Irrelephant: The Misleading Connections Between Terrorism and Ivory Poaching
The world is experiencing an ‘environmental crime crisis’. Dwarfed only by the trafficking of drugs, humans and counterfeit goods, the illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be the fourth largest type...
View ArticleHow effective is UN peacekeeping?
Peacekeeping is at the centre of the UN’s efforts to maintain international peace and security. Today, more than 100,000 soldiers and police from 125 countries are serving as blue-helmeted UN...
View ArticleEven more unpredictable: Trump’s U-turn on Syria
“When you kill innocent children – innocent babies – babies – little babies with a chemical gas that is so lethal, people were shocked to hear what gas it was, that crosses many, many lines. Beyond a...
View ArticleNew Challenges – Is the Taliban in Transition?
On 21st May, an American airstrike killed Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan. This operation, which involved multiple drones, comes as a relief to many, as...
View ArticleColombia has voted no on its plebiscite for peace. Here’s why and what it means
On Sunday, the Colombian people rejected the recent peace deal that the Colombian government had reached with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) after 52 years of civil war. The...
View ArticleWhy the real test for Colombia’s peace begins after the demobilization process
On Aug. 29, 2016, the Colombian government and the leftist insurgent group FARC initiated a cease-fire. The two parties had reached a remarkable peace accord a few days earlier, hoping to end 52 years...
View ArticleCoup attempt and terror bombings demonstrate Turkish lives don’t matter to...
Last week’s coup attempt by military forces in Turkey — the military’s first overt attempt to take power since 1980 — came as a great shock to the international community. At least 290 people were...
View ArticleCould Iran be the next country to legalise cannabis and opium?
After Uruguay courageously legalised the use of cannabis under a new drug policy, could Iran be the next country to make it legal? From the outside, the image of Iran as retrograde and inherently...
View ArticleAcademic Diary: Escalating violence in Israel, a view from Bethlehem
As I am sitting here writing this contribution at 8:50 in the morning, I can already hear signs of the relentless fighting that has been going on for over ten days around Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem:...
View ArticleThe Iran deal Is worth it, even if they misbehave
As Congress’ vote on the Iran deal this week enters the theater of the absurd, a resolution edges closer. Cases have been made for and against the deal and its future capital for U.S. foreign policy....
View ArticleInternational intervention and the politics of building peace: ‘liberal...
International intervention in war-affected regions is the subject of much academic attention. Scholars and policymakers alike have been keen to understand the impacts, positive and negative, that...
View ArticleHow does al-Qaeda attract Yemenis?
I recently wrote an article on the BBC website about the current situation in Yemen. As the recent experience of several Middle Eastern countries has shown, when governments break down, terrorist...
View ArticleDigital rights and freedoms: Part 2
More than rights, a set of guiding principles is needed to counterpose to the reigning ideals of ‘security’, ‘growth’ and ‘innovation’. Alternative ideals, perhaps, such as democracy, health and...
View ArticleDigital rights and freedoms: Part 1
This article launches a new section of the Great Charter Convention dedicated to debate and analysis of democracy, politics and freedom in the digital age. It is clear that we are at a crucial...
View ArticleNetanyahu and the two-state solution
Israel’s international image has suffered tremendously in the past few years. Repeated wars in the Gaza Strip, the continued construction of housing units in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and Benjamin...
View ArticleOxford’s Elisabeth Kendall on Jihadism and the use of poetry
What is it that turns peace-loving Muslims into militant Islamists? There are many answers to this complex question. One angle that might not naturally spring to mind is poetry. Yet this is what Dr...
View ArticleFive flaws in Alexander Motyl’s recent assessment of realism in Russia and...
Last week, the Monkey Cage published a post by Alexander Motyl, a Ukrainian specialist at Rutgers-Newark, on the Five fatal flaws in realist analysis of Russia and Ukraine. Motyl claims that: "Realists...
View ArticleIt’s Bad, but Why? Contextualizing the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015
The recent passage of Theresa May’s controversial Counter-Terrorism and Security Act has been met with a flurry of criticism, reiterating a familiar critique of the government’s counter-extremism...
View ArticleTransition and unease in the Arabian peninsula: a radio interview
Yemen continues to lurch from crisis to crisis. Last September, Houthi rebels (Zaydi Shi’ites from Yemen’s north) overran the capital Sana’a and have continued their push for geographical and political...
View ArticleCivilian Drones: fixing an image problem?
Drones were among the most popular Christmas gifts in 2014 — so popular, in fact, that British authorities warned recreational drone users to make sure to use their toys lawfully, or to expect hefty...
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