Lessons for Peacebuilders
Costantino Pischedda
Review of: Making war and building peace : United Nations peace operations / Michael W. Doyle and Nicholas Sambanis. - Princeton ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, c2006. - xvi, 400 p. - ISBN 978-0-691-12274-8; 978-0-691-12275-5 (pbk)
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The Tragedies of Alliance Politics
Francesco N. Moro
Review of: Alleati ma rivali : teoria delle alleanze e politica estera settecentesca / Marco Cesa. - Bologna : Il Mulino, c2007. - 375 p. - (Ricerca). - ISBN 978-88-15-11837-0
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Promoting Peace in the Backyard?
Karen Smith
Review of: The EU and conflict resolution : promoting peace in the backyard / Nathalie Tocci. - London and New York: Routledge, 2007. - xvi, 202 p. - (Routledge/UACES contemporary European studies ; 1). - ISBN 978-0-415-41394-7; 978-0-203-96092-9 (online)
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George Kennan, the Conscience of America
Emiliano Alessandri
Review of: George Kennan : a study of character / John Lukacs. - New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, c2007. - viii, 207 p. - ISBN 978-0-300-12221-3
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Recent Publications

Foundations and think tanks

The politics of foundations : a comparative analysis / edited by Helmut K. Anheier and Siobhan Daly. - London and New York : Routledge, 2007. - xvi, 349 p. - (Routledge research in comparative politics ; 18). - ISBN 978-0-415-70167-9
This is an extensive, transnational and comparative study of foundations and their current and future role, as well as their social position. The focus of the volume is the political aspects, that is the political nature of foundations, an area still relatively unexplored.
The study starts out by defining foundations and some of their basic categories: grant-making foundations, operating foundations, and mixed foundations. These act as a benchmark against which the crossnational analysis is carried out. The reasons for the birth and survival of foundations are then explained. This is necessary to understand their role as a source of legitimation for the promotion of pluralism, innovation and social change, the conservation of traditions and culture, the redistribution of economic resources, and foundational complementarity to, and even substitution of, the state. At the same time, the role that foundations play is and can be influenced by the political situation in which they operate. Therefore, the authors establish various models, or "visions", that account for relations between foundations and the state. These include social-democratic, state-controlled, corporatist, liberal, peripheral, and business relationships.
The research is based on the comparative information gathered in the various European states through semi-structured interviews. The selected countries, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, all have market economies and a democratic government. As a reference, a case study on the United States is also included, which is generally and erroneously considered the place where foundations first came into existence.
An interesting report, at least from an Italian point of view, is the one on Italy, where the situation has been in rapid flux since the 1990s. The economic crisis and the trend towards privatisation of the public sector are causing a rise in new kinds of foundations as well as a strong increase in the total number of foundations. However, a single role or vision is lacking. The foundations undoubtedly play a role complementary to - rather than substitutive of - the state and are generally conservative with respect to the country's cultural heritage rather than innovative. Those working in the field feel and hope that, in this changing situation, the tertiary sector will be able to take over an ever increasing space subsidiary to the welfare system. They nevertheless recognize the need for more stable legal bases, a monitoring body and independent checks, as well as greater transparency in internal procedures.
In general, looking at the overall framework of the study, foundations would like to be considered innovative and capable of social change, independent of state control, subsidiary and alternative to the state. However, the situation is more complex and the roles and visions often intertwine to produce patterns and scenarios that were not envisaged when the study was begun. (M.C.)

Think tanks and policy advice in the United States : academics, advisors and advocates / James G. McGann. - London and New York : Routledge, 2007. - xii, 196 p. - (Routledge research in American politics ; 1). - ISBN 978-0-415-77228-0
This is an absorbing read for not only those who wish to delve deeper into the dynamics of policy-/opinion-making in the United States, but also for anyone working in similar spheres in other Western countries. Despite the geopolitical specificities of the study, much of the analysis and recommendations is also applicable to other countries such as Italy.
The work is divided into three parts. In the first, the author presents the results of a survey conducted on twenty-three American think tanks and the experience matured in twenty-three years of study of the subject. The second part presents the point of view of think tank representatives, with interviews of twenty top think tank managers. The third part is a documentary appendix giving, among other things, the profile of twenty-nine US think tanks with information taken from their websites and information provided by them. In general, while the contents of the book are very interesting, there are a few minor formal shortcomings (a list of acronyms is missing, bibliographic references are not always correct, etc.).
The author provides the historical setting for US think tanks and defines and classifies them, above all according to type of affiliation. He describes their public relations and the way in which they disseminate information, while trying to analyse their channels of influence on politics and public opinion. He also looks into the sources of financing and recent trends and concludes with some considerations and recommendations.
It is interesting to learn that the paucity of funds and the proliferation of think tanks and relative increase in competition in recent decades have all led to increasing specialisation and ideological polarisation. Right-wing institutions have been more successful in this battle, known as the "war of ideas", not only because they have had access to more financing, but also because they worked out a fund raising strategy at the end of the seventies for think tanks and related sectors (universities, the media, parties, and lobbies), creating a network of institutional and individual supporters. In almost the same years, the liberal left disinvested in political research. Only recently have progressives started to mobilise, adopting the same strategy as the conservatives. But the challenge for both is to study new strategies to deal with the new market trends, diversifying sources of funding and ensuring a balance between long-term financing and independence.
Indeed, many things have changed in the last ten to fifteen years and are still changing today : large and small donors are increasingly interested in funding targeted, short-term projects, discouraging think tanks from undertaking long-term, innovative studies. The strong competition engendered by the growth in the number of think tanks has not yet been mitigated by serious cooperation among them. The political polarization of think tanks (with the near disappearance of centrist ones) is lowering the qualitative level of research and crystallizing the debate in inevitable conformism. The spread of the internet and the media have put the reliability of the information and the qualitative standard of the analyses into doubt. At the same time, the extreme specialization of think tanks is undermining the variety and interdisciplinarity of research, while the transnationalisation of political issues calls for a capacity for innovation that is prohibitive with the current budget and institutional limitations. All of these factors demonstrate the need for think tanks to cooperate and adopt uniform standards and a code of conduct ensuring the application of said standards, guaranteeing the quality and independence of research. The recommendations indicate a few concrete steps that could be taken to achieve this ideal goal. (M.C., also in Italian)

Iraq, United States, Islamists

Oil and democracy in Iraq / edited by Robert Springborg ; Clement Henry ... [et al.]. - London [etc.] : Saqi in association with London Middle East Institute SOAS, 2007. - 122 p. (SOAS Middle East series). - ISBN 978-0-86356-370-6
This study is an updated version of a report commissioned in 2003 from a group of experts (Robert Springborg, Clement Henry, Massoud Karshenas, Roger Owen, Mona Said and John Sfakianakis) by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). It has now been published with an exhaustive preface by Robert Springborg, in which he underlines the fundamental importance that oil has for Iraq : "Oil will be vital to the reconstruction of the country or possibly regions or even countries that emerge from what was a unified Iraq. It is the resource that can help bind the country together or contribute to it being torn apart."
Despite the time that has elapsed between the writing and publication of the report, it continues to be very topical because the situation it analyses has not changed and the Iraqi oil industry continues to operate in a "rudderless fashion". Indeed, Springborg's observations help understand the current stalemate in (or failure) to define the legal and administrative setting needed to undertake a real reconstruction of the national oil industry (the 2007 federal oil law is not making headway in Parliament and in August 2007 the Kurdish Regional Government approved an "autonomous" regional oil law - not recognised by the central government - on the basis of which it has gone ahead and signed contracts).
The study itself examines the possible responses to the two main questions that reconstruction of the Iraqi oil industry poses for policymakers, and that is who will own it and how are the revenues it generates to be allocated. As for ownership, the possible options - the status quo (public centralised) and the opposite neo-liberal model (private decentralised), as well as two intermediate solutions (public decentralised and private centralised), are analysed. A similar analysis is carried out for allocation of revenues.
The report concluded with the observation that the majority of Iraqis are in favour of keeping public (and centralised) ownership and that the political elites had already reached an agreement in 2003 based on regional decentralisation for allocations. In order to ease the tensions between the "centrists" (Sunni) and the "regionalists" (Kurds and Shias), the authors thus suggested a compromise aimed at "a combination of continued centralized ownership ... with allocations being decentralized to regions".
The authors' considerations provide an important key to understanding the importance of the 2007 oil law. For allocations, the Iraqi government adopted a solution similar to the one considered "optimal" in the report's conclusions. For ownership, however, it opted for a model of privatisation (considered extremely unpopular) involving Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) with foreign concerns. This choice, while not considered terribly problematic in 2003 is now presented in the preface as very risky. This difference gives the reader an idea of just how progressively and dramatically the situation in Iraq has degenerated.
In his preface, Springborg highlights how the choices concerning the vital issue of the reconstruction of Iraq's oil industry are decisive for the entire political economy of Iraq ("As oil goes, so goes a nation where it provides more that 60% of GDP ..."). But above all, he warns that on the definition of the ownership of oil (public vs private) - the most important decision of all - depends the survival of the Iraqi nation. (A.B.)

Islamist opposition parties and the potential for EU engagement / Toby Archer and Heidi Huuhtanen (eds.). - Helsinki : The Finnish Institute of International Affairs, 2007. - 116 p. - ISBN 978-951-769-195-6
The purpose of this report, brought out by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs for the Finnish Foreign Ministry, was to identify Islamist political organisations that could be considered potential partners in countries where the European Union (or its member states) are undertaking (and would like to undertake) policies aimed at promoting democratic reforms. The editors underline that it is important for the EU to be able to evaluate the possible beneficiaries of such interventions, given the growing importance of Islamist movements and the repercussions that their possible radicalisation could have on international politics.
The study is composed of a number of country analyses, each carried out by authoritative experts on the basis of an analytical framework developed by the institute. The countries selected are in the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia), the Middle East (Jordan), southern Asia (Bangladesh and Pakistan) and southeast Asia (Indonesia and Malaysia). The framework (annexed to the volume) lays out the prerequisites the Islamist parties have to satisfy in order to be taken into consideration (they have to be on the opposition, domestically focused, non violent and non revolutionary) and then the parameters to be assessed in describing their activity (importance, behaviour in the political system, relations with the ruling regime, position on certain subjects such as human rights). While the authors were asked to assess the advantages (or disadvantages) of possible Western/EU engagement and to make policy recommendations for the EU, the editors clarify in the introduction that no unitary policy recommendation can be made because of the profound differences between the movements and countries considered.
Judging from the frequent "qualifiers" found in the various essays, the framework, especially the prerequisites, seems to be a little "tight". But it could be the basis of the study itself, that is the idea of focusing on Islamist parties, that gives rise to another element found in the conclusion of numerous essays and that is the authors' evident "impossibility" to make recommendations that can really be useful for the possible engagement with Islamist parties (especially in the studies dedicated to the countries of greatest interest to the EU - those in the Maghreb and the Middle East). According to the authors, it is not the specific characteristics of the Islamist parties but the semi-authoritarian regimes' strategies of co-optation and/or repression towards them that are decisive in determining the possibility of democracy promoting interventions by the EU or other international actors.
Although important, these strategies are not the object of the study and therefore remain in the background, not always clearly identified (this may be due to the brevity of the contributions). The reader's impression is that the analyses are somehow "incomplete" and do not allow the authors (with the praiseworthy exception of the essay on Algeria) to give the EU or its member states precise guidelines for action other than to be very careful not to irritate the governments of the countries in question and to avoid interventions that could change the status quo. (A.B.)

Presidential policies and the road to the second Iraq war: from forty one to forty three / [edited by] John Davis. - Aldershot; Burlington : Ashgate, c2006. - vi, 318 p. - ISBN 0-7546-4769-2
The responsibility for the 2003 Iraq war has been attributed in turn to the post-9/11 Bush doctrine, to a cabal of neo-conservative ideologues who hijacked US foreign policy, and to a general feeling of "unfinished business" following the end of the first Gulf war. Presidential policies and the Road to the Second Iraq War strongly suggests that a number of different dynamics produced a growing momentum for a new confrontation after the end of the first Gulf war, effectively putting the US on a collision course with Iraq and making a second Gulf war inevitable.
To uphold this thesis, contributors of this collective book, edited by the Howard University's John Davis, analyse a number of different factors that shaped US policy in the space of time of three presidencies, from George H. Bush through Clinton to George W. Bush. The multidimensional approach of the book provides useful insight into the different dynamics which finally, according to the authors, brought the US to impose regime change on Iraq.
The introduction by the editor highlights common features and perceptions of the three administrations that paved the road to the second Gulf war : the shared mistrust of the UN inspections' effectiveness, the commitment of key members of the administrations and the security establishment to military intervention, the presidents' attention to the cost of a containment policy.
The book is divided into three parts. The first, The View From Washington, attempts to analyse US policymaking towards Iraq and the different internal factors that influenced it. It includes chapters on the different presidential decision models and how they influenced the decision-making process in the three administrations; the influence of the neo-conservative ideology on the development and implementation of US Iraq policy; and the oversight that Congress exercised (or, in the author's opinion, failed to exercise) on executive power. The last chapter of this section analyses the influence of bureaucratic infighting on presidential policies towards Iraq. Part two, The Diplomatic Perspective, explores the role personal diplomacy has played in US policy towards Iraq since 1989, the efforts of the three presidents to build coalitions to face Iraq, and the negative impact of US policy towards Iraq on Middle East peace negotiations. The final part, The Military Dimensions, critically examines the military policies and the strategic component of US Iraq policy, including an account of the shift from containment policy to the Bush doctrine, the role of no-fly zones, and the different military strategies of the three administrations.
In his conclusions, the editor underlines how the policies and perspectives of the three administrations contributed to pushing the US onto a confrontational path towards Iraq. Davis also exposes the errors committed by the three presidents in prewar planning and post-conflict activities, as well as the failure of the second Bush administration to learn the critical lessons of the past - a failure that has made the Iraqi threat much worse today than it ever was before. (V.B. )

American Islam : the struggle for the soul of a religion / Paul M. Barrett. - New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, c2007. - 304 p. - ISBN 978-0-374-10423-8
The Americans have discovered the Muslims in their midst. Figures for the number of Muslims in the United Sates are not certain or official (they vary from 3 to 6 million, approx. 2 percent of the population), but they are definitely on the rise, and rising rapidly, due to immigration, high birth rates and - not to be excluded - conversion. The communities are generally well integrated, with a higher than average level of education and relative affluence. Nevertheless, as concerns ideology, they are not monolithic: some Muslims are lay, some are not, some are moderate, some radical, some Republicans, some Democrats. Certainly, a part of them and above all the younger generations of students are influenced by Wahhabi and Salaphite ideas, but it is hard to determine their proportions. Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, a large part of the Muslim community has expressed critical views of US foreign policy, if not downright anti- American sentiments.
This book is meant to demonstrate - above all to Americans themselves - the complexity and multi-faceted nature of Islam in the US. It tries to respond to the question of what stance to take towards the more extremist fringes, a stance that reconciles freedom of expression with the need for security. This is achieved with seven exemplary stories, that of an editor, member of an assimilated elite; a reformist university professor; an Afro-American convert; a feminists; a mystic; a Saudi student webmaster of Islamic sites and an activist from India.
Particularly interesting is the story of the Saudi student because it encapsulates the dilemma that the author sets out to resolve in that it is the first case of the application of the new Patriot Act. The author criticises both the way in which the law was applied and the outcome of its application. Indeed, he claims that this case shows that the FBI has to be more flexible, but also that this must not conflict with the rights embodies in the First Amendment.
In conclusion, the book tries to describe this complex picture and offers recommendations for both sides, American Muslims and non. The former need more talented leaders to act as spokesmen for the large "silent majority" of moderate Muslims and to guide the Muslim community to reject all kinds of extremism generating violence. At the same time, the US government has to recognise the enormous social pressure put on Muslims after 9/11 and oppose all anti-Islam sentiments coming from fundamentalist Christians, to convince Israel to withdraw from most of the Territories it occupied in 1967, to improve the performance of the Department of Justice, to work out legal procedures regulating the monitoring of (presumed) terrorist threats, and to put an end to the shameful physical abuses perpetrated by investigators and prison guards on Muslims suspected of terrorism. Even if, as the author admits, some of these recommendations could turn out to be no more than wishful thinking, it is possible to counter the more radical ideologies, support moderate forces and, in the end, defend America. (M.C.)

Miscellaneous

China's trapped transition : the limits of developmental autocracy / Minxin Pei. - Cambridge ; London : Harvard University Press, 2006. - x, 294 p. - ISBN 0-674-02195-9
The economic modernisation and opening that China has undertaken since the 1970s is one of the most dramatic examples in global history of social and economic transformation. A market-oriented reform has made the Chinese economy apparently less state centred and the rapid economic growth has improved the well-being of many of the country's 1.3 billion people. China's integration into the international community has taken place in many important areas, not only trade and investment, but also cultural exchanges and international institutions.
But there is a strong discrepancy between economic progress and political change and this book spotlights that: aside from the positive economic and social changes, China's political system remains unaltered and controlled by one party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Several widely used international indexes (e.g. Freedom House or Transparency International) confirm the underdevelopment of key public institutions in China.
According to Pei, the central objective of China's economic reform strategy is the CCP's political survival, not the development of a true market economy.
Pei's book focuses on the weaknesses of China's political system and the costs of China's transition from communism, trying to show the limits of developmental autocracy. The lack of democratic reforms and the preservation of the one-party state, in fact, produce contradictions, paradoxes and rising tension in the Chinese economy, polity and society.
Pei criticises three statements that are usually used to support China's development strategy. He feels that 1) economic progress alone does not lead to political liberalisation and democratisation : in the case of China, the choices of the ruling elites are the real determinants of democratisation; 2) a gradualist reform strategy does not always work better than "shock therapy" as was carried out (and failed) in Russia : the achievements of China's gradualist strategy have been overstated; and 3) despite East Asian examples of successful neo-authoritarian development, it is more likely that an autocracy will lead to a predatory state.
According to Pei, the effects of bad governance on China's economic performance are already visible. In fact, it is important to look at the quality of growth, not just growth rates. In China, high growth rates have been accompanied by rising inequality, environmental damage and corruption. Although the idea that a rising China could challenge the existing world order has dominated the debate in the West since the 1990s, the author feels that the international community should start preparing itself for the prospect that China may fail to realise its potential and experience long-term stagnation.
On the whole, the book takes a dark view of China's future, offering an unusual and provocative picture. (F.O.)

Europe: a civilian power? : European Union, global governance, world order / Mario Telò. - Basingstoke and New York : Palgrave MacMillan, 2007. - xix, 291 p. - ISBN 978-1-4039-4921-9
Political power and global order are the core topics of this book, which offers a deep analysis of the European Union's role in the international system after the end of bipolar confrontation.
Since the terrorist attacks of 2001, the US and Europe have faced the same challenges, ranging from terrorism to proliferation of WMD. Nevertheless, the two have adopted completely different approaches to dealing with the new global threats. The US has taken a more unilateralist approach directed at al- Qaeda, the so-called "rogue states" and the "axis of evil", represented by Iran, Iraq and North Korea. The cornerstone of the European course, on the other hand, has been multilateralism, giving more importance to the role of the United Nations. This divergence of views in the transatlantic relationship will presumably continue in coming years. What is more important is the still uncertain but much more autonomous profile that the European Union wants to achieve.
Telò presents Europe as a continent which has developed a new conception of multi-level global governance over the last decades, in which civilian power and Europe's civilian values have a strong impact. The European Union's asset, in Telò's view, is its ability to provide equal protection and efficiency, social cohesion and international competitiveness, justice and power.
In his overview of the development of European governance, Telò deals with different theories of international relations (neo-realism, regime theory, complex interdependence theory, neo-institutionalism, constructivism) and attempts to reshape our political understanding ofmany popular concepts such as civilian power, global governance, hegemonic stability, democratic legitimacy, empire, multipolarism, proliferation of WMD and multilateralism. He claims that the European Union as a "civilian power" represents a political entity that, for several reasons, is not bound to develop into a classic military power: its identity and history are te´moignage to this impossibility.
A profound normative discussion on the possibility of the EU remaining a civilian order is fundamental in Telò's view. This would imply acknowledging the need for a deep reform of the United Nations, so as to enable the organisation to act efficiently in the new multipolar context.
At the same time, the European Union has to take on more responsibility in the political government of the international order. Telo` specifies that the development of a new European socio-economical model is essential for Europe to act in the framework of globalisation. A different mixture of economic, social and political instruments is needed to deal with the new challenges. (F.A.)

Perspectives on international relations : power, institutions, and ideas / Henry R. Nau. - Washington : CQ Press, c2007. - xxx, [459 p.]. - ISBN 1-933116-46-3
This textbook makes a laudable attempt to bring students closer to the study of international affairs using a critical approach. The text, divided into three sections - on history, economics and current issues - is particularly well written, using simple and deliberately accessible language, a plethora of examples, and boxes, graphs, tables, maps, glossaries, and exercises. In addition, it is backed by a CD-rom for professors and a website intended for students and teachers alike, both with an enormous amount of additional didactic material.
What is most striking is the methodology used by the author. After illustrating in the first chapter the characteristics of the three main international relations theories - realism, liberalism and constructivism, the latter updated to "ideationalism" seen as a "perspectives" or keys to the reading of international facts - and explaining the interaction with levels of analysis (individual, national, systemic), methods (rationalist and constructivist), capacity for judgment, and ethical and moral factors, he applies them to each section and subject in the book, thus giving the reader practice in identifying the various points of view of the actors in the game. This exercise is summarised and reasserted in the concluding chapter, starting out from "democratic peace".
At this point, the reader, who thought he/she had discovered some of the author's ideological or scientific propensities, is disappointed : after going over the various factors of analysis and applying them to the various theories to support the democratic process, he concludes by underlining the limits of the social sciences and human knowledge in general. In the author's words : "The causes are interactive and cumulative [...]. If everything causes something, nothing does. Or, at least we can't know what does. Science has reached its limits." (M.C.)