Ballistic Missile Defence in the 21st Century
Ultimately for a State, the decision to employ a BDM complex does not stem solely from the desire to improve international stability. It instead comes from a desire to improve its own defensive and/or offensive capabilities. Stability has a severe effect on this, but it is up to the leadership of any such nation state to decide whether the costs that come from a destabilised environment outweigh the potential benefits such a capability could provide, both now and in the future.
World Risk Society and the Response to Terrorism
This paper will analyse how the concepts in Ulrich Beck’s Risk Society are influencing the War on Terror. Moreover, it will examine their practical enforcement, the way in which they pose serious threats to the international law system and how this contributes to the shaping a new domestic order in those states where they have being applied.
European Powers and the Creation of the Middle Eastern State System
The role of the European powers was crucial in the making of the Middle East system not only because they were responsible for the incongruence of land partition after the Ottoman Empire and its consequent conflicts, but also because they established very important starting points for many trans-national phenomena by aiming to incorporate the area to the global capitalist system.
Historically European, Morally Universal? The 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees
The 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees is “one of the most widely accepted international norms, and remains the sole legally binding international instrument that provides specific protection to refugees”. Yet the Convention is neither fit for purpose nor universally accepted.
Western Depictions of Children and the New Imperialism
The human rights discourse has become a paradigm in international relations, with the transition from the international system to an international society. A vital aspect of that paradigm is the differentiation between adult and child, which has also been primarily instituted by the West. The supremacy of this definition has served the supremacy of the West in the human rights question.
An Analysis of Colombia’s Democracy
This paper will focus on the question whether the emergence of democracy in Colombia can be explained based on the assumptions of the ‘sequentialist’ or ‘preconditionist’ theories as suggested, amongst many others, by Fareed Zakaria or Edward Mansfield and Jack Snyder, or if, by contrast, the views of ‘gradualists’ or ‘universalists’ such as Sheri Berman or Thomas Carothers are more indicated to explain and analyze Colombia’s democratic past, present and future.
The EU Enlargements of 1995 and 2007
The enlargements of 1995 and 2007 demonstrate that even a small number of additions to the EU require deeper alterations to its institutions.
How independent can Australia’s foreign policy be?
The independence of Australian’s foreign policy will never be absolute. It can only become more independent through possibility thinking rather than being “weighed down by myths of past centuries”, including the taking of a more flexible, independent line in its bilateral relationship with the United States.
What are the contradictions implicit in the idea of a global civil society?
‘Globality’ can hardly be achieved if it does not embrace at least the majority of the Earth’s population. While global civil society may be a reality as an occurrence that has no precedent in history, this does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that global civil society is ‘global’ in the way it is envisioned by its most ardent supporters.
Contemporary Conceptualizations of Women in Conflict
This paper examines the conceptualization of women in contemporary counterterror conflicts. It analyzes in which ways constructed gender dichotomies as the beautiful soul and the just warrior are reinforced and manipulated by political elites focusing on the case of Afghanistan. The paper’s core is the (re)construction of women as victims by politicians, namely the Bush administration.
