Contemporary International System Research Articles

Putting disarmament back in the frame

This article begins by deconstructing the dominant discourse on arms control and disarmament, and argues that it works to dismiss disarmament as an idea whilst simultaneously coopting really existing disarmament into a perspective that imagines a world long on dangers and short on peaceful strategies to confront them. In contrast, it is argued, not only is the traditional distinction between arms control and disarmament problematic but, in certain respects, the world is experiencing quite a lot of disarmament. Partly however, this is because both disarmament and broader arms limitation activities are taking place as part of an asymmetrical arms limitation system underpinned, in particular, by the US in its role as a ‘disarmament Empire’. Nevertheless, there are a number of factors immanent in the contemporary international system that suggest a more radical form of emancipatory disarmament might be both realisable and indeed necessary.

The Life and Times of Economic Nationalism

utors go beyond what has turned out to be an increasingly sterile debate. Situated at the intersection of international relations (IR) and international political (IPE), this collection of essays is important and interesting precisely because it attempts to reassert the continuing relevance of in the contemporary international system. Moreover, it does so by putting this assertion to its toughest test. It scrutinizes the role of in shaping policies, an arena in which its significance is widely considered to be negligible. Scholarship in the field of IPE, although not particularly attentive to the question of nationalism, has acknowledged its existence primarily through the concept of economic nationalism. Posited as being in opposition to liberalism (and its neoliberal variant), has traditionally been identified with a set of policies that allow or encourage state intervention in the realm, including a of progressive development in which all activities are subordinated to the state's developmental goals (pp. 5, 26). Consequently, has been treated by most IPE scholars as not just connoting a set of practices that are antithetical to neoliberalism, but also as a concept whose time has well and truly passed into a world in which neoliberalism has run rampant. As the scholars associated with Economic Nationalism in a Globalizing World point out, although superficially plausible, this conventional analysis of runs into a problem at the ontological level. Like much of IR theory, IPE scholarship has tended to conflate the nation and the state, leading to a situation in which economic has generally been a way to discuss statist policies such as protectionism and interventionism. Ironically, what gets left out of discussions of is the subject of nationalism itself. It is this problem that Helleiner and Pickel attempt to fix by embarking on a project of reconceptualization. Economic nationalism, argues Pickel in the introduction to the volume, should not be understood merely as doctrine or a specific set of policies. Instead, it should be understood as typical relationships between national identity and economy (p. 11). Consequently, according to Helleiner's conclusion, interrogating the meaning and contemporary relevance of involves examining how national identities and shape policies and

Anything new or more of the same? Wars and military interventions in the international system, 1946–2003

In order systematically to trace the transformation of warfare on the global level, this article analyses the occurrence of different types of war in the contemporary international system. Starting from the hypothesis that change in the social institution of warfare is anything but new, the aim is threefold. In the first part the article examines our empirical knowledge about the changing patterns of violent conflict and critically discusses the assumption of a qualitative transformation from ‘old’ to ‘new’ wars. Secondly an actor-based classification is proposed, which avoids attractive simplifications and which includes the often overlooked dimensions of sub-state warfare and military interventions in current conflicts. Thirdly, based on the conceptual framework, the article analyses empirically the identified forms of collective violence (wars, military interventions) and changes among the types over time by application of a new data set, covering the period 1946–2003. One of the empirical results is that it would be premature to either ignore ‘old’ intra-state wars (anti-regime or secession wars) or even to regard inter-state wars as on the brink of extinction. Even though sub-state wars have clearly gained in importance over the past two decades, they have not become the dominant form of violence. Nevertheless, the proposed integration of a sub-state category draws our attention to similarities and dissimilarities across different classes of war and suggests an improved perspective for the analysis of their correlates and etiologies.

Globalisation, Security and International Order After 11 September

This article advances the discussion of the contentious question of links between global inequalities of power and violent responses, focussing on globalisation and non‐inclusive forms of governance. Drawing on international political economy, the article criticises the “nationstate‐centrism” in much political discourse, suggesting that both authority and security need to be reconsidered — to account for less plausible national borders and controls. It suggests that “human security” (including issues of development and equality) ought to replace “national security” as the primary focus of public policy. It draws attention to the intractability of difference, insisting that the terrorism of 2001 has complex transnational antecedents. Realist approaches to international order have become part of a problem to be overcome through further intellectual debate.

International civil society: social movements in world politics

Book synopsis: Since the end of the Cold War, activists and scholars alike have celebrated the phenomenal growth of transnational social movements across the globe. For some, this new eruption of grass-roots political activism on a world scale - from the Rio Earth Summit to the Seattle anti-globalization protests - represents the emergence of a global or transnational civil society. This book provides a critical survey of recent approaches to the study of civil society and international relations, presenting an alternative historical and sociological account of the interaction between these two spheres. It makes a theoretical case for the importance of social movements in world politics arguing that modern social movements emerging out of civil society have been instrumental in shaping the contemporary international system. In this wide-ranging engagement with past and present controversies in international relations, Colas shows how a renewed conception of international civil society can illuminate future possibilities for international social movement activity. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of international relations, political sociology and social history, as well as those who seek to play a part in global politics.

Reconciling Multiple Economic Multilateralisms: The Case of Singapore

Introduction Although small in size, Singapore city-state maintains a high profile foreign economic policy (FEP). This may be generally attributed to its impressive technocratic capabilities as well as highly internationalized nature of its economy that requires Singapore's FEP protagonists to develop and maintain activist economic diplomacy linkages at various levels of engagement. Given its geoeconomic circumstances and its trading-state credentials, Singapore is very much dependent on healthy development and maintained stability of international economic system. Particular priority is therefore afforded within its foreign economic policy to upholding different forms of economic governance designed to foster that development and stability. As will be discussed in more detail, term can be applied at both regional and global levels in reference to geographic scale. Further differentiation also stems from increasingly contested nature of multilateralism at meta -level, which relates to questions of how very essence of economic governance is transmogrifying in relation to evolving new alignments of power structure and issue-linkage. Consequently, Singapore's highly activist foreign economic policy must contend with multiple forms of multilateralism that are emerging within international economic system. This is no easy task, as reconciling Singapore's commitment to these different forms involves managing frictions that often arise between them. The Evolving Nature of (Economic) Multilateralism Multilateralism has become important organizing principle of contemporary international economic system. Ruggie reminds us that we should not confuse multilateralism with organizations, as historically, former has existed in looser institutional arrangements designed to define and stabilize international property rights of states, as well as manage and foster co-ordinative and collaborative acts between them. (1) Nor should we confuse meaning of multilateralism with any particular institutional expression of it, be it international order, regime, or organization. Furthermore, forms should not be equated with universal geographic scope. In literal terms, multilateral means many-sided, which allows some discretion regarding group number participation in multilateralism arrangements. Thus, we may distinguish between those extant at regional level and others that aspire to global participation, such as World Trade Organization (WTO). In addition, multila teralism has undergone crucial changes during post-Cold War period regarding its conceptualization and practical development. On both levels, multilateralism is often evolving within a dialectical tension that derives from contestations over matters of form, balance of participative interests, intended aims, and compatibility with other arrangements. Indeed, recent developments in international political economy would suggest that we live in a world of contesting multilateralisms. Before returning to this debate, let us explore further fundamentals of multilateralism itself. For Keohane, multilateralism refers to the practice of co-ordinating national policies in groups of three or more states. (2) Not entirely satisfied with this somewhat nominal definition, Ruggie expands this further by providing a more qualitative distinction, defining multilateralism as an institutional form which co-ordinates behaviour among three or more states on basis of 'generalized' principles of conduct: that is, principles which specify appropriate conduct for a class of actions, without regard to particularistic interests of parties or strategic exigencies that may exist in any specific occurrence. (3) Two corollaries follow from this definition. …

Monetary Privacy in the Information Economy

Offshore financial centres (OFCs), such as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands, increasingly have to exchange information on their financial activities, reflecting broader trends in what Castells has termed the `information economy'. However, what kind of information is being exchanged within and across offshore jurisdictions and what does this mean for the confidentiality of client information, so long the hallmark of `offshore' operations? On the basis of some recent research undertaken in the OFC of Monaco, this article argues that while information exchange represents an important dynamic within the contemporary international financial system, a culture of privacy remains a constitutive feature in the way that these centres operate. The author shows that Monaco is working hard to develop, not undermine, such a culture through structural, institutional, dispositional and spatial changes. Such an argument questions some prevailing theoretical discourses which view modern economies as being essentially information driven.

Between anarchy and tyranny: excellence and the pursuit of power and peace in ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is not unfamiliar to International Relations scholars. Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War has been especially influential in shaping our understanding of the ancient Greek international system, not only because it is the best historical source available, but also in light of the status it has achieved as the foremost classic of International Relations. Of particular interest to International Relations have been questions concerning the character of the system and the units within it, and how these have affected the dynamics of conflict and co-operation in the international arena. Many find the antecedents of the modern European states-system in the pattern of relations that emerged between the independent city-states of Hellas roughly between the eighth and fourth centuries BC. Like our contemporary international system, the ancient Greek international system was anarchic in the sense that it lacked an overarching common government.

Trade and Inequality: Economic Justice and the Developing World

This article develops a Rawlsian framework for the evaluation of the justice of contemporary international trade law. Given the problem of inequality between states, liberal justification of the contemporary international economic system requires wealthier states to pursue redistributive policies through international trade law, as a consequence of an international version of Rawls' second principle of justice. In fact, international trade law recognizes the principle of special and different treatment towards developing states, which under this analysis can be seen as one response to the redistributive imperative. If so, then contemporary special and differential treatment practice in the WTO and in U.S. hemispheric trade policy, and in the contemplated Free Trade Area of the Americas, must be significantly reformed if special and differential treatment is to serve as a policy through which wealthier states can discharge their moral obligations, and the article concludes with recommendations for appropriate changes.

The Process of Globalisation and Class Transformation in the West

In this article the contemporary international capitalist system is examined and a rising New International Division of Labour is defined. It is argued that while in previous epochs an international market of commodities existed, during the post-war period a global network of closely interconnected production units and financial institutions has been created as well. But while production, finance and commerce are decentralised worldwide, their management and control is centralised in a few headquarters in the advanced capitalist countries. A colossal concentration of economic power and control over the world means of production, resources and labour force, unprecedented in the history of capitalism, is taking place. Information Technology is shown to be the current day means of centralisation of organisation and control of both material and service production by capital. It, at the same time, allocates work and degrades its knowledge content. Coupled with the prevalence of services in western society, it ...

International Law in a Changing International System

To see what international law can offer in an apparently chaotic and fast changing world is far from easy. But it is only by examining and trying to understand the evolving international system that some answers may be found, because international law and international relations are in a symbiotic relationship.The characterising features of the contemporary international system are globalisation on the one hand and a unipolar power structure on the other. The former is having a significant impact on international law as by its very nature actors are engaged in transactions across State boundaries in alliances that are not bounded by nationality. Modern technology facilitates these alliances of interest and gives an unprecedented voice to non-State actors, whether in human rights, in environmental matters or in international markets.The concentration of military power in the United States had led to various incremental changes in authorisations of force by the United Nations, whether for peacekeeping or for enforcement actions. The evolving relationship between the United Nations and NATO has negative as well as positive factors and needs careful monitoring.

The beginning of the end of modernity? Honour, ethics and the practise of civil war at the Fin De Siecle

This paper argues that the transition in the forms of contemporary conflict which has led to the growth of ethnic and civil war as the effective major form of large scale group conflict in the contemporary international system has profound implications for the ethics of force and the way in which such norms are enshrined in international law. It then suggests ways in which conventional accounts of the ethics and laws of war might be reconfigured to take such changes into account.

Roland goes corporate: Mercenaries and transnational security corporations in the post‐cold war era

Mercenaries are important non‐state transnational actors in contemporary world politics. However much they might be ignored by students of international politics, they can and do have an impact. The purpose of this article is to survey mercenaries and mercenary armies as transnational actors, both historically and in the contemporary international system. I will argue that the common perception of mercenary armies as Soldier‐of‐Fortune bands is highly time‐bound, and does not accurately reflect the evolving nature of mercenary activity in the present international community. I will also argue that the common perception that mercenaries and the state have a necessarily antagonistic relationship is inaccurate. On the contrary: as a quintessentially transnational actor in world politics, mercenaries have been and continue to be deeply tied to the sovereign state: they are often protected and rescued by the state; they are used by state officials to advance state goals; and, most importantly, their considerable expenses are paid for by state revenues. In short, contemporary mercenary activity confirms M.J. Peterson's surmise that ‘states and societal actors will find the other an indispensable partner in achieving their own goals’.1

Conflict, Intervention and the Decline of the Developing State

The contemporary international system is characterized by change and continuity in fundamental socio-political processes and economic relationships that constitute the foundation on which state and non-state interactions unfold. In particular, post-Cold War fin de siècle international politics, rather than producing a new era of global peace, economic prosperity, and symmetrical interdependence, is instead characterized by a widening scope and intensity of geopolitical fluidity and socio-economic effervescence which tend either to (1) undermine state sovereignty, (2) assail human rights practices, or (3) impel the key actors (great powers and major international organizations) of the international system to adopt a foreign policy posture of Aintervention@ with the goal of managing the global political economy. The ever-increasing negative effects of transnational social forces tend to generate the pervasive force of a liberal cosmopolitan moral view of international relations that increasingly sanctions both military and non-military interventions to maintain the existing structure of states and international society. The consequence is that states, in particular weak developing states, are progressively losing their individual identities, rights, and obligations vis-à-vis civil society, in the wake of the external impositions. In other words, the high incidence of violent ethnopolitical conflicts as well as the dislocative effects of weak developing economies are increasingly undermining the twin pillars of non-intervention and state sovereignty. Conflict/peacekeeping interventions and economic dislocation/external policy impositions now constitute the most formidable sources of assault on the decision-making autonomy, territorial integrity, and overall sovereignty of the developing state.

Metternich's Theory of European Order: A Political Agenda for “Perpetual Peace”

This article examines the foreign policy of Prince Clemens Metternich of Austria, the chief architect of the Vienna Treaty of 1815, in the light of Enlightenment political thought. Metternich is commonly considered a reactionary and practitioner of callous balance-of-power diplomacy, and this article seeks to refute this conclusion. By examining Metternich's deeply held theoretical beliefs on the nature of the European state system, and above all his Kantian belief in progress and federalism, this essay concludes that Metternich pursued a reformist, and indeed idealistic, program in international politics which cannot be divorced from late Enlightenment philosophy. His Conference System, which was designed to regulate European politics in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, represented a novel experiment in European union which remains a pressing concern in the contemporary international system.

Waltz, Durkheim, and International Relations: The International System as an Abnormal Form

Drawing on Emile Durkheim's Division of Labor in Society, I offer a typology of international systems. Previous uses of Durkheim to describe international systems suffer a number of conceptual errors and therefore are at variance with the spirit and intention of Durkheim's work. A deeper reading of Durkheim usefully draws attention to the moral basis for society and thus the problems with defining international systems solely in terms of power distributions. Further, rereading Durkheim offers a much richer typology than the simple distinction between mechanical and organized societies, affording in turn fresh insights into change in the international system. The abnormal forms of the division of labor offer the best description of the contemporary international system.

Globalisation and interdependence in the international political economy: rhetoric and reality

Part 1 Interdependence and globalization in the contemporary international system - dispositions and definitions: central problems contrasting implications of interdependence and globalization competing definitions of interdependence methodological and theoretical questions the construction of interdependence and globalization. Part 2 International interdependence and globalization - the political-economic interface: economic liberalism, the politico-economic relationship, interdependence Marxist perspectives on politics, economics, interdependence and globalization economic realist and structuralist approaches to international interdependence and globalization economic realism structuralist perspectives institutionalist perspectives methodological considerations. Part 3 Interdependence and globalization in a world of states: statism, capitalism and the emergence of the modern international system politico-military interdependence in a system of conflicting states strategic interdependence and the security dilemma rationalist perspectives. Part 4 Interdependence, globalization and challenges to the international order: global interdependence and the moral transcendence of the States' system the unity of man, world society and a world state common fate a world without states interdependence and globalization rhetoric and reason interdependence and a new world order. Part 5 Patterns of economic interdependence: mutual dependence dependence or interdependence? sensitivities and international interdependence connections, vulnerabilities and dependencies. Part 6 Patterns of interconnectedness, interdependence and globalization - the empirical picture: interconnections in the contemporary international economy trade and dependence the import dependence of the advanced industrial countries the import dependence of the less developed countries the export dependence of the advanced industrial countries the export dependence of the less developed countries regional interdependence financial dependencies. Part 7 The sources of international economic interdependence and globalization: differential resource endowments and contemporary international economic interdependence development and dependence economic interdependence and globalization - cause or consequence of international trade? imperialism transnational corporations technology, TNCs, international finance and globalization financial integration. Part 8 Globalization and levels of interdependence: the claims of atomistic modes of analysis the holistic critique of atomistic approaches to international phenomena holistic theories of the contemporary international political economy complex interdependence and the radical critiques. Part 9 The consequences of international interdependence and globalization. Part 10 The future of international interdependence and globalization.

Defining power: influence and force in the contemporary international system, American economic policy and national security, Defining national security: the nonmilitary aspects and The many faces of national security in the Arab world

Defining power: influence and force in the contemporary international system, American economic policy and national security, Defining national security: the nonmilitary aspects and The many faces of national security in the Arab world

Leopold Kohr on the Desirable Scale of States

The individual states that compose the contemporary international system are of greatly differing size-China has more than twice the population of the well over 50 states of Africa, and sharp contrasts in this regard characterize every continent. Since its founding not quite half-a-century ago, membership in the United Nations has more than tripled. Facts such as these are commonly known. But what is the desirable scale of political units endowed with sovereignty? Has the contemporary system of states, as created by the buffeting currents of past history, proven itself to be most conducive to international peace, economic prosperity, and cultural flowering? And, looking into the future, what tendencies should be encouraged: those towardformation of ever larger-sized entities through political union and centralization of power, or those toward disunion, creating a more differentiated mosaic of independent and presumably more homogenous states, loosely tied in regional federations? Such questions, although age-old, appear ahistorical and unrealistically abstract, hence are seldom considered outside the frame of specific disputes and aspirations-disputes within states that are formally unitary but that contain significant ethnic, linguistic, or otherwise culturally distinct minorities that seek selfdetermination, or between states that try to resolve conflicts between them or wish to form alliances aimed at enhancing state interests. In a time of acute international crisis, Leopold Kohr, an American economist (born in Austria in 1909), posed such questions in a refreshingly original, even offbeat, article entitled Disunion now: A plea for a society based upon autonomous units. The article, whose text is reprinted below in full with the kind permission of Professor Kohr (who resides in England), appeared in the 26 September 1941 issue of the American weekly magazine The Commonweal. The thesis of Disunion now has been extended into one of Kohr's books, The Breakdown of Nations, first published (in London, by Routledge and Kegan Paul) in 1957. (Kohr's thinking on this subject influenced the late E. F. Schumacher in his development of the small is beautiful theme.) The continued, indeed increasing, relevance of the issue raised by Kohr, although not necessarily the soundness of the solution proposed by him, has been especially borne out by recent

A New Age in International Relations?

The remarkable events of the last two years have given substance to the idea that we are in a new age of international relations. The collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the conclusion of the I990 CFE treaty on conventional forces in Europe, the end of the Warsaw Pact as an operational body, the unification of Germany, the expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait by an alliance acting with the authorization of the United Nations-all this seems to have changed the political landscape irreversibly.' Many people have found these events, because they seemed highly improbable only two years ago, not only interesting and in some cases welcome, but also disorienting. Familiar compass-points have disappeared. It is not just that facts have changed, but also that existing interpretations of the international system are challenged. There is a sense that we are living in a time which is fundamentally different from all past eras. In these circumstances, naturally, there is no shortage of ideas to the effect that the contemporary international system is in a state of fundamental transformation. Some of these 'transformational ' ideas have gained a good deal of currency around the world. Among them are the following: (i) The high degree of interdependence between states, especially in the economic field, has created a new situation in which force has declining utility. (2) The possibilities of non-violent change are greater now than in previous eras of world history. (3) The Yalta system in Europe has been decisively replaced by a new and better order. (4) With the end of the ideological confrontation between East and West, the end of history is nigh. (5) There is now the actuality, or the strong possibility, of a new world order, based on international law, the UN Charter and Security Council-and also on American power and influence.