Elites vs. Institutions in Peacemaking
In the contemporary world, the role of elites is crucially important in every political system and every phase of state development, and forms the deciding factor in settling ethnic conflicts and post-conflict reconstruction. This paper will be based on two recent conflicts, Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, culminating in the Good Friday Agreement and Dayton Accords, respectively.
The Evolving Normative Context and IDPs: An Application of R2P?
The Responsibility to Protect is said to ‘hold the potential to unblock and unlock persistent gaps in the protection of IDPs’. But the political as well as practical obstacles characterizing the international system are too important for IDPs to look at this concept for their protection.
Towards a New Paradigm for Transitional Justice?
This dissertation will focus on a critical comparison of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Guatemalan Commission for Historical Clarification and the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This study will look at several key aspects of these commissions in order to attempt to establish whether the adoption of certain elements over others enabled these truth commissions to have a greater impact with regards to their titular mandate.
Nuclear Proliferaiton in the Middle East: the Iran-Israel Problem
A nuclear Iran will go one of two ways. It will either have no obvious effect, the weapon won’t be used for fear of repercussion yet conventional wars will continue; a stalemate. Or, the Middle East will face the prospect of a complete breakdown as either Iran is pre-empted, Israel feels cornered by the likely arms race or technology is leaked; the only recourse available will be war.
Is the EU reaching the limits of enlargement?
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.
An Undemocratic Hong Kong?
Interestingly, Hong Kong already has institutions that underlie democracy but it is still yet to be legitimate. This poses the key question; if Hong Kong has institutions that do to some extent, simulate a democracy, what has prevented full transition for Hong Kong to become a legitimate democracy?
Internationalized Sovereignty: Erosion or Extension?
The Kosovo intervention was the first in history to be justified solely on the basis of human rights breaches by a sovereign state within its territory, which were judged to present threat to international order. The bottom line remains that Belgrade’s sovereignty over Kosovo was first breached and then completely removed by the international community.
Ending the Odyssey: A Necessary if Imperfect Proposal for Restoring the Peace in Libya
While the lessons of the Libyan crisis for international relations are many, the most important lesson is the need to change the way that humanitarian interventions are conducted, as the violence experienced by civilians since the foreign intervention has increased substantially.
Human Vulnerability to Climate Change
Minimizing human vulnerability to climate change is largely determined by the extent to which societies develop and organize themselves to be resilient to these changes.
Accounting for the Resilience of the Taliban
Despite a considerable advantage in terms of manpower, weaponry, funding and logistics, the international military presence in Afghanistan has been unable to defeat the Taliban insurgency. In fact, it could perhaps be argued that the presence of foreign troops on Afghan soil has been the instrumental factor in allowing the Taliban to not only survive, but to expand and prosper.
