Podcast

All-New CEJISS Podcast: Middle East - The Outlook. 

CEJISS proudly presents a new podcast series which deals with contemporary international and security issues. Featuring, Cillian O Donoghue (CEJISS Senior Researcher and policy Analyst) and Mitchell A. Belfer (CEJISS Editor in Chief) this 20 week series examines some unfolding issues and presents international poltiical trends.  

Electronic Contributions

Is the EU a Declining Market-Power?

By Maximo Miccinilli

In the last five years, I have witnessed a sort of academic battle to find an original concept to define the European Union's influence on the international system. I remember some essays proposing different formulas such as normative, moral and transformative power, among others. This proliferation of definitions took me to one of my favourite papers about the EU: "The Metrosexual Superpower". The author compared EU's soft power to football star David Beckam's redefinition of masculinity.

North Korea's Perplexing Gambit

By Mitchell A. Belfer

The premeditated murder of 46 South Korean sailors aboard the Cheonan warship (26 March) has peaked tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Had the Cheonan sunk without a loss of life, perhaps the behavior of North Korea, its Machiavellian leadership and their Chinese crutch would have been shrugged off as another bizarre footnote in the history of an archaic reclusive state. However, since the sinking resulted in high casualties, it is important to explore possible motivations for the attack to gauge whether this crisis will continue escalating, and, if so, how far.

Afghanistan-Pakistan: Allies Wait Each Other Out As Militant Attacks Intensify

By Abubakar Siddique

Think of Pakistan and Afghanistan as a giant chessboard. General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, head of the Pakistani Army, sit on its opposing ends. And both men are waiting for each other to make the next move. The two allies await each other's promised offensive against Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Washington has encouraged Pakistan to move its forces into North Waziristan, where powerful Afghan Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and an assortment of Pakistani, Arab, and Central Asian militants wield tense control.

Pakistan's Displaced Pashtuns Face Choice Between Home, Security

By Abubakar Siddique

A group of men chant "we want peace" as they protest the Pakistani government's decision to send them to their native villages in western Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal district. The leafy oak-covered mountains of their homeland pose a sharp contrast to the heat and dust of the men's temporary accommodations in Dera Ismail Khan -- a sprawling, squalid river town in western Pakistan close to South Waziristan. Nevertheless, as the men made clear on a hot afternoon earlier this month, they want to stay right where they are.