PUBLICATIONS
AP Photo
November 20, 2009
"Reconciliation Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry"
The Huffington Post
By Yvonne Malan, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Intrastate Conflict Program
"The world loved the Rainbow Nation success story and chose, along with many South Africans, to ignore that reconciliation can easily be used to justify impunity. Jansen's description of the Reitz Four, that they too are his children and that he cannot disown them, echoes the mythology of the TRC that perpetrators were sinners who strayed and need to be forgiven (and granted amnesty), not as individuals who broke the law and need to be held accountable. Any serious discussion about rights and responsibility is quickly marginalised, with dangerous implications for any attempts to foster a respect for human rights and a respect for the rule of law."
September 19, 2009
"The US Must Help Rebuild Somalia"
Boston Globe
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
This week's US raid in Somalia that killed Al Qaeda operatives removed dangers to the United States and its allies, but did little to bring progress to one of the least governed places in the world.
AP Photo
August 31, 2009
"Keeping Up with the Indians"
Foreign Policy
By Paul Staniland, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program/Intrastate Conflict Program, 2008–2009
"Neither Americans nor Indians always understand how threatening their military strength can look to weaker countries. This dynamic is clearly at play in the case of Pakistan — Indians feel that they are self-evidently not a threat, while Americans are often baffled that Pakistani security elites care so much about India, which to the U.S. looks like a positive force for stability and democracy. At the end of the day, however, the world does not look the same from Rawalpindi and Islamabad as it does from Washington, and the U.S. needs to remember these differing goals, incentives, and fears as it pursues its vital interests in the region."
AP Photo
August 18, 2009
"Kashmir in the AfPak Equation"
Foreign Policy
By Paul Staniland, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program/Intrastate Conflict Program, 2008–2009
"...[T]he era of mass protest has returned after a grim period in which brutal, extremely violent insurgency and counterinsurgency dominated political life in Kashmir. This political mobilization is often inspired or directed by political leaders of various ideologies, but it shows that mass unrest and disaffection have not disappeared. They are now being expressed openly, and in significant numbers. While in Kashmir it is impossible to miss the depth of sentiment against Indian policy...."
AP Photo
July/August 2009
"Disorder in the Ranks"
Foreign Policy
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
The label "failed" remains a powerful way to describe those states that no longer serve their people. That harsh term sharpens the attention of policymakers and helps single out countries that should be of utmost concern. The threat of such state failure also focuses attention on the soon-to-crumble; it is those countries that need the most external help.
AP Photo
June 13, 2009
"The False Unity in Zimbabwe"
Boston Globe
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe, who visited President Obama yesterday, needs all the American support he can get. Although the head of government of an impoverished and beleaguered nation battered by a decade of severe mismanagement and corruption, Tsvangirai is hardly in charge. President Robert Mugabe is still calling too many of the crucial governing shots.
Belfer Center
Summer 2009
"Featured Fellows: Thomas Hegghammer and Maya Tudor"
Belfer Center Newsletter
By Thomas Hegghammer, Associate, Initiative on Religion in International Affairs/International Security Program and Maya Tudor, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program/Intrastate Conflict Program, 2008-2009
Belfer Center Research Fellows Thomas Hegghammer and Maya Tudor conduct policy-relevant research.
Summer 2009
"Newsmakers"
Belfer Center Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
Belfer Center Newsmakers.
AP Photo
April 2009
"Improving India's Counterterrorism Policy after Mumbai"
CTC Sentinel, issue 4, volume 2
By Paul Staniland, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program/Intrastate Conflict Program, 2008–2009
"All of these pathologies were evident in the failure to prevent or appropriately respond to the Mumbai attacks. There was in fact significant intelligence suggesting a seaborne terrorist attack was likely, and even that prominent sites such as the Taj Hotel would be targeted. This information, however, was ignored by several key bureaucratic actors—including the Coast Guard and the Maharashtra state director-general of police—because it was deemed unactionable. Others, such as the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, at least attempted some kind of preparation. The differences in readiness highlight the extent of fragmentation among the security apparatus. Even when Mumbai police tried to take preventive action, they lacked the manpower to sustain increased security at the hotels. Once the attack occurred, the security forces did not have sufficient night-vision equipment, heavy weaponry, or information about the attack sites, leading to a long response time and the emergence of a disastrous siege...."
Spring/Summer 2009
"Governance and Leadership in Africa: Measures, Methods, and Results"
International Affairs
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
Governance is performance-the delivery of high quality political goods to citizens by governments of all kinds. In Africa, as everywhere else, those political goods are security and safety, rule of law, participation and human rights, sustainable economic opportunity and human development. The Ibrahim Index of African Governance, created at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, evaluates forty-eight sub-Saharan African countries according to fifty-seven variables.
