The Validity of a Postcolonial Account of World Politics
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.
The Relation of Security To Identity
Security and identity are two concepts that are deeply intertwined on many different levels, and cannot be separated, demonstrating the flaws in the Neorealist position. While identities are intersubjectively constructed and can emerge or disappear over time, they remain relatively fixed entities, and are thus an essential referent object for security.
Given Hobbes’ account of human nature in the state of nature, can one ever leave it?
In the Leviathan, men in the state of nature are rational beings and know exactly what they want, seeking the best way to stay alive and prolong their survival. This essay argues that it is impossible for men to leave Hobbes’s state of war because of their nature. At the same time, their nature is exactly what enables them to leave this environment.
A case against universal human rights
This essay seeks to explore whether it is indeed useful to endow the individual with universal human rights. Although it is essential that the individual should have human rights, these cannot be attained through the deliberate resort to universalism that we can find in the cosmopolitan position. Instead, the only possible way of protecting the individual is through emphasising her particularity.
Intervention in Libya: Example of “R2P” or Classic Realism?
The intervention in Libya is being portrayed in the media as an attempt to save the Libyan people from destruction at the hands of a brutal and oppressive regime. When one looks at the evidence, various interests and geopolitical concerns confronting intervening nations, another motive emerges: realism.
Compatible? Incompatible? A Theoretical Analysis of Islam and Democracy
The question of the compatibility of Islam and democracy has persisted for generations. The recent events of the Middle East, facilitated by these technological advances, have only heightened the talk about the role of democracy in the region.
Security Studies and the Marginalisation of Women and Gender Structures
The emergence of critical theory and the encroachment of feminist scholarship into IR discourse has highlighted the position of women within the international security framework. Yet, the dominant theoretical perspectives, realism and neorealism have been accused of neglecting the gender variable.
The antinomical duality of biopolitical discourse in Agamben, Esposito and Arendt
In recent years the concept of biopower has become central to the study of the social and life sciences; with numerous interdisclipinary research networks established to investigate the reality of biopower, in relation to subjects as diverse as stem cell research, biotechnologies, and the War on Terror.
Amorality and Justice in Machiavelli’s Political Thought
Machiavelli’s political thought, transcends the levels of good and evil, and yet also embraces the notion of just political rule. In that sense, Machiavelli is indeed an amoral political thinker, though not on the basis of his expounding evil, but of his conception of the proper relationship between virtù, fortuna, and political statecraft.
Hobbes’ Leviathan: Innovation or continuation?
Hobbes’ views drifted away from the medieval natural law tradition, which dictates that natural law is provided by God and is a universally binding, authoritative and knowable good. Hobbes was aware of the fact that by excluding theism and universality his readers might condemn and ignore him as a radical, which as we know, proved to be the case.
