Russia and Europe always had their differences, more so during the Cold War, but even before the two World Wars. Given the globalised world that we live in, one would have thought that Russia and the West may finally put to bed their historic hostility towards each other and cooperate together to ensure the development […]
Recent Articles
Leaderless world creating an unprecedented political shift
Long gone are the days when America and Western Europe could credibly claim to set the international agenda and lead the way as leaders of the world. Since the financial market meltdown of 2008, it has become clear that nothing can be resolved without substantive support from China, India, Brazil, Russia and other emerging powers. […]
The special case of Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin is a fascinating, though a mystical character. Even though he has been at the fore-front of Russian politics for over a decade since 2000, not many actually understand the impact and influence he has had on Russia. Discussing Putin’s time as Russian President could take a whole book, but in this […]
Russia needs to be respected
Russia is a peculiar country. Though it is no longer a communist state, Russia still continues to be the centre of attention when it comes to the West picking out the other countries they mistrust and see as a potential threat ti Europe and America. Given how much mistrust and anger there is towards the […]
Syria: all sides need to forget about pride and point scoring
The conflict in Syria seems to have gone on for eternity now. Though it has been just over two years since the violence started, constant depressing media coverage and the agonising monthly announcements by the United Nations of the number of the dead, has created the sad feeling that this conflict will go on for […]
Britain is run by a ruling class
It is an irony of modern politics that the more the political class proclaims its commitment to social mobility, the more exclusive it seems to become. As is widely known and repeated, the Prime Minister, the Mayor of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury were all educated at the same school, Eton (where the basic […]
Woolwich attack- the need to tackle the source of extremism
The last few days have undoubtedly been dominated by the gruelling story of a political attack by a hardened radical on a British soldier. Now that some time has passed for everyone to think about what happened, it is time to start a debate about what the consequences of this event may be. Here I […]
What the local election results say about the state of British politics
On Friday 3rd of May, the results of the local elections in Britain were announced. Political commentators were predicting that the Conservatives would lose a substantial number of councillors, Labour would gain some and UKIP would also do fairly well. The first two predictions came out correct; however the third one was wrong. UKIP did […]
The problem of youth unemployment
There are few worse things that society can do to their young than to leave them with no prospect of a job and a purpose in life. Unemployment for the young has had devastating effects worldwide. It is quite possible that the final straw in creation of the Arab Spring in the Middle East was […]
Has Democracy Had Its Day?
From around 1970s onwards liberal democracy began spreading like wildfire from America. The principles of this type of democracy took over most of Western Europe and from 1990s it even started to implant itself on former Soviet Union nations. Since then, liberal democracy has been viewed as a prerequisite for a stable and thriving country […]
Can the Middle East find peace again?
After the Arab Spring began last year, the people in the Middle East and the rest of the world were so much full of hope and aspirations, genuinely or naively believing that this will be a new start for the region. However, one year on, the situation in the Middle East looks far worse than […]
Conflict and Cooperation in International Relations
The world we live in always seems to contain wars and conflicts. Just by looking back over 100 years, history is filled with major wars like the two World Wars, the constant scare of escalation of threat during the Cold War and more recently The Afghan and Iraq War. Despite the fact that people always […]
Homelessness is not an inevitability
Perhaps it is the freezing weather outside, or maybe it is the nasty measures that the Coalition Government is taking to tackle the economic downturn like capping benefits at 1% rise which has brought homelessness to my attention. While the United Kingdom may be far less entrenched in problems relating to homelessness, it nevertheless faces […]
Geopolitics of Now and the Future
After the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the downfall of the Soviet Union, many commentators and political scientists assumed that the world had arrived at the finish line of the political and social marathon. This was exemplified by Francis Fukuyama who argued in his 1992 book “The End of History and the Last Man” that the […]
Should non-violent offenders be put in prison?
Going back to basics, the purpose of the prison is supposed to be locking up individuals who committed a crime in a confined space in order to prevent them from committing the crime again in an open society. This purpose is very useful for keeping dangerous criminals like murderers and rapists in one place behind […]
Global Political Insight 