Saner, R; “ Science Diplomacy to support global implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”. Policy Brief written for the first edition of the Global Sustainable Development Report of the UN-DESA, page 39.

Trade in education is debated between market liberalizers and protectionists and is played out within countries and their different stakeholders, for example between government ministries (e.g. ministry of trade versus ministry of education) and between government and the private sector (privately owned schools versus publically run schools). A balance needs to be struck between consumer protection and the rights of governments to pursue high quality education without falling into the trap of closing market access to foreign education service providers.

As nuclear negotiations conclude and an opening to Iran’s market looms, Western companies with interests in investing in Iran need to prepare their entry strategies carefully. Beyond normal business considerations, Western companies may face challenges with obstacles emanating from outside of their direct sphere of control. To plan beyond “business as usual,” this article proposes that they consider applying thecompetencies of Business Diplomacy Management. After so many years of strained international relations, foreign companies  need to understand that Iran comes with a history fraught with political tensions that may impede business as usual. A British and American backed coup forcefully removed the democratically elected Mossadegh in 1953 to reinstall the Pahlavi Shah, who was himself subsequently removed in the Islamic revolution in 1979. Since then relations between the new Islamic Republic of Iran and Western countries have been frosty. The recent JCPOA agreement must be understood within this context. 

Raymond Saner (2015); “Private Military and Security Companies: Industry-Led Self-Regulatory Initiatives versus State-Led Containment Strategy”. Recent self-regulatory guidelines that have been created by private military and security companies (PMSCs) in order to deter calls for stricter regulations of the industry. This “battle of influence” over the regulation of the use of force, the author contends, leads to rising tensions between stakeholders who form coalitions consisting of states, PMSCs, and civil society actors on either side of the regulation cleavage. The paper calls for new measures that continue to build on IHL and the Geneva Conventions, but that go beyond the current regulatory positions of existing international initiatives. This paper be cited as Raymond Saner (2015); “Private Military and Security Companies: Industry-Led Self-Regulatory Initiatives versus State-Led Containment Strategy”, The Center for Conflict, Development and Peace Building, Graduate Institute, CCDP Working Paper 11 2015, University of Geneva.