Is the US winning the ‘War on Drugs’ in Latin America?
The general consensus in the literature and the media is that the US is losing the ‘war on drugs’. Rates of consumption in the US have remained roughly the same over the last ten years and the drug trade remains a multi-billion dollar industry run by a complex international network.
The Abatement of Insurgency in Iraq and the Re-emergence of Insurgency in Afghanistan
Although Western publics are not casualty-phobic and presently pay little attention to body counts as the ultimate barometer for success, they are wary of supporting wars with low prospects for ultimate triumph, and casualty rates and patterns can help formulate more nuanced policy opinions.
Ethnic Conflict and R2P
We may all agree that there is a moral imperative to halt mass atrocities. The problem is the reconciliation of such an obligation and our entrenched system of anarchy at the international level. Those states that are part of the United Nations should have a responsibility to respect the adoption of R2P principles, notably the moral imperative to halt mass atrocities and punish the perpetrators through the ICC.
Child Reconciliation in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone
The systematic inclusion of children in the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission process was unprecedented in the history of truth and reconciliation initiatives. Given the country’s history of child involvement in the war as both victims and perpetrators, it was especially important to include children in the post-conflict peacebuilding processes.
Do IGOs Decrease the Possibility of Conflict?
Whether international institutions can promote and achieve a more peaceful world is a question that is being examined more and more in the study of international relations. Literature about this issue has further developed over the last 50 years, as the world has seen the rise of new international organizations and the integration of old ones.
Universals in a World of Difference: Human Rights in Sri Lanka
The international community is fixated on the protection of human rights, and sees only one route to do this: the expansion of liberal democracy. The interest in propagating these models produced the conditions for conflict to break out in Sri Lanka.
The Role of the Economic Elite in Mexico’s Democratic Development
A widely held middle class critique of Mexico’s governing institutions is that politicians are accountable only to the private elites and do not respond to middle and lower class needs. Indeed, with a history of oligarchic-type rule and pervasive government corruption, private sector elites have consistently been major players in Mexican politics.
On the ‘War on War’ in Modern Geopolitics
The unilateral projection of peace could become a potent political lever and a game changer in international relations, yet ‘peacefare’ and a ‘peace arsenal’, including confidence-building measures and a conflict-quelling capability, have seldom been looked into.
Can the EU Foster a Post-national European Identity by the Extension of European Constitutional Rights?
Constitutional patriotism carries several threats. It imperils the meaning of rights, making them too dogmatic or too universal. In the latter case it disconnects them from institutions, in the former it alienates those with a minority identity.
The Benefits and Disadvantages of Post-positivism in International Theory
Rather than discussing their respective strengths and weaknesses, it is best for IR to consider the complementary strengths of post-positivism and positivism together.
