The Global Relevance of Classical Counterinsurgency Strategy
The local roots of insurgency mean that properly applied classical counterinsurgency principles can effectively de-oxygenate the local environment that the global insurgent inhabits.
Clausewitz: War, Peace and Politics
With tactics from Vom Kriege used widely as military doctrine and foreign policy around the world based on Clausewitzian theories such as the paradoxical trinity and the center of gravity, it is apparent that Clausewitz’s lessons live on. Because of this continued application to the modern world, even over 150 years later, it is difficult to disagree with Clausewitz and the concepts of war, peace, and politics set forth in his work.
Roosevelt’s Path to the Second World War: Interventionist or Isolationist?
Stuck with an isolationist Congress and public, Roosevelt pursued a policy of appeasement while always entertaining the need for entry into the war.
Causes of the Sovereign Debt Crisis
The massive amount of debt in Southern European countries is not determined by weakness, corruption, and inabilities to deal with public deficits, but by systemic failures and illnesses.
Is Torture ever Morally Acceptable? If so, Under what Circumstances? If not, why not?
Torture can be defined as, ‘the officially sanctioned infliction of intense suffering, aimed at forcing someone to do or say something against his or her will.’ (Rodley, 2000: 7) Under international law it is illegal to use torture in any situation whatsoever. Although torture undoubtedly continues throughout the world, the moral argument prohibiting it was won during the enlightenment and the debate was closed by twentieth century international legal prohibitions. However, the question of torture has resurfaced in the context of the “War on Terror” as people face up to the possibility of WMD terrorism. The dilemma is most commonly expressed in the problem of the ‘ticking bomb terrorist.’
Has the Study of Gender been Conceptually too Focused on the Category of ‘women’? What is at Stake in the Analytical Categories we use in Gender Theory?
Gender categorisations are an inherent part of our culture; we accept them as an essential part of our identity and use them continually. To challenge the ‘truth’ or desirableness of concepts such as ‘woman’ or ‘man’ is a radical proposal but one which is increasingly put forward by post-structuralist feminists and queer theorists.
Civil defence planning in the 1960s & 1970s: A propaganda exercise?
Byron wrote in the early nineteenth century that an hour may lay that state in the dust, thinking of the warfare of his time. The twentieth century has managed to reduce that time span even further as the nuclear era began following the end of the Second World War.
Imagined Boundaries? The Legacy of the Cold War on Today’s ‘War on Terror’
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’
How the West and the Rest Are Permanently Intertwined: A Critique of Samuel P. Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilizations”
Due to the time that has elapsed since Huntington wrote his article it is easy to criticise any lack of foresight in terms of technological development. However, it is important to highlight the fundamentally erroneous assumptions of modern day diplomacy made in his article.
How has Globalisation Reformulated the Strategic Agenda?
The belief that we can teleologically strive towards dissolving all societies’ ills has been diverted to a quest to live in a world of tolerable risks. Furthermore, Ulrich Beck’s thesis that we live in a risk society has now been transposed into a world of globalisation. Where we used to deter dangers and threats, we now perpetually manage strategic risks.
