...The lack of an ordering sovereign authority to oversee relations between states dominates debate between scholars as to whether the world will ever be a peaceful, threat-free environment. In order to eliminate war and conflict, cooperation must characterize states’ behaviour towards one another, a system in which ‘the security of each [state] is perceived as the responsibility of all’ (Wendt, 1999). The question then becomes why, if cooperation leads to rewards for everyone, do states enter into conflict and war? International Relations theorists seek to explain this paradox by examining the obstacles to cooperation. For classical realists, the answer is simple; lust for power and a drive for conflict are rooted within human nature and, since humans are the operators of state actors, state behaviour mimics this nature in its approach to international relations. Neo-realists, by contrast, follow Waltz in his belief that the anarchic structure of the international system causes states to seek security and power, and therefore provides the ultimate obstacle to cooperation. While liberals disagree altogether, offering the counterargument that men are rational, and therefore states choose to engage in conflict in order to pursue state preferences, based on a cost-benefit analysis. The primary obstacle to cooperation for liberals, then, is the clash of interests between states. Realist political theory is largely based on the assumption that all states are self-interested and are driven...
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...PRIVATIZATION OF WAR SIKANDER ZAFAR SZABIST Abstract: It is believed that the fate of United States of America had been on the hands of mercenaries now what we call the modern-day private military companies. Since the start till the American Revolution in 1776, the American lands had been owned and controlled by mercenaries and private contractors. Christopher Columbus, the man who got backing from Spain's Queen Isabella and king Ferdinand to launch the voyage and discover the new world relater effectively became a private military contractor or a PMC. This shows that the history of contracting private military -previously by the royal offices and now by the democratically elected governments- have been practiced; Historians claims that mercenaries existed in ancient Egypt to safeguard the Egyptian sovereignty by the rebels of that time. Indeed, mercenaries have transformed into private military contractors after the downfall of Soviet Union in 1991 and the characteristics of a PMC and ancient mercenaries are rather similar. However, under The Hague Convention no. 5 mercenaries are illegal organizations but the role and responsibility of private military organizations is unknown in the international law which gives them free reins to operate in a way which fulfills their greed to make abnormal profits. The operations of private military companies is controversial, their contracts with the governments and other non-state actors is discreet in nature which confines the mass...
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...Wedge-tailed eagle», G.Dutton. Analysis by A. Romanov The text under interpretation belongs to the pen of the prominent Australian author and historian - Geoffrey Dutton. During his career, Dutton wrote over 200 books, including poetry, fiction, biographies, critical essays etc. The episode under analysis is taken out from a short story «The wedge-tailed eagle» which contains a very deep social and psychological message and the subject of which is unfortunately drawn from life. In the story which begins so peacefully and signifies no threaten the author exposes the evils of the whole society and in two pilots reveals all cruelty that can only exist in our world. Geoffrey Dutton brings to the light one day from the life of these pilots and depicts the event that makes the reader cry – the killing of one of the most gorgeous and powerful bird - wedge-tailed eagle. The main idea of the story is to demonstrate people`s shallowness, cruelty and a constant desire to satisfy their wishes no matter how high the price for it is. If a person like one of these two pilots wants something nothing would be able to stop him, even if the desire is unmoral and sinful and even if it ends with death of creatures that can`t protect itself against our savageness and violence. The tone of the text is different at the beginning of the extract and at the end of it. Firstly we are completely plunged in the elevated atmosphere, where in small details the depiction of sky and nature is magnificent. Epithets...
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...much more than relations between or amongst state. Other actors such as international organisation, Multination Corporation, and terrorist groups are now all of what could more correctively be termed world politics. Different perspectives on the international relations naturally generate debates. In 1930’s realist and idealist argued over the nature of the international politics and the possibility of the peaceful change and the Marxist critics (Paul and Mark, 1987:1-3). International Relations According to Johari (2009:1-39) the international relations are the study of the political and social interaction of state, non-state and individuals. In the recent years the increasing interaction among these actors, coupled with advances in informational technology and the spread of human rights, have raised many new questions for international relations scholars, practitioners, and students. International relations as a discipline is chiefly concerned with what state do on the world stage and in turn, how their actions affect other states, correspondingly states are a common unit of analysis in theories of international relation, many analysis focus on states and their interactions to explain observed patterns of world politics. The state is fundamental to neorealism and neoliberal institutionalism, international relations is largely about states, it enables us to conclude that the changing relations among the nation-state of the world many range from cooperation on the one side to...
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...The Peloponnesian War was a conflict between the Greek city-states, Athens and Sparta, from 431 BC that brought an end to the Hellenic age of Pericles and his empire by the succession of Sparta by the end of the war. Thucydides is seen as a ‘proto-realist’, one of the first realists in the study of politics that wrote in a more theoretical sense, as well as the founding father of International Relations. His study on the History of the Peloponnesian War provides awareness of the conflict and various analyses on the causes of the war by observing the strategic interaction between the states, hierarchy amongst the states along with legitimacy and levels of power to determine the pattern of their relations. Although there are undeniably numerous differences between Thucydides era and our world system today, Thucydides persists to influence contemporary international relations, namely Realism, with many realists frequently referring to the Melian Dialogue when advocating a power-based approach. With Thucydides often portraying insights into human nature, many scholars use his findings as a guide that is still relevant today due to the generality of self-interest, fear and power maximisation that still occurs as it did previously. Thucydides’ relevance today has been greatly perceived through his impact upon political realism in his studies concerning the concept of power politics. Whilst political realism expresses the view that international relations is the battle of self-interested...
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...Karl maex A Marxist Analysis of an Italian Block Buster - By Vrinda Aggarwal Post the cold war Communism and Marxism remained mere philosophies which couldn't stand the test of time. They were either “impractical" modes of organizing economy and polity or rather were theories which were more advanced than the ages in which they were tested. It is thus the farsightedness of Marx which makes his theory extremely relevant for people to at least study. Marx principally focused on observation and historical analysis. According to him there were two Classes in the society - The Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The former was the class which owned all the resources and organized production, the later is the laboring class who own nothing but their own physical power to run the machines. Thus both the producers and the workers are in a symbiotic relationship. Still we see that the capitalist can survive for a longer time without the worker as compared to the vice versa, putting the workers in a compromising position. Thus in the fight of wage determination, the capitalists tend to win, thereby fixing the wage rate which is sufficient for survival (which according to Marx s living like cattle). According to the Marxist ideology, “when the capitalists and the laborers suffer equally, the worker suffers in his very existence, the capitalist in the profit on his dead mammon. The worker...
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...THE IMPACT OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY TOWARDS TRANSITIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN WARDHIGLEY DISTRICT BY ABHIRI ABDULLAHI MOALIN 111-023031-06073 THIS RESEARCH IS SUBMITED TO THE FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIEREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF BARCHELORS DEGREE IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES OF THE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY IN UGANDA MAY 2014 DECLARATION I, Abshir Abdullahi Moalin, hereby declare to be the sole author of the work presented in this research. It is my own work and has never been presented for the same award by any student in this course or any other. Name : ABSHIR ABDULLAHI MOALIN Reg No: 111-023031-06073 Sign: ………………………… Date: ……………………….. APPROVAL SHEET This research was written by Abshir Abdullahi Moalin of REG NO: 111-023031-06073, under my supervision and it is now ready for submission as partial fulfillment of the award of a Bachelor’s degree in Development Studies of the Islamic university in Uganda. Name: MR. MALIYAMUNGU HABIB Sign: ……………………..…… Date: ……………………….. University supervisor DEDICATION All honor and praise be to Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful, who has enabled me to successfully complete this dissertation successfully. I dedicate this research to my parents, brothers and sisters for the love, care and support they rendered to me. May the Almighty Allah bless them and reward...
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...Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, section 101. As such, it is in the public domain, and under the provisions of Title 17, United States Code, Section 105, it may not be copyrighted. Visit our website for other free publication downloads http://www.StrategicStudiesInstitute.army.mil/ To rate this publication click here. ***** The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. This report is cleared for public release; distribution is unlimited. ***** Comments pertaining to this report are invited and should be forwarded to: Director, Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 122 Forbes Ave, Carlisle, PA 17013-5244. ***** All Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) monographs are available on the SSI homepage for electronic dissemination. Hard copies of this report also may be ordered from our homepage. SSI’s homepage address is: www.StrategicStudies Institute.army.mil. ***** The Strategic Studies Institute publishes a monthly e-mail newsletter to update the national security community on the research of our analysts, recent and forthcoming publications, and upcoming conferences sponsored by the Institute. Each newsletter also provides a strategic commentary by one of our research analysts. If you are interested in receiving this newsletter, please subscribe on our homepage at www.StrategicStudiesInstitute.army...
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...I & I L Capstone: War and Culture Abstract Statement Although culture is a key topic in the purview of theoretical discussions, the concept of war and culture is a new notion that has not been engaged by many analysts. Indeed Adrian Lewis underscores the importance of war and culture in "The American Culture of War in the Age of Artificial Limited War" when he posits that culture decisively influences the way nation-states conduct war (Lewis 226). This work aims to shift focus from the traditional focus on culture as a method of analysis and instead examine various commentary on the military and its application as a form of cultural activity. America's Self-Imposed Cultural Attitude Towards War There have been widespread calls to consider the normative cultural interpretations of war. Most notably, the works of Adrian Lewis as demonstrated in his treatise The American Culture of War, are a classic pointer of the dynamic and contested nature that culture assumes in the interpretation of war. Lewis poignantly articulates the need to apply such cultural interpretations in a deterministic fashion (Lewis 225). In writing The American Culture of War, Lewis depicts war as a systematic orchestrated phenomenon, which in essence is a prolongation of culture through other techniques (Lewis 227). To prove this argument Lewis presents two cardinal subjects. First he provides an explicit analysis of the transformations that America has undergone since...
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...Futility by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) Analysis; Wilfred Owen was born on March 18, 1893. He was on the Continent teaching until he visited a hospital for the wounded and then decided, in September, 1915, to return to England and enlist. "I came out in order to help these boys - directly by leading them as well as an officer can; indirectly, by watching their sufferings that I may speak have they as well as a pleader can. I have done the first". His perspective on war was for the sympathy of the soldiers that lost life for their countries. He wasn’t against fighting for the country but just sympathizing for the lives lost in war. Owens’ personal say was that "My subject is war, and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity.” A misery poem filled with repercussions was one of the published poems in the lifetime of Wilfred Owen. The poem was out on the 15th of June 1918 and was written in a lyrical sonnet format, even though it was not built like one. The words used in the poem forms a clouded and pained atmosphere, arousing a frustration and cluster of emotions. The poems of Wilfred Owen focus on the representation of war, futility being one of the poems that describe the effect of war on the people that experience it from first hand. The poet concerns with the soldier lying on the cold ground as his body is graced into the sun and the feather touch of the warm beams that could give life to a ‘sown seed’ could revive this soul, thus is considered worthless...
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...Analysis and interpretation - Wood Grouse on a High Promontory Overlooking Canada The text “Wood Grouse on a High Promontory Overlooking Canada”, 1996, is an American short story. In the short story we hear about the relationship between two brothers, the brother Bud and the older military brother Gary. The theme in this short story is brotherhood. These two brothers reconnect after spending time apart, and they grow to appreciate each other. Bud is a boy who is 15 years old. Bud is a bit naive. We can see that when he throws the rock at a bird. Gary asks him why and he replies, “I didn’t mean to hit one, Gary” p. 4 l. 46. This shows that he is a bit naive, and he is not thinking about the consequences of his actions. Another example is when he asks, “I was young and I didn’t know any better. So instead I asked him about the thing on my mind: “Did you kill anyone in Vietnam?” p. 4 l. 70-71 This also shows that Bud is naive when he asked without thinking about Gary’s feelings. After Bud asked this question he could see that it was hard for Gary to talk about and he therefore felt ashamed “And then I couldn’t fall asleep that night; I felt ashamed of myself.” p. 3 l.92. You can say that he acts, and then thinks about the consequences later. Gary is an adult who have been in war in Vietnam. Gary keeps on mentioning the beautiful things he is seeing around him, which is a big contrast from what he came from down there. “They’re beautiful” Gary said “Just...
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...of Coriolanus William Shakespeare Over the last fifteen years, the U.S. government has wrestled continuously with how properly to approach the ongoing phenomena of burgeoning regional terrorism and global insurgency. In an effort to cognitively frame the rising power of ethnic and racial groups resident in formerly weak or powerless states that are the main sources of current conflict, it has settled upon characterizing the new operational environment as “complex.”1 To some, this characterization may seem to imply that the socio-political and socio-cultural operational environments in which military forces had to operate previously were not complex; that the operational environments in which such conflicts as the American Civil War, World War I or II, or Vietnam were fought were simpler. Irrespective, the reason the now somewhat voguish term complex may have gained its current ascendancy in the lexicon is that it expiates semantically the frustration strategists and policy makers feel toward pesky conflicts not only in Iraq and Afghanistan waged by resilient adversaries, but emerging conflagrations throughout the Middle East and Africa led by stateless entities such as Al Qaida and the Islamic State that they have not been able to effectively contain. Consequently, policy befuddlement over the seeming intractability of such conflicts and policy failure to deal effectively with them is exculpated by their ‘complexity.’ At this writing, the doctrinal military solutions...
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...Operations (PSYOPs): A Conceptual Overview Sunil Narula Abstract The psychological dimension of a conflict is as important as its physical dimension and psychological Operations (PSYOPs) have become even more relevant in this age of information, especially for a nation-state where the threat in the socio-psychological domain is more pronounced. While combating the menace of terrorism, the psychological dimension assumes great significance, as terrorists use violence as a psychological weapon by terrorising the multitude, rather than physically affect a few, and in this sense, they fight a psychological war also. The relevance of psychological operations is much greater than the successful conduct of tactical operations. This article is an attempt to conceptualise the term PSYOPs in the Indian context. The changed dynamics of international relations following the end of the Cold War and changes in the South Asian strategic landscape, postSeptember 11, have made PSYOPs more relevant for the region. It is also important to know that differences between various related concepts like Propaganda, Information Warfare, and Perception Management are waferthin, and may lead to contested perceptions amongst various agencies working under the overall ambit of national security, if not viewed in the current perspective. Therefore, clarity of the concept will set the stage for an effective implementation of policies and help in setting up of a policy structure in India (which does exist today...
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...cooperation spanning thousands of years, overall international interdependence, and the abrupt switch from amity to enmity as of 1979. While the international media has cast an ever-stronger spotlight on the Iranian-Israeli relationship in the past five or ten years, it has long deserved closer scrutiny. For two countries to be as intertwined at the political, military, economic and societal levels – like Iran and Israel from the 1950s through to the 1970s – and then to become and remain bitter and irreconcilable enemies – thanks to a radical Iranian regime change in 1979 – is virtually unheard of in the realm of international politics. This phenomenon begged further study, and was spurred along by the need for an impartial and inclusive analysis to mitigate the perpetual barrage of news headlines and journal articles prophesying the inevitable showdown between the two states (and...
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...Human Nature: In the case of the War in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda made the decision to perpetrate a terror attack after weighing the costs and benefits of doing so. Liberalism states that they sought to further their own self-interest by asserting their sovereignty which they believed to be threatened by increasing Western involvement. The US and the rest of the international community responded by seeking conflict in Afghanistan, cooperating in order to further the long-term mutual interests of NATO and the UN's member nations by reinstating the international regime of anti-terrorism established by the UN (UN Actions to Counter Terrorism). Additionally, when examining the potential long-term benefits for joint international action (something that...
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