The Responsibility to Rebuild and Libya
The responsibilities to prevent and react have been addressed in Libya, but the third stage of the R2P, “the responsibility to rebuild”, remains an ongoing issue. The extent to which the R2P can be seen as a “success” in Libya rests largely how this part of the R2P is implemented. In many respects, the “responsibility to rebuild” is the one of the most important parts of the R2P because requires intervening actors to establish a clear and effective post-intervention strategy.
Libya’s Draft Constitutional Charter for the Transitional Stage: Promise and Drawbacks
The draft constitution creates an enormous and unprecedented opportunity for Libyans to shape their future in ways that will mark a clean and decisive break with the past. Yet, truly democratic state-building after conflict is not without perils, and democracy is not a foregone conclusion at the end of any authoritarian regime.
Dutch Tolerance: Something to Learn from?
In the age of intensified globalization and migration, societies are increasingly confronted with problems of integration and peaceful coexistence of religiously or otherwise ethnically different groups, particularly of groups identifying themselves with Western traditions on the one hand and the world of Islam on the other. Tolerance is an important element to meet these requirements.
Whither R2P?
With the exception of Raphael Lemkin’s efforts and the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, no idea has moved faster in the international normative arena than “the responsibility to protect”. While blow-back from Libya is inevitable, nonetheless R2P is alive and well.
The African Union and the Unfolding Disaster in The Horn Of Africa
The politics of foreign aid in Africa has taken twists and turns, with the current shift from the ‘West’ to the ‘East’. Individual African countries have found themselves prey to the conditionalities imposed by the western donor agencies. While these are meant to engender accountability and transparency, the opposite has prevailed.
No Longer Hot and Cold: Turkey and Iran’s Normalisation of Relations
The past decade has deeply affected Turkish perceptions of Iran. Despite Iran swinging toward greater authoritarianism, worsening domestic human rights and bellicose rhetoric, Turks no longer view Iran as a direct security threat, but rather as a regional partner whose victimisation by the Western-led international community could be detrimental to Turkish interests.
Chinese Submarines and U.S. Anti-Submarine Warfare Capabilities
China’s military modernization has been a source of great concern for the United States and its allies in the Asia-Pacific region. Submarines, unsurprisingly, can be expected to play a significant role in Chinese asymmetric A2/AD strategies.The United States must invest to maintain the superiority of its undersea forces and to relearn and redevelop the core ASW capabilities it lost following the end of the Cold War.
Before Engineering the Climate, We Must Engineer a Debate
The lay reader may be forgiven if geoengineering- the use of technology to manipulate the planetary climate system in order to forestall the worst effects of global warming- sounds like science fiction. The science of such interventions remains uncertain, but assessments are proliferating – and the implications for climate governance and policy could be huge.
South China Sea – Old Worries on The Rise
The territorial disputes concerning the Spratly and Paracel Islands and adjacent waters are still unresolved. Recently, incidents between Vietnamese seismic survey ships and Chinese coast patrols are a reminder of the conflict potential these border disputes inherit. After a phase of relative easiness among the claimants to the South China Sea islands, these newly heightened tensions cause rising worries in the region and abroad.
Building a democratic state for the new Libya: A task list
Building democratic states is a complex and challenging task at the best of times. After violent conflict this task is additionally complicated by the fact that peace needs to be secured, institutions need to be comprehensively reformed, if not built from scratch, civil society and political culture need to be reinvigorated, and economies need to be put back on a path to sustainable growth.
