The uncertainties surrounding the long-term prospect of democracy being fully embraced by North African nations embroiled in the Arab Spring rebellions are the focus of a fascinating new book.
The book, called ‘Party Politics and the Prospects for democracy in North Africa’, explores whether traditional political parties have adapted in response to growing demands for democracy in the region in recent years.
Author Dr Lise Storm, a Middle East expert from the University of Exeter examines whether a less authoritarian approach has been integrated, or whether existing parties have simply reinvented themselves to meet today’s expectations. (more…)
Policy-makers have been warned that premature military action in Syria could lead to uncontrolled access to weapons of mass destruction and a prolonged, bitter insurgency following any intervention that resulted in the sudden collapse of the Syrian security forces.
Despite the desire to prevent further bloodshed, taking direct action to try to end the conflict could be the “worst option” and could only serve to further destabilise the situation in the volatile country.
General (Retd) Professor Sir Paul Newton co-wrote the report alongside distinguished Middle Eastern scholars at the University of Exeter’s Strategy and Security Institute, of which he is Director. He said: “Although it may appear attractive in the short-term, the one scenario that must be avoided is sudden, uncontrolled state collapse. This may seem like a paradox given the pressing need to end humanitarian suffering and the risk of the conflict spreading. However, it could be catastrophic. If unmanaged disintegration of the Syrian state were to occur, access to weapons of mass destruction would be uncontrolled.” (more…)
Developing a shared sense of global community could help reduce major episodes of violence
In the tribal societies of the Amazon forest, violent conflict accounted for 30 percent of all deaths before contact with Europeans, according to a recent study by University of Missouri anthropologist Robert Walker. Understanding the reasons behind those altercations in the Amazon sheds light on the instinctual motivations that continue to drive human groups to violence, as well as the ways culture influences the intensity and frequency of violence.
“The same reasons – revenge, honor, territory and jealousy over women – that fueled deadly conflicts in the Amazon continue to drive violence in today’s world,” said Walker, lead author and assistant professor of anthropology in MU’s College of Arts and Science. “Humans’ evolutionary history of violent conflict among rival groups goes back to our primate ancestors. It takes a great deal of social training and institutional control to resist our instincts and solve disputes with words instead of weapons. Fortunately, people have developed ways to channel those instincts away from actual deadly conflict. For example, sports and video games often involve the same impulses to defeat a rival group.” (more…)
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Foreign policy has taken center stage in the presidential campaign as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney tout their differing plans – and take aim at one another’s vision for international security.
Unfortunately, voters pay little attention to these issues when electing a president, said Matt Zierler, associate professor of international relations at Michigan State University’s James Madison College.
“Foreign policy does matter, but voters traditionally don’t pay much attention to it,” Zierler said. (more…)
*Human rights trials for ex-dictators speed healing*
If dictators who torture, kill, or otherwise abuse their citizens’ human rights are overthrown, should they be brought to trial?
On one hand, convicting and punishing an ex-dictator and his minions would strike a welcome blow for justice in countries where it has been denied.(more…)
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – A new University of Maryland in-depth survey of American public opinion gives a detailed picture of how the country is reacting to the major, unfolding drama in the Middle East.
Conducted in early April, the polling finds Americans overwhelmingly sympathetic to the Arab uprisings for democracy, largely see it as a positive trend and consider developments there a high U.S. priority. A majority – though a declining one – still supports airstrikes on Libya. (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Since 2003, the antiwar movement in the United States has had much to protest with Americans fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya, but the movement—which has dropped off sharply the past two years—may be more anti-Republican than antiwar, says a University of Michigan researcher.
A new study by U-M’s Michael Heaney and colleague Fabio Rojas of Indiana University shows that the antiwar movement in the United States demobilized as Democrats, who had been motivated to participate by anti-Republican sentiments, withdrew from antiwar protests when the Democratic Party achieved electoral success, first with Congress in 2006 and then with the presidency in 2008. (more…)
