Ballistic Missile Defence in the 21st Century
Ultimately for a State, the decision to employ a BDM complex does not stem solely from the desire to improve international stability. It instead comes from a desire to improve its own defensive and/or offensive capabilities. Stability has a severe effect on this, but it is up to the leadership of any such nation state to decide whether the costs that come from a destabilised environment outweigh the potential benefits such a capability could provide, both now and in the future.
Why was China Receptive to American Overtures during the Early 1970s?
This essay is concerned with possible Chinese motives for accepting, responding to, and reciprocating American overtures and relatively friendly diplomatic moves in the early 1970s. It suggests that strategic understandings of motives carry the greatest weight and the more persuasive argument.
Deterring Terrorists and Deterring States: Fundamentally Different Tasks?
In this paper I will argue that the idea that there is a New Terrorism, which “requires bold new strategies because of its shadowy character and its incalculable dangers”, should be contested to avoid the possibility of ‘non-knowledge’ being taken as an excuse to justify extreme counter-terrorism policies.
A Cold War without Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear weapons increased the state’s destructive power, particularly after the development of thermonuclear weapons, with effectively no limits. With greater destructive yields and shorter delivery times courtesy of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), it is commonly understood that had the cold war turned hot, it would have been the end of civilisation as we know it. But did nuclear weapons keep it cold?
‘One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter’
Terrorism did not begin in 2001, nor is it confined to extremists in the Middle East. Often, those who wish to point out the difficulty in defining terrorism like to refer to an old, now-famous quotation: “One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter.” Within the complex international system, the line drawn between the two can regularly become blurred or difficult to see: nonetheless, this line still exists.
Deconstructing Dershowitz and his Torture Warrants
Dershowitz does not challenge the general illegality of torture. He argues, however, that all states (whether they be authoritarian or democratic) practice torture extralegally; he considers it to be a lesser of evils to legalise torture and control it rather than allow it to go unchecked and under the radar. This paper intends to invalidate Dershowitz’s argument.
Researching Torture: Positivist and Interpretist Approaches
The following paper will firstly introduce the arguments for the Positivist approach to research, which focuses on quantitative methods, and for the Interpretist approach, which focuses on qualitative methods. The second part will apply these approaches to the issue of torture and in doing so will identify and discuss the limitations of applying only one theory or approach to research.
Of Food Aid and Altruism – The Human Security Paradigm in Theory and Practice
Fifteen years after its first official promulgation, the human security paradigm requires analysis and evaluation, particularly in respect to its implications for the politics of international food aid.
Chinese Nuclear Policy in the Post-Cold War Age
Chinese nuclear policy serves their grand strategy aimed at maintaining a calm international strategic environment. China’s nuclear policy is inherently defensive and, excluding proliferation concerns, practically benign. However, one should remember that this does not mean it isn’t based on self-interest.
One Person’s Terrorist… Another Person’s Freedom Fighter?
This work will point out that although maybe not wholly applicable, the truism that ‘one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter’ is useful in some respect, as it draws attention to important issues that have to be considered when attempting to define the concept of terrorism.
