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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Political Science

Singapore Management University

International relations

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Asean: Integration, Internal Dynamics And External Relations, Clara Portela Sep 2013

Asean: Integration, Internal Dynamics And External Relations, Clara Portela

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Throughout its evolution, ASEAN has consistently maintained its attachment to the full respect of national sovereignty and the principle of non-interference in internal affairs, which translates into consensual decision-making, political rather than legally-binding agreements and the lack of sanctions for non-compliance. A major breakthrough in terms of institutionalisation came about with the signing of the ASEAN Charter of 2007, which has enhanced ASEAN’s standing as a rule-based organisation and approximated it somewhat to structures typical of the EU. Unfortunately, the persistence of consensual decision-making and non-confrontational habits has slowed down some of ASEAN’s integration projects and hindered the development of …


Rising Asian Powers And Changing Global Governance, Ann Florini Mar 2011

Rising Asian Powers And Changing Global Governance, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

International Relations (IR) scholarship is directly in the path of two simultaneous tidal waves. The first is the rise of China and India in the traditional IR terms of military and economic power. The second is the expanding nature of what IR scholarship needs to address, as global integration transforms the nature of the issues to be addressed and numerous trends expand the number and types of relevant actors. Neither theory nor practice is yet coping well with the profound implications of these fundamental changes. Investigating what kind of a world order might emerge from these two simultaneous tsunamis will …


Fall From Grace: South Africa And The Changing International Order, Eduard Jordaan Dec 2010

Fall From Grace: South Africa And The Changing International Order, Eduard Jordaan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Post-apartheid South Africa has gone from being a good international citizen to defending a number of authoritarian regimes and obstructing various international initiatives aimed at strengthening the global human rights regime. This article presents this slide as a move from a ‘liberal’ foreign policy to a ‘liberationist’ one and emphasises the external sources of this shift, particularly the influence of the rest of Africa and a rising China.


The Arms Trade In Russian-Chinese Relations: Identity, Domestic Politics, And Geopolitical Positioning, Robert H. Donaldson, John A. Donaldson Dec 2003

The Arms Trade In Russian-Chinese Relations: Identity, Domestic Politics, And Geopolitical Positioning, Robert H. Donaldson, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Why would a declining power help arm a neighboring and once-hostile rising power? Current international relations literature cannot explain relationships in which one powerful country contributes directly to its long-term relative decline in order to make smaller, short-term gains. This study focuses on one example, the Treaty on Good Neighborly Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, signed in Moscow on July 16, 2001. Presenting evidence that this alliance embodies a relationship that is based primarily on sales of arms from Russia to China, the authors argue that this association cannot be explained by …


The Evolution Of International Norms, Ann Florini Sep 1996

The Evolution Of International Norms, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article puts forward a theoretical explanation for why norms of international behavior change over time. It argues that the mainstream neorealist and neoliberal arguments on the static nature of state interests are implausible, as the recent empirical work of the growing constructivist school has convincingly shown. But the constructivists have not yet provided a theoretical basis for understanding why one norm rather than another becomes institutionalized, nor has learning theory yet provided an adequate explanation. An evolutionary approach that draws its hypotheses from an analogy to population genetics offers a promising alternative. This article briefly outlines the constructivist critique …