Deterrence in Counter Terrorism
Despite being theorised during the Cold War, deterrence continues to play a central role in informing the state’s military and judicial responses. Nevertheless, while denial and punishment strategies may yield short-term benefits, such policies have proven unable to remedy the issue of terrorism in the longer term. Only by engaging with the socio-political contexts from which terrorism emerges and draws its support can counter-terrorism effectively seek to prevent terrorism.
9/11, the War on Terror, and ‘Halo’
This essay will focus on the science-fiction ‘Halo’ series of video games to show how mediation, remediation, and hypermediation has significant political, ethical and moral influences on its audience in relation to the War on Terror. Botler and Grusin’s ‘Remediation: Understanding New Media’ will be drawn upon to describe how this colourful, futuristic ‘space opera’ depicting an interstellar conflict for the fate of humanity has a constructive role in creating a post-9/11 American identity and morality.
Theories of International Political Economy
If we can permit the possibility that individuals may seek to re-secure their instrumental and normative concerns outside of their existing political, economic and social context, securing their identity in the future rather than the past, then we cannot deny the promise of the rational choice framework for understanding and action. Identities need not be assumed or inter-subjectively constructed; they may simply be made of our dreams and convictions.
Changing Cordoba: An Essay on the first Cordoban Caliph
The second Umayyad Caliphate faced many struggles during its time in the Iberian Peninsula, from internal power conflicts among Muslim factions to the external pressures from the Christian north. ‘Abd al-Rahman III upheld the faith of Islam at a time when all seemed hopeless and was able to restore the Umayyad emirate to its previous stature as the Umayyad Caliphate, and himself to God’s representative on earth.
Does Regionalism challenge Globalisation, or build on it?
In a world where the concepts of Globalisation and Regionalism both seem to gain more and more power, it was only a matter of time until the relationship between those two seemingly contradictory processes would become the issue of discussion. What Andrew Hurrell has called the “one world/many worlds relationship” has now become the subject of great academic interest and debate.
The West, Islam and Modernity
The relationship between West and Islam is more relevant than ever. The terrorist attacks in the US and Europe at the beginning of the new millennium, seemed to confirm the ideas expressed by Samuel Huntington and Francis Fukuyama. However, critical engagement with such issues requires a deeper understanding of West, Islam and Modernity, avoiding essentialist definitions of single sets of well-defined and separated ideas.
Why is examining public EU attitudes such a complex task?
Examining public EU attitudes is so complex because of the diverse sources of the EU public opinion and the incomplete structure of the EU itself. There is no European polity, no holistic conception of what it means to be a European citizen and no European-level social culture.
Postcolonial Theories as Critique and Challenge to ‘First World-ism’
The critiques of postcolonial feminists and critical feminisms have contributed epistemic, knowledge frameworks, and material insights into hegemonic power relations, and in particular global violence. Such theorizations have raised questions about the ‘geopolitical’ in order to transform IR’s contentious emphasis on geographical and territorial realms of power
The persistence of military domination in Myanmar
Myanmar’s post-colonial era is characterised by the domination of the military as the key actor in the state’s politics over the 62-year period since British rule ended. Democratic elections have only once resulted in the installation of a civilian-led government in Myanmar. Indeed, the country offers a counter-argument to the conventional wisdom among political scientists that ‘military rule is the shortest form of authoritarian regime in the developing world’
Contradicting Norms of Secession in the Balkans
Ethno-nationalism has become a potent force in international and domestic politics. Gradually, norms have developed favouring a right of self determination for national groups seeking self-government.
