Content Type: Journal Article / Publication Year: within 25 Years / Topic: Politics

351. Time for Tough Love in Transatlantic Relations

Author:: Anand Menon
Publication Date:: 11-2013
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: The furore that greeted news that negotiations were to start on a transatlantic free trade agreement revealed not only the potential importance of any putative deal, but also the tendency of Europeans to view international politics almost uniquely in economic terms. This neglect of security and broader geostrategic issues is short-sighted and dangerous. It is precisely the liberal world order in place since the Second World War that has allowed Europeans to develop their economic potential. Leaving it to the United States to preserve that order is an increasingly problematic strategy, with the US ever more reluctant to police the world in the way it once did. The US has, for many years, asked its partners to contribute more to the preservation of common security interests. Given the failure of these attempts to date, it might be time for Washington to resort to tougher tactics in an attempt to entice Europeans out of their geostrategic retirement.
Topic:: Security and Politics
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, and Washington

352. Energy Politics vs. the Earth

Author:: John M. Broder
Publication Date:: 08-2013
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The National Interest
Abstract:: Michael Levi, The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America's Future (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 272 pp., $27.95. AROUND THE corner on K Street, one of the half dozen designer salad places in my part of downtown Washington recently closed after about a year in business. "Coming soon," the sign in the papered-over window reads, "Dunkin' Donuts." Hurried Washingtonians will soon be able to get their calorie fix for a tenth of the time and money spent. Maybe not so good for them in the long run, but John Maynard Keynes told us what happens in the long run. This, in miniature, is the choice the United States faces on energy and climate change. Fossil fuels are convenient, cheap, plentiful and, in the long run, deadly. Renewable energy-from the sun and the soil, the wind and the waves-is comparatively expensive, hard to produce and healthy. Mankind has chosen the cheap and plentiful path for the past two hundred years, burning coal, oil and gas and spewing the trash into the atmosphere. In May, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surpassed four hundred parts per million, the highest level in three million years. The planet teeters on the cusp of calamity. Science says it's time to switch to salads.
Topic:: Climate Change and Politics
Political Geography:: United States, America, and Washington

353. Why Banking Systems Succeed -- And Fail

Author:: Charles W. Calomiris and Stephen H. Haber
Publication Date:: 12-2013
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: People routinely blame politics for outcomes they don't like, often with good reason: when the dolt in the cubicle down the hall gets a promotion because he plays golf with the boss, when a powerful senator delivers pork-barrel spending to his home state, when a well-connected entrepreneur obtains millions of dollars in government subsidies to build factories that will probably never become competitive enterprises. Yet conventional wisdom holds that politics is not at fault when it comes to banking crises and that such crises instead result from unforeseen and extraordinary circumstances.
Topic:: Government and Politics

354. A Proxy War in Syria

Author:: Sargon Hadaya
Publication Date:: 12-2013
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:: East View Information Services
Abstract:: The regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has been demonstrating a relatively high level of tenacity amid the proxy war raging in the country for over two years now. Indeed, the authoritarian regime in Tunisia folded up in two weeks; the Mubarak regime in Egypt, in slightly over four weeks; the Colonel Qaddafi regime collapsed after six months of NATO strikes. Russian expert Prof. Edouard Ozhiganov has offered a methodologically exact comment: “Any political regime can be described as stable to the extent to which it can neutralize inside and outside pressure using its own resources and instruments.”
Topic:: NATO, Civil War, Politics, War, International Security, and Authoritarianism
Political Geography:: Libya, Syria, and Tunisia

355. Homo Politicus and His Religiousness in Transitional Societies of Kirghizia

Author:: Irina I. Ivanova and Vadim P. Tutlis
Publication Date:: 06-2013
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Nowa Polityka Wschodnia
Institution:: Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Abstract:: The article deals with a analysis of Homo politicus and Homo religiosis in postsoviet Kirghizia. On that political condition in the West and political ones in the East are compared. The authors draw a conclusion that reference point for modern transitional Kirghizia must be not political absenteeism but a junction of all citizens to policy.
Topic:: Politics, Religion, Transition, and Post-Soviet Space
Political Geography:: Eurasia, Kyrgyzstan, and Kirghizia

356. Data Quality for Measuring Political Protest and Government Change

Author:: Charles Lewis Taylor
Publication Date:: 07-2013
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace
Institution:: Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Research
Abstract:: For analyzing protest and government change, data need to be both reliably measured and valid for the task at hand. Data fundamentalists insist that nothing less than total capture of every event that has taken place is sufficient for analysis. That scenario is, of course, an impossibility. Rather, methods to measure the statistical probability that a sample is appropriate for its targeted universe allow empirical analysis to proceed.
Topic:: Government, Politics, Protests, Data, and Event Indicators
Political Geography:: Global Focus

357. Exploring Bhutan’s ‘Natural Democracy’: In Search of an Alternative View of Democracy

Author:: Katsu Masaki
Publication Date:: 03-2013
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:: Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:: This paper seeks to make an alternative translation/ interpretation of Bhutan’s democracy, in place of the mainstream view that the country has recently made a decisive transition toward democracy. It calls our attention to the country’s time-honored ‘natural democracy,’ which rests on monarchical authority and cohesive rural communities. Both of them represent vernacular forms of freedom and equality, contrary to their widely held image as being averse to democracy. This research was made possible by funding from the Japanese Government's Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research.
Topic:: Government, Politics, Democracy, Monarchy, and Authority
Political Geography:: South Asia and Bhutan

358. Irak 2012

Publication Date:: 01-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: Termination of the US military presence in Iraq at the end of 2011, bring some problems for Iraq on military, domestic politics and economic area. Just a few months later US military withdrawal, escalating political tension began to delimitate coalition government built on a fragile structure and at the same time has led to emergence of some struggles with in the country. Discourses or expectations of many Iraqi leaders that Iraq will be saved from the problems which he faced and even new independent era will start with the year of 2012 have been turned upside down because of violence and political instability occurring at the beginning of this new independent era. Bombings, political and military strife between ethnic groups, struggle between national government and the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and particularly worsening of Iraq-Turkey relations forced Baghdad government to waste large part of its energy on these issues. In addition to this, natural resources having strategic importance for economic developments and Iraq's future stand out as a shaping factor of Iraq's foreign and domestic politics.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States and Iraq

359. Filistin 2012

Author:: M. Cüneyt Özşahin
Publication Date:: 01-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: Fundamental issues such as the conflict between Hamas and Israel and the rift between Hamas and Fatah, shaped the Palestinian politics in 2012 as in previous years. Israel opted for military intervention against Hamas once more with the Operation Pillar of Defense. The outcome of negotiations that took place throughout 2012 between Hamas and Fatah over the disagreements between the two sides was far from being satisfactory. The impact of Arab Spring, on the other hand, opened new avenues for a set of new developments in Palestinian politics. Egypt, Turkey and Qatar have formed a new alliance as supportive forces in both Palestinian domestic and foreign policy. In addition to all these, the Palestinian authority's international attempts through United Nations started with the UNESCO membership in 2011 and ended up with obtaining the UN observatory non-membership status in 2012. It was underlined that upgrade in Palestinian UN status would open new avenues for Israel-Palestine relations in the long run. Apart from all these, Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails protested the severe prison conditions by hunger strikes.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Turkey, Israel, Egypt, and Qatar

360. Editor's Note

Author:: Sikander Kiani and Michael Brannagan
Publication Date:: 03-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Institution:: Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:: No abstract is available.
Topic:: Politics and Non State Actors
Political Geography:: United Kingdom, Middle East, India, and Belgium

361. Thanksgiving in a Place Called Chiapas

Author:: Michael Meaney
Publication Date:: 03-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Institution:: Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:: Thanksgiving 2010. No turkey. No gravy. No pumpkin pie. Instead: armed men in ski masks, hitchhiking through the mountains, and a Catholic church filled with incense and two thousand candles. I divided the holiday between two villages near San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico. Both of these villages are notable for their distinct cultures. The first place I visited, Oventic, is operated by indigenous rebels who seized autonomy through the 1994 rebellion by the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (the Zapatistas) in protest of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The second place, San Juan de Chamula, is operated by local political bosses and village elders, who serve as the leaders of a distinct belief system that mixes Catholicism and indigenous spirituality into a literally intoxicating local religion.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: North America and Mexico

362. Editor΄s Note: Iran and Non-Aligned Politics

Author:: Seyed Kazem Sajjadpour
Publication Date:: 08-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Iranian Review of Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Center for Strategic Research (CSR)
Abstract:: The NAM summit held in Tehran in the end of August 2012 attracted the attention of Iran-watchers around the world. A few issues like President Morsi of Egypt's participation and statement, specially on Syria, the mistranslation of some of his words, and Banki Moon, the General secretary of the United Nations' presence and position and of course Netanyahu's pronouncements against the Summit were more highlighted in the media. However, there is an analytical question to be raised and answered; how the relationship between Iran's foreign policy and non-aligned movement can be understood? "Reality"," Identity' and "Utility" are useful concepts in this context.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Iran and Egypt

363. Substantive Equality, Popular Sovereignty, and Antagonistic Politics: An Introduction to Carl Schmitt's Democratic Theory

Author:: Jan Smolenski
Publication Date:: 09-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:: Central European University
Abstract:: This paper critically explores Carl Schmitt's theory of democracy. I present the emergence of the democratic principle of legitimacy as described by Schmitt, then elaborate on the people as sovereign qua constituent power and present its threefold relationship with the constitution. Later I formulate three lessons to be taken from Schmitt's theory and discuss its importance and implications for democratic theory in terms of the normative and formative principle of democracy, core subject and core mode of democratic politics, and conditions of possibility of constituent democratic politics. In concluding Part I discuss the difference between liberal, republican and deliberative model of democracy and Schmitt-inspired theory.
Topic:: Politics and Sovereignty

364. Tatiana Zhurzhenko, Borderlands Into Bordered Lands. Geopolitics of Identity in Post-Soviet Ukraine (Stuggart: Ibidem Verlag, 2010)

Author:: Viktoria Potapkina
Publication Date:: 09-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:: Central European University
Abstract:: The border between Russia and Ukraine became a political reality in 1991 with the breakup of the Soviet Union and the creation of two independent states. Since then, Ukraine's Eastern border has turned itself into a perfect laboratory for studying processes of border construction.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Russia, Ukraine, and Soviet Union

365. Plural Islamism in Plural Modernities

Author:: Ergün Yildirim
Publication Date:: 11-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: This article examines the trajectory of Islamism as a modern phenomenon. It demonstrates that, having evolved under the influence of myriad political, intellectual and historical developments of the past two hundred years, the concept is still surrounded by various debates, movements, acts of violence, ideologies, policies and positions. Islamism also continues to be a significant element in Turkey's political and intellectual life as well. The article then engages several critical questions. Has Islamism reached its end? Is a new type of Islamism emerging? Is post-Islamism on the horizon. In response, the article argues that Islamism's diversification–as opposed to its end–leads the movement to survive as pluralities that result from structural changes stemming from global and plural modernities' interaction with societies. In line with social and political organizations' pursuit of violence, poverty, challenge, reconciliation and alliance, Islamism too is being plurally reconstructed.
Topic:: Islam and Politics
Political Geography:: Turkey

366. An Alternative to the "Turkish Model" for the Emerging Arab Democracies

Author:: Halim Rane
Publication Date:: 11-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: The political and economic success of Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) has generated extensive discussion about the extent to which Turkey provides a model for other Muslim, especially Arab, countries. The notion of a Turkish model has received intense focus since the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region began in 2010. Amid the excitement, more cautious voices have highlighted fundamental differences in historical and political experiences and relations with Islam between Turkey and the Arab countries. Considering these factors, this article contends that rather than Turkey's AKP, a more accurate comparison and potentially viable model for the emerging Arab democracies can be found among the Islamic-oriented political parties of South East Asia, which advocate an approach to Islam based on the maqasid, or higher objectives. This article examines the appeal of the maqasid approach in respect to its utility for maintaining Islamic legitimacy and transitioning from ideology-oriented to policy-oriented parties and thereby responding to the needs and aspirations of broad constituencies. This article discusses the function of the maqasid for Islamic political parties in the MENA region as it undergoes political liberalization in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings.
Topic:: Disaster Relief and Politics
Political Geography:: Turkey, Middle East, Arabia, North Africa, and Southeast Asia

367. Atatürk: An Intellectual Biography

Author:: Sean Patrick Smyth
Publication Date:: 11-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: This work by M. Şükrü Hanioğlu somewhat represents a departure from previous work on the subject in that it seeks to distance Atatürk from the greatman theories that have plagued his legacy. In doing so, Hanioğlu evaluates the development of Atatürk's political views in terms of both the international and domestic contexts of the late Ottoman Empire.
Topic:: Politics

368. The Arab Revolution: Ten Lessons from the Democratic Uprising

Author:: Ramazan Kılınç
Publication Date:: 11-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: The Arab world has been making a new history since January 2011 when the uprisings against President Ben Ali resulted in his fleeing from Tunisia. Throughout 2011, the decades-old rule of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Moammar Qaddafi in Libya ended. Political change came to Yemen and the status quo has been strongly challenged in other Arab countries. Jean-Pierre Filiu, in his The Arab Revolution: Ten Lessons from the Democratic Uprising, takes stock of the revolutionary movements in the Arab world, briefly summarizes the events in key countries and comes up with ten lessons that we can learn from the uprisings.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Yemen, Arabia, Egypt, and Tunisia

369. Ma Ying-jeou's Presidential Discourse

Author:: Jonathan Sullivan and Eliyahu V. Sapir
Publication Date:: 11-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: Despite the substantial advances made in cross-Strait relations during Ma Ying-jeou's (Ma Yingjiu) first term, the ROC president's rhetoric varied considerably as he grappled with the difficult reality of implementing campaign and inauguration pledges to establish better relations with China while striving to maintain national respect and sovereignty. In this article, we put forward a framework for measuring, analysing and explaining this variation in President Ma's first-term discourse. Analysing a very large number of Ma's speeches, addresses, etc., we provide empirical assessments of how the content of Ma's public pronouncements has developed over time, how his rhetoric varies according to the strategic context and timing of a speech, and how his discourse compares to that of his predecessor, Chen Shui-bian (Chen Shuibian). In addressing these questions, the article contributes a quantitative perspective to existing work on political discourse in Taiwan and to the growing methodological and applied literature on how to systematically analyse Chinese political text.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: China and Taiwan

370. The Impact of Electoral System Reform on Taiwan's Local Factions

Author:: Christian Göbel
Publication Date:: 11-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: In 2004, the single non-transferable vote (SNTV) was abolished in Taiwan. The SNTV had long been seen as a major factor in the sustenance of county-and township-level clientelist networks (“local factions”). It was also associated with phenomena such as extremism, candidate-centred politics, vote-buying, clientelism and organized crime involvement in politics. More recent scholarship, however, has led to doubts that a single formal institution like an electoral system could have such a powerful influence on electoral mobilization. This article puts these positions to an initial test. It examines the impact of the electoral reform on the mobilization capacity of a local faction in a rural county notorious for its factionalism. By illuminating its intricate mobilization structures, it provides support for the second position: These structures are too resilient to be affected by even a radical electoral reform.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Taiwan

371. Rio+20 must address the scramble for resources

Author:: Bernice Lee
Publication Date:: 07-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: Will Rio+20 just be a side show to the global scramble for resources or will it grasp the realities of the looming crisis and form a political agenda that can succeed?
Topic:: Politics

372. The 50-year war against drugs has failed and a new approach is needed

Author:: Claire Yorke and Benoît Gomis
Publication Date:: 09-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: Drug policy is a toxic issue for politicians, one that they usually want to avoid for fear of the political backlash. To highlight the dilemma between politics and policy in this field, drug policy expert Sanho Tree often quotes Jean-Claude Juncker on economic liberalisation: 'We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it'. In other words, calling for change often means political suicide.
Topic:: Politics and War on Drugs
Political Geography:: Brazil

373. We're too tolerant of corruption at home

Author:: Mark Galeotti
Publication Date:: 09-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: Moral hazard in the wild West
Topic:: Corruption and Politics
Political Geography:: United States

374. Letters

Publication Date:: 09-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: No abstract is available.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: United Kingdom

375. Film: Bollywood for grown-ups

Author:: Burhan Wazir
Publication Date:: 10-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: A lesser known independent strand in Indian cinema that is prepared to talk seriously about politics
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Geneva, Pakistan, India, and London

376. Books: Xenia Dormandy's US politics' reading list

Author:: Xenia Dormandy
Publication Date:: 10-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: No abstract is available.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: United States

377. Books: How football continues to influence Spanish and Italian politics

Author:: David Winner
Publication Date:: 09-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: Chatham House
Abstract:: Simon Martin, Sport Italia: the Italian Love Affair with Sport (I.B.Tauris £19.99) Jimmy Burns, La Roja: a Journey Through Spanish Football (Simon Schuster £14.99)
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Italy

378. Turkey's Search for a New Constitution

Author:: Ergun Özbudun
Publication Date:: 01-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: The article analyzes the historical roots and the current nature of the constitutional crisis in Turkey. The Constitution of 1982 strongly reflects the authoritarian, statist, and tutelary mentality of its military founders. The Constitution established a number of tutelary institutions designed to check the powers of the elected agencies and to narrow down the space for civilian politics. Consequently, it has been the subject of strong criticisms since its adoption. There is also a general consensus that despite the 17 amendments it has gone through so far, it has not been possible to fully eliminate its authoritarian spirit. The article also deals with the constitutional crises of 2007 and 2008 over the election of the President of the Republic, and the annulment of the constitutional amendment of 2008 by the Constitutional Court. It concludes with an assessment of the constitutional amendments of 2010.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Turkey

379. Bonnie Honing, Emergency Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009).

Author:: Martino Bianchi
Publication Date:: 02-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:: Central European University
Abstract:: A wide debate about emergency politics in democracy is particularly welcome in a period in which long-lasting concern about security in the Western world is now coupled with an economic crisis whose effects are still not clear and whose development are unforeseeable. This new contribution, written by Bonnie Honig, is hence highly interesting as it tries to disclose the links between the normal democratic politics and the discretionary politics which occurs in emergency situations.
Topic:: Politics

380. Activists in Office: Kurdish Politics and Protest in Turkey by Nicole F. Watts

Author:: Michael M. Gunter
Publication Date:: 04-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Most of the recently published books on the Kurdish problem in Turkey focus on the armed struggle and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Watts, however, offers a much-appreciated alternative approach. "Pro-Kurdish political parties" (p. xvii), or what she also calls "challenger parties" (p. 16), "have made themselves matter and... have impressed their ideas and agendas on reluctant and often repressive states" (p. x). "The central argument of this book is that... pro-Kurdish elected officials and party administrators engaged [as]... 'loudspeaker systems' for the transmission of highly contentious information politics that challenged the narratives of security, identity, and representation promoted by Turkish state institutions.... They [also] tried to construct a competing 'governmentality' and new collective Kurdish 'subject' in cities and towns in the southeast" (p. 13).
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Turkey and Kurdistan

381. Critique in a time of liberal world order

Author:: Beate Jahn
Publication Date:: 04-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of International Relations and Development
Institution:: Central and East European International Studies Association
Abstract:: The dominance of liberalism in world politics today is widely interpreted as attesting to its universal validity. This claim provides the basis for a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate criticism — the former operating within a broadly liberal framework and the latter questioning the universal validity of that framework. This special issue brings together critiques of liberalism in the second register. The introduction sets out the two competing notions of critical analysis and argues that, far from being 'illegitimate', it is this second concept of critique that ensures that liberalism does not betray its core promise of replacing might with right in a time of liberal world order.
Topic:: Politics

382. Liberal internationalism and the law vs liberty paradox

Author:: Linda Bishai
Publication Date:: 04-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of International Relations and Development
Institution:: Central and East European International Studies Association
Abstract:: This article examines and critiques the engagement of liberal international law with liberal internationalism in international relations (IR), demonstrating that the results are not to the credit of either discipline. In particular, two key assumptions of the legal liberal international order are flawed. First, the attempt to establish a two-tiered international liberal order based on law and democracy results in intervention (both forceful and performative) that counterproductively embroils liberal states, generating resentment and counter-democratic movements. Second, the assumption that security in a globalising world can only be created by the total globalisation of the liberal order and the removal of 'outlaw' states creates a new version of the security dilemma in which the actions taken to secure the liberal world order create the very conditions of its insecurity. The article concludes with recommendations for a critical post-structuralist engagement with a post-liberal politics of virtù that paradoxically allows for the liberal identity to be better secured in its international relations with the other.
Topic:: Security, Politics, and Law

383. Eternal peace, perpetual war? A critical investigation into Kant's conceptualisations of war

Author:: Andreas Behnke
Publication Date:: 04-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of International Relations and Development
Institution:: Central and East European International Studies Association
Abstract:: Most discussions of Immanuel Kant's political theory of international politics focus on his work on Eternal Peace and its normative and empirical relevance for contemporary international relations and international law. Yet for all his concern with peace, Kant's work is characterised by a fascinating preoccupation with the concept of war and its role in human history. The purpose of this essay is to investigate critically Kant's different conceptualisations of war and to evaluate his writing as a critique against contemporary versions of Liberal war and peace, as well as recent attempts to reduce war to an immanent logic of biopolitics.
Topic:: Politics

384. Islam, nihilism and liberal secularity

Author:: Mustapha Pasha
Publication Date:: 04-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of International Relations and Development
Institution:: Central and East European International Studies Association
Abstract:: The theme of nihilism offers fertile avenues for exploring the antinomies of classical liberalism. In its instantiation as violence, nihilism challenges classical liberalism and its recognised political settlement, notably received arrangements harnessed to cultivate uncontrolled passions or religious fervour. In its affinity to Islam, nihilism defies the secular settlement through its appeals to transcendence. By seeking legitimacy in the sacred, nihilism disrupts established boundaries between the religious and the secular. Nihilism exposes the difficulty of forging worlds of transcendence on the modern register of immanence. Transcendence affords the possibility of escape, immanence closure. The two can be reversed in politics, as the experience in several Islamic Cultural Zones (ICZs) suggests. Appeals to transcendence seek to reorganise the social world in the name of escaping it. Immanence, on the other hand, can rework notions of redemption and salvation into secular stories of progress. This paper explores how the presumed nihilistic tendency appearing in the ICZs destabilises the liberal settlement, not in the conventional sense of presenting a religious counterpoint, but in reworking religious themes into secularity. Nihilism illustrates both the contradictory character of modernity and modernity's potential to generate varied societal projects, including those informed by the sacred. The recognition that modernity can spawn discordant impulses in reconciling religion and politics helps rethink post-secular lives under the long shadow of disenchantment.
Topic:: Islam and Politics

385. Editor's Note: Politics of Nuclear Negotiations

Author:: Seyed Kazem Sajjadpour
Publication Date:: 06-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Iranian Review of Foreign Affairs
Institution:: Center for Strategic Research (CSR)
Abstract:: The recent round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 in Istanbul, Baghdad and Moscow has attracted the attention of Iran–watchers with a colorful set of expectations, predictions, hopes and frustrations. How can we analyze this perplexing situation? "Players", "perceptions" and "politics" are suitable conceptual frames through which the dynamics of the new round of talks may be understood.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Iran, Baghdad, Moscow, and Istanbul

386. Counter-State Zionism and Political Zionism

Author:: Ephraim Nimni
Publication Date:: 05-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Zionism: One or many? Obsolete? Irreconcilably divided? Ethnocentric? Is there a Zionism compatible with nondiscrimination of Palestinians? These two books, Nation and History: Israeli Historiography between Zionism and Post-Zionism by Yoav Gelber and Zionism and the Roads Not Taken: Rawidowicz, Kaplan, Kohn by Noam Pianko, present opposite points of view, one backward looking and abortive, the other forward looking, expressing hope for change. Both are grounded in historical discussions with considerable relevance to the present. Both draw legitimacy by adhering to a Zionist dream. The two opposing dreams, however, negate each other.
Topic:: Security and Politics
Political Geography:: United States, Israel, Soviet Union, Palestine, and Arabia

387. Toward a Global Ethic

Author:: David Rodin
Publication Date:: 04-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: We are one humanity, but seven billion humans. This is the essential challenge of global ethics: how to accommodate the tension between our universal and particular natures. This tension is, of course, age-old and runs through all moral and political philosophy. But in the world of the early twenty-first century it plays out in distinctive new ways. Ethics has always engaged twin capacities inherent in every human: the capacity to harm and the capacity to help. But the profound set of transformations commonly referred to as globalization-the increasing mobility of goods, labor, and capital; the increasing interconnectedness of political, economic, and financial systems; and the radical empowerment of groups and individuals through technology-have enabled us to harm and to help others in ways that our forebears could not have imagined. What we require from a global ethic is shaped by these transformative forces; and global ethics-the success or failure of that project-will substantially shape the course of the twenty-first century.
Topic:: Economics, Globalization, and Politics

388. The domestic politics of international hierarchy: Risk management and the reconstitution of international society

Author:: William Clapton and Shahar Hameiri
Publication Date:: 01-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Politics
Institution:: Palgrave Macmillan
Abstract:: Recent work has identified new hierarchical relationships within international society. However, few scholars have provided a satisfactory account of what informs their formation, reproduction or constitutional effects for international society. We argue that underpinning the emergence of a more hierarchical international society is a new social logic of risk, which constructs illiberal and/or fragile states as potentially dangerous sites of instability and disorder that pose particular security risks for Western states. We proceed to argue that such risk-based hierarchies are transformative of both inter-state and intra-state relations, by stripping equal political agency from 'risky' actors within and without the state. We demonstrate these claims by drawing on examples of international state building in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific.
Topic:: Politics

389. Geopolitics and Russian foreign policy

Author:: John Berryman
Publication Date:: 07-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Politics
Institution:: Palgrave Macmillan
Abstract:: The article provides a broad overview of the fluctuating connections between the controversial and ambiguous field of modern geopolitics and Russia. Given the pivotal significance of the Russian challenge within the early hypotheses of Mahan and Mackinder, the article first explores those distinctive geographical and spatial considerations that helped shape the development of the Russian Empire. The place of geopolitics in the Cold War is then reviewed, including both its policy orientation and the exchanges between the proponents of geopolitical realism and liberal internationalism. In conclusion, the article examines the post-Cold War renaissance of geopolitics, reviewing both theoretical developments and policy implications for Russian foreign policy.
Topic:: Foreign Policy and Politics
Political Geography:: Russia

390. Transnational Chinese Sphere in Singapore: Dynamics, Transformations and Characteristics

Author:: Hong Liu
Publication Date:: 09-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: Based upon an empirical analysis of Singaporean Chinese's intriguing and changing linkages with China over the past half century, this paper suggests that multi-layered interactions between the Chinese diaspora and the homeland have led to the formulation of an emerging transnational Chinese social sphere, which has three main characteristics: First, it is a space for communication by ethnic Chinese abroad with their hometown/ homeland through steady and extensive flows of people, ideas, goods and capital that transcend the nation-state borders, although states also play an important role in shaping the nature and characteristics of these flows. Second, this transnational social sphere constitutes a dynamic interface between economy, politics and culture, which has contributed to creating a collective diasporic identity as well as social and business networks. Third, the key institutional mechanism of the transnational social sphere is various types of Chinese organizations – ranging from hometown associations to professional organizations – which serve as integral components of Chinese social and business networks.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: China and Singapore

391. The Demise of the PLO: Neither Diaspora nor Statehood

Author:: Hillel Frisch
Publication Date:: 08-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Political Science Quarterly
Institution:: Academy of Political Science
Abstract:: As Fatah and Hamas continuously fail to come to an agreement over the issues between them, it is quite clear that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which is responsible for catapulting the Palestinian issue into international prominence, has ceased to exist. Not only does it not maintain an Internet site, its popular body, the Palestinian National Council (PNC), which is meant to convene every two years, has not met officially since 1996, and since 1991, according to Hamas and other Palestinian factions opposed to Muhammad Abbas, its titular head. There is a need to understand the implications of the demise of the PLO, an institution that once loomed large in Middle Eastern and world politics.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Middle East and Palestine

392. Social Exclusion and Political Change

Author:: Hauke Hartmann and Daniel Schraad-Tischler
Publication Date:: 05-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: When do inequality and economic frustration erupt into political turmoil?
Topic:: Economics and Politics
Political Geography:: Russia, Bahrain, and Slovakia

393. Political Representation, Policy Inclusion

Author:: Richard André, Ryan Berger, Nina Agrawal, and Wilda Escarfuller
Publication Date:: 05-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Americas Quarterly
Institution:: Council of the Americas
Abstract:: Do more Indigenous and Afro-descendant representatives in national congresses make a difference?
Topic:: Economics and Politics
Political Geography:: United States, Latin America, and Peru

394. Parliamentary peace or partisan politics? Democracies' participation in the Iraq War

Author:: Patrick A. Mello
Publication Date:: 07-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of International Relations and Development
Institution:: Central and East European International Studies Association
Abstract:: This paper seeks to explain democracies' military participation in the Iraq War. Prior studies have identified institutional and partisan differences as potential explanatory factors for the observed variance. The interaction of institutions and partisanship, however, has gone largely unobserved. I argue that these factors must be analysed in conjunction: institutional constraints presume actors that fulfil their role as veto players to the executive. Likewise, partisan politics is embedded in institutional frames that enable or constrain decision-making. Hence I suggest a comparative approach that combines these factors to explain why some democracies joined the ad hoc coalition against Iraq and others did not. To investigate the interaction between institutions, partisanship and war participation I apply fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. The analysis reveals that the conjunction of right-of-centre governments with an absence of both parliamentary veto rights and constitutional restrictions was sufficient for participation in the Iraq War. In turn, for countries where the constitution requires parliamentary approval of military deployments, the distribution of preferences within the legislature proved to be decisive for military participation or non-participation.
Topic:: Politics and War
Political Geography:: Iraq

395. Israel, the Palestinians, and the 2012 Republican Primaries: Fantasy Politics on Display

Author:: Lawrence Davidson
Publication Date:: 08-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: This essay looks at the 2012 Republican primaries through the lens of "localism" and how candidates and lobbies manipulate for their own purposes the ignorance of their voting constituencies on issues not relevant to their everyday lives. After a discussion of the wider process, the piece focuses on the eight leading candidates in the presidential primary race with regard to Israel and Palestine, with an overview of their positions and advisers. It ends with some reflections on the consequences of the peculiarly American mix of localism, national politics, and special interest groups.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: America, Israel, and Palestine

396. The Dutch Political Experiment: Phase Three

Author:: Omar El Zoheiry
Publication Date:: 09-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Macalester International
Institution:: Macalester College
Abstract:: In the past two decades, many Western liberal democracies have undergone fundamental political transformations. Faced with the challenges of adapting to globalization and the world's increasingly interconnected financial system, many of these democracies have found it necessary to implement a technocratic form of governance. The distance between the political elite and the people was allowed to grow under these regimes in order to achieve the much-needed efficiency in policy formulation and international integration. This article utilizes the case study of the Netherlands to analyze the implications of this gap, perhaps the most significant of which being the rise of “contemporary populism.” It attempts to make sense of seemingly random and unrelated events that have recently shocked Dutch society and politics within a framework of structural change instead of treating these events as temporal occurrences. It demonstrates how such a framework is necessary in understanding the true reason behind these events and why a temporal argument might lead to superficial conclusions.
Topic:: Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:: Netherlands and Dutch

397. The USA: Challenges of the Superpower

Author:: Ketevan Rostiashvili
Publication Date:: 01-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:: Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:: Since the collapse of the Soviet Union function and mission of the United States in the contemporary world system is one of the most debatable problems of academic litera- ture. This article is an attempt to analyze most recent socioeconomic and political tendencies of the USA for better understanding the scale of ongoing transformation of the society. As the level of integration of contemporary world is very high, transfor- mation of the USA provokes tectonic changes and transformation of the world system, its structure and nature. This study argues that, although the US primacy in the world is significantly challenged and shaken by external and internal factors, the USA still preserves its traditional function of economic, financial, military and political superpow- er, but in a quite different environment. The article predominantly uses materials drawn from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA, The World Fact book 2012); U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the USA - 2012, the US Federal Budgets 2010- 2012, and other valuable literature and sources.
Topic:: Politics, Hegemony, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and Socioeconomics
Political Geography:: North America and United States of America

398. Nothing to be Afraid of? North Korean Political Economy and Economic Reform

Author:: Ian E. Rinehart
Publication Date:: 04-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Joint U.S.-Korea Academic Studies
Institution:: Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI)
Abstract:: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) President Kim il-Sung explained to his counterpart Erich Honecker, President of the German Democratic Republic, in 1977 that building socialism in the DPRK is the foundation for establishing a new social order in the entire nation.1 Socialist principles have guided the North Korean political economy since the country was established after World War II. The 1972 constitution repeatedly stressed the achievement of “true socialism” as a goal and declared that the DPRK “exercises the dictatorship of the proletariat.”2 In the North Korean system, urban residents received monthly rations for household goods distributed at nominal prices, while workers on agricultural cooperatives and state farms received consumer goods in return for agricultural output sold to the state at an artificially low price. The government’s top-down central planning set production-based targets for factories and farms.
Topic:: Economics, Political Economy, Politics, and Reform
Political Geography:: Asia and North Korea

399. Ladakhi and Bhutanese Enclaves in Tibet

Author:: John Bray
Publication Date:: 03-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:: Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:: Until the 1950s both Ladakh and Bhutan governed small enclaves of territory in Western Tibet. Ladakh’s enclave consisted of the village of Minsar (Men ser), near lake Manasarovar (Ma pham), and its surrounding land, while Bhutan governed the Darchen (Dar chen) Labrang and several smaller monasteries and villages near Mount Kailas (Gangs rin po che, Ti se). These enclaves were entirely surrounded by the territory of the Dalai Lama, but Ladakh (superseded by the government of Jammu and Kashmir after 1846) and Bhutan continued to raise revenue there for some 300 years. The status of these enclaves was ambiguous. By the 20th century both Kashmir/India and Bhutan claimed to hold their lands in full sovereignty. By contrast the Lhasa government acknowledged that Ladakh/Kashmir and Bhutan held certain rights, but it nevertheless tried to exercise its own authority as though the enclaves were no more than foreign-owned estates in Tibetan territory. These disputes were never fully resolved but came to an abrupt end in the 1950s when the Chinese government took over both sets of enclaves, without paying compensation either to Ladakh/Kashmir or to Bhutan. This paper is a preliminary discussion of the ambiguities surrounding the enclaves. It begins with an analysis of their common origins in the 17th century, and then discusses the disputes surrounding them in the 20th century, making particular reference to British records.1 The paper concludes with a discussion of the enclaves’ standing in the wider context of traditional and contemporary Himalayan politics.
Topic:: Politics, History, and Enclaves
Political Geography:: South Asia, Tibet, and Bhutan

400. Bibliography of Periodical Literature

Author:: Norbert Scholz
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: This section lists articles and reviews of books relevant to Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Entries are classified under the following headings: Reference and General; History (through 1948) and Geography; Palestinian Politics and Society; Jerusalem; Israeli Politics, Society, and Zionism; Arab and Middle Eastern Politics; International Relations; Law; Military; Economy, Society, and Education; Literature, Arts, and Culture; Book Reviews; and Reports Received. Norbert Scholz Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 40, no. 4 (Summer 2011), p. 247 Bibliography of Periodical Literature Buy Print Email LIMITED PREVIEW | PURCHASE FULL Reference and General Al-Azm, Sadik J. “Orientalism, Occidentalism, and Islamism: Keynote Address to 'Orientalism and Fundamentalism in Islamic and Judaic Critique': A Conference Honoring Sadik Al-Azm.” CSSAME 30, no. 1 (2010): 6–13. Ciftci, Sabri. “Modernization, Islam, or Social Capital: What Explains Attitudes toward Democracy in the Muslim World?” Comparative Political Studies 43, no. 11 (Nov. 2010): 1442–70. Hamzawy, Amr. “Arab Writings on Islamist Parties and Movements.” IJMES 43, no. 1 (Feb. 2011): 138–40. Heschel, Susannah, and Timothy Baker. “Transnational Migrations of Identity: Jews, Muslims, and the Modernity Debate.” CSSAME 30, no. 1 (2010): 1–5. Schwedler, Jillian. “Studying Political Islam.” IJMES 43, no. 1 (Feb. 2011): 135–37. Utvik, Bjørn O. “Islamists from a Distance.” IJMES 43, no. 1 (Feb. 2011): 141–43. History (through 1948) and Geography Abu Khashan, Abdul Karim. “Pierre Loti's Journey across Sinai to Jerusalem, 1894.” JQ, no. 43 (Aut. 2010): 18–30. Bianchini, Katia. “The Mandate Refugee Program: A Critical Discussion.” International Journal of Refugee Law 22, no. 3 (Oct. 2010): 367–78. Ginor, Isabella, and Gideon Remez. “A Cold War Casualty in Jerusalem, 1948: The Assassination of Witold Hulanicki.” IJFA 4, no. 3 (Sep. 2010): 137–58. Goldstein, Yossi. “Eastern Jews vs. Western Jews: The Ahad Ha'am-Herzl Dispute and Its Cultural and Social Implications.” Jewish History 24, nos. 3–4 (Dec. 2010): 355–77. Hughes, Matthew. “Assassination in Jerusalem: Bahjat Abu Gharbiyah and Sami Al-Ansari's Shooting of British Assistant Superintendent Alan Sigrist 12th June 1936.” JQ, no. 44 (Win. 2010): 5–13. Khalidi, Issam. “The Coverage of Sports News in 'Filastin' 1911–1948.” JQ, no. 44 (Win. 2010): 45–69. Klieman, Aharon. “Returning to the World Stage: Herzl's Zionist Statecraft.” IJFA 4, no. 2 (May 2010): 75–84. Matar, Nabil. “Couscous or Cartography: A Moroccan Jurist and an English Trader Visit Seventeenth Century Palestine.” JQ, no. 43 (Aut. 2010): 40–52. Shaw, Martin, and Omer Bartov. “The Question of Genocide in Palestine, 1948: An Exchange between Martin Shaw and Omer Bartov.” Journal of Genocide Research 12, nos. 3–4 (Sep. 2010): 243–59. Sicher, Efraim. “The Image of Israel and Postcolonial Discourse in the Early 21st Century: A View from Britain.” IsS 16, no. 1 (Spr. 2011): 1–25. Wallach, Yair. “Creating a Country through Currency and Stamps: State Symbols and Nation-building in British-ruled Palestine.” Nations and Nationalism 17, no. 1 (Jan. 2011): 129–47. Palestinian Politics and Society Abu Sitta, Salman. “The Village of 'Araqeeb in Palestine” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 86 (Spr. 2011): 111–27. Brown, Nathan J. “Studying Palestinian Politics: Scholarship or Scholasticism?” IJFA 4, no. 3 (Sep. 2010): 47–58. Cantarow, Ellen. “Catching the Palestine Bug: Notes on Journalism and Enlightened Tourism in Palestine.” JQ, no. 43 (Aut. 201 ): 64–70. Chamberlin, Paul. “The Struggle against Oppression Everywhere: The Global Politics of Palestinian Liberation.” MES 47, no. 1 (Jan. 2011): 25–41. Ephron, Dan. “The Wrath of Abbas.” Newsweek (24 April 2011). Foroohar, Manzar. “Palestinians in Central America: From Temporary Emigrants to a Permanent Diaspora.” JPS 40, no. 3 (Spr. 2011): 6–22. Hamdan, Usama (interview). “Hamas 'Foreign Minister' Usama Hamdan Talks about National Reconciliation, Arafat, Reform, and Hamas's Presence in Lebanon.” JPS 40, no. 3 (Spr. 2011): 59–74. Kotef, Hagar. “Objects of Security: Gendered Violence and Securitized Humanitarianism in Occupied Gaza.” CSSAME 30, no. 2 (2010): 179–91. Long, Baudouin. “The Hamas Agenda: How Has It Changed?” MEP 17, no. 4 (Win. 2010): 131–43. Makdisi, Saree. “Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation” [in Arabic]. MA 33, no. 386 (Apr. 2011): 41–57. Nasrallah, Jana. “Shatila Camp: Memory of War and Marginalization” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 86 (Spr. 2011): 148–56. Peled, Kobi. “The Well of Forgetfulness and Remembrance: Milieu de mémoire and lieu de mémoire in a Palestinian Arab Town in Israel.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 37, no. 2 (Aug. 2010): 139–58. Sabbagh-Khoury, Areej, and Nadim Rouhana. “The Right of Return from the Perspective of Palestinians in Israel” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 86 (Spr. 2011): 84–110. Schanzer, Jonathan. “What Palestinians Are Saying Online.” MEQ 18, no. 1 (Win. 2011): 15–24. Shahin, Khalil. “The Palestinian Popular Protest: An Eye for Change and an Eye for Resistance” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 86 (Spr. 2011): 161–73. Veronese, Guido, Marco Castiglioni, and Mahmud Said. “The Use of Narrative-Experiential Instruments in Contexts of Military Violence: The Case of Palestinian Children in the West Bank.” Counselling Psychology Quarterly 23, no. 4 (Dec. 2010): 411–23.
Topic:: Economics and Politics
Political Geography:: Middle East

Search

Search Constraints

Search Results

Refine your search

Topic

Political Geography

Content Type

Journal

Publishing Institution

Author

Publication Year

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS