Latest posts
A long week
As is often observed, a week is a long time in politics, and this has been a particularly long week. From the EU’s perspective, the high points have been the re-election of the pro-EU government in Armenia and the failure yesterday of eurosce...
How low can you go?
Perhaps it’s been the two weeks of unrelenting rain here, but it’s been hard to be too optimistic about the EU of late. David Cameron’s remarks at the weekend about being less than halfway through the Eurozone crisis have only bee...
Little or large? The EU budget and public perceptions
It’s that time of year again, when the European Commission releases its draft budget for the following year, to howls of anguish and disgust from all sides. I’ve already talked some weeks ago about how the EU budget isn’t like na...
“It’s Your Job To Tell Me What To Read”
I’m of a generation whose father would never tell them how to spell a word but directed them to a dictionary. I am also of a generation that grew up watching war films on a Sunday afternoon – which took me to Colditz a few years ago. There I stoo...
A French eurosceptic President?
One of the more notable aspects of the French Presidential elections – which have their first round of voting this weekend – has been the extent to which all the candidates have been willing to bash the EU and European integration more ge...
A thought about modelling euroscepticism
PSA 2012 is coming to an end and I’ve had some really interesting and useful discussions with colleagues on a number of subjects. One topic that came up was an old one, namely the continuing basic problems in researching euroscepticism. From th...
Putting Fire in Our Bellies
It’s the first day of the Political Studies Association conference in Belfast. I’ve been presenting on my recent work on eurosceptic discourse, but here I’d like to focus on some of the other themes that have been emerging. The plenary with M...
The EU isn’t a state
PS’s piece on EU blogging last week made a very good argument about its core proposition that EU funding of blogging would be a terrible and counter-productive thing (thanks again to @ronpatz for taking sure I read it!). As an aside, PS noted t...
Syria, a Proxy Conflict in the Middle East Cold War
by John Turner The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iranmarked the beginning of the second Middle East Cold War. Saudi Arabia and Iran along with their allies have been engaged in cold confrontation since that time. However, in large part this began to th...
Catering to Student Wants or Needs?
It is common now for our students to be asked what they think about their pedagogical experience. One of the most important aspects on which our students are asked to comment is feedback and what has emerged is a much better understanding of what stu...
Russia’s Post-Election Challenges
One week on from the Russian presidential election, the various media outlets have been alive with commentary focused on some key questions in relation to the conduct of the election and what it will mean for Putin. Was the election free and fair, is...
International women’s day: why it still matters!
Celebrations of international women’s day started in the early 1900s as a protest against working conditions of women in textile factories. March 8th became internationally recognised as women’s day in 1975, following the UN campaign for the Inte...
The EU as a pig in a poke
Before Facebook, a poke was a word for a bag and the expression ‘buying a pig in a poke’ is just another way of saying ‘buyer beware’. It’s one which has come to mind since my latest excursion into the Twitter-verse, w...
Syria: Accountability or Impunity?
by Professor Sir Mike Aaronson, Co-Director of the Centre for International Intervention There has been much debate about the merits or otherwise of forcible intervention to stop the killings in the Syrian crisis. This has never looked likely, partly...
Neutrality, Impartiality, and the Syrian Crisis
by Prof. Sir Mike Aaronson, Co-Director of the Centre for International Intervention People sometimes find it hard to grasp the difference between the concepts of impartiality and neutrality, as used in a humanitarian context. The current crisis in S...
Understanding the Greek Tragedy
What is happening in Greece? The economy is collapsing. Society is also under great strain, as many people are becoming too poor to look after their families. Unemployment is now more than 20%. Many parents are taking their children to orphanages bec...
Women Coming on Top: is the government taking gender seriously?
David Cameron formally announced last week that he will recruit a Special (woman) Adviser to carry out a gender impact assessment of Government policy. This announcement is on the back of reports in the press at the end of 2011 that he was seeking a...
Similarity and difference
Reading the open letter in the Telegraph today, from Tory backbenchers to David Cameron on opting-out of assorted European agreements, I was struck by the thought that much of this comes down to perception. In particular, my eye was drawn to a comm...
Mental blocks
It’s never been entirely clear why Brits seem to come out in hives whenever the EU is discussed. Any notion of fair and considered debate – something that we like to think is part of our pragmatic nature – very often gets t...
The Interventionist Fallacy
by Mike Aaronson Right now it is impossible to watch the News on TV, to open a newspaper, or to go online, without coming across discussion about the merits or otherwise of international intervention in Syria and Iran. In the case of Syria the main d...
