The Yegiora Files

What is the meaning of anarchy? Different online and offline sources will give you an array of explanations. Anarchy is a central concept in our study of international relations. Merriam-Webster defines anarchy as absence of government. Another meaning is the absence or denial of any authority or establish order.  The definition from Merriam-Webster above is more or less the definition we are after. It sets the basis for understanding the concept of anarchy in international relations. The hierarchical structure of the domestic political system is another good starting point for anyone trying to explain the concept to foundation year students of international relations. This will help students to distinguish between the structure of the domestic and international system. From my point of view, I believe a prerequisite unit on political theory discussing the works of various political philosophers should be taken prior to studying international relations theory. Moreover, a u...

When I got my 2018 diary, I was very eager to see the 2018 theme. I read the theme and then deeply pondered about how to align my units to the theme. I then remembered the Moodle managers and their presentation last year (2017) after they came back from Ukarumpa. The training was conducted by trainers from the Summer Institute of Linguistics. They showed us some interesting apps and software that we could use for learning and teaching. One particular software that they talked about was audacity . I went to the audacity site and found out that it is a free, open source, cross platform audio software for multi-track recording and editing. I downloaded audacity and installed on my computer. I thought the software was a bit complex but as I continue to use and familiarize myself with the different functions, I realized that it was just like any other software.   The use of this software together with the use of Moodle constitutes elearning . The digitized content from your p...

Elman in his opening sentence under the segment on classical realism refers to Carr's work titled 'The twenty years' crisis, 1919-1939' . He stated that classical realism is dated from 1939 after Carr was able to distinguish realism from utopianism (idealism).   The explanation of classical realism given by Elman is derived from the works of other notable scholars. Among them is Morgenthau , his work forms the basis of political realism. Other American political scientists like Niebuhr and Kennan also feature in Elman's list. Elman states that in classical realism, the desire for more power is rooted in the flawed nature of humanity. States are continuously engaged in a struggle to increase their capabilities. Elman goes further by saying that because there is no centralize authority to regulate the behaviour of states, states act in their own interest. We can use the domestic political system to help us understand this structure. In the domestic system, we...

This video is interesting. I was able to listen to your understanding of this video in connection to our topic for this week (IR302 - nature and development of international law). You were also able to briefly connect the video to the paragraphs we read from Malcolm Shaw's book on international law. Dr. Thomas Woods has a really simple way of explaining the origin of international law. I hope you can listen again to his explanation and compare with what is written in Shaw's book. Apart for Shaw's book, you have other required readings in the reading folder for your reading pleasure. I was also fascinated by the role played by the Catholic church in the origins of international law. In particular Fr. Francisco de Vitoria who defended the rights of the Indians of the new world against Spanish colonists .  Another interesting discussion was the distinction between Machiavelli's work and the teachings of the Catholic church. This distinction helps us to understand t...

Finally, you (PGIR4) now have access to our unit web page. Please log into Moodle and go to our unit web page to download both documents.  My expectation is for you to read both documents and acquaint yourself with the content.   Like I said in my last post, the hiccup was technical. The topic for this week is realism. The aim is to determine whether we can use one of the strands of realism to explain the rise of China. Elman in the book titled 'Security studies: an introduction' edited by Williams discussed the 6 different strands of realists research traditions. The research traditions are based on different assumptions and has different explanations for causes and consequences of conflict. Rise and fall realism is an interesting strand. It talks about the rules and practices of the international system as being determine by the wishes of the leading state according to Elman . Rayanne and Nancy talked about the different empires and states that made history worth...

It is encouraging to see that many of you taking this program dream of becoming diplomats. You dream that one day you will be called upon to serve this nation as a foreign service officer, high commissioner or ambassador. These dreams should trigger in you a desire to excel in this program. You should read carefully my unit learning guide and read the required readings in order to grow your knowledge. The key word is 'read', you all know the meaning of this word. The only impediments to realizing your dream is poor time management and lack of discipline. However, I cannot tell you what to do and what not to do in detail because at this level you should be able to think for yourselves. What I can do is tell you about the importance of the IR component of this program in line with our topic for this week  in the unit IR202 Theories of IR. Pillar 4 of Vision 2050 talks about security and international relations. The vision statement on the need ensure that PNG's foreign pol...

I am having a short break from writing my unit learning guide for the unit IR431 International and Regional Security. This is because on Wednesday night (last week), I lost 6 years of work. In my attempt to clean my computer after a virus attack, I accidentally deleted  most of my work folders containing my many files. I lost my assessment files for the faculty and my teaching files for the department. Among my teaching files was the completed version of the IR431 unit learning guide and the required readings (eBooks on security). I will need to recreate this document. This will be a time consuming endeavour because I will need to plot a new learning map and come up with new instructions for the various assessment tasks. After this, I will need to update our unit web page. Our experts at the ICT division were able to find a few files, and the HOD was kind enough to forward the 2018 copies of the unit learning guides for IR202 and IR302, sent to him a few weeks ago. I will use...