Intervention in the Internal Affairs of States
The moral imperative to intervene in a nation’s internal affairs where acts of genocide are threatened is a powerful one. That the UN is eager to push the doctrine of R2P and to re-define sovereignty to permit intervention in a state’s internal affairs is testimony to the fact that the Charter does not provide that legal authority. It should.
Do Not Celebrate the Death of a Dictator
My blood curdled upon seeing images of a dying Gaddafi. So begins the new Libya, drenched in blood, celebrating the death of its 40-year dictator. I am no apologist for the butchers of 9/11, the rapists of Misrata, or the killers of innocent men, women and children worldwide. But I cannot bring myself to glorify death.
Qaddafi’s Death is Only the Beginning in Libya
The death of Qaddafi is, naturally, a very public symbol that his reign of oppression is over and will not return, but this is not the end of the story for Libyans, the UN or NATO. The campaign to maintain peace between the various factions could prove to be more difficult than the defeat of Qaddafi’s forces.
What role for the EU in the new Libya?
Perhaps, looking back at the EU’s performance in the Libyan crisis in five years’ time, the best lesson to (re-) learn is that the EU is not good at hard security policy, but does a very decent job when the task is about dealing with the aftermath of conflict. Stable democracies cannot be built on the battlefield. They require a whole different set of capabilities than what NATO can offer.
The BRICs and the UN: Coordination or Fragmentation?
Today’s BRICS leaders talk, but rarely take combined action or push for substantive joint strategies, pointing to the possibility that at least in political terms the BRICs made by Goldman Sachs (who coined the phrase) may prove to be more like stumbling blocks than the foundation stones needed to reinvigorate the UN or reshape the international system.
A Response to the World Development Report 2012
The report claims to be able to form arguments and reach conclusions which extend beyond the economic realm. Yet, the failure to see gender equality as an “end” as well as a “means”, and the financial language used throughout demonstrate that the authors have been limited by their discipline more than they would like to admit.
The Children of Riots: Society, Violence and the Youth in Greece
Police brutality is now part of everyday life in Greece. Violence from extreme political circles of all directions is on the rise, and an overall feeling of everyone-against-everyone makes evident the crumbling of Greek society.Thus, the only thing that Greek Police seem to be good at is to provoke indignation.
Comparing Russian and Chinese Aircraft Carrier Ambitions
Traditionally perceived as continental powers, Russia and China are increasingly looking to invest significantly in the development of their maritime capabilities, most notably through the development and deployment of aircraft carriers. This reflects an aspiration broader than that of simply enhancing their respective naval strength.
Ill-informed or entrepreneurial? Chinese traders in Serbia
The phenomenon of Chinese migration to Serbia, which is one of their newest migration destinations in Europe, is hardly ever mentioned in migration literature. By developing transnational links and translocal livelihood strategies, Chinese traders are transforming disadvantages of both sending and destination areas into opportunities.
Caspian (Virtual) Energy Geopolitics
A simple sentence could summarize almost a decade of negotiations, both political and economic, over a field that has not brought a single drop of oil to the surface: “No oil, plenty of ink”. The case of Kurmangazy, an oil field which lies about half way between the Russian and the Kazakh coasts, helps us understand the multidisciplinarity and the importance of the role of energy in foreign policy decision-making.
