Essays

Why has it often proved more difficult to reintegrate than to demobilise soldiers following civil wars?

Emma Gordon • Jul 26 2011 • Essays

This essay will address the challenges faced during reintegration based on the levels presented above – individual, community, and national. In the latter of these, it will seek to address the impact of complications arising in the early stages of national DDR programmes, particularly during demobilisation.

Bush and Blair: the impact of a special relationship on national interests

John Laidlaw • Jul 26 2011 • Essays

This dissertation argues that the ‘special’ relationship shared between Tony Blair and George W Bush while they presided over their respective countries’ had a greater effect on their own individual pursuit of national interests than conventionally acknowledged.

Assessing China and India’s New Role in Africa

Tom McCarthy • Jul 26 2011 • Essays

This dissertation seeks to explore the rise of China and India in Africa, arguing that the two countries represent a second generation of donors that are able to free-ride on the previous reforms imposed by Western donors, and are then re-interpreting this to announce a new way of providing assistance, centred around ‘non-interference’ and respect for state sovereignty.

How Appealing are CBRN Weapons to Terrorist Groups?

James Robertson • Jul 26 2011 • Essays

Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) terrorism is often portrayed as one of the greatest threats facing the world. But to the rational terrorist, acting with concern to the strategic considerations of external support, possible retaliation and mass-casualty outcomes, CBRN weapons are of limited appeal.

‘Globalization’ and economic development: why Geography still matters

Ben Partridge • Jul 26 2011 • Essays

Interrogating the concept of globalization and examining the differentiated materialities which have both facilitated its development and continue to shape its future direction shows quite clearly that new and complex social relations have arisen which are not easily mappable onto existing territories.

Islam and foreign policy making in Turkey

Harriet Fildes • Jul 26 2011 • Essays

This essay argues that the AKP’s foreign policy is based upon pragmatism. This has resulted in the emergence of Turkey as an important global actor. Recent claims and traditional understandings of the Justice and Development Party’s foreign policy as Islamized are simplistic and derive from misleading theories and political propaganda.

What is the terrorist threat in cyber-space?

Ross Hall • Jul 26 2011 • Essays

The typical approaches to warfare, force, offence, defence and deterrence, do not necessarily cross over into cyber conflicts, be they for cyber warfare or countering cyber-terrorism. The world of network interactions changes the rules of the game, where the attackers can more easily remain anonymous, and the targets can be anything that is on an open network.

Is Israel’s policy of targeted killing synonymous with assassination? Can it be legally or morally justified?

Frances Deft • Jul 25 2011 • Essays

Israel is often criticized for its policy of targeted killing, which has escalated following the breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian communications of October 2000. Although Israel defends this policy, claiming that it can be both legally and morally justified, it has failed to provide an adequate definition.

Can nationalism be understood as a cause of ethnic conflict?

Anna Costa • Jul 25 2011 • Essays

What is it that makes divisions along ethnic lines salient to forms of opposition that can degenerate into levels of violence as extreme as genocide? What made the peaceful multi-ethnic neighborhoods of Sarajevo turn into battlefields? The short answer is the politicization of ethnicity and ethnic diversity.

The Question of Identity: The EU/Turkey Integration Debate

Tom Dixon • Jul 21 2011 • Essays

The eastward expansion of the EU has shown the flexibility of what is European. The future integration of Turkey is the next step towards increasing recognition that the values that unite Europe are indeed universal, and that therefore, European identity cannot be culturally or territorially bounded.

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