As the ‘post-Cold War era’ turned into the ‘multipolar world’ era, the notion of Western democracy promotion underwent similarly dramatic changes. The West became too weak to pursue democracy-promotion head-on and was seen as being forced to fall back on old-school realist approaches to democracy. But just when this realist approach to democracy-p…

Notes from canvassing (in the 2007 Irish election)

Analysis of Libya from September 2009 by the late great Fred Halliday.

The coming partitions must be performed with a combination of scalpel and ax, soft and hard power. Above all, the world must recognize that these partitions are inevitable. Our reflex is to fear changes on the map out of concern for violence or having to learn the names of new countries. But in an age when any group can acquire the tools of violen…

"The reactions to WikiLeaks share one abiding characteristic, so obvious that it can easily be overlooked, namely an unwillingness to address with any sophistication or seriousness the complex and everchanging world that the US -- and all of us -- must now deal with. The prevailing and lazy assumption is implied but all too clear: that the fo…

The best of Five Thirty-Eight.

I'm not sure that I really agree with Drezner. Many academic international relations specialists are far behind the reality of what is happening anyway. I hope Wikileaks may shake up the better ones and humble the worse ones. Sure, primary materials written now and made available in thirty years' time may become more guarded, but I am no…

This may only be a brief interlude, but it makes for a really interesting moment in which the spotlight is on real foreign policy instead of caricature.

1) this will damage US diplomacy, for sure; 2) it will damage several governments mentioned in the cables, especially Yemen (see this devastating telegram); 3) it will take a while and a lot of promises by US diplomats that their comms are really really secure this time for other diplomats to trust US diplomats with confidences again; 4) the cable…

Why abstention may be the right choice - with reference to Tuesday's elections, but with wider applicability.

Genuine tweet message from President Medvedev to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Excellent commentary - transferable to many situations.

To peruse later

Eoin O'Malley, who I haven't seen for years, makes the point that having ministers who are not also members of parliament is a Good Idea.