WPR Articles 13 Apr 2013 - 19 Apr 2013 Protest as Participation: China's Local Protest Movements By: Teresa Wright | Feature For at least the past decade, China has witnessed tens of thousands of mass social protests per year. These protests have been the subject of a great deal of media coverage in the West, with the typical takeaway being that China is a simmering cauldron of unrest, perpetually on the verge of bubbling over. Yet the reality is far more complex. Although protests should not be expected to subside, they should not be viewed as the harbinger of large-scale political upheaval either. Islamist-Held Raqqa a Bellwether for Syria’s Rebellion By: Balint Szlanko | Briefing One feature sets the Syrian city of Raqqa apart from other towns captured by Syria’s rebels: The Syrian rebellion’s traditional flag -- green, white and black with three red stars, representing the moderate views of the original rebel movement -- is nowhere to be seen. Instead, a black flag bearing a verse from the Quran flies over Raqqa’s main square -- a flag often associated with Sunni Islamist extremists.   World Citizen: A Turning Point for Venezuela, a Perilous Test for Chavismo By: Frida Ghitis | Column Few people expected Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles to defeat Nicolas Maduro, the late Hugo Chavez’s chosen heir. But the close election results still managed to stun. The opposition is demanding a recount, and Maduro has emerged surprisingly weakened despite his victory. It is a risky turning point for the country, a challenge to Maduro’s untested skills and a perilous time for Chavismo. Strategic Horizons: U.S. Professional Military Education on the Chopping Block By: Steven Metz | Column The U.S. military is led by some of the most educated professionals in the world, bolstered by the "professional military educational system." But like all aspects of the military, that system now faces cuts or major reorganization as the defense budget shrinks. While this is necessary, it is important to understand what the military education system does in order to distinguish good changes from bad ones. For Chad, Opportunity and Challenge in Regional Crises By: Alex Thurston | Briefing The 2,400 Chadian forces in Mali have seen some of the heaviest fighting in the war there. As France passes responsibility for securing northern Mali to African partners, Chad has positioned itself as a regional power. But different outlooks between Chad and Western powers, as well as instability in Chad’s immediate neighbor the Central African Republic (CAR), complicate Chad’s ability to project leadership. More Democracy or Solidarity: South Africa’s Zimbabwe Dilemma By: James Hamill | Briefing Zimbabwe’s ongoing political and economic decline has severely tested South Africa’s ability to balance its often-contradictory foreign policy imperatives of commitment to democracy and human rights on the one hand and African liberation solidarity, tinged with anti-Western sentiment, on the other. With Zimbabwe on the cusp of fresh elections, this issue is set to return to the top of the South African agenda. Diplomatic Fallout: Frustrations Mount for India at the U.N. By: Richard Gowan | Column Five Indian soldiers serving with the U.N. peacekeeping operation in South Sudan were killed in an ambush last week. Such casualties are grimly familiar for the Indian army, which has lost more personnel on U.N. missions than any other country’s military. But the attack capped off a difficult few weeks for India at the U.N. that, cumulatively, may reinforce doubts about New Delhi’s commitment to the U.N. system. In Venezuela, Maduro’s Narrow Election Win Leaves Him Weakened By: Catherine Cheney | Trend Lines In an election held Sunday to choose a replacement for former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who died last month, Chavez’s anointed successor, Nicolas Maduro, narrowly beat rival Henrique Capriles for the presidency. From Chiapas to Tahrir: Networks and the Diffusion of Protest By: Sandra González-Bailón | Feature A lot has changed since the Zapatista movement emerged in the mid-1990s in southern Mexico to become a symbol of the fight for global justice. As outdated as the imagery of the Zapatistas might look to our retrained eyes, it was one of the first global manifestations of the tectonic shift caused by new communication technologies. The transformations unleashed then are still shaping the way protest movements arise, aided by evolutions in the networks through which they are diffused. Global Insider: Saudi Arabia Lacks a Long-Term Policy for Yemen’s Transition By: The Editors | Trend Lines In an email interview, Bernard Haykel, a professor of Near Eastern studies at Princeton, explained the mechanics and limitations of Saudi Arabia’s influence in Yemen. Global Insights: NATO’s Evolving Partnership Portfolio in Asia By: Richard Weitz | Column NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen recently undertook a week-long visit to Japan and South Korea, highlighting NATO's growing role in Asian security. Rasmussen is convinced that NATO needs to deepen cooperation with partner states to address global security issues. Conversely, NATO’s unique capabilities and experience can be applied to joint efforts to address security concerns in Asia and beyond. Images of Dissent: Protest and the Limits of Social Networks By: Neville Bolt | Feature Today both states and their challengers face a conundrum. Images of dissent and grievance circulate at lightning speed through the global media landscape, fueling demands for change and even revolution. Furthermore they encourage populations to expect governments to fall in response to people power in ever-contracting timeframes. States are perplexed at how rapidly calls for change can spread through social networks. Their challengers, too, are concerned: They face a loss of control and message coherence. Yemen’s Military Restructuring a Move to Consolidate Transition By: Catherine Cheney | Trend Lines Last week, Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansur Hadi issued several decrees aimed at restructuring Yemen’s fractious military, including removing the son and two nephews of his predecessor, former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, from military leadership. Global Insider: IEA’s Opening to Rising Powers Promises Huge Benefits By: The Editors | Trend Lines In an email interview, Thijs Van de Graaf, a postdoctoral fellow at the Ghent Institute for International Studies specializing in global energy politics and international institutions, explained the IEA’s expansion drive and its likely effects. Morocco's Cancellation of Military Exercise a Major Disruption for U.S. By: Catherine Cheney | Trend Lines On Tuesday, Morocco cancelled its annual joint military exercises with the United States and other international observers just as the “African Lion” war games were set to start, according to U.S. officials. Socialism With Cuban Characteristics: Part I By: William M. LeoGrande | Briefing Since becoming president, Cuba’s Raul Castro has been on a crusade to bring the country’s economy into the 21st century, and he has not hesitated to blame its failures on Cuba's policies, rather than the U.S. embargo. Having already built political capital with popular measures to reduce excessive regulation, the government is now carrying out a much more profound reorganization of the Cuban economy. Socialism With Cuban Characteristics: Part II By: William M. LeoGrande | Briefing The real test of Cuba’s reform process under President Raul Castro will come in the state sector, which still employs most of the labor force and produces more than 80 percent of GDP. The goal is to modernize the sector to make it more efficient. But the government’s political will to follow through on reforms, and the social and political consequences they may have, remain open questions. The Realist Prism: White House Makes a Play for Russia’s Pragmatists By: Nikolas Gvosdev | Column Even without the tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon this week, it is unlikely that the visit of U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon to Moscow would have been front-page news. But his meetings -- including contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to whom Donilon handed a letter from President Barack Obama -- could end up being quite significant, as they seemed to avoid the expected pitfalls. Read more at World Politics Review