Putin will remain in power until 2024, barring assassination or revolution, and will become Russia’s longest ruling leader since Stalin. He is not known for his willingness to compromise or surrender Russia’s imperial gains, suggesting that a new time of troubles is looming on the horizon. This will indicate whether the West still sees Russia as a political part of Europe or has concluded that the country cannot be changed and the days of democratization have become a historical footnote.
Because of the deep concern on the part of many UN member states that RtoP could give rise to a regime change agenda and the equally deep global opposition to such an agenda, it is incumbent on us to explore the relationship more deeply in order to ascertain whether there are ways of maintaining a clear distinction between RtoP and regime change without sacrificing the protection of civilians.
The R2P is heralded by many as making political power more responsible and accountable, both to the domestic citizenry and ‘international community’. It has sought to democratise humanitarian intervention in a way which reconceptualises sovereignty as responsibility and looks to protect the ‘victim other’ from imminent mass death at the hands of irresponsible state power.
The actions of the EU in promoting democracy in third countries need to be examined in greater detail. The tangible support (financial, logistical or otherwise) the EU gives to pro-democracy social movements can help us assess just how much the EU acts, or is limited in acting, to promote democracy abroad. In short, if the EU gives direct, meaningful support to such social movements, it could be said to have stopped ‘philosophizing’ and begun to act.
Structure is an anomaly in the field of IR largely because of the nature of its constituent components. Practices of social production and reproduction are not difficult to locate if you relay the relevant evidence, contrary to this idea. The concept continues to be open to wide interpretation, as shown by the respective approaches of Alexander Wendt and Kenneth Waltz.
Northern Ireland has a long way to come before it can be labelled peaceful. The fragmented nature of its society indicates that we cannot speak of two monolithic communities at all. They are divided within themselves along attitudinal, class, and educational lines, while different experiences of the Troubles have shaped their needs.
Both Japan and India are major regional maritime powers in the Asia-Pacific region. Both of their navies are growing in potency and have the ambition to dominate the region, and to become “blue-water” navies which can operate in the high seas. The continued rise of China in naval power introduces a further element into the analysis.
Mearsheimer and Walt’s illustration of the Israel lobby has led to a wide debate on the the domestic influences on foreign policy. Their thesis exaggerates the ability of interest groups to divert foreign policy, and their notion of national interest can be criticised as not in line with those who make foreign policy.
The ever growing problems and the struggle to fight terrorism comes from many factors; the lack of understanding radical Islam as opposed to moderate Islam, the alienation of the vast Muslim populations, continued unpopular foreign policies and the War on Terror with its death and destruction imposed in many Islamic states.
In 1957 Chairman Mao Zedong launched a programme of rapid industrialisation with the ostensible aim of overtaking British steel production within 15 years. Over the following four years millions died in the greatest famine in history. Using recently opened archival material, Frank Dikötter has exposed the scale of this disaster in greater detail than any writer before and illustrates Mao’s central role in the suffering and devastation.
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