Building Respect for the Sheriff
Even in pursuit of the most laudable purposes, the use of military force exacerbates rather than transforms conflict, and perpetuates the cycle of violence and injustice. This is true in compelling cases as well, such as efforts to thwart gross violations of human rights, or for other humanitarian purposes.
Environmental Security and Urban Development
THE NEXUS BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AND CONFLICTS: THE CASE OF THE PROPOSED OGU ENERGY CITY PROJECT. BEING A PAPER PRESENTED BY COMMANDER AH OFORIBO ON THE OCASSION MARKING THE SILVER JUBILEE OF THE LIBERATION CLUB OF OGU ON 11 APRIL 2009 AT ST MARTINS ANGLICAN CHURCH YARD MAIN HALL OGU
Give Optimism a Chance
Investing in Peace: How Development Aid Can Prevent or Promote Conflict.
By Robert J. Muscat. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe. 2002.
Contrary to much of contemporary prescriptive literature, Muscat does not automatically assume that economic development is always conflict-reducing. Through a series of case studies and a detailed examination of the three cross-cutting themes of development, aid and conflict, Muscat identifies development aid as perhaps “the most powerful tool that the international community possesses as a means of non-violent conflict resolution in the Third World today” (p. xvi).
Pura Vida
Jerald L. Schnoor marvels at the popular Costa Rican greeting of Pura Vida.
SARS and the High Moral Ground
The hysteria surrounding SARS has abated, but has it left a legacy by recasting infectious disease as a more central security concern?
The Global Environmental Challenge: Is the Developed World Up to It?
This Opinion is an edited version of the keynote speech delivered by Ambassador Van Haren to the Environment UK 2002 Conference hosted by the Environment Agency in October 2002. Further details of the conference at http://www.environmentagency.gov.uk
Against the war on women: V-day in the Congo
Remarks by Stephen Lewis,
Co-Director of AIDS-Free World, delivered at the 10th Annual V-Day
Celebrations, New Orleans, LA 4:00 pm CDT, Saturday, April 12, 2008.
What’s a tiny Pacific island to do?
“Small island communities are among those most vulnerable to the security risks of climate change,” writes Larson. The rising oceans create a host of problems, including destruction of farmland, salination of water tables, and coastal erosion. But these individual island communities are teaming up, and “As ‘low-power’ actors, [they] are intentionally confronting the powerful industrialized countries responsible for climate warming.”
Georgia-South Ossetia-Russia: Proposals for Immediate Steps to be taken to End Hostilities and Address Humanitarian Impacts
Kai Brand-Jacobson outines some recommendations for various actors and interest groups, including the Joint Control Commission, the EU, the US, the UN, and the Media. Rather than escalating and intensifying this conflict, these groups must realize that a peaceful resolution and a return to dialogue is in everyone’s best interest.
La Carpio: exposing the hidden violence of poverty and marginalization in Costa Rica
La Carpio is a poor community in Costa Rica, nestled against a wealthy enclave of North American and European ex-patriots. Lynn Schneider takes a sobering look at the discrimination and inequalities faced by residents of La Carpio, demonstrating that cultural and structural violence are deeply ingrained, even in a country praised for its long standing commitment to peace.