Display options:
All articles
Rethinking the Borders inside Latin America and the Clash of Social Imaginaries: The Role of Intercultural Universities in Ecuador and Mexico
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 3
ABSTRACT: In order to speak about “borders” in Latin America, it is necessary to take an approach that reflects the specific interethnic realities of this region where autonomy is a key emerging issue. The concept of autonomy is often mistakenly linked to forced political and administrative changes that...
On Border and On Murder: Juárez Femi(ni)cides
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 3
ABSTRACT: Employing critical methods of postcolonial literary studies and feminist theories, this paper investigates Juárez femi(ni)cides arguing that they are not just a massive heinous crime but a result of a socio-economic system of structural inequalities pertaining to cultural and social constructions...
Emigration and displacement in Ciudad Juárez, México
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 3
ABSTRACT: This work presents the emigration phenomenon of Ciudad Juárez which rose sharply between 2007 to 2012 because of an increase in public insecurity and unemployment in the city. The work discusses the emigration flows to El Paso Texas, and some municipalities of Veracruz, México. Analysis focuses...
So Far from God, So Close to the United States: Current Dynamics of Mexican Migration to the United States
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 3
ABSTRACT: This work examines the development of US immigration policy with a focus on border enforcement, migrant removals and the effects on human security at the US-Mexican border. My research considers three stages in the journey of the unauthorised migrant: clandestine crossing, detention in the...
From Imagined Communities to Bordered Societies? Bordering Processes in the Americas in the late 20th and early 21st Century
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 3
ABSTRACT: This study explores the meaning of borders in the late 20th and early 21st centuries in the Americas. It argues that borders can best be understood as the result of bordering practices which are socially defined and constructed. Following the theoretical framework proposed by Popescu, I analyse...
Incremental Escalation as a Cost-Avoidance Instrument in International Conflicts
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 2
ABSTRACT: How do states involved in international conflict decide on the quality and quantity of force to use? Traditional understandings of military threats and force in international relations emphasise its quality as an instrument for achieving victory in a dyadic dispute. However, changes in the...
Afghanistan and the Privatisation of Security in the Czech Republic
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 2
ABSTRACT: The Czech Republic has its own, specific, experience with the privatisation of security. The Czech private security market and available private security services has typically been limited to domestic sectors. This article explores the potential Czech private security actors have abroad and...
Pirates of Aden: A Threat beyond Somalia’s Shores?
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 2
ABSTRACT: This study focuses on trends in maritime piracy in the Aden Gulf in the period 2009-2012. My research examines core actors and their activities and the corresponding responses of local and international authorities. This work is based on analytical monitoring conducted over the same period.
Keywords: maritime...
Transnational Threats and Reformulating Security in the UN
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 2
ABSTRACT: Over the past two decades, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has increasingly dealt with new thematic issues and, particularly, with so-called “transnational security challenges.” What implications does this trend have? Focusing on conceptual dimensions, this article analyses whether,...
Small but Substantial: What Drives Ghana’s Contributions to UN Peacekeeping Missions?
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 2
ABSTRACT: Ghana is among the largest military contributors to UN Peacekeeping Missions (PKM). Irrespective of Ghana’s considerably smaller population size, armed forces capabilities and state budget than other contributing states such as India and Nigeria, Ghana has been substantially involved in most...
Distant Shores? Evaluating Spain’s Immigration Policy
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 2
ABSTRACT: Over the past few decades, Spain has transformed from a net emigration country into a hub of international immigrants. Over the past five years, the number of foreigners living in Spain has increased four times implying a flow of some three million new people streaming into Spain at a time...
The Europeanisation of Czech Parties’ Election Manifestos Reviewing the 2013 Chamber of Deputies Elections
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 2
ABSTRACT: This work contributes to the debate on the Europeanisation of political parties and particularly the Europeanisation of party election manifestos. This contribution investigates the extent of programmatic Europeanisation of relevant political parties before the 2013 Chamber of Deputies elections...
Unpacking Bangladesh’s 2014 Elections: A Clash of the “Warring Begums”
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 2
ABSTRACT: This work analyses events in the political life of Bangladesh after military rule. It focuses on the rise of the leaders of two influential parties – the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party – and the reasons for their animosity towards one another. I argue that both these political...
Environmental Cooperation and Conflict Transformation
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 2
ABSTRACT: This work is concerned with the tactic of using environmental cooperation as a conflict transformation instrument. This is an optimistic approach which suggests that environmental cooperation is an independent variable that may positively influence politics due to it retaining strong peacebuilding...
Libya, Resolution 1973 and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 1
ABSTRACT: This article sheds light on the intervention in Libya through the lens of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). This, together with the deployment of Just War theory, will help explain some of the nuances surrounding the legitimacy of the Libyan intervention in 2011. The work is based on providing...
From Peacekeeping to Peace Enforcement and Back to Peacebuilding Dilemmas: Is there A Growing Insecurity of International Security?
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 1
ABSTRACT: Since its creation in 1945, the UN has steadily increased the ambition and the scale of its peace and security agenda in conflict-affected countries. The development of peacekeeping is seen as a global means to achieve its aspirations of international peace and security. Yet, there are problems...
Security, Inc.: Privatising Internal Security in Post-Communist Poland
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 1
ABSTRACT:The question of how and when authority diminishes in states has been a persistent feature of international relations and the political sciences for several decades. The issue is often referred to as ‘governance without a government’ and tries to understand systems of thick and thin sovereignty....
Private Prisons and the Emerging Immigrant Market: Implications for Security Governance
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 1
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this work is to examine the role and involvement of the two largest private prisons corporations in the US, Corrections Corporations of America (CCA) and The GEO Group, Inc., in the immigration policymaking arena. Recent news reported the role of private prison industry in sponsoring...
PMSCs and the Regulatory Environment in Iraq Post-2011
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 1
ABSTRACT: This article explores the security demands and regulatory changes in Iraq since 2011 that have required the private security industry to adapt its corporate strategy. Drawing from cutting-edge primary research, including interviews with contractors and with multinational clients in Iraq and...
Rethinking U.S. Policy Toward Iran's Nuclear Programme
Issue:
2014 - Volume 8, Issue 4
ABSTRACT: A period of Western support for Iran’s nuclear programme gave way to opposition by the same world powers, when it was realised that alongside civilian use, the Islamic Republic was also pursuing a nuclear weapons programme. Driven by Tehran’s policy of aggression, in the Middle East and elsewhere,...
Deterring Russia by U.S. Followership? Decomposing the Czech Participation in Afghanistan
Issue:
2014 - Volume 8, Issue 4
ABSTRACT: Deconstructing and explaining the Czech involvement in Afghanistan’s post-war reconstruction are the key roles of this study. The notion of strategic narrative has recently been gaining popularity with security analysts. This work considers the applicability of this concept and its links to...
Is There a Legal Basis for Military Intervention to Protect Civilians in Syria?
Issue:
2014 - Volume 8, Issue 4
ABSTRACT: The anti-government protests that erupted in Syria in March 2011 assumed a more formal nature following the violent government response that ultimately escalated into civil war. There is broad consensus that the Syrian regime has committed crimes against humanity against its own population...
The Issue of Madhism within Shia Ideology and Ahmadinejad’s Doctrine
Issue:
2015 - Volume 9, Issue 1
ABSTRACT: I will attempt to argue in this paper that the rise of Mahdism within Shi’a political Islam during Ahmadinejad’s era did not lead to a significant break with previous development. Relevance of Mahdism within Shi’a politicized and ideologized Islam in Iran has been on the rise since the...
The Poverty of Statistics: Military Power and Strategic Balance
Issue:
2014 - Volume 8, Issue 4
ABSTRACT: Military expenditures and the number of service personnel are the two most common features used to compare national military power. However, to what extent they reflect the real world remains a question. This article aims to provide the answer by using data on the great power conflicts of the...
Looking for Insurgency in Cyberspace
Issue:
2014 - Volume 8, Issue 4
ABSTRACT: This study explores the rapidly developing area of conflicts in cyberspace. Its main objective is to outline the concept of cyber-insurgency, which has so far been missing from academic investigations. In addition, this work examines other types of conflicts present in cyberspace, including...
Latvia and Money Laundering: An Examination of Regulatory and Institutional Effectiveness in Combating Money Laundering
Issue:
2014 - Volume 8, Issue 4
ABSTRACT: In the wake of the Cyprus bailout, illicit financial flows and money laundering have shown their systemic threat to the stability of not only the Eurozone but to the international financial system. Great attention is being paid to countries’ anti-money laundering efforts and on the stability...
Saudi Arabia and the Arab Spring: Reshaping Saudi Security Doctrine
Issue:
2014 - Volume 8, Issue 4
ABSTRACT: The Gulf regional strategic environment indicates that the balance of power is moving towards an inward concentration for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states while Iran attempts to fill the strategic vacuum created by the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. This work explores Saudi national security...
Differentiating Arctic Provinces: A Cluster Analysis of Geographic and Geopolitical Indicators
Issue:
2014 - Volume 8, Issue 4
ABSTRACT:Based on a geographical-administrative definition of the region, theoretical assumptions of contemporary structuralist geopolitics, cross-sectional data for 2000, 2005 and 2010 from the Arctic Regional Attributes Dataset, and the technical capabilities of cluster analysis, this article aims...
How the 2004 and 2007 EU Enlargements Weakened the CFSP and CSDP: A Socio-Economic and Geopolitical Analysis
Issue:
2014 - Volume 8, Issue 2
ABSTRACT: From its very beginnings, defence and security related issues were a major concern of EU policy. However, it was the demise of the USSR in the early 1990’s and the end of the Cold War that – between 1998 and 2004 – gave a major push to the evolution of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy...
China’s Multidimensional Juggle: The Challenges of a Rising Power
Issue:
2014 - Volume 8, Issue 3
ABSTRACT: As the 21st century unfolds, it is almost unarguable that East and Southeast Asia will be increasingly important in global economic, political, and security affairs. China, depicted in media outlets as a state which is continually violating human rights, is dealing with recurrent internal problems...