Middle East & North Africa Archive

I don’t have a whole lot to say about the Iraqi elections. From a cursory read of a wide range of coverage, there seems to be some reason for encouragement and some for concern. I don’t get the feeling the peaceful voting and projected victory for proponents of secular, central government is as triumphant an event as some are making out. The true test of a democracy is not so much the voting, but whether or not all the parties respect the outcome of the voting, especially when it comes to a peaceful transfer of power. On the other hand, […]

One of the reasons a significant number of American and British roadblocks to EU defense have been cleared in recent years is that, quite simply, there are more crisis zones than troops to go around. And since an EU defense force is more palatable, politically speaking, than a French force in both Africa and Lebanon, the peacekeeping missions deployed to Chad and Lebanon came under the EU flag. But the story behind those deployments wasn’t only about who didn’t oppose them. It had a lot to do with who supported them as well. Ireland’s participation in Chad was notable because […]

World Politics Review managing editor, Judah Grunstein, appeared on two France 24 short-format programs, Face Off and Face à Face, this morning to discuss George Mitchell’s chances for success in brokering a stable ceasefire and longterm peace accord. English-language program here, French-language program here.

“There is a thin line between the right and duty to formulate a policy based on subjective political values, and the conscious or unconscious temptation to abuse or ignore the intelligence process. It is one thing for a statesman to listen carefully to his intelligence advisers, then make a decision counter to their best judgment; and another for him to wield his political strength and authority in the interest of receiving only that information which conforms to his preconceived ideas and political biases. . . . It has been suggested that the unresolvable tension between policymaking and intelligence rests in […]