Contemporary International Politics Research Articles

Explaining Public Demands for Border Militarization

The militarization of border control is a defining feature of contemporary international politics. Why do states flock toward these policies despite their questionable efficacy? We theorize that border militarization stems in part from public reactions to the threat of international and domestic decline. We test this argument with two conjoint experiments that randomize the implementing agency, strategy, costs, and effectiveness of different policies. First, we evaluate whether the public has a baseline preference for militarization, holding constant the material costs and consequences of the border policy. Second, we prime threats of decline—in terms of either America’s dominant status in the world or the majority position of white-identifying Americans within the U.S.—and track changes in preferences for militarized border policies. The results indicate that both threats of decline can increase support for border militarization, with important partisan differences. Border militarization plausibly stems from the reactionary politics of domestic audiences.

Evaluation of Energy Security Submits on Climate Change; Kyoto Protocol and Copenhagen Accord

The rise and incessant increase of Industrialization, modernization and advance technology have attributed to a greater challenge in contemporary international politics. It has brought about a shift in major discuss and study of international relations and politics from the anarchical nature of nation states to climate change. This research work focuses on the hypocrisy in United Nation, a case study of the Kyoto Protocol and Copenhagen submit. It highlights the various submit held to find solution to climate change, the discrepancy and hypocritical politics or decision in the United Nation, solutions agreed from various submit and as well the United nation contribution to climate change. It adopted a qualitative method of research with data’s from written literature and journals from different scholars and UN articles. Realism was adopted as theoretical frame work which shows that sates will go to any extents to defends her interest not minding the global disaster, which has influenced the decisions and as brought about rational and immoral decisions from some advance or rich nations. It concludes that, the hypocritical nature of some states has posed more threats to the issues at hand, due to the use of fossil fuels, every wealthy nation today became wealthy, the world's largest development agencies refuse to support the use of fossil fuels, which poor countries may employ to escape poverty at the insistence of wealthier nations not minding the fact that they contribute more to global emission than the poor nations. The study therefore recommends that, a legal frame work need to be set, nation states need to forget political and ideological differences and rather corporate to find solution to the gory situation. Lastly, advance countries who contributed more to global emission should be held accountable and should as well finance poor countries to implement the policies.

The transition to nuclear energy in Bangladesh: The interplay between climate-related urgency and geopolitical factors

One of the significant issues in contemporary international politics is to examine the contexts of energy usage of different countries, keeping in mind the looming climate threat. Energy transition not only highlights the central role of energy usage but also exposes the vulnerability caused by it. Given the context, Bangladesh has adopted nuclear technology to meet its economic demand and environmental requirements. As a middle-income country, eyeing to graduate to a developing nation by 2041, its choice of exploring nuclear energy has exposed the country to the question of the rationality of the decision. Nuclear energy has a distinguished history that accommodates several debates about its safety and sustainability. Though many developed countries are planning for a nuclear phase-out, Bangladesh’s decision merits attention and explanation to embrace such a stand. Often, the economic priorities have been attached to Bangladesh’s decision for the energy transition, while the discussion about nuclear energy in Bangladesh ignores the geopolitical purposes and international political agenda. This paper, therefore, aims to explore the internal and external climate-related urgency, and geopolitical concerns responsible for such a transition, which have remained unexplored in the existing literature.

이스라엘-하마스 전쟁의 배경과 주요 쟁점

This study examines the background of the Israel-Hamas war, which erupted following Hamas’s unprecedented large-scale attack on Israel in October 2023, and the key issues related to the post-war political order in the Middle East. The background of the war highlights, from a historical perspective, the escalation of military tensions and conflicts between the two sides after the failure of the Oslo peace process and Hamas’s control of the Gaza Strip since 2007. It also seeks to address the impact of leadership changes, including the shift to hardliners within Hamas in 2017 and the formation of the most hardline right-wing government in Israel’s history in 2022, against the backdrop of these accumulated conflicts. The study analyzes various debates currently being discussed in the international community, focusing on scenarios for ending the conflict and the future of the Gaza Strip, the potential for the United States to maintain its hegemony in the Middle East, and the future direction of Hamas. Through this analysis, the study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the Israel-Hamas war, which has emerged as a central issue in contemporary international politics.

The transition to nuclear energy in Bangladesh: The interplay between climate-related urgency and geopolitical factors

One of the significant issues in contemporary international politics is to examine the contexts of energy usage of different countries, keeping in mind the looming climate threat. Energy transition not only highlights the central role of energy usage but also exposes the vulnerability caused by it. Given the context, Bangladesh has adopted nuclear technology to meet its economic demand and environmental requirements. As a middle-income country, eyeing to graduate to a developing nation by 2041, its choice of exploring nuclear energy has exposed the country to the question of the rationality of the decision. Nuclear energy has a distinguished history that accommodates several debates about its safety and sustainability. Though many developed countries are planning for a nuclear phase-out, Bangladesh’s decision merits attention and explanation to embrace such a stand. Often, the economic priorities have been attached to Bangladesh’s decision for the energy transition, while the discussion about nuclear energy in Bangladesh ignores the geopolitical purposes and international political agenda. This paper, therefore, aims to explore the internal and external climate-related urgency, and geopolitical concerns responsible for such a transition, which have remained unexplored in the existing literature.

Legitimate governance in international politics: Towards a relational theory of legitimation

AbstractHow do governing actors in international politics become legitimised? Current approaches to the study of legitimation do not fully account for the complexities of governance in contemporary international and global politics because they pre-specify ‘sources’ of legitimacy and treat change in audience expectations towards rightful rule as exogenous to legitimation processes. Instead, this article synthesises existing models of legitimation with relational theory to argue that constellations of institutional complexities necessitate an analytical focus on audiences and their expectations as embedded in governance networks. It then provides a relational theory of legitimation, emphasising the mechanisms undergirding legitimation: legitimation should be conceptualised as a process of congruence-finding between actors’ normative expectations. A governance relation might be influenced towards greater or lesser congruence via several mechanisms working at the level of the relation and the wider network, with more congruence giving rise to stabler governance practices. In this way, the theory builds upon legitimation scholarship by developing pathways to investigate legitimation across the varied contexts of international politics: it avoids a normative background theory of legitimacy sources and provides an improved framework for understanding change in the legitimacy of institutions over time by considering endogenous mechanisms of legitimation.

Development and evaluation of parallel simulated annealing algorithm for reactor core optimization problems

Background The optimization of core loading patterns in nuclear reactors is one of the most studied optimization problems in nuclear engineering due to the enormous economical and safety benefits. Various algorithms such as Genetic Algorithms (GA), Simulated Annealing (SA), and Parallel Simulated Annealing (PSA) have been used in the past for such problems. Methods In this work, a PSA algorithm was developed and integrated into the Modularly Implemented Design Assistance Suite (MIDAS), a framework developed at North Carolina State University to solve nuclear engineering problems. The effectiveness of PSA was compared against the GA and SA algorithms available in MIDAS for a Pressurized Water Reactor first cycle core loading pattern optimization problem. Results PSA consistently generates more optimal solutions than SA and GA by having the higher average fitness, and showing less variance in its performance and thus being more robust. This provides confidence in the PSA implementation within MIDAS. The obtained loading pattern positions high reactive fuel in peripheral locations and low reactive fuel towards the centers in a strategy resembling both Out-In-Checkboard and L3P loading patter approaches. Conclusions Future studies will involve applying the PSA algorithm to other optimization studies in larger combinatorial spaces, such as in multi-cycle optimization problems.

Conceptual Review of Colonial Beliefs and Attitudes in “Othering” During Postcolonial Africa: Lessons for Nigeria

There has been a growing concern regarding post colonialism and its relative role of colonial beliefs and attitudes in “othering”, and this has, also consequently, been a subject of keen inquiries amongst scholars in contemporary international politics. Most of such inquiries have emerged from a wide range of scholarly disciplines including international relations. The primary aim of this research was to examine the role of colonial beliefs and attitudes in “othering” in postcolonial Africa with reference to Nigerian settings. The specific objectives include investigating colonialism in postcolonial Africa and Nigeria in contemporary international politics. It also examined the association between colonialism and othering in postcolonial Africa and Nigeria within the international politics. The central notion of this study was to present the role of colonial beliefs and attitudes in othering in postcolonial Africa. Efforts were made through conceptual orientations with emphasis on colonialism (that is, colonial beliefs and attitudes, othering) and post colonialism. The paper recommended that there should be a growing call among scholars and practitioners to conceptualise race using more complex historical foundations capturing nuances of gender, ethnicity, and skin tone rather than simplifying race as binary. Postcolonial theory should be carefully studied to provide a strong theoretical foundation to understand race and intersectional identity and also to provide a firm capacity to understand race relationships.

The transition to nuclear energy in Bangladesh: The interplay between climate-related urgency and geopolitical factors

One of the significant issues in contemporary international politics is to examine the contexts of energy usage of different countries, keeping in mind the looming climate threat. Energy transition not only highlights the central role of energy usage but also exposes the vulnerability caused by it. Given the context, Bangladesh has adopted nuclear technology to meet its economic demand and environmental requirements. As a middle-income country, eyeing to graduate to a developing nation by 2041, its choice of exploring nuclear energy has exposed the country to the question of the rationality of the decision. Nuclear energy has a distinguished history that accommodates several debates about its safety and sustainability. Though many developed countries are planning for a nuclear phase-out, Bangladesh’s decision merits attention and explanation to embrace such a stand. Often, the economic priorities have been attached to Bangladesh’s decision for the energy transition, while the discussion about nuclear energy in Bangladesh ignores the geopolitical purposes and international political agenda. This paper, therefore, aims to explore the internal and external climate-related urgency, and geopolitical concerns responsible for such a transition, which have remained unexplored in the existing literature.

The crises water security upwards of Iraqi after 2003: an attempt to determine handicaps wizards future prospects

The water crisis in Iraqi is considered as one of the most important issues that affect the national security. Thus, the water factor has become one of the main factors that threaten good neighborly relations and regional cooperation among riparian countries in the international river basins. The increasing role of the water security factor in the contemporary international politics can be attributed to a set of concerns such as the phenomenon of drought, food security, population explosion and increasing demand for water for domestic, agricultural, industrial and other purposes

Deal-making, diplomacy and transactional forced migration

Abstract Former US President Donald J. Trump was infamous for his nakedly transactional approach to politics. However, as we demonstrate in this article through the lens of migration politics, this kind of unabashedly transactional approach is less an outlier than a common feature of contemporary international politics. Drawing in part upon initial findings from our ongoing Diplomacy of Forced Migration Dataset Project, we explore historical and contemporary cases to illustrate how transactional migration management ‘deals’ such as the 2022 UK–Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership are not particularly new, unusual, or revolutionary. In this exploration of the long history of deal-making in the realm of forced migration management, we first define the phenomenon—which we term transactional forced migration (TFM)—and situate it within the growing literature on migration diplomacy, externalization and what is known as the instrumentalization and/or weaponization of migration. We then highlight illustrative historical precedents that presage what we are witnessing today. We additionally identify and unpack several of the under-appreciated connections between TFM schemes and other dimensions of diplomacy and international politics. We conclude with a summary of our argument, its implications for contemporary policy and a few thoughts about what current trends suggest the future is likely to hold.

The Politicization of Intellectual Property Rights in the Context of Karabakh

Until recently, intellectual property law has been kept away from the political realm, as it was merely linked to economic and legal factors. However, in light of recent geopolitical processes and politically charged conflicts, political science has taken dominance in terms of intellectual property (IP) development and proclivities. In contemporary international politics, it is critical to explain and perceive IP tendencies and systems from the perspectives of political science and political economy, to consider appropriate retorts to processes arising from IPR conflicts in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan during the occupation. Azerbaijan had been confronted with limitations of its control over its territory due to the nearly three decades of the Karabakh conflict. In this regard, the article will answer questions related to the violation of intellectual property rights, the exploitation of goods and services, as well as the other IPR problems encountered by Azerbaijan during the occupation of Karabakh.

Between negotiation and legitimation: The international criminal court and the political use of sovereignty challenges

In contemporary international politics, states face numerous challenges to their sovereignty, especially in the realm of human rights. We argue that rather than simply fight back when sovereignty is challenged, states sometimes instrumentalize sovereignty challenges in pursuit of their own domestic and international political agendas. We identify two key ways that governments frame sovereignty challenges to use in these pursuits, what we call negotiation and legitimation strategies, and outline the conditions under which states may choose to employ these strategies. In order to evaluate our argument, we present a case study of Colombia’s interactions with the International Criminal Court over the course of the ICC’s seventeen-year preliminary examination. Drawing on evidence gathered from ICC records and media archives from the Colombian executive, we show first that the ICC continually challenged Colombian sovereignty by threatening to intervene, especially during the peace negotiations with the FARC. Rather than fight back against the sovereignty challenge or instrumentalize the Court to punish enemies, we also show that three successive Colombian administrations used this challenge to frame debates around contentious domestic human rights policies.

How Russia’s trade with China influences carbon dioxide emissions in Russian regions

The Sino-Russian partnership has become one of the hottest issues in contemporary international politics. Significantly, the highest potential is in the movement of both countries to Carbon Neutrality. China pursues the goal to reach its carbon peak by 2030, aiming to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. The Russian government is also involved in new programs concerning emissions reduction. The two countries plan to collaborate on a new level of responsibility and transregional interconnection. The paper aims to analyze the influence of Russia’s trade with China on carbon dioxide emissions in Russian regions. The authors present a review of carbon dioxide emissions between the two countries, explore the processes of trade in several categories of products and outline forward forecast tendencies. The paper uses complicated forecasting modeling in Python to assess the prospects of trade collaboration between Russia and China untill 2030. It makes forecasts of the volumes of carbon dioxide emissions and environmental trends till 2030. The research results show that the highest levels of emissions are observed in the industries “Mineral products”, “Chemical products” and “Animal husbandry and fishing products and services”, while “Wood works and furniture”, and “Agriculture products and services” produce considerably fewer emissions.

Societal disorder as a precursor to dangerous minds in politics

Violence as a public health emergency, and the rise in recent years of dangerous, mentally impaired leaders across the globe demonstrates vividly the importance of education and prevention with respect to the public health and mental health factors that play a role in contemporary international politics. “Strongmen”—or, more accurately, fragile men—including Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Jair Bolsonaro, Rodrigo Duterte, Mohammed bin Salman, Kim Jong-un, and Xi Jinping, amongst others, all portray themselves in a defensive and overcompensating show of force that threatens not just their own people and neighbouring countries, but the survival of humankind. This article will outline the importance of considering these leaders in public health terms, as manifestations of a societal and cultural disorder after decades of toleration of structural violence and violent policies. As personality disorder writ large, cultural disorder not only gives rise to but supports the rise of dangerous personalities in leadership positions.

A Quest for hegemony or glory: Ukraine as a battle ground between U.S.A and Russia

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine is one of the major events of contemporary international politics. It is going to create global tension, increase arms race, pose security threats in different parts of the world and may even end up in a nuclear conflict. Economically, it will be a disaster not only for warring nations but also for entire world. It is resulting in supply shortage of oil, natural gas, food grains, motels and other commodities all over the world as Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of all these items. Rising inflation may result in slow economic growth, increasing poverty and growing hunger in different parts of the world. In a nut shell, the war may change the world order to a great extent. Ukraine has virtually become a battle ground where major powers of the world are show casing their military and technological strength. Generally speaking, the war is being fought on the question of Ukrainian sovereignty to join or not to join NATO. But, a deeper analysis of the whole situation presents a different picture. A War where the U.S. is seeking her national interest only and has put the entire world at stake. A war where Russia is trying to change the world order and desires to regain her past glory which she used to enjoy during the cold war. The present paper wishes to analyze whole situation from different perspectives. Is it Russia who is an aggressor, who desires to regain her past glory of the cold war period? Or is it U.S.A. who wants to weaken Russia and continue its world hegemony through the escalation of war? Whether Russia is in a position to face economic and military superiority of NATO and U.S.A? Or whether it would wise for U.S. to over concentrate on Russia and ignore the real challenge which is there in the form of rising China?

The transition to nuclear energy in Bangladesh: The interplay between internal and geopolitical factors

One of the significant issues in contemporary international politics is to examine the contexts of energy usage of different countries, keeping in mind the looming climate threat. Energy transition not only highlights the central role of energy usage but also exposes the vulnerability caused by it. Given the context, Bangladesh has adopted nuclear technology to meet its economic demand and environmental requirements. As a middle-income country, eyeing to graduate to a developing nation by 2041, its choice of exploring nuclear energy has exposed the country to the question of the rationality of the decision. Nuclear energy has a distinguished history that accommodates several debates about its safety and sustainability. Though many developed countries are planning for a nuclear phase-out, Bangladesh’s decision merits attention and explanation to embrace such a stand. Often, the economic priorities have been attached to Bangladesh’s decision for the energy transition, while the discussion about nuclear energy in Bangladesh ignores the geopolitical purposes and international political agenda. This paper, therefore, aims to explore the geopolitical concerns and the role of internal factors responsible for such a transition, which have remained unexplored in the existing literature.

Adjunct rather than alternative in global governance: An examination of BRICS as an international bloc through the perception of its members

This article is aimed at the analysis of the perceptions of BRICS member states – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – on the role of BRICS as an actor in international politics. While numerous analyses of BRICS have already been provided, little attention has been given to the deliberate self-presentation of the group per country. As such, this work examines whether these countries themselves perceive the BRICS as a political body that offers an alternative to the Western political imaginary. The focus is on how the BRICS member states construct meanings of what BRICS is and put these perspectives into dialogue with each other. Through a critical discourse analysis, this work takes the official documents released by BRICS countries (e.g. texts and speeches) and examines how these documents reflect each BRICS country’s perception of BRICS as a group. Findings show that despite BRICS’ unified agenda and plans of action, considerable heterogeneity persists in the perceptions of each BRICS member country concerning the role of BRICS in the international community. The shared vision of the BRICS members remains reflective of the Western framework. However, while the BRICS bloc may not offer a full-fledged alternative politics to that of the West, it still offers an alternative reading of contemporary international politics. Considering also its current state as a group-in-progress, BRICS is significant for its adjunct role in global governance, not least through the differences between the countries and the uncertainty of its future, challenging how to examine historical transitions.

МИРОВОЗЗРЕНИЕ ХО ШИ МИНА И ВНЕШНЯЯ ПОЛИТИКА ВЬЕТНАМА В ПЕРИОД ОБНОВЛЕНИЯ

The article discusses the process of formation of the worldview of Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the liberation movement of the Vietnamese people, the first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The authors draw attention to the fact that the main provisions of Ho Chi Minh's worldview were formed during more than half a century of his activity, in the conditions of a complex and lengthy struggle for the independence of Vietnam. Living and working for thirty years in various European countries, as well as in Soviet Russia, Ho Chi Minh got acquainted with various teachings of contemporary international relations and world politics. The article emphasizes that the formation of his ideology was determined by his acquaintance with the Marxist-Leninist theory, first of all, with the ideas of V.I. Lenin on national and colonial issues at the second congress of the Comintern in 1920, which laid the theoretical foundation for the development of the concept of the liberation movement in Vietnam. The worldview of Ho Chi Minh was embodied in the foreign policy of Vietnam not only in the era of the struggle for independence and reunification of the country, but also in modern Vietnamese diplomacy and went down in history as the "ideology of Ho Chi Minh."

The Сoncept of Сyber Sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China: Development History and Essence

The transformation of cyber sovereignty into an independent concept is a recent phenomenon, and thus its development and distribution is currently underway, which indicates the relevance of studying this topic. Being one of the most influential actors of contemporary international politics, China uses the concept of cyber sovereignty to promote its national interests and is able to shape the rules in the highly volatile field of international cyberspace. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative content analysis of legal acts and concept of Chinas cyber sovereignty. The author defines a concept of cyber sovereignty and identifies its place in the system of international law and in the architecture of international information security. Chinas concept of cyber sovereignty does not imply the division of a common cyberspace into separate segments but contributes to the creation of a cyber community of a common destiny, in which states can exercise their rights to govern the Internet on the principles of equality, justice, cooperation, peace and rule of law. It is concluded that this concept can be used as the basis for the formation of an international legal framework that regulates relations between states in the field of cyberspace.