International Studies

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.

2012. Seah, Mabel. Book Review: Steve Fenton, Ethnicity: Key Concepts, Millennium:Journal of International Studies, 40: 416

by Mabel Seah

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.

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.

Introduction to the Political Economy of the Sub-prime Crisis in Britain: Constructing and Contesting Competence

by james brassett

Ethics in world politics: cosmopolitanism and beyond?

by james brassett

Building the normative dimension (s) of a global polity

by james brassett

Deliberation and Global Governance: Liberal, Cosmopolitan, and Critical Perspectives

by james brassett

Contingent borders, ambiguous ethics: Migrants in (international) political theory

by james brassett

The article engages a critical analysis of liberal theory in the context of transnational migration. Normative... more The article engages a critical analysis of liberal theory in the context of transnational migration. Normative arguments provided by liberal-cosmopolitan and liberal-communitarian authors are contrasted. While sympathetic to such approaches, we argue that traditional liberal theory has attempted to downplay the contingency and resultant ambiguity of many of its moral precepts. Historically contingent borders underpin neat universal categories like ‘‘citizen’’ and ‘‘refugee,’’ which fail to reflect the diverse and contested experiences of migration. But such ambiguities need not undermine liberal approaches. Indeed, a proper engagement with the problematic and uncertain realities of migration can provide a spur to a more thoroughgoing ethical praxis. We draw on the philosophical pragmatism of Richard Rorty to outline an approach to migration that remains open to the contingent construction of terms like ‘‘migrant,’’ ‘‘refugee,’’ and ‘‘asylum-seeker.’’ By extending Rorty’s concept of sentimental education, we provide an imaginative and politically
challenging set of agendas for the ethics of migration.

The Crisis of US Monetary Hegemony and Global Economic Adjustment

by Mattias Vermeiren

Forthcoming in Globalizations

Over the past decade the world economy has been characterized by escalating global current account imbalances between... more Over the past decade the world economy has been characterized by escalating global current account imbalances between the United States and East Asian states. This paper argues that US structural power in the global monetary system allowed the consolidation of a finance-led growth regime in the US based on massive capital inflows, asset inflation and consumption growth while inducing East Asian emerging market economies to establish export-led growth regimes. The global credit crisis has clearly uncovered the boundaries of US monetary hegemony, imposing severe adjustment throughout the global political economy. I analyse the political economy of global economic adjustment and argue that the crisis of US monetary hegemony is based – domestically – on the crisis of the finance-led growth regime and – globally – on the shortage of global demand. On the basis of an analysis of the impact of the crisis on the models of capitalism of the US, the Eurozone and China, this paper shows that global demand deficiency will persist in the short to medium term.

Canadian Complicity in the East Timor Near-Genocide: A Case Study in the Sociology of Human Rights

by Jeffery Klaehn

‘Canadian Complicity in the East Timor Near-Genocide: A Case Study in the Sociology of Human Rights,’ Portuguese Studies Review, 2004, Vol. 11(1): 49-65.

This research assesses the extent to which Canadian economic and political self-interest can be seen to have motivated... more This research assesses the extent to which Canadian economic and political self-interest can be seen to have motivated the complicity of successive Canadian governments in the East Timor near-genocide perpetrated by the government of Indonesia. The research considers ways in which Canada facilitated and legitimized Indonesia’s occupation vis-à-vis
diplomatic actions at the UN, pro-Indonesian foreign policy, direct investment in Indonesia, bilateral aid, and authorization of military export permits, thus in effect “aiding and abetting” the near-genocide. The research is intended to encourage debate concerning the relationship between the political and economic policies of Western nations and the state of human rights
elsewhere in the world.

Slavery and Colonialism: The Worst Terrorism on Africa

by Mohamed Eno

Co-authored with Omar A. Eno, Mohamed H. Ingiriis, and Jamal M. Haji; Published in African Renaissance, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2012.

Humans need not justify terrorism of any kind, regardless of whether one is Muslim, Christian or Jew, because it is... more Humans need not justify terrorism of any kind, regardless of whether one is Muslim, Christian or Jew, because it is the axis of evil and devastation of mankind. However, the deliberate use of the term terrorism in recent decades was carefully selected, mainly, against a certain religion (Islam). The idea was then globally politicized by the Western world. Leaving that scholarly view in its own right, we disagree with the opinion raising terrorism as the devil’s just-born child of evil, when in reality Africans had been terrorized for centuries as slaves and human chattel. Hence the basis for the concept of this thesis: conceptualizing the episode of ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’ from the broader perspective of its practice from the Middle Passage or the Atlantic Slave Trade. To portray that argument and broaden the scope of the debate over this critically sensitive subject, we divided the discussion into three sections: an examination of what constitutes terrorism and terrorist; history of terrorism and terrorists from an Africa perspective; and the ideological constraints within the subject of terrorism as practiced by the US and its Western allies.

What symbols

by Dmitry Misyurov

This article contains 12 questions about the symbols. What are your thoughts in response? This article contains 12 questions about the symbols. What are your thoughts in response?

Introduction: the life course of the neoliberal project

by E. Bastiaan van Apeldoorn

In: Henk Overbeek and Bastiaan van Apeldoorn (eds) (2012). Neoliberalism in Crisis (Basingstoke: Palgrave), pp. 1-22.

Opening the Black Box: Oral Histories of How Soldiers and Civilians Learned to Translate and Interpret During Peace Support Operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina

by Catherine Baker

This paper uses 51 oral history interviews with former military personnel, language trainers and locally-recruited... more This paper uses 51 oral history interviews with former military personnel, language trainers and locally-recruited interpreters to explore how soldiers and civilians were educated into becoming translators and interpreters who worked in support of the multi-national military force that first deployed into Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992. The peace operations took various forms as the nature of the Bosnia-Herzegovina mission changed but had a constant need for language support, which it met by combining a small number of soldiers trained in the local language(s) and a much larger number of local people with formal or informal education in English. The paper shows how different groups of people on whom the need for translation and interpreting had an impact (military linguists; military non-linguists; professional translators and interpreters; local interpreters who began work without professional training in interpreting) formed norms about the role of translators/interpreters through their education. Though each milieu led to a different translating and/or interpreting subjectivity, all language intermediaries recognised their work as a contingent and difficult activity while non-linguists were less able to conceive of language learning and translation/interpreting as more than a “black box” activity of finding equivalence. Using these findings as an illustration, the paper argues for the greater use of oral history in researching adult education and training on the grounds that an interview-based biographical approach provides insights into the long-term impact of learning.

Ba’thist Syria and War: Understanding the Role of War Mobilisation in the Making of its Contemporary Institutions

by Philippe Dufort

To understand the current Syrian regime answer to internal pressure it is necessary to consider its historical... more To understand the current Syrian regime answer to internal pressure it is necessary to consider its historical relation to war preparation and its role for the construction of the Syrian nation. The following analysis of Ba’thist Syria under al-Asad (elder) traces the relation of institutional evolution and war experience considering both the political economy of the state and its legitimacy. This period corresponds with the growth of the state’s economic role from the access of the Ba’th party to power up to the end of the 70s. It will concludes by presenting the challenge posed to the regime by the fiscal crisis of the 1980s.

Cosmopolitanism vs Terrorism? Discourses of Ethical Possibility Before and After 7/7

by james brassett

The article provides a critical analysis of the relationship between cosmopolitanism and terrorism, via the question... more The article provides a critical analysis of the relationship between cosmopolitanism and terrorism, via the question of response. Using 9/11 and 7/7 as key moments in the evolution of this relationship, the article asks: how does cosmopolitanism respond to terrorism? What limits does this response contain? How might we go beyond such limits? It is argued that cosmopolitan responses to terrorism provide an important, but limited (and sometimes limiting), alternative to mainstream discourses on terror. After 9/11 the possibility for cosmopolitan thinking ‘beyond’ the mainstream view was articulated by a range of authors, including Archibugi, Habermas, Held and Linklater. A brief survey suggests that defending international law, constructing international institutions and alleviating global poverty were seen as good responses, in the context of divisive mainstream politics. However, by engaging a case study of the Make Poverty History campaign, the article argues that when cosmopolitan ideas were cemented in practice, the distinctiveness of a cosmopolitan response faded. This point was brought into sharp relief by a number of moralising responses to 7/7. Straightforward dichotomies between ‘barbaric terrorists’ and ‘civilised cosmopolitans’ served to construct cosmopolitanism as a coherent, and united, global community. Available tactics, for this ‘community’, were reduced to more-of-the same – more aid, more global democracy – and assertions of a moral equivalence between Bush and ‘Terror’, such that ‘you are either with cosmopolitans, or, you are with the War on Terror’. In light of
these ethical closures, and drawing from the arguments of Jacques Derrida and Judith Butler, the article identifies some cursory ways in which cosmopolitans might think beyond such limits, to articulate an imaginative and engaged approach to global ethics.

The Global Justice Movement

by Geoffrey Pleyers

Globality Study Journal, N°19.
See also:
Alter-Globalization. Becoming Actor in the Global Age, Polity Press, Cambridge, (Dec. 2010).

http://uclouvain.academia.edu/GeoffreyPleyers/Books/347185/Alter-globalization._Becoming_Actors_in_the_global_age

After providing a brief overview of the global justice movement
history, this article analyzes the main argument... more After providing a brief overview of the global justice movement
history, this article analyzes the main argument raised by its activists to oppose the neoliberal ideology, as notably asserted by the shifts in the discourses of some G20 leaders. Activists however call attention to the gap between the speeches of the G20 leaders and the measures actually implemented.
Accordingly, global justice activists have decided to focus on seeking concrete outcomes through the following: specialized advocacy networks, empowerment at the local level and alliances with progressive regimes.

El altermundialismo en México

by Geoffrey Pleyers

“Actores del altermundialismo en México”, In: “Movimientos sociales en México al inicio del siglo XXI”, Bizberg I. & Zapata F. eds., El Colegio de México, Mexico, 2010.

Sobre el mismo tema:
more Sobre el mismo tema:
http://uclouvain.academia.edu/GeoffreyPleyers/Books/347185/Alter-globalization._Becoming_Actors_in_the_global_age

The EU's Normative Power - Strength or Weakness?

by Tornike Metreveli

The paper tries to critically reflect on the concept of the European Union’s Normative Power as advocated by Ian... more The paper tries to critically reflect on the concept of the European Union’s Normative Power as advocated by Ian Manners. By drawing on comparative analysis, the paper seeks to illustrate that the EU’s normative power can be its greatest strength and its greatest weakness.