Essays

The Limits of Unlearning: Liberal Feminism from the Postcolonial Perspective

Hannah Butt • Jun 24 2011 • Essays

We are trapped in our experiences as colonisers and colonised, and in our resulting positions of power or powerlessness. Therefore, representation of ‘subaltern women’ by white western liberal feminists remains problematic, since tied up in the notion of representation are the complications of power, knowledge and language.

Security vs. Liberty? Is There a Trade off?

Miriam Dornan • Jun 23 2011 • Essays

It appears there is a trade-off between the security of some and the liberty of others. This perception of a trade-off between security and liberty is particularly convincing when evidence from the on-going war on terror is used to illustrate the argument. It is possible to argue that any trade-off between liberty and security is short-term and illusory.

The Validity of a Postcolonial Account of World Politics

Joe Sutcliffe • Jun 23 2011 • Essays

A Purist’s perspective is necessary in negating the worst excesses of Idealism, as is the latter necessary in doing so for the former. Such paradigmatic vibrancy can only be a good thing for Postcolonialism and the self-critical arena that this has created means that the approach will go from strength to strength in its project of postcolonialising the dominant mode of Orientalism.

Why was BMD so attractive to the Bush administration?

James Chisem • Jun 23 2011 • Essays

The Bush administration’s support for missile-defence was motivated by a desire to maintain freedom of action, and thus unipolar hegemony, vis-à-vis ostensibly un-deterrable rogue states. However, it is evident that BMD is strategically flawed, technically disputed and has the potential to destabilise existing arms dynamics.

Britain, Free Trade, and the Irish Potato Famine

Asma Ali Farah • Jun 23 2011 • Essays

Britain would have moved towards Free Trade in 1846-1860 even if the Irish Potato Famine had not occurred, due to the inability of the protectionist system to benefit the British economy in any significant way encouraged many to consider the alternative approach, namely free trade.

On Hamas: A fresh analysis of an old ‘problem’

anon • Jun 22 2011 • Essays

The dominant Western rhetoric enforces the portrayal of Hamas as a static organisation, its violent and ‘fanatical’ behaviour rendering it as innately characteristic while contradictory evidence is marginalised as irrelevant. This myopic approach has failed to understand Hamas, and for peace ever to be achieved this paradigm must be broken.

Accounting for Hitler’s decision to invade the Soviet Union in 1941

Matthew Kinghorn • Jun 22 2011 • Essays

Within his work on Operation Barbarossa, Koch states that ‘the origins of the German invasion of Russia’ remain importantly ‘at the centre of historical debate’. A potential reason for this is the highly contentious roots of the decision to invade Russia in 1941; what exactly motivated Hitler to initiate an invasion that would inevitably result in Germany having to fight a war on two unsustainable fronts?

The Unique Character of the European Union

Oliver Blackley • Jun 22 2011 • Essays

The EU is a modern political phenomenon that has risen out of the social, historical and economic context of the 20th century. It is a political system which is unique in comparison to all others. Although it has traits that bear resemblance to the political systems of federal states as well as intergovernmental organisations, it remains one of a kind.

Is the EU reaching the limits of enlargement?

James Chisem • Jun 20 2011 • Essays

In recent years support for eastward enlargement has lost momentum in both public and policy realms – opening up a debate over the concept of Europe itself . The question of Turkish accession in particular, has proved to be a crystallising point for many of the fundamental issues concerning widening in the 21st century.

The History, Politics and Ideology of Hamas

David Maggs • Jun 17 2011 • Essays

Hamas ultimately wishes for the end of Israel and the liberation of Palestine, but it thinks almost exclusively in short term goals and is open to the possibility of entering into negotiations. The dominant view in Israel seeks to stop Hamas getting any more of a foothold in Palestine than it already does, doubting the sincerity of its elements of moderation.

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