As a power such as China come to rise, it can at its discretion take the role of a rival, a partner, or disguise itself and ultimately be both. Therefore, an emphasis on human rights through public diplomacy and positive interaction with both China and the international community may be the key that opens the door to building positive relations between the United States and China in the future.
Much has been written about cybercrime, cyberterrorism and cyberwarfare, but very little has been written about how, and why, these evolving threat categories differ from their real-world analogues. This is unfortunate, because the differences between the threat categories mean that the laws and strategies devised to deal with real-world threats are often ineffectual in dealing with cyber-mediated threats.
From the beginning of the twentieth century France’s foreign and defence policy has been impaled on the horns of a dilemma: whether to seek a European or a transatlantic solution to her security problems. Since coming to power in 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy appears to wish to embrace both routes in equal measure. If French history is anything to go by he may not be able to sustain that position for long.
It is wrong to say that Barack Obama rejects the democracy tradition in American foreign policy. His record, appointments and first-year budget requests show that democratization is not being jettisoned as a US goal. To varying extents, the president and his foreign policy principals are liberal internationalists. However there has been a stark rhetorical break from the Bush era.
Contemporary social discourses are relegating the need to keep fighting for gender equality, mistakenly thinking that perhaps ‘addressing’ gender is the same as ‘normalising’ gender politics. It is against this landscape that Lady Catherine Ashton becomes the first High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Are we ready to take a look at North Korea from a cultural perspective? Do we try to figure out what they say and what they really mean from a cross-cultural position? Do we make an effort to understand their messages or their sometimes quite aggressive expressions from a culturally sensitive position?
The word neo-Ottomanism has never been used at the official level and, as one can be pretty certain, will never be openly heard from a Turkish official, unless perhaps by a Freudian slip. Nevertheless neo-Ottomanism is acquiring widespread usage and hence altered the basic tone of the Turkish foreign policy.
The mood in the UK towards the EU is currently one of angry resignation. We are angry because Lisbon has been such a dishonest and anti democratic process. We were thrilled when France and Holland voted the constitution down. What part of “No” don’t they understand, we bellowed across the Channel? Why can’t they get this democratic thing? If you ask the public you accept their verdict. Sometimes the people know best.
The European Union, in the wake of Lisbon, has become an international actor. It now faces two major external challenges. The first is to develop strategic vision for a potentially tumultuous emerging multi-polar world. The second challenge is to help nudge the other major actors towards a multilateral global grand bargain. The price of failure will be a return to the jungle – a jungle in which European assets will count for very little.
A recent report indicated that President Obama had finally made a security policy related decision—not on his Afghanistan strategy which is yet to be announced– but rather on whether or not his administration would seek to have the US sign the treaty banning the production and use of anti-personnel land mines, a treaty that 156 other nations have already signed.
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