This Week at ISN

16 - 20 July 2012 Having concluded Part Two of the Editorial Plan, we are now playing a little "jazz" to catch our breath and gather our thoughts before we continue August 6th with Part Three where we consider what impact changing power dynamics have had on a variety of topical issues that are familiar to us all. This week, we look at how 'small states' survive in a world dominated by great and growing powers.

Small States
Small States: What Is Their Place in a Shrinking World?
16 July 2012 / Special Feature

How do so-called 'small states' survive in a world dominated by great and growing powers? In this feature by Alyson Bailes and Iver Neumann and Sieglinde Gsthl, we examine not only how small states protected their security interests in the past but how they can also do it in the future. More Fiji: Carving Out Its Own Political Space
17 July 2012 / Special Feature

Since its 2006 coup, Fiji has demonstrated that Australian power and influence in the South Pacific can be challenged by its smaller neighbors, writes Eddie Walsh. But will Fiji overplay its hand? More Trinidad and Tobago: How a Small State Used Power Well
18 July 2012 / Special Feature

Trinidad and Tobago effectively used its status as host of the 5th Summit of the Americas to highlight the concerns of 'small states' in its region. According to CIGI's Andrew Cooper and Timothy Shaw, such adroit behavior illustrates how small states can use unorthodox forms of diplomacy to promote their interests. More Liechtenstein: Microstate Power at the UN
19 July 2012 / Podcast

In international organizations, delegations from small states usually face fewer domestic constraints on their behavior. This provides them the needed political wiggle room for positive independent action, or so argues Christian Wenaweser, Permanent Representative of Liechtenstein to the UN in New York. More Belarus: A Representative Small State?
20 July 2012 / Special Feature

Predicting the behavior of small states has become increasingly difficult. One reason for this problem is that small states enjoy considerable freedom of maneuver in what is now a poly-centric international system, as shown by Dmitry Shlapentokh. More

Security Watch
Libya Has Successful Elections but Not Yet Democracy
16 July 2012

The Arab Spring in Libya has given rise to modest pluralism, but full democracy may be more elusive, argues Karim Mezran of the Atlantic Council. More Kabul's Hidden Crisis

17 July 2012

Facing rapid urbanization and severe internal displacement, international donor commitments to Afghanistan may be inadequate to address the country's looming crises, argues ODI's Simone Haysom. More Brazil's Stability is Success
18 July 2012

Brazil's savvy economic reforms have resulted in broad-based growth that mitigates the impact of international economic fluctuations, argues CFR's Shannon ONeil. More Colombia's Intelligence: Putting the Country at Risk?
19 July 2012

Over the past decade, the Colombian state has misused a run-down intelligence system in a bid to control an ever-evasive security environment plagued by organized crime, drug trafficking and political corruption, writes Robert Shaw. More Mind the Cyber Gap? Deterrence in Cyberspace
20 July 2012

In the brave new world of cyber-security, old-fashioned deterrence strategies need to be reconsidered, argues the Atlantic Council's Brandon Valeriano. More

ISN Blog
Egypt Holds its Breath
16 July 2012

Omar Ashour argues that President-elect Mohammed Morsi will need to produce tangible results on both the economy and domestic security if he hopes to consolidate his power and keep the country's generals in check. More How to Make Trade Easier
17 July 2012

The focus of international trade negotiations must be on specific issues where progress is possible, write Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al-Madani, Donald Kaberuka, Haruhiko Kuroda, Thomas Mirow, Luis Alberto Moreno and Robert B Zoellick. More China's Afghan Game Plan
18 July 2012

Stability in Afghanistan, particularly after the withdrawal of US combat troops, is vital to Chinese security. Nevertheless, a large-scale military intervention remains inconceivable, or so concludes Shlomo Ben Ami. More Reinventing the European Dream
19 July 2012

Rather than further tightening the austerity screws, Anne-Marie Slaughter argues that European leaders need to promote positive narratives and a concrete vision of a healthy EU. More Putin's Ironic Potential
20 July 2012

According to Lilia Shevtsova, President Putin's return to power could ultimately bring down the current regime, thus making a 'new start' possible for Russia. More

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