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South Yemen occupies a special place in the Soviet view of the Arab world, and in the West’s view of Soviet strategy in the region. Since gaining independence from Britain in 1967, the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) has pursued a radical path in both internal and international policies and has established close relations with the Soviet Union. Soviet theory lays great emphasis on the need for ‘party-building’ in revolutionary states, and the emergence of an orthodox party in South Yemen has been an important goal of Soviet encouragement since independence. Under the pressure of necessity and of socialist theory alike, the PDRY has established preponderant state control over all sectors of the economy since independence. Despite initial intentions, it proved impossible for the National Liberation Front to pursue a model of political and socio-economic development distinct from the orthodox ‘non-capitalist’ one. The alliance with the Soviet Union has been imperative for reasons of military survival.

Ladies and Gentlemen, on my own behalf as a professor of international relations, and on behalf of my host institution here, IBEI, the Barcelona Institute for International Studies, I would like to thank you for the kind invitation to address your Graduate Conference here today, and to share some thoughts, born of the intersection of my field of specialisation, International Relations, with the experience of living, writing, research, working and listening in this city of Barcelona, and in the Catalan and Spanish contexts, these past 4 years.

The collapse of European communism two decades ago appeared to determine, once and for all, the fate of radical socialism in the modern world and to draw a line under the forty years of Cold War that had now ended. In an overview of both the course and end of this global confrontation, and of the legacy of communism itself, this article argues that many of the analytical and social dimensions of the Cold War have still to be adequately addressed, and that, while traditional Marxism has indeed been discredited, the need for critical and, where pertinent, utopian thinking remains as relevant as ever.

(2009). Review Article: The Study of US Foreign Policy in the Middle East. The International History Review: Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 827-837.

This is the edited text of the Lecture which he delivered to the Society on 8 January 2008, immediately after he had been presented with the Sir Percy Sykes Medal. 1(See Activities of the Society, page 332 of this issue.)

This article is based on Professor Halliday’s address to RUSI’s transnational terrorism conference on 10 November 2006.

Over the last few years, and especially since the American invasion of Iraq in March 2003, there have been indications across the world of a growing convergence between the forces of Islamist militancy, on the one hand, and the "anti-imperialist" left on the other. Leaving aside widespread, if usually unarticulated, sympathy for the attacks of September 11, 2001, justified on the grounds that "the Americans deserved it," we have seen since 2003 an overt coincidence of policies, with considerable support for the Iraqi "resistance," which includes strong Islamist elements, and, more recently and even more explicitly, support for Hezbollah in Lebanon. In the Middle East itself, and on parts of the European far left, an overt alliance with Islamists has been established, going back at least to the mass demonstrations in early 2003 that preceded the Iraq War, but also including a convergence of slogans on Palestine-supporting suicide bombings and denying the legitimacy of the Israeli state. Last year, for example, radical Basque demonstrators were preceded by a militant waving a Hezbollah flag. Moreover, since most of those who oppose the U.S. action in Iraq of 2003 also opposed the war in Afghanistan in 2001, this leads, whether clearly recognized or not, to support for the anti-Western Taliban, armed groups now active across that country.

Over the past thirty years, Michael Mann has become established as one of the world's leading social theorists. Mann's contributions to a range of disciplines and to a number of important issues — state formation, empire and what he terms the `dark side' of democracy and modernity — place him on a par with leading figures in both classical and contemporary social theory. At the same time, Mann's engagement with International Relations and his broader discussion with world history remain incomplete for three main reasons: Mann underplays the role of agency in the formation of the modern world; under-theorises the international dimensions of world historical development; and fails consistently to relate normative concerns to his overall enterprise.

No author of a study such as mine could fail to be grateful, to editors and contributors alike, for a discussion as wide-ranging and pertinent as that which the Review has accorded my book on revolutions. The main purpose of Revolution and World Politics was to place the study of revolutions, as historical process and as theoretical challenge, at the centre of International Relations. The responses printed here seem, in large measure, to reinforce that endeavour.

The next few months may be decisive for the future direction of Iran and for the fate of the revolutionary regime. They could also seal the fate of the many journalists and writers languishing in Tehran's jails

The Cold War has, significantly, failed to receive recognition as a subject of literary attention. Yet, in its multiple levels, from nuclear war and third world conflict, to the complex inner world of secret betrayal and ideological belief, it has, as much as any other major confrontation, yielded a rich, and as yet incomplete, reflection.

It is a great honour to have been invited by the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism to give this Ernest Gellner lecture. Ernest Gellner was for some years a colleague here at LSE, but he had been an intellectual hero of mine ever since, in the midst of an undergraduate philosophy course in the mid-1960s, I read Words and Things. His contribution, in substance as in style, was unique. He did not put up with cant, he was provocative in judgement, transgressive in regard to disciplinary boundaries. In so doing he inspired many younger writers. They do not, as they say, make people like that any more.

Book reviewed in this article: James Goode, The United States and Iran: In the Shadow of Musaddiq

The 50th anniversary of the UN in 1995 occasioned a widespread international discussion of 'global governance'. This term is understood to denote not just conventional bodies of international security and economic management but the overlapping and interlocking of institutions found in all issues and regions, and the increasing body of non-state actors, broadly termed 'international civil society'. This article discusses the functions and reform of global governance, and then examines these in the light of five central issues of the 1990s: the role of the great powers, peace-keeping, economic nationalism, a crisis of NGOs, and global values. It argues that advocacy of global governance must be matched by political realism on the one hand, and the recognition of the need for difficult ethical choices on the other.

The study of Arab nationalism, and indeed of all nationalisms, is beset with particular problems. One is the imprecision of the main concepts involved, starting with the definition of nation. Another is the confusion, inherent in the very word “nationalism,” between two quite different objects of study—nationalism as a movement, as a social and political force, and nationalism as an ideology. The first allows objective, historical analyses of how a particular movement arose and developed in such and such a country, of the social groups that supported and/or opposed it, and, not least, of how states have sought to define and utilize it. The second is an aspiration, an ideological and normative claim, one with a strong tendency to control public debate; it has an inherent tendency to distort the history of the supposed “nation.” The special claims nationalists make for their particular nation cause a third problem: although modern history has yielded hundreds of cases of nationalism, as movement and ideology, nationalism occasions analysis that is singular, treating the nation in question as unique and avoiding comparison.

The Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, lasting from 1979 to 1989, was one of the major chapters in the Cold War. Analysis of how Soviet policy was made has, hitherto, focused on the decision to intervene, in December 1979. Equally important, however, as an episode in the final stages of the Cold War, and as an example of Soviet policy formulation, was the decision to withdraw. Basing itself on declassified Soviet documents, and on a range of interviews with former Soviet and Afghan officials, this article charts the protracted history of the Soviet decision and sets it in context: as with the decision to invade, the withdrawal reflected assessment of multiple dimensions of policymaking, not only the interests and calculation of Soviet leaders, but also relations within the Afghan communist leadership on the one hand, and strategic negotiation with the West on the other.

British universities have, in recent years, come under increasing pressure to respond to ‘international’ and ‘global’ trends. This affects student composition, professional standards and research orientation, as well as competitiveness in research and the provision of facilities. This article sets the internationalization in historical context, identifies different meanings of the word ‘international’ and argues that in three key areas–language competence, area studies and information technology–current policies may be mistaken. The author concludes with a critical account of how factors external to the university may inhibit, rather than promote, fulfilment of its international responsibilities.