International Relations Commons^™

Obama Stands On The Verge Of A ‘Truman Moment’ In History, Nicholas Hayes

University Chair in Critical Thinking Publications

No abstract provided.

The Deng Xiaoping Legacy: Leading Changes And Transforming China, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

No leader of the 20th century had made greater impact than Deng Xiaoping. Under the late Chinese leader's tenure, which lasted from 1978 to 1992, hundreds of millions of Chinese were lifted from poverty. The chaos that was the Cultural Revolution gave way to steadfast economic development that turned China into a key player in the world economy.

Towards A Communicative Theory Of International Law, Timothy L. Meyer

Scholarly Works

Does international law's effectiveness require a clear distinction between law and non-law? This essay, which reviews Jean d'Aspremont's Formalism and the Sources of International Law, argues the answer is no. Ambiguity about the legal nature of international instruments has important benefits. Clarity in the law may encourage states to do the minimum necessary to comply, while some uncertainty about what the law requires may induce states to take extra efforts to ensure they are in compliance. Ambiguity in the law also promotes dynamic change, an important feature in rapidly developing areas of the law such as international environmental law and …

Lost Lesson From 'Argo': Dignified Restraint In Face Of Victory, David Houghton

UCF Forum

It is one of the most remarkable stories in the CIA’s history, and a long untold story of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

Monday’S Debate: Watch For What Romney Says About Europe, Nicholas Hayes

University Chair in Critical Thinking Publications

No abstract provided.

Government Documents On Rare Earth Minerals, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Rare earth minerals contain unique chemical and physical properties such as lanthanum, are found in small concentrations, need extensive precise processes to separate, and are critical components of modern technologies such as laser guidance systems, personal electronics such as Blackberries, and satellites. The U.S. has some rare earth resources, but is heavily dependent on access to them from from Afghanistan, Bolivia, and China. Losing access to these resources would have significant economic, military, and political implications. This presentation will highlight government information resources on rare earth minerals from agencies such as the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DOD), …

Could Us-Syrian Strategies Lead To Genocide?, David J. Keeling

Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Nuclear Arms Control: Challenges And Opportunities In 2013, Steven Pifer

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

U.S. nuclear arms control policy must address numerous factors, including our strategic relationships with Russia and China, the potential for future nuclear weapons reductions--including non-strategic nuclear weapons, and the offense-defense relationship, given concerns that missile defense developments could in the future affect the nuclear balance. Washington DC must also consider its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, how to dissuade new countries from joining the nuclear weapons ranks, and what to do about the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the United States has signed but not ratified. This presentation will explore challenges and opportunities facing Washington DC in the aftermath of …

Corruption And Human Rights: Exploring The Relationships, Berihun Adugna Gebeye

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Corruption is a global phenomenon which every society faces though its degree of severity varies from country to country. Despite its long history, there is no single universally agreed upon definition of corruption. Moreover, its causes, forms and impacts are diverse and multi-faceted. Understanding corruption by itself is a complex undertaking. However, it is agreed that corruption is inimical to public administration, undermines democracy, degrades the moral fabrics of the society and violates human rights. The pain of corruption touches all the human family but it disproportionately affects the vulnerable sections of the society. It reinforces discrimination, exclusion and arbitrariness. …

Declaring Victory And Retreating: Some Difficult Questions About Afghanistan, Nicholas Hayes

University Chair in Critical Thinking Publications

No abstract provided.

Politics As Usual At The Un: Implementing Pillar Three Of Rtop, Eric A. Heinze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's most recent report on RtoP seeks to evaluate the various ways that Pillar Three of RtoP can be implemented. As anyone familiar with RtoP is aware, the commitment is understood to have three separate but interrelated pillars. The first pillar says that states have the primary responsibility to protect their own citizens from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. Pillar Two says that the international community should assist states in fulfilling this responsibility, while Pillar Three says that if the state fails in its primary responsibility to protect its citizens from these crimes, …

“The Rtop And Responsibility While Protecting: The Secretary-General’S Timely And Decisive Report On Timely And Decisive Responses”, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The United Nations Secretary-General's report on pillar three of the responsibility to protect (RtoP), "Responsibility to Protect: Timely and Decisive Response," is the most interesting, timely, and decisive of his four reports thus far on the RtoP. To start with, the subject matter of pillar three – the international community's potentially coercive responses to humanitarian crises, including humanitarian intervention – is the most controversial part of the RtoP doctrine and the area that has attracted the most criticism from skeptics. Previous reports, such as Implementing the Responsibility to Protect(2009), gave pillar three, and humanitarian intervention in particular, fairly short shrift, …

Strategies & Decisiveness: What Is Implied By A “Timely And Decisive Response” For Rtop Situations, H. M. Roff

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Reflecting upon United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's recent report concerning the third pillar of the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP), on the "timely and decisive response," two items become clear to me. First is that the third pillar is inherently coercive in nature, even though the report and many RtoP pundits stress that it entails more than merely sanctioning the use of force. Second is that this is unsurprising if we recall that the purpose of RtoP is to ensure the protection of particular human rights (rights against: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing) and that having a …

Foreign Front: Third World Politics In Sixties West Germany, Bruce Garver

International Dialogue

In Foreign Front, Quinn Slobodian presents a thorough, critical, and well documented account of how West German and foreign students cooperatively organized and led large public demonstrations from February 1961 onward against repressive policies of Third World dictatorships and imperialistic great powers. Simultaneously this joint activity accelerated the political radicalization of German students while enlarging their understanding of international affairs. Foreign students initiated many of these demonstrations in order to protest injustice and suppression of dissent by their home governments. In doing so, they were helped by their German fellow students to utilize the free press and civil liberties in …

On The Other: A Muslim View, Mile Babić

International Dialogue

The original Bosnian title of Rusmir Mahmutćehajić's book, Malo znanja, means “Little Knowledge” and comes from the Qur’an (17:85). It encapsulates the author’s fundamental insight and the fundamental thesis of the book, a thesis that places him securely in a current of thinkers conscious of their own ignorance that runs from Socrates to Nicholas of Cusa, from Socrates’ “I know that I know nothing” to Cusanus’ docta ingnorantia (learned ignorance). It is not accidental that I mention no thinkers of the modern period, caught up as they were by modernity's will for power, carried off into the realms of absolute …

International Relations In The Post-Industrial Era [Rephrasing The Third World], Owen Mordaunt

International Dialogue

Arthur Natella begins his book by stating that the concept of the “Third World” is out of date. The dominant attitude is that Third World people would to see things as they are seen by First World nations and do things their way if they are better educated. But the standard for measuring social values, according to Natella, is outdated, for various reasons. Among these is the fact that the United States is a debtor nation. Secondly, it is no longer a “manufacturing-based society” but one that is “service-based” or an “information-gathering nation, with its advanced technology often more geared …

Globalectics: Theory And The Politics Of Knowing, Annika Hughes

International Dialogue

“Life after theory is a text.” —Derrida, “Following Theory: Jacques Derrida,” 27

A bit like Schrödinger’s cat, it is unclear to me whether or not theory has died and if it has, whether or not it should be resurrected. If it has indeed died and needs to be brought back to life, future theorists should certainly read Globalectics: Theory and the Politics of Knowing by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o before trying to revive it. For if Derrida’s theory is correct and life after theory is a text, one of the texts on that reading list should include Thiong’o’s account of a …

Table Of Contents, Rory J. Conces

International Dialogue

Table of Contents for Volume 2

Images Of Muslims In Evangelical Christian And Secular Right-Wing Discourse, Kristian Steiner

International Dialogue

This is a comparative content analysis of the construction of Islam and Muslims in two Swedish publications—the newspaper Världen idag and the journal SD-Kuriren, the official organ of the Sweden Democrats—representing the Swedish Evangelical Christian right and the Swedish political right, respectively. The aim is to see both agreement and differences in their Muslim-related discourse from 2006–2007. Both news products share basic assumptions about Muslims and Islam. The main theme in the editorials and articles is the Muslim threat, in some cases combined with a Western retreat. Världen idag also focuses on Islam’s alleged incompatibility with democracy. In both media …

Living Beyond The End Times: Living In The End Times, Edward Sandowski, Betty J. Harris

International Dialogue

In Living in the End Times, Slavoj Žižek takes up themes many of which he has explored elsewhere in his numerous works embodied in varied media. This Slovenian origin cosmopolitan philosopher and cultural critic uses many types of outlets and modes of expression (books and scholarly journal articles, but also journalistic publications, TV interviews, appearances in documentary films, etc.) to explore variegated subject matter. He responds to politics in an age of increasing globalization by taking up a global range of issues, and responds to the multimedia environment which conveys ideology as false consciousness with his own multimedia works, possibly …