Jim George - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Jim George
Discourses of Global Politics, 1994
Discourses of Global Politics, 1994
Discourses of Global Politics, 1994
Discourses of Global Politics, 1994
International Studies Quarterly, 1990
The voices of dissent proliferating in international studies over the past decade are frequently ... more The voices of dissent proliferating in international studies over the past decade are frequently understood by negation, that is, in terms of their criticisms and refusals of positivist/empiricist commitments and political realist perspectives, so long dominant in the discipline. To ...
International Affairs, 1995
Canadian Journal of Political Science, 1995
Australian Journal of International Affairs, 2003
It began, generally, in the way the US promised it would, with (a scaled down) ‘Operation Shock a... more It began, generally, in the way the US promised it would, with (a scaled down) ‘Operation Shock and Awe’ unleashing hundreds of bombs and missiles upon the peoples and places of Iraq. A strategy, for all its fabled precision, designed to terrify and pulverise people and things. Some, those guilty of torture and systematic Ba’ath party intimidation, probably deserved to be terrified, maybe even pulverised. Most, however, are guilty of nothing more than being born in the wrong place and time. Eighty years after the British literally drew lines in the sand and proclaimed the new Iraq, complete with imported Hashemite monarch. A quarter of a century after the thuggish reign of Saddam began. A decade after the US, having withdrawn its support for the instigator of a bloody war with Iran, sought to punish him for again following his instincts in attacking Kuwait. In the lead-up to the attacks of March 2003, there was widespread concern about the fate of the innocents in Iraq, as both victims of Saddam’s regime and of a post-11 September US strategy which seemed, inexplicably, to have shifted focus from Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to the much less immediate threat posed by Iraq, and its alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD). One of the few governments not to have expressed these reservations was that headed by John Howard in Australia, which supported the proposition that Iraq’s WMDs did indeed represent an immediate threat to US security and that of its western allies. That, moreover, the Islamic fanatic bin Laden and the secular miscreant Saddam were likely allies in the campaign against the global status quo. Support for US policy was thus proffered as part of a reiteration of a traditional mantra regarding the American Alliance, which reiterated the view that Australia’s national interests are best served when integrated with those of our ‘great and powerful friend’. A decision taken in the knowledge that, imperfect and occasionally infuriating as the Alliance might be (e.g. on issues of agricultural trade), it still provides a comforting security blanket at moments of heightened anxiety for (at least one of) its Antipodean signatories. But there is more to the Iraq decision than this, and indeed to Australia’s enthusiastic commitment to the US-directed ‘war on terror’. In essence it is a decision underpinned by a series of assumptions about the (regional) present and (global) future, and about the nature of international relations per se in the early 21
International Journal: Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis, 1996
Discourses of Global Politics, 1994
Discourses of Global Politics, 1994
Mershon International Studies Review, 1996
Mershon International Studies Review, 1996
Australian Perspectives, 2001
Real and new. Globalisation is the consequence of information and communications technology as we... more Real and new. Globalisation is the consequence of information and communications technology as well as capitalism. Global economy. End of effective state capacity. Positive process.
Discourses of Global Politics, 1994
Discourses of Global Politics, 1994
Discourses of Global Politics, 1994
Discourses of Global Politics, 1994
International Studies Quarterly, 1990
The voices of dissent proliferating in international studies over the past decade are frequently ... more The voices of dissent proliferating in international studies over the past decade are frequently understood by negation, that is, in terms of their criticisms and refusals of positivist/empiricist commitments and political realist perspectives, so long dominant in the discipline. To ...
International Affairs, 1995
Canadian Journal of Political Science, 1995
Australian Journal of International Affairs, 2003
It began, generally, in the way the US promised it would, with (a scaled down) ‘Operation Shock a... more It began, generally, in the way the US promised it would, with (a scaled down) ‘Operation Shock and Awe’ unleashing hundreds of bombs and missiles upon the peoples and places of Iraq. A strategy, for all its fabled precision, designed to terrify and pulverise people and things. Some, those guilty of torture and systematic Ba’ath party intimidation, probably deserved to be terrified, maybe even pulverised. Most, however, are guilty of nothing more than being born in the wrong place and time. Eighty years after the British literally drew lines in the sand and proclaimed the new Iraq, complete with imported Hashemite monarch. A quarter of a century after the thuggish reign of Saddam began. A decade after the US, having withdrawn its support for the instigator of a bloody war with Iran, sought to punish him for again following his instincts in attacking Kuwait. In the lead-up to the attacks of March 2003, there was widespread concern about the fate of the innocents in Iraq, as both victims of Saddam’s regime and of a post-11 September US strategy which seemed, inexplicably, to have shifted focus from Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to the much less immediate threat posed by Iraq, and its alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD). One of the few governments not to have expressed these reservations was that headed by John Howard in Australia, which supported the proposition that Iraq’s WMDs did indeed represent an immediate threat to US security and that of its western allies. That, moreover, the Islamic fanatic bin Laden and the secular miscreant Saddam were likely allies in the campaign against the global status quo. Support for US policy was thus proffered as part of a reiteration of a traditional mantra regarding the American Alliance, which reiterated the view that Australia’s national interests are best served when integrated with those of our ‘great and powerful friend’. A decision taken in the knowledge that, imperfect and occasionally infuriating as the Alliance might be (e.g. on issues of agricultural trade), it still provides a comforting security blanket at moments of heightened anxiety for (at least one of) its Antipodean signatories. But there is more to the Iraq decision than this, and indeed to Australia’s enthusiastic commitment to the US-directed ‘war on terror’. In essence it is a decision underpinned by a series of assumptions about the (regional) present and (global) future, and about the nature of international relations per se in the early 21
International Journal: Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis, 1996
Discourses of Global Politics, 1994
Discourses of Global Politics, 1994
Mershon International Studies Review, 1996
Mershon International Studies Review, 1996
Australian Perspectives, 2001
Real and new. Globalisation is the consequence of information and communications technology as we... more Real and new. Globalisation is the consequence of information and communications technology as well as capitalism. Global economy. End of effective state capacity. Positive process.