Transnational Crime and the 21st Century: Criminal Enterprise, Corruption, and Opportunity, Jay S. Albanese
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 158 pages.
“One has to say that the Arab Spring is over.” Salman Rushdie[i] In the winter of 2011, a Tunisian spark flamed into the Arab Spring, which has fanned, in one form or another, throughout the Muslim world. The flames have cremated Muammar Qaddafi and Hosni Mubarak, and currently threaten the House of Assad.[ii] Today many former Arab Spring supporters who threw fuel into the Muslim flames are not only disheartened at the violent 11 September film protests, but also feel betrayed; meanwhile, those who feared Muslim democracy would unleash greater evils are currently wagging their told-you-so…
Ever self-conscious about its purpose and method, the discipline of International Relations (IR) has long debated questions about its most basic relevance, such as what to study and for what purpose. This has led to several complaints about incommensurability between different approaches to the subject, and therefore a lack of progress and knowledge production. Recently, several scholars have advocated a more inclusive debate between different theories and philosophies in IR. This article attempts to evaluate the extent to which scholars, using different theoretical perspectives, can produce meaningful…
