Issue 2007 - Volume 1, Issue 2

Issue 1:2

Balka Kwasniewski

American Political Power: Hegemony on its Heels?

International relations epochs seldom have abrupt beginnings and conclusions. Rather, changes to the norms, values and boundaries of international relations often occur in a painstakingly slow and ambiguous process. As the saying goes, Rome was neither built nor destroyed in a day. The post-Cold War period seems to be the exception that proves the rule. The reunification of Germany, the crumbling of the Iron Curtain, the demise of the Soviet Union (and with it the Cold War clash of ethics and…

Issue 1:2

Richard Lappin

Is Peace-Building Common Sense?

Peace, it is often claimed, is common sense. Whilst many of us feel a normative bond to this claim, the continuation of violence would suggest that the fostering of sustainable peace remains an elusive goal. Perhaps it is time to re-examine this most fundamental of claims if we are to accept the true complexities that are involved in peace building. Common sense is one of those fantastically frustrating phrases that is used with significant frequency, yet is annoyingly difficult to comprehend.…

Issue 1:2

Svenja Stropahl and Niklas Keller

Adoption of Socially Responsible Investment Practices in the Chinese Investment Sector: A Cost-Benefit Approach

In 2003, ten of the world’s largest private banks, in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation, voluntarily committed themselves to adopting social and environmental investment-standards. Since then, 54 institutions from 21 states, active in over a 100 countries have adopted these standards. Although the implementation of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) demands sweeping reforms, the established part of the private investment sector considers SRI to play a significant…

Issue 1:2

Daniel Kimmage and Kathleen Ridolfo

Iraqi Insurgent Media: The War of Images and Idea

Presented primarily in Arabic on an array of websites unknown to most Americans and Europeans, Iraqi insurgent media hover at the margins of mainstream reports in the form of a "claim of responsibility on an insurgent website" or a "video posted to a jihadist forum." Such marginal references fail to convey the scope and significance of an effort that encompasses daily press releases, weekly and monthly magazines, video clips, and even full-length films. The extent of the insurgent media…

Issue 1:2

Marketa Geislerova

The Role of Diasporas in Foreign Policy: The Case of Canada

Diasporas engage in a range of trans-national activities for political purposes. Forcefully dispersed or conflict-generated diasporas are more prone to be politically engaged than diasporas whose members have moved for economic reasons or in order to improve their standards of living. While some of these activities support Canadian foreign policy objectives, others contravene them and may create security risks. Diasporas are playing an ever increasing role in conflicts around the world. Two…

Issue 1:2

Atsushi Yasutomi and Jan Carmans

Security Sector Reform (SSR) in Post-Conflict States: Challenges of Local Ownership

While the term Security Sector Reform has been widely used in the post-conflict peace-building context, further clarification is needed to reveal a larger significance. The OECD's Guidelines on Security System and Governance Reform defines security sector reform as; [it] includes all the actors, their roles, responsibilities and actions - working together to manage and operate the system in a manner that is more consistent with democratic norms and sound principles of good governance, and thus…

Issue 1:2

Nikola Hynek

Humanitarian Arms Control, Symbiotic Functionalism and the Concept of Middlepowerhood

This article arises from dissatisfaction with predominant accounts concerning changes in interactions between nongovernmental actors and governments in contemporary world politics, namely the image of a tension between so-called state-centric and transnational worlds. Specifically, it can be conceived of as a response to an ongoing stream of celebratory commentaries on the alleged victory of the transnational world over the state-centric one in what has been hailed by commentators as a…

Issue 1:2

Denis Madore

The Gratuitous Suicide by the Sons of Pride: On Honour and Wrath in Terrorist Attacks

In the Western philosophic and literary tradition to be without home or country is a fate that both demands our loathing and pity. As Aristotle characterized it, a man born without a city is either a "beast or a god". Such beings Aristotle maintains, since they cannot properly be called human, have a natural tendency towards war and violence. Aristotle sites Homer in describing such a being as clanless, lawless, and hearthless. "The man who is such by nature at once plunges into a passion for…

Issue 1:2

Shoghig Mikaelian

Israeli Security Doctrine between the Thirst for Exceptionalism and Demands for Normalcy

Israeli security has been invoked time and again to explain Israeli behavior and justify Israeli actions vis-à-vis neighboring states and peoples. Yet there have been few insights into the manner in which Israeli security doctrine3 has been formulated, the various factors that have shaped and influenced it, and the events that have re-shaped it over the years. Since 1991, Israel's regional standing and relations with Arab states and other actors have undergone major changes, owing in part to a…

2019 - Volume 13 Issue 3

Hydro-Politics and the Dynamics of the Shifting Ethio-Egyptian…

The foremost intent of this article is to investigate the major dynamics that are changing in Ethio-Egyptian hydropolitical relations. To attain this objective the researcher employed case study design, primary and secondary sources of data, and purposive sampling techniques. Despite the fact that…

Russia, the Arctic and Northeast Asia: The Strategic Importance…

Historically, the Arctic has been much more important to Russia than to other Arctic countries. In Soviet times, the development of the Arctic was of paramount importance and it was used by the Soviet government to legitimise its great power status to domestic and international audiences. It is…