Nation States: Stronger in Europe than Elsewhere?
Europe has imposed its intrinsic identity and revolutionary social and political values and models worldwide, transforming many of them in global standards, shaping the lives of billions of people. It is within the European geographical space that a large number of the world’s greatest empires have developed and some of humanities most valuable technological, spiritual, cultural, economic or political advancements have been achieved.
Beyond Thompson and Malaya: The Search for a Usable Counterinsurgency Past
Though modern British COIN doctrine has shaken off some of British COIN’s persistent myths, a more thorough and far-sighted questioning of its base principles is needed.
How Do Terrorist Groups Emerge?
State repression heightens the sense of antagonism between certain political actors, ultimately culminating in a vision of the status quo as a state of war.
Does Britain’s Future Lie with North America, rather than Europe?
Current events like the European debt crisis seem to only emphasise the need for Britain to look to North America in order to join NAFTA and escape European bureaucracy.
To What Extent has the ‘War on Terror’ Affected the PRC Government’s Handling of the Northwest Uighur Muslim Population and its Campaign for an Independent State of East Turkestan?
The events of September 11th 2001 (hereafter 9/11) and the ensuing ‘War on Terror’ had profound ramifications for governments worldwide, influencing both international and domestic policy and engendering a reinvigorating and defining phase in global geopolitics. Within this framework, it is proposed that 9/11 impacted palpably upon the PRC (People’s Republic of China) government’s policy toward ‘its’ restive Uighur Turkic Muslim minority in the northwestern border province of Xinjiang.
‘NAFTA was signed because it made political sense’. Discuss.
This essay will begin with a detailed analysis of how NAFTA fits into the concept of regionalism and addressing the international political economy theories that inform it. It will then move on to a thorough critique of the economic and political motivations of the United States, Canada and Mexico and the theories that explain them, before bringing the NAFTA debate up to date with a brief summary of where we stand now. It will argue that NAFTA primarily serves an economic function, but was brought about by a ‘confluence of many factors’ which helped to shape NAFTA into the free-trade agreement that today appears irreversible.
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.
Guilt and Predation: Europe’s Relations with the Former Colonial World
Whilst the EU has always looked to the future with regards to its outlook and policy directions, there can be no escaping the colonial legacy that Europe forged for itself in the period leading up to the creation of the ECSC in 1947. Special relations exist between each colonial power and its former territories. As a result, this necessitates special relations existing between the EU and former territories of its members
International Reconstruction in Iraq After Protracted Conflict
The successes or failures of post-conflict reconstruction should be evaluated through a lens that also considers the historical and sociological background of Iraq prior to the war.
Is it Possible to Ethically Evaluate Terrorism by Employing Just War Principles?
The Just War tradition has been seen as a leading perspective on the ethics of war since the writings of St Augustine were rearticulated by Thomas Aquinas. It attempts to provide a framework which validates just conflicts, whilst at the same time applying limits so as to prevent unrestrained warfare. Today, its core principles can be divided into two broad categories: ‘jus ad bellum’ (just resort to war) and ‘jus in bello’ (just conduct in war). For a war to be just, numerous criteria must be satisfied within these categories.
