...INTRODUCTION Foreign military involvement in Africa and indeed elsewhere around the globe is nothing new. As noted by Falola and Thomas (2014), between 1945 to1999 out of one hundred and fifty seven civil wars in the world, more than hundreds of them saw some level of external interventions. Since the era of colonialism ended, Africa has witnessed a great deal of foreign interference in both its economic and political settings. In recent times, there has been an upsurge in foreign military engagements on the continent; mention can be made of Libya, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Central African Republic. In as much as these military operations aid in addressing pressing needs at the time, we cannot lose sight of the looming dangers ahead with specific focus on terrorist organisations and the threat they pose to regional peace and stability. In this research, the writer will try to examine some of the threats such military operations expose African states to, drawing upon lessons learnt from other areas across the world with much emphasis placed on the much recent Afghanistan and Iraq wars on terror. The aim is to examine the profound effects foreign military action poses to Mali. OBJECTIVES: • Evaluate the consequence of military involvement on the ordinary Malian, taking into consideration basic supply such as water, food and shelter. • Establish that reasons stated for military actions are sometime a pretext to hidden motives or sometimes fabricated. • Ascertain the capability...
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...|HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION | |INTRODUCTION | Humanitarian intervention poses a hard test for any international society built on principles of sovereignty, non-intervention, and the non-use of force. Immediately after the Holocaust, the society of states established laws prohibiting genocide, forbidding the mistreatment of civilians, and recognizing basic human rights. These humanitarian principles often conflict with principles of sovereignty and non-intervention. Sovereign states are expected to act as guardians of their citizens’ security, but what happens if states behave as criminals towards their own people, treating sovereignty as a licence to kill? Should tyrannical states be recognized as legitimate members of international society and accorded the protection afforded by the non-intervention principle? Or, should states forfeit their sovereign rights and be exposed to legitimate intervention if they actively abuse or fail to protect their citizens? Related to this, what responsibilities do other states or institutions have to enforce human rights norms against governments that massively violate them? Armed humanitarian intervention was not a legitimate practice during the cold war because states placed more...
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...R2P: Doomed from the Start? According to law that dates back to 1648, nations have the right to govern within their borders in whatever manner determined fitting. Some states, although granted this right that is inherent to the foundation of the international system, fail to protect their citizens from harm. Too often in recent history have governments neglected to protect their people during conflicts or crises, and with a world with increasing visibility and communication, states have responded with a basic plan to prevent mass crimes such as Bosnia and Rwanda. Thus, Responsibility to Protect (R2P) was developed as a caveat for the international community to intervene when a government fails to protect its own citizens from mass atrocities. Genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing are the four conditions under which the international community is authorized to intervene, should a state fail to protect its citizens (Rudolph 2014). In the past 20 years, R2P has been under construction and constantly under evolution from theory to practice. While parameter definition and norm building continue to cycle from lessons learned, the three foundational pillars upon which the R2P model dangles from remains the same: “Pillar 1: Every state has the responsibility to protect its populations from the four mass atrocity crimes Pillar 2: The wider international community has the responsibility to encourage and assist individual states in meeting that responsibility ...
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...Introduction to Neoliberalism/Neoliberal Institutionalism The theory/theoretical framework that is used to examine cooperation between nation-states, which emphasizes the possibility of mutual gains Related terminology 1. Absolute gain: a theoretical option open to political actors based on the belief that decisions will benefit all organisations within a state and/or all member states within an intergovernmental organisation (IGO) Includes all aspects of cooperative behaviour between states; especially power ratios, economic activity and socio-cultural effects 2. Relative gain: a theoretical option open to political actors based on the belief that decisions are only intended to balance power relations between states or increase the power of one state over its rivals Generally disregards economic and socio-cultural considerations, and only allows limited cooperation between states (especially in relations where information about other states’ interests and inclinations is limited) 3. Zero-sum: a relational state wherein a participant's gain or loss is exactly balanced by the losses or gains of the other participants (assuming that total gains of the participants are added, and the total losses are subtracted, the numerical result will sum to zero) Particularly useful in competitive relations, and explains economic behaviour such as opportunity cost and absolute advantage Non-zero sum: a relational state wherein all participants act based upon their respective efficient capabilities...
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...The Mexican-American War was fought between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848, There has been a considerable amount of discussion and disagreement surrounding the war, which has made it a controversial topic. While some argue that the war was unjustified, others maintain that it was necessary and even justified for a variety of reasons. One argument in favor of the war is that it was fought in pursuit of the United States' manifest destiny. This was the belief that it was the country's God-given mission to expand its territory and spread its way of life throughout the continent. From this perspective, the annexation of Texas and the subsequent conflict with Mexico were natural and necessary steps in the fulfillment of this destiny....
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...Bellum iustum or the Just War Theory is a military ethics doctrine derived from Episcopal philosophy of the Roman Catholic Church. As studied today, the Just War Theory is considered hugely informed by the Christian understanding of the justifications of wars of invasion. In ethicist literature as in moral theology and policy making, the Just War Theory is associated with the belief that conflicts can be justified under certain philosophical, political and religious criteria. This paradigm dates back to the times of Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Roman statesman, philosopher, lawyer, theorist and constitutionalist. The connection of the theory to medieval Christian theory and particularly, contemporary Catholicism is in the works of Thomas Aquinas and Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis (Gutman & Rieff, 2000). The former, also called Thomas of Aquin was an Italian Dominican priest, a theologian and a philosopher. The latter, also called St. Augustine, Blessed Augustine or Augustine of Hippo, was a onetime Bishop of Hippo Regius, a philosopher and theologian. This paper describes the tenets of the just war theory derived from the works of these philosophers and the utility of the theory within contemporary warfare. Specific focus is on the justification of the US invasion of Iraq and the consequences thereof. In the works of these three philosophers, the Just War Theory took a Christian connotation of the Roman Empire’s view of warfare. The Christian understanding of provocation to war...
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...2013 the protests started gaining velocity, violent conflicts erupted and opposition blew up in Kiev, responding to Yanukovich’s new agreement on working closer with Russia, whilst stopping negotiations with the European Union. The conflicts did not reach the Crimean peninsula, nevertheless the Crimean Parliament, which is granted limited autonomy, asked Russia to protect them. Crimea has been part of the Ukrainian state –or formerly the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic- since 1954 and provides great strategic value, since the Black Sea ports of Crimea offer unproblematic access to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Crimea has been the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet for several decades and is therefore of great importance to Russian military strategy. For the Russian Federation, the base in Sevastopol is the only access into international waters, since the northern ports in e.g. Siberia are subject to freezing. According to the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, the population is composed of 58.5% ethic Russians, 24.4% Ukrainians and 12.1% Crimean Tartars among others, amounting to a total population of approximately 2.0 million (All Ukrainian Population Census 2001, State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, 2003). During the period between the last population censuses 1989 the number of Russians has decreased by 11.6%. It might be argued that –based on the fact that the last census was conducted 13 years ago- the actual number of Russians living in Crimea has furthermore...
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...The Mind Behind the Machine: The Justification of Aggression for the Glory of an Empire The Roman Empire is one that has historically been shown in a positive light to the western world. We think this way despite the fact that we have a very limited knowledge of this empire that began to flourish over two-thousand years ago. What we do have are beautiful works of art and architecture that have stood the test of time, as well as books from famous writers such as Cicero and Plutarch who have told grand tales of Roman life and the powerful men who ruled and waged battles on a grand scale. Even with our vague knowledge of the Romans we still know leaps and bounds more about them than those who they conquered and due to their sheer power and our sense of wonderment learning more about their culture and the morals they tried to uphold, we find ourselves taking the Roman side since this is the one side of the story that most of us know. Roman conflict and the wars that they waged are explained in detail by historians and texts but interestingly enough, not much is given in the way of the thought process or motive behind the wars, nor about the people whom the Romans conquered. So what truly lay behind the Roman war machine then and how did they justify their actions as they fought with different people one after the other? Despite all the awe and wonder the Roman image seems to project in modern times, the way they justified...
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...Among all the risks covered in the course, which one do you see to be the most significant threat to the world. (Risks include: Retreat from globalization, WMD proliferation, Instability in the MiddleEast, Oil supply uncertainty) Of all the political risks covered, the Iraq/Middle East threat has the greatest likelihood of triggering the other major threats. Thus, the worsening of the Iraq/Middle East situation poses the gravest threat to the growth and stability of the world economy. If the situation in Iraq further deteriorates, the threat of sectarian violence spreading in the region increases and instability results. By this threat alone, this is a serious risk. However, the chain of events it could trigger is more significant. *Increasing incentives to join terrorism The conflict in Iraq and the Middle East, where civilian lives were lost and impoverished makes it easier for terrorist groups to attract new recruits. Destruction of lives and property, as well as the resulting chaos could popularize anti-US/Western sentiment. Also, joining terrorist groups could also be an escape from the difficulty of surviving in the ongoing chaos. The threat of this new wave of terrorist activities could result in a more unsecure world, where asymmetric warfare could break out in different regions. *Worsening oil supply uncertainty As the Middle East region accounts for more than half of the world’s oil reserves, with Saudi Arabia alone accounting for 25%, the effect...
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...| Globalization and Sovereignty in Pakistan | | | With a relatively constant rise in economic production over the last forty years and continued advances in communication technology, it is clear that individuals, institutions, and states are connecting and interacting with each other through a variety number of ways. Whether it is chatting with someone on the other side of the globe through social media or the flow of capital in the international banking system, our world has become increasingly interdependent; however, the benefits are not universal. From a Marxist perspective on international relations theory, particularly Wallerstein’s capital economy, I will define “globalization” as a phenomenon constructed by the bourgeoisie (elite members of society) in order to take advantage of developing countries that constitute Marxist proletariat. Using this approach on globalization, I will discuss the effects it has on “sovereignty” followed by a case study on Pakistan as a prime example. Ultimately, I will argue why the idea of sovereignty should still play a role in states like Pakistan. I draw primarily on the work of the German philosopher Karl Marx who, in his Marxist (or ruling-class) theory, claimed that capitalist societies were dominated by the “bourgeoisie” – individuals who control the means of production (therefore power) and take advantage of the proletariat (also known as the working class). Applied to a global scale, the concept of bourgeoisie refers...
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...Name] [Name of Institution] [Date] The Truman Doctrine Introduction The fall of the Soviet empire has presented various political and economic opportunities and threats to the world, for these reasons it’s considered one of the major events taking place since the Second World War. The Soviet fall besides various internal factors has been facilitated by US and Western counter parts to attempt to contain further Communism. The Truman doctrine was a US strategy to halt expansion of Soviet Union in the course of the Cold War. In this doctrine the then US President Harry S. Truman vowed to contain the spread of communism in the world particularly in Europe. This doctrine encouraged the US to back every country with both economic and military assistance if the Soviet Union or communism threats its stability. The aim of this paper is to review The Truman Doctrine was one of the significant historical approaches deployed between 1945 and 2008 that has had both negative and positive outcomes for the world. Historical Background In order to analyze the Truman doctrine and its different elements, it is necessary to consider the complex historical context in which it originated, and one that explains how a president such as Harry Truman, laid the foundations seated on the principles of the emerging American political realism after the Second World War (Bostdorff, 2008). The creation of international organizations like the UN itself and its Security Council, had brought hope back...
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...Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values,reason, mind, and language Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. In more casual speech, by extension, "philosophy" can refer to "the most basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group". The word "philosophy" comes from the Ancient Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophia), which literally means "love of wisdom". The introduction of the terms "philosopher" and "philosophy" has been ascribed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras. The Main Branches of Philosophy are divided as to the nature of the questions asked in each area. The integrity of these divisions cannot be rigidly maintained, for one area overlaps into the others. A. Axiology: the study of value; the investigation of its nature, criteria, and metaphysical status. More often than not, the term "value theory" is used instead of "axiology" in contemporary discussions even though the term “theory of value” is used with respect to the value or price of goods and services in economics. Axiology is usually divided into two main parts. Ethics: the study of values in human behavior or the study of moral problems: e.g., (1) the rightness and wrongness of actions, (2) the kinds of things which are good or desirable, and (3) whether actions are blameworthy or praiseworthy. ...
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...something that we cannot do without, or can we? So what’s wrong with our Social Security program? Talk to several different people and you most likely will not get the same answer. As the following pages unfold, you will have a snapshot on the background history of the program, a view on what is wrong, and some possible solutions. The need for economic security can be traced back to the early Greek civilization, who stockpiled olive oil as a way to secure their future. The groundwork for a public system of economic security could be seen during the late 1700’s, as Thomas Paine, a Revolutionary War figure, published a business proposal depicting the need. The Civil War era saw the creation of pension plans (mainly military). It wasn’t until 1906 that “old age” was added to the means of obtaining a pension. Significant events in our history were a preview for the creation of our Social Security program, as we know it today. President Roosevelt signed the executive order for the Social Security Act, on 14 August 1935. As Richard Henderson states in his book titled Compensation Management in a Knowledge-Based Word, the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935 guaranteed some amount of income to workers reaching retirement age and to workers who become unemployed through no fault of their own (Henderson 84). President Roosevelt’s administration based it on a social insurance foundation, instead of centering it on welfare....
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...white papers to restore the constitution white papers Restore. Protect. Expand. Amend the War Powers Resolution Center for Constitutional Rights The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. CCR uses litigation proactively to empower poor communities and communities of color; to guarantee the rights of those with the fewest protections and least access to legal resources; and to train the next generation of civil and human rights attorneys. Formed in order to work hand in hand with people’s movements, CCR has lent its expertise and support to a wide range of movements for social justice. We strive to complete the unfinished civil rights movement through targeting racial profiling and other modern-day manifestations of racial and economic oppression and through combating discrimination that is based on gender or sexuality and struggling against government abuse of power. For decades, CCR has pushed U.S. courts to recognize international human rights and humanitarian protections – and we have had groundbreaking victories that established the principle of universal jurisdiction in this country and extended human rights standards...
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...CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. A brief history of oil politics 3. Oil Politics and U.S. Militarism in the Middle East 4. Wars and disputes for oil 5. Oil and the Iraq War 6. Conclusion Introduction: The modern era of oil production began on August 27, 1859, when Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful oil well 69 feet deep near Titusville in northwestern Pennsylvania. Just five years earlier, the invention of the kerosene lamp had ignited intense demand for oil. By drilling an oil well, Drake had hoped to meet the growing demand for oil for lighting and industrial lubrication. Drake's success inspired hundreds of small companies to explore for oil. In 1860, world oil production reached 500,000 barrels; by the 1870s production soared to 20 million barrels annually. In 1879, the first oil well was drilled in California; and in 1887, in Texas. But as production boomed, prices fell and oil industry profits declined. The energy source, which made the Industrial Revolution possible in England in the 18th century, was coal. Coal powered the steam engines which drove machinery in the factories, and the steamboats and railroads of the early industrial age. It has continued to power electric generation plants throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the fossil fuels, coal is the most abundant in the earth, but it is also the most polluting. High sulphur and carbon content, and soot, cause coal to be the least desirable of the fossil fuels. A brief history of...
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