The China-ROK Relationship: A Blueprint for China on a Wider Stage?
China’s growing influence in the international system is receiving a lot of attention, both positive and negative. In some quarters, China’s ‘rise’ is complete. This growth is especially felt in North East Asia. Therefore, the Republic of Korea needs to take great interest in China’s future role on the regional and global stage, concerning it’s relations with its northern neighbour as well as their close cooperation with the US.
Why has Defining Terrorism Proved so Difficult?
Following the watershed attacks of 9/11, governments have found themselves confronted, not only with a need to implement protective policies against attacks, but also respond to the, often inflated and media-propelled, collective will and fear of the population. In formulating an effective counter-terrorist strategy, the construction of a universal definition of terrorism is needed. The subjectivity of the term, however, ensures that this is, by no means, an easy undertaking.
How has Russia framed the conflict in Chechnya as part of the ‘War on Terror’?
The contrast between the nationalistic sentiment of self-determination emphasised in the First Chechen War and the rhetorical transition towards radical Islam in the Second Chechen War has been highlighted by many as evidence of the significance of the Chechen conflict in the global ‘War on Terror’. This essay will examine how Russia has managed to illustrate the Chechen conflict in terms of a global fight against international Islamic terrorism.
Women’s Security in Afghanistan
This essay argues that neo-colonialist discourses were present within the U.S. at the time of the Afghanistan War and served to demonise and essentialise Islamic culture in general, whilst removing from debate the historical political landscape of Afghanistan. Such historical accounts are essential to understand the roots of women’s insecurity in the nation, which persist to this day.
Agonizing Assemblages: The Slow Violence of Garbage in the Yemeni Civil War
The war in Yemen has created a garbage collection crisis which is enacting a slow violence against Yemenites who suffer negative health and environmental effects.
Can Realism be a Critical Theory?
The adjectives ‘critical’ and ‘realist’ are habitually presented, in the field of International Relations Theory, as antithetical. But might there have been a misunderstanding among critical theorists with regard to their definition of realism?
How Does Violence Against Women Manifest? The Case of Post-Conflict Afghanistan
Structural violence helps explain oppression of women caused by conflict but a continuation of patriarchal customs & occidentalist/orientalist agendas also contributes.
US Foreign Policy and the 1973 Coup in Chile
Containment theory and its tendency to promote blunt thinking, especially in the Americas, was the prime factor affecting the logic behind US support for the coup in Chile.
Conflict and Cooperation over International Rivers: A Global Governance Proposal
Rivers are an important source of water for the majority of the world’s people. It is impossible to imagine a world that functions without enough water for everyone, and in which major rivers are being rapidly depleted. This paper will outline the current governance of international rivers.
What is Wrong with the War on Terror?
The policies of the Bush Administration and the conduct of the United States and its allies in counteracting the threat of terrorism have received a wealth of criticism, much of which has been aired publicly. This essay focuses on a critique that does not see much light beyond academic literature: the successful construction of a terrorist threat which has legitimised a war in its name.
