Globalaffairs

Issue 22/October-December 2010
By Niruban Balachandran

In a 5,500-word essay in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has offered a sneak preview of the much-anticipated Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, or QDDR. Launched in July 2009, the QDDR is a top-to-bottom review of the U.S. State Department’s current objectives, priorities, strategy and operations, and will make recommendations for American foreign policy and aid for the years ahead. Clinton said she was originally inspired by the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review (which similarly occurs every four years), and believes that defense must be complemented by diplomacy and development in order for American foreign policy to be effective.

In Clinton’s words, the QDDR “defines how to make diplomacy and development coordinated, complementary, and mutually reinforcing. It assesses what has worked in the past and what has not. And it forecasts future strategic choices and resource needs.” The forthcoming review will no doubt be magisterial and exhaustive in scope. So what will the QDDR probably look like when it’s released later this year? The following is an overview of some of Clinton’s key strategic recommendations, which reflect this coming decade’s new foreign policy challenges:

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Issue 22/October-December 2010
By Mahmoud Ezzat A.Elhafez

On Friday 26 February 2009, President Obama said he plans to withdraw most U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010. Between 35,000 to 50,000 troops will remain in Iraq, he said. They would be withdrawn gradually until all U.S. forces are out of Iraq by December 31, 2011 - the deadline set under an agreement the Bush administration signed with the Iraqi government last year.

And now, and after 7 years of engagement, Iraq lacks almost all of the favorable conditions for the emergence of democracy: The socioeconomic conditions of a large middle class, high levels of literacy (1), substantial economic opportunity outside the state, a viable civil society, a political culture of tolerance and moderation, and a social order and rule of law that restrain corruption at least to some extent.

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Issue 21/July-September 2010
By Guy Burton

From one perspective, US hegemony appears to be on the slide. In 1989 it was the only one of the two superpowers to be left standing. At the end of the last century US dominance appeared so great that it prompted the then French foreign minister, Hubert Védrine, to coin the phrase ‘hyperpuissance’ (hyperpower) to describe the totality of American influence. By contrast the past decade has apparently seen US power in decline, following the attacks of 9/11 that hit at the heart of American security and confidence and the failure to bring about peace in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Alongside this shift has been the rise of several ‘emerging’ powers which appeared to have diminished the influence of Washington. The most significant of these is probably China, whose military might be now matched economically, when it recently passed Japan as the world’s second largest economy. Elsewhere though, there are other countries that are appearing as challengers to American hegemony - or at least they look that way to strategists in Washington. Of particular concern is that of Iran, which over the past decade has not only seen the rise to power of a more confrontational president Mahmoud Ahmadineyad, but has become more active in its pursuit of a nuclear programme. In addition to Iran there have also been the emergence of other independently-minded leaders in Brazil and Turkey, whose respective left-wing and Islamist governments have provided a significant contrast to the neo-conservatism of the former US president George W Bush (2001-09).

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Issue 20/April-June 2010
By Niruban Balachandran

From finger-pointing to reciprocal accusations of stubbornness to seemingly endless differences in opinion, America’s and China’s increasingly tense yet tightly-interdependent relationship will continue to give policymakers from both nations multiple sources of irritation (and rising blood pressures) over the next several months. Here are five points of conflict between America and China to watch this year.

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Issue 19/ February- March 2010
By Franco D. Bonaro

Without highlighting the technical details that are common knowledge, I would like to focus on the ideological debate that the much discussed plans for the new Health Act proposed by the Obama administration.

Is the US society prepared for a change of this scale?

The answer is not clear cut as yet, however, it is apparent that a large part of the contributors do not favour the politics of inclusiveness that the democratic government wants to implement. The US economy albeit one of the largest in the world fails to meet the basic health needs of its inhabitants.

The model of a Welfare State, following Sping Andersen, adopted by the USA characteristically focuses its social politics on those sectors of the population that show a need (1).Within this scheme of a liberal state, social help is only aimed at the “losers” of the system, generating a negative effect of stigmatization of the poor. These people receive health coverage through a system of medical assistance called Medicaid. Whereas, senior citizens of 65 years and older receive medical care through Medicare.

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Issue 17/ October-November 2009
By Danny Mauricio Suárez

The military pact that is to be closed between Columbia and the United States through which the US military will cooperate with Columbia at seven military bases, is a dire necessity for Columbia in its battle against drug trafficking and the terrorism of the FARC guerrilla movement that have been wreaking havoc in the country for over 50 years, but at the same time is awkward for its neighbours.

The aid agreement and military collaboration between the two countries, however, are not new; contrary to what their neighbouring nations believe, the United States have been an unconditional ally of the Columbian government contributing military aid for over 10 years with the added total of six billion dollars. The collaboration has been decisive in cornering the FARC and disbanding several drug cartels headed up by Diego León Montoya also known as “Don Diego”, captured and extradited to the United States where he was sentenced to 45 years for drug trafficking, as well as disbanding the paramilitary groups led by Salvatore Mancuso; Diego Fernando Murilla known as “Don Berna”, Rodrigo Tovar Pupo known as “Jorge 40″; and José Ever Veloza García knows as “H.H.” amongst others, who were also extradited to the United States.

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Issue 16/August-September 2009
By Sandra Azima

This discussion aims to highlight the central policy concern which has existed for over two decades in Mexican politics. The issue of drug trafficking remains a challenge for the Mexican authorities and the mission of combating drug cartels and curtailing drug-related violence has consequently turned into a transnational matter. In order to allow for a closer examination of these elements, a consideration of the escalating narco-criminal war needs to be made. The failure of law enforcement institutions to combat drug cartels has lead the Calderón administration to deploy military forces in an attempt to regain control and meanwhile effectively limit violence throughout the nation. Furthermore attention will be drawn to the US-Mexican bilateral relationship, in addition to considering the impact of US gun and drug policies on this enduring global narcotics trade.

Finally the issue of drug abuse and the re-examination of existing policies by the authorities is discussed, to evaluate the effectiveness of such measures in reducing addiction and curbing the rising levels of violence of that this war on drugs has generated.

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Issue 15/June-July 2009
By Erin Fitzgerald

Since the nineteenth century, Afghanistan has been the central battleground in the “Great Game” among the world’s major powers. The players, rules, and objectives have changed since the original struggle between Britain and Russian for control of Central Asia, but the Game continues to be played (1). After the traumatic attacks of 11 September 2001, a war was launched on Afghanistan to wipe out the al-Qaeda terrorist network and to overthrow the Taliban government that sheltered it. Under the Bush administration, the goal of the war was to replace the Taliban with Western-style democratic institutions, but establishing a functioning democracy proved more challenging than anticipated. Nearly eight years later, US forces are still in Central Asia, struggling to suppress a Taliban insurgency that has spilled over the border into Pakistan.

Upon inheriting these difficulties, one of the Obama administration’s first initiatives was to reassess the war’s objectives. On March 27, President Barack Obama announced that rather than exporting democracy, his administration’s goal will be to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future,” essentially redefining the aims of the US mission (2). Yet, while the President is correct to look beyond the fighting in Afghanistan and to call for a regional approach, it is far too early to know whether peace and stability can be achieved with these more limited objectives.

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Issue 14/April-May 2009
By Luis Guillermo Colín Villavicencio

On 25th and 26th March the USA Secretary of State Hilary Clinton visited Mexico. It was an official visit, the first one since she was appointed by President Barack Obama and it is in the context of a serial of visits being done since February to European and Asian countries.

Overall, the assessment of such visit is positive due to four aspects, however, there is a negative aspect related to the potential appointment of the North American diplomat Carlos Pascual as representative of such country in Mexico.

First of all, the meeting of Clinton with the President Calderon is framed in a high diplomatic level dialogue that has been initiated in February when President Calderon visited the still elected President Barack Obama. The participation of Foreign Secretary Espinosa in the meeting could have established a new personal relation between both. This will allow going forward in the definition and enforcement of the Binational Agenda Mexico-USA.

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Issue 13/ February-March 2009
By Priya Nandita Pooran

The past several months have produced a range of challenges for financial institutions and regulatory authorities throughout the international financial system. For the first time since the proliferation of the new range of financial instruments, global regulators have had to confront the weaknesses in these techniques and seek an effective regulatory solution, both nationally and at a system-wide level.

The crisis is almost unprecedented. It is potentially unprecedented in two significant ways. First, in financial terms, the crisis is unprecedented in the difficulties of quantifying the exact losses, the extent and location of risk transfer, the cross-border nature of the transactions at play and the lack of a cross-border mechanism for governing and assessing such transactions (including the extent of risk transfer) on an institution-wide level. Second, the crisis presents unprecedented regulatory challenges. It seriously challenges and questions the efficacy of existing regulatory approaches, requirements, frameworks and institutions. The failures of financial institutions in the months following the difficulties of Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest investment bank in the US, on Sept. 15, 2008 will inevitably lead government authorities, regulators and law-makers to closely question to the causes of this crisis. They are already injecting liquidity and provide support to institutions. They will also review the role of regulation in the modern global financial system. Although these developments are inevitable and valuable, (in the terms of government support, to a more limited extent), the real value of this crisis lies in the reforms it will force in cross-border commercial transactions, that correct the failures of the present system of regulation and strengthen the international financial architecture to promote stability on institutional, national, regional and global levels.

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