International Security Regimes Research Articles

North Korea's Nuclear Risk Management and Transformation of the ‘International Security Regime’ : Focusing on Korea-U.S.-Japan ‘Linked Politics’ and Policy Coordination Mechanisms

North Korea's Nuclear Risk Management and Transformation of the ‘International Security Regime’ : Focusing on Korea-U.S.-Japan ‘Linked Politics’ and Policy Coordination Mechanisms

International security regimes in preventing the spread of nuclear armaments and their global significance

International security regimes in preventing the spread of nuclear armaments and their global significance

АНАЛІЗ ТРЕНДІВ У ТРАНСФЕРІ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ ПОДВІЙНОГО ПРИЗНАЧЕННЯУ ГЛОБАЛЬНІЙ ЕКОНОМІЦІ

B a c k g r o u n d . In recent decades, an international system of export control of both military products and TPP has been formed. Due to objective reasons, this system is constantly changing, which requires appropriate adaptation of national legislation and administrative mechanisms. In view of this, an important scientific and practical task is the study of trends in the development of the international export control system, in particular in relation to the TPP. This is necessary for the development of measures aimed at deepening international cooperation and increasing the effectiveness of TPP export control at the national level. M e t h o d s . The following methods were used: analytical, retrospective, comparative. R e s u l t s . The article specifies the essence and features of the implementation of export control of dual-purpose technologies. C o n c l u s i o n s . Export control, as a set of norms of international law, contractual and political obligations aimed at reducing the risk of the use of military force, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, means of their delivery and countering terrorism, is an important component of the international security regime. The relevance of export control is determined by two factors: the possibility of export control to contribute to the interests of international security and the possibility of achieving their own national interests by the states that apply it.

Роль транспортных коридоров в международном сотрудничестве (на примере Каспийского региона

Despite its obvious relevance and practical significance, the problem of Eurasian transport corridors has not yet taken a proper place in the scientific discourse. This article is a small but important step towards the development of the stated topic. International transport corridors (ITCs) in general and Eurasian ones in particular are a fundamentally new mechanism of international cooperation and a factor aimed at overcoming the increased turbulence in the relations between the states. The International North–South Transport Corridor project is of global significance, Russian-Azerbaijani cooperation playing an especially important role in its successful implementation. Current instability of the global political landscape and increasing foreign policy risks have given rise to a tendency to actualize national agendas to the detriment of international integration processes. This tendency is, however, being constructively overcome through new organizational forms, one of which is the ITCs. The latter, due to the vector of progress from the national to the common domain, are becoming a sought-after and developing institution of international cooperation. Owing to the natural conditions, the geopolitical space of Russia and Azerbaijan plays an important role in promoting national interests. Due to the friendly relations between the two countries, the creation of this important Eurasian route has been progressing steadily, which is facilitated by mutual interest in the integration of the transport systems in order to increase the transit potential of the territories, by a significant coincidence of Russia’s and Azerbaijan’s geopolitical interests, as well as by a high collaboration potential in the region. The joint work of the Caspian states in the organization of Eurasian transport corridors has been experiencing a destructive influence of external forces, which significantly complicates consolidation of the countries in the region. At the same time, integration in the field of transport communications is the most important mechanism for overcoming instability and achieving a stable international security regime.

Operations of power in autonomous weapon systems: ethical conditions and socio-political prospects

The purpose of this article is to provide a multi-perspective examination of one of the most important contemporary security issues: weaponized, and especially lethal, artificial intelligence. This technology is increasingly associated with the approaching dramatic change in the nature of warfare. What becomes particularly important and evermore intensely contested is how it becomes embedded with and concurrently impacts two social structures: ethics and law. While there has not been a global regime banning this technology, regulatory attempts at establishing a ban have intensified along with acts of resistance and blocking coalitions. This article aims to reflect on the prospects and limitations, as well as the ethical and legal intensity, of the emerging regulatory framework. To allow for such an investigation, a power-analytical approach to studying international security regimes is utilized.

Theorizing international security regimes: a power-analytical approach

This article seeks to develop alternative ways to conceptually grasp international prohibition/regulatory regimes. It attempts to go beyond existing, and piecemeal, analysis of regimes within the intellectual field of IR based on conventional grand/mid-range theorization. It is argued that traditional theorization of regimes fashioned as IR theory has hindered, rather than helped, to understand regimes in their complexities, vagaries, and in terms of various forces simultaneously involved. The article answers a question of how to strike a balance between theoretical eclecticism, which is believed to be vital for a comprehensive analysis of security regimes, and the need to have a uniting device to organize such research. It is for these reasons that a power-analytical approach utilizing four types of powers—productive, structural, institutional, and compulsory—is used, and its advantages for regime analysis are flagged. The value added of such an advancement lies in international security regimes being understood more plastically than through conventional lenses. Specifically, they are approached as intertwined sets of normative discourses, political structures (anarchies, hierarchies, and heterarchies), and agencies through which power operates within a given security issue area with a regulatory effect. Specific renderings of discourses and heterarchies establish channels through which sociopolitical and economic privileges get distributed; they create structural relations among actors with a possibility of their reversal or rearticulation; and they build up, challenge, and relocate walls of legal obligations.

Non-Traditional Security Threats in the Border Areas: Terrorism, Piracy, Environmental Degradation in Southeast Asian Maritime Domain

Abstract. In addition to facilitating peaceful trade and economic development, sovereign territory, territorial waters and international waters are being used by various criminal groups that pose threats to governments, businesses and civilian population in Southeast Asia. Nonstate criminal maritime activities were not receiving appropriate attention as they were overshadowed by traditional military security challenges. Yet more and more frequently, the non-traditional actors challenge lines of communication, jeopardize access to strategic resources, complicate traditional defence tasks, and harm the environment. Understanding the nature of non-traditional threats, and the ways to combat them, requires international legal, historical and political science analysis within a united problem-oriented approach. A fair critique to pure interest, power and knowledge -based theories of regime formation was developed by E.K. Leonard’s1, who explained the evolution of the international system from the global governance perspective. The present study is based on the premise that pure nation-state approaches are incapable of providing a theoretical ground for addressing the growing influence of international criminal networks in South East Asia. From an international relations theory perspective, the author of this study agrees with D.Snidal2 that the hegemonic stability theory has "limits" and is insufficient in describing modern challenges to sustainable international security regime, including non-traditional threats, where collective action is more efficient from an interest and capability standpoint. At the same time the author of this study does not share the viewpoint on "marginalization"3 of international law in current international order due to its fragmentation and regionalization4 and "global power shifts"5 . The United Nations, as a global institution at the top of the vertical hierarchy of international legal order, and the EU as an example of "self-contained" regime along with other subsystems like South East Asia may have different approaches to global governance, international constitutional order, or particular cases such as the measure of infringement of human rights when targeting individuals suspected of terrorist links. Yet international law remains the key part of the Asian and global security regime. The hypothesis of this study is that the "void of governance" regime in territorial and international waters provides lucrative environment for developing terrorism, piracy, environmental degradation, and other criminal activities that pose untraditional threats to the regional security. This "void of governance" regime can be caused by either, or both, de jure or de facto insufficient control over particular marine territories.

Rising powers and global governance: negotiating change in a resilient status quo

Economic convergence of the large emerging economies (Brazil, China and India) on the incumbent industrialized economic powers has produced divergent predictions: rising powers are viewed as challengers of existing global governance or nascent supporters of the status quo. The preferences of rising powers, as revealed in global economic negotiations and international security regimes, indicate that they are moderate reformers that seek greater influence within existing forums and also attempt to safeguard their policy-making autonomy. Even if their preferences change, the translation of growing economic weight into usable capabilities is not automatic. Domestic political constraints often make the mobilization of capabilities difficult in international bargaining. Strategies of collective action, whether South-South or regional, have not yet produced a consistent increase in bargaining power at the global level. The counter-strategies of delay and cooptation implemented by the incumbent powers have maintained incumbent influence and enhanced the legitimacy of existing global governance institutions. Risks of conflict remain along three negotiating divides: system friction, distributional conflict and institutional efficiency. Institutional innovations such as greater transparency, institutional flexibility and construction of informal transnational networks may provide modest insurance against a weakening of global governance and its institutions.

Radicalisation and violent extremism in West Africa: implications for African and international security

This article interrogates emerging trends and patterns in the process of radicalisation and violent extremism in West Africa and the implications for regional and international security regimes, practices and thinking. It argues that there are real and imagined challenges of radicalisation and violent extremism. The overarching view is that the emergence of intra- and extra-African preoccupation with violent extremism alone, rather than alongside seriously addressing its structural undercurrents related to preventing and interrupting the process of radicalisation, distorts the security realities and further exacerbates the security situation in Africa. Radicalisation and violent extremism further integrates West Africa into global security assemblages, yet the absence or non-incorporation of an indigenous African (civil society) perspective or counter-narrative about radicalisation and violent extremism uncritically fuses and conflates the strategic interests of major powers with the local realities in Africa. Moreover, there is a huge potential that national governments could exploit local, regional and international interests in counteracting terrorism for domestic political advantages, such as mis-characterisation of subsisting conflicts, regular political opposition and other local grievances as cases of terrorism, thereby risking a deterioration in security conditions.

Rising from Within: China’s Search for a Multilateral World and Its Implications for Sino-US Relations

What impact will the rise of China have on the existing international system? This article attempts to provide some clues for a better understanding of this issue by examining China's views on and policy toward international multilateralism in general and some of the newly emerging multilateral mechanisms in particular, including the Group of 20 and the BRICS. The article concludes that while China will become more proactive in its multilateral diplomacy, in many cases selectively, and increase its influence in global multilateral settings, various concerns and constraints will make it unlikely for China to completely overhaul or even dramatically reshape the multilateral architecture at the global level. China is likely to repeat its pattern of the past decade in East Asian regional multilateral-ism: participation, engagement, pushing for cooperation in areas that would serve Chinese interests, avoiding excessive responsibilities, blocking initiatives that would harm its interests, and refraining from making grand proposals. In addition, China is stuck in defining its identity, and caught up between posturing as a leader of the developing world on some issues and siding with the developed countries on other policy issues. Given all of these constraints, China's involvement in global multilateralism is likely to be guided by pragmatism rather than grand visions. The article also argues that China will most likely strive to rise from within the existing international order. Washington should be prepared to plan its China policy on this basis and Sino-US relations will be shaped largely by the dynamics of contentions for power and interest as well as cooperation and coordination between China and the United States in various multilateral institutions. KEYWORDS: China, multilateralism, BRICS, Group of 20, Sino-US relations, Chinese foreign policy. CHINA'S PHENOMENAL RISE IN RECENT DECADES HAS SPARKED AN INTENSE international debate on the impact of the reemergence of the Middle King-dom on the existing international system. An important dimension in ad-dressing this issue is China's policy toward multilateralism, particularly major global multilateral institutions. Scrutinizing China's perception and policy to-ward multilateral institutions and regimes may provide some useful clues for observers to ascertain whether it is rising as a status quo or as a revisionist power.' Understandably, most studies thus far have focused on the implica-tions of China's approach to multilateralism for Sino-US relations and US global leadership, heating up the debate on China's rise with a wide range of views. Generally speaking, there are three camps of thought in the debate, in-cluding those observers who believe that China will successfully integrate into the existing order, those who argue that China has been selectively participat-ing in and using multilateralism for other purposes, and those who believe that China will ultimately overhaul the system. Some scholars are unequivocally sanguine about the prospect of China becoming an integral part of the existing international order. This profuse op-timism, to a large extent, is built on a positive assessment of China's involve-ment in various international institutions.' Ann Kent, for instance, concludes that, as compared to its behaviors prior to the early 1980s, China's acceptance of, and integration into, the international system have been nothing short of extraordinary.3 Alastair Johnston observes that China has demonstrated a cooperative attitude toward international security regimes from 1980 to 2000 largely as a result of social learning.` Edward Steinfeld argues that China has continued to integrate itself into the Western economic order and adheres to the rules set and dominated by the West.5 Rosemary Foot posits that China has chosen accommodation to cope with a US-hegemonic global order while simultaneously attempting to hedge and dilute US supremacy by seeking to establish solid relations with other partners and attempting to push for a more egalitarian world system. …

Regional Security Developments and Trilateral Cooperation

As a regional organisation the SCO is increasingly embracing both Central and South Asia, and it will become an important platform for promoting the building of a harmonious region. New developments in the security situations of West Asia and Northeast Asia have far-reaching implications for international security dynamics. China, India and Russia should uphold multilateralism and prevail upon the United Nations to play the leading role in safeguarding peace and security. Complicated by terrorism and other non-traditional security threats, the current international security order is challenged as many old assumptions of regional orders, security thinking, planning and international security regimes are losing their relevance.

Alliances, Internal Information, and Military Conflict Among Member-States

We offer a theory explaining how alliances as international security regimes reduce military conflict between member-states through their internal provision of information concerning national military capabilities. Bargaining models of war have shown that a lack of information about relative military capabilities functions as an important cause of war. We argue that alliances provide such information to internal participants, and greater knowledge within the alliance about member-state military capabilities reduces certain informational problems that could potentially lead to war. This internal information effect, however, is a conditional one. We posit that the information provided within the alliance matters most for dyads at or near power parity: the cases where states are most uncertain about who would prevail if a military conflict did emerge. In power preponderant dyads where the outcome of a potential military conflict is relatively certain, the internal information provided by military alliances becomes less important. Our statistical results provide strong support for these theoretical arguments.Our greatest thanks go to Ashley Leeds, who made available an advance copy of the ATOP 3.0 data set. This article also benefited from presentations at the University of Wisconsin and at ISA-South in Columbia, S.C. Finally, we thank Lisa Martin, two anonymous reviewers, Scott Gehlbach, Chuck Gochman, Zaryab Iqbal, George Krause, Pat McDonald, Jon Pevehouse, Bill Reed, Kevin Sweeney, and Harrison Wagner for their detailed comments and/or suggestions.

Containing missile proliferation: strategic technology, security regimes, and international cooperation in arms control

The proliferation of ballistic missiles that can deliver weapons of mass destruction halfway across the world is a matter of growing urgency and concern, as is the fate of agreements limiting the development of such deadly weapons. The Bush administration's scrapping of the ABM Treaty and pursuit of a huge National Missile Defense initiative are dramatic evidence of this concern. Yet there remains much uncertainty about the viability of missile defense. If defenses fall short, strong security regimes will be necessary to contain missile proliferation. Since 1987, more than thirty states have agreed to restrict their transfer of missiles and related technologies under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). During the MTCR's first decade, several regional powers were thwarted from advancing their missile ambitions. Subsequently, however, states such as North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, India, and Israel have tested medium-range missiles and others have expanded their missile arsenals. Dinshaw Mistry critically examines the successes and limitations of the MTCR, and suggests five practical ways to strengthen the regime. The author's exhaustive research offers new and detailed insights on the technology and politics of missile programs in Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan, India, Israel, Egypt, South Korea, Taiwan, and other countries. Mistry also shows how international cooperation, security regimes, and U.S. foreign policies of engagement and containment with these states can halt their missile programs. Mistry's book is the first comprehensive study of the MTCR and of international efforts to contain missile proliferation. Policymakers, scholars, and the general reader will find this book a valuable contribution to the subjects of arms control, ballistic missile proliferation, multilateral cooperation, and international security regimes. Dinshaw Mistry is assistant professor and director of Asian studies at the University of Cincinnati. He has written extensively on technology and politics, regional security, and international cooperation in The New York Times, Security Studies, Contemporary Security Policy, Asian Survey, Pacific Affairs, and other publications.

"Blood Diamonds" and Africa's Armed Conflicts in the Post-Cold War Era

based international security regime, which was characterized by the ideological and geoter ritorial struggles between the United States and the former Soviet Union, has engendered pro found changes, challenges, and constraints for many postcolonial African countries. The ab sence of any major ideological contestation between the East and the West has failed in the short-term to generate the anticipated peace dividend for several conflict-ridden and war devastated African states. The plethora of armed conflicts, civil wars, and brutal struggles for control over the financial revenues and territo ries of blood diamonds have exacerbated Africa's postcolonial socioeconomic and politi cal problems. These military skirmishes and cross-border rebel incursions have unleashed a catastrophic humanitarian tragedy for many citi zens and for the neighboring countries of Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The net effects of these armed conflicts-induced, fueled, and funded by mineral resources-have been the prolifer ation of chronic regional insecurity, the inten

Neoidealism and the Democratic Peace

While analysts hail the democratic peace as an empirical vindication of neoidealist precepts of world politics, actually it is inconsistent with them. Neoidealism focuses on the role of international regimes - not shared political regime type - in reducing the probability of interstate conflict. In this article, I suggest a more consistent neoidealist conceptualization of the stability among democratic dyads. Focusing on the postwar era, I maintain that a combination of factors, including bipolarity, nuclear deterrence, alliance membership, and trade links, contributed to the formation of an international security regime among the major power democracies and their minor power democratic allies. Further, I maintain that the presence of this international regime and not simply joint democracy allowed for the postwar stability among democratic dyads. While democracy may have been associated with the creation of a security regime at the behest of the Western democracies led by the USA, the expansion and maintenance of this regime (and its conflict dampening attributes) are rooted, to a greater extent, in the interplay of alliance-aggregation and security externalities of trade. This argument is consistent with neoidealist precepts and by focusing on the role of security regimes it contributes to the neoidealist research program.

Normative Constraints on the Use of Force Short of War

In order to ascertain whether international legal norms can contribute to the inhibition of recourse to war by states, a 'focused comparison' of norm change and the frequency with which serious disputes be tween states escalated to war was made of two discrete historical systems, the Metternichean Concert (1816-1848) and the so-called period of European unification (1849-1870) prior to the Bismarkian Con cert. The evidence suggests the capacity of norms to constrain war is contingent upon the ability of the great powers to reach consensus on, give salient attention to, and create a meaningful international se curity regime. In addition, that regime's rules must specify the conditions under which forcible methods short of war are permissible, including a definition of when retorsion and reprisal are permissible pro cedures for the redress of grievances. However, the historical evidence indicates that these conditions are met only rarely, and that the formation of such an international security regime is ephemeral and is governed by a cyclical process. The study concludes with an examination of the implications of these findings for the maintenance of peace in the contemporary global system.