Can a Euro referendum be won? The Single Currency in the Press and Public opinion perspective
Essay - 10 pages - European union
The introduction of the single currency in Europe raises issues that are of vital importance to this country's interests. Irrespective of the participation of the United Kingdom in the single currency, it will affect us. There is a rather large debate going on in the United Kingdom to know...
What are the benefits and limitations of an « ever closer union » as found in the European Union ?
Essay - 7 pages - International relations
The forthcoming enlargement of the European Union put on the agenda questions about its future and its actual situation in the “ever closer union”. Indeed what can we say today about this process? Is it a success or a failure ? Can the European Union still be closer, or has it reached...
Why did Britain not become a leading member of the European Union and why is it sometimes considered as an ?awkward partner' ?
Essay - 26 pages - European union
A wise man once said that a nation which did not know its own history would be condemned to repeat its mistakes. The History of Britain accession and membership to the EC and EU has singled out the country, compared to the other members. The recent events in Britain European political strategy...
The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski
Essay - 6 pages - International relations
Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter's Security Adviser between 1977 and 1981, is currently a member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also a Professor at Johns Hopkins University and used to teach at Harvard and Columbia. ‘The Grand Chessboard - American...
Outline some of the key difficulties we encounter in comparative politics and discuss some of the means we might use to overcome them
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
Comparative politics is essential as it helps political scientist to avoid ethnocentrism in analysis and it leads to the developments and creations of theories and subsequently their related concepts and hypotheses about the relationships between political phenomena. However as all the different...
Economic and commercial consideration in the American foreign policy
Essay - 4 pages - International relations
The American imperialism began about 100 years ago, in 1890, with the end of the Frontier, an imaginary line that separated civilization from wilderness and that was constantly moving towards west. The Second World War, the rise of new markets, development of new technologies stimulated the US...
Dimensions of culture
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
Geert Hofestede defines culture as "the collective programming which distinguishes the members of a group and who differentiate them from the others?. According to Hofstede, there are four criteria which determine culture and they are power distance, individualism/collectivism,...
How convincing is the argument that the twin process of European integration and globalisation has contributed to a large extent to the rise of regionalist parties?
Essay - 12 pages - European union
In this document we will first understand the concept of regionalist parties. Then, we will critically examine the elements that contribute the correlation between the rise of those parties and the constitution of supranational entities in a globalized economy. We will observe the reasons why...
How valid is the concept of European cultural Identity?
Essay - 14 pages - European union
First I will critically examine the factors that contribute to the emergence of a European cultural Identity. Then, we will discuss the factors that hamper the promotion of the European unity. Most interestingly, we will observe how decisive and crucial the concept of European citizenship is for...
To what extent is the reform of the EU's institutions critical to the future Union ?
Essay - 14 pages - European union
To prepare the inter-governmental conference of 2004, the Laeken European Council of December 15th, 2001 appointed Mr Valerie Giscard - D'Estaing, former President of the French Republic, to lead the Convention on the Future of Europe. Along with the intensification of integration,...
Was the Gulf war a just war?
Essay - 6 pages - International relations
Just two days after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1991, Saddam Hussain became a new threat to the world order. Saddam Hussain, who had deliberately violated the international rules by aggressing Kuwait, one of his Arab neighbours as a result of which the war against Iraq became inevitable. Ten...
The debt crisis
Essay - 6 pages - Economy general
The debt crisis was triggered exactly 20 years ago when Mexico suspended its payments in 1982. This started off the worst financial crisis since 1931. Other than being a serious problem for developing countries whose Foreign Reserves and foreign investments withered away it also became a threat...
Jihad Vs. McWorld by Benjamin Barber. Two opposite tendencies that threaten democracy
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
Benjamin R. Barber is a professor of political science and director of the Whitman Center at Rutgers University. His popular books are Strong Democracy (1984), An aristocracy of Everyone (1992), and Jihad Vs. McWorld (Times Books, 1995). Jihad Vs. McWorld, his last book was published in the...
Nuclear energy
Study guide - 6 pages - Economy general
Nuclear energy has far to many negative problems than advantages. From the mining of uranium to disposal of nuclear waist there are problems of such magnitude that no scientist on this earth has an answer for. Nuclear energy has so many problems associated to it that it should be banned from the...
Nations and Identity in Contemporary Europe
Essay - 4 pages - European union
There is a controversial debate on the existence of a European identity. Before the development of the Nation-State in its nationalist form and the two World Wars, there existed a ?vague sense of cultural commonality' . We can distinguish periods of unity in the history of Europe into three...
The European System of Central Banks
Study guide - 4 pages - Economy general
The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) is composed of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the National Central Banks (NCB's) of all 15 EU Member States. The "Eurosystem" is the term used to refer to the ECB and the NCBs of the Member States who have euro as their national currency. The...
Does the notion of 'Rogue states' make sense?
Essay - 6 pages - International relations
According to George Bush's declaration in his state of the union speech to Congress on January 29th, an axis of evil threatens the peace of the world reminds us of Reagan's description of the USSR as an evil empire. In this speech, he clearly pointed a finger directly at three countries...
Is military intervention ever morally justified ?
Essay - 4 pages - International relations
Intervention has to be considered as a moral problem which has become all the more accurate that intra-state conflicts have dramatically increased. In the case of an inter-states conflict, military intervention can be both lawful and moral. But, in the case of an intra-state conflict, if no...
Do the needs / rights of our compatriots take precedence over those who live beyond our state borders ?
Essay - 4 pages - International relations
States keep hesitating between what they consider their moral duty towards the human beings of the whole world and the pursuit of their own interests. When President Clinton flies to China, his discourse shows both the care his nation takes about Human Rights and the fear that his going on too...
To whom would the US be accountable and for what?
Essay - 7 pages - International relations
On 20th December 1999, demonstrators in front of the American embassy in Panama demanded that the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights of the OAS should take a decision in the Salas vs. USA case. For the first time in history, a huge group of people lodged a complaint against the United...
WTO dispute settlement, various means other than panel procedures continuity & change
Essay - 12 pages - International relations
The aim of the GATT procedures has always been to resolve disputes, whenever possible, through agreement between the parties, rather than by seeking to identify treaty violations . With this sentence, Professor Merrills clearly referred to the two possible methods (the diplomatic-political manner...
Has re-unification fundamentally altered Germany's policy towards European Integration ?
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
Even if Germany's policies underwent some changes since 1990, unification was not the earthquake many (perhaps particularly in France) feared. It did affect German's policies on a short-term basis, especially toward economics, because the unification cost was or is still amazing. But,...
How long can last the 'Pay As You Go' pensions ? (followed by the case-study of France)
Essay - 8 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Most countries do provide retirement pension schemes within the framework of Pay As You Go pensions. This system however encounters today some unprecedented drawbacks, mainly due to the burden of an ageing population. The future of the retirement system is a real economic concern, not simply a...
How long can the 'Pay As You Go' pensions last? (followed by the case-study of France)
Case study - 8 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Most countries do provide retirement pension schemes within the framework of Pay As You Go pensions. This system however encounters today some unprecedented drawbacks, mainly due to the burden of an ageing population. The future of the retirement system is a real economic concern, not simply a...
War on drugs: a lost battle ?
Study guide - 9 pages - International relations
In 1968, when American soldiers came home from the Vietnam War addicted to heroin, President Richard Nixon initiated the War on Drugs. More than a decade later, President Ronald Reagan launches the South Florida Drug Task force in response to the city of Miami's demand for help. In 1981,...
Hedley Bull's The Anarchical Society. London, Macmillan, 1977 - published: 24/04/2002
Dissertation - 6 pages - International relations
Bull's The Anarchical Society is a ground-breaking book that proposes novel, powerful concepts for reading today's world order as well as the order that prevailed in the world in 1977. Today more than ever, we need the idea of international society, even if it has to be revisited to fit...
Hedley Bull's The Anarchical Society. London, Macmillan, 1977
Essay - 6 pages - International relations
Bull's The Anarchical Society is a ground-breaking book that proposes novel, powerful concepts for reading today's world order as well as the order that prevailed in the world in 1977. Today more than ever, we need the idea of international society, even if it has to be revisited to fit...
Based on the evolution of traditional and hi-tech industries in the last twenty years in the US, to what extent would you say that American capitalism has reshaped and reinvented itself in the 1980s-1990s?
Study guide - 3 pages - Economy general
After the end of the Second World War, US emerged as the first economic super power. Despite of the tragic events that the US encountered, it still remains as one of the leading economies in twenty first century. During the time between the 1980s-1990s, the country redefined its capitalism to...
A monetary Union in East Asia?
Essay - 21 pages - International relations
We will first try to understand the reasons why Asia needs monetary cooperation and the problems it will encounter. Then we will take a look at the current areas of discussions and the various schemes of cooperation. Finally we will analyze the alternatives available that might emerge in the future.
The political involvement in the context of war: A moral dilemma for NGOS
Essay - 7 pages - International relations
Nowadays, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are subject to ethical dilemmas when it comes to accomplishing their goals. When helping people, irrespective of the approach used, it is important to consider both the environment, to adapt oneself to it and the consequences of the aid provided....
