Authoritarian regimes benefit from the constraints of democratic states, who cannot act in a similar way as authoritarian states do. These constraints are the result of democratic freedom which is essential to democratic success but which can be a disadvantage when dealing with coercion. All the same, it is democratic states that have the long-term and ultimate advantage over authoritarian regimes
Structural forces within a state and the extent to which powerful elites make the boundaries of ethnic difference salient will determine whether the state will experience conflict.
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.
During the Cold War the fear of nuclear disaster was a clear danger. The climax of the Cold War that brought the world the closest to nuclear fallout was during the Cuban missile crisis. The Non Proliferation Treaty was signed to keep the number of nuclear states to a minimum in order to try and limit the threats posed by possible nuclear nations.
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.
This essay suggests that ‘Europe’ cannot be primarily identified in terms of shared histories, cultures, or even geographies. Consequently, attempts to define the EU supranational paradigm as a teleological institution have failed, no European grand narrative of ‘unity in history’ (or culture, or religion) exists, nor can it exist.
Both the donor and national governments are equally responsible for the poor performance of ODA in Nepal due to a mismatch of priorities between the two parties.
History, because of the authority with which it is bestowed, is of particular utility for political agents. Invoking the past is a way of evidencing the circumstances of the present.
Whilst the EU has always looked to the future with regards to its outlook and policy directions, there can be no escaping the colonial legacy that Europe forged for itself in the period leading up to the creation of the ECSC in 1947. Special relations exist between each colonial power and its former territories. As a result, this necessitates special relations existing between the EU and former territories of its members
It would be beneficial to free the concept of democracy of its territorial, state-bound constraints and work toward a more democratic global order, but a new global structure is not feasible.
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