Volume 124 - Number 1 - Spring 2009

Camp David Rashomon: Contested Interpretations of the Israel/Palestine Peace Process
Myron J. Aronoff looks at the summit peace conference between Israel and the Palestinian Authority mediated by the United States at Camp David in 2000. He examines the similarities and differences among the various interpretations of the causes of the breakdown of the peace process.

Volume 124 - Number 1 - Spring 2009

How Countries Democratize
Samuel P. Huntington describes the diverse political processes through which thirty-five countries moved from authoritarianism toward democracy and derives guidelines from these experiences for future “democratizers.”

Volume 123 - Number 3 - Fall 2008

Reconciliation after Democratization: Coping with the Past in Spain
OMAR G. ENCARNACIÓN examines Spain’s ongoing effort to reconcile the legacy of its dark past, including the mass killings of the Spanish Civil War and the repression of the Franco dictatorship, three decades after its celebrated transition to democracy. Key among his findings is that contrary to the widespread conventional wisdom promoted by the influential ‘‘transitional justice’’ movement, reconciliation is not a pre-condition for effective democratization.

Volume 123 - Number 2 - Summer 2008

Intelligence Failure Reframed
John A. Gentry discusses the nature of U.S. intelligence ‘‘failures.’’ He argues that excessive expectations for the performance of intelligence agencies mean that many charges of intelligence failure are misplaced and many reform proposals are misdirected. He concludes that policymakers and policy-implementing agencies often cause intelligence-related failures.

Volume 122 - Number 4 - Winter 2007-08

Credibility and the War on Terror
Christopher J. Fettweis examines the importance of ‘‘credibility’’ in the U.S. war on terrorism. He challenges the conventional wisdom that a healthy reputation for resolve keeps a country safer or helps it pursue its goals. He argues that the credibility of the United States—or lack thereof—will not prove to be decisive in the fight against extremism.

Volume 122 - Number 4 - Winter 2007-08

‘‘The Civilization of Clashes’’: Misapplying the Democratic Peace in the Middle East
Piki Ish-Shalom traces the process by which leading neoconservatives endorsed the structural theories of democratic peace, generating a grand strategy of forceful democracy promotion. He analyses the reasons for this endorsement and its impact on American foreign policy. He then goes on to explore some internal incoherencies in this neoconservative grand strategy.

Volume 122 - Number 3 - Fall 2007

The UN Security Council’s Response to Terrorism: Before and After September 11, 2001
HILDE HAALAND KRAMER and STEVE A. YETIV argue that the UN Security Council’s response to global terrorism has been more forceful and comprehensive since September 11 and that it has broken some new ground. The authors posit that although the UN remains controversial in the United States, Washington benefited from its response to September 11, as imperfect as it was.

Volume 122 - Number 1 - Spring 2007

The Detention and Trial of Enemy Combatants: A Drama in Three Branches
Michael C. Dorf describes the interactions among the three branches of the federal government in addressing the detention and trial of captives in the war in Afghanistan and the broader ‘‘war on terror.’’ He explains that the Supreme Court’s repeated rejections of the Bush administration’s sweeping assertions of wartime authority have erected few insurmountable obstacles to administration policy. Instead, the Court has required the administration to seek authority from Congress, which in turn has shown little appetite for reining in the President.

Volume 121 - Number 3 - Fall 2006

The Geneva Conventions and New Wars
RENÉE DE NEVERS explores how ‘‘new’’ wars—ranging from civil wars to asymmetric war—and new warriors, including warlords, private security companies, and children, fit within the Geneva Conventions. Although the nature of warfare and warriors has changed from the time the Conventions were adopted in 1949, she challenges the view that the Conventions should be abandoned. Rather, she argues, the Conventions should be revitalized to address a broader spectrum of war, because this will generate greater international support for U.S. efforts to combat terrorism.

Volume 121 - Number 1 - Spring 2006

An Empirical Analysis of Failed Intelligence Reforms Before September 11
AMY B. ZEGART examines the failures to reform U.S. intelligence agencies before the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. She finds that during the 1990s, intelligence officials and policy makers understood the rising terrorist threat and the urgent need for reform, but failed to address critical organizational deficiencies.