However, the logic that informs contemporary E.U. enlargement policy has undergone a significant shift. This paper argues that this change is attributed to the desire by the E.U. to ensure internal security in the aftermath of the Yugoslav and Kosovo wars. E.U. internal security and enlargement policy, therefore, are inextricably linked. This has resulted in a variable and differentiated enlargement process, with the emergence of a Europe characterized by metaphorical concentric circles of fading political authority as one moves from the E.U. “core” into the European “periphery.
Sarah M. Rich
This paper examines the Center for Migration Information and Management (CIGEM), which the European Union opened in Mali in 2008 to dissuade Malians and other West Africans from attempting to migrate to the E.U., among other objectives. After briefly discussing migration theory, this paper examines the current status of Mali-E.U. migration. It proceeds to assess CIGEM’s goals and its strategies to dissuade unauthorized migration. The paper argues that CIGEM will fail to affect the flows of migrants from Mali to the E.U. because the center does not address the structural reasons for migration in today’s globalized world. The paper ends with a call for a more honest discussion of labor migration realities and recommends that the E.U. develop a circular, temporary labor migration policy
Learning Not to Kick with our Achilles Heel: The Case against a Counterinsurgency-Focused Military. (PDF)
Seth McCormick Lynn
Within the defense community, a debate is emerging over the wisdom of “balancing” the military by shifting focus toward irregular warfare. This paper argues that balance would only be prudent if the military is likely to continue primarily facing irregular conflicts, if current counterinsurgency doctrine can lead to success in future contingencies, and if increased focus on counterinsurgency will improve national security. Although the military will likely face future insurgencies, such contingencies threaten national security less than conventional wars, and there is little evidence that the military’s counterinsurgency doctrine will lead to future success. Moreover, balancing the military would degrade its conventional deterrence capabilities, thereby increasing the likelihood of conventional warfare. Therefore, while Iraq and Afghanistan should be the military’s immediate priority, reconstituting degraded conventional capabilities should be its next concern. The paper concludes by suggesting several measures that would improve the military’s irregular warfare capabilities without sacrificing conventional deterrence
Talking with Terrorists: Terrorist Groups and the Challenge of Legitimization. (PDF)
Joshua Gross
When Lebanese voters lined up to vote on June 7, 2009, the Obama administration was unprepared to face the alarming prospect of a Hezbollah-dominated government. The U.S. government remains hamstrung by legal and political obstacles that bar any contact with designated terrorist groups, including Hezbollah. This article examines the hurdles that the United States faces when terrorist groups gain legitimacy through democratic elections. Some terrorism analysts have begun advocating engagement of hostile terrorist groups as an element of a successful counterterrorism campaign. Yet, in the case of Lebanon, Hezbollah’s electoral success has not resulted in the degree of behavioral change necessary to make the group a credible candidate for U.S. engagement. Moving forward, the United States should support a process that enables Hezbollah and other terrorist groups to be removed from the terrorist lists should they exhibit consistent and credible progress toward moderation and participatio
Claudia Vinay
This paper examines whether Mexico’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, Oportunidades, has an effect on poor urban households’ coping decisions when faced with an idiosyncratic shock. Poor households are often uninsured and thus have limited risk coping capabilities. While evaluations have found the program to have a positive effect on outcomes such as school enrollment and health seeking behavior, they have primarily focused on rural areas and not examined whether the program helps urban households cope with risks. This paper explores the effect of Oportunidades on poor, urban households’ riskcoping strategies by using the latest External Urban Household Evaluation Survey (ENCELURB)
Fulfilling the Prague Promise: A Framework for Nuclear Security. (PDF)
Julia C. Morse
The lack of an international framework that stipulates specific nuclear security standards poses a significant threat to international security. Terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda have expressed their desire to acquire and use nuclear weapons. Such actors could gain access to the necessary fissile material to produce a bomb at military or civilian nuclear sites throughout the world. 1 Significant quantities of nuclear material are stored and processed under varying degrees of security, making them vulnerable to theft. When states choose to implement weak nuclear security standards, whether because of a low threat appraisal or a lack of capacity, this vulnerable nuclear material poses a global threa
Between Policy and Justice: The Brazilian National Policy on Pharmaceuticals (PDF)
Mariana Peixoto Socal
With around 190 million inhabitants, Brazil is one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical markets in the world. Annually, domestic pharmaceutical sales amount to approximately U.S. $15 billion and the country also imports an estimated U.S. $4 billion in pharmaceuticals (SINDUSFARMA 2010). The consumption of medicines is unequally distributed, with the richest 15 percent of the population consuming 48 percent, and the bottom 51 percent consuming only 16 percent (Dias 2006). To remedy this, the public healthcare system, Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), provides medicines for free for those individuals who cannot afford them but have a medical prescription confirming their need. In 2007, SUS distributed more than 443 million free medicines throughout the country (DATASUS 2007)