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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...
Establishing the Norm of Humanitarian Intervention in International Relations
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 2
International relations are presently in the midst of impressive change. Whether discussing traditional geopolitics, political and economic globalisation, international institutions, the rise of religious extremism, energy security, or enviro-politics, it is sure that the 21st century offers new challenges,...
Pakistan at 61: An Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 2
Sixty-one years after its independence in 1947, Pakistan still faces fundamental questions of identity, governance, state and nation-building. Despite being the only nuclear-armed Muslim country – raising Pakistan’s international political importance – more than one third of the Pakistani population...
Water and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 2
Economically, the Middle Eastern region is primarily agricultural, which is being practiced in an arid and desert-like environment. Water is a highly politicized and naturally scarce resource in the region, and there have always been conflicts over the ownership and use of water resources. Modern history...
Between Militarism and Pacifism: Conscientious Objection and Draft Resistance in Israel
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 1
The outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada in 2000 prompted many Israelis to object to Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories by refusing their reserve call-up or by resisting the draft. They have established and were active in four social movements (Yesh Gvul, Courage to Refuse, New Profile...
Linking DDR and SSR in Post-conflict States: Agendas for Effective Security Sector Reintegration
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 1
According to the UN's Integrated Operational Guide to DDR Standards (IDDRS), DDR seeks to create security and stability in post-conflict environments, and to start recovery and development, by getting the former combatants to comprehensively disarm and providing them with opportunities for sustainable...
The Conflicting Rebirth of Multipolarity in International Relations
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 1
The process of constructing a new multipolar world, which will probably take decades to complete and whose boundaries may only become clear by 2020, is just as important as the process which ended the Cold War some 20 years ago. The United States, as the only global superpower, is increasingly confronted...
President Bush's Address to the Nation on U.S. Policy in Iraq: A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 1
The reasons for selecting this political speech are simple. Firstly, it was delivered in the wake of the latest U.S. Senate Elections, the result of which gave the Democrats a slim majority in Congress for the first time since the Presidential Election of 2000.
Secondly, the over-all situation in...