Mystery Bastards

Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Western Europe, grade: 2+ (B), University of Kent (Brussels School of International Studies), language: English, abstract: Six years after the Good Friday Agreement was signed and after a promising, although troubled start of the institutional framework it has put in place, Northern Ireland is, following the suspension of devolution on 14 October 2002, yet again under direct rule from Westminster. Centuries of conflict, decades of violent troubles and diametrically opposed demands of the groups involved make the Northern Ireland question to one of the most difficult conflicts of our time. Nevertheless, there was genuine optimism both among the parties involved and the international community that the Agreement would succeed and resolve the conflict.However, in the political reality of Northern Ireland, the Agreement soon reached its limits, and people realised that it takes more than an assembly and a power-sharing executive to overcome Ulster¿s deep-rooted sectarian divisions. Internal disagreement in the unionist and nationalist camps over the direction the Agreement is likely to take them and the still unresolved question of IRA weapons decommissioning leave the future of the Agreement in serious doubt.The Agreement has been widely acknowledged as being consociational and consistent with the four principles of power-sharing identified by Lijphart. This paper will thus also discuss the theoretical foundation of the Agreement. Here, it will particularly focus on the role of the voting system (Single Transferable Vote) employed for the Assembly elections, which is unusual for consociational models.This paper will conclude that the Agreement is undeniably a major breakthrough. Even if the Agreement itself does not solve the conflict, by creating a prolonged period of peace in which political dialogue can take place, it could be a vital step towards a future settlement. But is the current situation in Northern Ireland really a transitional period likely to lead to a solution of the conflict in the future or is it what Trimble calls the ¿continuation of war by other means¿?The Agreement was certainly not an overall failure as it has managed to bring parties together in political institutions which have refused to sit together in the same room for decades. But its limitations must also be clear: the war might be over but the conflict is far from ended. Since the Agreement has failed to address the underlying issues of the conflict and merely regulates violence, it cannot be regarded as a permanent and sustainable solution. (lib)

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Essay from the year 2002 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: 1 (A), University of Kent (Kent Law School), language: English, abstract: The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians over the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is one of the most complicated conflicts in the world. Attempts to resolve the conflict have failed in the past and a resolution seems unlikely to emerge in the near future. Partly, this is due to the fact that the situation is extremely complex and the conflict very old. History, politics and international law together with religion, nationalism and pride are entangled to form this conflict. For both sides the conflict has reached an emotional level where belief is more important than rational decisions.A lot has been written about the Israel-Palestine conflict and in recent years more and more critique of Israel has emerged. This is particularly interesting as usually every criticism of its actions or policies is turned down by Israel as anti-Semitism. One thus has to be extremely careful when writing about Israel although international law seems to be relatively clear about the 1967 occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.In order to examine the legality of the occupation, this paper will discuss the situation from both angles and look at the sources of international law relevant to this case. These are the Charter of the United Nations in general and the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 in particular. In addition, customary international law has developed to a jus cogens, prohibiting the use of force at all for settling international disputes.Finally, this paper shall conclude that any justification of the occupation is doubtful and there is little evidence in international law that might legitimise Israel¿s actions. And even if the initial occupation could be legitimised under Article 51 of the UN Charter as an act of self-defence, the prolonged occupation would still lack any legal basis. (lib)