The Origins of the Iraq War of 2003 from an International Historical Approach
Adopting an international historical approach to the origins of the 2003 Iraq War, as opposed to an IR theory approach, presents both challenges and opportunities.
U.S. Propaganda and the Cultural Cold War
The efficacy of Western Cold War propaganda has been overstated. Interestingly, the private sector had often undermined the coherence and attractiveness of the U.S. propaganda programme’s message.
Can the security dilemma explain actual conflicts?
Although the occurrence of certain wars can be attributed to the operation of the security dilemma, a number of socio-structural factors limit the likelihood of such an extreme outcome.
The collective memory of WWII in France
This essay shows how, over the past six decades, collective memory of the Second World War in France has been centrally implicated in, and influenced by, wider socio-political debates relating to the nature of French national identity. The discourse will be structured in a manner which engages with the primary vectors of French memory regarding ‘les annes noires’.
Why are Nuclear Weapons So Appealing to Nation-States in the 21st Century?
In an anarchical system, for large states, indebted to a Cold War strategic culture, nuclear armaments offer the capacity to irrationalise major inter-state war, therefore creating the foundations for great-power peace and stability. Similarly it gives small states the ultimate life insurance, allowing them to defy the preponderance of more powerful nations.
Why was BMD so attractive to the Bush administration?
The Bush administration’s support for missile-defence was motivated by a desire to maintain freedom of action, and thus unipolar hegemony, vis-à-vis ostensibly un-deterrable rogue states. However, it is evident that BMD is strategically flawed, technically disputed and has the potential to destabilise existing arms dynamics.
Is the EU reaching the limits of enlargement?
In recent years support for eastward enlargement has lost momentum in both public and policy realms – opening up a debate over the concept of Europe itself . The question of Turkish accession in particular, has proved to be a crystallising point for many of the fundamental issues concerning widening in the 21st century.
Angus Calder’s ‘The Myth of the Blitz’
The Myth of the Blitz remains an important milestone in the critical analysis of the memory of the Second World War in Britain. Its nuanced treatment of various complex and inter-related topics, and its informative examination of the origins and uses of popular memory, set it apart from other more polemical texts and laid the foundations for future revisionism.
The Intensification of US Efforts to Build an Atomic Bomb
The mushroom cloud has retrospectively obscured the context in which American leaders took the decision to build and use the atomic bomb. The principle rationale behind the intensification of the Manhattan Project in the first half of 1945 was the desire of the US bureaucracy to end the war in the Pacific before the planned invasion of the Japanese mainland in November 1945.
Security Studies and the Marginalisation of Women and Gender Structures
The emergence of critical theory and the encroachment of feminist scholarship into IR discourse has highlighted the position of women within the international security framework. Yet, the dominant theoretical perspectives, realism and neorealism have been accused of neglecting the gender variable.
