Great power responsibility to protect is actually bolstered when effective enforcement is unilaterally implemented despite divisions among major states.
The original motivation for what has become the EU was for a lasting peace in Europe, in which no country would dominate the continent. Yet, the euro and large country nationalism have changed the EU into the vehicle to achieve that domination.
The crisis in Mali, and the Sahel in general, seems to be heading dramatically towards an eco-strategic-religious international power struggle in which the indigenous population may well become the first victim.
The collapse of the USSR ushered in the unipolar moment of IR and meant that traditional approaches to understanding the world immediately became antiquated, or did it?
The reality of Uzbekistan leaving the Collective Security Treaty Organization is that any influence that Moscow is perceived to have lost is influence it did not actually have. And, any additional US gains are minuscule at best.
The only thing that is precise about drone strikes is the machine that delivers them. We would do well to be more realistic about how much we think we can programme imprecision out of our lives – and more modest about the true nature of “precision strikes,” writes Michael Aaronson on his e-IR blog “Rethinking International Intervention.”
Uzbekistan’s decision to suspend its CSTO membership reflects the changing geostrategic landscape of Central Asia. It should also lead the region to reflect on its current collective security arrangements.
The Falkland Islands Government have demonstrated their willingness to deploy democratic levers (and no shortage of creativity) in responding to the escalating rhetoric in the South Atlantic.
There is no side-stepping the need to hold both state and non-state actors accountable for their behaviour in space. Transparency and confidence building measures are the key practical tools for a successful framework.
(Source: e-IR.info)
There has not been much consideration of how Scotland potentially seceding from the UK might impact the Basque movement in Spain. Despite the many similarities between the two cases, it is unlikely to have much impact.
(Source: e-IR.info)
The behaviour of women who undertake a suicide mission is unusual in the traditionally patriarchal Palestinian society, and has the allusion of challenging traditional female roles. In reality, it is a dead end.
Iran’s response to U.S. and EU sanctions demonstrates its increasing desperation, but the West lacks a plan for translating its current advantage into Iranian concessions on its nuclear program.
No country in the Gulf with the possible exception of Qatar at all welcomed the Arab Spring. Only when Arab dependency upon U.S. guarantees changes will the Gulf States move towards meaningful cooperation.
Stewart and Knaus argue that the international community is capable of stopping mass atrocities. Yet, it must adopt an incremental approach burnished by local knowledge and expertise.
Post-9/11 American geopolitical entertainment has become brutal – played out via unabashed relish for pro-American killing and zealous bloodlust that’s morally fig-leafed by American patriotism so as to be defensible to the viewer.
