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Visions of the Empire: religion, ontology and the 'international' in early modernity
Lucas G. Freire
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Graduate in Economics (UFMG) and in International Relations (PUC-Minas), Master in International Relations (Exon.) and currently completing his PhD in Politics at the University of Exeter, where he is an Associate Lecturer. His thesis focuses on metatheoretical issues in International Relations.
Abstract
This paper analyzes the relation between basic religious motifs of theoretical thought, general ontology and their specific use in 'international' political theory at the onset on the Modern Era. The analysis is based on Herman Dooyeweerd's reformational philosophy in identifying the basic assumptions on the origin of life, coherence and diversity of reality in several trends of thought. The Greek and Roman classical legacy, in combination with ancient Christian concepts, is emphasized, namely in terms of motifs such as Nature and Grace, guidelines of scholastic worldview, thus influencing its perspective of Christianity, of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Papacy. Reformed Protestantism adopted a more radically Biblical set of assumptions which culminated in a ontologically plural perspective of social authority and political community, as well as of the empire. Christian humanism, and some Protestant thinkers, was also heavily influenced by the motifs of Nature and Grace, but now with a strict separation between both 'logics'. The theorization of an 'internal logic' for each of these spheres gave origin to a reinterpretation of Nature in classical Humanism, according to a 'mechanistic' perspective of reality with its ideal of control. Another religious motif of this secularized form of humanism was the concept of Liberty and of personality. This geometrical theoretical mode influenced ideas on the social contract and its international analogy, leading theoricians to fiery debates on the classification of the Empire.
Keywords
Religion; Ontology; Modern Era; Political Theory Internationalist
How to cite this article
Freire, Lucas G. (2012). "Visions of the Empire: religion, ontology and the 'international' in early modernity". JANUS.NET e-journal of International Relations, Vol. 3, N.º 2, fall 2012. retrieved [online] date accessed, observare.ual.pt/janus.net/en_vol3_n2_art3
Article received on 1st August 2012; accepted for publication on 8th October 2012
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Terrorism, ethnicity and Islamic extremism in Sahel
Maria Sousa Galito
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PhD in Political Science and International Relations by Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Lecturer and Researcher at Faculdade de Ciência Política, Portuguese-speaking countries and International Relations at Universidade Lusófona.
Abstract
Terrorism is a threat in the Sahel region, where peoples and rulers seem to be losing control of the situation. Yet, the true origins of the instability are questionable. Ethnical conflicts and the religious differences, especially those related with the spreading of Islamic extremism among the local population, are two of the main reasons. This research paper analyzes different theories so as to attain some answers to these issues.
Keywords
Terrorism; Sahel; Touareg; AQIM; Boko Haram
How to cite this article
Galito, Maria Sousa (2012). "Terrorism, ethnicity and Islamic extremism in Sahel". JANUS.NET e-journal of International Relations, Vol. 3, n.º 2, fall 2012. Retrieved [online] on, observare.ual.pt/janus.net/en_vol3_n2_art8
Article received in 1st August 2012; accepted for publication in 5th November 2012
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Reconsidering the origins of the Southern African regionalism thirty years later: towards a constructivist approach to the origins of SADC
José Abel Moma
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Master in Political Science (concentration: International Relations and Comparative Politics) by Ohio University, United States of America. Undergraduate Degree in Philosophy, Faculté de Philosophie Saint Pierre Canisius, affiliated to Gregorian University, Rome, Italy. Lecturer of international relations at Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Relações Internacionais, Luanda, Angola, and of political science at Instituto Superior João Paulo II, Catholic University of Angola.
Abstract
The creation of SADCC has generated a debate over the real origins of the southern African model of regionalism. This paper develops the idea that the origins of SADC are both internal and external. Thus, southern African regionalism is understood as a constructivist articulation of internal and external inputs, which determined the creation of SADCC and its transformation into SADC.
Keywords
Southern Africa; SADC; SADCC; Front Line States; Regionalism; Constructivism
How to cite this article
Moma, José Abel (2012). "Reconsidering the origins of the Southern African regionalism thirty years later: towards a constructivist approach to the origins of SADC". JANUS.NET e-journal of International Relations, Vol. 3, N.º 2, fall 2012. retrieved [online] date accessed, observare.ual.pt/janus.net/en_vol3_n2_art6
Article received on 18th June 2012; accepted for publication on 5th November 2012
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Security: a supranational legal asset
Manuel Monteiro Guedes Valente
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Director of ICPOL and Lecturer at Instituto Superior de Ciências Policiais e de Segurança Interna (ISCPSI). Lecturer at Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa Researcher at Ratio Legis – UAL.
Abstract
This paper discusses the concept of security as a manysided, multifunctional and multilevel regulation topology which requires its several actors to view legal assets from a polygonal perspective worthy of legal protection from local to global and from global to local space. The concept of security as a supranational legal asset requires criminal legislation which defines the principles of criminal policy and the intervention of criminal Law, barriers to security trends and to the attempt to enhance the principle of presumed hazard as a basis for criminal intervention. We contend that the obstacle to "human self-objectification" in the global polygon is a (new) world legal order as humanity's future balance.
Keywords
Security; legal asset; criminal law; humanity; legitimacy; hazard; enemy; multifunctionality; multilevel regulation; topology; polygon; world legal order
How to cite this article
Valente, Manuel Guedes (2012). "Security: a supranational legal asset". JANUS.NET e-journal of International Relations, Vol. 3, n.º 2 (fall 2012), pp. Retrieved [online] on, observare.ual.pt/janus.net/en_vol3_n2_art4
Article received in 8th March 2012 and accepted for publication in 5th November 2012
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Offensive counterterrorism
Targeted killing in eliminating terrorist target: the case of the USA and Israel
Hermínio Matos
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PhD Researcher and Lecturer at ICPOL – ISCPSI. Invited lecturer at ISCSP PhD student holding a Master's in History, Defense and International Relations ISCTE/Military Academy. Auditor of Program on National Defense.
Abstract
Due to the "global terrorism project", some States have adopted offensive counterterrorism measures which, though within national strategies on security and defense, contemplate the use of military power and the use of lethal force against non-state actors - individuals, groups or terrorist organizations - beyond their national borders. Reformulating the security paradigm has led, in these cases, to policies against terrorism. This is the case of targeted killing - the killing of selected targets - by the USA and Israel. Targeted killing actions - using essentially but not only drones - in Pakistan and Yemen by the American administration, a well as the Israeli response to Palestinian terrorism, are under heated debate in terms of their efficiency and legality. Thus, this paper aims to not only provide an analytical framework on this theme but also analyze the scope and impact of these counter terrorist strategies by the two countries.
Keywords
Offensive counterterrorism; targeted killing; Israel; the United States
How to cite this article
Matos, Hermínio (2012). "Offensive counterterrorism. Targeted killing in eliminating terrorist target: the case of the USA and Israel". JANUS.NET e-journal of International Relations, Vol. 3, N.º 2, fall 2012. retrieved [online] date accessed, observare.ual.pt/janus.net/en_vol3_n2_art7
Article received on 16th April 2012; accepted for publication on 5th November 2012