June 2010 witnessed the opening of a new chapter in the history of the European Central Bank (ECB). Without any debate or decision-making process outside the closed doors of the ECB’s conference rooms, the Bank decided to extend its activities far beyond the field of traditional monetary policy.
Despite the euphoria that accompanied the toppling of Felix Dzerzhinsky’s statue in Lubyanka Square in August 1991, the power of the KGB, now the FSB and the SVR, has not declined. True reform of Russia’s security services, despite some early intent, has not happened.
The general consensus in the literature and the media is that the US is losing the ‘war on drugs’. Rates of consumption in the US have remained roughly the same over the last ten years and the drug trade remains a multi-billion dollar industry run by a complex international network.
Many Africans wait for it to fail as its predecessors did, and mistrust its intentions. But the New Partnership for Africa’s Development has a set of ambitious forward-thinking goals and ideals and is an excellent example of what Africans can do when they come together to help the continent out of the mire of its history and dependence.
India and Pakistan’s transformational process of emerging as opaque nuclear powers was an example of different the different motivations, aspirations and ambitions for obtaining nuclear status during the Cold War era.
The Civil War in Somalia has gripped the country for 20 years, causing widespread displacement of citizens, and has turned Somalia into a training ground for Islamic terrorists in Africa. Since 2006 the civil war has taken a much larger religious dimension.
In this essay I will be looking at the political causes for the increase of tension regarding relations for the states that border the Arctic Circle. I will be examining the relations between all eight countries, trying to establish through policy, press releases and other formats of documentation how a group of ‘Westernised’ countries are working to oppose the actions of Russia within the Arctic Circle.
In the McCarthy era of the 1950s, anti-Communism created an atmosphere of fear which allowed political actors to accrue greater powers over the American population. This unusual situation was permitted as the public were manipulated by people with political interests into believing the USA had entered into a state of emergency in order to safeguard national security.
The Ukrainian power elite have one point in common: the lack of public confidence in their leadership. If voters continue to be left disenfranchised, viewing the efforts of power elites as suspicious and self-motivated, then it stands to reason that more destructive expressions of political conflict will eventually manifest.
The US experience in Venezuela helped nuance its wider policy towards Latin America by challenging the reliance on free market economics. While the Eisenhower administration chose to re-emphasise democratic values in order to combat rising Communist radicalism, practical support for democracy proved to be limited.
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