The following paper will firstly introduce the arguments for the Positivist approach to research, which focuses on quantitative methods, and for the Interpretist approach, which focuses on qualitative methods. The second part will apply these approaches to the issue of torture and in doing so will identify and discuss the limitations of applying only one theory or approach to research.
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.
Interestingly, Hong Kong already has institutions that underlie democracy but it is still yet to be legitimate. This poses the key question; if Hong Kong has institutions that do to some extent, simulate a democracy, what has prevented full transition for Hong Kong to become a legitimate democracy?
This essay addresses how the power of national governments is undermined by neo-liberal policies. It argues that power is undermined in all states, although not in all equally. It will show how this fact can explain why strong states promote neoliberal policies even though their domestic power is diminished by it.
When president Clinton sought to allow homosexuals to join the US military, the American officer corps was so outraged that it even made the dispute public. The only word that describes such explicit military resistance to civilian preferences is disobedience. This essay seeks to establish how the military found public support and claimed legitimacy for its open defiance of civilian control.
Both the Anglo-Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War offer evidence of fundamental shifts in the nature of warfare. The Boer War demonstrated a shift between the previous post-Napoleonic traditions to a brand new paradigm. Both conflicts show evidence of many fundamental shifts in warfare as the world entered the Twentieth Century.
American efforts have not been directed at addressing the roots of terrorism. To the contrary, the US has instead focused on fighting the symptoms of terror, which resulted in a highly offensive approach which directly fostered hatred towards the US among Islamic communities.
The Iraq War presented opportunities for several groups to thrive while others endured a terrible plight. A nuanced appreciation of these issues is necessary.
Environmental justice is not just a local issue but a global, an inter-generational, and undoubtedly a problematic one. This should be a concern of not only the few, but all countries.
This essay first briefly explains the significance of ‘structural violence’ in Israeli society, before going on to critically examine dominant conceptions of ‘suffering’ in the Israeli context, arguing that the pragmatic and rationalist bias of this notion itself constitutes one major hindrance to ‘healing’. Finally, I consider the role of silence and memory in perpetuating suffering in Israel, looking specifically at the two imbricated elements of Holocaust memorialisation and the construction of the Other, arguing for a more processual rather than essentialist conception of suffering, community, healing and memory.
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