| 1. |
- Berndtsson, Joakim, 1975, et al.
(author)
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Principles on a collision course? State sovereignty meets peoples' right of self-determination in the case of Kosovo
- 2015
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 28:3, s. 445-461
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sovereignty and self-determination are central features of international relations and international law. The concepts are often depicted as onflicting and incompatible. In addition, the meaning, application and relevance of both concepts continue to form the subject of debate. In practice, they remain important, fiercely protected and centrally placed in conflicts concerning territorial integrity or political status. In this paper, we argue that our understanding of the concepts and their interrelationships can be enriched by looking past conventional and often rigid conceptualisations, instead placing more emphasis on the ways in which they are used in particular cases. The aim of this paper is to analyse how state sovereignty and peoples' right to self-determination are given meaning in state practice. The paper focuses on the case of Kosovo, and in particular statements submitted by 36 United Nations member states to the International Court of Justice. Analysing the ways in which states use the concepts to rationalize and justify their position on the Kosovo case reveals several diverging and sometimes conflicting understandings that indicate a need to go beyond and problematize the clear-cut and inflexible conceptualizations that often shape the academic debate on the concepts of state sovereignty and peoples' right of self-determination.
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| 2. |
- Björkdahl, Annika
(author)
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Norms in international relations: some theoretical and methodological reflections
- 2002
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 15:1, s. 9-23
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Acknowledging the social constructivist turn in the study of norms, this article offers to demonstrate that the notion of norms is useful as an analytical tool and likely to become a lasting element in international relations theory. Ideational causality and the independent explanatory power of norms are methodological issues that have been debated widely. Despite arguing that norms matter, social constructivism has problems making a successful case for the independent influence of norms. This article explores social constructivism as an approach to understanding international norms and their origins.
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| 3. |
- Björkdahl, Annika, et al.
(author)
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The Emerging EU Peacebuilding Framework: Confirming or Transcending Liberal Peacebuilding
- 2011
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 24:3, s. 449-469
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The EU is now emerging as a major actor in regional and global peacebuilding. The EU does not perceive conflict as endemic, and develops its policy on the basis that conflict is eminently resolvable if structural issues, needs, social injustice, and inequality are addressed. Yet its peacebuilding project is subject to some significant and familiar contradictions. We identify the basis for what may become a ‘EU peacebuilding framework’ (EUPF), and argue that while it aspires to a ‘just and durable peace’ including practical tools and a normative framework, these need to be set in critical relief. Recent research on developing a more sophisticated form of locally relevant peacebuilding (in contradistinction to the evolving, global ‘peacebuilding consensus’ and statebuilding project) indicates significant issues with the EU’s emerging approach.
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| 4. |
- Bousquet, Antoine, et al.
(author)
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Beyond models and metaphors : complexity theory, systems thinking and international relations
- 2011
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 24:1, s. 43-62
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The concepts, language and methods of complexity theory have been slowly making their way into international relations (IR), as scholars explore their potential for extending our understanding of the dynamics of international politics. In this article we examine the progress made so far and map the existing debates within IR that are liable to being significantly reconfigured by the conceptual resources of complexity. We consider the various ontological, epistemological and methodological questions raised by complexity theory and its attendant worldview. The article concludes that, beyond metaphor and computational models, the greatest promise of complexity is a reinvigoration of systems thinking that eschews the flaws and limitations of previous instantiations of systems theory and offers an array of conceptual tools apposite to analysing international politics in the twenty-first century.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Doeser, Fredrik, 1975-, et al.
(author)
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Ignoring public opinion : The Australian and Polish decisions to go to war in Iraq
- 2016
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - : Routledge. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 29:2, s. 562-580
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article investigates why the governments of Australia and Poland decided to contribute military forces to the United States led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 when a majority of Australian and Polish citizens were opposed to national involvement in the invasion. The objective of the article is to increase understanding of the conditions under which governments ignore the public in their foreign policymaking. The article examines the explanatory power of four intervening variables: issue salience, elite debate, timing of the next election and the importance assigned to international gains by the government. On the basis of the Direct Method of Agreement, the article concludes that government perceptions of international gains and the timing of the next election were potentially necessary factors for the outcomes of the cases, while issue salience and elite debate were not necessary conditions. A distant election may, thus, provide sufficient electoral protection for a government that conducts a foreign policy to which the public is opposed.
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| 7. |
- Friedner Parrat, Charlotta, 1980-, et al.
(author)
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The English School as a theory and a scholarly community
- 2020
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 33:4, s. 483-486
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is becoming customary to define the English School (ES) as a group of scholars participating in a common inquiry related to a few central concepts, notably that of international society. Although the roots of the ES are often attributed to the British Committee on the Theory of International Politics, it is now said to be more of an open society of impersonal ties rather than an exclusive community based on personal relations. But how true is that assertion? If the School is theoretically open to anyone, why are its members predominantly male, white and Western? In this piece, we discuss three obstacles that prevent the ES from becoming a more inclusive venture.
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| 8. |
- Gustafsson, Karl, et al.
(author)
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Long live pacifism! : narrative power and Japan’spacifist model
- 2019
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 32:4, s. 502-520
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- International relations research acknowledges that states can have different security policies but neglects the fact that ‘models’ may exist in the security policy realm. This article suggests that it is useful to think about models, which it argues can become examples for emulation or be undermined through narrative power. It illustrates the argument by analysing Japan’s pacifism—an alternative approach to security policy which failed to become an internationally popular model and, despite serving the country well for many years, has even lost its appeal in Japan. Conventional explanations suggest that Japan’s pacifist policies were ‘abnormal’, and that the Japanese eventually realized this. By contrast, this article argues that narratives undermined Japan’s pacifism by mobilizing deep-seated beliefs about what is realistic and unrealistic in international politics, and launches a counter-narrative that could help make pacifism a more credible model in world politics.
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| 9. |
- Hagström, Linus, Professor, 1972-, et al.
(author)
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Narrative power : how storytelling shapes East Asian international politics
- 2019
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - : Routledge. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 32:4, s. 387-406
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We are living at a time when people appear to have become more aware of the power of narratives in international politics. Understanding how narratives exercise power is therefore more pertinent than ever. This special issue develops the concept of narrative power for international relations research by focusing on East Asia—the region that has been at the centre of debates about international power shifts since the 1990s. This introduction seeks to elucidate and define four key binary distinctions: (a) narrative power as understood from the perspective of an individualist versus a narrative ontology; (b) narrative power as explanandum versus explanans; (c) narrative power as more prone to continuity or change; and (d) the scholar as a detached observer of narrative power versus the scholar as a narrative entrepreneur and a potential wielder of power. Informed by the individual contributions, the introduction demonstrates how and with what implications research on narrative power can negotiate and traverse these binary distinctions.
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| 10. |
- Hammargård, Kajsa, et al.
(author)
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Explaining the European commission's strategies in times of crisis
- 2019
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 32:2, s. 159-177
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite the growing debate over the European Commission's (hereafter, Commission) role in crises, there are few systematic explanations for the variety of actions undertaken by the Commission in times of crisis. This article outlines a heuristic device to explain the Commission's actions during crises, based on the variables 'Commission mandate' and 'member state engagement'. To this end, it examines two crisis events that affected two strategically important policy areas for European Union integration: the early stages of the financial crisis that began in 2008 and the migration following the 2011 Arab Spring. Based on analysis of these cases, this study identifies four strategies applied by the Commission: doer, follower, cooperator and recycler. Our study concludes that member state engagement and Commission mandate are important variables in explaining under which circumstances these strategies are used by the Commission.
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