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ISN
ETH Zurich
International Relations and Security Network www.isn.ethz.ch
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This Week at ISN Our Weekly Editorial Roundup
1 5 September 2014 JUMP TO Editorial Plan | Security Watch | Blog | Video
/// Security Watch
This week, our hard power-centered Security Watch (SW) series asks what the Wests top security objectives should be in
the Middle East; whether South Korea might become one of Chinas client-states; whether warfare is indeed becoming
more hybrid, or political; what we can learn from the early-modern history of defense-industrial complexes; and whether,
in hindsight, the US should have intervened more forcefully in Syria. Then, in our second, more wide-ranging SW series,
we look at whether Vladimir Putins bellicose foreign policy has undermined the ideological utility of the Russian Orthodox


Church; whether unequal land ownership leads to insurgency; what the geopolitical consequences of the Global Financial
Crisis have been; whether China is making strategic inroads in Latin America; and whether ex-combatants in the Ivory
Coast have been successfully reintegrated into society.
Defending the Island: Kurdistans Dunkirk and the Fate of a Free Middle East
01 September 2014
What are the Wests principal security objectives in the Middle East? For David Danelo, the two-part answer is simple
destroy the Islamic State, which poses an irreconcilable threat to humanity, and sustain a stable Kurdistan, which is
critical to accomplishing the first objective. More
Patriarch Kirills Game over Ukraine
01 September 2014
How has Vladimir Putins bellicose foreign policy affected the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine? Rather badly, says
Katarzyna J arzyska. The churchs prestige and influence has nosedived, which means that Moscow has lost one of its
most powerful ideological tools to control its near-abroad. More
The Korean Quandary: Defence Reform
02 September 2014
What should the US make of South Koreas latest military procurement decisions? According to Paul Pryce, Washington
might worry that Seoul will field smaller forces, become a less reliable ally and increasingly fall under the influence of
China. More
Land and Conflict in Brazil
02 September 2014
Does concentrated land ownership lead to rural conflict and insurgency? Although inequality may seem like a recipe for
unrest, Michael Albertus reminds us that there is an important variable to consider the ability of large landowners to
organize themselves and then suppress discontent. More
Eyeless in Gaza Are We Blind to an Enduring Reality of War?
03 September 2014
Does the nature of conflict in places such as Gaza and Donetsk suggest that warfare is becoming increasingly hybrid,
urban, asymmetric or political? Nonsense, says Michael Vlahos. War has always been largely irregular, based around
urban fortifications, and defined by familiar characteristics. More
Geopolitics after the Global Financial Crisis
03 September 2014
What are some of the geopolitical aftereffects of the Global Financial Crisis? J onathan Kirshner believes there has been a
sharp decline in the ideological power of financial liberalization, a decisive end to the American-led post-Cold War
economic order, and a sharp rise in uncoordinated heterogeneous thinking. More
Personal Theories of Power: The Defense-Industrial Base
04 September 2014
Do pre-World War II defense-industrial complexes have anything to teach us? Mikhail Grinberg thinks so. The procurement dilemmas of the
Habsburg Empire, for example, remind us that states need a robust defense-industrial base to preserve their strategic independence. More
An Equal and Opposite Reaction? Xis Grand Tour of the Americas
04 September 2014
Are the inroads China is making into Latin America significant enough to raise US concerns? Not really, says Clark
Barrett. Local skepticism about Beijings deeper motives will blunt its ability to form strategically significant partnerships in
the region. More
Why Did the Syrian Opposition Falter?
05 September 2014
In hindsight, should the United States have intervened in Syria, specifically by backing up the Free Syrian Army with
airpower? Murhaf J ouejati believes so. Washingtons inaction emboldened the Assad regime, Iran and Russia to
precipitate the crises that are now overwhelming Ukraine and the Middle East. More
Warning over Rampaging Youth Gangs in Abidjan
05 September 2014
Have the children and teenagers who fought in the Ivory Coasts civil conflict in 2010-2011 been successfully reintegrated
into society? The analysts at IRIN have their doubts. Theyre particularly worried about recent clashes between security
forces and armed gangs in Abidjan. More
/// Blog
Rivers Run through Modis Regional Agenda
01 September 2014
Why is Indias Narendra Modi interested in Himalayan rivers? J udging from his travel agenda, strategic cooperation over
water resources may be central to Modis plans to keep Nepal and Bhutan out of Chinas orbit, argues Robert Wirsing.
More
Chinas Proposed Silk Road: Problems and Priorities in Central Asia
02 September 2014
Zhang Hongzhao believes that if China's proposed Silk Road Economic Belt is going to succeed, Beijing will first need to
connect the dots with individual Central Asian states. A grand, multilateral approach, in contrast, is destined to fail,
especially in a region where trust is at a premium. More
Economic and Security Reform in Japan: Harder Than It Looks
03 September 2014
Will Shinzo Abes reforms transform Japanese society and reinvigorate Tokyos role in the Asia-Pacific region? David Ende
Endvall worries that the question ignores a more basic one are the reforms mutually compatible? As he sees it, they may
actually end up working at cross purposes with each other and dividing the J apanese public. More
Firing Blanks: The Growing Irrelevance of the UN Small Arms Process
04 September 2014
Guy Lamb and Daniel Mack believe that the UNs attempts to curb the illicit trade in small arms have hit a wall. Thats why
its time to jettison the current multinational approach to the problem and build on the bottom-up successes of individual
states. More
A Reply to Mearsheimer
05 September 2014
Is offensive realism, as articulated by J ohn Mearsheimer, a useful theoretical framework for understanding international
affairs? Anna Cornelia Beyer isnt convinced. She thinks the framework is wrong to prioritize relative over absolute gains
and to underestimate the incentives for interstate cooperation. More

/// Video
History Impedes Future Progress in Northeast Asia
In this video, a group of experts and practitioners examine US-J apan-South Korea relations and how they continue to be
complicated by the latter two countries' shared pasts. More
Putinism: The Backstory
In this video, Strobe Talbott dissects the domestic policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which represent a blatant
attempt to create a status quo ante in the country -- i.e., a political culture that permanently reverses the internal
democratic reforms pursued in the late 1980s and early 1990s. More
What Do Secret Policemen Really Do? Insights from History and Social Science
In this video, the Hoover Institution's Mark Harrison reviews the methods that the KGB used to maintain the Russian
Communist Party's hold on power during the Cold War. To illustrate his points, Harrison specifically focuses on how the
KGB responded to an uprising that occurred in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1972. More
/// Multimedia Content
Here is a selection of this week's additions to the ISN Digital
Library:
Publications More
/ / / Middle East 2020: Shaped by or Shaper of Global Trends? More
/ / / Great Power Politics and the Ukrainian Crisis: NATO, EU and Russia after 2014 More
/ / / The Importance of Intelligence in the Maritime Domain More
Videos More
/ / / Philanthropy in Defense of Freedom More
/ / / Countering Violent Extremism: A Peacebuilding Lens More
/ / / Michael Kirby on Human Rights in North Korea More
Audio / Podcasts More
/ / / Political, Military, and Humanitarian Crises in Iraq More
/ / / Facing a Revisionist Russia: Discussion with Carl Bildt More
/ / / ISIS and Islamic Extremism More
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