International History

Why Was India Partitioned at Independence?

Asma Ali Farah • Jul 9 2011 • Essays

India was partitioned at Independence on 15th August 1947 into two distinct nations: a newly-established and principally Muslim state of Pakistan, and a Hindu dominated India. The fact that such a division occurred on religious lines means that partition was the logical and inevitable outcome of the irreconcilable opposition between Hindus and Muslims.

Why is ‘historical memory’ still so significant in understanding German foreign and security policy?

IJ Benneyworth • Jul 8 2011 • Essays

From the Holocaust memorial, to the deliberately unrecovered foundations of Gestapo headquarters, to rare war-era buildings bearing the scars of Red Army gunfire, links to the Nazi-era and the associated ‘historical memory’ has maintained a grip on the German psyche.

Colonialism, Lebanon and the Middle East

Evan Ritli • Jul 5 2011 • Essays

Many of the recent uprisings in the Middle East have been in reaction to political systems and traditions which can be traced back to the colonial period. This is very much the case with the protests against Confessionalism in Lebanon. Although colonial rule has ended, its legacy continues in contemporary Middle Eastern politics.

Was the European student movement of the 1960s a global phenomenon?

Angeliki Mitropoulou • Jul 2 2011 • Essays

The anti-conformist student movement was indeed a global phenomenon, even though there are still some sociologists that support the idea that the protests were only movements of university students, and small minorities of young people that had little to do with higher education.

Climate Related Natural Disasters and the Onset of Civil Conflict: 1970-2008

Tom McKim • Jul 1 2011 • Essays

Since the end of the Cold War, research into the causes of civil conflict has intensified dramatically as scholars, policy makers, and NGOs have come to recognise the tremendous human toll they exact. Almost completely absent from civil war literature is the impact that natural disasters may have on the likelihood of conflict.

American Federalism and Post-1997 Devolution in Britain

Louie Woodall • Jun 30 2011 • Essays

The amalgamation of state and federal powers, the increased capacity of the central government to control the states through grants and mandates and the growing convergence of central and peripheral policy are all features of the competitive interdependence form of federalism that can be seen reflected in the new devolved British governmental structure.

Inter-war airpower theory and World War II

Ross Hall • Jun 28 2011 • Essays

The development of air power in the realm of the military emerged almost at the same time as aviation itself due to the accelerating features of the First World War. With air power’s inception, it became possible to make strategic strikes against the enemy’s centre of gravity without the necessity of making contact in a traditional land or sea war.

The Validity of a Postcolonial Account of World Politics

Joe Sutcliffe • Jun 23 2011 • Essays

A Purist’s perspective is necessary in negating the worst excesses of Idealism, as is the latter necessary in doing so for the former. Such paradigmatic vibrancy can only be a good thing for Postcolonialism and the self-critical arena that this has created means that the approach will go from strength to strength in its project of postcolonialising the dominant mode of Orientalism.

Britain, Free Trade, and the Irish Potato Famine

Asma Ali Farah • Jun 23 2011 • Essays

Britain would have moved towards Free Trade in 1846-1860 even if the Irish Potato Famine had not occurred, due to the inability of the protectionist system to benefit the British economy in any significant way encouraged many to consider the alternative approach, namely free trade.

The History, Politics and Ideology of Hamas

David Maggs • Jun 17 2011 • Essays

Hamas ultimately wishes for the end of Israel and the liberation of Palestine, but it thinks almost exclusively in short term goals and is open to the possibility of entering into negotiations. The dominant view in Israel seeks to stop Hamas getting any more of a foothold in Palestine than it already does, doubting the sincerity of its elements of moderation.

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