Introduction For many of us who are south of the Arctic Circle, the northernmost region of the planet has historically been imagined as cold, desolate, and remote: an icy wilderness at the end of the earth. It has been imagined as a space that is outside of politics, culture, and human history, and yet precisely […]

…or, on writing a failed PhD Proposal… Following on from my MA in international relations (IR), I recently applied for funding to do a PhD at the department of Geography at Durham University. For some, geography may seem a stretch from IR, but it isn’t really: these days geography is split into physical geography and […]

Introduction In this short essay I wish to discuss the importance and relevance of green International Political Economy (IPE) as a discourse and discuss its relative strengths and weaknesses. In the first section I discuss the most prevalent form of economic analysis in the world today, that of neo-classical/neo-liberal economics, and discuss its relationship to […]

Introduction In this essay I consider the discursive categories of ‘developed’ and ‘underdeveloped’ states within the frame of International Political Economy (IPE) taking a poststructuralist theoretical approach. I argue that the discursive construction of developed/underdeveloped identities attempts to depoliticise structural imbalances and inequalities in the global economy and present these identities as pre-existent and natural. […]

Introduction In this essay I wish to reflect upon the concept of the ‘liberal peace’ in (post-)conflict environments, from a purely theoretical perspective, arguing that the liberal peace reinforces social antagonisms by attempting to extend the sovereign project of exclusionary politics, resulting in reified group identities of enmity. The liberal peace, as a form of […]

Introduction Since the attacks in the United States on September 11th 2001 there has been a commensurate increase in the use of surveillance practices, applied under the aegis of counter-terrorism. While traditional forms of surveillance such as direct observation have not disappeared, the continued rise of electronic surveillance of public spaces is arguably unique. In […]

Introduction In the following essay I wish to critique the concept of contemporary humanitarianism and suggest that it is predicated on the very basis that it claims to oppose. In the first section I consider the politics of identity that is present in humanitarianism, considering the processes of alterity which construct a ‘self’ and ‘other’ […]

Introduction On 22 July 2005 Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician living and working in London, was shot and killed by UK anti-terror officers as he sat on board a train at Stockwell tube station, South London. Officers fired 11 times, with 7 rounds entering Menezes’ head, 1 his shoulder and 3 missing (BBC […]

Introduction In this essay I intend to assess the competing political conceptualisations of the Arctic which exist in the world community today and consider what the implications of these are. There has been intense interest in the region in recent years in the fields of international relations and political geography, with scholars focusing on issues […]

Introduction In the aftermath of the 11th September attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001, travellers around the world began to see a massive increase in security measures in airports, ports, train stations, and land borders. These are the visible ports of entry at the limits of a sovereign territory: where desirables are granted […]