Editor

Is the Arab Gulf stuck in 2011? Josh Rogin wants you to believe it is

Far too many journalists use 2011 as the reference-point for the internal dynamics of the states of the Arab Gulf. Old narratives are rehashed, polished and redeployed without the requisite reflection of how societies, economies and states have changed in the meantime. Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of Bahrain.   Bahrain’s chapter in the so-called Arab Spring was not defined by violence. Of course, violence did erupt in 2011; Hezbollah, the Youth of 14 February, Sacred Defence, Al…

Political Islam: A Critical Reader

What is the true meaning of Political Islam? And why do some followers of Islam prefer violence? Where exactly does this violence originate from? These are just a few of the questions raised in the book Political Islam: A Critical Reader, edited by Frédéric Volpi. This book is a collection of articles written by different authors about issues pertaining to Political Islam. Despite being published in 2011, this book continues to be relevant for those researching Political Islam, its rise,…

Would the World Be Better Without the UN?

The author tries to understand through the whole book whether or not the UN has improved the international scenario since 1945 and to do so, he tries to imagine a world without it, through counter factuality, through mental simulations and “opposing worlds”.In the first part of the book, the author meticulously probes some of the pathologies that afflict the organization born from the ashes of the Second World War. The limits identified are undoubtedly embedded, first of all, in the brakes…

Russia, the Arctic and Northeast Asia: The Strategic Importance of the Far North

Historically, the Arctic has been much more important to Russia than to other Arctic countries. In Soviet times, the development of the Arctic was of paramount importance and it was used by the Soviet government to legitimise its great power status to domestic and international audiences. It is argued in this paper that the administration of President Putin has re-established a narrative on Russia as an Arctic power. In this sense, Russia not only seeks to exploit natural resources and develop…

Hydro-Politics and the Dynamics of the Shifting Ethio-Egyptian Hydropolitical Relations

The foremost intent of this article is to investigate the major dynamics that are changing in Ethio-Egyptian hydropolitical relations. To attain this objective the researcher employed case study design, primary and secondary sources of data, and purposive sampling techniques. Despite the fact that perpetual national interests on Egyptian Nile water policy are a national security issue, dynamics in the Nile basin have fostered a shift in the relations of Ethiopia and Egypt hydro political…

Unregulated Migration and Nigeria-EU Relations

This article presents the social and political causes of Nigeria-EU migration issues concerning unregulated migration that has been affecting the EU. This was done through qualitative and quantitative methodology, which includes interviews, data gathering and documentary analysis. From the findings and discussion, the article submits that the main problems frustrating the effort of the EU interventions on migration is the political situation of Nigeria. If the political sphere in Nigeria is not…

The United States’ China Containment Strategy and the South China Sea Dispute

Evidentiary Thresholds for Unilateral Aggression: Douma, Skripal and Media Analysis of Chemical Weapon Attacks as a Casus Belli

Trends in Investment Treaty Making: Finding Balance between National Sovereignty and Investment Protection

From Negative to Positive Peace in Western Balkans: A Case for Eclectic Theory

The Democratization Potential of the Middle Class in Russia

Salami Tactics

Tensions in the Arab Gulf have experienced a sharp spike over the past months. Terrorist and proxy militia attacks, directed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, have targeted energy transmission infrastructure via the bombing of pipelines in Saudi Arabia, international oil tankers (belonging to Japan, Norway, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia) in the UAE, while naval mines have damaged other tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. Critical infrastructure in Saudi Arabia (re: Abha’s civilian airport)…

Cyber Security: An Introduction for Non-Technical Managers

In his Cyber Security, Jeremy Swinfen Green provides some insights for ‘non - technical managers’, as the subtitle suggests. His intention is to map, after trying to give a holistic definition of the term, all the risks associated with the improper, malicious or incorrect use of technology, both for individuals and for companies. Understanding where the leak lies is critical in order to develop an effective strategy to address them, especially in a fully digitized world that puts a huge amount…

Thinking Like a Political Scientist

Christopher Howard, known chiefly for his contributions to the study of American politics with The Hidden Welfare State (1997) and The Welfare State Nobody Knows (2006), makes a pragmatic and unpretentious contribution to the already burgeoning literature on political methodology with Thinking Like a Political Scientist (hereafter TLPS).  Howard puts aside arcane statistical techniques and philosophical reflections in order to impart set vital methodological precepts that undergraduates should…

Borderlines, Natural Resources and Conflicts: Towards a Territorial Materialism of Boundary Disputes in East Africa

This article seeks to examine the phenomenon of boundary disputes in East Africa. By way of a case-study approach, guided by the theory of territorial materialism, the study posits that the ‘colonial causation’ narrative, exemplified in the ethnic partitioning/disintegration hypothesis, does not wholly explain contemporary boundary/border disputes in East Africa, but also elsewhere in the continent. The article posits that contemporary boundary disputes in the focal area are largely associated…

Regionalism in World Politics: Interrogating the Relevance of the Economic Community of West African States in Global Political Economy

Globalisation has promoted the connections among sovereign states in the international political economy. Despite the preponderance of neo-protectionist tendencies in the United States and some European countries, the import of regionalism in global political economy has not waned. While economic regionalism was adopted in the advanced capitalist formations as a logical consequence of and/or the instrument for the universalisation of capitalism, the emergence and/or revival of regional…

Modi’s Cultural Diplomacy and Role of Indian Diaspora

Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came into the helm of affairs, he has stressed the role of the Indian Diaspora in Indian foreign policy making because he had realized the importance of the Diaspora in his development strategy. More than 25 million members of the Indian Diaspora are scattered around the world, which includes more than 3 million Indian origin Diaspora in the United States (US). According to the Ministry of Indian Overseas Affairs [This Ministry has been scrapped during…

Comparative Analysis of the Hybrid Tactics Application by the Russian Federation in Conflicts with Georgia and Ukraine

The essence and main characteristics of the hybrid war are reviewed as a means of destroying the enemy country from inside due to the effective combination of conventional armed forces, subversion, propaganda, and dissemination of misinformation. The hybrid tactics used by the Russian Federation in Ukraine and Georgia are investigated. A comparativeanalysisof the military component in the confrontation between Russia, Ukraine and Georgia is conducted, the peculiarities of informational and…

The ‘War on Drugs’ Concept as the Basis for Combating Drugs in the Western Hemisphere

The article attempts to critically evaluate a controversial transnational phenomenon in the Western hemisphere, known as the ‘War on Drugs’. Started by Richard Nixon to regain the support of his electorate, it has continued to dominate anti-drug policies in the Americas until now. In this article, the authors conduct a thorough analysis of all the traits of this concept in relation to the effectiveness and capability of limiting drug production and supply as well as countering drug-related…

Kinds of Democracy: New Models of Federal Republics and Multi-Level Governments

In “Kinds of Democracy,” I vary the kind of democracy across levels in multi-level governments and federations. Varying the kind of democracy from level to level produces new competitive structures (and also new kinds of political complexity), such as producing opportunity structures for political parties to move up or down in a federation or multi-level government. Varying the kind of democracy from level to level also partly resembles some of the irregular and complex political forms of city…