Thursday
17 February 2000
0830-1000
There seem to be a number of Christopher Columbus setting out from the United States to discover Africa.... It's been there a long time.
Then-British Prime Minister James Callaghan, 1978
Sub-Saharan Africa's diversity defies generalizations. The continent is three times the size of the United States. It has more than 600 million people. It boasts at least 500 ethnic groups, more than 2,000 spoken languages, and 50 independent states. In a continent of stark contrasts, a "first world" of high rise buildings and modern industry and a "third world" of poverty, disease and environmental degradation exist side by side. South Africa with a GDP of over $120 billion and a per capita income of nearly $3,000 borders Mozambique, perhaps the poorest country in the world, with an average income of less than $80 per year.
Inter communal, tribal and ethnic war is a chronic problem in sub-Saharan Africa, as the recent and continuing bloody strife in West Africa and in Central Africa demonstrate. Although the current OSD National Strategy for Africa asserts that the U.S. has no vital interests in sub-Saharan Africa, that same document states the "Administration is committed to maintaining a leading role in Africa." In this regard, the U.S. has played an active role in attempting to resolve African conflicts and American troops have been deployed to the region a number of times this decade to deal with the humanitarian affects of conflict there.
Topic Objectives.
- Develop a broad appreciation of the key political, economic, and military trends in sub-Saharan Africa
- Review U.S. interests in the region and challenges to those interests
Issues for Consideration.
- What are U.S. interests in sub-Saharan Africa? How important are these interests? If, the United States has no vital interests in Africa, as the OSD strategy document asserts, why have our military forces been used there so often?
- What are the sources of war in Africa? What can/should be done by external powers to deal with the causes of conflict? What means are there for dealing with the consequences of African wars?
- When should the United States intervene in African conflicts? What criterion would you suggest be used in deciding upon such intervention?
- What is Africa's future? To what extent have pluralistic political systems and prosperous economies been developed and sustained? What are likely future trends in these areas? What role should the United States play in this process? What resources have or are likely to be provided for such an effort?
- South Africa has taken an inclusive approach to dealing with its racial mixture. Why does this approach seem to be working in South Africa? Does this provide a more promising way to deal with ethnic/national differences than the exclusionary policies adopted in Bosnia, Burundi, Rwanda and elsewhere? If so, is it transferable?
Required Readings.
a. William H. Twaddell, "Why Africa Matters," Remarks at an U.S. Department of State Town Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 7, 1997
b. Marguerite Michaels, "Retreat from Africa," Foreign Affairs, vol. 72:1 (1993), pp. 93-108.
c. David Shearer, "Africa's Great War," Survival, Volume 41, Number 2, Summer 1999, pp. 89-106.. (See Pro Quest
d. Thomas M. Callaghy, "Africa: Falling off the Map?" Current History, vol. 93:579 (January 1994), pp. 31-36.
e. Marina Ottaway, "Africa," Foreign Policy, Spring 1999, pp. 13-25.
f. Ken Menkhaus and John Prendergast, "Conflict and Crisis in the Greater Horn of Africa," Current History, Volume 98, Number 628, May 1999, pp. 213-215.
g. Documents:
- 1. Secretary Albright, "The U.S. and Africa: Building a Better Partnership," Dispatch, U.S. Department of State, July 1999, pp. 5-8.
2. Secretary Albright, "Blueprint for U.S.-African Relations," Dispatch, U.S. Department of State, April 1999, pp. 11-12.
Supplemental Readings.
1. Princeton N. Lyman, "South Africa's Promise," Foreign Policy, no. 102 (Spring 1996), pp. 105-119.
2. Jeffrey Herbst, "Responding to State Failure in Africa," International Security, vol. 21:3 (Winter 1996/97), pp. 120-144
3. Naomi Chazan, et al, Politics and Society in Contemporary Africa (Boulder: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 1992).
4. Raymond W. Copson, Africa's Wars and Prospects for Peace (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 1994).
5. Peter J. Schraeder, United States Foreign Policy toward Africa, Incrementalism, Crisis, and Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
TOPIC 28: STRATEGIC VIEW OF SOUTHEAST ASIA
Friday
18 February 2000
0900-1030 (L)
The Ambassador of Singapore, H.E. Chan Heng-Chee, will lecture this morning on the major security issues of Southeast Asia.
For the past three decades, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has established itself as one of the world's most effective regional organizations, particularly in political and diplomatic terms. In a region once riddled with conflict, ASEAN has created a "security community" in which warfare between its members has become virtually unthinkable.
At the same time ASEAN has become a significant factor in the international diplomatic arena. ASEAN played a key role in brokering Vietnam's military withdrawal from Cambodia and in pressuring China to moderate its stance on the South China Sea. ASEAN has successfully established its position as the core of two major Asia-Pacific entities-the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. As a result, Southeast Asia is becoming, for the first time in its history, a region in political as well as geographic terms. In recent months, the picture has changed significantly. ASEAN failed to respond effectively to a range of security, economic, and environmental challenges to the region. The expansion of membership to include all ten Southeast Asian states has reduced organization cohesion and greatly complicated decision-making.
The Asian financial/economic crisis that began in Thailand in mid-1997 caught most of the world by surprise. The crisis, a product of bad decisions by private investors, exposed the region's boom psychology, inadequate government regulations, and weak banking system. The results were catastrophic for Indonesia and very serious for Thailand and Malaysia. There were lesser, but still negative, results throughout the region. Until the recent crisis in East Timor, much of the attention of regional governments and U.S. policymakers was consumed by the consequences of the economic collapse for the past two years. Ambassador Chan will discuss the security implications of these developments as well as the rise of China as a regional great power and the security role of the United States from a Southeast Asian perspective.
Issues for Consideration:
- How should U.S. diplomats and security specialists respond to Southeast Asia's transformed political and economic circumstances?
- How would you craft and implement the U.S. military presence in Southeast Asia?
- How would you devise a strategic to cope with the emergence of China as a major regional power in Southeast Asia, particularly the growing territorial and military competition in the South China Sea? What is the role of U.S. power regarding the emerging struggle for control of the South China Sea?
- Should the United States give greater (or lesser) priority to human rights and democracy as themes of its foreign policy in Southeast Asia?
Required Readings.
a. A.S. Whiting, "ASEAN Eyes China: the Security Dimension," Asian Survey, April 1997, pp. 299-322.
b. D.M. Ollapally, "Arms, Politics, and the Emerging Asian Balance of Power," Asian Affairs, Summer, 1998, pp. 104-118.
c. Felix Chang, "Beijing's Reach in the South China Sea," Orbis, Summer 1996, pp. 353-374
d. Andreas MacIntyre, "The Indonesia Debacle," The National Interest, Number 53, Fall 1998, pp. 41-52.
e. Bruce Koppel, "Fixing the Other Asia," Foreign Affairs, Volume 77, Number 1, January/February, 1998, pp. 98-110.
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