At no point in modern European history have the people of Ukraine occupied as important a role in European geopolitical developments as they do today. Although not yet immediately apparent, the 2014 overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych and the political and economic transformation will have greater geopolitical consequences than European policy makers often assume. If Ukraine’s transformation fails, its example will deliver a shattering blow to those calling for increased liberalization in remaining illiberal states across Eastern Europe.
Retired Army Colonel Fitz Fitzpatrick discusses the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defense Policy and the EU’s efforts to address crises in Libya, Ukraine and Syria. He argues that the EU has struggled to establish foreign and defense policies that are independent from the United States, and only an existential crisis will push the EU to fulfill its potential as an actor on the world stage.
What stance should the European Union take on Catalan secession and membership for separatist regions of member states? SAIS student Emily Ashby explores the legal rationale and precedents for Catalonia’s secession under Spanish national law, European law, and international law. She argues that both the weak legal case and the political nature of the EU membership process constrain the EU’s policy options.
Despite the increasing centralization of China under Xi Jinping, SAIS student Yujin Zhang uses the example of China’s Coal-to-Gas program to show that principal-agent problems and competing interests between Beijing and local governments still negatively affect environmental policy implementation. Effective environmental policies require long-term institutional reforms, not short term campaign-style enforcement.
In this two-part series, author Vincent A. Dueñas explores the possibilities for the continued viability of the Chavista party after the end of Nicolas Maduro’s presidency. He asserts that rise of an opposition majority in the Venezuelan legislature in December 2015 resulted in the most concrete protest of President Maduro’s presidency and possibly a rejection of Hugo Chavez’s socialist state legacy.
In this two-part series, author Vincent A. Dueñas explores the possibilities for the continued viability of the Chavista party after the end of Nicolas Maduro’s presidency. He asserts that rise of an opposition majority in the Venezuelan legislature in December 2015 resulted in the most concrete protest of President Maduro’s presidency and possibly a rejection of Hugo Chavez’s socialist state legacy.
Author Joniel Cha highlights the details of the recent polio outbreak in Ukraine, and presents key factors explaining Ukraine's failure to adequately respond and contain it. Cha then suggests policy prescriptions aimed at stopping the outbreak and eradicating poliovirus from Ukraine.
Author Mishaal Al Gergawi illustrates a broad overview of the political challenges facing the Middle East, asserting that the domestic drivers of such challenges are accentuated by sectarianism. He argues that a resolution to Saudi-Iranian geopolitical competition would greatly mitigate conflicts throughout the region, and describes the contours of a potential settlement between these powers.
Author Christoph Erber provides a retrospective analysis on the increased emancipation of Bonn’s foreign policy from Washington in the 1970s using West Germany's foreign policy toward Allende's Chile as a case study.
Author Ahmad Shah Katawazai discusses the development of terrorist elements in the largely ungoverned Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, describes its implications for regional and international security, and offers policy prescriptions to combat the continued growth of extremism in the FATA.
In this two-part series, author Alex Simon discusses the evolution and increasingly fragmented nature of Sunni tribalism in Iraq from the era of Ottoman occupation through the rise of the so-called Islamic State, and its implications for the future of the Iraqi polity.
In this two-part series, author Alex Simon discusses the evolution and increasingly fragmented nature of Sunni tribalism in Iraq from the era of Ottoman occupation through the rise of the so-called Islamic State, and its implications for the future of the Iraqi polity.
