Showing papers in "International Studies Review in 2018"

Climate Change and Violent Conflict in East Africa: Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Research to Probe the Mechanisms

Abstract: How does climate change affect the risk and dynamics of violent conflict? Existing research shows that climate change can increase the risk of violent conflict and significantly alter the dynamics ...

Legal pluralism in theory and practice

Abstract: Legal pluralism has vast policy and governance implications. In developing countries, for instance, non-state justice systems often handle most disputes and retain substantial autonomy and authority. Legal pluralism's importance, however, is rarely recognized and dramatically under theorized. This article advances scholarly understanding of legal pluralism both theoretically and empirically. It proposes a new typological framework for conceptualizing legal pluralism through four distinct archetypes – combative, competitive, cooperative, and complementary – to help clarify the range of relationships between state and non-state actors. It posits five main strategies used by domestic and international actors in attempts to influence the relationship between state and non-state justice systems: bridging, harmonization, incorporation, subsidization, and repression. As post-conflict situations are fluid and can feature a wide range of relationships between state and non-state actors, they are particularly instructive for showing how legal pluralism archetypes can be shifted over time. Case studies from Timor-Leste and Afghanistan highlight that selecting an appropriate policy is vital for achieving sustainable positive outcomes. Strategies that rely on large scale spending or even the use of substantial military force in isolation are unlikely to be successful. The most promising approaches are culturally intelligible and constructively engage non-state justice networks of authority and legitimacy to collectively advance the judicial state-building process. While the case studies focus on post-conflict states, the theory presented can help understand and improve efforts to promote the rule of law as well as good governance and development more broadly in all legally pluralist settings.

The Sociology of Knowledge as Postphilosophical Epistemology: Out of IR's 'Socially Constructed' Idealism

Abstract: This article first aims to draw attention to, and diagnose, the failure of IR’s sociological turn to extend the domain of sociological reason into the philosophical turf of epistemology and thereby fulfill the full promises of the postpositivist turn. Its second purpose is to revive and deploy the radical version of the sociology of knowledge that can achieve an autonomous reconstruction of epistemology suited to a reflexive, postKantian consciousness. The diagnosis begins by tracing the erasure of the radical sociological position in the connected evolutions of sociology and international relations (IR). It shows that the derailing of the “sociological revolution” was paradoxically mediated by the consolidation of social constructionism and science studies, reproduced in IR through their counterparts in the “sociological turn”: constructivism and the sociology of IR. In these otherwise reflexive developments, the progression of sociological reason was halted by a self-imposed limitation on the extension of sociological analysis to all domains of thought and the endorsement of an idealist and institutionalist ontology of the social. A reformulation of the forgotten, radical sociological position clarifies the implications for IR of a transition to a postphilosophical theory of knowledge and delineates an empirical research agenda for such a reconstruction of epistemology driven by a sociology of knowledge of a revolutionary persuasion. Exploring the centrality of social practice in the social determination of knowledge, the article argues that, and shows how, a properly reflexive reconstruction of epistemology is best achieved by deploying the sociology of knowledge in two complementary materialist directions: (1) a sociology of everyday social practices that illuminates our epistemic immersion in the carpentered environments of the

Forum: In the Beginning there was No Word (for It): Terms, Concepts, and Early Sovereignty

Abstract: It is difficult to overstate the importance of the concept sovereignty for international relations (IR). And yet, understanding the historical emergence of sovereignty in international relations has long been curtailed by the all-encompassing myth of the Peace of Westphalia. While criticism of this myth has opened space for further historical inquiry in recent years, it has also raised important questions of historical interpretation and methodology relevant to IR, as applying our current conceptual framework to distant historical cases is far from unproblematic. Central among these questions is the when, what, and how of sovereignty: from when can we use "sovereignty" to analyze international politics and for which polities? Can sovereignty be used when the actors themselves did not have recourse to the terminology? And what about polities that do not have recourse to the term at all? What are the theoretical implications of applying the concept of sovereignty to early polities? From different theoretical and methodological perspectives, the contributions in this forum shed light on these questions of sovereignty and how to treat the concept analytically when applied to a period or place when/where the term did not exist as such. In doing so, this forum makes the case for a sensitivity to the historical dimension of our arguments about sovereignty-and, by extension, international relations past and present-as this holds the key to the types of claims we can make about the polities of the world and their relations.

The Potential for Fundamental Change in World Politics

Abstract: Despite the Realist’s assertion that nothing fundamental changes in world politics, change is the norm in all life and all fields. World politics is no exception. Yes, there are continuities in world politics; they are the persistent, albeit themselves changing, mechanisms that foster fundamental change, the both large and small alterations in the nature of agents, structures, processes, and the content of arguments. Sometimes things change slowly, they evolve. And sometimes radical changes occur in a relatively short period of time; we might think of the latter as phase changes or radical ruptures at tipping points. But often those ruptures have been preceded by decades of slower work by advocates of change toiling in civil societies or specialized communities. Thus, a great deal of effort goes into not only making change but also resisting change.

International Political Economy and Renewable Energy: Hydroelectric Power and the Resource Curse

Abstract: One of the most studied issues regarding the role of natural resources in development is the so-called “resource curse,” the paradoxical (and contested) situation in which a state with abundant resources has low rates of economic growth per capita, high levels of income inequality, low levels of democracy, high gender inequality, and high levels of domestic and international conflicts that surround resources. Although the term implies all resources, most research by political scientists as well as economists and other social scientists examines the role of oil and hard minerals, leaving out many resources, including renewable energy resources. We argue that many of the causal mechanisms behind the curse, when it does manifest, hold for water-abundant states who have sufficient resources to create large hydroelectric projects. Drawing on illustrative examples of hydroelectric projects around the world, we demonstrate sufficient, albeit preliminary, evidence that most aspects of the resource curse literature apply to hydroelectric projects, at least in some states, and thus suggest the curse literature should be expanded to include water-abundance. In addition, we add a new factor, variable fuel supply, which could be an important factor for other resources as well. We conclude with suggestions for developing a research agenda and note a number of policy implications.

Beyond Secular Democracy: Religion, Politics, and Modernity

Abstract: This review essay synthesizes fifteen years of scholarship challenging the presumed relationship between secularism and democracy—that state secularism provides the normative or institutional baseline for modern governance. The idea that states and societies become more secular as they develop economically is no longer supported by most social scientists, including its original proponents. Sociologists and anthropologists have increasingly studied secularism as a project, rather than a teleological process embedded in modernization, and the new scholarship on “comparative secularisms” demonstrates that the manifestations of secularism are complicated and varied. Despite these advances, the new scholarship suffers from insufficient attention to the measurement challenges posed by the diverse content of religion. And while scholars continue to debate the content and characteristics of our secular age, all of the recent scholarship highlights important differences between traditional and modern religion. In view of the current state of the literature, this essay lays out an agenda for research on religion and modernity, or on modernization without secularization.

The Theory and Practice of War Termination: Assessing Patterns in China's Historical Behavior

Abstract: What factors determine when and how China terminates armed conflict? This article derives from the war termination literature three factors that impact the ability of disputants to resolve conflicts: approach to wartime diplomacy, views on escalation, and receptiveness to mediation. I then evaluate according to these three factors China's attempts to bring conflict to a close in the Korean War, Sino-Indian War, and Sino-Vietnamese War. I argue that China's tends to entertain talks only with weaker opponents, rely on heavy escalation to bring about peace, and to leverage outside parties less as empowered mediators and more as an additional source of pressure on its enemies. These three tendencies are likely to hinder conflict resolution in future conflagrations. A subsequent analysis of authoritative Chinese strategic writings reveal that these patterns have been imbued in contemporary thought, and therefore are likely to persist in future flashpoints. My findings add a new dimension to the war termination literature and have policy implications regional peace and stability.