Global power structures are in a state of flux. The centre of world gravity is shifting from West to East amid the relative decline of the United States as a hegemonic power. Meanwhile, individuals, supranational bodies, NGOs and non-state actors are vying for influence more doggedly than ever before, aided as they are by Twitter, [...]
The Technological Revolution: Freedom, Change and Democracy in Iran
Jahan Navidi explores the pivotal role that technology has played in promoting widespread social change in the aftermath of the disputed Iranian Presidential Election.
For the past few months, the world has been glued to the television set, gazing in amazement as thousands upon thousands of Iranians have flocked to the streets, expressing their discontent and chanting: “Down with the dictator.” These protests – totally unprecedented in the last 30 years – demonstrate the people’s discontent with the current regime in Iran. Through their defiance of the ‘Supreme Leader’, Ali Khamenei, and in spite of his request for an end to the protests, many continue to risk life and limb in pursuit of freedom. [...]
Drugged Diplomacy
Mark Grime explores the ascendency of Mexican criminal syndicates in subverting and shaping U.S. Foreign Policy.
It is simplistic to claim that democracy has acted as the catalyst for the transfer of power from the Mexican state to drug cartels. Rather, the increasing power of drug cartels in shaping international policy is a byproduct of the institutionalisation of corruption within the Mexican state and the forces of democratisation. The cartels have infiltrated politics at the national and international levels to ensure both their security and the security of their lucrative trade. The result is that the cartels are not fighting the Government. They are fighting each other. [...]
Power Over Life, Power Over Populations
Lukasz Swiatek examines power between global players in the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
In a New Delhi hospital, Loon Gangte was waiting to collect HIV medication. The queue was long; the wait had lasted over an hour. When he finally reached the window and presented his prescription, the nurse on duty ordered him back to the end of the line. At first, Gangte could not understand why he was being discriminated against. “Much later I realized that my HIV-positive status compelled her to single me out and treat me differently,” he explains in an interview for UNODC. “During those days, if you were living with HIV, it [the prescription paper] was stamped prominently ‘HIV – Positive’.” [...]
China’s About-Face
Sophia Chen, Daniel Liu and Richard Liu look at the changing face of China’s foreign relations, military, and political transparency.
In August 2009, the 2.3 million-member People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China began a public relations campaign aimed at increasing the transparency of the world’s largest standing military. The PLA consists of the army, navy and air force, which are all under the direct control of the Chinese Communist Party. The start of this campaign coincided with the conclusion of bilateral talks between China and the United States. Is this campaign indicative of real change in Chinese foreign policy? [...]
The Three Faces of Power
May Samali exposes the Iranian Government’s denial of higher education to Baha’i students.
The concept of power is fundamental to political science. According to American political scientist Amy Allen, power features three distinct senses: power-over, power-to and power-with. Power-over is the ability of an actor to constrain the choices available to another actor. Power-to is the ability of an individual actor to attain an end or a series of ends. Power-with is the ability of a collectivity to act together for the attainment of a common end. Each type of power relation represents a particular modality of power, which may be present in any one situation at the same time. [...]
The National-Global Paradox
Mekela Panditharatne explores the evolving power of the nation-state in a post-globalised world.
For many of us, the concept of ‘the nation’ is an almost subconscious vector of identity, and the nation-state system a somewhat rudimentary compass that we use to orient ourselves economically, culturally and socially in a world that grudgingly humours our human need to compartmentalise. Yet if it were ever possible to identify a period in the past in which one could understand national processes as independent phenomena, governed by localised mechanisms and existing outside global variables, clearly this is no longer the case. [...]
Lessons from Afghanistan and Iraq
William Han explores the evolution of the ‘war on terrorism’ in Afghanistan and Iraq and the dilemma of achieving victory on these battlegrounds.
In November 2007, Robert Gates, the Secretary of Defense, presented the case for strengthening U.S. soft power and learning to integrate it with hard power, warning that “military success is not sufficient to win”. It was a moment of catharsis: a cleansing after years of failed unilateral foreign and military policies under Donald Rumsfeld. The patriarchal rhetoric about defeating “adversaries at the time, place and in the manner of our choosing” is gone. [...]
The Refugee: Contravening State Sovereignty
Zvjezdana Kragic asks whether the existing state-centric international system can be sustained under the influx of climate change refugees.
In Hannah Arendt’s highly influential philosophical work, On Totalitarianism, the legacy of the twentieth century – that is, the establishment of human rights – is systematically critiqued. The challenge to this system only became apparent after World War II, with the failure to accommodate the “people forced to live outside the scope of all tangible law”. The expulsion of minorities from political society – such as the Jewish community, among others – provided refugees with no recourse other than to claim protection under any human rights law. [...]
What is the Future of Liberal Democracy?
Wesley Lalich considers the future of an enduring system of governance.
Over the past decade, the global landscape has fundamentally changed, with nascent indicators of an end to Western hegemony appearing in tangible and sustainable forms. Whilst it has become modish to discuss China’s rise, it seems evident that even if the Middle Kingdom does not eclipse America, the combined weight of the emerging Asian nations, impressive growth in parts of South America and Africa, and a resurgent Russia all signal the relative decline of Western economic pre-eminence. Western countries undoubtedly enjoyed a half-millennium of exploring, exploiting and subjugating much of the globe, siring new societies in the Americas and Australia, and finally concluding in the last half-century that self-determination should apply beyond Europe. [...]
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