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.
UNSC and ICC Patern(al)ship in the Praxis of the R2P: Insights from Darfur and Libya
Questions must be raised about ostensible judicial activism and impropriety; the putative independence of the ICC in relation to the UNSC and, the direct involvement of the ICC in active conflicts especially in African states.
International Relations and Time
The IR calling is a fast-paced, high-intensity, you-snooze-you-loose business. In the academic era of the “publish or perish” doctrine, it is useful to reflect upon time, as both an important variable in IR theory, and a relentless force in our own lives.
The 2009 Iranian Elections: A Nuclear Timebomb?
For Israel, Iran must never have the ability to build a nuclear bomb. This is an immovable reality, and when the dust settles after the contested Iranian election of 2009, it will remain the principal issue for the international community to address.
Jimmy Carter’s Distinctly Average Foreign Policy Record
It is time to revisit the foreign policy record of Jimmy Carter, and consider it in the context of both the Cold War and the issue of America’s role in the world.
Development and Geopolitics in East Asia
Whilst the developmental state approach contributed to economic growth in South Korea, it cannot provide a model that can be applied elsewhere.
How can the Theories of Derrida Unbalance the Stable Subject Assumed by Neo-Liberalism?
Within the discourse on development, there has been a fundamental intransigence of neo-liberal principles and attitudes to development. At the heart of this discourse, is a fundamental judgement about the ‘truth’ of human nature. Humans are innately stable, pre-determined entities that generally behave as autonomous, egoistic, utility maximisers. Thus with this ontological question answered the building of structures, be they financial or ones of governance, should be based upon allowing the subject to flourish within this system. At the heart of this is the emphasis of ‘le Politique’, the smooth economic running of things, over ‘la Politique’, the more philosophical debate about how we consider the ontological make-up of people, and if we can even do this.
Is Coercive Diplomacy a Viable Means to Achieve Political Objectives?
Coercive diplomacy is one of the most intriguing and common practices of conducting inter-state relations and embodies the essence of the art of diplomacy: achieving political objectives and fostering a state’s national interest without waging a war. The present essay will first offer a theoretical framework on the notion of coercive diplomacy.
1946: A Year of Ideological Preconceptions
The view that the Truman administration took in the lead up to, and during, the critical year of 1946 consequently affected the government’s actions when dealing with the Soviet Union.
The Sixth Year of a Fifteen Minute Change: Mexico’s Indigenous since Vicente Fox
As this paper will argue, despite revamping of programs, creation of institutions and rebranding Mexico as a “pluricultural” and “multilingual,” (Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas, 2006—herein cited as CDI, 2006) [5]the Fox government has failed to improve the lives of the country’s first peoples. At best the new policies, inspired by neo-liberal views of development, encourage continued cycles of dependency. While in the worst cases, they function directly in conflict of the Accords.
