Is NATO still relevant ?
Essay - 7 pages - International relations
General De Gaulle once said that all alliances are like roses: they wither and decay. NATO might be a counter-example or it might not. While during the Munich Conference, the US Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, claimed “As an alliance we have never been stronger. We have never...
Is NATO still relevant ? - publié le 29/08/2006
Essay - 7 pages - International relations
All alliances are like roses: they wither and decay, said General de Gaulle, the former French President. The NATO or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization looks like a counter-example to this statement. During the Munich Conference, the US Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, claimed,...
Can we have a world government?
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
To answer the question "Can we have a world government", we must first answer two other questions. The first one is "What would be the use and necessity of a world government"; the second is "To what extent could thus be possible? "A government is a system, form or organization by which a...
Can we have a world government? - publié le 25/07/2006
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
To answer the question “Can we have world government”, we must understand two questions: one is “What would be the use and necessity of a world government”; the other one is “In what extent would it be possible?” “A government is a system, form or organization...
What is the role of the state in international Politics?
Essay - 4 pages - International relations
International Politics is based upon two main theories, Realism and Liberalism. These theories are conventionally opposed, and therefore give two different interpretations of world politics. This essay will focus on the stances of these theories upon the role of the state. However, before...
What is the role of the state in international Politics? - publié le 24/07/2006
Essay - 4 pages - International relations
International Politics are based upon two main theories, Realism and Liberalism, which are conventionally opposed, and therefore give two different interpretations of world politics. This essay will focus on the stances of these theories upon the role of the state. But before assessing their...
Is there a 'responsibility to protect'? Is the UN capable of protecting the victims of internal conflicts?
Essay - 6 pages - International relations
Since the end of the Cold War, Civil wars are the dominant form of conflicts all around the world. As Stephen John Stedman explains, 'all thirty-five of the wars in 1997 were primarily internal'. Thus, in the current scenario, massive violence, destruction and killing tend, to happen...
Is there a 'responsibility to protect'? Is the UN capable of protecting the victims of internal conflicts? - publié le 24/07/2006
Essay - 6 pages - International relations
Civil wars are, today, since the end of the Cold War, the dominant form of conflicts all around the world. For instance, as Stephen John Stedman explains, 'all thirty-five of the wars in 1997 were primarily internal' . Massive violence, destruction and killing tend, so, nowadays, to...
Is the United Nations running the same risk as its predecessor the League of Nations of being made marginal or even irrelevant? Why or why not? - publié le 24/07/2006
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
'The League is dead, long live the United Nations!' This is with these words that Lord Robert Cecil, one of the architects of the League of Nations, commented on the dissolution of the organization, in the spring 1946, expressing the apparent readiness to write the League off as a failure...
Is the United Nations running the same risk as its predecessor the League of Nations of being made marginal or even irrelevant? Why or why not?
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
'The League is dead, long live the United Nations!' This is with these words that Lord Robert Cecil, one of the architects of the League of Nations, commented on the dissolution of the organization, in the spring 1946, expressing the apparent readiness to write the League off as a failure...
Why has the UN Charter remained a central plank of international order, even though it was formulated in wartime by only a few of the victorious powers? - publié le 24/07/2006
Essay - 6 pages - International relations
If we had had this Charter a few years ago-and above all, the will to use it- millions, now dead, would be alive. If we should falter in the future in our will to use it, millions, now living, will surely die.' (Truman) This statement delivered by Truman reveals the ambitions of the Charter...
Why has the UN Charter remained a central plank of international order, even though it was formulated in wartime by only a few of the victorious powers?
Essay - 6 pages - International relations
'If we had had this Charter a few years ago-and above all, the will to use it- millions now dead would be alive. If we should falter in the future in our will to use it, millions now living will surely die.' (Truman) This quotation shows the ambition the Charter has and the hope its...
Can Clausewitz's concepts of genius, friction and the centre of gravity be applied to the war on terror?
Essay - 4 pages - International relations
Ever since evolution, man-kind has been moving hand in hand with war. Just like people, war has evolved too and never stayed the same over a period of time. Wars, such as the ones fought by the Vikings or Barbarians, and the wars of the Roman Empire already revealed elaborate tactics (infamous...
Can states achieve cooperation in the international system? - published: 24/07/2006
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
“International cooperation is a subject of manifesting importance for anyone concerned about the prospects for world peace and order” because today cooperation is everywhere: in economics with the WTO, in politics with the UN and even in security issues with the NATO. International...
Is each age blessed or doomed with the presence of an empire?
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
Veni, vidi, vici...[I came, I saw, I conquered): this quote from one of the most famous Roman generals Julius Caesar, reflects the principle of "empires? which has emerged as a major phenomenon in international relations. The phenomenon dates back as far as 2334 BC when it was born with the reign...
Is each age blessed or doomed with the presence of an empire? - publié le 24/07/2006
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
“Veni, vidi, vici...”[I came, I saw, I conquered] Julius Caesar. This quote from one of the most famous Roman generals reflects the principle of a major phenomenon in international relations: empires, a phenomenon which dates back as far as 2334 BC with the reign of Sargon of Akkad, and...
Is capitalism a positive or negative force in International Relations? - publié le 20/07/2006
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
In 1995, the 200 most powerful multi-national corporations of the world controlled approximately one third of its GNP The turnover of these companies sometimes exceeds the GNP of some countries. An example is General Motors, which, with a turnover of 132 billion dollars surpasses the GNP of...
Is capitalism a positive or negative force in International Relations?
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
In 1995, the 200 most powerful multi-national corporations controlled approximately one third of the world GNP The turnover of these companies sometimes exceeds the GNP of some countries: one example is General Motors which with a turnover of 132 billion dollars surpasses the GNP of Indonesia....
Can we say that peace is a recent invention? (Michael Howard)
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
A broad definition of peace would be the absence of war. War, it has been proved, does relieve the masses from boredom and monotony. This is also evident in the fact that we enjoy watching war movies for the excitement and thrill they provide. But peace can be as fulfilling as war, if not more...
Describe the major differences in interests and perspectives of the member states of the European Union on Iraq and the US policy
Essay - 15 pages - International relations
The Iraq conflict uncovers difficulties for the member states of the European Union to find a common position in the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. This essay describes the major differences in the interest and perspectives of the member governments on Iraq, and the US policy....
Are forgiveness and a search for the truth a better solution to heal the minds and bodies of the victims of wars than externally imposed tribunals?
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
Even after a settlement is reached and a peace agreement is signed, this is by no means the end of the conflict. For a conflict to really end, healing the minds and the bodies of the victims of wars are necessary. Indeed it is the necessary first step to reconciliation to appear and people who...
Why has there been no reform of the UN?
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
“Reform is the purposeful act of modifying the structure, composition, decision-making procedures, working methods, funding or staffing of an institution in order to enhance its efficiency and/or effectiveness in advancing its core goals and principles.” Considering this definition, and...
The UN reform and the definition of terrorism
Essay - 10 pages - International relations
This paper has three aims. The first is to introduce the semantic and political implications of defining terrorism within the United Nations: what would a definition of terrorism in such an international organization mean? Is it even acceptable? What would such an agreement imply? The second aim...
Operation "Althea" in Bosnia and Herzegovine: the European security and Defence policy (ESDP) coming of age?
Essay - 14 pages - International relations
Can the dramatic progresses in the late years be considered as a proof that ESDP has become a 'routine politic' with run in and tested mechanisms and procedures? In other words, does 'Althea' mean that ESDP is coming of age? The objectives of this operation reveals that its aims...
Are there 'just wars'?
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
The notion of 'just war' can be considered as a moral philosophy of the War debating the legitimacy of wars and the way wars are made. The existence of just wars thus supposes that violence can be ethical. However, it has to be underlined that even for the just wars theoreticians, war is...
The balance of power
Essay - 6 pages - International relations
It was not until the beginning of the 17th century, when the science of international law took shape at the hands of Grotius and his successors, that the theory of the balance of power was formulated as a fundamental principle of diplomacy in the realist theory. According to Cobden, the first...
The European Union and organised crime
Study guide - 8 pages - International relations
With the French and Dutch voters recent rejection of the proposed constitutional treaty for the European Union, a treaty with a number of proposals in the field of Justice and Home Affairs, has been postponed. However, both EU leaders and the general public continue to place high expectations on...
The European Union and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Study guide - 9 pages - International relations
With the recent election of Mahmud Abbas as chairman of the Palestinian Authority and Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza strip, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians appears to be at a crossroads, after years of severe strain on the so-called...
Iran's nuclear programme
Study guide - 9 pages - International relations
Diplomats, from 190 signatory countries, gather in New York this week for the five-yearly review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iran will surely be present. Although some warning signs had been issued by various intelligence services during the previous decade, concern over...
Iran's nuclear program
Essay - 9 pages - International relations
As diplomats from the 190 signatory countries gather in New York this week for the five-yearly review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran will surely be present in many minds. Although some warning signs had been issued by various intelligence services during the previous decade,...
