Category Archives: Politics
USA: A naïve push for Israeli-Palestinian peace?
The recent attempt to restart the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations by the United States has been met with significant scepticism and criticism. There have been a number of obstacles that have hindered renewed efforts by the United States to restart the Israeli Read on! →
USA: Scandals and the Obama Administration
Legacy: the buzzword for all incumbents of the oval office fortunate enough to have won a second term. On that clear night in Chicago’s Grant Park in 2008, any brief thought of the president-elect’s legacy was undoubtedly clouded out by Read on! →
India: Water security at risk as agreement with China fails
China and India recently failed to sign a bilateral agreement on how to share the water of the Brahmaputra River despite meeting to discuss the issue in May. Prime Ministers from both countries met in New Delhi to discuss several Read on! →
Colombia: Is peace with FARC getting closer?
A possible first step towards peace was reached in the Colombian government’s struggle with the FARC guerrilla group came on the 26th May 2013, when negotiators at the talks in Havana announced a deal on land reform. For Colombia, this Read on! →
USA: Cannabis legalization sees opposition from unlikely source
The American states of Washington and Colorado made international news last November, when voters from both states passed initiatives to legalize the use of marijuana for recreational use. Voters had previously voted for laws protecting cannabis use for qualified medical Read on! →
Samoa: Will the island be ‘exploited’ by Chinese firms?
Samoa is no stranger to colonisation. In 1830 Christian missionaries destroyed the Samoan religion; Germany ruled Western Samoa from 1899 until 1914; and after that the country passed over to New Zealand’s rule. It was not until 1962 that Western Read on! →
Canada: Harper’s retreating foreign policy
In October 2010, the United Nations started the voting procedures for the non-permanent seats of the Security Council. Canada, who had until this point been on the council six times before hoped that this time would be no different, having Read on! →
Sweden: Failing integration policies sets Stockholm suburbs in flames
Whilst the rioting and violence in Stockholm may have subsided in recent days, burnt out cars on the city streets suggest there is a deep issue behind the unrest. But the cause of such scenes, which mirror those of London Read on! →
UK: Is it time for strategic depth in British foreign policy?
In March 1848, the then-Foreign Secretary and legendary statesman, Lord Palmerston, painted a picture of British foreign policy that has been instrumentalised as a realist maxim ever since. Speaking in the House of Commons, in response to the revolutionary fervour Read on! →
Bosnia: Independence never far from the minds of Bosnian Serbs
As relations between Serbia and Kosovo improve after an agreement signed last month giving extensive rights to Serbs and their municipalities in Kosovo, there are renewed demands in the Republika Srpska for it to separate from Bosnia and Herzegovina. On Read on! →