In the Post-9/11 Era is “The Responsibility to Protect” Irrelevant?
The responsibility to protect individuals from violations of their human rights around the world has been a movement increasing in intensity since the end of the Cold War. Since 9/11, the responsibility to protect has perished, and its corpse is now being used as a disguise for self-interest and self-security
Ethnic Tension in China: From Guangdong to Xinjiang
The recent clashes between Han Chinese and Uyghurs illustrate dramatically the difficulties facing China as the existing chasm between the Han majority and the Uyghur minority deepens. Both incidents constitute an enormous setback to China’s minority policy and to government efforts at persuading the minority Uyghurs that they are citizens with equal rights in the new China.
Nuclear Non-use: Rational Deterrence, Prudence or a Long-lasting Taboo?
The subject of this essay asks how the issue of nuclear non-use lends itself to constructivist understandings, namely to the interpretation of ongoing processes of social interaction determined by shared ideas.
Did the Creation of NATO Prevent the Establishment of Europe as a ‘third force’ Between East and West During the Cold War?
There was never sufficient political will for an independent European security identity to be pursued in the early years of the Cold War. European states actively put their trust in the United States to act as guarantor for the continent.
The Role Played by ‘spoilers’ in Peace Processes
Peace processes are very often lengthy and difficult, many cease-fires negotiated to end civil wars often result in a return to violence, sometimes worse than before. This essay will examine the role of those actors who ‘actively seek to hinder, delay, or undermine conflict settlement’ for a range of reasons and through a variety of methods.
Terror in the Maghreb
Terrorism in the Islamic Maghreb (lit. “the West”) has been given relatively little attention in the post-9/11 era, in spite of a new journalistic and academic obsession with terrorism spanning nearly a decade. Terrorism in North Africa has been relegated to secondary importance, overshadowed by terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Occupied Territories. Terror in the Maghreb is nonetheless on the rise, and has been shown to have intimate links with violence in other regions of the Islamic world such as Iraq.
What are the Challenges to Nuclear Deterrence in the Second Nuclear Age?
This first introduces nuclear deterrence during the Cold War before considering nuclear proliferation and nuclear deterrence more broadly. It then examines state methods of responding to transnational terrorism, and finally explores further issues in contemporary international security challenging the centrality of deterrence in the Second Nuclear Age.
Oil State Senator
To understand climate politics, one really needs to study both international and domestic factors. My field is international relations and I’ll likely be blogging here a good deal about national interests and state bargaining power. However, it is important to keep in mind internal actors and their interests.
Anti-Americanism in Turkey since 9/11
There is certainly Anti-Americanism in Turkey and it has increased substantially after 9/11. Many polls conducted on Anti-Americanism show this fact clearly. But why has it increased, and what does the future hold now that Obama has been elected US President?
Ballistic Missile Defence and 21st Century Stability in International Relations
This essay determines the effect of National Missile Defence (NMD) is primarily destabilising. However this has to be put in the wider context of relations between the US, China and Russia – for the destabilising effect of NMD is very much characterised by how it is used and what kind of policy it is a part of.
