International Politics: Political Issues Under Debate - Vol. 1 PDF
Preview International Politics: Political Issues Under Debate - Vol. 1
Egbert Jahn International Politics Political Issues Under Debate - Vol. 1 International Politics ThiSisaFMBlankPage Egbert Jahn International Politics Political Issues Under Debate - Vol. 1 EgbertJahn Frankfurt/Main Germany Translator: AnnaGu¨ttel-Bellert,Berlin,Germany TranslationfromarevisedandextendedversionofGermanlanguageedition: “PolitischeStreitfragen,Band3:InternationalePolitik”byEgbertJahn #GablerVerlag/SpringerFachmedienWiesbadenGmbh2012 GablerisapartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia Allrightsreserved ISBN978-3-662-47684-0 ISBN978-3-662-47685-7 (eBook) DOI10.1007/978-3-662-47685-7 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015955166 SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon #Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2015 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthis book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained hereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade. Printedonacid-freepaper Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface “InternationalPolitics”isthefirstofcurrentlythreevolumesintheseries“Political Issues Under Debate”. It is followed by the volumes “German Domestic and Foreign Policy” and “World Political Challenges”. They contain 45 studies that have been written as the basis for a series of lectures entitled, in German, “Politische Streitfragen in zeitgeschichtlicher Perspektive”. These lectures were firstgivenbetween2004and2009attheUniversityofMannheim,whereIheldthe professorshipforPoliticalScienceandContemporaryHistory,andfromtheendof 2009havebeencontinuedattheGoetheUniversityinFrankfurtamMain,whereI amstillalecturertoday.There,IwasProfessorforPolitical ScienceandPolitical Sociologyfrom1975to1993andfrom1971to1990alsoworkedasanacademic specialist and then research director at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung). These lectures are attended bybothregularstudentsandmanyseniorcitizensfromthe“UniversityoftheThird Age”,asthismostworthyestablishmentisrathereuphemisticallyknown. Theselectureshavenowbeenregularlyheldforover10years,andtheircontent isupdatedwitheverynewlecturecycle,ashasthematerialusedinthisvolume(last updated December 2014). Almost all of the 50 conflicts discussed to date have remained relevant over a long period of time. Subjects that are no longer topical havebeendeletedfromthelectureseries. AllthetextshaveuntilnowbeenpublishedinGermaninfourvolumes,in2008, 2012, and 2015. A selection of texts was published in Russian in 2014 by ROSSPEN in Moscow. The concept for the lectures was developed in 2004 in a textincluded astheintroduction toVolume2. Itskey statementsare asfollows:I understandpoliticalscienceasbeingastudyofpoliticsthatisnotreallyabletobe unbiasedandimpartial,sinceallthekeyelementsofthisfieldofscienceinevitably invoke value judgement. However, one can and should be very cautious when it comes to expressing political value judgements and using strongly biased and emotional language. To the extent that political recommendations are given, they shouldexpresslybeidentifiedassuch,sothatananalysisofthepastandaprognosis of what is possible and probable in the future on the one hand and normative statements on the other can remain clearly separate from each other. In my view, contemporaryhistoricalscienceisanessentialbranchofpoliticalscience,andwas also undisputedly so when after 1945 politicalscience was established at German universitiesasascienceofdemocracy. v vi Preface Contemporaryhistoryashistorythatextendsintothefutureis,Ibelieve,aglobal history of the era of the sovereignty of the people as a concept that is gradually being asserted. Until now, it has been divided into three time periods: the “long century” from 1176/1789 to1917,inwhich theforcesforformingmodernliberal and social democracy slowly unfolded, the “short century” from 1917 to 1991, which was characterised by antagonism between liberal democracies and their communist and National Socialist/fascist antipodes, and the new century that began in 1991. During this latter century, it is clear that new, serious challenges such as the Islamist-theocratic one have emerged for the democracies. Over the comingdecades,theyarecertaintobejoinedbyothers.Violent,belligerentpolitics willnotdisappearfromthesceneandwilltimeandagainraisequestionsaboutthe possibilities for peaceful politics. It remains an objective of peace and conflict researchtoexplorepossibleanswerstothesequestions. Of all forms of rule, democracy is the one that requires independently judging and responsible, political citizens. The citizen who regards himself or herself as being apolitical is unavoidably political in the sense that they support the current political rulers by declining to give their vote for a better alternative. For democ- racy, it is more true than for all other forms of rule that the population of every country has the government that it deserves; if a population wishes to see improvements in government, it must first improve itself. What is meant by this isthatitmustimproveitspowerofpoliticaljudgementanditspoliticalactivity.Ina democracy,everycitizenofagerepresentsonevoteinelectionsandreferendathat isnon-transferable. As someone who has had the privilege of being able to study politics and its socio-historical background and origins for almost all my life, I hope that I now have a certain ability to critically examine current events and to procure back- groundinformationthatenablesotherstotraintheirpowerofpoliticaljudgement, regardlessoftheirnationalityorfundamentalpoliticalconvictions.Forthisreason, I also permit myself to address topics about which I have not conducted my own thorough research. With a brief analysis with a contemporary historical reference point, my aim is to enable the audience and readers of my lectures to further develop their own political judgement grounded in their previous knowledge, their value premises and interests, and inevitably also their unrecognised and unconscious prejudices, by clarifying the requisites, contexts, and possible consequencesofthisorthatpoliticaldecision.Thelectureswouldfailintheirspirit andpurposeiftheyweretobejudgedaccordingtotheconclusionsatwhichIarrive more orless clearly anddecisively with regardtothe debatedissue inquestion at theendofthelecture.Toafargreaterextent,whatmattersiswhetherthelisteners andreaderscanprofitfrommyobservationsinthattheyareabletorecognisenew dimensions,requisites,andpossibleconsequencesofthesubjectunderdispute,and of the dispute itself, of which they had not previously been aware. Some of the reactions I have received from listeners and readers have confirmed that this has succeeded in some cases, and this gives me encouragement to continue with the experiment. Preface vii Ascientistshouldnotmisusetheirlecternforpoliticalsermonsandconfessions offaithbutshouldilluminateaconflictfromallpossibleandusefulpoliticalsides, analyse it carefully in terms of its elements and the reasons why it emerged, and then represent and explain it in terms of its social and historical development. Consequently, five-sixths of the lecture consist of scientific analysis: a closer definitionofthesubjectofdispute,thecitingofthemostimportantpositionsheld inthepublicsphereinrelationtoit,anexplanationofthehistoricalbackgroundto thedispute,andapresentationofthelikelyconsequencesthattherealisationofthe oneorotherpoliticalpositionmighthave. During my time teaching at university, students would occasionally ask me about my personal political views on issues and current affairs and were not satisfied with only hearing a scientific analysis. I was open about my political opinion as a citizen on the matter in question, not only in personal conversations butalsointhelecturehallorseminarroom.Duringthelecturesonpoliticalissues underdebate,Inowexpressmyownideasfromthestart.Inaseparatefifthsection, Igiveabriefoutlineofhowinmyviewtheissueinquestionmightbedealtwithina peaceful political way, which I would recommend to politicians or political activistsiftheyweretoseekmyadviceorreadmylecturescripts,ashasoccasion- allybeenthecase. Inordertomaketheconsiderableamountofworkrequiredtocovereachtopic more worthwhile, I produce a text of strictly limited length which I then make availableontheInternet.However,Ialwaysgivethelecturefreely,sincealecture shouldnotbesimplyreadoutfromawrittendocument.Asaresult,thereisaclear difference between the manuscript that I have created, which contains a greater amount, and more precise, detail, and the oral presentation of the issues under debate.Quitefrequently,currenteventsfromthesameweekormonth,andsome- times even from the same morning, have an impact on the topic of the lecture. I therefore sometimes make direct associations in the lecture to current developments,whicharenotincludedinthewrittenversion. Inthisvolumeoninternationalpolitics,thesubjectofdebateisprimarilyviolent conflicts in many different countries. Starting with an analysis of the conflict and cooperation structures in post-communist Eastern Europe and a consideration of futureeasternandsouth-easternexpansionoftheEuropeanUnion,theproblemof actsofinterventiontoprotectagainstsevereviolationsofhumanrightsisdiscussed, taking Kosovo, Libya, and in a further text, also Darfur, as an example. Here, in mostcases,thesubjectofethnonationalautonomyandindependencemovementsis alreadyintroduced,whichformsthefocusofthelecturesonBosnia-Herzegovina, Belgium, and Cyprus, on the Kurdish areas of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey, on Israel/Palestine,andonChinainrespectofTibetandXinjiang.Thesubjectisagain discussed in the 3rd volume, with Canada/Quebec and Finland/the A˚land Islands. The way in which the genocide of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire is currentlybeingtreatedinternationallyisalsoconsideredinthiscontext.Theclassic subjects of interstate security and armament policy include the international con- troversyoverthenuclearpolicyofIranandNorthKorea,whiletheanalysisofthe way in which Vladimir Putin has switched offices between state president and viii Preface prime minister focuses primarily on Russian domestic policy, although this has far-reaching consequences for international politics, as has been demonstrated particularlyclearlybytheCrimeaandEastUkrainecrisisof2014. Formylectures,Iamabletodrawonarichsourceofmaterialandexperiences gathered from over 40 years of research activity on issues relating to east–west relationsandsociopoliticaldevelopmentsintheformercommunist-ruledcountries of Europe, as well as on national movements, nationalism, and the formation of nationstates.However,IalsopermitmyselftoapproachtopicsaboutwhichIhave not formerly conducted any research of my own, for which I draw solely on secondary literature and current newspaper reports and official documents. In order to check my findings and opinions on the different positions in the dispute, Isendthemanuscriptofeachlecturetospecialistcolleagueswithspecificexpertise intherelevantcountryandsubjectofthelectureandaskfortheircriticalfeedback. Iwishtooffermyheartfeltthankstoallthesefriendsandcolleagues,allofwhom I cannot name here, for their ideas and objections. I would also like to thank the listeners who gave me some valuable suggestions and who with their useful questions and intelligent criticism contributed to the final text. The gratifying levelofinterestduringthecourseofthepast10yearsandtheinformedquestions and critical comments offered by my listeners and readers encourage me to con- tinue the experiment of the 50 lectures that I have given to date on the ongoing subject of “Controversial Political Issues from the Perspective of Contemporary History”inthefuture. My particular thanks go to Anna Gu¨ttel-Bellert for her meticulous translation andexcellentcooperationinthesometimesdifficultprocessofrenderingspecialist political terminology, which is loaded with bias, from German into English. My heartfeltthanksgotothepublishingcompanyanditsstaff,inparticularMr.Frank Schindler, who managed the initial states of this publication project. They have shown great understanding for a project by a political scientist and peace and conflictresearcherwhowishestotacklecontroversialcurrentpoliticalissueswith expertsocio-historicalarguments. I would like to invite readers to voice their critical objections, comments, and questions.Icanbecontacteddirectlyatthefollowingemailaddress: [email protected]@soz.uni-frankfurt.de MannheimandFrankfurt/Main EgbertJahn January,2015 Contents 1 TheStructuresofConflictandCooperationintheEast ofEurope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 LimitsontheFutureExpansionoftheEuropeanUnion.Onthe DisputedMembershipofTurkey,UkraineandOtherStates. . . . . 27 3 KosovoandElsewhere.MilitaryInterventionsinDefenceofHuman Rights(“HumanitarianInterventions”). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 4 BosniaandHerzegovina:EUPolicyinDeadlock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 5 Federalisation:AFirstStepTowardstheDivisionofBelgium?. . . 75 6 ATemporaryorTerminalFailureoftheUNPlansforCyprus. . . 91 7 TheCastlingofPresidentialFunctionsbyVladimirPutin. . . . . . . 107 8 TheCreationofNewFrontsBetweenRussiaandtheWestinthe SouthCaucasus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 9 OntheWaytoTwo,Three,orFourKurdistans?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 10 TheJewish-ArabConflictOverStateFormationandConsolidation intheNearEast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 11 InternationalAspectsofthePermanentCrisisinIraq. . . . . . . . . . 171 12 TheIranianAtomicProgramme:AReasonfortheDeploymentof DefensiveMissilesinEuropeorAnotherMilitaryInterventionby theUSA?. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 187 13 EscalatingConflictinKoreaDuetoNuclearArmament?Or ProspectsforNationalReunification?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 14 CommemorationofGenocideasaContemporaryPoliticalWeapon: TheExampleoftheOttomanGenocideoftheArmenians. . . . . . . 219 15 TheTolerationofGenocideinAfrica:FromRwandatoDarfur. . . 237 ix
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