The Nigerian State and Peace Building Mechanics in the Niger Delta Region
The Niger Delta featured perpetuated human insecurity, lack of infrastructure, wanton ecological damage, and perceived apathy on the part of government and the multinational oil companies in spite of the significant contribution of its crude oil to the Nigerian and global economy. The core thrust of this paper is to examine the amnesty policy as a peace building framework for addressing the lingering crisis
Smart Aid for African Development
For over five decades, many types of aid have been flowing into sub-Saharan Africa, and yet there is a stagnation and perhaps even a failure of significant development in the region. Smart Aid for African Development, edited by Richard Joseph and Alexandra Gillies, contains essays from a collection of authors who attempt to address the reasons why aid does not seem to promote growth in Africa by explaining the constraints to aid as it is granted today, and elaborating on effective alternative approaches
The Euro and the RMB
As an emerging power, China’s role within domains of international trade, economy and politics has increased dramatically in recent years. Accompanied with the country’s increase in international weight, the Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB) has become more and more significant in international financial market. Simultaneously, the dispute over RMB’s revaluation has recently become a recurrent theme
The Neoconservative Movement at the End of the Bush Administration: Its Legacy, Its Vision and Its Political Future
After 9/11, the word ‘hijacking’ has been used for two events. Of course, for the terrorist attacks of that day, but some also talked about a more metaphorical action: the hijacking of American foreign policy through the influence of a “neoconservative” or “democratic imperialist” movement
The Amazon, the Rhetor, and the Priest: Feminism, Politics and Religion
The Amazons of ancient Greek myth were a warrior people, but more than this, they were female warriors whose world was dominated by and for women. This article entertains the iconicity of the Amazon, Rhetor and priest, speaks to how such representation shapes interaction between each of them, and finally demonstrates how representations of and tensions between these narratives play out in our social body
The Tea Party’s Foreign Policy
The first American Tea Party movement which gave us the American Revolution had huge international implications although like the current one it was initially overwhelmingly focused on narrow economic issues, especially taxation and the fear of big government. The question some are beginning to ask is: what are the likely international implications of the current American Tea Party?
The new Russian military doctrine: more of the same?
The long-awaited publication of the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation in February 2010 was the result of years of debate within the Russian military and political establishment. It outlines a post facto legitimization of Russia’s role in the August War against Georgia in 2008 and of other initiatives adopted by Moscow in the field of international security in the new century
E.H Carr and The Failure of the League of Nations
The dose of reality that E.H. Carr dealt to interwar idealists was significant & timely. It was obvious to Carr that the League was failing and the march to war was underway.
The untidy dystopias of anti-terrorism: Italian State Secrets, CIA Covert Operations, and the Criminal law in the Abu Omar Judgment
Glimpses of post-9/11 anti-terrorism machinery are not particularly edifying, whatever one’s views. The real solution to terrorism is more rule of law, not less.
Secularism and Religion in Modern Democracies
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.
