Follow the Money: DPRK Style
After a stalemate of slightly over three years, diplomats are resuscitating the Six Party Talks, negotiations started in 2008 between the United States, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia, and China in an effort to denuclearize North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and mitigate the brinkmanship of the Kim Jong Il regime.
Gender Equality in Australia
Historically, Australia’s social structure contributed to significant differences in opportunity and outcome between the genders, resulting in prejudice and discrimination against more women than men over time. Whilst there are far fewer examples of overt gender-based discrimination in Australia, the progress towards true substantive gender equality has clearly stalled.
The Linked Challenges of Global Climate Change and Local Peace
The UN Security Council recently met to debate the risks of climate change to global peace and security. Yet, practical measures to address these goals remain superficial, off-target & isolated. Now is the time to shift our focus from direct environmental impacts to broader threats at a local level.
Who is to blame for the perceived crisis in democracy? Politicians, the media or the public?
Blame can be placed on citizens, politicians and the media for not adequately fulfilling their democratic role. However, each relies on each other in such a way that makes a healthy democracy impossible if one does not function adequately. Put differently: citizens, politicians and the media are to blame for the crisis in democracy.
Limitations of the Green Movement and Barriers to Reform in Iran
A number of social, political, and economic barriers to regime change exist in Iran, and each has contributed to the perceived failures of the Green Movement since June 2009. This essay is a discussion of these barriers—impediments to the Green Movement’s success—and the opposition’s attempts to overcome them.
“The Suppression of Nationhood”: Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom
To date, the United Kingdom has remained a fundamental part of the European Union. There are no significant signs that this will change in the near future, yet with so much Eurosceptic sentiment amongst its politics and people, British EU withdrawal is not an action that is at all a fantasy.
Factors of Persistent Poverty in Sierra Leone
Release from colonial rule has not benefited Sierra Leone. Ironically, it is the government’s responsibility to provide its citizens with good living conditions; in Sierra Leone, it is this same government that plays a key factor in pushing them into deeper poverty.
Debunking a Phenomenon: the “Arab Spring” Misconception
The so called “Arab Spring” has been a popular notion in American media. US academics, journalists and politicians speak of the most recent Middle Eastern revolutionary movements as a single and similar wave of reform that they deem as one that could be defined along racial lines. Not only is this approach methodically flawed, but it also overrides a sense of remarkable national pride for individual nations.
Popular Representations of Female Terrorists
Female terrorists are viewed using one frame and so terrorist acts are not analysed honestly. Despite the fact that these narratives are supportive of patriarchy and gender subordination, perhaps the most important issue with the way female terrorists are represented is that it presents an unfinished picture of terrorism and international politics.
Politicizing Famine Relief in the Horn of Africa Will Cost Lives
Humanitarian assistance is supposed to be provided impartially, on the basis of need and without concern for the politics of who is right. Civilians should not be punished for the sake of making political points or achieving a military victory. What is needed now is a singular focus in getting the access and supplies needed to prevent mass starvation. Politics can wait.
