Foreign Regime Research Articles

Explaining Support for Human Rights Actions: Experimentally Studying Democracy and Personal Authoritarianism

ABSTRACT How do authoritarian attitudes affect public support for international intervention against human rights abuses? Does U.S. residents’ support for human rights actions against perpetrators depend on the type of regime committing human rights violations? These questions are important for understanding how U.S. residents form opinions on U.S. actions toward foreign regimes that perpetrate human rights abuses. We conducted a survey experiment to determine whether support for actions against human rights violators are influenced by the type of regime that committed the human rights violations, repetition of repression, and their preexisting personal authoritarian attitudes. We find that individuals with high personal authoritarianism, which we define as favorable attitudes toward centralized power and appeals to authority for cultural preservation, are less likely to support symbolic actions like naming and shaming or humanitarian aid. They are more likely, however, to support sending peacekeeping troops. We find little evidence that the regime type of the perpetrator or the perpetrator’s past behavior affects support. International audiences generally support action in favor of human rights, but the kind of action they prefer is shaped by their preexisting views about authority.

The development of a smart political moral economy in Africa: discourse, legitimisation, disciplining, and hegemony

This paper uses and expands the concept of a ‘political moral economy’ to better understand elite attempts to justify and promote capitalist development strategies linked to the proliferation of ‘smart technologies’ such as big data, mobile communications, and the construction of hi-tech cities. Drawing on an Ideology and Discourse analysis perspective on hegemony introduced by Ernesto Laclau and Chantel Mouffe, it aims to show how market-based ‘smart development’ across the African continent has discursively incorporated resistance moralities associated with popular critiques of elite corruption, foreign exploitation, and local economic marginalisation for its overall political success. To do so, it will focus on the case of ‘Leapfrogging development’ discourses and the planned construction of the Technopolis Konza in Kenya. The key advance of this article is showing how dominant ideologies – and the domestic and foreign regimes of elite power they support – can be strengthened through processes of ‘moral legitimisation’ and ‘moral disciplining’. Specifically, this moral dimension of hegemony involves the ongoing incorporation and strategic redeployment of existing and emergent normative discourses for the purpose of providing political legitimacy to these governing ideologies and further attempting to normatively regulate populations in accordance with their core values and interests – even in the face of their practical and ongoing failures as policies.

'The fall of a dry leaf is a warning to the green ones': Exploring the Twitter ban and the impending dangers of data politics, algorithmic governance, and mass surveillance in Nigeria

For many years, everyday Nigerians, activists, community advocates, political enthusiasts, human rights leaders, and groups saw and used social media, especially Twitter as their safe haven and a tool that gave them the unmitigated opportunities to air their opinions on topical issues of national interest, criticize the government of the day and speak truth to power — until 4 June 2021 when the Nigerian government suspended Twitter after the social media giant deleted a controversial tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari. That event is the thrust for this study as we believe that this newly realized understanding of the power of restrictive Internet policies could be a conduit for other technologically enhanced political and corrupt bureaucratic and, questionable practices such as the use of big data spying tools, digitally inclined electoral manipulation, and mass surveillance tools. As a result, we argue that the Twitter ban could be the beginning of digital authoritarianism in Nigeria. We explore the impending dangers of a dictatorial digital toolkit such as social media data mining and computational politics in social engineering with examples to buttress from patterns of foreign regimes.

A Study of the Revitalization of Indigenous People Annual Rituals in Taiwan

Over the past 400 years, Taiwan's indigenous people annual rituals have been lost due to the assimilation of foreign regimes and the influence of modern urbanization. However, under the influence of modern social life style and political power, the annual rituals became performance and lost their original significance. But also because of its regeneration, the culture of Taiwan's indigenous people has been revitalized, and has the role of identity and continuity. However, because of the restoration of the annual rituals, the culture of the aborigines has been revitalized, and the role of recognition and continuity has been generated in Taiwan.

Building legitimacy? The role of Chinese contract workers in foreign regimes’ political strategies

Over the past two decades, the number of Chinese workers sent overseas to complete engineering and construction projects has increased significantly along with the expanding role of Chinese companies in foreign countries, including low- and middle-income states with large populations. Yet, there has been little systematic analysis of this phenomenon. This article hypothesizes that differences in the strategies adopted by governments in democratic and non-democratic countries to boost performance-based legitimacy claims make the latter more willing to allow Chinese companies to bring Chinese workers. Statistical analysis of a new global country-year panel dataset from 2004 to 2019 and two case studies of Algeria and Ghana support this hypothesis. This article points to the importance of host regime type in shaping China’s human presence overseas, and prompts important considerations on the political consequences of job creation around (Chinese) infrastructure projects and the economic impact of Chinese workers in foreign countries.

The Analysis of the Impact of Debt on the Indonesian Economy for the Period 1976-2021

Foreign debt has an important and inseparable role in the history of Indonesia's national development. The government has changed seven times, foreign debt is always present to fill the development budget deficit. Debt is expected to help move the wheels of the economy, create growth, create jobs, and alleviate poverty. This study aims to analyze the effect of debt, budget, inflation and differences in government regimes on the Indonesian economy (GDP and Income per Capita) in Indonesia for the 1976-2021 period. The study uses secondary data obtained from Bank Indonesia, the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the World Bank, and other reference sources such as books, journals and scientific papers. The data used are the value of foreign debt, APBN, national income (GDP), population, inflation rate, and government regime in the period 1976 - 2021. The results of multiple regression analysis with dummy variables (using the Eviews 10 application program) show the following results: Foreign debt and APBN have a correlation with the condition of the national economy, especially the value of GDP. Debt and the state budget tend to increase the value of GDP. In terms of debt management as a driver of economic growth, the Suharto Era (New Order) tended to be better than the eras that followed. However, relatively speaking, the Habibe and SBY eras tended to be better than the Megawati era, the Abdurahman Wahid era, and the Jokowi era. In fact, Jokowi's era is no better than previous eras.
 
 Keywords: Budget, Inflation, GDP, Indonesian Economy

Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs

Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs

Two emerging international orders? China and the United States

Abstract If it continues, deglobalization may lead not to atomization but two overlapping international orders: a liberal one (LIO) led by the United States, and an authoritarian–capitalist one (ACIO) led by China. This equilibrium could emerge because a central purpose of international orders is to preserve the domestic regimes of their Great Power sponsors. The United States and China have markedly different domestic regimes, and so as China continues to grow in power and influence, tension over the content of international order should continue to grow. I borrow from Darwinian evolution the notion of ‘niche construction’: just as organisms alter phenotype selection by manipulating their natural environments, states can alter the ‘selection’ of domestic regimes by shaping their international environments. Modes of international niche construction include foreign regime promotion, interdependence, transnational interaction and multilateral institutions. The liberal democratic niche constructed by the United States and its allies after the Second World War preserved democracy for many decades. Today, China is attempting through various means to build a niche that will eliminate the liberal bias in international institutions and safeguard its own Market-Leninist regime. The resulting ACIO would select for autocracy and hence be partially separate from the LIO, which selects for liberal democracy.

Re-enacting the international order, or: why the Syrian state did not disappear

AbstractAt the height of the Syrian civil war, many observers argued that the Syrian state was collapsing, fragmenting, or dissolving. Yet, it never actually vanished. Revisiting the rising challenges to the Syrian state since 2011 – from internal collapse through external fragmentation to its looming dissolution by the ‘Islamic State’ – provides a rare opportunity to investigate the re-enactment of both statehood and international order in crisis. Indeed, what distinguishes the challenges posed to Syria, and Iraq, from others in the region and beyond is that their potential dissolution was regarded as a threat not merely to a – despised – dictatorial regime, or a particular state, but to the state-based international order itself. Regimes fall and states ‘collapse’ internally or are replaced by new states, but the international order is fundamentally questioned only where the territorially delineated state form is contested by an alternative. The article argues that the Syrian state survived not simply due to its legal sovereignty or foreign regime support, but also because states that backed the rebellion, fearing the vanishing of the Syrian nation-state in a transnational jihadist ‘caliphate’, came to prefer its persistence under Assad. The re-enactment of states and of the international order are thus ultimately linked.

The Psychology of Overt and Covert Intervention

Overt interventions to forcibly promote regimes abroad are often a risky undertaking. If successful, they can replace or rescue regimes and signal resolve in the process. But open meddling can also trigger large-scale escalation, incite nationalist backlash, and harm a state’s reputation. Despite an emerging consensus that states often prefer covert action to avoid these liabilities, leaders sometimes opt for overt action anyway. Why? Drawing on the concept of loss aversion, this article argues that leaders’ tolerance for risk differs depending on whether the goal is to overthrow a foreign regime or prop one up. Because regime rescue approximates loss prevention, leaders are more likely to pursue risky intervention strategies than they are to change regimes, a prospective gain. This framework helps explain why leaders are more likely to accept the risks of overt action when saving a foreign regime and more likely to go covert when deposing one. I evaluate this theory using the Eisenhower administration’s covert regime change efforts in Syria (1956–57) and overt regime rescue attempts in Lebanon (1958).

China’s Opening-up Strategy in the Milieu of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

The Chinese economy is changing its development model from invest/export-led growth to consumption/growth driven by domestic demand. In the recent domestic-oriented growth phases of China's opening-up policy, what role is expected to play? Not only is this a way to acquire foreign exchange and technology, but it is also an economic powerhouse for China that strengthens its position in global governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping's proposed the "Belt and Road" initiative in 2013, which is considered an excellent strategy for China's new round of opening-up policy. This research paper aims to bring the BRI inside China's open-up policy and focuses on its increasingly important role in controlling major global economic regimes. The study also shows the importance of establishing systems of mutual aid/funding for the countries participating in BRI. The first section of the paper looks at China's reactions to major economic regimes. Section two reflects the design and the implementation of the opening-up strategy for China from the BRI perspective. Section three of the research addresses Chinese development aid/funding in the BRI and its relation to foreign regimes. The fourth part addresses the BRI's trade relationship with the participating countries, using the gravity model from a global commercial perspective. The study concluded that cross-border financial cooperation between government and business participants is vital for the development of a successful investment and funding system for the BRI. It reiterated the importance of using foreign and regional financial centers to develop a regional structure within the BRI's investment and financing system.

U.S. in the global FDI’ flows: repatriation of foreign earning by U.S. from EU members as the new global trend

Scientific investigation covers the questions of U.S.’ involvedness into the international economic relations and into the international trade of goods and services and international movement of FDI as well. The fact that USA is the larger importer and the second exporter of goods in the world (2018), and the largest exporter and importer of commercial services (2018), the biggest host economy of FDI, and the largest investor (till 2017) the investigation of the American investment cooperation is the rather important affair, that can show the tough dependence of U.S.’ economy of foreign countries investments flows and regimes. In accordance with UNCTAD data U.S. is holding the first place as the exporter of FDI during the long period till 2018, that showed the negative number of FDI outflow in 2018 as the result of tax reform’ implementation at the end of 2017. Implementation of open and tough foreign trade policy (the policy of protectionism) through the import tariffs increasing is aimed at trade deficit reduction, protection and support of the American producers, implementation of tax reform at the end of 2017, making come true the soundbites of D. Trump “Make America Great Again” and “America first”. The author analyzed investment cooperation of U.S. and EU, its dynamic, specialization, directions. The author came to conclusion that correlation of United States’ investment indicators with European Union showed an unequal evaluation of each Union’ member and determined the disproportion of understanding and examination of regional integration not as the complex subject of the global economy but as the set of different and independent subjects. Investigation of U.S.’ FDI export and import statistics gave the author opportunity to come the conclusion that there is the specific of U.S.’ investment outflow into the European Union countries reflected through the limited set of investment recipients. At the same time, implementation of the tax reforms at the end of 2017 could lead to the changing of global investment flows from low tax jurisdictions to USA, for example.

Jalgpalli populaarsus Eesti Vabariigi spordielus 1920–40 [Abstract: The Popularity of Football in the Sporting Life of the Republic of Estonia in 1920–1940

Jalgpalli populaarsus Eesti Vabariigi spordielus 1920–40 [Abstract: The Popularity of Football in the Sporting Life of the Republic of Estonia in 1920–1940

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS

The world faces old and new problems that are more complicated than our currently capable multilateral and national institutions. To face these challenges, international cooperation is becoming ever more important. An international environmental agreement is a kind of treaty that is binding in international law, allowing them to accomplish an environmental goal. Bilateral environmental agreement is defined as an agreement between two countries. If the agreement is signed between three or more nations it is called a Multilateral Environmental Agreement. These agreements, mainly drawn up by the United Nations, include issues, such as environmental policies, freshwater policies, hazardous waste and material policies, aquatic environment, wildlife conservation policies, noise pollution and nuclear safety. International agreements set a number of objectives: Informal agreements may formulate action plans for sovereign states or international institutions; they may establish or alter international organizations or bodies; and legally binding agreements may demand that sovereign states change their actions. Least developed countries face significant challenges in terms of mitigation and adaptation, which must be resolved by successful agreements. A state government may wish to abide by an agreement but lacks the power to do so. Some climate agreements build in frameworks for promoting implementation and enforcement through technology transfer, funding and technical support. Agreements can facilitate the process of forging a common vocabulary and a mutual knowledge of an issue. States have often taken steps within their own jurisdictions which foreshadow what they are prepared to agree internationally. The balance of power is increasingly shifting, giving rise to questions about the successful functioning of foreign regimes. This current multi-polarity also deepens cleavages over the nature of agreements. The financial crisis spurred consensus on institutional reform; adapting international architecture to better represent the dynamics of contemporary power. The emerging and developing economies have concluded agreements in the environmental problem field to promote mitigation and adaptation assistance to the least developed countries. This present paper analyzes the development, function and the problems of these agreements.

The hidden hands of foreign interference and Ethiopia’s security challenge, from post 2005 Election-2018

Post-2005 election had created great political awakening in Ethiopia. In this post-election period, another armed political group was established against Ethiopian government. However, this group was based at foreign destination. Political intervention is largely military. According to the history of countries where military intervention has been shown, the cause of the intervention may be serious human rights abuses, biological hazards, or serious civil conflicts that threaten the lives of citizens.Ethiopia did not have direct intervention because of there were no sign of any above stated processes. However, it is not possible to say that foreign hands were not involved in Ethiopia’s political dynamics. From 2005-2018 which is the time of Melees Zenawi to Hailemariam Desalegn's power as prime minister, the government had been accusing the hands of foreign forces in the aftermath of violence.Even though outside forces did not directly intervene, these third parties were involving and interfering in Ethiopia’s domestic politics and exacerbated unrest. By what means were they able to get involved in the politics of the country? With whom they collaborate? What was the position of the government? The content of the crisis that followed these endorsements underscores the dilemma of the foreign regime and the security crisis that the Ethiopian government had faced. This article will address these questions by considering Ethiopia's security challenges during the period adoption of 2005 to 2018.

1 Chronicles–2 Maccabees

1 Chronicles–2 Maccabees Christopher T. Begg, Rhiannon Graybill, Fred W. Guyette, Eric F. Mason, and Joseph E. Jensen 1311. [Chronicles; Psalm 2] Friedhelm Hartenstein, "The King on the Throne of God: The Concept of World Dominion in Chronicles and Psalm 2," Psalmen und Chronik, 277-95 [see #1555]. H.'s essay offers a comparison between Psalm 2 and the concept of the worldwide rulership of Yhwh and his king in Chronicles. Taking Ps 2:6, which, alongside Pss 102:2 and 132:17, is the only attestation for a connection between the king/the Davidids with Mount Zion as the place of Yhwh's residence and throne, he inquires in particular about the spatial symbolism (implicit image of the world) that characterizes the above texts. In this connection, H. regards Psalm 2 as a late Persian-period text that elaborated on an old monarchical-period core text (vv. 7-9) in order to turn this into an introduction to the "Messianic Psalter" of Psalms 2–89, which alludes both to the world rulership of the Achaemenids and to the related conception of kingship in Chronicles: the Achaemenid emperors saw themselves as closely connected with the great god Ahura Mazda, who as creator of the world and link with heaven, appears as a universal God. According to T. Willi, the Chronicler traces a world-kingship that unfolds, due to a process of translatio imperii initiated by Yhwh in his capacity as creator and guide of history, from Saul, through David and Solomon, the Davidids and Nebuchadnezzar, down to the Persians (2 Chr 36:20). In this trajectory, the paradigmatic statement is made three times by the Chronicler concerning Solomon that he "sits on the throne of Yhwh" (1 Chr 28:5; 29:23; 2 Chr 9:8), a placement that, in fact, signifies the universal rulership of the anointed one at the center of the world, which the king as divine delegate exercises in close connection with Yhwh. It is striking to see how Chronicles and Psalm 2 portray rebellion/disloyalty directed against Yhwh and [End Page 443] his anointed (see, e.g., the war accounts in 2 Chronicles 13–14; 20). In both cases, no one can withstand the one enthroned in heaven (Ps 2:4; 2 Chr 20:5-6), who puts an end to rebellions, before they actually get off the ground. Seen in this way, the images of the world implicit in Psalm 2 and Chronicles are strikingly similar. In both, the Temple (as residence and place of rule) and the world under the heavens are seen as one. [Adapted from published abstract] 1312. [Chronicles] Gary N. Knoppers, "'Should You Help the Wicked and Love Those who Hate Yhwh?' Alliances, Foreign Subjugation, and Empire in Chronicles," Judah and Samaria, 37-73 [see #1558]. In this reworking of an article originally published under the title "'Yhwh Is Not with Israel': Alliances as a Topos in Chronicles," CBQ 58 (1996) 601-26, K. highlights the Chronicler's disavowal of alliances, both with the Israelite kingdom and with various foreign regimes, and argues that this opposition is part of a larger pattern in which the Chronicler rejects all pacts the independent kingdom of Judah forges with other states. The Chronicler's bold rewriting of Kings in this regard is remarkable, revealing a consistent effort to restructure the past so as to demonstrate both the illicit nature of such associations, and, paradoxically, their futility as well. But why would the Chronicler, living in the late Achaemenid/early Hellenistic period, a time in which Judeans had been subject to foreign hegemony for centuries, be so concerned with pacts the Davidic regime forged with northern Israel and other states? There is another complication, however. In the worldview of the Chronicler, humans are not the only participants in history. Yhwh also acts in human affairs. Thus, what happens if a relationship with a foreign state is something the Deity imposes on Judah as a punitive action, rather than something that Judah seeks out as an instrument of its own diplomatic policy? How Chronicles casts the condition of foreign subjugation thus merits attention. In depicting the loss of political autonomy...

Bombs, Broadcasts and Resistance: Allied Intervention and Domestic Opposition to the Nazi Regime During World War II

Can bombs and broadcasts instigate resistance against a foreign regime? In this paper, we examine the canonical case of bombing designed to undermine enemy morale-the Allied bomber offensive against Germany during World War II. Our evidence shows that air power and the airwaves indeed undermined regime support. We collect data on treason trials and combine it with information on the bombing of over 900 German towns and cities. Using plausibly exogenous variation in weather, we show that places that suffered more bombardment saw noticeably more opposition. Bombing also reduced the combat motivation of soldiers: fighter pilots from bombed-out cities performed markedly less well after raids. We also provide evidence that exposure to BBC radio, especially together with bombing, increased the number of resistance cases. We corroborate these findings with the evidence on people's opinions and behavior using unique survey data collected in 1945.

Are Islamic Militant Groups a Product of Religion?

For centuries, religion has been manipulated and deliberately misused by regimes, followers, and fundamentalist groups as a tool to mobilize the masses and to justify wars. Since the Afghan war (1978–1992) and Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979, however, Muslim societies have witnessed successive waves of populist Islamic militant groups, funded and supported by local donors and foreign regimes. These groups share similar motives and goals, and regardless of where they operate, their use of violence is a common trait. Although proclaiming as their goals the fight against Western hegemony and the establishment of an Islamic state, most such groups have fallen victim to manipulation and exploitation by regional and global players. In reality, the thirst for funding and support has pressured these groups to compromise their moral and religious values, and they are assimilated into regional and global political schemes.

U.S. Monetary Regimes and Optimal Monetary Policy in the Euro Area

AbstractMonetary policy in the United States has been documented to have switched from reacting weakly to inflation fluctuations during the 1970s, to fighting inflation aggressively from the early 1980s onward. In this paper, I analyze the impact of the U.S. monetary policy regime switches on the Eurozone. I construct a New Keynesian two‐country model where foreign (U.S.) monetary policy switches regimes over time. I estimate the model for the U.S. and the Euro Area using quarterly data and find that the United States has switched between those two regimes, in line with existing evidence. I show that foreign regime switches affect home (Eurozone) inflation and output volatility and their responses to shocks, substantially, as long as the home central bank commits to a time‐invariant interest rate rule reacting to domestic conditions only. Optimal policy in the home country instead requires that the home central bank reacts strongly to domestic producer‐price inflation and to international variables, such as imported goods relative prices. In fact, I show that currency misalignments and relative prices play a crucial role in the transmission of foreign monetary policy regime switches internationally. Interestingly, I show that only marginal gains arise for the Euro Area when the European Central Bank (ECB) adjusts its policy according to the monetary regime in the United States. Thus, a simple time‐invariant monetary policy rule with a strong reaction to Producer Price Index (PPI) inflation and relative prices is enough to counteract the effects of monetary policy switches in the United States.

UZNANIE ZA ZMARŁEGO I STWIERDZENIE ZGONU (GENEZA, ROZWÓJ INSTYTUCJI I POSTĘPOWANIA)

The Origins and Development of the Law on the Presumption of Death and Declarations of DeathSummaryThe article presents the history of the presumption of death and declaration of death. It provides an insight into the relevant concepts of the Roman law as well as chosen examples of the laws of the ancient Middle East. It also focuses on the Polish and foreign laws which were in force on the historically Polish territory during the period of the country’s loss of independence (1795-1918). It identifies the origins of the presumption of death and declaration of death in the Polish law and examines their development (including the relevant civil procedurę provisions) until 1964, when the present civil code and civil procedurę code came into force.By presenting and comparing the laws governing the presumption of death and declarations of death, the author highlights the different approaches of the laws that applied at the time of the loss of independence: those of Prussia, Russia, Austria and the Polish Kingdom, as well as the law in effect in the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. The article also considers the extent to which the laws introduced after Poland regained independence in 1918 were influenced by the foreign regimes previously in force.The gradual developments in the law following the Second World War are presented against the background of the major changes in Polish civil law over the same period, which occurred mainly via the codifications of the law in the civil code and the civil procedure code.