Accounting for Germany’s Foreign and Security Culture
Given Germany’s post-war situation, it moved towards a constitutionally enshrined antimilitarist, democratic and moralist stance, which helped make Germany a smaller geopolitical actor than its potential suggested, a situation it was not altogether unhappy with. Despite the former, it does have a genuine security culture which has adapted over time.
Why Do States Obey Rules in International Cooperation?
Social control, which is essential to all social relations, is at the center of international relations. Calculation of self-interest best explains actors’ underlying incentives, and thus their willingness to comply with rules.
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.
Libya: The Coming Peace
No peace is perfect. But a flawed peace is probably better than no peace at all. Contingency peace plans are not guarantees of success in such war-torn countries as Libya, but neither are they idle dreams. The international community needs such a unified plan to secure a better peace in Libya. If they fail to plan a post-war peace in Libya, the intervening powers are planning to fail.
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.
The Arab Spring and the Future of Iran-US Relations
The Arab Spring will most probably exacerbate areas of conflicting interests between Iran and the US, as the regional designs and aspirations of both nations are deeply antithetical. One may argue that the prospect of a violent conflict is looming large on the horizon.
Obama’s Cautious Step Forward on Middle Eastern Democracy
To seize the opportunity of this historic moment of political change and support democratization in the Arab world, Obama needs to fill in the details of how the USA and the international community will offer concrete, sizeable and sustained help towards securing political reforms throughout the region in the coming months and years.
Ahmadinejad and the Politics of Mahdism in Iran
The need to resort to strategic symbols like Mahdi is to some degree the result of the Persian cultural trait of ta’arof which discourages direct confrontation and criticism. Westerners, bewildered by such peculiarities, often fall back on what they know best, Iran’s foreign affairs, while overlooking the domestic aspects that fuel Iranian behavior.
Democratic Peace Theory: An Appropriate Guide to Foreign Policy?
A liberal foreign policy based on the assumption of DPT – that liberal democracies will be less likely to go to war with each other – does have flaws and weaknesses. While fixing these flaws and strengthening these weaknesses may be difficult, time-consuming and painful, the promise of peace is surely worth the effort.
What Motivates Islamic Political Organisations in the Middle East?
The fact that Hamas and Hezbollah have participated in elections does not necessarily mean that they have abandoned Islamist ideology. The very term ‘Islamist’, or at least its application, is highly problematic. Furthermore, all Islamist organisations are very different, and are constrained by the institutional rules of participation to differing degrees.
