On 17 July 1936, leading generals of the Spanish military launched a rebellion against the newly elected Popular Front government of the Second Republic. It would fail as a coup d’état, but instead provoked civil war. The rebels were joined by the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS),… Read More To what extent did Franco impose a ‘Fascist’ state and identity on Spain?
Winston Churchill and the Rise of Bolshevism 1917–1927 The period 1917 to 1927 was one of significant social and political upheaval and revolution across the world, but nowhere so much as in Russia, when on 7 November 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution took place. Power was transferred to the soviets across the country, ousting the Provisional… Read More Winston Churchill and the Rise of Bolshevism 1917–1927
This is an essay originally written to discuss the charge of ‘western-centrism’ in international relations (IR) theory as a whole, though I have adapted it to address the charge against marxism in particular. I initially wrote this around October 2013. Postcolonialism is a post-positivist theory, or critique, meaning that it rejects the idea that knowledge is static and material, and… Read More Is Marxism too ‘eurocentric’? A critique of postcolonial IR theory
Was Lenin any different to Stalin in terms of personality, policies and the way he governed the USSR? Parallels between Lenin and Stalin have been drawn time and time again by many scholars; the common charge is that Stalin’s path to dictatorship was paved by Lenin, each being equally as villainous. Indeed, this is essentially… Read More Lenin, Stalin and the ‘continuity theory’
Is a capitalist economic and social system essential for the flourishing of human freedom? The idea that freedom is unattainable without the flourishing of a capitalist, free-market economy and social system is the hegemonic belief in Western society today. ‘Freedom’ has been referred to time and again by governments to account for both domestic and… Read More Capitalism and Freedom
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