To what extent is the ‘battle of Sadr City’ a case of Urbicide?
Viewed within the conceptual framework of Urbicide, which posits that cities have become the expressed target of military operations, the battle of Sadr City reveals the inherent objectives of counter-insurgency (COIN) theory — the annihilation of place.
What are the consquences of the notion of “Islamist terrorism”?
The use of othering discourse and increasing threat levels encourages fear and mass hysteria in Western countries. Preconditioned as we are by Religiophobia, ethnophobia and Islamophobia, the exaggerated threat of Islamic terrorism specifically and religious terrorism generally cannot be negated until dominant stereotypes and representations are subjected to change.
Transnational Labour Migration and the International Sex Trade
The sex trade has been overlooked in migration studies, often only appearing in criminological or gender studies.
Water wars? The Role of Hegemony in the Jordan River, Nile River and Columbia River Basins
Predictions of “water wars” have become an important and even customary part of global diplomatic discourse. In 1995, the World Bank’s vice president for environmentally sustainable development famously asserted “if the wars of this century were fought over oil, the wars of the next century will be fought over water”. What is the truth about transboundary water and the potential for war?
British and German approaches to European security provision
Britain and Germany are, together with France, the so-called E-3. These the states have most advanced economies of Europe, and from the point of view of European security, face the highest expenses and are provided with the most numerous and best equipped armies on the continent. Each have used the process of European Integration and the development of a Common Foreign and Security Policy to pursue their national interests.
The challenges confronting western intelligence services after 9/11
After the attacks there was an automatic shift in intelligence interest from state to non-state actors. Agencies changed from gatherers into hunters, searching for any information revealing possible threat of attack. Compared to standard state targets, Al- Qaeda and other global terrorist groups were more difficult to find, target and spy on due to their mobility.
Offense-Defense Theory and the absence of war on the Korean peninsula
This essay argues that the absence of a major war between North (DPRK) and South Korea (ROK) does not disprove the offense-defense theory (ODT) because the theory is capable of explaining the prevalence of peace under conditions when the defense has the advantage.
Al-Qaeda and the success of US intelligence
The year 1989 will remain in a global history as direct beginning of Soviet Union’s collapse which was finalized in the 1991. This year will also stay in world remembrance as a founding date of probably best known terrorist organization – Al-Qaeda. How well has US intelligence performed against this threat?
Hamas in Power
Hamas, ‘Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya’ (The Islamic Resistance Movement), has evolved over time from its humble beginnings as a faction of the Muslim Brotherhood, to an arguably legitimate political body, controlling much of the occupied Palestinian territories. This paper will reflect on the key factors in its development and features of the movement, and will conclude with a discussion of Hamas’ future as both an agent of armed struggle and a legitimate political body.
‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ and military defiance of civilian control
When president Clinton sought to allow homosexuals to join the US military, the American officer corps was so outraged that it even made the dispute public. The only word that describes such explicit military resistance to civilian preferences is disobedience. This essay seeks to establish how the military found public support and claimed legitimacy for its open defiance of civilian control.
