NAFTA’s Chapter 11
When the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was negotiated between Canada, the United States, and Mexico, Chapter 11 of the treaty was included to protect investors from state appropriation or ‘taking’ and, in theory, requires that the same treatment be given to foreign companies as domestic companies. In American law, the Fifth Amendment to the Bill of Rights prevents the government from seizing private assets without due compensation. A ‘taking’, also referred to as eminent domain in Californian law, is a legal principle that governs how and why the federal, state, or local government can ‘take’ private property.
New Constitutionalism: Theorizing European Integration
In “Theorizing European Integration: The Case for a Transnational Critical Approach,” Apeldoorn, Overbeek, and Ryner argue that orthodox approaches to European regional integration, such as realism, liberalism, constructivism, and traditional Marxism, overlook the diffused power of elite consensus. They believe Neo-Gramscian approaches can reveal the agency of elite interests, and their formation of a neo-liberal hegemonic bloc supporting integration schemes. Stephen Gill has applied this perspective to explain regional integration schemes with the theoretical framework of New Constitutionalism. Yet other Neo-Gramscians contend that New Constitutionalism is pessimistically determinist, focusing solely on the agency of a liberal elite while overlooking the agency displayed by progressive social forces in formulating regional integration policy.
What can the Vietnam War tell us about the Current War with Iraq?
The Vietnam War represents the nadir in American military history, its legacy forever ‘scar[ring] the American psyche.’[1] Thus, the Iraq War has been fought in the midst of apocalyptic references to ‘another Vietnam,’[2] as the rejectionists, the Saddamists, and the terrorists[3] continue to derail the American strategy for victory in Iraq. The Vietnam War has fundamentally changed the overall mindset of American leaders and the American public; the result is a different type of war, aimed at minimising casualties and reducing the length of war in a bid to capture ‘hearts and minds.’ In seeking to understand American behaviour in Iraq, there is an implicit assumption that lessons have been learned from Vietnam, but have they?
Emancipation: Philosophical Conundrum or Objective Reality?
This essay will investigate a discourse which may shed some light on a way of assessing whether or not a Critical approach to society leaves us with an objective purpose. This will be achieved by using a direct comparison of literature within Critical Theory and the Allegory of The Cave as set out by Plato within his work The Republic.
“The Suppression of Nationhood”: Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom
To date, the United Kingdom has remained a fundamental part of the European Union. There are no significant signs that this will change in the near future, yet with so much Eurosceptic sentiment amongst its politics and people, British EU withdrawal is not an action that is at all a fantasy.
Factors of Persistent Poverty in Sierra Leone
Release from colonial rule has not benefited Sierra Leone. Ironically, it is the government’s responsibility to provide its citizens with good living conditions; in Sierra Leone, it is this same government that plays a key factor in pushing them into deeper poverty.
Why has it often proved more difficult to reintegrate than to demobilise soldiers following civil wars?
This essay will address the challenges faced during reintegration based on the levels presented above – individual, community, and national. In the latter of these, it will seek to address the impact of complications arising in the early stages of national DDR programmes, particularly during demobilisation.
Can nationalism be understood as a cause of ethnic conflict?
What is it that makes divisions along ethnic lines salient to forms of opposition that can degenerate into levels of violence as extreme as genocide? What made the peaceful multi-ethnic neighborhoods of Sarajevo turn into battlefields? The short answer is the politicization of ethnicity and ethnic diversity.
Practice Theory: How The Consumer’s Limited Agency Hampers Climate Action
The limited agency of consumers hampers green choices. A force upon the practice instead of the consumer can strengthen climate action.
The Enduring Relevance of Dag Hammarskjöld’s Characterization of Peacekeeping
Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the United Nations from 1953 to 1961, steered the organisation through a period which saw it develop as a peacekeeper in a mould that would set the agenda for decades to come, particularly via the publication of the “Summary Study” in 1958, which established the foundations of classical peacekeeping.
