CIAO DATE: 02/2013
Volume: 36, Issue: 1
Winter 2013
An Opportunity for a U.S.–Iran Paradigm Shift (PDF)
Hossein Mousavian
The former Iranian ambassador argues that the Arab Awakenings have opened an opportunity for Washington and Tehran to seek common interests, but warns that mutual perceptions that the other is weakening could once again lead that opportunity to be missed.
Avoid Repeating Mistakes toward Iran (PDF)
Hooshang Amirahmadi, Shahir ShahidSaless
The United States and Iran have arrived at a crossroads of peace and war, but the current U.S. assumption that its carrot-and-stick policy is working overlooks history and misunderstands both Iran's national identity and its politics. Thankfully, there is a way out.
The Turkey–Russia–Iran Nexus: Eurasian Power Dynamics (PDF)
Stephen Flanagan
Understanding the complex and often contradictory interactions among Turkey, Russia, and Iran is essential to avoiding a wider war in the Middle East, renewed conflict in the Caucasus, and instability in Central Asia following the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan.
Reassessing the All-Volunteer Force (PDF)
Karl W. Eikenberry
The retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General and former ambassador to Afghanistan argues that, despite its overall success, the All-Volunteer Force has developed liabilities in its weak political oversight and internal accountability of its senior leadership with widely unacknowledged consequences for civic virtue, an insulated defense spending debate, and potentially increased deployments overseas.
The 2011 Protests: Were they about Democracy? (PDF)
Dawn Brancati
Why did so many protests occur in 2011, and in such unlikely places? Although the lack of democracy, foreign assistance, and technology may have aided the protests, statistical evidence indicates the downturn in the global economy played a much more significant role.
Working with China to Promote Democracy (PDF)
Baogang He
Democratization is China’s most important challenge this century, but democracy promotion has become the most sensitive issue for Sino–U.S. relations. While it may seem naïve, history and politics indicate that Chinese democratization can actually soon become a source of cooperation and mutual trust.
Thinking Long on Afghanistan: Could it be Neutralized? (PDF)
Audrey Kurth Cronin
With the U.S. drawing down its forces in Afghanistan over the next two years, it urgently needs to shift from short-term thinking. For decades, the rational long-term political solution for Afghanistan has been a strategy called "neutralization."
The Responsibility Doctrine (PDF)
David Shorr, Nina Hachigian
For the last four years, U.S. foreign policymakers have implemented what might be called the “responsibility doctrine”— prodding other influential nations to help foster a stable, peaceful world order—using at least a dozen underappreciated tactics which are, for the first time, catalogued here.
International Order and Global Swing States (PDF)
Richard Fontaine, Daniel Kliman
The choices that four rising democracies—Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Turkey—make will help determine the trajectory of the interlocking web of norms, institutions, rules, and relationships known as the global order.
Mobile Phones: Uplifting Weak and Failed States (PDF)
Robert I. Rotberg, Jenny C. Aker
Mobile telephone technology is poised to dramatically improve millions of lives across the globe's weak and failed states. No other recently-introduced technology has so much potential to improve rural and urban outcomes in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and elsewhere.