Where are all the victims? : Understanding the determinants of official identification of human trafficking incidents. Amy Farrell, Jack McDevitt, Stephanie Fahy, Criminology & Public Policy, May 2010, pp. 201-233. "The passage of new laws that criminalize the trafficking of persons for labor and sexual services has raised public awareness about the problem of human trafficking. In response, police must understand the problem, identify human trafficking victims, and make arrests. The numbers of victims identified to date, however, has paled in comparison with official estimates, which leads some to question the existence of a human trafficking problem. Missing from this debate is information about how frequently police encounter human trafficking and how well prepared officers are to handle these cases. Analyzing survey responses from a national sample of police agencies in the United States, we found that less than 10% of police agencies identified human trafficking cases from 2000 to 2006. Larger agencies were more likely to identify cases of human trafficking but the agency leader perception about the problem in their local communities as well as taking steps to prepare officers to identify and respond were the most important factors to increasing human trafficking identification by police." READ MORE

Measuring the immeasurable: Can the severity of human trafficking be ranked? Kristiina Kangaspunta, Criminology & Public Policy, May 2010, pp. 257-265. "In recent years, several national, regional, and international policies have been formulated to prevent and combat trafficking in persons. At the same time, a boom has occurred in the information available on trafficking in persons. However, the availability of comparative measures to assess the severity of human trafficking or the responses to it still are lagging severely behind. This information gap has lead to a situation in which the success of the implementation of anti-trafficking policies and the impact of anti-trafficking measures are difficult to evaluate. Here, Kangaspunta assesses whether a method exists to support anti-trafficking policy making by measuring and comparing the severity of human trafficking in different countries. She also analyzes the country comparison based on responses to trafficking as a way to guide the human trafficking policies better." READ MORE

The High Cost of Freedom: A Legal and Policy Analysis of Shelter Detention for Victims of Trafficking. Anne Gallagher, Elaine Pearson, Human Rights Quarterly, Feb 2010, pp. 73-115. "In countries around the world it is common practice for victims of human trafficking who have been 'rescued' or who have escaped from situations of exploitation to be placed and detained in public or private shelters. In the most egregious situations, victims can be effectively imprisoned in such shelters for months, even years. This article uses field-based research to document this largely unreported phenomenon. It then considers the international legal aspects of victim detention in shelters and weighs the common justifications for such detention from legal, policy, and practical perspectives." READ MORE


Afghanistan

Expeditionary Economics. Carl J Schramm, Foreign Affairs, May/Jun 2010, pp. 89-99. "The US' experience with rebuilding economies in the aftermath of conflicts and natural disasters has evidenced serious shortcomings. After seven years of a US presence in Iraq and over nine years in Afghanistan, the economies of those countries continue to falter and underperform. Meanwhile, the damage caused by the earthquake in Haiti early this year revealed deep economic problems, ones that had confronted earlier US efforts to boost Haiti's economy, and they will plague reconstruction efforts there for a long while. Economic growth is critical to establishing social stability, which is the ultimate objective of these counterinsurgency campaigns and disaster-relief efforts. Yet there is a proven model for just such economic growth right in front of US policymakers' eyes: the entrepreneurial model practiced in the US and elsewhere. The US military is well placed to play a leading role in bringing economic growth to devastated countries. The US' method of producing economic growth has proved itself time and again." READ MORE

Afghanistan's Insurgency and the Viability of a Political Settlement. Sultan Barakat,  , Steven Zyck, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, February 2010, pp. 193—210. "The international intervention in Afghanistan has contributed to entrenched state weakness and rising insecurity. Despite increased references to the need for reconciliation with the Taliban and a political solution to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, few specifics have been offered by academics or policymakers. Building on research into conflict resolution and an analysis of the composition and motivation of the insurgency, this article addresses this gap by asking whether conditions are currently ripe for a negotiated settlement, how ripeness may be achieved, and, once achieved, how a political settlement might best be pursued." READ MORE

Crushed in the Shadows: Why Al Qaeda Will Lose the War of Ideas. Alia Brahimi, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, February 2010, pp. 93—110. "As a network of affiliate groups, Al Qaeda's more diffuse structure, since the end of 2001, is described as one of its greatest strengths. Certainly, after losing its territorial base in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda as network has gained in tactical agility and global reach. This article argues, however, that Osama bin Laden's ceding of command-and-control to autonomous Al Qaeda franchises represents an important source of weakness in the battle for hearts and minds in the Muslim world. As Al Qaeda's global jihad is increasingly imported by its affiliates into local and sectarian conflicts, the death toll is largely Muslim and civilian. The targeting of Muslim civilians is exceptionally difficult to justify, morally, theologically, and by bin Laden's own standards of legitimate jihad. This article will show how the killing of Muslim civilians undermines the crucial lynchpins of bin Laden's ideology and alienates the popular support that Al Qaeda central see as indispensable to Al Qaeda's success." READ MORE

U.S.-Iran Engagement Through Afghanistan. James P. Hughes, Mir H. Sadat, Middle East Policy, Spring 2010, pp. 31-51. "Although U.S. President Barack Obama has made diplomatic engagement with Iran a foreign-policy priority,3 at least 30 years of conflict have complicated U.S.-Iran relations. The United States is viewed by the Iranian government as a hostile interventionist state attempting to topple the Iranian republic, indicated by the U.S. role in the 1953 coup d’état of the legal Iranian government, vehement rejection of the Islamic Revolution, disregard for Saddam Hussein’s use of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq War, the shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane, imposing economic sanctions, freezing of Iranian financial assets, resistance to Iranian nuclear progress for clean energy, and threats to invade or attack Iran.4 Iran’s pursuit of nuclear technology, its obstruction of the Middle East peace process, its involvement in the Beirut attacks of the 1980s and the 1996 Khobar Towers (Saudi Arabia) bombing of an American troop residence, and providing lethal aid to violent non-state actors in Lebanon, Iraq, the Palestinian territories and Afghanistan are viewed by the United States as obstacles to rapprochement. In both the short and perhaps even long terms, full progress is unlikely on all these issues due to historical resentment and distrust. However, countering drug trafficking and developing the infrastructure in Afghanistan offer immediate opportunities for cooperation between the United States and Iran, based on convergent strategic interests." READ MORE

Turkey

Turkey: Rebuilding the Middle East Map Or Building Sandcastles?  Şaban Kardaş, Middle East Policy, Spring 2010, var. pages. "Basing its foreign policy on the principle of 'zero-problems with neighbors,' Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP) has embarked on several projects to achieve 'limitless cooperation' with near-by countries. As Turkey became increasingly able and willing to play an assertive role in the management of security and economic affairs on its periphery, observers focused on two related aspects of its new orientation: Many of those good-neighbor policies, which developed momentum after the appointment of Ahmet Davutolu, the architect of what some call a 'brand new doctrine,' as foreign minister in May 2009, frequently concerned foreign-policy activism in the Middle East. Also, while formulating its regional policies, Turkey has emerged as more self-confident and autonomous, and, most important, has deviated occasionally from the transatlantic political agenda." READ MORE

How Turkey's Soft Power Can Aid NATO in Afghanistan. Aydemir Erman, New Perspectives Quarterly, Spring 2010. var. pages. "As a NATO ally true to its obligations, Turkey sent troops to Afghanistan after 9/11 on the condition that they would not take part in combat operations. Despite pressure from allies, Turkey sticks strictly to this policy. Turkey's presence in Afghanistan, both military and civilian, has been based on treating people with respect and as equals, not with paternalism or the imperial arrogance of an occupying power. As an historically trusted friend of the Afghan people, Turkey, alone among members of the NATO alliance, has a 'soft power' ingredient in its arsenal that is key to winning the hearts and minds of the population. Here, Erman discusses how Turkey's soft power can aid NATO in Afghanistan." READ MORE

Reassessing the Role of U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Turkey. Mustafa Kibaroglu.  Arms Control Today, June 2010, var. pages. "Removal of U.S. nuclear weapons from Turkey would not weaken the credibility of NATO’s nuclear deterrent and could accelerate Ankara’s growing rapprochement with its Middle Eastern neighbors." READ MORE

European Culture and the European Union's 'Turkey Question'. John A. Scherpereel,
West European Politics, July 2010 , pp. 810 - 829. This article attempts to discern whether Turkey belongs to Europe's emerging pan-European cosmopolitan culture and investigates the political implications of Turkish cultural 'otherness'. The article revisits Laitin's (2002) suggestion that social mobility in contemporary Europe requires individuals to possess 2 ± 1 cultural repertoires. Then, drawing on analysis of Eurobarometer, World Values Survey, European Values Survey, and original datasets, it compares the cultural repertoires of citizens from four groups of European countries - the EU's founding members, countries that joined the Communities between 1973 and 1995, countries of the 2004/2007 enlargement wave, and Turkey itself. The data support the conventional wisdom that Turkey is culturally quite different from EU norms. Still, the article concludes by interrogating the political implications of this difference and suggesting that Turkey's cultural alterity does not necessarily preclude the possibility of smooth Turkish integration into the EU. READ MORE

Middle East

Obama and the Middle East Peace Process: Challenge and Response. Mohamed A. El-Khawas, Mediterranean Quarterly, Winter 2010, pp. 25-44. "The author examines the steps taken by the new administration to resolve the decadesold Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The search for a solution requires dealing with many players with conflicting interests and contradictory agendas. President Obama's relaunch of the Middle East peace process soon ran into problems. His two-state solution was not endorsed by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu until June 2009. President Obama's early call for a settlement freeze in the occupied territories was hailed by the Palestinians, but US envoy George Mitchell was able to get Netanyahu to agree only to a partial freeze, which was rejected by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Obama's subsequent retreat on a settlement freeze shocked the Palestinians, who refused to start the peace talks." READ MORE

A Palestinian Declaration of Independence: Implications for Peace. Virginia Tilley, Middle East Policy, Spring 2010, pp. 52-67. "In an Israeli-Palestinian peace process most commonly described as “moribund,” the Palestinian Authority (PA) recently raised a diplomatic ripple by publicly proposing to make a 'unilateral declaration of independence' for a State of Palestine within the 1967 Armistice borders of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem). In challenging the diplomatic stalemate, the proposal struck a range of observers as positive, suggesting an innovative way to rekindle the diplomatic process and hope of an eventual peace agreement. Yet the implications of this proposal are more complicated than they appear." READ MORE

Unity through soccer? Not in the Middle East...James Montague, Foreign Policy, June 11, 2010, var. pages. Millions of Arabs, Jews, Persians and Kurds will watch Africa's first World Cup, and all will be arguing in coffee shops and shisha houses from Sana'a to Jerusalem about who they will support given that every other team in the region failed to qualify. But this failure provides an intriguing analysis of the Middle East. Soccer is one of the greatest, and most successful, acts of cultural imperialism the world has ever seen and provides the perfect mirror with which to view the region. It soaks up the tensions and flaws and currents that pull under the surface. To understand soccer is to understand the Middle East. It divides as much as it unites and nothing illustrates how divided the region is better than the events in Cairo and Sudan, nor the rest of World Cup qualification for teams in the region. READ MORE

While no one's looking, the Palestinians are building a state. Hussein Ibish, Foreign Policy, June 16, 2010, var. pages. In the world of Palestinian politics, the recent weeks have been a study in contrasts. The international media has trained its focus off the shores of Gaza, where the flotilla fiasco has generated dramatic images of dead civilians and battered Israeli soldiers. But in Bethlehem, far away from the television cameras and breathless news reports, 2,000 Palestinian financiers also gathered recently at the second Palestine Investment Conference to quietly go about the business of building the economy of a viable Palestinian state. READ MORE

U.S. Society

Jobs Outlook: Is a college education important? Peter Katel, The CQ Researcher, June 4, 2010, pp. 481-504. "The economy has finally started to grow again, but more than 8 million jobs that disappeared after the economic crisis began in late 2007 haven't returned, and the unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent. To be sure, 290,000 jobs have been added, but the jobless rate remains high. People who do have jobs are working harder, increasing productivity. In another major change on the job front, advances in technology are intensifying the allure — to employers — of offshore jobs. What's the best strategy for getting a job in today's tough job market? Experts may argue over how many jobs are at risk, but no one disputes that a college degree gives by far the best salaries and the best odds for finding a job — and the ability to switch careers if necessary. Demand is also rising at the low end of the market, but mid-level jobs that fall in between the two extremes may be most at risk." READ MORE

Health-Care Reform: Is the landmark new plan a good idea? Marcia Clemmitt, The CQ Researcher, June 11, 2010, pp. 505-528. "The health-care reform legislation signed into law by President Obama on March 23 marked the biggest attempt to expand access to health care since Medicare and Medicaid were launched in the 1960s. The massive legislation will help 32 million Americans get health insurance coverage and bans insurers from denying coverage to those with preexisting illnesses. It also expands Medicaid to all poor people — except illegal immigrants — and gives subsidies to low- and low-middle-income people to buy insurance. But opponents, including every Republican member of Congress, say the coverage expansion is simply too expensive, at a price tag of about $1 trillion over 10 years. They also say new fees and taxes to help pay for the coverage place too big a burden on currently insured people. Meanwhile, a group of state attorneys general is challenging the constitutionality of the law's requirement that everyone buy health insurance." READ MORE

Passin’ for Black: Race, Identity, and Bone Memory in Postracial America. Signithia Fordham, Harvard Educational Review, Spring 2010, pp. 4-30. "Signithia Fordham challenges the notion that we are living in a 'postracial' society where race is no longer a major social category, as indicated by the rising incidence of interracial relationships and the popularity of biracial identities. On the contrary, she contends, a powerful fusion of historical memory and inclusive kinship compels Americans whose ancestors were enslaved to embrace a Black identity even when they have White as well as African ancestors. Fordham identifies this socially constructed racial identity as 'passin’ for Black.' She argues that virtually every socially defined Black person connected to enslavement—regardless of skin color, hair texture, facial features, or paternity—must perform Blackness. Using narratives obtained from a recent ethnographic study of female competition and aggression in a racially 'integrated' suburban high school, Fordham’s essay documents how the complex, charged matter of racial identity—concurrently biological and social—inflames the lives of adolescents and impairs their ability to navigate the school environment." READ MORE