Review – Can Intervention Work?
Stewart and Knaus argue that the international community is capable of stopping mass atrocities. Yet, it must adopt an incremental approach burnished by local knowledge and expertise.
Writing a Greek Tragedy
Greece is trapped in a vicious economic crisis. The situation in Greece already is a disaster and the strain on the Greek people is intolerable. The consequences of a ‘Grexit’ are even grimmer.
Review – In My Time
Dick Cheney served as Vice President during one of the most controversial U.S. administrations in history. Those hoping for a greater insight into this divisive period, or wanting to better understand Cheney, will be disappointed by a memoir that offers little more than was already known.
Review – Globalization and Its Discontents
Formerly Chief Economist at the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz explores the policies of the international financial community towards developing or crisis-stricken countries during the 1980s and 90s. As an isolated study of their failures it provides a useful insight but as a commentary on the ills of economic globalisation it fails to consider several other key factors.
Review – “A Problem From Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide
In this damning indictment of American indifference to humanitarian crises, journalist and academic Samantha Power refutes the arguments that US leaders were either unaware of genocidal horrors in the Twentieth Century or unable to stop them. Instead, the majority of American leaders knowingly did nothing as millions suffered.
Review – Mao’s Great Famine
In 1957 Chairman Mao Zedong launched a programme of rapid industrialisation with the ostensible aim of overtaking British steel production within 15 years. Over the following four years millions died in the greatest famine in history. Using recently opened archival material, Frank Dikötter has exposed the scale of this disaster in greater detail than any writer before and illustrates Mao’s central role in the suffering and devastation.
The efficacy and moral considerations of negotiating with terrorist groups, violent militias and mercenaries
Whether the ends justify the means is an impossible question to answer decisively. How unpalatable are the means and how desirable the ends? There is no definitive rulebook on how violent organisations such as Hamas need to be handled. Each example illustrates a different dynamic that requires a different response.
Trade and Aid Are Not Mutually Exclusive
The history of Western aid delivery is not flush with glowing recommendations, but to advocate the abolition of Britain’s entire aid budget is unwise. We must always ensure money is being spent effectively with sufficient accountability and transparency. We must not step back from our commitments to those who most need it. The alternative is simply intolerable.
