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.
Despite the euphoria that accompanied the toppling of Felix Dzerzhinsky’s statue in Lubyanka Square in August 1991, the power of the KGB, now the FSB and the SVR, has not declined. True reform of Russia’s security services, despite some early intent, has not happened.
The echoes of the imaginary geographies associated with the Cold War undoubtedly underpin many of the geopolitical phenomena that typify the current ‘War on Terror’; inherent to the geopolitical discourses of both eras are binary distinctions; distinctions between good vs evil, us vs them etc, all stemming from a firmly rooted ‘conflict of ideologies’
Every country must realize that good maritime order is a public good and a common resource, and it is obligatory to make concerted efforts. A country should understand that self-interest and evading multilateral initiatives are “beggar thy neighbor” behaviors, and will not only cause damaging effects by being self-serving, but in the end will damage its own interests as well.
The 1956 Suez War marked a new chapter in the development of Middle Eastern politics.The emergence of Nasserism in the Middle East after the Suez crisis sustains the idea that Egypt was the sole winner of Suez. The Suez War managed to bring into question the significant role of the Middle East in world politics, particularly in the Cold War context.
The application of sudden non-state actor violence to achieve political goals can be traced far back in history, but terrorism as a transnational and organized activity was first witnessed in Europe by the end of the 19th century. A long-term process of change usually precedes terrorism. Thus terrorism does not occur in stable times or systems, and its effectiveness is dependent on the instability of the framework or society it is practiced in.
Habermas’ theory of communicative action is fundamentally subjective and therefore weak as a critical social theory, but provides the international community with hope for prospective change.
The groundbreaking theory of Security Communities proffered by Karl Deutsch and his associates in 1957 which sought to “contribute to the study of possible ways in which men some day might abolish war” was largely shunned during the decades immediately succeeding its publishing. Given that the theory is not geographically restrictive but rather qualified politically, it may be in the future, theoretically at least, applied anywhere in the world where established democracies exist.
As the study of globalisation evolves, gender perspectives act as a reminder that economic developments are not distinct from real people who make real choices.
Despite the harsh conditions in which street children live, they make good use of the surrounding environment to survive.
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