Explaining African State ‘failure’: Does the State Make the Nation or the Nation Make the State?
In seeking to explain ‘tribalism’ and ‘state failure’ in Africa, academics often point towards the misalignment of the nation and the state: either the post-colonial state has failed to make the nation, or nations have descended into ‘tribalism’ in the process of carving out a state. What is common in these two presumptions, is that all African nations or states have the power to make their counterpart; by extension, the ‘failure ‘of such processes is rarely problematised beyond domestic politics and historical references to the impact of colonialism.
Why and in What Ways Have the Concept of Global Civil Society and Organizations Seeking to Represent it been Criticized?
This essay presents some of the major criticisms of global civil society, namely its conceptual vagueness and incoherence; its rhetorical function as a legitimation device that arguably undermines the transnational demos; and finally its maintenance and reproduction of the neoliberal order.
What do you Consider to be the Most Significant Security Threat Facing Human Society Over the Next Half Century and how Should it be Dealt with?
From a simple positivist position, it is relatively straightforward to claim that – in a not so distant future – the most significant threats to the human society will be environmentally related. It is difficult to conceive another set of problematics that could rival the global scale and potential magnitude of the consequences provoked – for instance – by a constant rise in the sea levels or by a substantial reduction in the global availability of water.
Contesting Neo-Realism and Liberal Idealism; Where do Hopes for a ‘Perpetual Peace’ Lie?
War has been an omnipresent aspect of the international order. Consequently, ‘realism’ sees conflict and war as the defining aspects of international relations. Conversely, ‘idealists’ posit that human reason/different forms of societal organization can curb or even eliminate belligerency. This essay draws on ‘critical theory’ to show that realism is essentially limited in its analysis of the world system.
Is the ‘new regionalism’ of Importance to East-West Security?
This work will look at the idea of regionalism and its link to security. It will argue that that Eurasia, in terms of security, consists of a regional security complex. However, looking at the current conditions in the sub-regions of Eurasia, recent experiences emphasize the weakness of regionalism. Regional security is more capable of identifying threats than constructing viable mechanisms and institutions to tackle them.
How Does the Process of State Formation in Most Developing Countries Differ from the Process Experienced in Europe and with what Consequences for their Developmental Potential?
The process of state formation seen in the past century in developing countries has diverged dramatically from the process experienced in Europe unsurprisingly as a result of different historical conditions. While the early European state building model will likely not repeat itself, it remains useful to compare state-making processes and experiences of survival to gain insights into contemporary state building and development.
Cooperative and Antagonistic NGO-State Relations
This essay asserts that although NGO participation appears to remain a privilege mediated and granted by states, NGO engagement, ‘self association’, and ‘political will formation’ is central in revealing how power must now be understood in the global order – that is to say that political power “operates through rather than on civil society”.
How are Indigenous Political Groups Challenging Ideas of Citizenship and Practices of Democracy in Latin America? Will They Deepen or Destabilise Democracy?
This essay argues that as well as deepening citizenship by undermining clientilism, indigenous movements open the debate about reforming democracy and expanding the liberal notion of citizenship by confronting liberal democracy with the challenge of pluralism.
Canada-US Cross Border Regions: Engines of Integration at an Impasse – The Case of Cascadia
Informed by the global governance perspective, this essay explores the internal, interrelational and ideational dimensions and forces shaping the Cascadia cross-border region (CBR) to provide useful insights into the nature, implications and future prospects of Canada-United States (US) CBRs.
After the Surge: Political Mobilisation and Statebuilding in Iraq since 2007
Analysing the record of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq since 2003 has often been an exercise in reconciling seemingly contradictory interpretations and dynamics. The key point on which such interpretations implicitly or explicitly diverge is on the role of the state in Iraqi history, particularly its strength and weakness in the exercise of political authority.
