Foreign Policies are designed with the aim of achieving complex domestic and international agendas. It usually involves an elaborate series of steps, in which domestic politics plays an important role. Additionally, the head of the government in most cases is not an individual actor. Foreign Policy decisions are usually collective and/or influenced by others in the political system.

One of the peculiar challenges Complexity may present is that the nonlinearity and unpredictability it posits as being fundamental characteristics of complex systems are profoundly subversive of how we have traditionally understood policymaking. Complex adaptive systems are highly sensitive to initial conditions, as well as potentially subject to a variety of both positive and negative feedback loops, making outcomes unpredictable over the long term.

It was the first cyber-revolution, but it probably won’t be the last. While in the past it was more than common for leaders to rule their people through fear and threat, with increased education and accessibility to the internet, authoritarian leaders and dictators like Ben Ali will hopefully soon be known only in history.

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.

I have a lot of sympathy for Peter Vale’s requiem for globalization. Too often, the idea means all things to all people. However, I want to make some defence of the idea. I will argue that while the theoretical post-mortem is convincing, the historical post-mortem is not.