Weekly Geopolitical Report by Thomas Wash
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MICRO-STATES in the INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM The
MICRO-STATES IN THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM The Challenge of Sovereignty by JOHN BARRY BARTMANN In submission for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The London School of Economics and Political Science The University of London UMI Number: U615182 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615182 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 l WCL£ S F 7 4-Fo ABSTRACT The last forty years have witnessed a proliferation of veiy small states, or micro- atates with populations of approximately one million or less. Most of these states are developing economies but in recent years even the smallest European micro-states have won acceptance in the councils of the organised international system. This study is a comprehensive examination of the international relations of these states in three principal areas of concern: issues of status and legitimacy; the conduct of diplomacy and the efforts of micro-states to achieve strategies of self-reliant economic development. While the research has confirmed the vulnerabilities of micro-states in all three areas which have been stressed in the literature of the last decade, it also reveals surprising opportunities for some micro-states to ameliorate their weaknesses and to achieve a constructive engagements within the international system. -
Security Council Distr.: General 26 November 2019
United Nations S/2019/906 Security Council Distr.: General 26 November 2019 Original: English Letter dated 26 November 2019 from the Permanent Representative of Namibia to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council I should be grateful if you would have the present letter and its annex, a letter from Brahim Ghali, the Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, concerning new developments relating to Western Sahara, issued as document of the Security Council. (Signed) Neville Gertze Ambassador and Permanent Representative 19-20449 (E) 021219 *1920449* S/2019/906 Annex to the letter dated 26 November 2019 from the Permanent Representative of Namibia to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council I would like to write to you again to express our strong condemnation of the holding by the Moroccan occupying authorities of a so-called “Forum international des gens de mer” in the city of Dajla (Dakhla) in the part of Western Sahara under illegal occupation by Morocco. The Frente POLISARIO firmly condemns, in the strongest terms, and rejects this unacceptable, provocative action that is in utter violation of the legal status of Western Sahara as a Non-Self-Governing Territory waiting for a self-determination process under the supervision of the United Nations. At this critical juncture, hold ing such an event in the Sahrawi occupied territories is a deliberate attempt to fuel more tension and thwart the already stalled United Nations peace process, whose integrity has increasingly been compromised due to these kinds of actions by the occupying power. -
Report of the Secretary-General on the Situation of Western
United Nations S/2020/938 Security Council Distr.: General 23 September 2020 Original: English Situation concerning Western Sahara Report of the Secretary-General I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2494 (2019), by which the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until 31 October 2020 and requested me to submit a report on the situation in Western Sahara before the end of the mandate period. The report covers developments until 31 August 2020 that have occurred since the issuance of my previous report of 2 October 2019 (S/2019/787) and describes the situation on the ground, the status of political negotiations on Western Sahara, the implementation of resolution 2494 (2019) and the existing challenges to the Mission’s operations and steps taken to address them. II. Recent developments 2. Overall calm prevailed in Western Sahara on both sides of the berm. While respect for the ceasefire agreement by both parties generally continued, there was a notable decline in compliance with the terms of military agreement No. 1, particularly east of the berm. 3. The impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on Western Sahara was moderate west of the berm. Following early and thorough preventive and containment measures by Morocco, this part of the Territory witnessed only a handful of cases until 30 May. At that point, a significant outbreak was detected in the area of Laayoune. As at 31 August, the number of active cases in Laayoune was 41. The Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguía el-Hamra y Río de Oro (Frente POLISARIO) reported taking strict measures to prevent the spread of the virus east of the berm, where no cases were officially reported. -
Civil Wars Spoiling the Peace? Peace Process Exclusivity and Political
This article was downloaded by: [Blaydes, Lisa] On: 28 June 2010 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 923425670] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37- 41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Civil Wars Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713634578 Spoiling the Peace? Peace Process Exclusivity and Political Violence in North-Central Africa Lisa Blaydesa; Jennifer De Maiob a Stanford University, b California State University, Online publication date: 28 June 2010 To cite this Article Blaydes, Lisa and De Maio, Jennifer(2010) 'Spoiling the Peace? Peace Process Exclusivity and Political Violence in North-Central Africa', Civil Wars, 12: 1, 3 — 28 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/13698249.2010.484896 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13698249.2010.484896 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. -
Report of the Secretary-General on the Situation of Western
United Nations S/2018/889 Security Council Distr.: General 3 October 2018 Original: English Situation concerning Western Sahara Report of the Secretary-General I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2414 (2018), by which the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until 31 October 2018 and requested me to submit a report on the situation in Western Sahara before the end of the mandate period. It covers developments that have occurred since the issuance of my previous report, of 29 March 2018 (S/2018/277), and describes the situation on the ground, the status and progress of the political negotiations on Western Sahara, the implementation of resolution 2414 (2018) and the existing challenges to the Mission’s operations and steps taken to address them. II. Recent developments 2. During the period since the issuance of my previous report, overall calm has prevailed throughout the Territory on both sides of the berm, although the previously reported underlying tensions between the parties (ibid., para. 3) continue. 3. On the political front, my Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Horst Koehler, has stepped up efforts to advance the political negotiations between the parties. Following the adoption of resolution 2414 (2018), he undertook consultations with relevant interlocutors, including Security Council members, members of the Group of Friends on Western Sahara and regional organizations. From 23 June to 1 July 2018, he carried out a second visit to the region, during which he held discussions with a wide range of high-level officials of both the parties and neighbouring States and civil society representatives. -
Sahrawi Women in the Liberation Struggle of the Sahrawi People Author(S): Anne Lippert Source: Signs, Vol
Sahrawi Women in the Liberation Struggle of the Sahrawi People Author(s): Anne Lippert Source: Signs, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Spring, 1992), pp. 636-651 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174626 Accessed: 18/05/2010 18:01 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Signs. http://www.jstor.org REVISIONS / REPORTS SahrawiWomen in the Liberation Struggle of the SahrawiPeople Anne Lippert Introduction - T H R O U G H T H E I R R O LE S in the currentliberation strug- gle of the Sahrawisof WesternSahara, Sahrawi women have substantiallyincreased their traditionalparticipation and im- portance in that society. -
Tillerson Hails Kuwait's Role in Resolving Gulf Crisis
BUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 1 El Arabi nets a double INDEX as Duhail DOW JONES QE NYMEX QATAR 4-10, 24 COMMENT 22, 23 ‘Uptick in infl ation’ REGION 11 BUSINESS 1-6, 17-20 see off likely on rising 23,277.00 8,172.18 51.84 ARAB WORLD 11 CLASSIFIED 7-16 +163.00 +28.07 +0.33 INTERNATIONAL 12-21 SPORTS 1-8 hydrocarbon prices Umm Salal +0.71% +0.34% +0.64% Latest Figures published in QATAR since 1978 SUNDAY Vol. XXXVIII No. 10614 October 22, 2017 Safar 2, 1439 AH GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals Tillerson hails In brief Kuwait’s role QATAR | New premises Doha Municipality to relocate to old airport in resolving arrivals terminal Doha Municipality announced through a tweet that its off ices will be relocated to the old arrivals terminal at Doha International Airport (old NHRC Chairman Dr Ali bin Smaikh al-Marri speaking at the opening of the Arabic calligraphy exhibition on ‘Human Rights in Gulf crisis airport) at Ras Abu-Abboud area Islamic Culture’ in Madrid yesterday. from Al Sadd area, with eff ect from O US Secretary of State trip to the region in July. October 24. The phone numbers arrives in Saudi Arabia on Before his arrival at Riyadh’s King are 44347777 and 44347506, Salman air base yesterday, Tillerson in- hotline 184, fax 44320709, e-mail: visit to region dicated there had been little progress in [email protected] and O US top diplomat also to the mediation eff orts. “I do not have a website www.mme.gov.qa Siege violates all charters of visit Qatar lot of expectations for it being resolved anytime soon,” he said in an interview ARAB WORLD | Unrest with fi nancial news agency Bloomberg. -
1 Western Sahara As a Hybrid of A
ORE Open Research Exeter TITLE Western Sahara as a Hybrid of a Parastate and a State-in-exile: (Extra)territoriality and the Small Print of Sovereignty in a Context of Frozen Conflict AUTHORS Fernandez-Molina, I; Ojeda-García, R JOURNAL Nationalities Papers - The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity DEPOSITED IN ORE 30 October 2018 This version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/34557 COPYRIGHT AND REUSE Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies. A NOTE ON VERSIONS The version presented here may differ from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication Western Sahara as a Hybrid of a Parastate and a State-in-exile: (Extra)territoriality and the Small Print of Sovereignty in a Context of Frozen Conflict Irene Fernández Molina, University of Exeter Raquel Ojeda-García, University of Granada Abstract This paper argues that the “declarative” parastate of the SADR claiming sovereignty over Western Sahara is better understood as a hybrid between a parastate and a state-in-exile. It relies more on external, “international legal sovereignty”, than on internal, “Westphalian” and “domestic” sovereignty. While its Algerian operational base in the Tindouf refugee camps makes the SADR work as a primarily extraterritorial state-in-exile de facto, its maintaining control over one quarter of Western Sahara’s territory proper allows it to at least partially meet the requirements for declarative statehood de jure. Many case-specific nuances surround the internal sovereignty of the SADR in relation to criteria for statehood, i.e. -
Time for International Re-Engagement in Western Sahara Crisis Group Middle East and North Africa Briefing N°82, 11 March 2021 Page 2
Time for International Re- engagement in Western Sahara Crisis Group Middle East and North Africa Briefing N°82 Rabat/Algiers/Brussels, 11 March 2021 What’s new? The long-dormant conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front over the disputed Western Sahara territory is showing troubling signs of life. A Poli- sario blockade of a key artery in the UN-monitored buffer zone triggered a Moroccan military response, after which the Front called off a ceasefire and resumed attacks. Why does it matter? Recent hostilities augur further escalation, especially absent international efforts to calm tempers and nudge parties back to talks. The Trump administration’s recognition, as part of Rabat’s normalisation accord with Israel, of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, which new U.S. President Joe Biden may choose not to reverse, further complicates things. What should be done? Outside powers should take two steps to bring the sides back from the edge. First, the UN should appoint a new special envoy for Western Sahara, a post it has left vacant for almost two years. Secondly, Washington should move to encourage de-escalation and revive political talks. I. Overview After almost 30 years of compliance with a 1991 ceasefire, Morocco and the Polisario Front have resumed hostilities in Western Sahara, a disputed territory for which the Front seeks independence. On 13 November 2020, Morocco sent troops into the UN-monitored buffer zone to end Polisario supporters’ three-week blockade of the strategic Guerguerat road. In response, Polisario withdrew from the ceasefire and renewed attacks on Moroccan military units. International reactions to the escalation have mostly been sympathetic to Morocco. -
An Ailing Sahrawi Leader Shakes Spain and Morocco's Alliance
05/06/2021 An ailing Sahrawi leader shakes Spain and Morocco's alliance An ailing Sahrawi leader shakes Spain and Morocco’s alliance By ARITZ PARRA May 20, 2021 LOGRONO, Spain (AP) — The mysterious COVID-19 patient arrived at an airport in northern Spain in a medicalized jet. An ambulance ferried the 71-year-old man on a freeway that passed vineyards of Rioja grapes to a state-of-the-art public hospital in the city of Logrono. The patient was sent directly to an intensive care bed, registered on April 18 with the identity on his Algerian diplomatic passport: Mohamed Benbatouche. He turned out to be Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Polisario Front, an Algeria-backed pro- independence movement representing the local Sahrawi people of Africa’s Western Sahara. Ghali’s presence in Spain under a disguised identity didn’t go unnoticed to the government in Morocco, the country that annexed Western Sahara nearly half a century ago. Rabat, which regards Ghali as a terrorist, protested Spain’s decision to grant compassionate assistance to its top enemy. It threatened there would be “consequences.” And they finally came to fruition this week when Morocco let down its guard on the border with Ceuta, a Spanish city perched on the northern African coastline. ADVERTISEMENT https://apnews.com/article/europe-spain-morocco-africa-health-f14419ce2f00ea07b0ac5c1d5c49e83c 1/4 05/06/2021 An ailing Sahrawi leader shakes Spain and Morocco's alliance The move allowed thousands of migrants to enter Ceuta, many of them children who swam or jumped over fences. The humanitarian crisis has become a flashpoint between the two neighbors. -
The Handy Geography Answer Book
HandyGeographySecondEd11:HandyWeatherAqua 1/27/09 6:48 AM Page 1 Tucci Rosenberg The world, its people, its countries, its history, the maps and more! THETHE ommandeer the family armchair and prepare for an THE HANDY GEOGRAPHY ANSWER BOOK Cincredibly cheap — yet oddly fulfilling — world tour with The Handy Geography Answer Book. You’ll learn the answers to more than 1,000 common and intriguing questions about the natural features of the HANDYHANDY world and the ever-changing mark humans make on our planet. It provides answers to such questions as … • What time is it in Antarctica? • Why was computing longitude so difficult? • What are the seven wonders of the modern world? GEOGRAPHY • What is the effect of global warming and climate change on Earth? • Which place in South America is part of the European Union? • Why has Afghanistan been contested and invaded so many times? • What countries have the most Internet usage? • What was George Washington’s involvement with geography? From common trivia questions — highest, ANSWERANSWER tallest, deepest, hottest, shortest, longest, oldest, Praise for the first edition … newest, and, of course, most improved — to “Reader-friendly. Leads the geographically geography’s influence on language, religion, illiterate along to a better understanding of architecture, migration, and population, and to what happened where and why. A great the impact of terrain on the location of countries reference.” and cities, The Handy Geography Answer Book —San Antonio Express-News includes information on virtually every topic “Top 10 Basic Geography Book” BOOK related to geography. With up-to-date maps and —About.com country information, this book let’s you bring SECOND EDITION the world home! ISBN 978-1-57859-215-9 90000 Paul A. -
The Unfinished Referendum Process in Western Sahara
The Unfinished Referendum Process in Western Sahara By Terhi Lehtinen Terhi Lehtinen is the Programme Officer at the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), Onze Lieve Vrouweplein 21, 6211 HE Maastricht, The Netherlands; Tel: +31 43 350 2923; Fax: +31 43 350 2902; E-mail [email protected] Abstract The Western Saharan conflict, between Morocco and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario), has constituted a major threat to regional stability in North Africa since the Spanish decolonisation in 1975. The war has cost thousands of lives, with prisoners of war taken on both sides, and forced Morocco to construct a huge fortified wall in the Sahara. The conflicting parties have a fundamental disagreement on the status of Sahara; Morocco claims its marocanity based on the region’s historical ties with Moroccan dynasties. In contrast, the Polisario fights for the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination, bolstered by Organization of African Unity (OAU) principles and United Nations (UN) resolutions. However, the underlying dispute concerns the control of the region’s rich phosphate and fish resources. The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (Minurso) has played the major role in the organisation of the referendum for self-determination, delayed several times due to disagreement on the voter identification and registration. In January 2001, the Polisario declared the end of the ceasefire, effective since 1991, due to Morocco’s failure to respect the agreed principles. The political settlement of the dispute remains difficult to achieve and frustration on the ground is increasing.