Suchergebnisse

While most studies on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process focus on the international dimensions, this paper concentrates on the internal relations between the different Palestinian political actors. How permanent are the arrangements that were initiated following the Oslo Agreement in 1993? Is the Palestinian Authority (PA) - which emanated from Oslo - subjected to any democratic control? What strategies do the PA and the opposition pursue towards each other and what kind of problems do they encounter in this? (RECIPE/DÜI)

AbstractRecent decades have seen a heightened interest in the ethics of foreign policymaking. This literature has overwhelmingly explored the ethical dilemmas faced by policymakers in terms of situations and the structures – either political/economic, normative and/or linguistic – that shape actions. The subjective experience of ethical decisionmaking in this arena and the character of the individuals making policy choices have been largely neglected. However, the apparently greater scope for moral action in the post-Cold War era, combined with the growth in global institutions designed to enforce individual accountability – such as the International Criminal Court – suggest that more effort should be placed on understanding ethics in terms of the individual. This article seeks to combine the work of political and social psychologists with the philosophical literature on virtue theory to see what new insights these might offer into the ethics of foreign policy. It argues that virtue ethics provide an effective means to critique the morality of foreign policy decisions. This is evinced by an exploration of Tony Blair's decision to go to war with Iraq in 2003.

This paper shows how, under growing counterpressure from international creditors, especiallly the IMF and the World Bank, the Mubarak regime in the 1990s has moved increasingly to rationalize, and ultimately dismantle, the public sector. Combined with other economic liberalization measures, the government's new commitment to privatization signals its formal withdrawal from the Nasirist moral economy. This recent reform process has led inevitably to new conflicts and compromises with the labor movement. Its final result is new labor legislation, expected to be considered and passed by Parliament this year, which grants workers the right to strike in an explicit "quid pro quo" for greater management prerogatives in hiring, firing and wage setting. With strikes having been illegal since 1952, this new law, along with the ongoing retraction of government from the economy, will usher in a new era of labor relations. (Amsterdam Middle East Pap/DÜI)

AbstractThis article seeks to explain the rise of pro-gender norms and feminist strategies in foreign policy, which are increasingly salient in global politics. How can this trend be theorized? In what ways is this development resisted and contested by other states and international actors? To what extent can we trace continuity and change in regard to gender and foreign policy? To address these major research questions and to spur cross-national comparative studies, this article advances a theoretical framework on gendering foreign policy. It draws on two strands of research, which rarely engage with one another: international feminist theory (IFT) and foreign policy analysis (FPA). We identify three ways in which comparative analysis of gender in foreign policy can be advanced: first, by highlighting the variations of pro-gender norms and enhancing the analytical assessment of cross-national trends; second, by generating a more robust explanation of the rise, embeddedness, and continuity of, as well as resistance to, pro-gender norms in foreign policy in similar and diverse contexts; and third, by examining both continuity and change in pro-gender norms in order to reveal the contestation around gender, which is at the heart of foreign policy.

How to explain that Saddam Hussein is still in power? Numerous studies on Iraq tend to symplify the reasons for the Iraqi dictatorship's long-lasting political life by lumping all the Ba'th period together under the rubric of "dictatorship" or "fascism". This contribution has a wider scope and scrutinizes the role of external wars in reproducing and sustaining existing power structures in Ba'thist Iraq. The author's contention is that the Iraq-Iran war had a much greater impact on Iraqi society than the Second Gulf War, although the latter was much more destructive and devastating for the Iraqi people. Al-Khafaji makes us understand why Saddam Hussein is still there. (Amsterdam Middle East Pap/DÜI)