Cooperative and Antagonistic NGO-State Relations
This essay asserts that although NGO participation appears to remain a privilege mediated and granted by states, NGO engagement, ‘self association’, and ‘political will formation’ is central in revealing how power must now be understood in the global order – that is to say that political power “operates through rather than on civil society”.
Is there ‘a responsibility to protect?’ Discuss with Reference to Darfur
In December 2001 the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty released a report titled “The Responsibility to Protect”. This essay examines whether, in light of this document, states and organisations now have a responsibility to protect the people of Darfur.
Is Task-sharing the Answer to UN Peacekeeping Problems?
This essay argues that task-sharing is not the answer to UN peacekeeping problems. However, task-sharing as joint operations may enhance successful peacekeeping and could be a step towards making actions of the international community more consensual.
Are International Organizations Tools of Hegemonic Predation, or do They Have Autonomous Functions and Capacities?
Since the end of World War II, international organizations (IOs) have proliferated and redefined the global political and economic landscape as states band together to advance particular interests. To perceive IOs as mere tools of hegemonic predation ignores the complex dynamics that have characterised their evolution.
Why and in What Ways Have the Concept of Global Civil Society and Organizations Seeking to Represent it been Criticized?
This essay presents some of the major criticisms of global civil society, namely its conceptual vagueness and incoherence; its rhetorical function as a legitimation device that arguably undermines the transnational demos; and finally its maintenance and reproduction of the neoliberal order.
Describe the Major Proposals to Revise the International Financial Architecture to Limit the Frequency and Severity of Financial Crises in Developing Countries in the Future
The devastating financial crises that have hit developing nations in Latin America and Asia over the past several decades have given rise to numerous rallying calls to reform the “international financial architecture.” Liberalizing the financial system to foreign capital flows have contributed to immense domestic political and economic turmoil, and in some nations even to violence.
NATO in Afghanistan: Fighting to Define its Future
Almost sixty years after it was first formed, NATO has changed a great deal from the organisation which once prepared to fight the Red Army in Germany’s Fulda Gap. This essay will argue that the alliance is now fighting fto define its future, in Afghanistan.
Evaluating the Potential of Public-Private Partnerships in Global Governance
This essay deals with a central question regarding the value of Public-Private Partnerships: what governance functions can they accomplish that neither public nor private authority can accomplish independently? The question boils down to two subsidiary questions, which will be dealt with in turn: (1) What governance functions cannot be accomplished unilaterally by public actors on the one hand and private actors on the other? (2) How can PPPs overcome these governance problems?
A Bloodless War: An Analysis of the Weapons used by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
Through an analysis of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, this essay sheds some light on the strategies which successful transnational action networks have pursued in their efforts to shape policy .
Considering Cognitivism’s Contribution: Possibilities for Constructive Cooperation between Rationalist and Cognitivist Theorists of International Regimes
All but the staunchest realist would agree that international regimes form an important part of the emerging mechanisms of global governance. In tandem with the study of international relations, the study of international regimes has long been dominated by interest-based or neo-liberal theories – both rationalist schools of thought. However, not rightfully so.
