Display options:
All articles
Assessing the Effectiveness of EU Sanctions Policy
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 1
While the European Communities (ECs) has applied autonomous sanctions for many years, their character has significantly changed since the 1990s. Such changes may be the result of the transformation of the ECs into the European Union (EU), and to the creation of its second pillar; the Common Foreign and...
Western Values and Strategic Interests? Evaluating Potential Georgian Membership in NATO
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 1
Since the Russian-Georgian conflict in August 2008, the Republic of Georgia’s potential membership in NATO has been a hotly contested issue. Unfortunately, the arguments on both sides of the debate often rely on catchphrases such as “vibrant democracy” and “corrupt authoritarianism” without referencing...
Moving Together Toward an Uncertain Future: US-European Counterterrorism Vision, Responses & Cooperation Post-9/11
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 1
The lead-up to the Iraq War, and its conduct, highlighted significant differences in transatlantic perspectives, capabilities, and methods. While terrorism has generally been America’s central fixation since 9/11 (until the recent economic recession), Europe sees terrorism as only one of several important...
Europe and the United States in the “Asian” 21st Century: The Political, Economic and Security Context
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 1
While, at the western end of Eurasia, most European states are taking part in a great experiment; broadening and deepening their political, economic and security integration within the EU, at the eastern end of Eurasia, an experiment of no less importance is underway. China, the world’s most populous...
What We Talk About When We Talk About Democracy Assistance: The Problem of Definition in Post-Conflict Approaches
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 1
Since the early 1990s, one of the most striking characteristics to emerge in post-conflict peacebuilding has been the prime position assumed by democratisation; an approach we can term post-conflict democracy assistance. This focus has hinged on an unerring belief that democratic governance, provided...
Questioning the Dominance of Military Means: The Bush Administration’s Fight against Terrorism
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 1
This work is devoted to investigating the variety of approaches that the US presidential administration of George W. Bush deployed to counter terrorism following 9/11. This topic deserves special attention because Bush’s approach to fighting terrorism is often misconceived as primarily or even only,...
Evaluating Sub-State Participation in the History of International Health Co-operation
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 1
The Treaty of Westphalia is often referred to as the point of departure in the history of international relations. It was in 1648 that the modern state system was established and the concept of national sovereignty born. Today, these two concepts remain essential elements that govern interstate relations....
Understanding Suicide Terrorism: Problem-Solving Approach to Suicide Terrorism
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 2
Over the past few years, the problem of suicide terrorism has garnered significant scholarly interest. Recent literature on suicide terrorism eschews earlier claims about the profound irrationality or psychopathology of attackers and focuses instead on the strategic dimension of this phenomenon, introducing...
Talking about Unlawful Combatants? A Short and Concise Assessment of a Long and Multifaceted Debate
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 2
In the memorandum of February 7, 2002, (former) US president George W. Bush qualified the members of the Taliban movement arrested in Afghanistan and detained at the US military base of Guantánamo Bay as "unlawful combatants". In the following months, the scope of this term was broadened to include,...
Medvedev's Initiative: A Trap for Europe?
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 2
The informal meeting of OSCE foreign ministers (Corfu, June 27-28, 2009) launched the so-called ‘Corfu Process'. Greek Foreign Minister, Theodora Bakoyannis, summarizing the meeting's discussions noted that the process should be an open, sustained, wide-ranging and inclusive dialogue on security [with...
Governing Internal Security in the European Union
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 2
The Maastricht treaty on the European Union (EU) erected a three-pillar edifice of European integration whose third pillar comprised various forms of cooperation in justice and home affairs. Many practices had existed much before 1992 and their inclusion into the new organization was a kind of cosmetic...
Missing Development Opportunities on the EU's Southern Border
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 2
According to Kennan's long telegram, permanent peaceful coexistence between the democratic ‘West' and the communist ‘East,' (led by the Soviet Union), was next to impossible (Kennan, 1946). However, similar to Soviet ‘official statements,' Kennan's assumptions were thinly veiled propaganda, meant for...
Continuity and Change in the US Foreign and Security Policy with the Accession of President Obama
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 2
The question of continuity and change in the US Foreign/Security Policy (henceforth USFSP) after the accession of President Obama can be constructively studied from two complementary perspectives: the thematic perspective and the procedural perspective. This method determines the structure of this analysis....
State Failure and Security in a Post-Westphalia Era
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 2
A current trend in International Relations (IR) suggests that challenges to the international system are of a post-Westphalia character. These new challenges are caused by the gradual decline of the state as the only authoritative player on the international relations and security chessboard. A shift...
Multilateral Development Bank Accountability Mechanisms: Developments and Challenges
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 2
Prior to 1993, the multilateral development banks (MDBs) could be held to account for their actions only by their shareholders - governments in all cases that provided working capital for the banks for their lending and development purposes. It was thus a fundamental change in the system of international...
Transnational Organized Crime in International Relations
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 1
Although it has never been central to IR theories, transnational organized crime (TOC) is inherently an international phenomenon that has an impact on international security, world politics, international trade, and human rights. Yet, TOC unquestionably occupies a niche within the domain of IR and should...
European Arrest Warrant: Implications for EU Counterterrorism Efforts
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 1
This article provides an analysis of the introduction, implementation and implications of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) for the European Union (EU) counterterrorism efforts. In addition, it demonstrates that EAW represents the only major practical application of mutual recognition in EU’s Justice...
Securitizing Piracy Off the Coast of Somalia
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 1
Piracy off the coast of the failed state of Somalia has been growing at an alarming rate. Last year (2008), over 120 attacks have been reported, resulting in the seizure of more than 40 ships and the kidnapping of more than 600 crew members, and about $30 million (USD) in ransom has been paid. Somali...
The Gulen Movement: An Islamic Response to Terror as a Global Challenge
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 1
Whilst globalization seems to be winning the battle against both modern and traditional movements which were, until fairly recently, quite active on both the national and the regional levels, it is doubtful that the challenges brought about by globalization can be easily met by some of the world’s stronger...
Bush, Clausewitz, and Grand Strategic Imperatives: Keeping Political Ends Primary
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 1
As former President George W. Bush relinquished the reigns as Command¬er-in-Chief to President Barak Obama, it is fitting to reflect on how the US will remember Bush in years to come. Whether or not one agrees with his decision to commit U.S. forces to military action against Saddam Hussein and his Ba’ath...
The EU-Iran Dialogue in the Context of the Ongoing Nuclear Crisis
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 1
The EU-Iran ‘Comprehensive Dialogue,’ launched in 1998 following the election of reformist President Khatami, did not achieve any significant re¬sults, mostly as a consequences of the controversy surrounding Iran’s nuclear program. It involved high-level discussions on political matters, as well as on...
Evaluating the Current Global Order: A Canadian Perspective
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 1
The financial crisis currently gripping the United States, and reverberating around the world, has strengthened the claims of a growing number of observ¬ers and political scientists that the American unipolar moment is passing.2 On September 25 in a speech to the Bundestag, German Finance Minister Peer...
EU Enlargement and Current Adaptation Challenges
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 1
The European Union’s (EU) enlargement process was an integral part of the EC/EU’s wider integration project and, surprisingly, it has not yet halted. The journey from six to twenty seven has been a long and complicated one, and the realisation of some of the projects has required much time and political...
Putin’s Foreign Policy and the Founding of the NATO-Russia Council
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 1
For Russia, NATO represents a major foreign policy challenge that contin¬ues to create friction within the European security architecture. Although many expected the end of the Cold War to usher in a new era of cooperation, Russia and NATO have continued to harbor mutual suspicions and old biases. This...
Russian Relations to the Gulf Region in a Changing Geopolitical Environment
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 1
Scholars of most academic disciplines across the social sciences have a fondness for comparing different regions in order to evaluate why one may be developing more rapidly than another, why democracy may be stalled in one region or flourishing in another, or why the benefits foreseen by economic reform...
The Role of G8 Economic Summits in Global Monetary Architecture
Issue:
2009 - Volume 3, Issue 1
The 1970s saw turbulent and dramatic economic transitions. The breakdown of the Bretton Woods System introduced new monetary conditions that ended a period of consensus among most capitalist states regarding ideal regimes to form their monetary relations. Until 1971, the interests of financial capital...
Cross-Cutting Issues in International Capital
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 2
For many decades, particularly since the 1970s, markets have been praised as the most effective economic mechanisms, and the more market actors there are, the better the mechanisms work, making the world economy an ideal stage for the interplay of market forces. Different streams of liberalism and the...
Collective Security and Unilateral Decisions - Security Prospects for the post-Soviet Space
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 2
Unlike anywhere else within the international community, the post-Soviet space (pSs) is unique since the states within it are bound together not only because of common history and culture, but also due to political geography and largely uniform self-perceptions. The Commonwealth of Independent States...
China's Energy Security and Geo-Economic Interests in Central Asia
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 2
Energy security, a relatively new term in international relations jargon, implies states (or other political communities) securing adequate and reliable energy supplies at stable prices. Currently, this involves securing so-called primary energy supplies which include, coal, petroleum, natural gas, hydro-electricity...
The Russian Minority in Post-Communist Politics: a Case Study of Ukraine, Moldova and Chechnya
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 2
From the moment the republics of the Soviet Union proclaimed their independence in 1991, the face of the Soviet ethno-cultural demographic changed significantly. Soviet dissolution was the primary expedient for the creation of the Russian diaspora, as twenty-five million Russians found themselves located...