Search

Karl Deutsch and those who have taken up his work on security communities universally acknowledge the relevance of increased transnational interactions as a necessary condition for integration. Yet despite an international system increasingly characterized by globalization, in most cases of increased interaction among states dependable expectations of peaceful change, the defining characteristic of a security community, have not followed. Why has increased transnational interaction led to the emergence of security communities in certain cases but not others? This paper attempts to answer this question by positing a multi-level theory of integration, which asserts that integration is contingent on the mutual identification of self-signifying practices common to intersubjectively differentiated groups, which in turn allows for enhancements in social communication and the development of a higher-order level of collective identity. By focusing on concomitant processes of integration at the regional, state and subnational levels, this theory pushes forward the discourse on security communities by explaining the emergence of new social tensions resulting from changes in the meanings of practices associated with integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By drawing from some texts on the political situation during the Cold War, the paper assesses the special perspective Parsons takes on this classical IR theme. As will be shown, Parsons approaches this issue from two perspectives. On the one hand, he refe ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes within its scope the broad disciplines of Development Studies and International Relations both of which, I argue are predicated upon an implicit narrative of history that takes the state form as the locus of enunciation. That is within both broad realms of study, a narrative of history as the history of the state form, history as the history of the nation state, informs and motivates the methodologies, assumptions and categories of analysis of both disciplines. However, utilizing the arguments made within the field of postcolonial studies, this paper argues that both disciplines within the broader human sciences are also predicated upon an elision or writing out of European colonial history. Thus, from this perspective, it is the writing out of colonial history that makes each discipline and their implicit narrative of history organised around the state form possible. Recent developments within politics and sociology around the incidence of globalisation and the recent flurry of academic and popular writing around the existence of a ‘new’ form of imperialism have produced a discursive tug of war over the relevance and viability of the state form under neo-liberal globalisation. This paper argues that the confused nature of these debates stems in part from the absence of colonial history and an absence of theorisation about empire as a form of politics within the discipline of politics and IR (Hardt and NEgri notwithstanding). Subsequently, I argue that in order to yoke together within the same analytical field both European colonialism and the practice and politics of development in the Twentieth Century, a new theory of history is required, one that places colonial history and the form of empire squarely in the centre of our consideration of global politics, one that explores the connections between empire and the state form, one that theorises the history of capital together with the history of the European colonial project, one that teases out the axes of continuity between the 20th Century trajectory of development and the 19th Century colonial project. Yoking development together with colonialism in the same analytic field needs to be fore grounded by a methodology of inquiry that theorises historical continuity rather than narrative rupture. [364 words] ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a relationship between the proliferation of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies), globalization and the north-south divide. More importantly, there is a need to better understand the stateless actors, their ability to access technology and our ability to manage the threats associated with it. This paper will investigate the role of Information and Communication Technologies in the ongoing terrorist oriented threat assessment of worldwide security, considering whether or not the north-south debate is applicable and how to manage the threats associated with technology (critical infrastructure, sensor networks, etc.). The research will focus on economic, sociologic and political aspects of those who possess technology vs. those who do not (if this is indeed true). The paper will focus on prediction and detection of technology enabled attacks. Finally, the paper will present an artificial intelligence application, which applies Bayesian filtering to serve as early-warning threat detection system. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization, globality and globalism are some of the most commonly used nomenclatures within the various sub-fields of the social sciences and the humanities to address material as well as ideational aspects of global issues. This paper aims at looking at some literatures, particularly those within International Relations, International Political Economy and Sociology, in order to identify and mutually relate some of the key concepts and categories they adopt to address such matters. In so doing, the goal is to build a logical conceptual mapping of what is here termed as global relations; a multi-domain, multidimensional social manifestation. The argument is that a more formal, content specific conceptualization of global relations can help us properly address the various and complex global components of human action and intensions and their interactions. Finally, the case of religion as a global manifestation will be addressed as an example of how the concept of global relations can help us better understand different ways key global topics (and domains) are understood and dealt with within the various branches of social sciences. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]