Mumbai Terrorist Attacks – A Question of Governance
The slaughter of civilians in Mumbai by terrorists in November 2008 has once again vitiated the relationship between India and Pakistan in what is the fourth major crisis between them since the two countries became nuclear powers in the late 1980s.
¿A qué estaríamos dispuestos a renunciar, nosotros los europeos? / As Europeans, what would we be willing to accept?
In 1992 I was 12 years old, I was just a kid… In Genoa, naturally, they were celebrating the 500 years since the so called “discovery of America”. A Genoese, Christopher Columbus, by chance landed on a small Carribean island and since that day many things have changed. From the protests against that event, one statement sticks in my head: “1492, Don’t accept caravelles from a stranger”.
Burma’s Crimes Against Humanity – A Test Case for the ‘Responsibility to Protect’
Burma is ruled by one of the world’s most brutal military regimes, guilty of every possible human rights violation. Known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and led by Senior General Than Shwe, Burma’s junta is not only brutal, but illegitimate. Elections held in 1990 were overwhelmingly won by the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The world has an undoubted responsibility to protect the Burmese people from their leaders.
Transnational Religious Actors and International Order
In recent years, there have been a number of challenges to international order emanating from various entities, including ‘Islamic extremists’ and, more generally, those ‘excluded’ from the benefits of globalisation; sometimes they are the same people.
Iranian nationalism: A theoretical dilemma
This brief study aims to examine the emergence of Iranian nationalism and its implications of national independence in 1950s. Dr. Mosaddegh and his nationalist party Jebhe Milli Iran (Iranian National Front) will be the focus of this inquiry, which begins with a brief historical background to the origins of the party and the political climate of the time.
Thirty years on: The Iranian revolution and its impact on the region
At the time, that Tehran is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, one should look back to assess the legacies of a social phenomenon that arguably put Islam into the forefront of politics.
What the Philosophy of Science is Not Good For
The field of IR has been concerned about its scientific status for decades. This concern has led to a number of efforts to make the field “truly scientific” by adopting one or another philosophical and methodological stance: behaviorism in the 1950s, neopositivism in the 1970s and 1980s, and critical realism in the 1990s.
The Neo-Taliban: The Shape of Things to Come…
One of the enduring features of Western strategic thinking over the past half-century has been to immediately write off one’s less powerful enemy, if the latter has been militarily overpowered. As the history of contemporary warfare suggests, very often this approach is couched on the realist thinking that a vanquished enemy is incapable of making a comeback.
The new interventionist state
Discussions on the role of the state have always involved a search for appropriate metaphors. “The taming of the Leviathan,” “the state in retreat,” and even worse, the “slim state” – between fitness and anorexia – are but a handful of examples. The most popular metaphor at present seems to be “the return of the lost Leviathan.” But this metaphor is misleading. The state is not returning from foreign exile.
Michel Foucault’s Political Philosophy
I recently wrote a book about the thought of Michel Foucault. It was published last year under the title The Political Philosophy of Michel Foucault. The book begins with a justification of the use of the term ‘political philosophy’ in relation to Foucault. The reason for caution about this term is precisely the reason why I think it is justified to use it in the title of the book.
