The European Union: A Union of Interfering Empires
The EU could impose its model of functioning on the rest of the world, especially through its former colonies, in a quiet, latent, and cooperative manner. That historical basis, actually encompasses the imperial, colonial past of the old European states, and undoubtedly legitimizes the EU’s process of influencing the world.
Reflections on recent elections in Africa
Winner-takes-all multiparty democracy is not appropriate for Africa’s nation-states. Much of Africa today is under the control of “Vampire states”. It has become a pattern: a sitting president reluctantly holds an election; deludes himself into thinking he will win; no one would dare tell him he might lose.
ROTC, Harvard, and Hypocrisy
The news is that Harvard University is allowing the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) back on campus after more than four decades of banishment. The ROTC Program is one of the three main ways the US military acquires officers (the others being Officer Candidate Schools and the military academies, like West Point).
The Challenge of Sisyphus and post-referendum Southern Sudan
There is an intense sense of Sisyphean angst concerning the challenges facing Southern Sudan. With a reasonably fertile land, a young population, and plentiful resources Southern Sudan has the raw materials to build a successful nation, but only if it receives the support it requires.
Food ‘Security’: the need for a new framework for analysis
The last global food crisis of 2007-08 should have jolted policymakers across the globe into examining more closely the root causes and consequences of such crises at the local, regional and global levels. In 2011, global food prices have once again returned to make alarming headlines and analysts far and wide are arguing that we stand at the threshold of yet another global food crisis.
Sudan, Terrorism, and the Obama Administration
Terror in the west of Sudan is far from concluded. Following the celebration of an apparently successful referendum for South Sudan, we should not forget the deals the Obama administration was obliged to cut so that voting could take place as scheduled, and what further deals will be required going forward to ensure the secession vote is respected by the Khartoum regime.
Tortured Ideas: a response to Harvey Sapolsky
IR – SO, WHO IS IT FOR? It is often said that the study of International Relations is either for the world’s people or for national politics. This cliché usefully explains the chasm between Harvey Sapolsky and myself. And anyone reading his Blogs and my own will recognise that we […]
Berlusconi turns off the light
Kant defined enlightenment as the proliferation and cultivation of critique and reason as the vehicles to intellectual, cultural and political evolution: an ethos based not on any one body of knowledge but upon a constant critical interrogation of the present and of ourselves. Dissent, contradiction, argumentation and debate are key to the betterment of society through democracy. If this is true, Berlusconi has turned off the light.
PROFESSOR VALE’S IMPORTANT LESSON
Professor Peter Vale’s provocative piece on “The Responsibility of IR Scholars” deserves comment which I suspect many e-IR readers will provide. Let me offer mine in this blog. I must say that I would hardly claim to be an IR Scholar as I was trained in political economy and government […]
The Silence of Fear Shattered by the Voice of Protests in Iran
For many people, February 14 is about exchanging red roses and expressing their sentiments to their loved ones. However, this year Valentine’s Day coincided with mass political activism in Iran, which reinvigorated the Green Movement. The regime has no interest in compromise and political reconciliation. Hence, they will increasingly rely on the politics of the iron fist to maintain power.
