The Role of Islamic Parties in the New Middle East
The author argues that Islamic parties represent the hope for democracy in the Middle East-- and that this must be reflected in the West's foreign policy. In an increasingly religious region, Islamic parties enjoy broad popular support, offer a viable alternative for government reform, and embody the first true integration of Islam and a Western form of government.
Religion: Implications of God, Faith, and Power - Joseph Dickson - 24 February 2007 08:10 PM
Protestantism?s Hindrance of Peaceful Development and Democratic Consolidation in Guatemala
The author argues that protestantism is reinforcing and exacerbating Guatemala?s divisions on issues of economic growth, race, education, and income distribution, in the midst of efforts to promote peaceful development and substantive democracy in a country brutally disfigured by poverty, violence and ethnic conflict.
Religion: Implications of God, Faith, and Power - Edward Archibald - 11 February 2007 01:25 PM
Religion and Majority Rule
The author describes the growing strength of confessional parties, political groups increasingly vocal about the religious justifications for their policies. How much legitimacy can such parties and their policies have in the context of majority rule?
Religion: Implications of God, Faith, and Power - Teun Dekker - 09 February 2007 12:01 PM
Faith and Politics: Unlikely Bedfellows or Necessary Partners?
The article discusses the role of religion in recent US American politics, arguing that the recent combination of faith and politics has damaged both. The way the two have been combined in recent elections has created artificial divisions which leave voters stark choices that do not capture their more nuanced views.
Religion: Implications of God, Faith, and Power - Allen Yeh - 09 February 2007 11:50 AM
Religion and the Idea of the Modern and the Traditional
The author discusses the polarizing effects of perceptions of religion. He argues for a dialectic understanding of modernity, which should then to conceived as oscillating between polar opposites such as the modern and the traditional, the secular and the religious, the universal and the particular, etc, rather than being the ?forward march of the modern."
Religion: Implications of God, Faith, and Power - Ferenc Laczo - 09 February 2007 11:41 AM
The Link Between Democratization and International Organizations
International relations literature has often focused on the links between international organizations and international outcomes. However, recent literature has begun to take apart 'the black box of the state' and ask what impact international inputs might have on domestic outcomes. The author examines and critiques a recent contribution by Mansfield and Pevehouse (International Organization, 2006) which argues that democratizing states join international organizations more frequently in order to stablize their reforms.
International Institutions: Make or Break? - Sarah Bush - 11 December 2006 06:01 AM
The European Union ? the need for a united voice in the UN Security Council
The article is a discussion of the current and future role of the European Union on the world stage. The author is arguing for a single European Union UN Security Council seat.
International Institutions: Make or Break? - Sarah-Elisa Nees - 05 December 2006 10:11 AM
The United Nations and Global Security Issues
Global security ? an insoluble problem? The United Nations ? an institution on which insoluble problems can be dumped? The UN is in fact rather bad at dealing with security ? in the traditional sense. But it has achieved something precious, something invaluable, something which ad hoc ?coalitions of the willing?, acting without UN endorsement, threaten to erode.
International Institutions: Make or Break? - Sabria Regragui Mazili - 30 November 2006 07:20 AM
The End of Doha and the Regional-Multilateral Trade Dynamic
Multilateral trade negotiations initiated in Doha, Qatar under the auspices of the World Trade Organization are all but dead. Running parallel to the multilateral talks have been a series of regional and bilateral trade negotiations among developed and developing powers. Surging regionalism is likely to have profound consequence for both immediate economic growth and future multilateral talks. This article explores the relationship between multilateral failures, regional agreements, and the prospects for global trade and welfare gains.
International Institutions: Make or Break? - Matt Shaffer - 30 November 2006 06:55 AM
We want to hear your voice!
Opina.nl's new editorial team is excited to announce the first theme of the academic year:
International Institutions: Make or Break?
Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, Mark Malloch Brown recently remarked, ?We welcome the United States back to multilateral diplomacy.? To what exactly is he welcoming the US? Indeed, unenviable tasks await new UN Secretary General Ban when he takes over at the start of 2007. The reform of the Security Council has hardly begun, the ongoing standoff over North Korea?s and Iran?s nuclear programs splits the veto powers, and violence in Darfur threatens to spiral out of control. At the same time other international institutions are facing serious challenges. In response to the ongoing failure of the Doha Round of trade talks, countries are using alternative channels of discussion, with the European Union negotiating separate Economic Partnership Agreements with African and Caribbean countries. Meanwhile the EU, as the example of the strongest regional organisation, is stagnating after the implosion of the attempt to create a new constitution.
Is the world seeing an unprecedented challenge to the international institutions that currently make up the global system? Opina.nl wants to know what you think about the future for international cooperation and multilateral action? Are international institutions merely of superficial importance or propelled by bureaucratic inertia? Is there sufficient collective identity among international actors for multilateralism to offer a way forward?
No matter whether you step back in history, throw yourself into the future, or explain your view from a certain region, we want to hear your answers, your thoughts, your arguments. This issue will be going to press in mid-November so submit your articles soon! For more details click on the theme description or contact us via the menu on the left.
International Institutions: Make or Break? - Emma Lochery - 18 October 2006 05:22 AM