320 Politikwissenschaft
Refine
Has Fulltext
- no (4)
Document Type
- Article (4) (remove)
Language
- English (4) (remove)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (4)
Keywords
- ISIS (1)
- Operation Euphrates Shield (1)
- Turkish military in Syria (1)
- al-Bab Battle (1)
- proxy force (1)
- urban warfare (1)
Institute
- Historisches Institut (4) (remove)
Speaking the Unspeakable
(2019)
This article discusses the filmic representation of the infamous Wannsee Conference, when fifteen senior German officials met at a villa on the shore of a Berlin lake to discuss and co-ordinate the
implementation of the so-called final solution to the Jewish question. The understanding reached during the course of the ninety-minute meeting cleared the way for the Europe-wide killing of six million Jews. The article sets out to answer the principal challenge facing
anyone attempting to recreate the Wannsee Conference on film: what was the atmosphere of this conference and the attitude of the participants? Moreover, it discusses various ethical aspects related to the portrayal of evil, not in actions but in words, using the medium of film. In doing so, it focuses on the BBC/HBO television film Conspiracy (2001), directed by Frank Pierson, probing its historical accuracy and discussing its artistic credibility.
Although German Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were on the same side in the Cold War, as well as in the same family of moderate centre-right parties, despite being roughly the same age and sharing a fundamental market-economic and Atlanticist orientation, they were not in harmony emotionally. This analysis demonstrates how different genders, incompatible conceptions of nation, history, and regional origins, as well as experiences of mutual frustration eclipsed their ideological commonalities and counteracted against the 'emotional regimes' of 'the West' in the Cold War. It breaks new ground in several respects. First, it does not examine strong feelings that blotted out all others but rather a range of more ambivalent and nuanced emotions. Second, it links the themes of gender and feeling by enquiring about the male or female manifestations and attributions of certain emotions. Third, it focuses on not only men and women at the top but considers their entourages as either amplifiers or 'shock absorbers' of the leaders' feelings. Finally, it explores the scope and limits of the notion that the Cold War was an 'emotional regime'.
Fighting ISIS in Syria
(2022)
This paper analyses the Operation Euphrates Shield (OES) al-Bab battle and presents the lessons learned. OES started with a mixed force of Free Syrian Army, Turkish special forces and armoured units. During the operation, the aims and the force structure gradually changed, yet not the command structure. When OES aimed to capture al-Bab, ISIS employed conventional active defence strategy. The OES commander's insistence on employing special forces increased own casualties and al-Bab was seized only after resorting to a conventional urban attack. OES presents tactical and operational lessons for the militaries on structure and execution of operations against an irregular adversary employing conventional means.
Strange New Worlds
(2022)
The Indo-Pacific is fast becoming the main arena for great power competition. After explaining the regional power hierarchy, the paper describes how the EU defines like-mindedness as an explicit partnership category in the Indo-Pacific and which of the countries qualify. Finally, the paper also examines the structural problems the EU faces when projecting power into a faraway region such as this one. The paper argues that for China’s rise to remain peaceful and in the absence of fully regional security arrangements, other Asian actors are increasingly looking for new regional structures that combine elements of cooperation, competition and containment vis-à-vis China - including a more pronounced EU role in the region.