Essays

Fool’s Gold or Credible Defense?

Harry Kazianis • Oct 4 2010 • Essays

The creation of nuclear weapons at the end of World War II has created a conundrum for military planners and policy makers around the globe. How do you construct a model for defense against nuclear weapons? Beginning in the early 1960’s until the present day, policy makers around the globe have crafted a number of missile defense systems to attempt to counter nuclear weapons deployments. The results have been mixed.

Comparing Northern Ireland with other cases of ethnic conflict

Kieran Neeson • Sep 29 2010 • Essays

Comparison between cases of ethnic conflict usually encounters scepticism. Unhappy nations like unhappy people, feel themselves to be unique. However analogies with other places have had a place in Northern Ireland. In general, these analogies appealed more to nationalists than it did to the unionists. It was only after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 did unionist attitudes change

To what extent has the War on Terror helped secure the US and its Western allies from terrorism?

Agnieszka Pikulicka • Sep 26 2010 • Essays

American efforts have not been directed at addressing the roots of terrorism. To the contrary, the US has instead focused on fighting the symptoms of terror, which resulted in a highly offensive approach which directly fostered hatred towards the US among Islamic communities.

Humanitarian Intervention and Ontological Security

Brian Terranova • Sep 23 2010 • Essays

A state engages in humanitarian actions not just to show the world that it is compassionate and civil, but rather that it accepts its moral obligation to do so. During times of crises, a state puts its ontological security aside and acts on the needs of the disaster area. This is prevalent in the state’s speech, where it decrees that all of its measures will be acted upon quickly and for the benefit of it citizens. The humanitarian act is not a result of a past shameful action, but rather a pure and compassionate act in which the state undertakes morally

The new Russian military doctrine: more of the same?

Bruno Quadros e Quadros • Sep 19 2010 • Articles

The long-awaited publication of the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation in February 2010 was the result of years of debate within the Russian military and political establishment. It outlines a post facto legitimization of Russia’s role in the August War against Georgia in 2008 and of other initiatives adopted by Moscow in the field of international security in the new century

A Campaign Assessment of the US-led Coalition’s Psychological and Information Operations in Afghanistan

Oleg Svet • Sep 1 2010 • Essays

Despite increases in military and civilian personnel to Afghanistan, the United States is losing the battle of perceptions. But the Coalition’s information operations can be improved.

Thomas Hobbes and Niccolo Machiavelli: A Comparison

David Gardner • Sep 1 2010 • Essays

Hobbes’ work was designed to make the analysis of politics more scientific. Machiavelli was a man of action; he worked, primarily, as a civil servant of the Florentine Republic. It is this difference in methodology, which ultimately underlies the differences in political beliefs of these two people.

State Security v Human Rights: Finding a Proportionate Balance

Emily Owen • Aug 28 2010 • Essays

The threat posed by extreme terrorism to the United Kingdom is both serious and ongoing, specifically since the catastrophic events 9/11 and 7/7. Security and liberty are both essential to modern democracy, but they do not hold equal value. Thus, security should be given greater weight than liberty in order to secure the state and prevent future terrorist attacks.

Geopolitics and Historical Materialism in International Relations

James Wilhelm • Aug 27 2010 •

Marxism has not, since its original formulation, considered IR and its concepts worthy as an object of study in its own right. Therefore, over 150 years after the publication of his major treatises, there is a sense that Marx’s project needs to be revised to account for this world of states.

Social Movements, Development Projects and the Corporate Media

Rebecca Dixon • Aug 22 2010 • Essays

The media can be a highly useful tool for agencies and individuals involved in development projects. It can be used to raise awareness of the problems they are working to overcome, to apply political pressure, and to gain financial or material support. Unfortunately, at times the way that the media and the way that development projects function often come in to conflict, especially for corporate news outlets

Please Consider Donating

Before you download your free e-book, please consider donating to support open access publishing.

E-IR is an independent non-profit publisher run by an all volunteer team. Your donations allow us to invest in new open access titles and pay our bandwidth bills to ensure we keep our existing titles free to view. Any amount, in any currency, is appreciated. Many thanks!

Donations are voluntary and not required to download the e-book - your link to download is below.