Musings on Gaddafi’s death and Libya’s future
While few tears will be shed for Gaddafi’s loss, might his death turn out to be a curse in disguise? Will the loss of their common enemy lead the Libyan rebel forces to unravel? And, if things do fall apart in Libya, how will this affect the Arab spring in other countries?
Political Transformation and Inequality: Afghanistan and South Africa
The comparative use of both Afghanistan and South Africa allows the identification and assessment of the common themes relevant to the perennial nature of inequality and the difficulties of political transformation in alleviating it.
Is NEPAD an effective development organisation?
In this essay I will examine the areas in which NEPAD (the New Partnership for Africa’s Development) has been both praised and criticised whilst also inspecting its successes and failures, by which I mean to show that despite not being perfect NEPAD has the capacity to provoke real change on the continent.
Intervention in the Internal Affairs of States
The moral imperative to intervene in a nation’s internal affairs where acts of genocide are threatened is a powerful one. That the UN is eager to push the doctrine of R2P and to re-define sovereignty to permit intervention in a state’s internal affairs is testimony to the fact that the Charter does not provide that legal authority. It should.
Review – China: The Pessoptimist Nation
Pessoptimist, coined to describe the combination of positive and negative feelings China has about itself and others, is an apt neologism to describe China’s bipolar sense of national identity, formed from a confused superiority and inferiorly complex that has emerged from its recent economic growth and historical humiliation.
Islam and Political Power
Following 9/11 and more recently the Arab Spring, the relationship between Islam and politics has faced renewed attention. In contemporary Islamic states, religion theoretically guides the exercise of political power but in practice it is used and employed as a tool of realpolitik.
Review – Democracy Promotion and Conflict-based Reconstruction
Matthew A. Hill’s survey of America’s democratisation missions takes the reader on a journey through the horrors of post-conflict states, the cut-and-thrust of policy debate and the ever evolving idea of democracy. It will prove a valuable resource to any student or researcher seeking an understanding of the current situations in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Qaddafi’s Death is Only the Beginning in Libya
The death of Qaddafi is, naturally, a very public symbol that his reign of oppression is over and will not return, but this is not the end of the story for Libyans, the UN or NATO. The campaign to maintain peace between the various factions could prove to be more difficult than the defeat of Qaddafi’s forces.
The Middle Kingdom and the Promise of Growth
A trinity of difficulties will lead to a systemic economic breakdown of the Chinese economy. This will constitute a violation of the social contract. A delegitimization of the Chinese Communist Party will occur, unleashing the potential for socio-political instability. The likelihood of social and political turmoil following an economic crisis is extremely high, and the possibility of regime change is also correspondingly great.
What role for the EU in the new Libya?
Perhaps, looking back at the EU’s performance in the Libyan crisis in five years’ time, the best lesson to (re-) learn is that the EU is not good at hard security policy, but does a very decent job when the task is about dealing with the aftermath of conflict. Stable democracies cannot be built on the battlefield. They require a whole different set of capabilities than what NATO can offer.
