| 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. |
- 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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| 3. |
- 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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| 4. |
- 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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| 5. |
- 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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| 6. |
- Hellquist, Elin
(author)
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Either with us or against us? Third-country alignment with EU sanctions against Russia/Ukraine
- 2016
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 29:3, s. 997-1021
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Since the mid-1990s, selected neighbours have in impressive numbers aligned with European Union (EU) foreign policy sanctions. However, much more than for any other sanctions case, neighbours have declined joining recent measures against Russia/Ukraine. This article uses freshly gathered data from the entire period of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) to analyse how the practice of alignment influences international relations in Europe. Thereby, the article demonstrates that: (1) sanctions are not a two-party game, but an instrument that impacts broadly on relations with third countries; (2) alignment with sanctions not only articulates similarity, but contributes to normative polarization in wider Europe; (3) for a high-salience case such as Russia sanctions, neighbours are reluctant to be instrumentalized for EU foreign policy purposes.
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| 7. |
- Kinnvall, Catarina
(author)
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Populism, ontological insecurity and Hindutva : Modi and the masculinization of Indian politics
- 2019
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 32:3, s. 283-302
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In an era increasingly defined by insecurity and populist politics, India has emerged as a forceful ontological security provider under the leadership of Marendra Modi. If ontological security is about finding a safe (imagined) haven, then ontological insecurity is about the lack of such a space in narrative terms. Drawing on Lacanian understandings of ‘the imaginary’ as something that can fill and naturalize this lack of space, the article is concerned with how memories, places and symbols of narrative identity constructions are used in populist discourse. More specifically, it attempts to understand the relationship between ontological insecurity and the imaginaries of populist politics in India. In so doing, it argues that the re-invention of ‘nationhood’, ‘religion’ and ‘Hindu masculinity’ along gendered lines has created a foundation for governing practices aimed at ‘healing’ a number of ontological insecurities manifest in Indian society. It specifically looks at how the Modi doctrine has formulated and expanded its foreign policy discourse into one that privileges populist narratives of nativism, nationalism and religion as forms of ontological security provision at home and abroad, but also how everyday practices can challenge such narratives, thus allowing different imaginaries of the Indian state.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Kuyper, Jonathan
(author)
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Transformative pathways to world government : a historical institutionalist critique
- 2015
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 28:4, s. 657-679
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Proposals for world government (WG) have come from a variety of sources including international relations (IR) scholars, economists, normative political theorists and global justice academics. In general, these visions are couched as ideal models to be approximated as closely as possible. The key argument of the article is that, in evaluating the democratic potential of these proposals, we should focus upon the process of designing and building a WG. This is because there is an ineluctable gap between ideal conceptualization and non-ideal realization that emerges through institutionalization. I employ a historical institutionalist lens to describe and problematize potential institutional shifts along a WG pathway. I argue that institutionalizing these ideal visions in our current, non-ideal context would actually exacerbate the democratic deficit. Specifically, building a WG would likely entrench existing inequalities, expand the authority of unaccountable bureaucrats and limit institutional improvements over time. These three points respectively undercut three core values of democratization: equal participation, accountability and institutional revisability. Given this argument, I conclude that an incremental approachwhich focuses on advancing values rather than moving towards an ideal modelrepresents a more productive pathway for global democratization.
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