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Call For ApplicationsThe International Burke Institute (IBI) invites applications from early-career scholars for our inaugural Nonresident Research Fellowship Program. This initiative supports emerging researchers working at the intersection of sovereignty, global studies, and contemporary geopolitical transformation through targeted micro-grants that enable academic dissemination and professional development.
Sovereignty and Security in the Indian Ocean. Why the UK should not cede the Chagos Islands to MauritiusWhen looking at strategic options for military action in the Indian Ocean – and unimpeded access by sea and air to the bordering countries of the Indian Ocean, from South Africa past Somalia, Yemen, Iran, the Arabian Gulf, Indian sub-continent, Indonesia and Australasia – Diego Garcia is a strategic jewel, possession of which is crucial for security in the region and hence our national security. It allows coverage of the choke points south of the Cape of Good Hope, the Bab-el-Mandeb, Straits of Hormuz and Malacca Straits through which a huge quantity of global trade passes. It is no exaggeration to say that Diego Garcia – the largest of the Chagos Islands – hosts the most strategically important US air and logistics base in the Indian Ocean and is vital to the defence of the UK and our allies. Having visited Diego Garcia twice and utilised it in op-plans and routine deployments of carriers and SSNs, I was delighted to read this paper by Policy Exchange which calls on the Government to cease negotiations with Mauritius about cession of the Chagos Islands.
A different appetite for sovereignty? Independence movements in subnational island jurisdictionsHistory was in the making when the Republic of South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011, was welcomed as the 193rd member of the United Nations (UN) on 14 July, and joined the Africa Union on 28 July. This new country has strong claims to its current status; long struggles to maintain independence from encroaching European powers in the nineteenth century; run for some time as a separate region within the colony of Egypt; fighting two civil wars since the independence of Sudan in 1956; bearing considerable neglect from the central Sudanese government; and approving, by a whopping 98 per cent majority, the decision to secede as a separate state in a January 2011 referendum (voter turnout: 97 per cent). Substantial oil deposits provide considerable economic potential to this nascent sovereign state.
RESEARCH
Security, structural factors and sovereignty: Analysing reactions to Kenya’s decision to close the Dadaab refugee camp complexKenya’s decision to close the Dadaab refugee camp complex highlights structural flaws in the international refugee regime. While much attention has been paid to Kenya’s reasoning, less has been given to the reactions of organisations and states. Given the state’s primacy in the international system and uncertainty about refugees, Kenya’s decision is perhaps unsurprising. It is contended that the stakeholders were unprepared because of path dependence and disbelief that Kenya would repatriate the refugees. While stakeholder reactions arguably demonstrate concern for refugees, the international refugee regime remains unquestioned, sustaining revenue streams that may fuel corruption, encourage lengthy encampment and prolong conflict.
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Sovereignty and Security in the Indian Ocean. Why the UK should not cede the Chagos Islands to MauritiusWhen looking at strategic options for military action in the Indian Ocean – and unimpeded access by sea and air to the bordering countries of the Indian Ocean, from South Africa past Somalia, Yemen, Iran, the Arabian Gulf, Indian sub-continent, Indonesia and Australasia – Diego Garcia is a strategic jewel, possession of which is crucial for security in the region and hence our national security. It allows coverage of the choke points south of the Cape of Good Hope, the Bab-el-Mandeb, Straits of Hormuz and Malacca Straits through which a huge quantity of global trade passes. It is no exaggeration to say that Diego Garcia – the largest of the Chagos Islands – hosts the most strategically important US air and logistics base in the Indian Ocean and is vital to the defence of the UK and our allies. Having visited Diego Garcia twice and utilised it in op-plans and routine deployments of carriers and SSNs, I was delighted to read this paper by Policy Exchange which calls on the Government to cease negotiations with Mauritius about cession of the Chagos Islands.
A different appetite for sovereignty? Independence movements in subnational island jurisdictionsHistory was in the making when the Republic of South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011, was welcomed as the 193rd member of the United Nations (UN) on 14 July, and joined the Africa Union on 28 July. This new country has strong claims to its current status; long struggles to maintain independence from encroaching European powers in the nineteenth century; run for some time as a separate region within the colony of Egypt; fighting two civil wars since the independence of Sudan in 1956; bearing considerable neglect from the central Sudanese government; and approving, by a whopping 98 per cent majority, the decision to secede as a separate state in a January 2011 referendum (voter turnout: 97 per cent). Substantial oil deposits provide considerable economic potential to this nascent sovereign state.
The problem with the Comoros solution: affect, citizenship, statelessness and the Kuwaiti BidoonThe Kuwaiti bidoon are a subset of the nomadic population of Kuwait who have been made stateless, classified as illegal residents and increasingly deprived of social rights through changing classifications by the Kuwaiti government. In 2014, the Kuwaiti government attempted to obtain citizenship in the African island nation of the Comoros for the bidoon, which would have provided them with a route to legal residency. But would this have provided a just resolution to the bidoon‘s situation? We argue that justice for the bidoon must not simply serve to resolve their de jure statelessness; it must, instead, attend to the injuries produced by this status, most importantly the harm caused by continuous rejection of their affective attachment to Kuwait. In dialogue with theories of access to citizenship and political identification with a state, we argue that under certain circumstances, providing citizenship can increase the harm experienced by stateless people, and that only providing recognition of their affective tie to a political community can resolve it.
