International Relations

The US and the International Political System: What Model for the Future?

by Yuriy Matsievsky

“International Law, International Relations, and the ‘War on Terror’”,

by Ruben Zaiotti

Editorial for the special issue of Journal of International Law and International Relations, Vol. 3. No. 1, pp. 2-8 (2007)

Pragmatism, International Relations and the Leap into the Dark Predicament

by Ruben Zaiotti

Paper presented at the 48th International Studies Association Convention, San Francisco, 26-29 March 2008

When contemplating a new policy initiative whose premises lie outside the boundaries of the commonsense dominating a... more When contemplating a new policy initiative whose premises lie outside the boundaries of the commonsense dominating a particular domain in world affairs, visionary policy-makers face a puzzling situation. On one hand, the normative context in which they are inserted does not provide them with the terms of reference necessary to validate the unconventional course of action they plan to undertake. On the other, the set of assumptions underlying the project they are formulating are not yet accepted as legitimate. Given these circumstances, there does not seem to be a reasonable way to justify the pursuit of the new initiative. Mainstream rationalist and sociological approaches to innovation and policy change in International Relations have not adequately addressed this ‘leap into the dark predicament’. To establish whether a reasonable solution to this predicament is possible, this essay outlines an alternative analytical framework based on the insights of the philosophical tradition of Pragmatism, and more specifically on the ideas of one of its founders, Charles Sanders Peirce. Peirce’s critical commonsensism and his formulation of the logic of inquiry provide the conceptual foundations of a promising model to study innovation and normative change in IR. To assess its explanatory potential, this model is applied to examine a case of a leap into the dark in world politics, namely the recent establishment of a post-national regime to manage Europe’s borders.

Contesting Internet Governance: Global Dissent and Disparities in the Management of Cyberspace Resources

by David Drissel

National Government Responses to Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Certification: Insights from Atlantic Canada

by Paul Foley

forthcoming in New Political Economy

Over the last decade, the proliferation of social and environmental certification programmes has attracted the... more Over the last decade, the proliferation of social and environmental certification programmes has attracted the attention of a growing number of political scientists interested in new forms of ‘private’ transnational governance. However, we still lack analyses on the nature and extent of different state responses to and involvement in new private transnational governance arrangements in particular sectors and in different jurisdictions. This article advances our understanding of the interactions between nation-state and private transnational modes of governance by analysing the role of national government authorities in Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) fisheries certification in Atlantic Canada, known more for the disastrous collapse of Northern cod stocks than good marine stewardship. Focusing on the 2008 certification of Northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) fisheries off the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the analysis finds that the implementation and maintenance of MSC certification in this case depended on significant support from government authorities. The delicate legitimacy of both authorities faces a period of uncertainty in this case since some certified shrimp stocks appear to be in decline and perhaps also migrating northward off Newfoundland and Labrador.

IR in Dialogue… but Can We Change the Subjects? A Typology of Decolonising Strategies for the Study of World Politics

by Meera Sabaratnam

Published in Millennium: Journal of International Studies, Volume 39 Issue 3. (Full-text from LSERO)

In an effort to reconceive the conduct of ‘dialogue’ within world politics, it is necessary for us to find new... more In an effort to reconceive the conduct of ‘dialogue’ within world politics, it is necessary for us to find new subject-positions from which to speak. This article develops a typology of six distinctive intellectual strategies through which ‘decolonising’ approaches to social theory can help rethink world politics by bringing alternative ‘subjects’ of inquiry into being. These strategies include pointing out discursive Orientalisms, deconstructing historical myths of European development, challenging Eurocentric historiographies, rearticulating subaltern subjectivities, diversifying political subjecthoods and re-imagining the social-psychological subject of world politics. The value of articulating the project in this way is illustrated in relation to a specific research project on the politics of the liberal peace in Mozambique. The article discusses a number of tensions arising from engaging with plurality and difference as a basis for conducting social inquiry, as well as some structural problems in the profession that inhibit carrying out this kind of research.

Fighting Terror Through Justice: Implementing the IGAD Framework for Legal Cooperation Against Terrorism

by Matthew Schwartz

Co-authored with the Task Force on Legal Cooperation against Terrorism in the IGAD Subregion.

East Africa and the Horn face a number of transnational security threats, including terrorism, transnational crime,... more East Africa and the Horn face a number of transnational security threats, including terrorism, transnational crime, and piracy. In recent years, particularly following the July 2010 attacks in Kampala, al-Shabaab has been increasingly viewed as a threat not only to Somalia, but to the greater subregion. Tourism has declined and shipping costs have risen due to the threat of piracy from Somalia. Lawless pockets where government reach is weak, together with rampant corruption, have turned the region into a major transit point for black market financial flows and various forms of illicit trafficking.

Terrorism and transnational crime increasingly threaten security in the subregion of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development [IGAD]. Because of their transnational nature, no individual IGAD member state will single-handedly be able to deal effectively with these threats. As the IGAD Security Strategy adopted in December 2010 makes clear, effective cooperation will be crucial to winning the struggle against terrorism and to ensuring that other forms of transnational crime do not similarly jeopardize the IGAD subregion’s growth, prosperity, and stability.

Percepţii ale puterii în relaţiile internationale: Statele Unite între hegemonie si declin dupa sfarsitul Razboiului rece

by Iulian Toader

Great King, Emperor and Caliph - Byzantium in the political Web of the Middle East, 300-1204 CE (in German)

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

in: Historicum. Zeitschrift für Geschichte. Linz 2012, p. 26-47.

Belarus 2012: The Paradox of Europe and its Relations with the EU and Russia

by Sotirios Karampampas

published in Research Program on Foreign Policy, Defence & Security, Center of Russia, Eurasia & Southern Europe (CERE), Institute of International Relations (IIR), vol. 6, pp. 10-15.

Why the EU is failing in its Neighbourhood: The case of Armenia

by Lieve Van Hoof

As the Arab Spring has made clear, the EU's strategic aim of being surrounded by a ring of secure, democratic, and... more As the Arab Spring has made clear, the EU's strategic aim of being surrounded by a ring of secure, democratic, and prosperous friends has not yet materialized. Whilst most previous analyses have found fault with inconsistent application of conditionality, this article locates the root of the problem with the EU's institutional set-up. Starting from interviews and documentary analysis, it uses Armenia as a case study to demonstrate how competition within and between the European Parliament, the Council, and the Commission has led to internal, horizontal, and vertical inconsistencies that have seriously hampered the EU's capacity to promote reforms. If recent institutional reforms have been designed to address precisely these problems, sociological, rational-choice, and historical institutionalism suggest that it remains to be seen to what extent these recent reforms and initiatives will be able to bring about a change substantial enough to make the EU more successful in its neighbourhood.

Nationalism in times of globalization: A study in the dynamics of 'globalism'

by Miguelángel Verde Garrido

Published in: LÓGOI: Revista de Filosofía. (January-June 2008). (n. 13). (pp. 101-120). Caracas: Escuela de Filosofía/Universidad Católica Andrés Bello.
ISSN 1316-693X

Prime Minister Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni-jinja; the deployment of Japanese Self-Defense Forces to Iraq; Prime... more Prime Minister Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni-jinja; the deployment of Japanese Self-Defense Forces to Iraq; Prime Minister Abe's claim that the coercion of "comfort women” remains to be proven …
In recent years, China, Korea and other countries have expressed outrage towards controversial Japanese government decisions and public statements. Added to proposals of constitutional revision, bills regarding Self-Defense Forces and the content of education, the specter of Japan's ultranationalist past seems to hinder its integration and ability to overcome differences within the Asian-Pacific region. However, carefully considered, these matters may not be as interrelated as they appear. Some actions respond to domestic nationalistic discourse, but others are a reaction to the changes in global geopolitics and attempts at international cooperation. In times of globalization, all countries try to accommodate to “globalism” - the often-contradictory ideology that underlies globalization - in order to secure and maintain their own national identity. This paper, using Japan as a case study, offers an explanation regarding how “globalism” can lead to nationalism. It also questions whether the greatest threat to democracy is not civil society’s tendency to inaction; and, if action is sufficient to thwart radicalization of nationalism.

Team Yao: Yao Ming, the NBA, Sporting Goods and Selling Sport to China

by John Nauright

co-authored with Ben Keeler, published in American Journal of Chinese Studies 12: 2 (2005), 203-218.

On October 30, 2002, Chinese star Yao Ming made his debut in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Houston... more On October 30, 2002, Chinese star Yao Ming made his debut in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Houston Rockets.  Yao Ming was not the first Chinese player to don an NBA uniform, but he was by far the most significant in terms of both pure basketball skill and commercial potential.  This historic contest against the Indiana Pacers not only marked his first NBA game, but it was the culmination of a long planned relationship between the NBA and China.  Yao has made a difference on the court for his team, but his impact is far grander and wider reaching when looking at international marketing and business implications.  Sponsors see Yao as the gateway to the Asian market; he is the NBA symbol for globalization.  An estimated 500 million Chinese tuned into Yao’s NBA debut on television.  In October of 2004 Yao was ranked 19th in the Sports Business Journal’s listing of the twenty most influential people in professional basketball.  Yao was one of only two current players on the list, along with mega-superstar Shaquille O’Neal.  Both China and the United States share the same capitalist dream for Yao.  The whole Yao situation was compared by a Chinese diplomat as similar to that of the United States – China “ping-pong” diplomacy of the 1970s, when the two countries started to build relations through sport. 
    This paper details the relationship that the NBA has worked so hard to cultivate with the Chinese in anticipation of someday being a major player in the region.  Following that we discuss complications involved with bringing Yao to the NBA from China. Next we examine what the arrival of the Rockets center has brought to the business world in terms of commercialization. Additionally, what Yao means to the future of basketball marketing, in both the United States, but more importantly in Asia and specifically China, and its 1.3 billion residents will be discussed.

Great Britain and the UN Committee of 24

by Helene von Bismarck

op-ed column for the British Scholar Society, May 2012

Is Characterization of Treaties a Solution to Treaty Conflicts?

by Ahmad Ali Ghouri

Chinese Journal of International Law 2012; doi: 10.1093/chinesejil/jms034

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) rules on the resolution of treaty conflicts are known as being... more The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) rules on the resolution of treaty conflicts are known as being despondently unhelpful. One identified lacuna is that these rules disregard many differences present in different kinds of treaties. This paper characterizes treaties on the basis of their differences and investigates whether this yields legal rules to resolve treaty conflicts. This paper presents three broad characterizations founded on: (A) the subject matter; (B) the number of State Parties; and (C) the intended objects and purposes of treaties. Respecting the intended objects and purposes, this paper presents three sub-characterizations, namely: (i) universal character treaties; (ii) constitutional character treaties; and (iii) treaties with conflict resolution
clauses. The results are variegated, but the discussions expose the mythic role of treaty characterization in the resolution of treaty conflicts.

Talking among Themselves? Weberian and Marxist Historical Sociologies as Dialogues without 'Others'

by Gurminder K Bhambra

Sociology’s orientation to history is based around agreement on the importance of key substantive issues concerning... more Sociology’s orientation to history is based around agreement on the importance of key substantive issues concerning the emergence of modernity and the related ‘rise of the West’, as well as agreement around a stadial idea of progressive development and the privileging of Eurocentred histories in the construction of such a framework. Within these areas of broad agreement, however, there are also key points of contestation between the strong forms of macro-sociology as embodied, in particular, by Marxist and Weberian approaches, for example, Brenner, Anderson, and Wallerstein on the one hand, and Runciman, Giddens and Mann, on the other. The sites of contestation include addressing the precise nature of the origins of capitalism, the importance of the commercial versus the agrarian mode of production in the transition to capitalism, or arguments about how later developing countries might accommodate forms of modernity already established, for example, as in the multiple modernities debates. What these debates all have in common is that they can be carried out in the context of a standard framework of comparative sociology, a framework that I will argue is unable to address the issues raised by the turn to postcolonial studies and global history.

“There is a serious and sustained threat from international terrorism to the UK and UK interests’ overseas (National Counter Terrorism Security Office website). Critically assess British counter-terrorist efforts, comparing them with the US, with a particular emphasis on the role of the intelligence agencies.”

by Robert Melhuish

La confrontación latente: El futuro incierto de la península coreana

by Asier Blas Mendoza

Blas Mendoza, Asier e Iker (2007): "La confrontación latente: el futuro incierto de la península coreana", Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, núm. 78, p. 197-216.

En el presente artículo se abordan los cambios acontecidos en las relaciones intercoreanas tras el derrumbe de los... more En el presente artículo se abordan los cambios acontecidos en las relaciones intercoreanas tras el derrumbe de los regímenes soviéticos. En los primeros años que siguieron a la caída del Telón de Acero, se mantuvo en todo el perímetro coreano un escenario de confrontación que parecía perpetuar el problema sine die. Pero en la segunda mitad de los años noventa, el Nordeste Asiático comienza a vivir un auténtico cambio que repercutirá en la aparición de contactos públicos entre las dos Coreas. El nuevo juego destapado oficialmente por la Sunshine Policy propició un replanteamiento muy profundo en las políticas exteriores de ambos estados, y abrió un nuevo capítulo en las relaciones intercoreanas que ha demostrado claramente la importante dimensión y repercusión del conflicto en el marco
geoestratégico de todo el Este Asiático, así como en la política internacional.

Tesina_Master_RRII_Sol_Trumbo_Reconocimiento_Internacional_Secesion_Kosovo_Osetia_Sur

by Sol Trumbo Vila

Misyurov D.A. Dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas // Credo New. 2012. №2

by Dmitry Misyurov

The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with... more The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with dominant and the non-dominant elements; universal formula; formula with symbolic weight of elements; tautological formula. For example, it suggests an opportunity to use the dialectical formulas for modeling and artificial intelligence creation, etc.