BALKANS
AP Photo
August 9, 2009
"Reclaiming Islam"
Op-Ed, Sunday Herald
By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"In Britain, the radicalisation process has been exacerbated by a gaping lack of mainstream Islamic education for the young, and a dearth of advice on how to apply the rules in a business context. When Islamic companies have needed advice in accordance with mainstream interpretations of Islamic law, there has been no organisation qualified to provide it. This gap has often been filled by scholars who interpret Islamic law in ways that are not appropriate to modern life. In some areas it has been filled by extremist preachers, unqualified in Islamic law and theology, normally from outside Europe, who have replaced traditional pietistic, apolitical Islam with an ignorant, pamphlet-based Islam which emphasises politics. So the best answer to the question of what we can do to break the link between foreign policy and radicalisation is simply to educate our young people in genuine, authentic Islamic teachings. Then, if they encounter radical narratives, dubious theology or ignorant preaching, they will be able to see these for the perversions of the religion that they really are. The fact that the vast majority of extremists have not undergone this process reinforces the point."
Summer 2009
"The Limits of Coercive Airpower: NATO'S 'Victory' in Kosovo Revisited"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 1, volume 34
Despite NATO's overwhelming strategic superiority, Milošević was able to reject his adversary's terms of surrender until his political position became untenable. This suggests that airpower may have greater limitations as a tool of statecraft than its supporters maintain.
Spring 2009
"Who Are These Belligerent Democratizers? Reassessing the Impact of Democratization on War"
Journal Article, International Organization, issue 2, volume 63
By Vipin Narang, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom and Rebecca M. Nelson
In a key finding in the democratic peace literature, Mansfield and Snyder argue that states with weak institutions undergoing incomplete transitions to democracy are more likely to initiate an external war than other types of states. We show that the empirical data do not support this claim. We find a dearth of observations where incomplete democratizers with weak institutions participated in war. Additionally, we find that the statistical relationship between incomplete democratization and war is entirely dependent on the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire prior to World War I. We also find that the case selection in Mansfield and Snyder rarely involved incomplete democratizers with weak institutions. We therefore conclude that the finding that incomplete democratizers with weak institutions are more likely to initiate or participate in war is not supported by the empirical data.
AP Photo
January 11, 2009
"The Dark Side of Self-Determination"
Op-Ed, Daily News Egypt
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"Self-determination has turned out to be an ambiguous moral principle. Woodrow Wilson thought it would solve problems in central Europe in 1919, but it created as many as it solved. Adolf Hitler used the principle to undermine fragile states in the 1930's. Today, with less than 10% of the world's states being homogeneous, treating self-determination as a primary moral principle could have disastrous consequences in many regions."
Winter 2007-2008
"Rosenbach Named Executive Director for Research"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
Kennedy School alum Eric Rosenbach, former national security adviser to Senator Chuck Hagel and Senate Intelligence Committee staff member, took the reins in August as the Belfer Center's executive director for research.
Summer-Fall 2007
"The Virtues and Vices of Fixed Territorial Ownership"
Journal Article, The SAIS Review of International Affairs, issue 2, volume XXVII
By Boaz Atzili, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2006-2008
Today, territorial ownership of states is essentially fixed, in marked contrast to earlier periods in history. This change has affected states in two very different ways. In regions in which most states are socio-politically strong, fixed territorial ownership is a blessing. It enhances peace, stability, and cooperation between states. In regions in which most states are socio-politically weak, however, fixed territorial ownership is largely a curse. It perpetuates and exacerbates states' weakness, and contributes to internal conflicts that often spill overacross international borders.
September 17, 2007
"America and Global Public Goods"
Op-Ed, Daily Times, (Pakistan)
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"By using its good offices to mediate conflicts in places like Northern Ireland, Morocco, and the Aegean Sea, the US has helped in shaping international order in ways that are beneficial to other nations."
June 2007
"An Identity of Opinion: Historians and July 1914"
Journal Article, The Journal of Modern History, issue 2, volume 79
By Samuel R. Williamson and Ernest R. May, Former Faculty Affiliate, International Security Program
"Despite all our accumulated information about 1914, we are still very far from being clear as to what men in power understood to be happening, why they thought it mattered, or how they assessed their action choices."
April 2007
"Military Interventions and the 'Lessons of Iraq'"
Journal Article, PS: Political Science and Politics, issue 2, volume XL
By Stephen Watts, Former Research Fellow and Associate, Intrastate Conflict Program/International Security Program, 2006-2007
"The disastrous invasion of Iraq has shed a stark light on the
limitations of military interventions. Much of the ensuing
skepticism is quite healthy. But there is a risk that 'the lessons
of Iraq' will be learnt to the exclusion of lessons that can be
drawn from the more than two dozen other interventions of the
post-Cold War era...."
March 1, 2007
"Peace through Dialogue"
Journal Article, International Journal of World Peace, issue 1, volume XXIV
By J. Martin Ramirez, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2006-2007
The paper is dedicated to look at some major steps for achieving peace, through a better dialogue among people of other cultures andcivilizations, such as no speaking about past misdeeds, respect for others, tolerance of differences, a better knowledge and understanding of them, and attitudes toward real reconciliation.
