Typologies of Islamic Thought
Islamic thought defies straight forward typological organisation. Nevertheless, efforts to do so have become an important part of Islamic studies and serve as a key point of reference for any student wishing to understand how writers organise the faith, culture and identity of Islam.
The African Union and the Unfolding Disaster in The Horn Of Africa
The politics of foreign aid in Africa has taken twists and turns, with the current shift from the ‘West’ to the ‘East’. Individual African countries have found themselves prey to the conditionalities imposed by the western donor agencies. While these are meant to engender accountability and transparency, the opposite has prevailed.
Representation of Female Terrorists in the Western Media and Academia
One of the most striking continuities in the history of human societies is the tendency to educe women to their biological and societal roles. Endowed with the arguably greater responsibilities of pregnancy, women have often been made out to be ‘life givers’, ‘nurturers’ and ‘homemakers’, and little else.
Whither R2P?
With the exception of Raphael Lemkin’s efforts and the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, no idea has moved faster in the international normative arena than “the responsibility to protect”. While blow-back from Libya is inevitable, nonetheless R2P is alive and well.
Dutch Tolerance: Something to Learn from?
In the age of intensified globalization and migration, societies are increasingly confronted with problems of integration and peaceful coexistence of religiously or otherwise ethnically different groups, particularly of groups identifying themselves with Western traditions on the one hand and the world of Islam on the other. Tolerance is an important element to meet these requirements.
Belonging to the West: The Early Stages of the Greek Civil War
Any research on the Greek Civil War should have three levels of analysis: the international, the regional, and the national. These three terms could respectively be translated into the fragile relationship and power balancing among the Allies; the spread of communist regimes in the Balkans; and the internal struggle for the modernization of the political system, the constitutional issue, and the conduct of free elections.
Liberal Institutionalism: An Alternative IR Theory or Just Maintaining the Status Quo?
Institutionalism rejects the realist assumption that international politics is a struggle for power in which military security issues are top priority and argues that instead, force is an ineffective instrument of policy. In order to understand the impact of internationalism on IR theory and its criticisms we must first look at its definition and how it differs from realist perspectives.
British Counterinsurgency in the post-Cold War World
The ‘British approach’ for conducting counterinsurgency (COIN) operations can act as guidance for how to achieve the best results. This approach has been honed through Britain’s unique experience of empire policing and conduct in several small wars spanning over 150 years. However, it is now coming under criticism for its apparent lack of utility in the post-Cold War world.
Interview – Gareth Evans
One of the most depressing, and distressing, realities we have to acknowledge has been our inability to prevent or halt the recurring horror of mass atrocity crimes.
Is the EU a Normative Power?
The EU, by using non-normative means to diffuse norms and by not being able to detach itself from state self-interest, has regressed from being a normative power in the international system. This repositioning places the EU on a middle ground between ‘normative’ power and political realism.
