tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60515525911823516552024-03-05T09:47:16.221-08:00International Relations and DiplomacyEvery front page story, local or global, has an impact on or is as a result of the relations between sovereign states. That's why international relations is worth thinking about.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-32969735935626984702011-12-04T13:29:00.001-08:002011-12-04T13:35:13.823-08:00The Role of Ethnicity in Resource Conflicts in the Niger Delta of Nigeria
Abstract
This paper examines ethnic politics
as an explanation for conflict in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Differing views
on what causes militancy include political and social arguments examining
historical ethnic rivalries and their effect on the political landscape. The economic
and environmental narrative expounds the motivations of militant groups’ revolt
against the Nigerian Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-36733146482819470282011-05-24T10:28:00.000-07:002011-05-24T10:28:57.985-07:00Is the Niger Delta Conflict in Nigeria Primordial, Materialistic or Instrumentalist?<!--StartFragment-->
There is some logic in focusing on assessing the primordial explanation for conflict in the Niger Delta. In most current academic scholarship, the views on what has exacerbated militancy in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria broadly falls under four categories: Economic, Political, Environmental and Social. The political and social arguments are primarily primordial and lookAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-38088479942824135502011-03-27T13:13:00.000-07:002011-03-27T13:13:29.843-07:00The Ideological Worldviews of Al-Qaeda and the Neoconservatives: A Theoretical PerspectiveThe concept of ideology is a 'false consciousness or misled Weltanschauung[1] (world view[2]), and one which posits objective conditions and “realities” in order to manipulate certain social and political situations' (Behr and Heath 2009). This ‘false consciousness’ could either be the neoconservative view of US exceptionalism or Al-Qaeda’s vision of establishing an Islamic caliphate. To Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-70255932924524092382011-03-13T05:36:00.000-07:002011-03-13T05:36:35.883-07:00How crucial is soft power to the successful conduct of diplomacy?There have been a plethora of debates on both sides of the liberal and realist fence of the effectiveness of soft power in facilitating diplomacy in general. The former stand as proponents saying that in this age of globalization with instant communication it is important that states do not rely alone on military or economic hard power. The realists on the other hand dismiss results. It will be Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-27796085767974305882011-03-06T13:53:00.000-08:002011-03-06T13:53:24.417-08:00Is the value of multilateralism overstated in contemporary international politics?If contemporary international politics represents the interaction between states on a global level over the last two decades i.e. in the post cold war period, then there is no denying that there has been a proliferation if International organizations and a consequence of this has been a lot more multilateral diplomacy associated with this. It will be argued that this trend away from bilateral Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-88328995665422914122011-03-04T03:32:00.000-08:002011-03-04T03:41:09.574-08:00Al-Qaeda, Neoconservatives and Ideology: A SummaryThere is extensive analysis about what Al-Qaeda really is and an equally broad spectrum of opinions about who the neoconservatives are. Al-Qaeda has been described as a ‘transnational terror organization’ (Smith 2002, 2), ‘religious extremist insurgents’ (Petraeus and Amos 2006, 1-15), an ‘organization of elite vanguards’ (Riedel 2007, 108) a ‘global jihad movement’ (Coll & Glasser 2005 in Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-12400903844459919632011-02-16T04:14:00.000-08:002011-02-16T04:14:41.026-08:00Egypt, Al-Qaeda and Neocons - A new dawn in ideological worldviews or history repeating itself?Even though it’s extremely early days since recent revolution in Egypt and the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, it remains apt to assess the ideological worldviews of Al-Qaeda and the neoconservatives against that backdrop. Egypt played centre stage in the development of Al-Qaeda ideology and the obvious debates have arisen about the impact on Islamic fundamentalism and the ideology of theAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-25120616655330853662011-01-27T06:51:00.000-08:002011-01-27T06:51:16.341-08:00Conflicting views on the causes of the rise of militancy in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria: an analytic considerationIn most current academic scholarship, the views on what has exacerbated militancy in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria broadly falls under four categories: Economic, Political, Environmental and Social. The political and social arguments look at historical ethnic rivalries and how that affects the current political landscape and political motivations for and against militancy. The combination of Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-81059208450409066812010-12-09T03:37:00.000-08:002010-12-09T03:37:28.713-08:00Under what conditions does war assist with state and nation building?Introduction
Good wars make strong states stronger and bad wars make weak states weaker. This essay highlights that a preferable backdrop for starting to outline the conditions under which war favours state and nation building is an extension of Tilly’s thesis that firstly is less generic and secondly more conditional on the type of state or nation and war. ‘Good’ wars here refer to the impliedAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-81738005676356253722010-04-01T13:49:00.001-07:002010-04-01T13:49:56.570-07:00Tajikistan: Collapsing from within ... What next for Security Policy?Tajikistan: Collapsing from within ... What next for Security Policy?
Recent Events
A number of fragile economic factors and internal political instability is threatening security in the region. An uncertain future for Tajik migrant workers in Russia, a looming energy security crisis and decline in Aluminium revenues is creating a difficult environment for the government of President RakhmonAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-45287359364338775632010-02-08T09:34:00.000-08:002010-02-08T09:34:59.003-08:00The Ambassador - Inside the Life of a Working DiplomatAt the almost obligatory post GDSP tutorial drinks in the student union bar, I was struck by how a number of us were feeling overwhelmed with the demanding schedule and plethora of skills we are acquiring and expected to acquire for a career in diplomacy. The discussion progressed into expressing the anticipation of the feeling of relief when the course is over and we've got 'that job', how life Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-78393785451423273632010-02-08T09:32:00.000-08:002010-02-08T09:32:12.271-08:00American Empire?The unending debate on the existence of an American empire is compounded by the use by numerous scholars of the outdated framework of analysis which frequently compares this twentieth century phenomenon with previous empires such as the British and Roman Empires. Whilst there is a requisite to have a point of reference of comparison to define empire, this essay says there is a “new American Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-39552094943985286322009-12-21T07:13:00.000-08:002009-12-21T07:13:33.493-08:00Did decolonization mark a major change in World Politics?This essay seeks to show that decolonization was instrumental to major changes in world politics. Even though a plethora of changes, positive and negative, minor and major can be attributed to decolonization, it is recognized that the liberal definition of what constitutes a major change, particularly self-determination and the constructivist perspective of values, identity, ideas and wide Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-39067195390384084832009-12-08T16:08:00.000-08:002009-12-08T16:08:32.459-08:00The Advantages and Disadvantages of Pursuing a Multilateral Approach to negotiations designed to get North Korea to abandon efforts to develop Nuclear WeaponsThis essay seeks to show that whilst there are numerous advantages in a multilateral approach to get the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (hereafter DPRK) to acquiesce to abandon its efforts to develop nuclear weapons, diplomatic momentum is mainly achieved in negotiations mostly where there is an effective bilateral approach. It is argued that a successful negotiation must focus on Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-3390137755296994982009-10-13T16:59:00.000-07:002009-10-13T17:05:48.585-07:00The Three Musketeers and Collective SecurityOne for all, and all for one (latin: un pour tous, tous pour un; also inverted to All for one, and one for all) is a motto traditionally associated with the titular heroes of the novel The Three Musketeers written by Alexandre Dumas, père, first published in 1844. In the novel, it was the motto of a group of French musketeers named Athos, Porthos,Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-80008720561720511852009-10-07T09:28:00.000-07:002009-10-07T09:30:44.149-07:00The Power of WordsThere are numerous Biblical verses that enunciate how powerful our words are. One that I am particularly drawn to is in the book of Proverbs 18 verse 21 which begins ... "Death and Life are in the power of the tongue ...".
This has been on my mind lately for two reasons. Firstly, Pastor Colin Dye of Kensington Temple in London, where I have worshipped for more than 10 years has been preaching a Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-56394219180272996352009-10-02T13:54:00.000-07:002009-10-04T11:57:08.991-07:00Globalisation has created a borderless world? Yeah right! Kid yourself.It was Mark Twain who said "I didnt have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one ...". When you have numerous ideas and extensive information, the challenge is always determining what is pertinent and essential to impart the right message. This is a vital skill.
On Monday, as part of my media training on my course in diplomacy, I am meeting with Simon Cructhley and Deborah Mckenzie, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051552591182351655.post-79077243901084974142009-10-01T15:35:00.001-07:002009-10-03T16:25:23.471-07:00Is Today important?People place a lot of attention to dates. In cultures, religion, personal relationships and all aspects of life we can decide a date is more significant than it is and as such place great importance to it. Today is Thursday the 1st of October 2009 and its the Independence day of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in West Africa where I am from. Today is also my first official day as a Master's Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936291872308230887noreply@blogger.com0