The Arab Spring and Turkey: Can a ‘Turkish Model’ be Proposed?
The most important aspect of Turkey’s potential to become a model for the rest of the region is her ability to uphold secularism while trying to become more democratic despite the fact that there is currently a conservative government ruling Turkey with its origins in Turkey’s Islamist tradition.
Casualties of the Digital Revolution
Many have heralded the Internet as a life-enhancing medium that promotes citizen empowerment beyond the borders of nation states. Whilst there has been much talk about the beneficiaries of this revolution, there has been something of a hesitance to name the casualties.
Four Reasons Not to Fear Chinese Intelligence
Overreaction in the West and the promotion of China as the next scary thing may seem like a relatively low risk option now that the end of the global war on terror is threatening defense/intelligence budgets and prestige. How China is integrated into the greater world system will define the coming century like no other single issue.
From Absence to Absence: The Visual Culture of The ‘War on Terror’
Throughout the last decade, news photography has re-presented the ‘war on terror’, in the form of military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, in ways consistent with military strategy. Much photojournalism exists within and reproduces an ‘eternal present’, obscuring the frames that narrow its perspective, rendering casualties and context as absent.
Who is Victor Alexander Louis Mallet?!!!
In establishing a database full of thousands of government documents there are nearly as many individuals mentioned in them. I enjoy opening the files and folders, not really knowing what I am going to read, the stale odours of the 60 year old pages gently waft up to my nose, and smell like the really old books in university libraries that no one ever really opens.
Arab Uprisings, Iranian Influence, and the Middle East’s Future
Events like the fall of Mubarak and the rise of the Islamic Renaissance Movement in Tunisian politics have led some observers to conclude that fundamentalism’s shadow will be cast over the Middle East. Simultaneously, as Tehran’s leaders trumpet their growing relationships with Islamist groups, it is feared that Iran will come out ahead in the region.
Is al Qaeda on the Wrong Side of History?
The Arab Spring’s impact on the Global Jihad Movement is ironic. Al Qaeda, its associated groups and home-grown cells are no longer the agents of change. In the eyes of the people, this most powerful grouping of violent entities remains marginalized.
China’s Rising Navy Is Increasingly “Assertive” At Sea
The best ally of peace in a period of massive Chinese naval build up in the Pacific is a strong United States that is committed to working with its allies and demonstrating such commitment to China to ensure that China’s maritime rise is peaceful rather than assertive.
Why Men Rebel Redux: How Valid are its Arguments 40 years On?
Why Men Rebel continues to be recognized as a classic because it helped lead the way to a systematic, people-based understanding of the causes of political protest and rebellion. The book itself and forty years of critical analysis also point to additional questions.
Libya: The End of Intervention
Without Western responsibility for the outcome of the intervention in Libya and without any transformative promise, Western powers were strengthened morally and politically through their actions, whereas in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, they were humbled and often humiliated.
