Contemporary Conceptualizations of Women in Conflict
This paper examines the conceptualization of women in contemporary counterterror conflicts. It analyzes in which ways constructed gender dichotomies as the beautiful soul and the just warrior are reinforced and manipulated by political elites focusing on the case of Afghanistan. The paper’s core is the (re)construction of women as victims by politicians, namely the Bush administration.
What are the contradictions implicit in the idea of a global civil society?
‘Globality’ can hardly be achieved if it does not embrace at least the majority of the Earth’s population. While global civil society may be a reality as an occurrence that has no precedent in history, this does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that global civil society is ‘global’ in the way it is envisioned by its most ardent supporters.
How independent can Australia’s foreign policy be?
The independence of Australian’s foreign policy will never be absolute. It can only become more independent through possibility thinking rather than being “weighed down by myths of past centuries”, including the taking of a more flexible, independent line in its bilateral relationship with the United States.
The EU Enlargements of 1995 and 2007
The enlargements of 1995 and 2007 demonstrate that even a small number of additions to the EU require deeper alterations to its institutions.
Development and Communities: A View from Cambodia’s Buddhist Temples
It would be hard to imagine a more complex array of development challenges than those facing Cambodia. During the brutal civil war and genocide of the 1970s, the lives and institutions of Cambodia were shattered and perhaps two million people died at the hands of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime.
The Politics of UN Human Rights Council and Iran’s Candidacy
The candidacy of Iran for the UN Human Rights Council is comparable to electing apartheid South Africa to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination or to awarding the US for humane treatment of detainee’s right after the world was shocked with pictures revealing sexual torture and humiliation of naked prisoners.
An Analysis of Colombia’s Democracy
This paper will focus on the question whether the emergence of democracy in Colombia can be explained based on the assumptions of the ‘sequentialist’ or ‘preconditionist’ theories as suggested, amongst many others, by Fareed Zakaria or Edward Mansfield and Jack Snyder, or if, by contrast, the views of ‘gradualists’ or ‘universalists’ such as Sheri Berman or Thomas Carothers are more indicated to explain and analyze Colombia’s democratic past, present and future.
Western Depictions of Children and the New Imperialism
The human rights discourse has become a paradigm in international relations, with the transition from the international system to an international society. A vital aspect of that paradigm is the differentiation between adult and child, which has also been primarily instituted by the West. The supremacy of this definition has served the supremacy of the West in the human rights question.
Religion and International Affairs: From Neglect to Over-Emphasis
Religion, in the past, had influenced the behavior of international actors without determining it, although its role often went unnoticed. This situation, notwithstanding the new found fascination with the impact of religion on international affairs, has not changed. Religion is neither the source of conflicts and disputes nor a panacea for global problems.
Walking Corpses
Hannah Arendt’s name has emerged at the forefront of contemporary writing on the possibility of cosmopolitan political forms. The central political issue, for Arendt, was one of appropriate foundation, that is, ‘the setting of a new beginning’ and of ‘lawgiving’. One could read Arendt’s entire theory of politics as an effort to work out the possibility of non-violent, non-imperial, non-ideological political founding.
