CIAO DATE: 11/2008
Volume: 7, Issue: 1
Spring 2008
Systemic Frustration Paradigm: A New Approach to Explaining Terrorism (PDF)
Ogunrotifa Ayodeji Bayo
The ranging balance of terror exercise across different segments of the global society at the turn of the 21st century, exemplify a seeming unequal relationship between the North and the South[1], which is nevertheless based on the formal socio-politico-economic inequality of the global system. The terrorist attacks are reflection of the changing clout of the various local and International actors, emanating out of our social life, political firmaments, economic sphere of different social classes and national states, and in our practice of democracy, rule of law, which underscores dangerous centrifugal trends and the deeply contradictions which global structural imbalance continue to prop up.
The trend of Terrorism is a basic subject of sociological inquiry. The world is increasingly becoming a dangerous place to live in. Already, the world is worried over Iran and North Korea’s nuclear intent. While, the outbreak of Israeli - Hezbollah war and the United State war on terror, which has so far claimed thousand of lives, especially those of children and women.
The subject matter of terrorism has stimulated a good deal of interest among social scientists. Thus, far more research has been of a descriptive nature of demonstrating who actually terrorizes whom. No substantial theory in the way of explanation has yet been developed. This paper is an attempt to explain the trend of terrorism using “systemic frustration approach”. Its adequacy will be demonstrated by two important factors. First, it seeks to explain who is a terrorist? Second, it is devoted to mapping terrorism in sociological perspectives taking into consideration its pattern across societies.
It is the hope that social scientists especially sociologists will find it useful to link the connections between everyday life and large social forces and understanding how and what responsible for the increasing trend of terrorists acts and to understand why actors do (resort to terror) what they do, and to provide a painstaking and relevant action towards discouraging the tendency between the two actors. Even when full numerical data are missing the abstract approach presented here should, if it stands up under further research, serve to provide a cue for explaining the tendency of different actors in particular social situation.
The political realism of Augustine and Morgenthau: Issues of Man, God, and just war (PDF)
Bettina Dahl Soendergaard
Augustine and Morgenthau are examples of classical political realists who base their arguments on the nature of man. Both believe that man is born evil but they differ on the question if man can improve. Augustine also believes that the statesman has a moral purpose while Morgenthau believes that the consequences of man’s nature can only be counterbalanced. This difference is rooted in Morgenthau and Augustine’s different views of the meaning of peace. To Morgenthau, peace is power balance and stability and a permanent peace cannot be achieved. Augustine, however, describes two kinds of peace, the earthly peace and God’s peace. The article discusses these differences and how it impacts their views on moral and war. These different views have similarity with the different views that led to the Reformation in the 1500’s and their difference is as great.
Causes for Participation in Hegemonic Governance (PDF)
Cornelia Beyer
This article argues that the causes for participation in Global Governance are to be found in part in the mere structure of it. In the debate about Global Governance, largely, the issue of power is neglected. However, we certainly deal with a hegemonic constellation. Therefore, the power is present and exerted in Global Governance. It is argued here, that the exertion of power in Global Governance by the United States is causal for participation in it. The study looks at the Global Governance of Counterterrorism, i.e. the Global War on Terrorism, and the regional organizations of ASEAN and the EU.
The Internationalization of Oil Violence in the Niger Delta of Nigeria (PDF)
Victor Ojakorotu
This paper unpacks the crisis in the Niger Delta of Nigeria with reference to its external dimensions by which is meant the involvement of international non-governmental organisations in the politics of local environmental governance. It takes as its point of departure the events (in the 1990s) that underpinned the international community’s engagement with an issue that could have been regarded as Nigeria’s domestic affair and follows with an assessment of the impact of internationalisation of the crisis on the major actors in the region. It is noted that the crisis in the Niger Delta has been predicated for over four decades on a number of complex issues in Nigeria’s geo-political landscape. The emergence of organized pressure groups (in the early 1990s) and their protestations against human rights abuses and environmental problems in the region added a ‘new’ dimension to the crisis. In tackling its thematic concern, this paper interrogates the involvement of the international civil society in the Niger Delta and concludes with an appraisal of the extent to which the internationalisation of the crisis engendered both attitudinal and policy shifts on the part of the main actors.
International Election Observers in Africa: The Case of Ethiopia (PDF)
Wondwosen Teshome B.
The question of inviting international election observers to monitor an election is one of the most controversial issues in Africa. Most of the time, the presence of international election monitors in emerging democracies is important to measure whether or not an election is conducted in a free and fair manner. But, sometimes it is regarded as the violation of a nation’s sovereignty.
The major aim of this paper is to investigate the role and scope of international election observation. The paper looks at the importance of international election observation through the lens of a specific case study, the Ethiopian parliamentary election of 2005, which was without doubt the most ‘monitored’ election in the history of the nation. It also describes the merits and demerits of involving international election monitors in the election processes in emerging democracies in Africa. In this paper, international election monitors of three major institutions namely, the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM); the Carter Center, and the African Union (AU) election observers’ team are presented as case studies.