The United States Supremacy and her place in Global Politics and the Geopolitics of the International System
Following the demise of the cold war in 1990s, the United States emerged as the world’s leading power in the international system. This supremacy is partly supported by the global recognition of United States’ position as the most powerful nation on earth. America’s global supremacy is also anchored on the centrality of its role in global politics and its tremendous influence on the geopolitics of the international system. By referring to the U.S. as the world’s super power, there is an implied relational reference and positioning of the United States as the center piece of the international system. It is perceived as the grandmaster of international affairs. This paper examines the supremacy of the United States in the new world order. It argues that as a post-cold war super power, the U.S. has significant influence on global political and developmental relations that characterize the ideologically unstable and anarchic international system. The paper explores the contradictions that arise from the efforts of the U.S. to pursue common good using its military power in the attempts to restore sanity in the international system. It concludes that by climbing to the apex of the world’s top power seat, the U.S. earned itself the image of an empire builder that is assumed to have imperialistic tendencies rather than a respected overseer of the international system.
Rethinking the Administration and Delivery of Foreign Aid in Cambodia
The government of Cambodia has received foreign development aid in abundance for many years, largely contributed by a number of international aid organizations and donor states such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, Official Development Assistance (ODA), and Japanese as well as Chinese governments.
Unfortunately, this aid has not served as a constructive engine to promote economic growth and development, and has not provided tangible benefits for the targeted population, the poor and the vulnerable, in the country.
This article, therefore, presents some specific reasons for the poor management and ineffective delivery of foreign aid in the nation, and offers some viable and practical mechanisms of how foreign aid should be properly administered and distributed in Cambodian society.
International Cooperation to Control the Intergovernmental Small Arms Trade: Case Study China-Sudan
After outlining the deadly scope of today’s small arms trade, this paper touches on questions of international law and responsibility, or lack thereof, as illustrated by the legal intergovernmental transfer of arms from China to the Sudan, despite international pressure urging the contrary. References include United Nations documents, task force and international NGO campaign reports, contemporary media coverage and University for Peace lecture discussions.
Deconstructing Reconstruction
David Ekbladh unravels the real meaning of “post-war reconstruction”.
Cuban-European NGO Collaboration: The ‘Special Period’
The purpose of this article is to achieve an understanding of the nature of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in Cuba and to highlight aspects of the collaboration that has occurred between Cuban and European NGOs. The motivation for undertaking this study is to begin the process of filling the gap in information with respect to Cuba’s NGO community and to get a sense of the circumstances under which international cooperation is carried out on the island. This article constitutes the preliminary findings of an interdisciplinary study of the role of NGOs operating within the context of a revolutionary socialist society. The article begins with essential background to understanding the reasons European NGOs entered Cuba in the 1990s
Regional Integration and Peace
Visiting University for Peace professor Philippe De Lombaerde gives an overview of regional economic theory and its causal relationship to regional security.
Fire, Water, Earth: The Kashmir region
The India-Pakistan conflict has seen much progress toward resolution in the last years, with bilateral cricket matches taking place and buses now passing to the Kashmir region. Yet tension in the form of arms shopping and multiple missile tests still persists. Through analyzing the three aspects of the conflict – fire, water, and earth – Semu Bhatt proposes some tentative solutions.
The Case of the African Union’s (AU’s) Initiatives, 1999-2014
As regional organizations facilitate economic integration, they also find themselves increasingly taking responsibility for security issues as well. This paper outlines the experience of the Africa Union, and the challenges it faces as it emerges as a guarantor of security on the continent.