Changes In International Politics Research Articles

빅데이터의 기능과 역할 논의

The rise of the fourth industrial revolution has catalyzed the rapid development of information and communications technologies like AI, big data, and IoT, driving changes in international politics and diplomacy. This study examines the significance of big data and its application as a diplomatic tool, scrutinizing domestic and international instances.The analysis found that using big data and AI technologies in risk management and international politics is emerging as crucial elements of globalization and national influence. Nevertheless, the process of incorporating big data into diplomacy necessitates the resolution of current obstacles. Various applications to expedite diplomatic activities will become more viable when related protocols are defined and concerns about the ethics of managing big data are addressed.

The Formation of a Strategic Partnership between China and Thailand: the Role of Belt and Road Initiative

This article attempts to consider the features of formation the strategic partnership between the PRC and Thailand, by tracing bilateral relations from mutual hostility in the 1950s–1960s, establishing official contacts in the 1970s amid the changes in international politics and during the Cambodian crisis, as well as deepening cooperation on a bilateral and multilateral levels in the post-Cold War era. The important role of Thailand in the process of bridge-building between China and ASEAN is noted. The article notes that there is a consensus among the Thai elite on the need to strengthen cooperation with China, which gives Thailand new opportunities for economic growth. China is a major trading partner and key investor for Thailand and provides significant opportunities in realizing Thailand's ambitions to develop advanced technology and infrastructure. An important component of Thai foreign policy is balancing between Great Powers. However, after the 2014 coup d'etat amid deteriorating relations with the United States, Thailand's military elite significantly expanded its strategic partnership with the PRC. This is evidenced by the growing supply of Chinese military equipment and the scale of joint military exercises. Particular importance in strengthening cooperation is the development of the China–Laos–Thailand transport corridor within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, which provides countries with new logistics opportunities. The article notes that in negotiations with China, Thailand follows a policy of economic independence and consistently defends its national interests, which cause delays in the implementation of the project, but China is forced to reckon with this.

Semiconductors at the Intersection of Geoeconomics, Technonationalism, and Global Value Chains

This study provides a historical and contemporary analysis of the United States’ strategies in the global semiconductor industry, framed within Joseph Nye’s three-dimensional chessboard analysis. This study examines the strategic responses of the United States from the 1980s to the present, connecting these shifts to changes in international politics and geoeconomic alliances. It scrutinizes how the U.S. utilized its unipolar power to respond to Japan’s growing semiconductor industry influence in the 1980s and its adoption of free-market principles during the globalization era of the 1990s and 2000s. It further discusses how these multilateral shifts have led to a resurgence of technonationalism in the late 2010s, responding to asymmetric interdependence in the global value chain of the semiconductor industry. This research contributes to the comprehension of the dynamics of the industry within international politics and suggests insights into the ongoing Sino–American competition and strategic realignment in the sector.

Editorial introduction: Punctuated equilibrium, multiple streams, environmental governance, and many more

Editorial introduction: Punctuated equilibrium, multiple streams, environmental governance, and many more

The International Context of Democratic Backsliding: Rethinking the Role of Third Wave “Prodemocracy” Global Actors

We know much about “how democracies die”: elites and masses become polarized, and norms of mutual toleration, forbearance, and institutional restraint erode. But why do elites feel free to undermine these guardrails of democracy? What are the sources of backsliding? Answers to these questions have focused on the impact of economic and cultural change, and on autocratic meddling. I consider another potential source of backsliding around the world: the impact of the reconfiguration of global politics after the Cold War and 9/11 on politics in the main prodemocratic actors that Samuel Huntington highlighted in his book The Third Wave: the United States, the European Union, and the Vatican. Today, the international context gives leaders in these global powers relatively weaker incentives to stand up for democracy, even in the face of aggressive meddling from Russia and China. Changes in international politics has left democracy with weaker ideational support in the global arena, potentially facilitating backsliding.

Securitization of Climate Change in International Politics with a Focus on Climate-Induced Displacement

Securitization of Climate Change in International Politics with a Focus on Climate-Induced Displacement

The calm before the storm: A punctuated equilibrium theory of international politics

AbstractResearch has shown that policymaking in numerous domestic policies, across a multitude of polities, systematically produces a pattern of change that matches Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET), characterized by many incremental and occasional dramatic changes. The field of International Relations (IR), however, has paid surprisingly little attention to PET, even though the same pattern of change is also found in international politics. This study attempts to fill this gap and explains stability and change in international politics based on PET. Specifically, we detail the dynamics behind this pattern of behavior, both at the domestic and the international level, as well as their interplay. The empirical section shows that different indicators of international politics, including troop deployments, foreign aid and international trade, follow a leptokurtic pattern of change, which characterizes Punctuated Equilibrium, and whereby changes in countries' behavior are generally incremental, representing periods of relative stability, and punctuated by large changes that dramatically overthrow existing policies. Moreover, our results indicate that policy outputs where greater friction is at play are more punctuated than those policies that cannot as easily or directly be managed. This study urges future research to further explore the dynamics of stability and change at the aggregate, international level.

Lateral Relations in World Politics: Rethinking Interactions and Change among Fields, Systems, and Sectors

Abstract Scholarship drawing from a wide array of perspectives including field theoretical and functional differentiation approaches has shed increasing light on the sectoral dimensions of world politics. In contrast to dominant approaches emphasizing hierarchy and power in relations between global fields, this article offers a novel interpretive framework for understanding how diverse fields, systems, or sectors may interact and facilitate change in world politics beyond the operation of established hierarchies and power dynamics. Taking forward the previously underutilized concept of symbolically generalized media of communication, this article elucidates two processes of international political change by which different fields, systems, or sectors may transform world politics. The first process, lateral retreat, is illustrated with reference to the case study of the Protestant Reformation, in which internal changes in the religious field facilitated the development of an increasingly autonomous political domain. The second process, lateral penetration, is illustrated with reference to the international political response to the climate change and Covid-19 crises, in which the scientific sector contributed toward transformed political priorities and associated hierarchies, at least in the short term. These diverse cases are used to indicate the broad potential scope of application of the concept of symbolically generalized media of communication to enrich relational theorizing in the study of international relations, and to improve understanding of diverse dynamics of international political change missed in traditional power- (and anarchy-) centric accounts.

Neutrality in Twentieth-Century Europe: Intersections of Science, Culture, and Politics after the First World War

Neutrality in Twentieth-Century Europe is an interesting contribution to the discussion of neutrality in scholarship and politics. It is especially useful as a contribution to the analysis of the relationship of science, culture, and politics during an era of strong division. Because the book focuses on the period after the First World War, it offers an interesting prehistory of issues that became prominent during the Second World War and the Cold War. During all of these periods, changes in international politics influenced the relationship of scholarship, culture, and politics.The main focus of the book is on the smaller European states that adhered strictly to a neutral position during the First World War. Important concepts connected to “neutrality” include “impartiality,” “objectivity” and “internationalism,” which are covered in the book's fifteen essays, divided into four thematic parts dealing with internationalism, science, culture, and politics. The starting point for the volume is that neutrality as a cultural, scientific and political resource was in itself a construct that was given meanings and used rhetorically for a variety of new purposes. The concept endowed smaller countries and intellectuals with a new kind of role in European (and even world-scale) scientific, political, and cultural discussions. The aim of the smaller countries was to become neutral mediators between the former belligerent states in order to facilitate international cooperation and enhance international scientific cooperation. The period after the First World War is defined as an era of emerging nation-states, but the main actors in the discourse were primarily individuals, small groups, and organizations.The book discusses the intersections of science, culture, and politics before and during the negotiations that led to the controversial Treaty of Versailles. The talks helped neutrality to gain a new appeal, spurring small, neutral countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway to mediate in the complex situation. The war and its aftermath introduced modern nation-states as the basis for a new world order. Although the actors analyzed in the volume were committed to internationalism, they ultimately reinforced nationalism as representatives of nation-states.Before the First World War, Germany was a scientific powerhouse and closely connected to wider scientific developments in Europe. After the war began and Germany became a defeated power in 1918, the demand to leave Germany out of scientific circles, such as the International Research Council (IRC)—especially in the wake of the “Proclamation of the Civilized World” in 1914—caused a complex situation in European scientific and political spheres. No matter how important the cause of internationalism and peace may have been, remaining neutral in politics and science proved exceedingly difficult. This was true of Dutch relations with Germany and scientific organizations such as the IRC. Denmark met difficulties in enhancing science on the basis of internationalism. In Sweden and Norway, the Nobel Prize institution gave both countries more power within the scientific community. Sweden, which had strongly emphasized its neutral and apolitical role in foreign policy, met the challenge when it wanted to gain a role as a mediator of the new era based on peaceful scientific, technological, and economic progress. The demands and goals of objectivity and impartiality in the case of the Nobel Prize were challenged when international ties in science and culture were severed. Swedish science had been strongly oriented toward Germany, and it had to reassess its Nobel Prize policy under the pressure of divided scientific values.These issues pertained not only to science and politics but also to “European” ideas and idealism. Pan-Europeanism, Zionism, and scientific debate created the basis of cultural encounters in Europe in the 1920s. The aim to restore peace and to solve the problems caused by the war—such as the problem of refugees when millions of people were left without their countries and citizenship—became the main aim of the international actors. The First World War was both a military disaster and a humanitarian catastrophe confronting the League of Nations and individual actors. In the process, neutral Scandinavian countries had a role to play.Neutrality in Twentieth-Century Europe is an enlightening contribution to the international and transnational interaction of scientists, organizations, and smaller states in the interwar period. By analyzing themes such as neutrality, objectivity, impartiality, and internationalism in the context of a divided world, the volume sheds valuable light on themes that resurfaced during the Cold War. The book is well worth reading for those interested in Cold War–era developments in the fields of science, culture, and politics.

The U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan

The incident of 9/11, by and large, brought great changes in international politics. The US-led War on Terror (WOT) against the culprits involved in the 9/11 incidents caused irreparable damage to Afghanistan. Surprisingly, none of the perpetrators involved in 9/11 belonged to Afghanistan nor did the attacker Al-Qaeda have any genesis with the people of Afghanistan. The price Afghanistan paid in WOT is unimaginable that can never be compensated. Over the last two decades, the US-led war witnessed colossal war crimes of the people of Afghanistan. The country saw growing war crimes committed by the U.S. forces in the shape of the killing of innocent civilians, women rapes, abductions of innocent people, massacring of masses by drone strikes. The invasion of Afghanistan according to many experts was a geo-strategic move of the US in a bid to accelerate its presence in the region and to counter growing Chinese and Russian influence, keeping closed eyes on Pakistan nuclear assets. Having squandered twenty years, the US neither eliminated terrorism nor Taliban. Instead, Washington inked Doha agreement with the hardcore Taliban who are unfit and inexperienced to rule the country are expected to be espousing the U.S. trajectory in committing further war crimes. This paper, thus, will examine the US war crimes in war-torn Afghanistan in the last two decades.

Китайско-турецкие отношения в «новую эпоху»

Introduction. The main purpose of this article is to study the phenomenon of Sino-Turkish relations since 2013 (Xi Jinping came to power). China and Turkey represent different political models undergoing and offering the international community their options for changes in international politics. China, which considers itself as a real contender for international leadership, is facing with Turkey’s sub-regional interests. Therefore, the study of changes in the foreign policy of this countries should be present not as a unit, but as sub-spheres with their subsequent analysis. Methods and materials. The authors use a combination of general theoretical and special methods, paying special attention to historical and political analysis. They are based on the analysis of periodicals, as well as on the use of books, articles and materials of domestic and foreign researchers. Analysis. The authors analyzed the current situation in several sub-spheres, showed their specific impact on bilateral relations, and studied how contradictions in the designated areas affected relations between China and Turkey. Results. The conclusion of the article is about the presence of characteristic problems and issues in each sphere of Sino-Turkish relations that determine the trajectory of Sino-Turkish relations.

Untangling India’s Non-Traditional Security Challenge of Climate Change: Is Soft Power Diplomacy a Panacea for Anthropocentric Abuses?

India’s pursuit towards a sustainable future has been accompanied by the centrality of climate diplomacy while leveraging its soft power apparatus in spearheading global trust-building, capacity-building and managing global common resources. Irrespective of the post-COVID ramifications, India has remained the only G20 nation on track to meet its climate change mitigation commitments, as India continues to maintain an ambitious target of 450 gigawatts by 2030 for itself on renewable energy, adhering to cutting down carbon emissions by 33% by 2030, keeping its promise on global warming mitigation to below 2 degrees. Predicating its approach towards multilateral action on respect, peace, prosperity, dialogue and cooperation, India has marshalled multilateral action on climate change in the international arena, from being the founder of the International Solar Alliance, leading the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, to constituting an integral component of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’s Climate Working Group, aiming at strengthening climate actions on mitigation, adaptation, resilience, technology-building capacity and climate finance. The paper problematizes climate change in international politics, focusing on India’s soft power dimension while assessing the vulnerabilities associated with climate change, emphasizing exclusively on the evolution and the emerging multifaceted dynamics of India’s climate diplomacy.

Афганистан и новая международная конфигурация в Азии

The development of the international political changes in Central and South Asia is analyzed in the article in connection with the consequences of the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s second rise to power (the first one was in 1996). It is shown that the peaceful transformation of Afghanistan is impeded by such persistent threats as religious extremism, terrorism, illegal drug trafficking. The complex mosaic of regional relations, in which Afghanistan is becoming an important element due to the changes that have happened in this country, is determined in Asia by the growing rivalry and competitive struggle of major economic states of the region, as well as global players, and by the efforts of all of them to build various international coalitions (Shanghai Cooperation Organization, RIC – Russia, India, China; Quadripartite Security Dialogue – QUAD, C5+1, Organization of Turkic States, etc.). Of particular interest in this regard is the position of the neighboring states – the three Central Asian nations (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan), as well as China, Pakistan, India and Iran. Apart from that, this study also outlines the most important challenges for the national security interests of Afghanistan’s Asian neighbors. An optimal scenario for both Afghanistan’s Asian neighbors and Russia would imply achieving a stable consensus in this country. Afghanistan becoming a full member of such an influential international bloc as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, where Russia, Central Asian states and major Asian economic powers are already represented, can have positive consequences for the stabilization of the situation in the country and the whole Asian region. This would create favorable conditions for successful economic and political interaction between the Central and South Asian states. In conclusion the author emphasizes that the transformations in Afghanistan have complicated regional challenges, prompting neighboring states to focus on the military-political component of their security. Aiming to prevent a negative scenario in Afghanistan, they also multiplied diplomatic contacts with the current leadership of the country. The new international political configuration that is emerging in modern Asia dictates new approaches in the security sphere for the Asian states.

Retelling Mecca: Shifting Narratives of Sacred Spaces in Volga-Ural Muslim Hajj Accounts, 1699–1945

This article examines how Volga-Ural Muslims narrated their encounters with the sacred spaces visited during the hajj. It examines nine accounts hajj composed from the 1690s to the 1940s, to consider how changes in international politics, Russia’s domestic politics, and the culture of Islamic learning within the VolgaUral Muslim community led to writers to revise narratives of why the sacred spaces of Mecca were sacred, how best to experience the power of these sacred spaces, and how these sacred spaces fit into the local culture of Volga-Ural Islam under Russian and Soviet rule.

Why is anxiety’s positive potential so rarely realised? Creativity and change in international politics

Why is anxiety’s positive potential so rarely realised? Creativity and change in international politics

‘Transitions in Context: Making Peace in 1814 – 1815; 1918 – 1920; 1945 – 1955ʹ

ABSTRACT Frequently, peace settlements mark moments of systemic change in international politics. The object of this article is to examine how far these three major European peace settlements of the modern period – 1814–15, 1918–20 and 1945-55 – represented the contemporary political and diplomatic responses to the urgent needs that the end of a general war inevitably brings. It argues that, with the exception of the Vienna settlement, often the urgency of the situation at the end of the war was itself the consequence of underlying conditions which were so profound as to be immutable at any particular moment and immune from any short-term political interventions. Too much should never be expected of formal peace settlements.

Iran’s turn to the East: assessment of the Caucasian and Central-Asian policy of Ebrahim Raisi’s administration

The article considers the Caucasian and Central-Asian policy of the new administration of Ebrahim Raisi in Iran. It’s already clear that the Eurasian region has become a priority of Iran’s diplomacy, and President Raisi has been demonstrating these changes during the first year at the helm. The author uses comparative methodology to outline the differences from the previous administration’s policy. The research methodology is based on the theory of the constructivist school of international relations which focuses on the ideological level and analysis of actors during the decision-making process. The purpose of the research is to study the changes in international politics which have already made the new administration follow the new approach focusing on the Eurasian policy.  The author believes that the reasons for such a transformation are: 1) Tehran’s will to reconsider the central role of nuclear treatments as a core of its foreign policy; 2) the economic crisis in the country which makes Iran’s politicians search for alternative markets and partners; 3) an aspiration to escape the international isolation, and the importance of Eurasian bilateral and intergovernmental relations; 4) the change of threats perception by Tehran caused by the recent events in the Caucasus and Afghanistan. The author supposes that the combined impact of these factors has made Raisi’s administration consider Eurasia as Iran’s foreign policy priority, and if this trend continues, we’ll see a more balanced approach in the future, unlike the previous periods, when relations with the West and events in the Middle East defined the central line of Iran’s policy.   

М’яка сила Турецької Республіки: культурно-освітні аспекти

Globalization and the changing balance of power in the world have led to changes in international politics and the emergence of new forms of diplomatic activity. In their foreign policy, states increasingly attach importance to the public opinion of citizens of other countries, as well as forms of communication and interaction that these societies establish with each other. The new understanding of diplomacy now attaches more importance to soft power, culture and civil society, building a national brand. Policies and ways of using soft power are implemented primarily through cultural diplomacy, which is based on finding commonalities between different cultures. This article discusses the concept of soft power which is an important issue in modern theory of international relations. The concept of soft power which expresses another dimension of power is a type of power that is more difficult to define, express, measure, and evaluate. Today, it can be argued that the use of soft power is the most common method used by international actors which is changing with the international structure and the development of conditions in this direction. In this context the article examines the soft power of the Republic of Turkey, its role in foreign policy, and ways of implementing it. The authors focus separately on the cultural and educational aspects of Turkey’s formation of its identity in the world, the directions of its public diplomacy, and the role of individual institutions and state bodies in this process. After the end of the Cold War, Turkey underwent several stages of political transformation and changes in the ideological concepts of its foreign policy. Guided by the ideas of Pan-Turkism and the need for economic development, in the last decade of the 2000s TR increased its presence in the region, especially in Turkic-speaking countries. Cultural expansion becomes a model of the use of soft power, creates the national image of the country, but does not give the desired results. It is argued that the concept of soft power has played a greater role in Turkey’s foreign policy since The Justice and Development Party came to power and has become a new dimension of its foreign policy strategy.

Domestic courts, transnational law, and international order

This article revisits the relationship between law and international order. Building on legal research concerned with transnational law, we argue that domestic courts are endogenous sites of international political change. National courts are constitutive of international order by generating new rules, adjudicating transnational disputes, and bounding state sovereignty. We illustrate the ways in which national courts create new political opportunities by updating three core international relations theory debates. Recognizing the role of domestic courts as global adjudicators enhances our understanding of regime complexity and international forum shopping. By re-interpreting aspects of conventional international law, and engaging in cross-border dialogue, domestic courts challenge our understanding of international diffusion and judicialization. By redefining the boundaries of state authority and sovereignty, national courts create potential for conflict and cooperation. A transnational law perspective illustrates the porous nature between domestic and international spheres, highlighting how domestic courts have become adjudicators for state and non-state actors that operate across mainstream levels of analysis. Our approach calls on scholars to move beyond analyzing national legal systems as mechanisms of compliance to instead consider domestic courts as co-creators of international order.

Fishing for Oil: Natural-Resource Management between the United States and Maritime East Asia in the 1970s

The possibility of oil reserves under the seabed of the East China Sea created competition between Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan to claim ownership of these natural resources. The dispute marked the start of international cooperation in maritime East Asia and introduced the United States into this power game due to its exploration techniques and financial power. While Taibei, Tokyo, and Seoul put sovereignty-related disputes aside in an attempt to explore resources jointly, the change in international politics in East Asia and Washington’s perception of the western Pacific rim led to the failure of cooperation. This article argues that this international power game over natural resources management epitomized the dynamic politics between the United States and its East Asian allies. The roles of sovereignty, local interests, and U.S. international security created a dynamic scenario revealing how oil reserves were never the issue, but instead the embodiment of the actual concerns of these players behind their diplomatic language. Situating the 1970s oil exploration in the context of the Cold War, this article provides a historical lens to understand the contours of the shifting geopolitical structure in maritime East Asia.