War is a Force that Gives us Meaning
Chris Hedges, War is a Force that Gives us Meaning, Public Affairs, pp 192. ISBN 1586480499
Validity and Justice: Discrediting the Theory of Just War
Alex Powell tackles the logical problem of Just War theory, putting time-honoured arguments for war under much needed critical scrutiny. The centerpiece of Powell’s argument is relativity, as the absense of a central moral authority, an objective truth, and an unbiased distinction between innocence and guilt undercut the assumptions of classical just war theory to devastating effect.
Mexico’s “War on Drugs”: A Successful Strategy?
Researcher Pamela Huerta offers a nuanced review of Mexico’s anti-drug policy and untangles some of the many socio-economic, political, and institutional factors that have led to heightened levels of violence in the country. As the author demonstrates, the Mexican case sheds light on the larger questions of violence in the region and around the world, especially as they relate to highly profitable and illegal economic activities.
Poverty and Civil War in Sri Lanka
Aingkaran Kugathasan details the multi-faceted impact of Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil conflict on poverty, emphasizing the role of ethnic relations, migration and public policy in addressing socioeconomic challenges in the post-conflict period.
The Rise of Private Military Companies and the Legal Vacuum of Regulation
This paper discusses the rise of the private military industry as a challenge to contemporary international law. In recent times, the privatization of activities preserved by governments have been proposed and implemented;, such as communication facilities, garbage collection, electricity supply, immigration services and much more. Military operations have not been left out. The increasing privatization of military activities is proving to be a major challenge to international law. The literature on Private Military Companies (PMCs) is mind-boggling, but neither extensive nor exhaustive. As a new phenomenon, it receives situational attention. For example, when the operations of Executive Outcomes and Sandline International were unearthed by the press in the 90s,’ numerous scholarly material was written, but with distinct themes like the efficiency of the corporations and the human rights violations carried out, as well as the legal vacuum created by ex-professional soldiers banding up to create and legally incorporate a mercenary outfit. The issue of PMCs being present in weak states and ravaged war-torn zones is an understatement, yet these corporations are registered mostly in the U.S., U.K. and South Africa. The articles on this issue are usually highly polarized; opponents verses proponents of these corporations, as the activities of these outfits do not fit within any conventional classification as actors of war in the law of war.
This paper describes the history and definition of PMCs and analyses how the operations of these corporations affect human rights, sovereignty and states´ monopoly of violence. The paper also focuses on the legality of PMCs and proceeds to discuss how to regulate the industry. The paper concludes in favor of tougher regulatory controls through new international legal framework and national legislation to deal with mercenaries as decisively as with other non-state actors who wield violence.
The Human Propensity for War
This historic panorama of nearly a century of war explains how and why war has become more murderous over time despite efforts toward peace, concluding that the reasons for going to war do not appear to have changed.
US-Russia negotiations on missile defence
Key Words: US, Russia, Security Council, Nuclear Arms, Missile Defense Shield, Human development, Arms Stockpiles, conflict resolution, Negotiation, United Nations
What if there was no UN?
Varghese Theckanath traces the history of the United Nations and briefly reviews its successes. Theckanath argues that these successes outweigh the failures and, ultimately, that the great potential of the UN to promote human development and international understanding makes it an invaluable tool in the effort to build a more peaceful and secure world for everyone.
Deflation and War
The 1930s throw a long shadow. Does deflation and war go together?
Causes and catalysts of the civil war in Syria
The causes and catalysts of the current civil war in Syria are many and varied, including narratives that range across religion, poverty, past repression, and ideology. Understanding why the conflict began is only possible when these causes are considered together as a holistic whole rather than as stand-alone explanations. However, this is not to deny that some causes and catalysts have been more significant than others. Whilst early triumphs of civil society movements in Tunisia and Egypt greatly helped to catalyse opposition to the government in Syria, they only serve to mask the critical and much more important underlying change in the social dynamic created by the ideological drift of the Ba’ath Party. Under Bashar al-Assad’s Presidency, the Ba’ath Party increasingly disengaged and decoupled itself from its original political constituency, creating a broad and deep-seated disillusionment with the government within Syrian society. It is this schism that can be identified as the greatest of the causes of the current conflict.