South Sudan: Not in the clear yet
In January 2011 the South Sudanese voted overwhelmingly for independence from Sudan. Over 98% of registered voters chose separation over unity. Much of the Western media has portrayed this vote as an indicator of a successful end to decades of conflict in the South. When South Sudan celebrates its independence, expected to take place in July 2011, the mood will indeed be jovial. But South Sudan is setting up to be a failed state.
Britain in the World: Lessons from Afghanistan
In today’s world the prosperity, security, liberty and civil liberties of those at home cannot be separated from events beyond our borders. The era of a global recession and the global threat of terrorism prove that to any residual doubters. A belief that you have responsibility beyond your borders is not, as some would have it, ideological, but, a necessary response to the world in which we live.
EU-ACP Trade Relations, Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development
The countries of the Caribbean have benefited from a series of preferential trade agreements with the EU. This paper will examine EU trade relations with its former colonies, from the policy of Association to the Cotonou Agreement.
North-South relations and the promises of constructivism
This essay outlines some of the major constructivist promises and attempts to deduce their direct implications for North-South relations. It concludes that expansion of security communities represents the foundation of the constructivist promise in this area of study.
Cultural awareness and counterinsurgency in Afghanistan
The current campaign in Afghanistan has lasted for over nine years and the Taliban has grown into a formidable insurgency. This paper explains why a lack of cultural awareness condemns counterinsurgency operations to almost certain defeat, and explores the implications for the campaign in Afghanistan.
New Labour and post-war immigration policy
After winning the 1997 elections, New Labour promised to deliver innovative outputs through its political programme that no government has managed before. But the immigration policies under the New Labour Government can be characterised as fairly mixed.
The Rise of China
States still matter, power still triumphs, and competition still thrives. These will be the determining factors for the future of Sino-U.S. relations. Realists believe that if China can maintain its domestic economic growth and international financial strength, then a significant security competition with America is inevitable.
China’s Leisurely Aircraft-Carrier Ambitions
The enduring mismatch between the US and Chinese fleets is no guarantee of an equally lasting US naval supremacy in the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Beijing is pursuing imaginative antiship missile technology. If rocketeers stationed ashore can keep the US Navy out of important waters, the Chinese Navy can accomplish its goals, even with an inferior fleet.
The Wolf, the Bear, and the Eagle: Peace in the Valley?
Turkish-Russian rapprochement should not be viewed by the West as a menace or even irritant, but rather the platform upon which regional knots of contention might find resolution. The regional political landscape of western Eurasia has shifted dramatically in the past decade; we in the West would do well to adjust our perceptions accordingly.
Between Europe and America: Polish choices for the 21st Century
This paper aims at understanding Polish foreign policy over the last decade with a view to predicting future policy. It analyses Polish foreign policy with reference to three rationalist paradigms: defensive realism, offensive realism, and neo-liberal institutionalism.
