"Dissertations"

Climate Related Natural Disasters and the Onset of Civil Conflict: 1970-2008

Climate Related Natural Disasters and the Onset of Civil Conflict: 1970-2008
Tom McKim

Since the end of the Cold War, research into the causes of civil conflict has intensified dramatically as scholars, policy makers, and NGOs have come to recognise the tremendous human toll they exact. Almost completely absent from civil war literature is the impact that natural disasters may have on the likelihood of conflict.

To what extent is the ‘battle of Sadr City’ a case of Urbicide?

To what extent is the ‘battle of Sadr City’ a case of Urbicide?
James Whitcomb Riley

Viewed within the conceptual framework of Urbicide, which posits that cities have become the expressed target of military operations, the battle of Sadr City reveals the inherent objectives of counter-insurgency (COIN) theory — the annihilation of place.

Water wars? The Role of Hegemony in the Jordan River, Nile River and Columbia River Basins

Water wars? The Role of Hegemony in the Jordan River, Nile River and Columbia River Basins
Alex Stark

Predictions of “water wars” have become an important and even customary part of global diplomatic discourse. In 1995, the World Bank’s vice president for environmentally sustainable development famously asserted “if the wars of this century were fought over oil, the wars of the next century will be fought over water”. What is the truth about transboundary water and the potential for war?

The Emissions Trading Scheme: EU Leadership, Problems and Decision-Making

The Emissions Trading Scheme: EU Leadership, Problems and Decision-Making
Fiona Smith

It is now widely recognised that climate change is affecting the earth’s atmosphere and that governments must act quickly and efficiently in order to halt this. The EU Emissions Trading Scheme has been held up as the centrepiece of EU legislation, allowing the EU to perform a leadership role globally by initiating the world’s largest multi-country, multi-sector greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme ever seen.

Is it possible to democratise the European Union?

Is it possible to democratise the European Union?
James Sloan

Certain dates in European history are taken to be the significant historical events which changed the course of the continent forever. 1648, and the Treaties of Westphalia; 1815, the Concert of Europe; 1945 the end of the Second World War and 1989, the fall of Communism – these are the events that are attributed to the makeup of modern Europe. But what of the years 1957, 1992, and 2009?

To what extent does the EZLN political economy framework offer a viable development alternative to its followers?

To what extent does the EZLN political economy framework offer a viable development alternative to its followers?
James Wilhelm

The EZLN is a Polanyian reaction to a specific type of market subordination, something which is central in understanding the extent to which the EZLN represents a viable political economy model for its followers. Furthermore, the Mexican Revolution triggered the emergence of these markets

Private Military & Security Companies and the Pursuit of Legitimacy

Private Military & Security Companies and the Pursuit of Legitimacy
Junio Valerio Palomba

Junio Valerio Palomba provides an alternative insight on the nature of private military and security companies and their activities. Specifically, he demonstrates how recent changes in the organization and structure of the market for force – such as the disappearance of combat operations – can be interpreted and explained through the theoretical lens of legitimacy.

Canada-US Cross Border Regions: Engines of Integration at an Impasse – The Case of Cascadia

Victoria Lennox

Informed by the global governance perspective, this essay explores the internal, interrelational and ideational dimensions and forces shaping the Cascadia cross-border region (CBR) to provide useful insights into the nature, implications and future prospects of Canada-United States (US) CBRs.

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