International Relations Commons^™

Carving Out A Niche For Humanitarianism Within The Responsibility To Protect, Oana D. Alexan

The Macalester Review

Humanitarian action aims to alleviate the humanitarian symptoms of crises, yet humanitarian ideals have been stretched in ways relief workers never expected. For one, the right of humanitarian intervention rests on the premise that war, whose nature provides the rationale for killing, may be labeled a humanitarian act if waged for humanitarian ends. Humanitarian relief organizations oppose the misleading and manipulative labeling of conflicts that contradict the fundamental rationale of humanitarian action—the alleviation of suffering. At the turn of the twenty-first century, the international community engaged in a dialogue that gave birth to the concept of the “Responsibility to Protect.” …

What Lies Ahead For The Oecd?, Richard Woodward

Books/Book Chapters

The “rise of the rest” has prompted questions about the capacity and willingness of the United States to lead the liberal international order established under its post-war hegemony. Some prophesize that stronger connections amongst emerging powers are the basis for a parallel international order parading different rules, norms and institutions. In contrast, Ikenberry argues that the visionary use of US power has woven capitalist and democratic societies together into a uniquely entrenched “Western” order that is “hard to overturn and easy to join.” Prevailing arrangements will condition the environment within which rising powers make their decisions; nevertheless, by joining the …

Human Rights And U.S. Foreign Policy In The Multilateral Development Banks, Daniel Braaten

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Promoting human rights is an important foreign policy goal for the United States. There are many foreign policy areas through which the U.S. promotes human rights including voting against countries which violate human rights in the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). Promoting human rights, however, is not the only foreign policy goal of the U.S. in the MDBs. The U.S. also seeks strategic goals such as supporting allies and promoting domestic economic prosperity as well in the MDBs. Realist international relations theory posits that strategic interests will trump promoting human rights in the MDBs. For the U.S. however liberal international relations …

Catholic, Jewish Communities Stand Together, Lawrence Frizzell

Department of Religion Publications

Public statement regarding the attacks on churches in Nigeria, Shi'ite mosques and shrines in Iraq, the anti-Jewish attacks and defacing of synagogues in Highland Park, Maywood, Paramus and Hackensack, NJ and the homicidal attack on Rabbi Nasson Schuman and his family of Rutherford, NJ.

The Taiwan Elections In Historical Perspective, Sebastian Veg

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

During a recent trip to Taipei to observe the January presidential and legislative elections, like many people with little first-hand knowledge of Taiwan, I was struck by the unique traits of Taiwan’s democracy. The elections also seemed relevant to many debates in China, not only because they were closely followed and tweeted by critical voices on the mainland, but also because of their significance against the broader historical and geographical context of the history of modern China, a connection which holds true even if one subscribes to the view that Taiwan had no previous connection with this history before 1945 …

Book Review: Developmental Fairy Tales, Nicole Kwoh

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

At the 1996 APEC Economic Leaders Meeting, Jiang Zemin concluded his speech on economic development with a quote from Lu Xun: “For actually the earth had no road to begin with, but when many men pass one way, a road is made” (1921). This quote highlights the important role played by the first generation of modern Chinese literature in shaping the current rhetoric of building a road to progress. In Developmental Fairy Tales: Evolutionary Thinking and Modern Chinese Culture, Andrew F. Jones explains the construction of this ubiquitous concept of cultural and historical progress. With a focus on Lu …

Salvaging Memories From The Ruins Of The Three Gorges, Daisy Yan Du

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world. The construction of the dam began in 1994 and was completed in 2009. Proponents bill it as a symbol of China’s rise on the global stage, while critics worldwide see it as a huge humanitarian crisis that has the potential to worsen in years to come. The biggest controversy of this project concerns the forced migration of around two million people, who, due to the rising water, have been displaced from their hometowns along the upper reaches of the Yangzi River in Chongqing and Sichuan and Hubei …

Digital Chinese Whispers: Death Threats And Rumors Inside China’S Online Marketplace Of Ideas, James Leibold

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The Chinese internet is a wonderfully raucous and interesting place. It has greatly expanded the scope of public discourse and activity, despite the party-state’s extensive censorship regime. Not surprisingly, the world’s largest cyber-community exhibits tremendous depth and diversity: progressive cyber-activists and professional agitators; navel-gazing starlets and steam-venting gamers; mundane infotainment and the banal waxing of quotidian life; and, sadly, dark corners of fear, hatred and paranoia. It’s all there; it simply depends on where one looks. Like other technologies before it, the internet is normatively neutral, and thus can be put to good, bad and anodyne uses: individuals—not tools—shape the …

Behind Bo Xilai’S Halo, Xujun Eberlein

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In the wake of Bo Xilai’s sudden downfall, shortly after what could be called an online carnival among China watchers—probably more in celebration of a rare, real-life political drama than anything else—international media is changing its tune and beginning to paint a more sympathetic image of Bo than previously reported, by focusing on Chinese people’s love of him. Reuters, for example, has a report titled “In China’s Chongqing, dismay over downfall of Bo Xilai” that quotes a working “stick man” (棒棒军, a porter-for-hire) who praises Bo as “a good man” that “made life a lot better here.” The Telegraph‘s Malcolm …

Book Review: Chiang Kai-Shek’S Interpersonal Relationships: Perspectives Across The Strait, Sherman Lai

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

This book brings together papers and panel discussions of a conference on Chiang Kai-shek held in Taipei in January 2011 with the joint participation of historians from both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan. It reflects new scholarship on Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese-speaking world and showcases the approaches that historians in the PRC adopt in handling challenges that their Western colleagues do not encounter. While Chinese historians have enormous audiences, they do not share the academic freedom enjoyed by their colleagues in the West and Taiwan. Because their careers and livelihood are dependent on the Chinese Communist …

Iran’S Soft Power Borne Of Necessity And Complexity Of Its Multi-Dimensional Audience, Hiva Feizi, Babak Talebi

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

Even measured against the Middle East's historically tumultuous dynamics, the dramatic political transformations witnessed in 2011 will shape global affairs for decades to come. The collapse of the ruling power structures in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, as a result of people's unprecedented street protests and the ongoing protests in Syria and Bahrain, were all unexpected events with global ramifications. In the midst of this turmoil with new national and international players and evolving political structures, Iran has attempted to use its soft power to exploit new opportunities and advance its narrow interests. The unpredictable outcome of these changes, coupled …

Factors Affecting The U.S. International Image: The Potential For Public Diplomacy In The Short- And Long-Term, Frank L. Rusciano

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

This paper studies short-term and long-term factors that affected the image of the United States between the years 2000 and 2010. It begins by showing how the election of George W. Bush, the Iraq War, and the election of Barack Obama affected the United States' image in several nations. It then uses data from the Pew 2004 Global Survey to examine longer-term factors that influenced the U.S.'s international image. Using individual- and national- level regression analyses, it discovers several factors that predict how positive ratings of the United States were on an international level. The paper then discusses how the …

Legitimating Jewish Identity Amidst Chaos: Zionist Public Diplomacy, Rudy Stoler

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

How do global contests impact the conduct of public diplomacy? This paper, taking Zionist public diplomacy as a case-study in response to the Israel-as-occupier image, proposes that when critical events shock the Jewish world by striking negatively at the legitimacy of Jewish identity-the right to believe and act as a Jew in a non-Jewish world-they stimulate a public diplomacy backlash. This happened after the Six-Day War of 1967, during the Second Intifada of the early 2000s, and most recently in the lead-up to the unilateral Palestinian statehood bid in 2011. These events provided the motivation for the mutually supportive activities …

Illusions Of Unity: The Paradox Between Mega-Sporting Events And Nation Building, Terrance Carroll

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

This article presents an investigation into the use of "nation building" rhetoric as a motive to host mega- sporting events. Previous literature regarding mega-events presents the potential for such events to be used for uniting a nation. Moreover, nation building has been conceived in public relations research as consisting of two main components; national identity and national unity, both of which can be tied to image crafting. However, examining the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the planning for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil demonstrates a paradox that exists between the concept of nation building and the actual …

Republican China, Kate Merkel-Hess

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Several years ago, I gave a talk on my research to a community group. My first slide included the words “Republican China” and as I waited to begin I heard a woman in the front row lean over and whisper to her neighbor, “I had no idea they have Republicans in China too!”

At this time of bruising primary battles, though, the China that the Republicans have seems more relevant—as China, imagined and real, has played a recurring role in the raucous Republican primaries. Here’s a rundown of some of the ways China has popped up on the campaign trail …

Hong Kong Identity And Democratic Values, Sebastian Veg

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

When Peking University Professor Kong Qingdong’s diatribe on Hongkongers and their lingering colonial infatuation swept over the Internet in late January, the widespread and growing uneasiness about mainland Chinese in Hong Kong suddenly had a face. Triggered by a viral video of a Hongkonger telling off a mainland family in the subway because their daughter was eating dry instant noodles, Kong’s interview sparked a wave of predictable but nonetheless justified outrage in Hong Kong. It took place against the background of the annual mainland shopping spree over Chinese New Year (in a previous episode, Dolce and Gabbana staff in Tsim …

The New Public Diplomacy: The Winning Move In Revolutions, Shannon Zimmerman

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

The countries of the Arab Spring have taken differing approaches and have experienced conflicting outcomes. Egyptian and Tunisian protestors utilized public diplomacy as a political weapon while other states failed to realize its potential. In particular, social media were used to communicate with local actors, the military, and the international community, allowing protesters to disseminate their messages of non-violence. As a result, the revolutionary movement was not alienating to the citizenry or to the security forces. This paper will explore the use of public diplomacy by nonviolent protesters to 'win' the security forces and prevent their uprising from descending into …

From Stadiums To Shuttle Diplomacy: Qatar’S Emergence As A Regional Diplomatic Power, Kedar Pavgi, Nakul Kadaba

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

During the chaos of the Arab Spring, Western diplomacy was facilitated through the State of Qatar. The small country's rise into the apex of international relations did not occur immediately after the first sparks of the revolution. Rather, Qatar's leadership within the Middle East resulted from years of effort put in by their leaders into devising a foreign policy that emphasized building relationships and cooperation with Western countries and their Arab counterparts. Qatar's leaders specifically focused their efforts on enhancing their reputation within international sporting forums, and the business that resulted from it. Major athletic events like the Asian Games …

Our Wavin’ Flag: U.S. Public Diplomacy Outreach, Sharon Hudson-Dean

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

In March 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama, an avid sports fan, sat down to talk with sports writer Bill Simmons.1 He explained why competition on the field connects radically different people to each other, "People - for all our differencespolitically,regionally,economically-mostfolksunderstandsports.Probablybecauseit'soneofthe few places where it's a true meritocracy. There's not a lot of BS. Ultimately, who's winning, who's losing, who's performing, who's not - it's all laid out there."

In many ways, sports is a perfect unifier. A fan need not be literate, educated, well-traveled, or wealthy to be personally engaged in the fate of a team or the outcome of …

Excerpt: Heaven Cracks, Earth Shakes, James Palmer

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

When the Tangshan Earthquake hit northern China on July 28, 1976, the country was in the midst of a tumultuous year that would grow even more chaotic with Mao’s death less than two months later. In retrospect, the massive earthquake has been viewed as a sign of trouble to come and a signal that major changes were on the horizon. In his new book, Heaven Cracks, Earth Shakes: The Tangshan Earthquake and the Death of Mao’s China, James Palmer delves into the history of 1976, tracing the developments of that pivotal year for all in China, from the leaders residing …