‘Unlawful Combatants’: The West's Treatment of Irregular Fighters in the ‘War on Terror’

The West's treatment of irregular fighters in the “war on terror” was highly problematic. This article contends that we must look beyond the assumption that political and strategic considerations compromised the law and led to the “invention” of the category of the “unlawful combatant.” Rather, the law of armed conflict itself includes strong exclusionary mechanisms towards irregular fighters. These exclusionary strands in the law came to dominate the West's strategic decision-making on the treatment of irregular fighters. Moreover, the fact that irregular fighters became such a vital issue post-9/11 was not a result of the war on terror being a new kind of war, as has often been argued. Rather, this article suggests that it reflects an identity crisis of the West's regular armed forces at the start of the twenty-first century.     

‘Can’t We Discuss This?’ Liberalism and the Challenge of Islam in the Netherlands

The Netherlands, which has seen the political murders of the populist Pim Fortuyn in 2002 and film director Theo van Gogh in 2004, faces particular challenges in meeting Europe's “Islamic problem.” Not just a welfare state like all European countries, the Netherlands also has its own peculiar “pillarization” social structure, which developed in order to permit all groups to be different but equal. For decades, the differences were among various groups of Christians and secularized Christians. But after the 1968 protest movement, and with an influx of immigrants, parallel societies emerged in which Muslims could build up their own institutions and values. While the system has clearly failed, the responses of the Dutch political class to date seem inadequate. This article outlines an approach to the challenge of European Islam that could restore political life to the right priorities.     

中国与“一带一路”沿线国家的FTA选择研究

自由贸易协定(FTA)作为推动当今区域经济合作的主要制度载体已得到普遍认可,应成为中国"一带一路"合作倡议建设的重要方式。基于贸易结合度指数和双边贸易情况分析的实证结果并综合其他因素分析表明,中国应优先选择东亚的蒙古,南亚的印度、尼泊尔、斯里兰卡、马尔代夫,中亚和东欧的俄罗斯、欧亚经济联盟,西亚的海合会,北非的埃及作为各个区域内FTA优先合作伙伴,形成各个区域内的战略支点,并以"点"带"面"全面推进"一带一路"合作倡议的发展。     

Dangerous Revisionism: On the Founders, ‘Neocons’ and the Importance of History

Debates regarding the Bush Administration's grand strategy began long before the forty-third president left office. A group of distinguished historians and political scientists have argued over the course of the last few years that the Administration's grand strategy did not represent a major break with historical precedent, as is sometimes argued, but continued the evangelical support for liberty that has always made the United States a “dangerous nation” to tyrants. Along the way, this revisionism creates straw men, and co-opts or redefines terms that are central to the traditional understanding of U.S. foreign policy. It also seems to misunderstand grand strategy itself, focusing almost entirely on continuity of ends while ignoring the rather glaring discontinuities in the ways that generations of U.S. presidents have chosen to pursue them. Overall, the revisionist project fails in both of its tasks, which are: To make the case that the Bush administration took actions of which the Founding Fathers would have understood and approved; and by implication, to justify the unnecessary, tragic war in Iraq.     

Assessing the practical implementation of the EU’s values in EU–China dialogues

Asia Europe Journal - Literature debating the role of the EU’s values in its external relations has neglected to adequately define and empirically explore the practical promotion or...     

建设21世纪海上丝绸之路战略下深化广东省—新加坡合作研究

本文探讨中国广东省与新加坡全方位合作的基础及前景:双边经贸合作的现状及潜力;合作发展海上丝绸之路特色旅游产业;拓展双边人文交流和教育科技文化合作;推进21世纪"海上丝绸之路"建设。     

“一带一路”与中国—东盟命运共同体建设

东盟是"一带一路"建设的重点和优先区域,中国—东盟命运共同体建设与"一带一路"息息相关。中国与东盟应共同走和平发展道路,不断创新区域合作模式,促进发展安全,增进可持续发展,进而实现共建中国—东盟命运共同体的目标。