International Ambitions Research Articles

Field Hockey in China: An Exploration of Socioeconomic and Political Changes, 1900–2024

Field hockey’s development in China, mirroring its socio-political shifts over a century, unfolds in four phases. The first phase began in 1900; field hockey was introduced into China because Westerners played in Foreign Concession in Shanghai. With the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, field hockey gained official recognition, marking the second phase. Following the Cultural Revolution, field hockey gained significant prominence in the third phase, particularly women’s field hockey, peaking with a 2008 Beijing Olympics silver medal, reflecting China’s strategic Olympic ambitions. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games led the development of field hockey into the fourth phase. Youth field hockey received more and more attention. While this has elevated China’s field hockey population, it also underscores potential imbalances between promoting elite sports and grassroots development. The professionalisation of field hockey remains in its nascent stages, with state-driven growth overshadowing broader public participation. The development of field hockey in China reflects the intricate interplay between China’s sports policies, national identity, and international ambitions and offers researchers a window to develop critical perspectives on the power dynamics and policy-making processes in sports.

Помощь Украине со стороны европейских государств: пример Польши и Чехии

The purpose of the article is to explore main forms of assistance offered by Poland and the Czech Republic to Ukraine. Firstly, the paper discusses the main lines of action taken by Polish government and society in support of Ukraine. It is assumed that direct involvement of in helping Kyiv was due to various political, strategic, economic and defensive factors. However, dynamics of aid allocation was still depending on the international ambitions of Polish government on the one hand and on the public sentiments towards Ukrainian refugees – on the other. Despite declarations of Polish-Ukrainian strategic partnership, aid provided to Kyiv tends to increasingly serve Poland’s policy goals and trade interests. Secondly, the development of Czech-Ukrainian relations in political and socio-economic spheres is assessed. The conclusion is made about the transformation of foreign trade relations between the Czech Republic and Ukraine after the beginning of Russia’s Special military operation (SMO). The main problems faced by Czechia in connection with the influx of Ukrainian refugees as well as the reaction of Czech society to this are considered. There is a certain fatigue in the country today because of the “Ukrainian issue”, which is indicative against the background of active support at the beginning of 2022. Special attention is paid to the comprehensive assistance provided by Prague to Kyiv. The Czech Republic stays an active donor of military aid to Ukraine, which entails a significant financial burden. The Czech side seeks to partially “compensate” such expenses by expanding economic cooperation, including plans for active participation in the further reconstruction of Ukraine. The factors influencing the expansion of interaction between the two countries are identified.

ENHANCING EU'S RESILIENCE AGAINST TERRORISM: A LEGAL APPROACH

The growth in amplitude and frequency of the terrorist phenomenon at both the European and international levels, in the past years, makes terrorism one of the most significant challenges for European Union's security. Given EU's international ambitions of a significant actor in the field of security (European External Action Service, 2016), this paper approaches EU's responses to terrorism, from a legal point of view. Arguing in favour of the legal instruments as the most appropriate tools to counter the terrorist phenomenon, the aim of this research is to analyse if and how Europe can become more resilient against the terrorist threat, by resorting to legal means. Specifically, the paper seeks to explore how the regulation of the crime of terrorism in international law might foster the resilience of the EU in an increasingly challenging international context. Addressing the issue of terrorism is of high importance taking into consideration the current international context, when Europe is facing again a war and the terrorist offences have significantly increased along with the conflict in Ukraine that started in February 2022 (Institute for Economics & Peace, 2022).

James Laughlin, American Modernism and Post World War II Welsh Writing in English

James Laughlin, who founded New Directions Press in 1936, had an early and enduring commitment to publishing innovative European authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Louis Ferdinand Céline, Hermann Hesse, García Lorca, Eugenio Montale, Vladimir Nabokov and Pablo Neruda. Laughlin’s international ambitions as a publisher extended to engaging with contemporary British writers and journal editors demonstrating a modernist dimension, evidenced in his extensive correspondence. This essay explores ways in which Laughlin furthered the New Direction Press publishing objectives within the post World War II English-language literary culture of Wales, including his interactions with Dylan Thomas, editors Keidrych Rhys and Gwyn Jones, and significant poets and fiction writers emerging in Wales during the 1940s. While Laughlin was informing Welsh writers and editors about New Directions Press authors and titles – and thus about manifestations of international modernism – Welsh writers and editors in turn educated Laughlin about the burgeoning English-language literary culture of Wales. 

Internationalization of SMEs: A Developing Country Perspective

Internationalization has become increasingly important to the competitiveness of firms of all sizes, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs play a crucial role in the development of lower-income countries. In Bangladesh, SMEs account for between 80 and 85 percent of industrial employment and 23 percent of total employment and are critical to economic growth. Though the literature on firm internationalization is well established, the internationalization process of SMEs from developing countries, such as Bangladesh, remains relatively under-explored. The main aim of this study is to explore factors that hinder the internationalization of SMEs in a developing country, with Bangladesh serving as the context of the investigation. Qualitative research methods were adopted, comprising semi-structured interviews with leaders of 16 SMEs in Bangladesh. Six major themes were identified as hindrances to the firms’ internationalization: (1) lack of market knowledge, (2) lack of family support, (3) the proliferation of ‘scammer buyers’, (4) the (negative) involvement of third parties, (5) mismanagement of domestic ports, and (6) unregulated local market. Regarding positive factors, only one theme emerged from the data, the strong support from the local government, which provides considerable backing for local SMEs with international ambitions. This study’s primary contribution and originality lie in the context of the investigation, with Bangladesh primarily overlooked in the international business literature. Therefore, the study presents several novel insights into the internationalization process of SMEs.

What does it take to create a European Health Data Space? International commitments and national realities

Public health concerns in Europe demonstrate the necessity of building a health policy that could contribute to the long-term sustainable development of the European Union (EU), as stated in the European Health Union (EHU) manifesto. The main desire to create an EHU is embodied in the launch of the European Health Data Space (EHDS). The EHDS seeks to foster a genuine single market for digital health services and products by, among other things, accelerating the uptake and implementation of harmonised and interoperable electronic health record (EHR) systems across the EU. In the context of primary and secondary use of EHR data, developments in Europe have thus far resulted in patchy and, in some places, non-interoperable solutions. Taking the gap between international ambitions and national realities as a starting point, this paper contends that both EU level and Member State level circumstances should be considered to make the EHDS a reality.

"A Sixth Part of the World": The Career of a Spatial Metaphor in Russia and the Soviet Union (1837–2021)

"A Sixth Part of the World"The Career of a Spatial Metaphor in Russia and the Soviet Union (1837–2021) Frithjof Benjamin Schenk (bio) On 23 December 2021, President Vladimir Putin of Russia held his annual large-scale press conference. It lasted almost four hours and was perfectly staged. Seated alone at an imposing desk, Putin took questions from hand-picked Russian and international journalists. Behind the president's podium, a massive map of the Russian Federation was projected onto a screen.1 The image served to remind those present, and those watching at home and around the world, that this was the political leader of a nation whose territory extends across more than 17 million square kilometers and 11 time zones. In other words, it served as a political statement, communicating pride in a literally great nation to the home audience and demanding respect for a great power from those watching abroad. The knowledge of living in the world's largest country had previously been a key performative point of reference for both the tsarist empire and the Soviet state, forming an integral component of concepts of imperial and national identity. For the few prominent voices that cursed the state's size and figured it as a burden, a greater number drew from it a sense of national pride and an imperial claim to dominion. Occasionally, pointing to the size of the national and imperial territory constituted a compensatory act that sought to distract both speaker and addressee from the fact that Russia, or the USSR, was not up there with the "big players" in other arenas of international competition, be that economic power or socioeconomic development. We continue to witness the use of this strategy today, with Putin's press conference of December 2021 providing an illustrative example. Russia is once more asserting the status of a great power, staking a [End Page 349] claim to be respected and feared on the international stage. In view of the lack of economic clout backing up the international ambitions of a country whose GDP is lower than that of Italy, Russia's government draws its claim to dominion from other resources: its status as a military and nuclear power, its permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, and the sheer size of its territory.2 Taking a historical perspective covering the tsarist empire and the USSR and noting developments in the Russian Federation up to the present day, this article examines the interrelationship between discourses around the size of the national territory and conceptions of collective identity. The object of this case study is a history of the spatial metaphor of Russia/the USSR as "a sixth part of the world" from the 19th to the early 21st centuries. I argue that the idea of living in a country whose territory covers one-sixth of the earth has been a foundational element in the national and imperial self-image of Russians since the 1830s, strikingly surviving the historical cesuras of 1917 and 1991 relatively intact despite all the dramatic differences in the political forms taken by the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation and despite the fluctuations in the size of Russian/Soviet territory during the period under consideration. The image of Russia (and the Soviet Union) as a sixth of the world is part of the longue durée of the country's history over the last two centuries. Interestingly, historical research has yet to produce a close study of this spatial metaphor and of its strong identity-forging power. This article seeks to fill the gap, an endeavor that appears promising for three key reasons. First, the history of this metaphor may serve as a prism for the exploration of the relationship linking spatial discourses and imagined geographies to Russian conceptions of national or imperial identity from tsarist times to the post-Soviet era.3 Second, this history provides insights into how Soviet ideologues in the 1920s succeeded in presenting the new state as the antithesis to the [End Page 350] hated tsarist empire while simultaneously co-opting important elements of imperial self-presentation. Third, the discursive career of this image can cast new...

Contagious Cities: an international collaborative enquiry

Contagious Cities was a cultural project that explored how urban environments in different parts of the world have coped with infectious diseases. Its theme of how populations prepare for and deal with epidemics is a core strategic concern for Wellcome – the large health and medicine foundation behind the project. Thoroughly interdisciplinary in their approach, the variety of exhibitions, events and other cultural activities the project supported placed a special emphasis on the illuminating potential for artists to investigate medical, scientific and social phenomena. The initiative also drew inspiration from Wellcome’s track record of curating interdisciplinary projects in its own museum in London, and approached its international ambitions (in Geneva, New York, Hong Kong and Berlin) through partnership and co-production. This article looks back at this unusual project, which ironically was concluded just before the world plunged into the current pandemic. The emphasis here, however, is somewhat less on the project’s themes – the fascinating and frightening implications of human co-existence with microbes in crowded contexts. Instead, we have focused on the complexities of working with multiple stakeholders in very different contexts, and we reflect on Wellcome’s role as an experienced, knowledgeable and creative, but also powerful and well-funded partner cum commissioner.

Language, Federalism and Canadian Diplomacy

Canadian diplomacy has greatly shaped Canada’s debates over language and vice versa. How has the history of Canadian diplomacy reflected the bilingual and bicultural nature of the country? Or, conversely, how have Canada’s debates over language and Quebec nationalism affected Canadian diplomacy? The answers are complex. Francophone diplomats played a key role in pushing for Canadian autonomy from Britain at the 1926 Imperial Conference. As Robert Talbot explained, “Canadian foreign policy was being shaped with French-Canadian and modern Anglo-Canadian priorities in mind.” This role was less prominent over the following three decades but, with the election of the Quebec Liberals in 1960, federal diplomacy became directly challenged by Quebec’s international ambitions. This tension reached a crisis point with the Montreal 1967 visit of General Charles De Gaulle, President of France, and again during the Quebec referendums of 1980 and 1995.

International activities of Scotland: Scottish nationalists’ positions

Scotland’s international activities are interesting in many respects. Firstly, the region has a long history of political struggle for independence, having formulated the concept of “Scotland is a country” by now. Secondly, starting with the preparations for the 2019 general election campaign, the Scottish National Party (SNP), as the political leader of the region, has launched a program of “internationalization of Scotland”, stating not only international ambitions, but also the use of international relations to strengthen the position of Scotland as independent nation in the international arena. Thirdly, Scotland seeks to demonstrate itself as a responsible player, offering its innovations in the field of strengthening partnership and peace, and proving that the whole world will benefit from an independent Scotland (it is no coincidence that SNP party documents often mention that “the Scots are conscientious citizens of the world”). Fourthly, the independence of Scotland is offered by the SNP as a tool for realizing the rights of citizens to participate personally in the international agenda. Thus, we note both the growing international ambitions of Scotland and their international recognition. In general, the Scottish model of paradiplomacy is the use of all possible international platforms and the creation of new ones to form a positive image of the region. The goal of the article: to analyze the strategy of international activity of Scotland and correlate it with the practical activity of the region. The study was carried out on the basis of a political-historical approach, which means an analysis of regional processes in any area in the context of national and macro-regional development (in this case, we understand the European Union as a macro-region). The research method within the framework of the chosen approach was the case study method. Accordingly, the article compared various indicators of regional involvement in international processes after Brexit in the longer period of Scotland’s entry into the international arena after 1998, i. e. implementation of the Scottish Act. This allows us to talk about the dynamics of the region’s international activity and its prospects.

Introduction: Making Room for Misfits

This special issue of Art History critically revisits the often‐overlooked institutional circulations of art and art professionals, exhibitions, and other forms of cultural production within the Communist sphere from the late 1940s to its peak in the early 1960s during de‐Stalinization, and eventual departure by the 1980s from the international ambitions of a ‘socialist’ globalism. As this collection of essays underscores, while the promise of ‘friendship’ and ‘solidarity’ in socialist internationalism offered a variety of transnational opportunities for art and artists, at the same time these complex concepts were also dependent on an unevenness of power, and not necessarily only with the Soviet Union. ‘Red Networks: Post‐War Art Exchange’ emphasizes the contributions of the artists, art critics, and cultural administrators in state‐socialist networks to the worldwide modernization of art after the Second World War through to contemporary art's global turn in the 1990s.

The effects of political embeddedness on cross-border mergers and acquisitions in China: Alibaba’s case

ABSTRACT With its dominant state-owned enterprises (SOEs), peculiar governance system and international ambitions, China offers a unique setting to test theories explaining the role of political embeddedness in management decisions. Cross-border M&As have become an essential tool for Chinese acquirers to internationalize. We examine whether political embeddedness influences firms’ propensity for conducting cross-border M&As and their success. Using panel data with 30,314 firm-year observations from 2000 to 2015, we show that non-SOEs conduct more cross-border M&As than SOEs and they benefit more from M&A activities. After summarizing the dilemmas faced by politically embedded enterprises (PEEs), we introduce the successful case of Alibaba acquiring Lazada to explain the quantitative results in detail. Finally, we suggest potential approaches to alleviate institutional barriers for successful cross-border M&As.

How can diverse national food and land-use priorities be reconciled with global sustainability targets? Lessons from the FABLE initiative

There is an urgent need for countries to transition their national food and land-use systems toward food and nutritional security, climate stability, and environmental integrity. How can countries satisfy their demands while jointly delivering the required transformative change to achieve global sustainability targets? Here, we present a collaborative approach developed with the FABLE—Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land, and Energy—Consortium to reconcile both global and national elements for developing national food and land-use system pathways. This approach includes three key features: (1) global targets, (2) country-driven multi-objective pathways, and (3) multiple iterations of pathway refinement informed by both national and international impacts. This approach strengthens policy coherence and highlights where greater national and international ambition is needed to achieve global goals (e.g., the SDGs). We discuss how this could be used to support future climate and biodiversity negotiations and what further developments would be needed.

Sonic Experiments of Postcolonial Democracy: Listening to José Maceda's Udlot-udlot and Ugnayan

Abstract: I write this article not as an expert on José Montserrat Maceda. It is an analysis of how contemporary exploration of sound and sound performance practices in Southeast Asia offer proposals for new ways to understand epistemology and aesthetics—in which Maceda has paved the way through his avant-garde music projects. In this paper, I examine José Maceda's Udlot-udlot and Ugnayan , and their context in Manila and Southeast Asia. I 'listen' to Maceda's aesthetic sonic experimentations within the postcolonial Philippine nation and the much broader global and transnational context of experimental artistic practices of the second half of the twentieth century. I situate his artistic and musical experimentations within the sponsorship of the Marcos regime and the cultural diplomacies of the 1970s and 1980s Cold War cultural politics. Maceda's work can be seen within the three intersecting threads of: (1) an emerging transnational avant-garde market, (2) the international ambition of the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the cultural diplomacy-savvy First Lady Imelda, and ultimately (3) the Philippines' political dependency on its former US colonizer. How did Maceda's music compositions experiment with postcolonial modernity within such conditions? How did his musical and artistic trajectory intersect with the burgeoning postcolonial aspirations of the late twentieth century in Southeast Asia? What new paradigms arose from the intersection of the ethnomusicological discipline and twentieth-century sonic aesthetics?

Russian Sanctions and the Banking Sector

AbstractWestern allies have imposed restrictive measures on Russian banks and threatened harsher sanctions on the finance sector since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. However, this did not impede sanctioned banks reporting record profits, nor deter Russia from invading Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Although the sanctions’ full effectiveness remains in question, the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has not only caused a retreat of foreign banks from mainland Russia, but also ended the international ambitions of the largest Russian banks in Europe and beyond.

THE ROOTS OF CONFLICT IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION - DYNAMICS AND IMPACTS

The importance of the study comes in that the conflicts in the Great Lakes region are essentially of a dynamic and complex nature, and this involving multiple and intertwined regional and international actors. The study aimed to research and focus on the root causes of the conflict in the Great Lakes region and impacts of those dimensions on societal dynamics and the role of ethnic and racial ties in the growth of conflict. The study discussed a number of questions, including: Do the region's economic wealth and resources have a role in the growth, and continuation of the conflict? Why do foreign powers and international ambitions seek to prolong the conflict in the region? As for the main problem of the study, Is the colonial factor one of the causes of conflict in the region? There are several assumptions on which the study relied, that the more national and regional initiatives fail, as deeper the international interventions and ambitions in managing the conflict, and there is a discrepancy between the ruling political system and the unity of the conflict in each region of the region. The study concluded with several results and recommendations, including: Inappropriate political systems, divisions of political forces and social components are one of the causes of conflict. The domestic imperatives of peace must prevail over the geopolitical interests of foreign powers, and the conflicts that occur within national borders in the region have different interests and root causes. It also recommended the need to intensify initiatives of peace and reconciliation between serious societal contexts and actors.

Model for State Cyber Power: Case Study of Russian Behaviour

The emerging cyber environment with new information channels provides a novel avenue for states to project their powers to govern their residents and fulfil their international ambitions. The recent manipulation of elections, coercing companies, blackmailing citizens, and suppressing essential infrastructure services reflects an increased activity and development both by state and non-state entities in the cyber environment. Several models for inter-state power projection are created in studies of international relationships, military strategy, and, recently, hybrid warfare. Do these models recognise the foundational transformation in international power projection? Do they explain the current national cyber strategies? Can they help foresee the possible developments of power projection in international confrontations? The paper seeks a bigger picture from other power strategies in fulfilling the state’s political ambitions. Furthermore, the paper explores the evolution of the cyber environment and its possible emerging features for international power projection. A constructive research method builds a multiple domain power projection model by combining systems thinking with various models from international relationships, military strategies, business strategies to classical decision making. Finally, the feasibility of the model is tested in a case study of Russian cyber strategies and actions between 2007-2020 from a positivistic approach. As a result, the model seems to help explain the past cyber power-wielding and provide insights into current national cyber policies. Further testing is required to evaluate the model’s feasibility in creating a foresight. Nevertheless, the proposed state-level cyber power projection model extends the existing models with a system dynamics viewpoint. Additionally, it adds the dimension of evolution to consider the future changes of international power projections in the information realm. Hence, the model improves the ability of national defence planners to study cyber strategies and estimate the lines of operation and impact of cyber operations.

DS3077—Horizontal Standard revision after 10 years and induction as an ISO Standard

DS3077 “Representative Sampling – Horizontal Standard”, released in 2013, is a Danish Standard but was from the start intended as a de facto international standard. DS3077 (2013) was the result of growing international frustration over the lack of a comprehensive standard covering general sampling issues and recommendations regarding practical sampling across the countless specific matrices targeted within science, technology, industry, trade, commerce, regulatory and law-enforcing agencies and in society at large. Within these application sectors, before 2013 there was a belief that specific material-dependent sampling procedures (and equipment) were needed. It was assumed that these issues were better addressed in specific matrix-related standards dealing with handling of important commodities and general classes of materials, with dedicated chapters on their sampling included. Thus, for a long time, sampling issues were relegated to such minor chapters, or subchapters only, never receiving the full attention deserved. Progress on developing general sampling principles was therefore absent from the international standards arena. This was status quo at the time the first World Conference on Sampling and Blending, WCSB1, took place in 2003. But in the immediately following years it was realized just how big the need for a general approach was. Something had to give. Therefore, it fell to a small R&D group at a peripheral university location in the outskirts of Europe to break this deadlock: But who had ever heard of the city ofEsbjerg (5th largest city of Denmark, itself a nation hardly among the leading players in the EU). Never-the-less, at the satellite university campus of Aalborg University (currently, its engineering department rated 8th in the world, and number 1 in Europe), a new professorship was inaugurated dedicated to chemometrics and sampling, both new disciplines on the engineering curriculum. Not necessarily a promising academic environment from which to take on the world – and with aspirations to develop the world’s first “horizontal“ sampling standard (horizontal: = matrix-independent). 2008 saw the first committee meetings devoted to scope out this task, which at the time seemed quite formidable, if not almost hopeless. As it turned out, the gestation period was precisely five years. The full historical record of this endeavor can be found here: “DS 3077 Horizontal—a new standard for representative sampling. Design, history, and acknowledgements” doi: 10.1255/tosf.7 Fast forward: Ten years later, 2022, it is time to revise DS3077. Normally standards are revised with intervals of ca. five years, but in the present case, a national standard with clear international ambitions, rules and regulations were deliberately loosened up, to give the standard a fair try of proving its value. At the time closing in on its 10-year anniversary, Danish Standards conducted a critical survey of its“history” (the sales history) – and found the evidence of its merit and usefulness quite satisfactory, numerically and otherwise. Thus, revision of DS3077(2013) is now on the agenda for 2022/2023. This POSTER is a call to interested parties and stakeholders to consider contributing to this revision. Revision of the Danish standard (from 2nd to 3rd edition) will take part in Q3 and Q4, 2022. Immediately following the release of DS3077(2023), 3rd edition, work will begin on introducing the fully revised edition into the ISO realm, following standard ISO procedures. This POSTER is also a call to all interested parties to consider contributing to this ISO process. It is felt that WCSB10 is a perfect occasion to reach out to catch the attention of potential taskforce members from all over the International Pierre Gy Sampling Association (IPGSA) community!

How the al-Qaeda–Taliban Alliance Survived

Al-Qaeda’s interactions with the Taliban have often been marked by mutual suspicion and mistrust, but both groups have adopted robust and ultimately successful approaches to manage these tensions. In particular, the relationship survived turbulent episodes from 2001 to 2011, and the two groups coordinated during the run-up to the Doha Agreement. This suggests that although al-Qaeda’s relationship with the Taliban may remain fraught, it will endure. It is unclear whether the Taliban will allow the group to use Afghan territory to support transnational terrorist operations. But the Taliban will likely be unable or unwilling to constrain al-Qaeda’s regional and international ambitions, and therefore will probably be a highly unreliable partner in any effort mounted by outside powers to do so.

Turkey: economic problems and international ambitions

Turkey is suffering from a significant economic downturn that began in late 2021, when the Central Bank cut interest rates and inflation accelerated. There is not a clear path out of the crisis for the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is preparing to run for re-election in 2023 in the Republic of Turkey’s centenary year. Internationally, Erdoğan is making conciliatory moves towards several countries with which Turkey has had disputes in recent years while also pursuing a middle path with regard to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, meaning that Ankara has been able to preserve important trade and economic exchanges with Moscow while serving as a mediator between Kyiv and Moscow during the crisis.