Blog Archives
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Much at stake in China’s next wave of economic reforms
Posted on April 6, 2014China’s new wave of economic reforms proposed at the Communist Party’s third plenum in November 2013 have attracted much attention. In an interesting Financial Times article from February 7th Rafael ... -
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Donor planning in fragile States: The need for a new approach
Posted on March 29, 2014With the Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) target date of 2015 almost upon us, it is notable that most development goals in fragile and conflict-affected states will not be achieved. Fragile ... -
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Sanctions against Russia: Is financial prosperity more important than our values?
Posted on March 26, 2014The resemblance to 1914 and 1938 are evident. Russia, like Germany in 1914, feels encircled by potential adversaries. Moreover, Moscow is determined to protect ethnic Russians and Russian speakers outside ... -
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Ancient Monarchy and Troubled Democracy: Oman’s Political Realities
Posted on March 23, 2014The Middle East has undergone great upheaval in recent years; a transformation that has changed the political makeup of the region. For many authoritarian regimes the Arab Spring brought their ... -
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The Last Drop: Water as a Cause of Conflict?
Posted on March 20, 2014Global environmental change is increasingly challenging our surroundings. Through destructive weather events, water scarcity, food shortages and natural resource competition, we are being forced to alter our daily lives and ... -
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A new dawn for Anglo-German relations
Posted on March 13, 2014Dwarfed by the shadow of events in Eastern Europe, you’d be forgiven for having missed German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to the United Kingdom last month. Welcomed in relative luxury ... -
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Ukraine: Putin’s postmodern moment and the politics of truth
Posted on March 11, 2014“Two and two makes five,” wrote Fyodor Dostoevsky in his Notes from the Underground. Increasingly disillusioned in the 1860’s with western philosophy’s narratives of truth and progress, for Dostoevsky these ... -
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Obama’s Foreign Policy and Ukraine: Decoupling Security and Democracy
Posted on March 5, 2014“I don’t really even need George Kennan right now,” commented Barack Obama in a recent interview concerning his foreign policy strategy. The admission was a curious one. Not only because Kennan ... -
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The African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights: Ten years on and the doors are still closed to many Africans
Posted on March 4, 2014Ten years after its establishment in Arusha, Tanzania, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is still hampered by shortcomings that would render any court ineffective. Whilst the willingness ... -
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Pathogens, Planes, and Panic: The U.S. and Global Health Security
Posted on February 27, 2014A pandemic nearly always guarantees a big headline as it leaves us wondering where we went disastrously wrong in our perceptions. The 2004 SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak that ...