Hobbes’ work was designed to make the analysis of politics more scientific. Machiavelli was a man of action; he worked, primarily, as a civil servant of the Florentine Republic. It is this difference in methodology, which ultimately underlies the differences in political beliefs of these two people.
Freedom of expression is the core of a healthy media, a fundamental human right, and vital for a democratic structure. Lack of information can, at any stage of a conflict, make people desperate, restless and easy to manipulate. The potential of the media in conflict and post-conflict situations remains a net positive, and has been sadly underutilized to this point in time
Marxism has not, since its original formulation, considered IR and its concepts worthy as an object of study in its own right. Therefore, over 150 years after the publication of his major treatises, there is a sense that Marx’s project needs to be revised to account for this world of states.
The media can be a highly useful tool for agencies and individuals involved in development projects. It can be used to raise awareness of the problems they are working to overcome, to apply political pressure, and to gain financial or material support. Unfortunately, at times the way that the media and the way that development projects function often come in to conflict, especially for corporate news outlets
There a palpable sense of both exuberance and excitement in recent developments in gender and international politics. Though I use the word gender, this still tends to end up meaning women; I wonder why this is, especially as scholarly texts distinctly and convincingly explain that gender is not just about women. And though this is surely true, the idea doesn’t seem to stick, or at least stick where we want it to.
The state is understood to constitute the primary institutions holding sovereign authority. States, however, are no longer standing alone on the hill of sovereignty, which other actors have come to the climb, claiming their own sovereignty vis-à-vis the state.
The propagation of liberal economic policies by states, particularly the US, paved the way for the globalisation of finance and production which enabled Transnational Corporations (TNCs) to share power with states and other actors. States are no longer the only important actors domestically or internationally.
“Bite me” is the dismissive nickname that General McChrystal’s staff officers gave Vice President Joseph Biden, admittedly a frequent subject of mockery in the US because of his many gaffs and his desperate attempts to regain a long lost youthful appearance via hair plugs, facelifts and the like.
I want to draw attention to a key point that is frequently overlooked—that, in the context of modern pluralism, we must now regard secularism as one of those worldviews that plays a quite significant role in the direction and nature of the modern state. And, further, once we do this, our whole understanding of the role of religion in the modern state is transformed as well.
In recent years, there has been an increase in interest in how Security Services around the world operate. The interrogation of prisoners and claims of torture by certain agencies have been widely condemned. Being able to demand Fairtrade chocolate has led many to believe that there is a possibility of Fairtrade intelligence and national security
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