Influence In International Politics Research Articles

International discourses of inclusion and their local translation: Teachers' conceptions regarding an integration-inclusion reform in the canton of Bern (Switzerland)

The inclusive paradigm is an international movement promoted by UN agencies such as UNESCO, influencing the educational policies of certain countries. Switzerland is among the countries that have initiated reforms to make their educational system more inclusive. These reforms have implications for teachers. The objective of this article is to report on teachers' conceptions regarding the ongoing integration-inclusion reform in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. A qualitative methodology was employed, based on 13 interviews conducted and analyzed in light of the theoretical framework of social change. The results highlight that, beyond a principled adherence, teachers' shared conceptions are resistant to integration-inclusion. These conceptions reveal inherent tensions within the inclusive paradigm and its development in educational systems susceptible to other international political influences, such as new public management and neoliberalismo.

Global Climate Change Politics: Critical Appraisal of India’s Changing Role

Global warming and consequent climate change have emerged as serious issues and have started featuring on almost all multilateral forums with statements warning the global leadership to get increasingly proactive about addressing the issues. In world politics, countries are viewing climate change as an issue to gain influence in international politics. India is no exception to this rule and has been shaping its role as a rule-shaper and policy advocate and is an active participant in climate change negotiations. This article traces India’s role since the talks on climate change began as part of wider environmental concerns. It also enumerates the way global leadership viewed and addressed this pressing issue from time to time. The article provides a brief but critical account of India’s policy interventions at global and national levels to appraise India’s growing role and relevance.

Pacem in Terris: Are Papal Visits Good News for Human Rights?

We analyze the effect of state visits by the Catholic pope on human rights in the host country to understand how a small theocracy like the Vatican can exert disproportionate political influence in international politics. Our theory of the strategic interaction between the Catholic Church and host governments describes how the pope’s use of conditional approval and criticism incentivizes governments to refrain from human rights violations. Drawing on a new dataset of papal state visits outside Italy and a novel identification strategy, we test for the first time whether governments react in anticipation of a papal visit by improving their human rights protection. Our empirical analysis offers robust evidence for this causal effect, which is supported by qualitative evidence.

New Era in the Foreign Policy of the Republic of Turkey: Ankara’s Increasing Influence in International Politics

100 yıllık Cumhuriyet tarihi boyunca Türk dış politikasında önemli değişim ve dönüşümler yaşanmıştır. Söz konusu değişim ve dönüşümler kimi zaman radikal kimi zaman da manevra değişikliği olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Bu doğrultuda 2023 Cumhurbaşkanlığı seçimleri sonrasında Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin dış politika kapsamında önemli adımlar atıldığına tanıklık edilmektedir. Dolayısıyla geçmiş dönemlere nazaran daha farklı bir döneme geçişten söz etmek mümkündür. Türk dış politikasıyla ilişkili bu yeni dönemde en göze çarpan kuşkusuz daha aktif bir sürece geçiştir. 2023 Cumhurbaşkanlığı seçimlerinin hemen akabinde Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin temasları bunun göstergelerindendir. Tüm bunların ışığında çalışmada aktif bir Türk dış politikasına geçiş süreci ve bunun gelecek dönemlerdeki yansımaları ele alınmaktadır. Bu kapsamda süreçteki gelişmeler uluslararası siyasette Ankara’nın artan etkisinin başladığına işaret etmektedir.

Promoting Human Rights as a Way of Improving Soft Power: The Case of India’s Caste-Based Discrimination at the United Nations

The ascendance of India as an economic power is well documented. This rising India has also focused on increasing its soft power and influence in international politics, especially through the dissemination of its values of ancient cultural heritage such as Buddhism, yoga and engagement with the diaspora. In the field of human rights as well, as a founding member of the United Nations (UN), India has participated in the framing of the Universal Declaration on the Human Rights and has signed various UN Human Rights Treaties and Conventions over the years. However, in the particular case of addressing caste discrimination, India has shied away from the international recognition of Dalit rights as human rights. Indian diplomats have continually opposed any internationalisation of caste-based discrimination and its linkage to racial discrimination at the global level, especially in the UN. In this scenario, how does the international community view India’s ascendance with respect to this issue? This article argues that India must play a leadership role in defending the rights of discriminated caste groups if it seeks to enhance its soft power credentials of being the largest democracy and demonstrate itself as a responsible power at the global level with respect to human rights issues. Furthermore, the norm that UN has tried to create of categorising caste discrimination as a form of racial discrimination cannot be strengthened without India’s support as India happens to be the most relevant state actor in this case.

E-Governance and Development in Africa

This paper delved into the intricate relationship between e-government and development in Africa, assessing the impact of international politics, foreign aid, and global dynamics on e-governance projects. Challenges spanning financial constraints, inadequate legal frameworks, technological disparities, cyber security threats, and the need for local-context-driven strategies emerge as prominent hurdles. The paper employed a comprehensive literature review that investigated the nexus between e-governance and development in Africa; with a particular focus on the influence of international politics. It was revealed that successful e-government implementation can lead to reduced corruption, increased transparency, and revenue growth. The paper also discovered that African countries often rely on foreign aid for such projects, and global power dynamics influence technology adoption and infrastructure development, presenting implementation challenges. It was further established that African countries face challenges that include financial constraints, inadequate legal frameworks, infrastructural deficiencies, and implementation hurdles. Key recommendations include establishing robust monitoring mechanisms, prioritizing investment in e-governance, enhancing capacity building, diversifying funding sources, and addressing systemic challenges to facilitate effective e-governance implementation

Humanitarian components of Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine in 2014-2022

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the humanitarian components of the latest Russian-Ukrainian war, which is qualified by its authors as a hybrid war. In principle, it is about the ideological basis, historical and religious mythology, and the information support of Russia’s revanchist policy in Ukraine, which the current Russian regime uses in its armed aggression against Ukraine. The authors convincingly and argumentatively prove that non-military instruments in Russia’s war against Ukraine are subordinated to a single goal – the restoration of the Russian empire and its international political influence. In order to achieve this goal, the Putin regime uses all the means available to it, including the spread of pseudo-historical myths and fakes that justify the expansionist policy of the Kremlin in Ukraine and in the countries of the post-Soviet space. Using a widely sourced base, the authors of the article refute the most common Russian pseudo-historical narratives.

The Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Chinese International Political Influence: An Empirical Study Using a Difference-in-Differences Approach

The Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Chinese International Political Influence: An Empirical Study Using a Difference-in-Differences Approach

Elements of US-Russian relations

Relations between countries are affected by the elements of strength in each of them, as each country has a number of elements that represent elements of power, and these elements and elements work to strengthen the regional and international role of this country, in a manner that achieves its national security and enhances its national interests regionally and globally, through work In order to invest in the strengths that the state enjoys and overcome the weaknesses it suffers from in a way that leads to determining its international standing, the international political influence, in order to be effective and influential, must be based on a set of conditions that give it a degree of credibility. The state influences the decisions of other states by virtue of its ability, and the power of the state is not limited to military force only, as the traditional approach of interpretation goes, but rather it includes all the state’s material and moral capabilities, and then the state’s strength is explained in terms of its ability to influence externally the behavior of others, and in proportion With the goals of its foreign political movement, in a manner that guarantees it the protection and realization of its national interests.

Commitment to Carbon Neutrality

The economic and political processes taking place at the global level, aimed at reducing the negative impact of the anthropogenic factor on the environment, have a significant impact on the foreign and domestic policy of the Russian Federation and can serve both as a basis for strengthening the country’s international political influence and global competitiveness, and as a source of serious conflicts. in the international arena and within the Russian political elite. As a turning point that marked the beginning of a new stage in global climate policy, one can consider the so-called Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, prepared to replace the Kyoto Protocol during the Climate Conference in Paris, adopted by consensus on December 12, 2015 and signed on April 22 2016. The agreement calls for all countries to commit themselves to reducing their emissions and work together to adapt to the impacts of climate change, and encourages countries to strengthen their commitments over time.

Resolution Feedback: The United Nations Special Conferences in the 1990s and the Millennium Development Goals

Abstract There is a broad consensus that existing and preexisting international institutions matter in shaping the design of new international institutions. Previous research has focused on international institutions with binding obligations, with limited understanding of nonbinding agreements such as United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions. This study explores how the existing UNGA resolutions affect the design of subsequent UNGA resolutions focusing on the case of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs were presented to the UNGA as a nonbinding agreement consisting of targets found verbatim in the Millennium Declaration that had unanimously been adopted by the UNGA. However, the UNGA continued debating and eventually revised the MDGs. To identify the reason that the MDGs did not obtain immediate approval, this study borrows insights from historical institutionalism. It suggests that policy feedback at the international level could be a mechanism through which prior UNGA resolutions constrained the design of the MDGs. Through an investigation of the history of nongovernmental organization (NGO) involvement in UN decision-making and UNGA official records related to the MDGs, it demonstrates that UNGA resolutions adopted in the 1990s empowered NGOs and motivated them to make the MDGs comprehensively reflect the agreements from the 1990s. The findings indicate that policy feedback could occur at the international level involving NGOs that pursue their goals across borders. Providing resources, international agreements could strengthen the capacities of NGOs and enhance their influence in international politics.

Are Chinese social scientists concerned about climate change? A bibliometric analysis and literature review.

China has been the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide since 2006. To achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, social scientists must become involved in China’s deep decarbonization process. However, Chinese social scientists have given little attention to climate change in their bibliometric research. Based on the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index journal catalog of the four essential social sciences, namely, management, economics, politics, and sociology, we used the China National Knowledge Infrastructure database to quantify the extent to which Chinese social scientists are concerned about climate change. The results showed that from 1978 to 2020, 1179 articles on climate change were published in management, economics, politics, and sociology journals, which represented only 26.8% of the 4397 articles published on pollution in the same journals. Politics journals published the most articles (38.76%), while sociology journals published the fewest (2.37%). Thus, Chinese social scientists rarely considered climate change, mainly because this topic remains controversial in some fields and because of the influence of international politics in addition to the promotion and incentive mechanisms for researchers. We analyzed the keywords and evolution of climate change research in the four social sciences and our results show that social scientists should give greater emphasis to climate change in their research.

Volatility spillovers during market supply shocks: The case of negative oil prices

This paper applies a TVP-VAR model to explore dynamic connectedness between West Texas Intermediate crude oil and other US energy prices, stock prices and exchange rate markets during the April 2020 supply shock leading to negative WTI crude oil prices. This period, while coinciding with the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic, is also associated with non-uniform government pandemic responses, widespread expectations of global economic slowdown, and the combined effects of international political influence, all of which generated immense financial stress. A number of distinct results are identified. Firstly, while WTI is broadly identified as a volatility receiver from all of the analysed markets, during the negative pricing events WTI rapidly becomes a volatility transmitter. The inherent signal within such an unexpected market movement sent very sharp contagion effects throughout traditional financial markets. Spillovers to stock, currency and futures markets are also substantial. This negative valuation event, although reaffirming the status of the efficient markets hypothesis, has potentially endangered the role of WTI as a safe-haven during future periods of financial stress and crises.

COVID-19 in Russia: Should we expect a novel response to the novel coronavirus?

ABSTRACT Russia provides an important case study in its COVID-19 response by a country that has one of the largest epidemics, increasingly authoritarian government policies, and important domestic and international political influence. In this article, we describe and explain Russia’s public health and social policy responses to COVID-19 – earlier in the pandemic when the concern was the border with China, to later when there were confirmed cases in all regions in the country. In the past, Russia has served as an interesting case for exploring global health politics and infectious diseases. Thus, we position our analysis of the COVID-19 response through a reflection on infectious disease control in the Soviet Union and contemporary Russia. We explore the following: government control, contention with official statistics, (dis-)information, (mis-)trust, and vulnerabilities of medical care workers. We also discuss how Russia is reinforcing its role in global health during the pandemic, for example through vaccine development and foreign humanitarian aid. We situate our analysis in the historical, political, and social contexts to help explain Russia’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Pacem in Terris: Are Papal Visits Good News for Human Rights?

We analyze the effect of state visits by the Catholic pope on human rights in the host country to illustrate how a small theocracy like the Vatican can exert significant political influence in international politics. Our theoretical model of the strategic interaction between the Catholic Church and the government shows how the pope uses the threat of shaming to incentivize governments to refrain from violations of human rights. Drawing on a new dataset of papal state visits outside Italy and a novel identification strategy, we test the hypothesis that governments react in anticipation of a papal visit by improving human rights protection. The existence of such a causal effect is supported by the data.

Understanding spheres of influence in international politics

AbstractSpheres of influence remain one of the most pervasive phenomena in the practice and history of international relations, yet only rarely have they been taken up analytically. To bring conceptual and discursive clarity, this article advances two arguments. First, it argues that spheres of influence are not a distinct form of hierarchy in international relations, but rather practices of control and exclusion that can be found within any ideal-type hierarchy. Second, these hierarchical practices are generally underspecified by those invoking the term. Different theoretical perspectives on international relations offer highly divergent ways of understanding control and exclusion, and all do so with plausible empirical mooring. Spheres of influence do not themselves denote a form of governance even if it does a form of order construction and maintenance. Any given empire, hegemonic order, or alliance may also be a sphere of influence depending on the practices that occur; the key is not to identify whether particular hierarchical traits are dispositive of one of these relational structures, but rather whether, and the extent to which, assertions of control and exclusion define the hierarchy.

FORMATS, FEATURES AND PROSPECTS OF RUSSIAN PARLIAMENTARY DIPLOMACY IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

The study of the formats of the international activities of the Russian parliament in the Asia-Pacific region (APR) is relevant as Russia is currently looking for ways to increase its international influence and expand the channels of interstate communications. The article evaluates bilateral inter-parliamentary ties between Russia and the leading regional powers — China and Japan. It concludes that Russia’s inter-parliamentary ties with these countries follow the foreign policy implemented by the executive. The article also analyzes Russia’s participation in regional inter-parliamentary institutions — the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. Regular participation of Russian parliamentarians in inter-parliamentary organizations in the Asia-Pacific region expands country’s international political influence. However, organizations whose decisions are not binding, and the structure lacks permanent coordinating bodies, are less effective in addressing problems of global and regional development.

SHARP POWER – НОВАЯ ТЕХНОЛОГИЯ ВЛИЯНИЯ В ГЛОБАЛЬНОМ МИРЕ

The “sharp power” is a new phenomenon of gaining influence in international politics in the era when information has become a weapon, a combination of information influence operations and methods of cyber-terrorism. J. Nye regards the “sharp power” as usage of falsified information for hostile purposes. It encompasses manipulation of information, formation of falsified content of the information flow, conduct of information operations and implementation of information projects. By diverting the audience’s attention and using manipulation technologies the “sharp power” promotes certain values, ideas and phobias to the outside world. Its purpose is interference in domestic political processes of the targeted country, violation of its stability and threatening its national security by influencing public consciousness and behavior of people. The subjects of the “sharp power” do not seek to “win hearts and minds” as those of the “soft power” do, but try to penetrate into and subjugate the political and media spheres of other countries by conducting information operations. The “sharp power” technologies include hacking into personal e-mail and theft of electronic correspondence, falsification of information flow, introduction of malicious software, defacing of websites, destruction of network services and the main computer networks. They are mainly associated with misinformation, fake news and manipulation of information; use the advantages of information openness of cyberspace and are virtually invulnerable – it is difficult to detect them and to identify the mechanism of their action. The “sharp power” has the following quality characteristics: high speed of transactions, their low cost, timing, clear strategy and tactics, flexibility, agility and efficiency. The efficiency factors of the “sharp power” are the openness of cyberspace, camouflage of their purposes, state control and state support of information operations. In conditions when any country can become a victim of the “sharp power”, and its technology represents a threat to the security of the world community, only common efforts of all interested parties and their joint action can tackle the problem and confront cyber threats. The article also reveals the western audience’s perception of the features of “sharp power” in China, Russia and Iran. In conclusion, the author formulates the possible measures and problem solutions.&nbsp

China’s “soft power” and its projection onto the territory of post-Soviet Eurasia

This article considers the use of “soft power” as an instrument of China’s political strategy. Within the context of the issue of combining forms of international political influence, the notion of “soft power” is unveiled as interpreted by its author – American political expert J. Nye – while analyzing the adaptation of said notion to Peking’s political strategy, which in turn is associated with China’s rise to the position of global superpower number 2. Highlighted is the fact that this notion is attune to China’s centuries-old political tradition, as well as Peking’s current objective to relieve its neighbors traditional unease on account of a possible threat on their behalf, due both to the sheer size of the country, with its population of almost 1.5 billion people, and its relatively recent aggressive behavior during the time of Maoism. The article gives a characteristic of the main instruments used to implement the Chinese strategy of “soft” influence, particularly broadening the network of Confucius institutes and classes, taking advantage of hosting high-profile international events, education in China’s educational facilities, establishing control over certain global media corporations etc. Especially considered is the use of “soft power” in China’s collaboration with post-Soviet states, primarily with Russia and republics of central Asia. Demonstrated are features of the political context of Peking’s use of “soft power” on post-Soviet territory, highlighted among which is a rather strong prejudice against China in countries of central Asia, as well as the need to achieve a friendlier relationship with the Russian Federation, which in turn possesses “soft power” potential comparable to China, and also strives to play a leading role on post-Soviet territory. Based on the analysis conducted, the author comes to the conclusion that “soft power” methods were able to solidify a strong foundation of public support for a strategic partnership between Russia and China. This in no small part helped in gradually increasing the level of mutual trust throughout the last decade, which, on one hand, helped calm Russian people’s anxiety on account of Chinese migration to regions of the Far East and Siberia, and on the other – without any serious incidents lighten certain delicate aspects of Russian-Chinese relations which had emerged in the past.

A Reputation of Non-Ratification

The history of the United States’ involvement in international reveals a disproportionate timeline between signing and ratification. Notably, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), one of the binding twin covenants enacting the goals of the non-binding Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), features a 15-year delay following signing before ratification by the U.S. The agreement was viewed as inherently Western, and the United States took leadership during negotiations, becoming the primary promoter of the drafting process. Yet, domestic support for the agreement was seemingly inconsistent with its leading role, identifiable by the delay. The following analysis will evaluate the rationales—legal, institutional, and political—for the delay in the United States’ ratification of the ICCPR. It will then explore catalysts in the international sphere that incited the eventual ratification. Through close readings of Senate hearings, drafts of UN negotiation documents, and analysis of theoretical frameworks by which the United States’ system ratifies international agreements, the following synthesis is a variety of primary and secondary sources which explain the delay in ratification. The study reveals that the United States’ reputation of non-ratification has implications for its international credibility, affecting its ability to shape global politics. The ICCPR is used as a case that elucidates the United States’ rationale for ratifying, or neglecting to ratify, other international agreements; thus, this analysis will address the influence of international politics on domestic participation.