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Semiannual magazine of the IEEE Presentation
Afghanistan in sight. Despite the agreement signed in 2020 between the Taliban and
the US, without the Afghan government’s signature, there is no prospect of stability
in the near future. The conflicting interests of the main actors involved (India and
Pakistan on the one hand, along with Iran, Russia, China and the US itself ) only add
to the uncertainty. The chapter “The Role of Regional Actors in the Afghan Peace
Process” aims to elucidate these interactions.
The last two articles coincide in analysing the island phenomenon, although from
different points of view. In “Strategic Archipelagos and Tourist Destinations: The Canary
Islands, Hawaii and Okinawa” are analysed in terms of key aspects of security. Based
on a geopolitical approach, strategic value is related to the no less important econom-ic
value of the tourism industry in these three archipelagos. The relevance, in this
case, is provided by the growing tensions between China and the countries bordering
the South and East China Seas. This ultimately also means tension with the United
States. The second of these articles has the suggestive title of “Small Island Develop-ing
States: between concept and application”. This definition, Small Island Developing
States (SIDS), has been coined by the UN to refer to small island countries in need of
special consideration in order to promote improvements in the indices that routinely
measure the progress and well-being of their people. But this, which seems simple to
put forward, entails difficulties when it comes to defining what a state of these charac-teristics
is. Environmental issues, such as rising sea levels, hinder their sustainable de-velopment
and in some cases jeopardise the very existence of some of these countries
in the medium term. In this respect, there is no lack of analysis of the possible, but so
far imprecise, geopolitical consequences of this hypothetical disappearance.
We complete this issue with a review of a very interesting book, “The human factor.
Gorbachev, Reagan, and Thatcher, and the end of the Cold War”, whose author, Archie
Brown, is a renowned kremlinologist. The strong personalities of the three leaders
mentioned above were a determining factor in the end of the Cold War. Reading it
today can help us understand a little better the evolution of relations between the
Russian Federation and the West.
A compendium, in short, of analyses that are highly aligned with some of the fac-tors
on which the reconfiguration of the current international order is being based
and with some specific actors in this new global scenario. I hope you enjoy it and I
encourage you to wait for the next issue of this journal, by the Spanish Institute of
Strategic Studies.
Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies no. 16 Year: 2020 - Págs.: 265 a 268