by Uri Savir (2008)
"Uri Savir has an ambitious goal: to bring peacemaking into the 21st century. "Little in today s world," writes Savir, "is more progressive than modern warfare. Yet little is more archaic than peacemaking." We remain trapped in a centuries-old mindset, with leaders bargaining warily for concessions and signing treaties that collapse because no one on the ground has any real stake in them." "Drawing on his experiences negotiating the Oslo Peace Accords as well as on trenchant examples from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Northern Ireland, and the former Yugoslavia, Savir argues that an enduring peace is built from the bottom up, not from the top down. He describes a new model based on establishing and nurturing mutually beneficial forms of cooperation beginning on the local level, city-to-city and organization-to-organization." "This process of "glocalization" - involving local actors in global issues - is the first step toward constructing a peace ecology: a comprehensive transnational culture dedicated to breaking down the psychological and social barriers between former enemies. These efforts are furthered through the establishment of joint ventures that give each side a tangible stake in maintaining peace. Diplomacy still has a role, but it must reject maneuvering for gain and instead emphasize the advantages both sides will gain with the cultivation of lasting peace."--BOOK JACKET.
Maria Raquel Freire, Roger E. Kanet
Kanet and Freire bring together a stellar cast of contributors to consider Russia's recent return as a major regional and international actor and its likely future policy toward its neighbours.
Tanya Reinhart
As the mortar sets on the first sections of Israel's security fence, international scrutiny has brought the legality of the barrier before The Hague. In this updated edition of a popular seller, Israeli scholar Tanya Reinhart extends her critique to the most recent chapter of this decades-old conflict, exploring the history of the contested region and casting the barrier-which the World Bank has estimated might isolate 250,000 Palestinians and annex 10 percent of West Bank land-as a stark symbol of the conflict itself. In Israel/Palestine, Reinhart traces the development of the Security Barrier, and Israel's new doctrine of "disengagement," launched in response to a looming Palestinian-majority population. Examining the official record of recent diplomacy, including U.S--brokered accords, and talks at Camp David, Oslo and Taba, Reinhart explores the fundamental power imbalances between the negotiating parties, and identifies Israel's strategy of creating facts on the ground to define and complicate the terms of any future settlement. In this indispensable primer, Reinhart's searing insight illuminates the current conflict and suggests a path toward change. Tanya Reinhart is a professor of linguistics and cultural studies at Tel Aviv University and at the University of Utrecht. She is most well known academically for her contribution to theoretical linguistics. In 1994, following the Oslo agreements, which she viewed as a painful deception of the Palestinian people and the ratification of a sophisticated Apartheid regime, she turned to political writing. She has had a regular critical column in Israel's largest daily, Yediot Aharonot, and her writings have appeared in print around the world.
M.I. Franklin
"Contemporary Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) are now an inescapable part of everyday life as well as an integral element to large scale political-economic change. In this close-up study of pioneering and longstanding Internet discussion forums, M.I. Franklin explores the practice of everyday life online. The author traces the online practices and discussion content produced by postcolonial and diasporic communities as they (re)articulate gendered, political, ethnic and cultural dimensions to life for postcolonial societies on-the-ground. In a neoliberal global era, however, possibilities for intercultural and intracultural empowerment evident in the postcolonial politics of representation of these communities have to contend with new and entrenched political-economic and sociocultural pressures from all sides. Franklin argues that these Pacific traversals in public, open cyberspace trace another possible future for the Internet; more hospitable and equitable than the one currently being put in place by large corporations." "This book will be of interest to students of international relations/international political economy, anthropology, cultural studies, science and technology studies."--Jacket.
Marcin Zaborowski
During the eight years of George W. Bush{u2019}s presidency America{u2019}s grand strategy changed. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 profoundly altered America{u2019}s view of the world. But the manner of Bush{u2019}s response to the attacks is the subject of controversy and his major foreign policy decisions, especially the invasion of Iraq, are now considered to have been misjudged by the majority of Americans. Whether Bush will be ultimately judged a failure or not, it is likely that some of the main policies associated with his name will be pursued by his successor {u2013} be he Democrat or Republican. The European Union is the closest ally of the United States. The Europeans and the Americans are linked to each other by historical, economic and political ties like no other powers in the world. America{u2019}s foreign policy reflects on the Europeans too, in the sense that Europeans are often associated with America{u2019}s foreign policy in the eyes of the wider world. Indeed, the outside world often makes no distinction between the US and the EU, simply branding the two as {u2018}the West{u2019}. However, the vast majority of Europeans disapproved of Bush{u2019}s foreign policy, especially his decision to invade Iraq, and transatlantic relations consequently suffered during his presidency. The end of the Bush era creates an opportunity for a new departure and a renewed dialogue between the EU and the US. But European expectations of the change that the new president will bring about are often unrealistic. This paper gives an account of Bush{u2019}s legacy and its impact on the next US administration{u2019}s conduct of foreign policy. It examines the ideology and policies that have characterised Bush{u2019}s administration and maps out the likely future orientation of America{u2019}s foreign policy. The paper focuses on US relations with Iraq, Iran and China, as well as touching on Europe and Russia.