How far has the Palestinian ‘right of return’ been the main obstacle to the peace process since 1993?
Drenched in controversy, very few topics inspire such heated historical debate as to why the Palestinian people find themselves displaced and in a state of constant limbo. A failure to address the right of return has provided some groups with a motive to derail the peace plan at all costs.
Mistakes and Lessons from the Afghan War
NATO’s lack of success to date in Afghanistan can be attributed to four factors: the reluctance to make difficult choices in state-building, the failure to confront Islam, the failure to confront Kabul, and the influence of China. While NATO may still eventually win, it will have been at tremendous cost and time, and Afghanistan will have posed a great opportunity cost for other NATO objectives.
New Terror or Old News?
The application of sudden non-state actor violence to achieve political goals can be traced far back in history, but terrorism as a transnational and organized activity was first witnessed in Europe by the end of the 19th century. A long-term process of change usually precedes terrorism. Thus terrorism does not occur in stable times or systems, and its effectiveness is dependent on the instability of the framework or society it is practiced in.
Is cosmopolitain democracy desirable and feasible?
Politically, the EU is far off from being a cosmopolitan polity. This comes down to the fact that political participation does not cross borders. State sovereignty still plays a crucial part in the make up of the EU. Yet, there is a fundamental issue here. Increased democratic functions would need to occur before ever the mildest of David Held’s proposals could become reality.
To what extent has globalization aided the spread of democracy?
Globalization has entrenched and encouraged liberal democracy where it resides but in isolation can take little credit for spreading democracy globally. Moreover, globalization has been found to have a more pivotal and detrimental role in undermining democracy by providing networks and resources for anti-democratic forces.
Human Rights In The Middle East: Questions Of Compatibility And Conflict
The fact that the debate over whether Islam and human rights discourse are compatible is an example of how states in the Middle East continue to go through a transitional phase in regard to reforming laws and policies which infringe upon peoples rights. Post election violence in Iran and Iraq suggests that there is still a long way to go in terms of securing peace in security in the region.
The Responsibility to Protect: Libya and Beyond
Whilst Libya is no doubt important, it is but the tip of the iceberg. In the long run, timely and decisive action such as the international action in Libya will continue to be a recurrent but painful necessity. Yet, we will make most progress towards a world without mass atrocities by reducing the number of cases that become so acute and preventing crises from escalating to the point of imminent catastrophe.
Accounting for the Resilience of the Taliban
Despite a considerable advantage in terms of manpower, weaponry, funding and logistics, the international military presence in Afghanistan has been unable to defeat the Taliban insurgency. In fact, it could perhaps be argued that the presence of foreign troops on Afghan soil has been the instrumental factor in allowing the Taliban to not only survive, but to expand and prosper.
The Challenge of AIDS in African Society
African societies are already suffering from poverty, inequality and weak social cohesion. Since its emergence, HIV/AIDS has added a multifaceted layer of new dimensions to the former. It impacts on the economy, education and the food security of the household, creating a paradigm in which poverty is a challenge in stopping the HIV/AIDS epidemic and HIV/AIDS is a challenge in stopping poverty.
Brzezinski on a U.S. Berezina: anticipating a new, New World Order
In four books from 1997 to 2008 Zbigniew Brzezinski outlined a comprehensive American foreign posture around the geopolitical grail of Central Asia. Since 1945 the United States has been largely defined as the first non-Eurasian thalassocracy to prevail in the Great Game, yet for how long?
