C/P/101. Does the mediation of public opinion enhance or inhibit democratic debate?

The paper examines the concept of public opinion associated with democracy arguing whether the mediation of public opinion enhances or inhibits political process, and whether under democracy the public is at the centre of power. Academic literature is reviewed touching on the role of mediation of public opinion and the contribution of the media in enhancing debate over democracy.

P/P/193. Paradigms in political economy: Washington consensus

The paper looks at the paradigms in political economy, comparing the so-called Washington Consensus, introduced the early 1980s, and a recently evolved model known as ‘post-Washington consensus. Similarities and differences between the models are shown including the attitudes towards free markets, monoeconomics, approaches to development, the role for government, etc.

S/P/27. Why did Hobbes believe it rational to submit to sovereign power?

Hobbes argument began with a set of philosophical and assumptions about human nature and human relations with the natural world. This essay will explore those assumptions and the power of the sovereign that this legitimised.

S/P/23. How did Hobbes justify the authority of the state?

This essay explores Hobbes' theory from "Leviathan" and his attempt to provide an incontrovertible basis for the authority of the state. It begins with Hobbes' theory of human nature, and his conception of individuals without any form of government or civilisation ("the state of nature"). From these precepts the essay explores the contract individuals will be drawn to make in relation to the laws of nature, and the sovereign authority that will be instilled.

P/P/50. Policy Making

The paper critically analyses the realist distinction between internal and external influences upon policy making

P/P/47. The Conservative Party Conference

The paper discusses whether the Conservative Party Conference is enormously influential rather than powerful.

P/P/44. Far Rights Movements in Post-Communist Russia

The paper discusses why Far Right Movements have found strong support in Post-Communist Russia

P/P/40. Party Competition

The paper discusses the party competition in Western countries, in particularly, the paper analyses whether or not the party competition is essential to the democratic translation of the class struggle

P/P/34. The Reasons of Success of Conservative Party in Britain

The essay attempts to identify the major reasons of success of Conservative party in Britain since 1918.

P/P/27. Critically Explain the Significance of Fortuna in Machiavelli's Advice to Princes and whether this is still Relevant Nowadays

C/P/13. Assess the contribution of Machiavelli to Realism.

Deception and propaganda are instruments of wise state policy: a state may crusade against communism today and international terrorism tomorrow, but realists will always look beyond the veil of morality to see the real motivations of states - power. Machiavelli's insights into power and morality have not lost any importance with time. Five hundred years have passed, wars have been fought and won, empires arose and crumbled, yet Machiavelli has not lost relevance with his never-failing recommendations. It is perhaps this kind of timelessness and universal applicability that make relativist prescriptions of realism so irresistible.

P/P/12. Geopolitical consequences of the demise of the Soviet Union

One important geopolitical consequence of the demise of the Soviet Union was the rise of intense political and commercial competition for control of the vast energy resources of the newly independent and vulnerable states of the Caucasus and Central Asia . The fact that the three countries which share the majority of the regions energy and resources, namely Kazakhstan , Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan , are landlocked makes them depend on their immediate neighbors for access to the World markets. Foreign policy concerns related to the regional balance of power, national security, and potential economic benefit have led four external powers to strive for export pipelines to be built across their territory: Russia , Iran , Turkey , and China . A fifth country, the United States has increased its own efforts to influence the pipeline derby. The alternatives to exporting oil and gas through the Russian pipeline system are exporting through war-torn Afghanistan , through Iran , or by building some of the world's longest pipelines to markets in China and Europe . The routing of new oil and gas pipelines from the Caspian basin will greatly influence the region's future geopolitical orientation. The United States supports the construction of a longer pipeline, which would begin at Baku , transit Georgia and much of Turkey before exiting at the Mediterranean Sea port of Ceyhan . The United States supports the construction of a longer pipeline, which would begin at Baku , transit Georgia and much of Turkey before exiting at the Mediterranean Sea port of Ceyhan . However, oil companies have been lukewarm towards the Baku-Ceyhan route because due to its enormous cost. Crossing roughly 1040 miles through mountainous territory, construction of this pipeline would cost $4 billion, exceeding by cost substantially any likely alternatives. The AIOCs successive refusals to commit to the Baku-Ceyhan route, ending in a final, indefinite postponement of any decision until today, created a disappointment for the US, Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. If genuine American national interests are at stake, the US government needs to enhance its efforts throughout the region to support the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline route as well as to support American companies. It should offer greater incentives for the oil companies. Alternatively, it should persuade Turkey to provide significant reductions in transit fees and other concessions to reduce the overall costs of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. Finally, the US government should encourage greater communication and dialogue between AIOC representatives and Turkish, Georgian and Azerbaijani government officials.

C/P/12. Is Max Weber's conception of modern politics is still relevant today?

"Triumph" of democratic governance on the ruins of the Cold War in the late 1980s was so optimistically received in some academic quarters as to prompt discussions on the alleged "end of history". With the last great antagonistic ideology - communism - now completely and utterly defeated, what could possibly impede the worldwide acceptance of "democratic values" (necessarily in the Western liberal tradition)? Ten years beyond history, tyrannies still abound under the banners of the "will of the people", and the bright flowers of liberalism, planted on infertile soil, have wilted in the face of economic stagnation, fundamentalism and whatnot. And so, the prophetic words of Max Weber, German sociologist, economist and political philosopher still ring true: the "will of the people", he wrote, was a fictious concept, and if anyone harbored such illusions, he "still had great disillusions to suffer."

C/P/15 Assess critically Marx's distinction between ideology and science

INTRODUCTION: In 1958 the Chinese government, with Mao Zedong's blessing, launched an unprecedented campaign of economic construction - the Great Leap Forward - to allow China's transition to Communism within the space of a few years. To realize the unrealisable economic plans, Mao resorted to the revolutionary spirit of Marxism-Leninism, combined with new insights of the Mao Zedong Thought. Inspired by these revolutionary ideas the Chinese people would make a great leap out of backwardness towards a brighter future. The Soviet economists criticized China's ambitious industrialization plan, but the Chinese politicians defied criticism and blamed the Soviets for the lack of revolutionary fervour. Neglect of economic realities took a heavy toll on China: in months, the country faced economic collapse and starvation. The ideology of Marxism proved insufficient to produce an economic miracle. But Marx himself would have turned in his grave had he known about Mao's use of his name as a banner for ultra-leftist policies that defied reality. For much of his own career Marx debated with philosophers of Mao's kind - those who sought to liberate Man by liberating his Conscience, those who thought that Conscience determines the Being. Whatever the ethical merit of these ideas, Marx found them utterly unscientific, without a basis in reality, and hence - only an ideology. He drew distinction between the baseless philosophy of his own contemporaries and his own scientific theory that, he firmly believed, was rooted in reality itself.

C/P/16 Can the ideology of Marxism be separated from its subsequent interpretations?

Introduction: In the early 1960s the relations between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party turned sour. Mao Zedong accused his Soviet comrades of "revisionism" of Marxism - that is, that the Soviets have allegedly restored capitalism inside the USSR and capitulated before imperialism in foreign policy. Moscow dismissed these accusations as baseless, arguing that it always went by the principles of Marxism, and that, indeed, the Chinese were the ones who succumbed to "left-wing opportunism" and "dogmatism". The Western policy-makers could not at first believe that the two communist allies parted ways - Washington speculated that the whole "ideological split" was an effort to confuse the Americans. The mere fact of both countries being "communist", following the same "Marxist" dogma seemed to exclude the possibility of a rift. But what seemed to the West as "Marxism" in reality amounted to drastically different philosophies and political lines. Seizing upon Marx, political thinkers and revolutionaries worldwide developed their own forms of Marxism to suit their particular circumstances: what on the surface seems like as a monolith ideology on closer inspection turns out to be a dissonance of often irreconcilable doctrines that bear as little resemblance to each other as to the "original" Marxist ideology.

H/P/12. The Washington Consensus: Good or Bad?

The Washington consensus is a set of policies often recommended to and pushed on developing countries by western governments and organizations. One of these organizations is the IMF, which often imposes or "heavily recommends" these policies to developing countries in crisis who are looking to get an IMF loan in order to pay back loans taken from international financial markets, which they are often in danger of defaulting on. While many of the policy recommendations will in no doubt produce a positive economic result for the developing country, some of the policies can be negative economically, environmentally, and socially.

H/P/14. Political Impact of the Slave Trade

This paper studies the political impact of slave trade on Dahomey and Kongo. At the end conclusions are drawn on the different ways the slave trade impacted African societies politically.

H/P/16. US, Iraq and UN

This paper outlines the War in Iraq, its reasons and causes of the event.

P/P/18. Compare and Contrast Marx and Weber's Theories of Social Class. Evaluate the Usefulness of Each of These Theories for an Understanding of Patterns of Inequality in Modern Societies

P/P/19. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of either 'realism' or 'idealism' for understanding contemporary world politics. Illustrate your answer with reference to substantive issues.

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