Showing papers in "Cambridge Review of International Affairs in 2004"
TL;DR: The authors argued that the alleged process of globalisation should be recast as a process of "glocalisation", where institutional/regulatory arrangements shift from the national scale both upwards to supra-national or global scales and downwards to the scale of individual body or to local, urban or regional configurations.
Abstract: This paper argues that the alleged process of globalisation should be recast as a process of ‘glocalisation’. ‘Glocalisation’ refers to the twin process whereby, firstly, institutional/regulatory arrangements shift from the national scale both upwards to supra‐national or global scales and downwards to the scale of the individual body or to local, urban or regional configurations and, secondly, economic activities and inter‐firm networks are becoming simultaneously more localised/regionalised and transnational. In particular, attention will be paid to the political and economic dynamics of this geographical rescaling and its implications. The scales of economic networks and institutional arrangements are recast in ways that alter social power geometries in important ways. This contribution, therefore, argues, first, that an important discursive shift took place over the last decade or so which is an integral part of an intensifying ideological, political, socioeconomic and cultural struggle over the organ...
842 citations
TL;DR: In the context of European Union enlargement and the discussions about a European constitution, the question of Europe's identity has once again entered the limelight of political debates as discussed by the authors, where geographic and cultural otherings are on the increase, marking a return of geopolitics in European identity constructions.
Abstract: In the context of European Union enlargement and the discussions about a European constitution, the question of Europe's identity has once again entered the limelight of political debates. From a poststructuralist perspective, identities are constructed through practices of othering, articulating a difference. In this article, I follow Ole Waever to argue that for most of the time after the Second World War the most important other in the construction of a European identity has been Europe's own past. This temporal form of othering offered the possibility to form an identity through less antagonistic and exclusionary practices than was common in the modern international society. However, since the 1990s geographic and cultural otherings are on the increase, marking a return of geopolitics in European identity constructions and undermining the notion of European integration as a fundamental challenge to the world of nation‐states.1
256 citations
TL;DR: The legal idiom also contains a utopian aspect: it distances political actors from their idiosyncratic preferences and thus creates the international world as a legal community in the act of invoking it.
Abstract: Instead of appearing as a stable set of normative demands opposed to international politics, international law is better understood as an aspect of hegemonic contestation, a technique of articulating political claims in terms of legal rights and duties. The controversies in the law concerning the use of force, the law of peace, human rights, trade and globalisation reflect strategies through which political actors seek to make their preferences appear to be universal ones. But the legal idiom also contains a utopian aspect: it distances political actors from their idiosyncratic preferences and thus creates the international world as a legal community in the act of invoking it.
92 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a model of national intelligence cultures in the governments of the United Kingdom and United States of America is developed combining existing work on organisational culture in the two countries with the author's comparative analysis of different conceptions of intelligence culture.
Abstract: This article argues for the value of a theory of ‘intelligence culture’ in understanding not only how national intelligence systems work but also how intelligence failures occur in those systems. A model of national intelligence cultures in the governments of the United Kingdom and United States of America is developed combining existing work on organisational culture in the two countries with the author's comparative analysis of different conceptions of intelligence culture in the two systems. This model is used to develop a failure mode analysis of the two systems, which is then tentatively assessed against representative examples from the two countries, culminating in application of the model to the failure of both intelligence systems to correctly estimate Iraqi weapons of mass destruction capabilities prior to March 2003.
64 citations
TL;DR: International Intelligence cooperation is something of an oxymoron; intelligence services and intelligence collection are at heart manifestations of individual state power and of national self‐inte...
Abstract: International Intelligence cooperation is something of an oxymoron. Intelligence services and intelligence collection are at heart manifestations of individual state power and of national self‐inte...
54 citations
TL;DR: The authors examine the issue of identity and writing in international relations and argue that what has come to be labeled as critical or radical constructivism rather insistently points in the direction of opening up spaces for discussing our own writing and exploring our own voices in what we write, though this has not been actively pursued.
Abstract: Drawing primarily, but not exclusively on the work of Julia Kristeva and Roland Barthes on language, writing, and ‘the subject’, I examine the issue of identity and writing in international relations. I argue that what has come to be labeled ‘critical’ or ‘radical’ constructivism rather insistently points in the direction of opening up spaces for discussing our own writing and exploring our own voices in what we write, though this has not been actively pursued. Sociologist Avery Gordon uses the phrase ‘making common cause’ to argue that our encounters with the social world ‘must strive to go beyond the fundamental alienation of turning social relations into just things we know and toward our own reckoning with how we are in these stories, with how they change us’. It seems to me that this is not possible without giving attention to the issue of voice, specifically the voice we use when we write about international relations. To speak of voice is to raise many interesting and important questions, to ponder...
53 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that new regionalist studies would benefit from a similar mainstreaming of democracy issues and a similarly open approach to inter/intra-disciplinarity, and that EU studies scholars would benefit both conceptually and empirically from such a rapprochement.
Abstract: This article argues in favour of an intra‐disciplinary rapprochement between ‘EU studies’ and those working in the ‘new regionalism’ (NR). I take the issue of democratisation as an example of how scholars of both the EU and NR could usefully learn from each other. European Union studies has recently undergone a ‘normative turn’, through which inter/intra‐disciplinarity has received a fillip; I argue that at both conceptual and empirical levels, new regionalist studies would benefit from a similar mainstreaming of democracy issues and a similarly open approach to inter/intra‐disciplinarity. Moreover, EU studies scholars would benefit both conceptually (an escape from the ‘N=1’ problem that has plagued integration theory, the adoption of a clear critical theory perspective) and empirically (further cases in which to test hypotheses and generate data) from such a rapprochement.1
42 citations
TL;DR: The failure of international efforts to create stable states inhibits the development of a civic identity and reinforces fragmentation, which in turn brings the longevity of the state into question by raising the possibility that dissatisfied groups will again turn to violence as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Nation‐building is an age‐old process being implemented in new ways. It consists of two separate aspects: state‐building implemented by external actors and identity‐building implemented by grassroots actors within the state itself. However, a functioning state is a necessary precondition for identity‐building because it allows for the development of a civic identity that can incorporate group identities and create a shared sense of community. When a unifying and legitimate state structure is absent, group identifications will remain strong and counteract internal efforts at nation‐building. Unfortunately, the record of nation‐building when understood as both state‐ and identity‐building is relatively poor. The failure of international efforts to create stable states inhibits development of a civic identity and reinforces fragmentation. That in turn brings the longevity of the state into question by raising the possibility that dissatisfied groups will again turn to violence. Learning how to develop both a...
37 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that while imposing an alternative set of external administrative "advisers" might be popular with European powers, it is unlikely that greater UN involvement would make much difference to the people of Iraq.
Abstract: With the problems of stabilising Iraq continuing under the ‘fully sovereign’ Iraqi interim government, which formally replaced the United‐States‐led transitional administrative authority on 28 June 2004, many critics have argued that the United Nations (UN) should play a much larger role in the transition process. This article suggests that while imposing an alternative set of external administrative ‘advisers’ might be popular with European powers, it is unlikely that greater UN involvement would make much difference to the people of Iraq. Using the example of the international protectorate of Bosnia, which is also a ‘fully sovereign’ state, where the UN plays a fully engaged role, it is clear that external enforcement can provide little legitimacy for Iraqi institutions. This article challenges the idea that the ‘rule of law’ can be imposed from outside by focusing on two areas of legal activism in Bosnia: constitutional change and property return. It suggests that the ‘rule of law’ approach sees legal ...
25 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that these largely empirical criticisms do not succeed in casting doubt upon the normative plausibility or practical viability of transnational projects, and they point to a growing transnational political culture that serves to motivate transnational citizens.
Abstract: There is widespread disagreement over whether transnational citizenship provides defensible extensions of, or meaningful complements to, national citizenship A significant strand of criticism relies upon empirical arguments about political motivation and the consequences of transnationalism This paper addresses two questions arising from empirical arguments relating to the nation state and democracy Do the alleged cultural requirements for effective political action provide an insuperable barrier to transnational citizenship? Does transnational citizenship necessarily require a commitment to transnational democracy? I argue that these largely empirical criticisms do not succeed in casting doubt upon the normative plausibility or practical viability of transnational projects On the first question, I point to a growing transnational political culture that serves to motivate transnational citizens On the second question, I argue for a legitimate category of transnational citizenship that, although inspired by cosmopolitan morality, is different from it, and that does not require transnational democracy
22 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the theoretical literature underpinning the ASEAN security community idea is characterised by significant conceptual and empirical flaws and point out that from an empirical perspective, the nascent security community has arguably never existed.
Abstract: At the ninth summit of the Association of South‐East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in October 2003, the organisation's leaders declared their intention of transforming ASEAN into a security community. In making the case that ASEAN has functioned as a realist security institution since its inception in 1967, this article argues that the theoretical literature underpinning the ASEAN security community idea is characterised by significant conceptual and empirical flaws. First, a number of problems surround the variables—either norms or identity—that are used to explain the emergence of a putative security community among the ASEAN states. Second, critical issues in the ASEAN security community literature include the tautological nature of the arguments and a failure to rule out alternative explanations. Third, from an empirical perspective, the nascent ASEAN security community has arguably never existed.
TL;DR: In the longer term, the absence of a common foe has allowed previously suppressed tensions within the Atlantic community to play a more prominent role than in the past as discussed by the authors, and the challenge for the Allies in the future will be to cooperate absent the discipline once imposed by their respective international situations.
Abstract: The Cold War's end posed immediate challenges to the Atlantic alliance, but a variety of factors, many of them temporary, conspired to mask this shift for more than a decade. In the longer term, the absence of a common foe has allowed previously suppressed tensions within the Atlantic community to play a more prominent role than in the past. Interests, and especially security interests, within the Alliance are less convergent now than during the Cold War. The challenge for the Allies in the future will be to cooperate absent the discipline once imposed by their respective international situations.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider various possible explanations for the longevity of US-UK "special relationship", including simple inertia and the subtle effects of shared culture, and conclude with an assessment of US and UK relations with respect to the conflict in Iraq.
Abstract: The international politics of recent years have seen a resurgence and refashioning of the US–UK ‘Special Relationship’. Widely seen as likely to expire with the end of the Cold War, the relationship, defined mainly in military terms, revived following the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States. The article considers various possible explanations for the longevity of US–UK ‘special relations’. Such explanations include simple inertia and the subtle effects of shared culture. Particular emphasis in explaining the persistence of the ‘Special Relationship’ in a changed world, however, is placed on conscious decisions of the Blair government, and especially of Prime Minister Tony Blair himself. The article concludes with an assessment of US–UK relations with respect to the conflict in Iraq.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the neoconservatives in the Bush administration draw on the utopian strand of this tradition when setting their foreign policy agenda and justifying their decisions to the public, with special reference to Iraq, and discuss how three key utopian themes (the perfection of human life on earth, the possibility of limiting evil through conversion and the prospect of arresting human development) are reflected in the neoconservative agenda.
Abstract: Amidst a renewed debate over the existence of an American empire, serious questions have emerged about whether the Bush foreign policy can be described as ‘realist’ given the widespread opposition that it encounters from academic realists. This paper is an attempt to shed light on this vexing issue by interpreting the Bush foreign policy through the lens of the broader religious–political tradition of America. Specifically, it argues that the neoconservatives in the Bush administration draw on the utopian strand of this tradition when setting their foreign policy agenda and justifying their decisions to the public. With special reference to Iraq, it discusses how three key utopian themes—the perfection of human life on earth, the possibility of limiting evil through conversion and the prospect of arresting human development—are reflected in the neoconservative agenda. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of how these themes run counter to the tenets of classical realism and of the ethical and polit...
TL;DR: The relationship between war, liberalism, and modernity remain heavily under-theorised within international relations as mentioned in this paper, which poses problematic questions as to how we should understand the relationships between the organisation of liberal societies and the forms of resistance that emerge in their midst.
Abstract: The relationships between war, liberalism and modernity remain heavily under‐theorised within international relations. Existing critiques emphasise the ways in which the developments of liberal societies have been facilitated by the deployment of instrumental forms of force and violence in the extension and control of spaces beyond the boundaries of the zone of ‘liberal peace’. Yet, the ordinary functioning of liberal societies themselves can also be understood in terms of the roles of war. This article utilises ideas derived from Michel Foucault and Antonio Negri to advance our understanding of the ways in which liberal powers pursue security through the creation of what this author terms a logistical order of relations between the subjects that they govern. Simultaneously, the strategisation of social relations within liberal societies fosters the development of new forms of antagonistic subjectivities that contest the logistical foundations of liberal societies. This dual set of developments poses problematic questions as to how we should understand the relationships between the organisation of liberal societies and the forms of resistance that emerge in their midst. As the author details, these questions are made all the more pressing by the current context of the War on Terror.
TL;DR: The importance of the South Caucasus and Central Asia in US global strategy has been highlighted by as mentioned in this paper, who argue that Washington must consider the interests of key Eurasian powers and demonstrate a sustained economic and political commitment to the region.
Abstract: 11 September 2001 elevated the importance of the South Caucasus and Central Asia in US global strategy. The Central Asian republics proved crucial bases for military and intelligence operations. The South Caucasus, in turn, provided the only realistic air corridor for the deployment of Europe‐based US forces to Afghan territory. As its Central Asian footprint grows, Washington must consider the interests of key Eurasian powers and demonstrate a sustained economic and political commitment to the region.
TL;DR: In this article, a historical-structural picture of Franco-American relations from a French point of view is presented, with a focus on the relationship between the two states with remarkably similar universalist self-images.
Abstract: This article sketches a historical‐structural picture of Franco‐American relations from a French point of view. The historical approach is chosen because it allows understanding of how mutual visions and images develop. Franco‐American mutual images are traced from the time of French involvement in the birth of the US, through the period when France and the US were the first two grand republics with universalist claims. The difficult relationship between these two states with remarkably similar universalist self‐images is seen against a background of a rising US and declining France, with the fall of France in 1940 seen as a turning point. The Gaullist project of removing this humiliation marks the Franco‐American relationship, as compared with that of Britain (declined but undefeated), and a Germany reborn within the Euro‐Atlantic institutions after the cataclysm of 1945.
TL;DR: A general overview of developments and assesses aspects such as preferential trade agreements, multilateral coalition building and security cooperation in the context of South-South relations is provided in this article.
Abstract: South Atlantic relations, under the leadership of Brazil and South Africa, have recently received a fresh breath of life. This article provides a general overview of developments and assesses aspects such as preferential trade agreements, multilateral coalition building and security cooperation in the context of South–South relations. The renewed impetus has resulted in improved influence and leverage from less developed Southern countries over the global political and economic agenda. New initiatives that have helped place the leaders of the South at the centre of the decision‐making process have emerged and are widely regarded as viable options for future progress in the developing world. These initiatives, which are driven by the growing strength of South Atlantic relations, are looked at in the broader context, from a practical perspective where tangible results are required over and above the ideals of solidarity to ensure sustainable socioeconomic development.
TL;DR: The cumulative result of international law-related acts, omissions and declarations of the Bush administration since its inception can be construed as a fundamental challenge to the sovereign state system as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In forbidding the use of force except in self‐defence against armed attack or when authorised by the Security Council, the UN Charter appears to be the culminating development of a system of international order based on the doctrine of state sovereignty. The cumulative result of international‐law‐related acts, omissions and declarations of the Bush administration since its inception can be construed as a fundamental challenge to the sovereign state system. The administration's stated security strategy is one possible response to undoubtedly grave challenges to national and human security. In fact, only an institutionalised partnership between the US and regional powers such as China, India, Brazil and Germany can hope to address those challenges successfully, in part because only it would have the requisite legitimacy. That partnership or concert could be organised within the UN framework, albeit intensifying its hierarchical elements.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that without adequate resources and consistent policies, however, Russia must engage in complicated manoeuvring in order to advance its interests, and that the result is not overt geopolitical competition with the West, but rather a series of at least three separate intrigues, or "petty games".
Abstract: Moscow's growing influence in Central Asia stems from the evolution of the region's five states in close correspondence with Vladimir Putin's semi‐authoritarian model. Absent adequate resources and consistent policies, however, Russia must engage in complicated manoeuvring in order to advance its interests. The result is not overt geopolitical competition with the West—often defined by the tired notion of the ‘Great Game’—but rather a series of at least three separate intrigues, or ‘petty games’.
Abstract: In this article I argue that there is a link between constructivism and globalisation, and it is a strong one. Constructivism evolved as part of a more general trend in international relations scholarship, a trend that has seen a shift from the study of the relationship between assumed fixed, given units, nation‐states, to the study of encounter between political entities. The study of the encounter, however, affects a subtle but significant change in the assumed spatial context in which international relationships are taking place. The underpinning image of the geographical space, the envelope in which international relationships take place, has shifted from an image of a divided space made of separate and isolated nation‐states to an image of a global space, an arena that give rise to problems of encounters between social units. Encounter theories, of which constructivism in all its variations is a good example, are predicated, in other words, on an assumed global world (however ambiguous and inchoate this notion of global might be), and in that sense they advance, unwittingly, a theory of globalisation.
TL;DR: The former Communist Party bosses retain the nomenklatura system of centralised and hierarchical rule in Central Asia as discussed by the authors and the regimes also resemble the clan-based autocracies of post-colonial Africa, but with the mechanisms of the modern police state.
Abstract: American policy toward Central Asia is based on a serious misperception of the region's problems and potential for non‐violent political change. The reality is that the five Central Asian states are not post‐Soviet but neo‐Soviet. The former Communist Party bosses retain the nomenklatura system of centralised and hierarchical rule. The regimes also resemble the clan‐based autocracies of post‐colonial Africa, but with the mechanisms of the modern police state. These countries face all the challenges common to the Third World, but are less amenable to positive external influences or to the development of pluralist politics and civil society. While the regimes have mixed prospects for retaining power, none is likely to succeed in economic development or in responding to social change.
TL;DR: The authors examine the social production of autism in US foreign policy discourse and argue that it is evident in the active forgetting of US foreign policies and its consequences, both in the US and abroad, that enabled many Americans to respond to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with the question "Why do they hate us?"
Abstract: In this article, we examine the social production of autism in US foreign policy discourse. Autism, we argue, is evident in the active forgetting of US foreign policy and its consequences, both in the US and abroad. It is this forgetting, promoted by the US state, that enabled many Americans to respond to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with the question ‘Why do they hate us?’ The explanation for the social production of an autistic attitude in US foreign policy, we argue, lies in the relations between institutional power and competing narratives and articulations of US foreign policy and domestic politics. The argument is illustrated through analysis of the politics of public memory at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where, on May 4, 1970, 13 students were shot, four fatally, while protesting the US invasion of Cambodia.
TL;DR: The German view on the current stand and future perspectives of the transatlantic relationship has been discussed in this paper, where the authors point to the caesuras that have defined the US-German relationship since the end of the Cold War and highlight the German role in both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars following the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Abstract: The article presents the German view on the current stand and future perspectives of the transatlantic relationship It points to the caesuras that have defined the US–German relationship since the end of the Cold War It also details the German role in both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars following the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and highlights the German discussion on its involvement in those wars The historical strategic triangle of the US, Germany and France might develop into a Euro‐American ellipse to confront current global challenges, but, as of today, many hurdles remain, particularly the lack of a common vision and policy regarding the future political order of Europe The article finally calls on the German government to continue its policy as a ‘civilian power’ and to repair its relations with the US after the Iraq war International cooperation in multilateral institutions remains the main pillar of German foreign policy
TL;DR: This article considered aid negotiation by postcommunist recipients and multilateral and bilateral donors in economic reform, democratisation, civil society development, environmental policy, the social sector and science and education, and the effects of East-West interactions on those of post-communist countries with each other.
Abstract: The essay synthesises ‘stylised prescriptions’ from review of recent research on interactions of postcommunist countries and the West since 1989. The essay considers aid negotiation by postcommunist recipients and multilateral and bilateral donors in economic reform, democratisation, civil society development, environmental policy, the social sector and science and education, and the effects of East–West interactions on those of postcommunist countries with each other. Drawing on concepts from the study of international negotiations, and on research on postcommunist countries by scholars from social science and policy disciplines in the US, EU and Russia, the essay builds on a dialogue that began during the second Aleksanteri Seminar organised in 2002 by the Aleksanteri Institute in Helsinki. This scholarly dialogue proposes greater attention in transitological debates to the interactive process of aid negotiation, to ‘donor congestion’ in the postcommunist space, and to its (intended and unintended) effects.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the character and substance of the war on terror and the global security paradigm in the light of political theology and its pivotal place in the constitution of modern liberal politics.
Abstract: This article considers the character and substance of the war on terror and the global security paradigm in the light of political theology and its pivotal place in the constitution of modern liberal politics. The argument is that global liberal governance is predicated on a sacralised temporality, the historicisation of eschatology, and this claim is developed in the light of the juridical–political logic of states of emergency.
TL;DR: It is widely recognised that states are increasingly becoming multiethnic and multicultural, since they are composed of a rising number of different ethnic and cultural groups as mentioned in this paper. But such groups are not...
Abstract: It is widely recognised that states are increasingly becoming multiethnic and multicultural, since they are composed of a rising number of different ethnic and cultural groups. Such groups are not ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that neither Greece nor Turkey has approached the settlement of their disputes from a perspective that would imply an eagerness to build a collective identity based on the institutional norms of European international society as represented by the European Union.
Abstract: The recent thaw in bilateral Greek–Turkish relations is promising, yet insufficient for future stability and cooperation in and around the Aegean Sea. The main reason lies in the prevalence of instrumental‐strategic thinking on the part of both states. Neither Greece nor Turkey has approached the settlement of their disputes from a perspective that would imply an eagerness to build a collective identity based on the institutional norms of European international society as represented by the European Union. On the contrary, Europeanisation has not been an end in itself but a means for the materialisation of their preconceived national interests. The underlying motivation behind their attempts to reach a solution appears to have arisen from instrumental concerns vis‐a‐vis both the EU and each other. The dynamics of their independent relations with the European Union seem to have compelled them to come to a modus vivendi over these issues, since otherwise their relative status vis‐a‐vis the EU would likely d...
TL;DR: In the aftermath of September 11, US strategy has shifted in the Central Asian region from protecting the sovereignty of the southern post-Soviet states to ensuring their stability in light of the dual impacts of energy development and the rising threat of Islamic terrorism.
Abstract: In the aftermath of September 11, US strategy has shifted in the Central Asian region from protecting the sovereignty of the southern post‐Soviet states to ensuring their stability in light of the dual impacts of energy development and the rising threat of Islamic terrorism. Although US–Russian cooperation has made strides, particularly concerning Russian acquiescence toward US and NATO military engagement in the region, geostrategic rivalry and conflicting economic goals have hindered a joint approach to initiatives regarding the region's energy development. While both agree on the goal of maximising Russian and Caspian gas and petroleum exports, US policy is increasingly prioritising Central Asian energy prosperity as a key factor in the region's ability to contain terrorism. Development of the region's energy resources has therefore become a critical US security concern. Yet, by failing to engage with Russia in a meaningful cooperation that could encourage Moscow to diversify its own energy export pros...
TL;DR: If Latin America is to have a future that transcends more than three or four successful national stories and a few competitive clusters and niches around the region, there must be fundamental cultural change from within combined with a friendlier and less predatory international atmosphere as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: If Latin America is to have a future that transcends more than three or four successful national stories and a few competitive clusters and niches around the region, there must be fundamental cultural change from within combined with a friendlier and less predatory international atmosphere.