Essays

The EU Enlargements of 1995 and 2007

Alex Campbell • Apr 23 2010 • Essays

The enlargements of 1995 and 2007 demonstrate that even a small number of additions to the EU require deeper alterations to its institutions.

Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Obsolescence of War

Xavier Mathieu • Apr 23 2010 • Essays

One of the last major books about war in international relations is paradoxically a book forecasting the end of the object it analyses. Retreat from Doomsday: the Obsolescence of Major War by John Mueller was released in 1989 and has become a classic reading making the author one of the most influential authors on the topic of war.

An Analysis of Colombia’s Democracy

Roberto Lorente • Apr 15 2010 • Essays

This paper will focus on the question whether the emergence of democracy in Colombia can be explained based on the assumptions of the ‘sequentialist’ or ‘preconditionist’ theories as suggested, amongst many others, by Fareed Zakaria or Edward Mansfield and Jack Snyder, or if, by contrast, the views of ‘gradualists’ or ‘universalists’ such as Sheri Berman or Thomas Carothers are more indicated to explain and analyze Colombia’s democratic past, present and future.

Russia’s Economic Crises in Comparative Perspective

Luke Chambers • Apr 10 2010 • Essays

In attempting to determine whether the most recent economic crisis or that of 1998 is more damaging for the Russian economy it is important to acknowledge, preliminarily, that these two crises are different. The international economic, political and strategic contexts in which they occurred were different; the origins were different; the triggers were different; the indirect victims are different; and, most importantly for this analysis, the recoveries were and will be different.

Western Depictions of Children and the New Imperialism

Kathryn D. Whitworth • Apr 9 2010 • Essays

The human rights discourse has become a paradigm in international relations, with the transition from the international system to an international society. A vital aspect of that paradigm is the differentiation between adult and child, which has also been primarily instituted by the West. The supremacy of this definition has served the supremacy of the West in the human rights question.

Historically European, Morally Universal? The 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees

Lucy Mayblin • Mar 28 2010 • Essays

The 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees is “one of the most widely accepted international norms, and remains the sole legally binding international instrument that provides specific protection to refugees”. Yet the Convention is neither fit for purpose nor universally accepted.

Economic Development and Democratisation in the Middle East

anon • Mar 23 2010 • Essays

There is an incompatibility between the purpose and mode of Middle Eastern economic development to date and the fraught efforts towards forms of democracy across the region. Additionally, the importance of certain economic developments to specific actors has successfully outweighed the importance of democracy in the region, and will persist in doing so for the foreseeable future.

Reconciling Realism: DPRK-ROK Co-operation and IR Implications

Patrick Fraser • Mar 18 2010 • Essays

The concept of security is changing. The critical approaches that have emerged to challenge traditional ones in recent decades have earned significant support. A definitive characteristic that binds these critical security schools is their rejection of realism. In security language, critical approaches agree that the state does not deserve the privilege of being the solitary referent object of security studies.

European Powers and the Creation of the Middle Eastern State System

Ana Huertas Francisco • Mar 16 2010 • Essays

The role of the European powers was crucial in the making of the Middle East system not only because they were responsible for the incongruence of land partition after the Ottoman Empire and its consequent conflicts, but also because they established very important starting points for many trans-national phenomena by aiming to incorporate the area to the global capitalist system.

World Risk Society and the Response to Terrorism

Sebastiano Sali • Mar 15 2010 • Essays

This paper will analyse how the concepts in Ulrich Beck’s Risk Society are influencing the War on Terror. Moreover, it will examine their practical enforcement, the way in which they pose serious threats to the international law system and how this contributes to the shaping a new domestic order in those states where they have being applied.

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