International Relations Commons^™

The Balance Of Power, Public Goods, And The Lost Art Of Grand Strategy: American Policy Toward The Persian Gulf And Rising Asia In The 21st Century, Flynt Leverett, Hillary Mann Leverett

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

An important driver of relative decline in America’s international standing is the failure of its political elites to define reality-based foreign policy goals and to relate the diplomatic, economic, and military means at Washington’s disposal to realizing them—the essence of “grand strategy.” For several decades, American policy has been pulled in opposite directions by two competing models of grand strategy. In one—the leadership model—America maximizes its international standing by adroitly managing regional and global power balances and promoting the processes of economic liberalization known collectively as globalization. In the second model—the transformation model—America seeks not to manage power balances but …

Corruption And Human Rights: Exploring The Relationships, Berihun Adugna Gebeye

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Corruption is a global phenomenon which every society faces though its degree of severity varies from country to country. Despite its long history, there is no single universally agreed upon definition of corruption. Moreover, its causes, forms and impacts are diverse and multi-faceted. Understanding corruption by itself is a complex undertaking. However, it is agreed that corruption is inimical to public administration, undermines democracy, degrades the moral fabrics of the society and violates human rights. The pain of corruption touches all the human family but it disproportionately affects the vulnerable sections of the society. It reinforces discrimination, exclusion and arbitrariness. …

Table Of Contents, Rory J. Conces

International Dialogue

Table of Contents for Volume 2

Notes From The Editor, Rory J. Conces

International Dialogue

Notes from International Dialogue's Editor-in-Chief, Rory J. Conces

Images Of Muslims In Evangelical Christian And Secular Right-Wing Discourse, Kristian Steiner

International Dialogue

This is a comparative content analysis of the construction of Islam and Muslims in two Swedish publications—the newspaper Världen idag and the journal SD-Kuriren, the official organ of the Sweden Democrats—representing the Swedish Evangelical Christian right and the Swedish political right, respectively. The aim is to see both agreement and differences in their Muslim-related discourse from 2006–2007. Both news products share basic assumptions about Muslims and Islam. The main theme in the editorials and articles is the Muslim threat, in some cases combined with a Western retreat. Världen idag also focuses on Islam’s alleged incompatibility with democracy. In both media …

Pilgrimage In Turbulent Contexts: One Hundred Years Of Pilgrimage To The Holy Land, Curtis Hutt

International Dialogue

In this paper, I review select developments in the last one hundred years of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic pilgrimage to sites found today in Israel and the Occupied Territories. I argue that only by viewing the pilgrimages under analysis as dissipative systems, is one able to explain historical change in this most turbulent of contexts. When combined with an understanding of pilgrimage as social action, this approach enables historians of religions to account for not only the restructuring of pilgrimages over time but also to understand dynamics surrounding ritual birth and death. Furthermore, the political strategies of traditionalists and revivalists …

How To Arrive At A Judeo-Christian-Islamic Culture And Civilization, Enes Karić

International Dialogue

I am delighted to be invited to speak at this gathering, even though I am unfamiliar with many of the subjects to be discussed. The organizer of these meetings in Sarajevo suggested “Christianity and Islam: An Islamic Perspective” as the title for my talk. I have chosen another. Regardless of the title, I must admit that this is a difficult subject for me to address, as if I were standing at the foot of a mountain range of which the peaks are now lost in clouds silhouetted against a blue sky. Besides, what is Islam these days if not what …

Hval I Djeva [The Praised And The Virgin]: Tom I: Vječnost U Vjesničkim Otkrivanjima [Vol. I: Eternity In Prophetic Revelation], 333pp.; Tom Ii: O Trajanju I Prekidu [Vol. Ii: On Continuity And Discontinuity], 251pp.; Tom Iii: Sabiranje Rasutog [Vol. Iii: Reuniting The Scattered], 420pp., Desmond Maurer

International Dialogue

A book by Rusmir Mahmutćehajić is always an event. His books are normally relatively short and always make a clear argument, albeit an argument many are unwilling to hear. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, he goes straight to the heart of the matter—and his theme is always the same—how to live a good life and how to be a good person, under the troubling conditions of modernity. His answer is also consistent—it is by the embrace of plurality and difference in the service of this one goal, the ethically good life, an embrace that is …

Malo Znanja. O Drugome U Muslimanskim Vidicima, Mile Babić

International Dialogue

No abstract provided.

On The Other: A Muslim View, Mile Babić

International Dialogue

The original Bosnian title of Rusmir Mahmutćehajić's book, Malo znanja, means “Little Knowledge” and comes from the Qur’an (17:85). It encapsulates the author’s fundamental insight and the fundamental thesis of the book, a thesis that places him securely in a current of thinkers conscious of their own ignorance that runs from Socrates to Nicholas of Cusa, from Socrates’ “I know that I know nothing” to Cusanus’ docta ingnorantia (learned ignorance). It is not accidental that I mention no thinkers of the modern period, caught up as they were by modernity's will for power, carried off into the realms of absolute …

International Relations In The Post-Industrial Era [Rephrasing The Third World], Owen Mordaunt

International Dialogue

Arthur Natella begins his book by stating that the concept of the “Third World” is out of date. The dominant attitude is that Third World people would to see things as they are seen by First World nations and do things their way if they are better educated. But the standard for measuring social values, according to Natella, is outdated, for various reasons. Among these is the fact that the United States is a debtor nation. Secondly, it is no longer a “manufacturing-based society” but one that is “service-based” or an “information-gathering nation, with its advanced technology often more geared …

Globalectics: Theory And The Politics Of Knowing, Annika Hughes

International Dialogue

“Life after theory is a text.” —Derrida, “Following Theory: Jacques Derrida,” 27

A bit like Schrödinger’s cat, it is unclear to me whether or not theory has died and if it has, whether or not it should be resurrected. If it has indeed died and needs to be brought back to life, future theorists should certainly read Globalectics: Theory and the Politics of Knowing by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o before trying to revive it. For if Derrida’s theory is correct and life after theory is a text, one of the texts on that reading list should include Thiong’o’s account of a …

Readings In Globalization: Key Concepts And Major Debates, Paul C. Sondrol

International Dialogue

George Ritzer and Zeynep Atalay’s unique anthology introduces students to major concepts in globalization via chapters from a variety of disciplinary approaches to familiarize the reader with the broad sweep of globalization in the 21st century. Readings in Globalization integrates easily digested synthesis into well-crafted essays. More experienced tastes will appreciate the mixing of new primary research in with older data found in some of the chapters. These findings by distinguished authors offer a rich assessment of the globalization in international relations.

Foreign Front: Third World Politics In Sixties West Germany, Bruce Garver

International Dialogue

In Foreign Front, Quinn Slobodian presents a thorough, critical, and well documented account of how West German and foreign students cooperatively organized and led large public demonstrations from February 1961 onward against repressive policies of Third World dictatorships and imperialistic great powers. Simultaneously this joint activity accelerated the political radicalization of German students while enlarging their understanding of international affairs. Foreign students initiated many of these demonstrations in order to protest injustice and suppression of dissent by their home governments. In doing so, they were helped by their German fellow students to utilize the free press and civil liberties in …

October Roundtable: Un Secretary-General Report On “Responsibility To Protect: Timely And Decisive Response”, Introduction, Claudia Fuentes Julio

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Responsibility to Protect: Timely and Decisive Response” Ban Ki-moon, July 2012.

Responsibility To Regulate: How The ‘Responsibility To Protect’ Expands State Power, Philip Cunliffe

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Like most UN reports, particularly those concerned with the doctrine of the "responsibility to protect" (RtoP), the latest report of the UN Secretary-General is filled with plenty of pious guff mixed in with the platitudes that engulf UN diplomacy. But buried within the blathering are also some disturbing prescriptions for how the UN envisages rolling out RtoP around the world. I want to draw attention to three specific points in order to consider what these tell us about RtoP as a political model. First, I will look at the treatment of media and speech in the report; second, how the …

Politics As Usual At The Un: Implementing Pillar Three Of Rtop, Eric A. Heinze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's most recent report on RtoP seeks to evaluate the various ways that Pillar Three of RtoP can be implemented. As anyone familiar with RtoP is aware, the commitment is understood to have three separate but interrelated pillars. The first pillar says that states have the primary responsibility to protect their own citizens from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. Pillar Two says that the international community should assist states in fulfilling this responsibility, while Pillar Three says that if the state fails in its primary responsibility to protect its citizens from these crimes, …

“The Rtop And Responsibility While Protecting: The Secretary-General’S Timely And Decisive Report On Timely And Decisive Responses”, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The United Nations Secretary-General's report on pillar three of the responsibility to protect (RtoP), "Responsibility to Protect: Timely and Decisive Response," is the most interesting, timely, and decisive of his four reports thus far on the RtoP. To start with, the subject matter of pillar three – the international community's potentially coercive responses to humanitarian crises, including humanitarian intervention – is the most controversial part of the RtoP doctrine and the area that has attracted the most criticism from skeptics. Previous reports, such as Implementing the Responsibility to Protect(2009), gave pillar three, and humanitarian intervention in particular, fairly short shrift, …

Strategies & Decisiveness: What Is Implied By A “Timely And Decisive Response” For Rtop Situations, H. M. Roff

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Reflecting upon United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's recent report concerning the third pillar of the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP), on the "timely and decisive response," two items become clear to me. First is that the third pillar is inherently coercive in nature, even though the report and many RtoP pundits stress that it entails more than merely sanctioning the use of force. Second is that this is unsurprising if we recall that the purpose of RtoP is to ensure the protection of particular human rights (rights against: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing) and that having a …

When Is It Best To Remember? Maintaining The Sacred Center: The Bosnian City Of Stolac, Ed Marques

International Dialogue

The town, Stolac, has a long history of vibrancy as a strategic commercial town and a Center of culture in the southern part of Bosnia—spawning writers, poets, scholars and artists, an amount disproportionate to its size. Maintaining the Sacred Center: The Bosnian City of Stolac, is the latest book of Rusmir Mahmutćehajić, who carries on the heritage of his own hometown: Stolac. His book begins with a quote from the Quran and a line of poetry by Stolac-native Mak Dizdar—Bosnia’s leading poet in the 20th century. Both the Quran and the poetry of Mak Dizdar are returned to throughout the …

Living Beyond The End Times: Living In The End Times, Edward Sandowski, Betty J. Harris

International Dialogue

In Living in the End Times, Slavoj Žižek takes up themes many of which he has explored elsewhere in his numerous works embodied in varied media. This Slovenian origin cosmopolitan philosopher and cultural critic uses many types of outlets and modes of expression (books and scholarly journal articles, but also journalistic publications, TV interviews, appearances in documentary films, etc.) to explore variegated subject matter. He responds to politics in an age of increasing globalization by taking up a global range of issues, and responds to the multimedia environment which conveys ideology as false consciousness with his own multimedia works, possibly …

Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues On The Left, Leonard Harris

International Dialogue

Three concepts occupy each author: universal features of human nature, hegemonic social conditions, and social identities considered as universal kinds. The authors present their individual views and note where they are in agreement and address differences. The result is an intellectual conversation among the authors that takes the reader through fascinating ideas and distinctions; ideas and distinctions that have continued to occupy the authors since the publication of their conversation.

The Invisible Arab: The Promise And Peril Of The Arab Revolution, Daniel G. Acheson-Brown

International Dialogue

Marwan Bishara’s The Invisible Arab: The Promise and Peril of the Arab Revolution (2012) is a must-read for students and scholars of the Middle East and the Arab world. The author is a senior political analyst for Al Jazeera English channel, and is also editor of Al Jazeera’s show “Empire.” Bishara spent many hours doing first-hand reporting from the streets of the Arab uprisings of 2011. He presents an intense book, organized in an essay format, with relevant topical sections.

Seeking Stability In An Oily World: The Gulf War And American Imperialism, Kate Keleher

The Macalester Review

Oil has profoundly shaped the political, economic, and social structures of the twentieth century and it continues to shape the global order today. As both a source and a medium of power, oil binds together seemingly disparate elements into a highly sensitive web. This paper examines the first Gulf War as a turning point in the narrative of oil and power. The United States’ engagement in the Gulf War reasserted American dominance over the Middle East and ushered in a new era of oil security. In the war’s aftermath, the United States assumed roles that indicate an agenda of new …

Do "Suicide Bombers" Really Commit Suicide?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

By Israel Oron (Ostre), Ph.D., Psychologist, National Program for Suicide Prevention, Ministry of Health, Israel, and The Department for Psychology, Health and Ethics/ University of Haifa, Israel.

[Dr. Oron (Ostre) was formerly Psychologist, Behavior Section/The Department of Criminal Investigations & Intelligence, Israel Police HQ].

This article applies a psychological approach to explore and to explain the behavior of Palestinian terrorists who blow themselves up in the light of their own words. It is shown that terrorists have no suicidal intent; hence, their behavior is not an act of suicide. Psychological analysis point to a behavioral reaction to stress situations that …

Changing Faces, Changing Voices: Hispanics And Georgia’S Spanish-Language Media Environment, D. Xavier Medina Vidal

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Nathan Deal’s successful 2010 campaign to become Georgia’s 82nd governor included a promise to enact an Arizona-style immigration enforcement law in Georgia, a promise he kept when he signed HB 87 into law in May 2011. To be sure, the high saliency of immigration law enforcement and policy reform in Georgia has much to do with rapid growth of the state’s Hispanic population in recent years.

June Roundtable: International Criminal Court, Peace, And Justice, Introduction, Claudia Fuentes Julio

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Peace Must Not Be the Victim of International Justice” New York Times. March 16, 2012.

From Retribution To Reconciliation, From Spoiler To Peace Envoy, Christine Bell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Is there a tension between justice and peace? That debate I leave to my co-panelists, because the most interesting and important thing about this month's centerpiece, without a doubt, is not its well-judged (if slightly ill-informed) take on the ICC, but the name of the author at its end.

“Slippery Slopes: On Why We Need The Icc”, Matthew S. Weinert

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Peace, reconciliation, and restorative justice: these are the albatrosses that international criminal law (ICL) must (unfairly) bear. Ian Paisley, MP from Northern Ireland and former United Nations and European Union peace envoy, echoes in a New York Times op-ed contribution the aspirations heaped onto the International Criminal Court (ICC). In March, the ICC convicted Thomas Lubanga for war crimes and the conscription of children as soldiers; justice has been done, Paisley claims. Yet the ICC was "intended as an instrument of peace," and "there is no peace" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). On this ground he concludes, …

“Seeking Justice, Strategically”, Joel R. Pruce

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In his opinion piece, Ian Paisley takes to task the International Criminal Court (ICC) for, as he sees it, intervening in domestic processes of reconciliation at the expense of long-term prospects for peace. The "peace versus justice" paradox is not a new one and Paisley expresses a common criticism of justice mechanisms as disruptive of post-conflict, societal healing and the overwhelming hurdle of governing in the aftermath of violence. Missing from his analysis is a broader understanding of trends in international justice and accountability, of which the ICC is only one component. While the ICC is certainly not immune from …