Archive for 2009

Is Security “Civilising”, as Argued by Loader and Walker?

Sebastiano Sali • Dec 30 2009 • Essays

Loader and Walker reveal a very interesting dynamic, in which they put citizens in a position to somehow educate the state, to secure themselves and avoid the state developing as a threat to them. However, I would say that they do not develop this notion far enough, and are subsequently unable to overcome the concept of the state as the main actor of security.

The Political Realism of Thucydides and John Mearsheimer

Philipp Sorgenfrei • Dec 28 2009 • Essays

Thucydides’ and Mearsheimer’s views on political Realism resemble a mirror’s reflection; Displaying the same, yet a closer look reveals their inverse nature. In the course of the following essay, the modern, theoretical image of John Mearsheimer’s Aggressive Realism and its ancient reflection as found in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War will be extracted, compared and contrasted

OBAMA’S B+

Harvey M. Sapolsky • Dec 25 2009 • Articles

Answering a question from that professor of the airwaves Oprah Winfrey, President Obama gave himself a B+ as a grade for his first year in office. This proved, as a friend said, that he did indeed attend Columbia and Harvard, Ivy League universities renowned in America for their grade inflation and self-congratulatory style.

Lisbon – another EU attack on democracy

John Redwood • Dec 23 2009 • Articles

The mood in the UK towards the EU is currently one of angry resignation. We are angry because Lisbon has been such a dishonest and anti democratic process. We were thrilled when France and Holland voted the constitution down. What part of “No” don’t they understand, we bellowed across the Channel? Why can’t they get this democratic thing? If you ask the public you accept their verdict. Sometimes the people know best.

CSDP after Lisbon: forging a global grand bargain?

Jolyon Howorth • Dec 21 2009 • Articles

The European Union, in the wake of Lisbon, has become an international actor. It now faces two major external challenges. The first is to develop strategic vision for a potentially tumultuous emerging multi-polar world. The second challenge is to help nudge the other major actors towards a multilateral global grand bargain. The price of failure will be a return to the jungle – a jungle in which European assets will count for very little.

Anniversary of Eastern Europe’s bloodiest Revolution reminds of the duty to unearth secrets of the past

Aura Sabadus • Dec 20 2009 • Articles

Twenty years ago this week the Romanian revolution was making international headlines. Yet those who tortured, killed and humiliated continue to hold the power, abuse the law, and live opulent lives, without showing the slightest trace of guilt.

Aesthetics and Politics: Tragedy as a Paradigmatic Category

Elisa Narminio • Dec 18 2009 • Essays

Although conceptual boxes strip analysis of depth, how do we live, study and explore the world without any guidelines or pre-manufactured tools? And assuming this to be possible, isn’t tragedy only accessible to the few elites that are read enough to extract the very substance of tragedy that can be useful in our contemporariness?

The story of cap and trade

Rodger A Payne • Dec 17 2009 • Articles

The ongoing negotiations in Copenhagen, which are slated to end Friday, are apparently at a “critical juncture” according to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The United States inched closer to the views of its European allies today.

Postcard from the Balkans

Peter Vale • Dec 17 2009 • Articles

In the exquisite beauty of Balkans, I also found a story incomplete, but I found few of the qualities which seem to have marked South Africa’s twenty-year journey.

Transnational Crime and Canadian Criminal Intelligence

Paul Knight • Dec 16 2009 • Essays

Crime in the 21st century poses a major asymmetric threat to Canadian society, demanding enforcement that is flexible, responsive, and grounded in defensible strategic goals. This will require solutions beyond standard bureaucratic shifts, necessitating a broad change in organizational mindsets, shifting the emphasis of enforcement from a “statistics-based policing” model to a more strategic, long-term approach.

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