US Missile Defence and Space Security: a Security Dilemma for China?
The Chinese reaction to U.S. BMD and space security policy has emphasized the crucial importance of dialogue and economic engagement. Conscious of history’s rising powers being profoundly threatening and violent, China has been keen to stress its ‘peaceful rise’ as a ‘responsible great power.’
Trade Liberalization and Environmental Protection
The debate between free traders and environmentalists has led to the introduction of numerous innovations to the environmental provisions of the multilateral trading system. It has further led to the development of the concept of sustainable development, which aims to forge a balance between economic development and environmental protection.
How far has the Palestinian ‘right of return’ been the main obstacle to the peace process since 1993?
Drenched in controversy, very few topics inspire such heated historical debate as to why the Palestinian people find themselves displaced and in a state of constant limbo. A failure to address the right of return has provided some groups with a motive to derail the peace plan at all costs.
What role does religion play in Hamas’ political behaviour?
This essay argues that religion plays a crucial role in Hamas’ political behaviour. Hamas established its identity around Islam when the organisation was being created and today it places Islam in the centre of its political actions. Yet Hamas remains a political organisation at a relatively high level of development, and it uses selected religious elements depending on what it deems profitable in any given political situation.
EU-ACP Trade Relations, Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development
The countries of the Caribbean have benefited from a series of preferential trade agreements with the EU. This paper will examine EU trade relations with its former colonies, from the policy of Association to the Cotonou Agreement.
North-South relations and the promises of constructivism
This essay outlines some of the major constructivist promises and attempts to deduce their direct implications for North-South relations. It concludes that expansion of security communities represents the foundation of the constructivist promise in this area of study.
Cultural awareness and counterinsurgency in Afghanistan
The current campaign in Afghanistan has lasted for over nine years and the Taliban has grown into a formidable insurgency. This paper explains why a lack of cultural awareness condemns counterinsurgency operations to almost certain defeat, and explores the implications for the campaign in Afghanistan.
New Labour and post-war immigration policy
After winning the 1997 elections, New Labour promised to deliver innovative outputs through its political programme that no government has managed before. But the immigration policies under the New Labour Government can be characterised as fairly mixed.
Between Europe and America: Polish choices for the 21st Century
This paper aims at understanding Polish foreign policy over the last decade with a view to predicting future policy. It analyses Polish foreign policy with reference to three rationalist paradigms: defensive realism, offensive realism, and neo-liberal institutionalism.
The Thrust of Wendtian Constructivism
Despite being a state-centrist scholar of international politics, Wendt criticizes neorealists and neoliberals for reifying the structure of states system and taking for granted its ontological and ideational properties, which precludes us from considering and assessing the potentials for structural and institutional change.
