Essays

In the Post-9/11 Era is “The Responsibility to Protect” Irrelevant?

David Sykes • Aug 20 2009 • Essays

The responsibility to protect individuals from violations of their human rights around the world has been a movement increasing in intensity since the end of the Cold War. Since 9/11, the responsibility to protect has perished, and its corpse is now being used as a disguise for self-interest and self-security

A Liberal Structure for Realist Uses: International Development and the Question of Whose Interests Are Being Met?

Andrew Blencowe • Aug 15 2009 • Essays

International development is merely another tool in the proverbial toolbox of statesmen and global actors. It is an effective way to create the conditions necessary to best secure one’s interests.

Does Foreign Aid Benefit the Poor? Discuss Using Any Case in Africa as Illustration

Pamela-Suzanne Dawson • Aug 13 2009 • Essays

In 2009, there is an estimated 1.4 billion people worldwide living on less than US$1 per day or in other words, in “absolute poverty”. Every year, at least 15 million children perish from starvation, a problem that would cost a mere US$13 billion to fix, yet these figures have been increasing over the past five decades.

Institutional Duality: NATO’s Role In The Neo-Neo Debate

Alistair Law • Aug 13 2009 • Essays

This paper will examine the development of NATO throughout the post-Cold War era within the framework of the ‘neo-neo’ debate. Following a brief outline of the two theories, the activities of the alliance will be considered thematically, with conclusions drawn as to the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective in offering explanatory accounts.

The Status of Middle-Eastern Palestinian Refugees Outside of Israel-Palestine

Paul Knight • Aug 9 2009 • Essays

The issue of Palestinian refugees is both an important and highly emotional matter in Middle-Eastern politics, representing one of the most divisive and enduring problems of 20th and 21st century Middle-Eastern affairs.

Remember the Western Sahara? Conflict, Irredentism, Nationalism and International Intervention

Pablo de Orellana • Aug 7 2009 • Essays

Almost 35 years have passed since Spain left its former colony to its sad fate of blood and war. As all parties stand now, the conflict is far from being resolved. This paper is an attempt to discern the motives and forces behind the Western Saharan conflict from the 1975 crisis to the present.

Can Externally Driven Democracy Promotion Strategies Bring Liberal Democracy?

Louise Tucker • Aug 5 2009 • Essays

Democracy promotion is a US foreign policy tool which synthesises its interests and values. Germany and Japan being turned into successful liberal democracies following WWII, supported the belief that the US could ‘successfully export liberal democracy at gunpoint’.

Islam as a Theory of International Relations?

John Turner • Aug 3 2009 • Essays

Working within the traditional confines of I.R theory it is difficult to observe Islam in isolation, as states in the Middle East have, since their formation in the post-colonial era, acted with few exceptions in their own self interest. However, observing Islam as a theory of I.R. in its own right, as an al siyasi al Islami (Islamic political order) not as a factor which influences I.R, may well be a more intriguing quest.

Explaining the Color Revolutions

Poh Phaik Thien • Jul 31 2009 • Essays

Scholars witnessed a ‘bulldozer revolution’ in Serbia in 2000, a ‘rose revolution’ in Georgia in 2003, an ‘orange revolution’ in Ukraine in December 2004 and then a ‘tulip’ revolution in Kyrgyzstan in early 2005. Although only the Orange color revolutions actually had a color as it symbolize this term, ‘color revolution’ has become a popular term for referring to the four revolutions that occurred among regional specialist and local politicians. Why?

Comparing and Contrasting Classical Realism and Neorealism

Arash Heydarian Pashakhanlou • Jul 23 2009 • Essays

The intellectual hegemony of Morgenthau’s classical realism was succeeded in 1979 by the founding father of neo-realism, Kenneth Waltz. Waltz’s attempt to develop a systemic and scientific realism in ‘Theory of International Politics’ divided the school of thought into two blocks: classical realism and neo-realism. But what do these categorizations mean?

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