What was the Western European Union?

Introduction The Western European Union (WEU; French: Union de l’Europe occidentale, UEO; German: Westeuropäische Union, WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU implemented the Modified Brussels Treaty. During the Cold War, the Western Bloc included the… Read More

An Overview of the Nicaraguan Revolution (1961-1990)

Introduction The Nicaraguan Revolution (Spanish: Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) to oust the dictatorship in 1978-1979, the subsequent efforts of the FSLN to govern Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, and the… Read More

Not Just for War: Peace Education

Introduction Peace education is the process of acquiring values, knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviours to live in harmony with oneself, others, and the natural environment. There are numerous United Nations (UN) declarations and resolutions on the importance of peace. Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary General, dedicated the International Day of Peace 2013 to peace education… Read More

An Overview of the Global Peace Index

Introduction Global Peace Index (GPI) is a report produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) which measures the relative position of nations’ and regions’ peacefulness. The GPI ranks 163 independent states and territories (collectively accounting for 99.7% of the world’s population) according to their levels of peacefulness. In the past decade, the GPI… Read More

A Brief Overview of Insurgency

Introduction An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregular forces face a large, well-equipped, regular military force state adversary. Due to this asymmetry, insurgents avoid large-scale direct… Read More