About Afghanistan

DEMOCRATIZING A DEPENDENT STATE: THE CASE OF AFGHANISTAN. Astri Suhrke, Democratization, June 2008, pp. 630-648. "The post-Taliban democratic reforms in Afghanistan were in part a recreation of the past. Afghanistan has had six constitutions between 1923 and 1990, and most have provided for national assemblies and elections in one form or other. Yet the degree of foreign involvement in the most recent reform process was unprecedented. The heavy foreign hand contradicted the promise of national autonomy, representation, and fair process held out by the democratization agenda. By implicitly devaluing the institutions it sought to promote, the democratization process has also had potentially counterproductive effects. Moreover, while promoting democratization, Western governments simultaneously created a state so dependent on external support that it deprived the critical institution of liberal democracy - the legislature - of its meaning. The logical response of the national assembly has been to engage mostly in politics with symbolic or nuisance value. This study focuses on three areas of political reform: the structuring of the interim administration, the promulgation of a new constitution, and the establishment of the legislature." READ MORE

THE HISTORY OF IMPOSED DEMOCRACY AND THE FUTURE OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN. Andrew J. Enterline and Michael J. Greig, Foreign Policy Analysis, October 2008, pp. 321-347. "What does history tells us about the prospects for democracy in post-invasion Iraq and Afghanistan? American policy makers frequently referenced the post-World War II success stories of Germany and Japan as plausible futures for the imposed democratic regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. To evaluate the historical validity of this comparison, we examine the durability of 43 imposed democratic regimes during the period 1800-1994, given several political, economic, and social dimensions, as well as the long-term impact of these foreign cultivated regimes on subsequent polity performance. Our analysis suggests that the survival of imposed democracy is by no means assured. Instead, the survival of democracy is strongly conditioned by the process by which the regime is imposed and the social and economic conditions present in the state hosting the imposed polity. We discuss the prospects for the survival of democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan in light of these findings." READ MORE

INVITING THE LEVIATHAN: EXTERNAL FORCES, WAR, AND STATE-BUILDING IN AFGHANISTAN. Jan Angstrom, Small Wars and Insurgencies, September 2008, pp. 374-396. 'This article examines the role of intervening forces in state-building efforts after state-collapse and civil wars. Based upon a case study from the 30 years of war in Afghanistan, it develops an explanation for failure of state-building attempts drawing upon bargaining theory, macrosociological state-building theory, and strategic thought. The explanation suggests that international state-building attempts condition and shapes a new strategic environment for the local actors. In doing so, the mode of state-building can create incentives for continuing the war or, carried out differently, create incentives for the parties to contribute in building a legitimate state from the rubble of the old state." READ MORE

American Foreign Policy

FALLING UPWARDS: DECLINISM, THE BOX SET. Robert J. Lieber, World Affairs, Summer 2008, var. pages. "Is America finished? Respected public intellectuals, think tank theorists, and members of the media elite seem to think so. The United States does contend with serious problems at home and abroad, but these prophecies of doom, which spread like a computer virus, hardly reflect a rational appraisal of where we stand." READ MORE

GLOBALIZATION, AMERICAN POWER, AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY. Jonathan Kirshner, Political Science Quarterly, Fall 2008, pp. 363-390. "Jonathan Kirshner considers the consequences of globalization for American power and international conflict more generally. He argues that the processes of globalization are affecting the balance of power between states and creating new axes of international conflict. He posits that even though the United States is advantaged by globalization, the process also challenges some of its own interests." READ MORE

MANAGING FOREIGN POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY CHALLENGES IN PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITIONS. Kurt M. Campbell and James B. Steinberg, The Washington Quarterly, Autumn 2008, pp. 7–20. "Presidential transitions are replete with dangers and missteps that bedevil even the most experienced practitioners, but they are also times of opportunity. These ten recommendations can help the candidates, even before either is president-elect, to traverse this course." READ MORE

WHEN JUDGES MAKE FOREIGN POLICY. Noah Feldman, New York Times Magazine, September 28, 2008, var. pages. "As the United States tries to balance the benefits of multilateral alliances with the demands of unilateral self-protection, the Supreme court has started to address the legal counterparts of such existential matters. It is becoming increasingly clear that the defining constitutional problem for the present generation will be the nature of the relationship of the United States to what is somewhat optimistically called the international order. This problem has many dimensions. READ MORE

New Military Tactics

A (SLIGHTLY) BETTER WAR: A NARRATIVE AND ITS DEFECTS. Gian P. Gentile, World Affairs, Summer 2008, var. pages. "The U.S. Army’s new strategy in Iraq—launched in February 2007, along with a surge of 25,000 additional American troops—qualifies neither as particularly new nor even as a strategy. Better to call it, instead, an enhanced reliance on tactics and operational concepts previously in use. Or, put less charitably, an over-hyped shift in emphasis that, on the one hand, will not necessarily yield an American victory in Iraq but, on the other, might well leave the United States Army crippled in future wars." READ MORE

FORMULATING VICTORY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY. William C. Martel,  Orbis, Fall 2008, pp. 613-626. "The national debate about the decisions to intervene in Afghanistan and Iraq suggests that policymakers and scholars need more precise language and concepts to define victory in war. Without clear language for victory it is
difficult for policymakers to describe what they seek to achieve from military intervention. This article discusses a framework for understanding victory and evaluates its implications for policymakers who decisions about whether to intervene with military force." READ MORE

RISE IN COUNTERINSURGENCY: WILL NEW TACTICS WEAKEN THE MILITARY?  Peter Katel, The CQ Researcher, Sep.5, 2008, pp. 697-720. "U.S. troops are using new tactics in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead of trying to defeat the enemy by brute force, they are focusing on counterinsurgency — protecting civilians and relying on them to provide information on enemy activity. But some military experts argue that too much emphasis on 'winning hearts and minds' is weakening the skills needed in conventional combat — from rapid infantry advances to accurate artillery marksmanship to tank tactics. Counterinsurgency advocates concede that some of these capabilities may decline, partly because U.S. foes on today's Third World battlefields don't have air power or armor. Still, they say no sane enemy would challenge the powerful U.S. military in a traditional, World War II-style conflict." READ MORE

Human Rights Policies

BEYOND DEMONIZATION: A NEW STRATEGY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN NORTH KOREA. Katharine H. S. Moon, Current History, September 2008, pp. 263-268. "Persistently engaging and formally recognizing North Korea are the measures that hold most promise on many contentious issues, including human rights." READ MORE

THE INTERNATIONAL LAW OF WAR AND AMERICA'S WAR ON TERRORISM
Nicholas Kittrie, International Journal on World Peace, Sep 2008, pp. 85-106. "The events of 9/11 perpetrated by Al Qaeda, a non-state actor, and the subsequent capture of 'terrorists' by U.S. forces and detention in Guantanamo, raises questions about how international law should function in such cases. This article examines the military rationale of the international law of war and the challenges to it by human rights organizations and the U.S. justice system. Should suspected terrorists be treated as POWs or international war criminals? Granting prisoner of war privileges to suspected belligerents in detention has been resisted, particularly for its lack of reciprocity. Current developments in international law have failed to vigorously address this situation." READ MORE

WHEN THE MEN WITH GUNS RULE: EXPLAINING HUMAN RIGHTS FAILURES IN KOSOVO SINCE 1999. Mark A. Wolfgram, Political Science Quarterly, Fall 2008, PP. 461-484. "Mark A. Wolfgram discusses the costs of early failures in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the United Nations mission in Kosovo after June 1999. The failure of NATO and the UN to secure basic human rights for Kosovo’s non-Albanian minorities raises serious questions about the future of similar militarized humanitarian interventions." READ MORE

The Campaign

PSYCHOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON BARACK OBANA AND JOHN MCCAIN: ASSESSING THE CONTOURS OF A NEW PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION.  Stanley A. Renshon.  Political Science Quarterly, Fall 2008, pp. 391-433.  Stanley A. Renshon analyzes the probable psychological baseline contours of a Barack Obama or John McCain presidency. He explores the psychology, worldview, and approach to leadership that are likely to inform and shape the presidency of each candidate in the context of his own developmental history and the psychology of public expectations and concerns.  Stanley A. Renshon is professor of political science, Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Program in the Psychology of Social and Political Behavior at the City University of New York Graduate Center, and a certified psychoanalyst.  READ MORE

A LIBERAL SHOCK DOCTRINE. Rick A. Perlstein, American Prospect, September 2008, pp. 22-24, 26. "The author, a senior fellow at the Campaign for America's Future, believes that progressive political change in American history is rarely incremental. History continues to teach us that presidents have to move quickly to enact progressive reforms before the opportunities escape them. With few exceptions, most of the reforms (such as Social Security, Medicare, desegregation) that have advanced our nation's status as a modern, liberalizing social democracy were pushed through in such circumstances." READ MORE

SYMPOSIUM ON THE NEW VICE PRESIDENCY. George C. Edwards III, Lawrence R. Jacobs et al, Presidential Studies Quarterly, September 2008, pp. 369-421. The purpose of this symposium is to spotlight and encourage research regarding the vice presidency's electoral and institutional impacts. The year 2008 is a particularly propitious moment to expand this research agenda, for three reasons. First, presidential succession may appear especially relevant. Nearly one out of three vice presidents (14 of 46) has become president. Knowing more about the running mates may be particularly important in 2008 because the Republican nominee, John McCain, is a cancer survivor and would, if elected, be the oldest president sworn in to a first term. A second motivation for expanding the research is that the selection of running mates seems to offer a targeted but still critical electoral resource in 2008. The third and especially important stimulus is the emergence of the vice presidency as a critical institutional base of power and decision making. The media and other political scholars should scrutinize the electoral strengths of the running mates and their suitability to succeed the president. READ MORE

Immigration and Exchanges

AMERICA'S BORDER FENCE: WILL IT STEM THE FLOW OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS? Reed Karaim, The CQ Researcher, Sep. 19, 2008, pp. 745-768. "America is rushing to build 670 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border by the end of the year. The fence — or wall, as critics along the border call it — is to include 370 miles of fencing intended to stop illegal immigrants on foot and 300 miles of vehicle barriers. To speed construction, the Bush administration is using unprecedented authority granted by Congress to waive environmental-, historic- and cultural-protection laws. No one claims that building physical barriers along roughly a third of America's 2,000-mile Southern border will stem illegal immigration by itself, but supporters believe it is an essential first step in "securing the border," providing a critical line of defense against illegal migration, drug smugglers and even terrorists. Opponents see it as a multi-billion-dollar waste that will only shift illegal immigrants toward more dangerous and difficult routes into the country, while doing environmental, cultural and economic damage." READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES AND THE U.S. IMAGE. Nancy Snow, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March 2008, pp. 198-222. "Snow, Senior research fellow at the University of Southern California, reviews four special issues of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science that were devoted to the issue of international exchange programs and the U.S. image. She concludes that methods of public diplomacy that were applicable in the past can still be applied today, including the importance of dialogue in overcoming stereotypes, building relationships, knowing the target culture, and enhancing the national reputation of America during ideological contests. The primacy of one individual in contact with another individual remains one of the most important opportunities to change attitudes and, thereby, improve the image of the United States. READ MORE

CULTURE AND RACE/ETHNICITY: BOLDER, DEEPER, AND BROADER. John D Skrentny, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Sep 2008, pp. 59-77. "The role of cultural analysis in the sociology of race, ethnicity, and immigration varies across subject matter. Primarily for political reasons, it has been marginalized in the study of ethnic/racial inequality, though new work is reclaiming culture in this important context. It has an unacknowledged presence in studies of discrimination and domination, but is explicit in macro and historical studies. This article surveys these subfields and makes a call for holder, deeper, and broader cultural analysis in the field. More work is needed on cultural assimilation, how inequality and discrimination produce racial and ethnic meanings, how ethnic and racial cultures affect interests through variations in conceptions of the meaning of life, how sending state cultures affect immigrant and ethnic cultures in the United States, and how globalization is Americanizing immigrants before they even leave their homelands." READ MORE