Category: Uncategorized

From 11 to 5

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Post date 26/11/2009
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Nixie clock / Photo: Public domain, Wikipedia

Russia is the largest country on the planet and as such faces special challenges. Who else has to organize such a vast territory that at the moment spans over 11 time zones? Did you know that the difference between Omsk Time and Magadan Time is exactly 5 hours?

To ease the burden of space and time, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed to actually reduce the number of time zones in the country from 11 to 5. Pointing to the economic advantages of the reduction, he underlined benefits for communication and traveling. It’s definitely an organizational challenge if a businessman in Kaliningrad in Russia’s far west is calling a business partner in Vladivostok, which is in the far east.

Yet, time is not only in Russia a political issue – also China decided after the Communist Revolution of 1949 to abolish the up until then existing 5 time zones in favor of only one zone, of course that of Beijing. Whether or not this has helped to strengthen the central leadership and to unify the national political movements no one can say, but one can imagine what that means for the inhabitants of western China.

Changing time and its measurement goes over the powers of most politicians, as the fate of the Soviet calendar as well as of its French Republican counterpart proves. So it remains to be seen how far Medvedev’s proposal will get.

Tags Government, Russia, Time zones, Politician

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British Defense Policy at a Crossroads

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Post date 19/11/2009
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Is British defense policy experiencing an East-of-Suez flashback?

In a new policy brief, CSS researcher Aleksandra Dier looks at whether Britain might have to scale back its global ambitions.

The current situation has been compared to 1968 when, largely as a result of lacking resources, Britain had to adopt a more modest international role.

According to her, the future of the country’s defense role depends on its relation to Europe:

“Strengthening its European commitment could help Britain to align its global ambitions with the resources it needs to project a credible international role.

Pursuing European ways to achieve global ends however remains a domestically disputed strategic option.

You can download the paper here.

Want to know more about British defense policy? Check out our publication holdings on the topic.

Tags European Union, Security, Foreign policy, United Kingdom, European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), Defense

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ISN Weekly Theme: US-China Relations

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Post date 11/11/2009
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Obama and Mao T-shirts, photo: Shea Hazarian/flickr

Obama’s three day visit to China is expected to breathe new life into the US-China partnership. With deep economic and financial links, as well as responsibility for 40 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, the US and China are under immense pressure to deliver on the promise of great power cooperation and progress on a daunting set of challenges.

This week’s Special Report features an article by Graham Ong-Webb, from King’s College London, on the need for Obama to set a tone of mutual understanding on his visit, and a podcast with Elizabeth C Economy of the Council on Foreign Relations discussing the trip, related expectations and China’s problematic and conflicted view of itself as a emerging global power with strong roots in the developing world.

In Policy Briefs we feature a German Development Institute brief on the impact of the financial crisis on China and the country’s main economic policies in response to it.

In our Publications section, a Hudson Institute Paper on America’s strategic advantage in Asia and a Crisis Group Report examining China’s expanding role in UN peacekeeping.

A piece of history, from Primary Resources, in the form of the 1972 Shanghai Communique signalling the opening of relations between the US and China.

And finally, in Links, the Future of US-China relations website that focuses on the result of a conference about the future of US-China relations and on the relationship from a multidimensional perspective.

Tags China, Bilateral relations, United States of America, East Asia, Politician

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ISN Weekly Theme: Twenty Years Since the Fall of the Wall

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Post date 04/11/2009
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The Berlin Wall in 1987, photo: fjords/flickr

Two decades after the fall of the Wall the world and Germany itself is afforded a moment for self-reflection and an opportunity for analysis of the consequences of that momentous event. As well as providing us with a unique reference point in terms of the end of the Cold War and Cold War history more generally, the end of Germany’s division provides us with a benchmark for the analysis of the progress that Germany has made since its re-unification nearly two decades ago.

This week, we publish an ISN Special Report on Germany Beyond the Wall, featuring three articles by top level academics. Victor Mauer, deputy director of the Center for Security Studies (CSS) examines German foreign policy before and after the fall, with an emphasis on the continuing quest to balance tradition and Cold War legacies with transformation. Dan Hough, from the University of Sussex, examines the evolution of German national politics and political culture. Belinda Cooper, a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute looks at the German national identity and the search for a cultural one.

In our Policy Briefs section, a Center for Eastern Studies (CES) paper evaluates German memory in the year of the double anniversary of 1949 and 1989 and analyzes its influence on the collective identity of the German people.

In our Links section we feature 20 Years After the Wall, a web page provided by Spiegel Online that offers articles, background and opinions on the anniversary of the fall of the Wall.

A piece of history from our Digital Library: a 1987 EastWest Institute analysis of Gorbachev’s policies.

And a classic from our Primary Resources section, JFK’s Ich bin ein Berliner speech from 1963.

Tags History, Berlin Wall, Re-unification, Germany, War

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Risk Communication in Security Policy

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Post date 26/10/2009
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Researchers from the ISN-supported expert community on crisis and risk have just published a new policy paper.

According to Myriam Dunn Cavelty and Jonas Hagmann, the concept of risk communication has so far been applied almost exclusively in the context of technical and environmental risks.

They show how the concept can be useful for foreign and security policy, too.

You can download the paper here.

Tags Government, Security, Security policy, Foreign policy, Communication