International Relations Theory Research Articles

Security, Society, and the Perennial Struggles over the Sacred: Revising the Wars of Religion in International Relations Theory

AbstractInternational relations theory tends to build on the conventional narrative of the Wars of Religion (WoR), which holds it was the irrationality of religious violence that generated the modern international system of pragmatic secular states—resulting in the presumed secularized, rational, and unemotive nature of politics. In contrast, this article reorients our focus to Durkheim's more social view of religion as a community of believers and to the continued role of the sacred and shared emotion/affect in social and political life. Specifically, it examines how modern communities (such as nations) remain constituted by a shared faith in conceptions of the sacred and how the corresponding sense of moral order is central to the enduring pursuit of ontological security. Therefore, it argues that international relations should focus on the perennial struggles over what communities hold sacred and that we can better understand the propensity for (“religious” or “secular”) violence by examining the continual interplay between the sacred, ontological security, and the hermeneutics of morality—with the so-called WoR being the locus classicus of this argument. Historical studies exploring how participants in the WoR navigated such struggles over the sacred thus allow us to explore these dynamics and further conceptualize our understanding of the sacred within modern “secular” politics. The article concludes by examining how the prospect for violence is interrelated with the perennial struggles over the sacred within, and between, political orders—a sentiment that brings into relief some of the hazards accompanying growing intrastate moral polarization and interstate ideological rivalry.

Nacionalni interes Republike Srbije za učešće Vojske Srbije u mirovnim operacijama

Peacekeeping operations are one of the instruments for resolving crises in the world and preventing armed conflicts that threaten global peace and security. This article argues that the participation of the Serbian Armed Forces in UN missions contributed to peacekeeping in the world and produced positive benefits for the country. Namely, the Serbian Armed Forces inherits the tradition of many years of participation in UN and EU peacekeeping operations. This article first provides an overview of the most important contributions of the Republic of Serbia to peacekeeping operations, focusing on the important role that this activity plays in the achievement of foreign policy goals, national development and international relations. This is followed by the presentation of national legislation that regulates the Serbian Armed Forces participation in peacekeeping operations. Therefore, peacekeeping operations are recognized as a type of multilateral mechanism for achieving cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and the UN/EU and a contribution to building trust and the position of a reliable partner in international relations. The theory of international relations that explains such actions of states is the realism theory. In accordance with realists school of thought, state national interests for participation in peacekeeping operations are military security issues, national and strategic interests as well as economic interests, and increased credibility and power of states in international relations. Starting from the fact that global security is comprehensive and indivisible, states are even more interested in participating in peacekeeping operations and perceive it as their national interests and an element of foreign and security policy. This is the initial thesis from which the authors base their analysis presented in the paper.

What is the Purpose of Theory in International Relations?

What is the Purpose of Theory in International Relations?

Эволюция политики “стратегической неопределенности” США в тайваньском вопросе

The article is dedicated to the analysis of “strategic ambiguity” concept – a tool of U.S. foreign policy aimed at dual deterrence of both mainland China and breakaway Taiwan. Washington stayed deliberately ambiguous in its commitments to defend Taiwan thus leaving Beijing uncertain whether the U.S. will intervene in case of escalation in the Strait, and at the same time not encouraging Taiwanese authorities to declare full independence and sovereignty which would provoke military escalation with mainland China, dragging the U.S. into full-scale conflict with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The article analyzes the roots of this approach during D. Eisenhower’s years in office, its evolution en course and after the Cold War, and its erosion under D. Trump and J. Biden. The article shows that the U. S. President Eisenhower wished to maintain status-quo in Taiwan Strait, fearing that he would either have to turn a blind eye on the communist takeover of Taiwan, or be dragged into conflict with the close ally of Moscow, which would eventually lead to the war with the USSR. Eisenhower and his administration remained ambiguous in their communications with the PRC (mainland China) and Taiwan, not encouraging the island to declare full independence and at the same time not giving Beijing a carte blanche for military intervention. This approach dubbed in political science and international relations theory as “strategic ambiguity” proved to be useful, and was reinforced during Washington–Beijing rapprochement in 1970s. Under Trump administration, the U.S. started to consider dropping the “strategic ambiguity” policy towards clearer deterrence commitments. This trend manifested via emotional statements made by Donald Trump himself, mostly on social media, as well as through a change of tone in key foreign policy documents and new decisions that signaled a serious revision of the American approach to military cooperation between the United States and Taiwan. This trend continued and exacerbated under Biden administration due to number of bills signed, including the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act (TERA) which de-facto dubbed the contested island as Washington’s “Major Non-NATO Ally” and enabled to boost military supplies. The erosion of the “strategic ambiguity” policy also manifested through various high-profile contacts, including the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit on the island.

Big Data Analysis and Decision Making Optimization in International Relations Supported by Constructivist Theory

Abstract With the peaceful end of the Cold War and the deepening development of economic globalization, the traditional international relations theory is in trouble, and constructivism comes into being amidst people’s reflections on neorealism and neoliberalism. This paper proposes an optimization method for decision-making in international relations, guided by the constructivist international relations theory system. Big data is used to analyze the decision-making opinions of experts in international relations processing and to fuse complex relationships, and then the dual-consensus feedback mechanism is used to calculate the comprehensive score of each international relations decision-making scheme to obtain the optimal decision-making scheme in international relations. The analysis finds that the solution obtained using the method proposed in this paper is better than the solution obtained using the JIA method and can provide the optimal decision-making solution for processing international relations. In the simulation case, after optimizing its decision-making in international relations, country T actively engages in economic and trade exchanges with country M and jointly establishes several economic cooperation frameworks. The export trade volume of country T to country M increased by about three times from 2016 to 2023, and the total global trade volume of country T doubled by nearly five times (481.97%). The paper’s impact can be seen in the establishment of relatively stable international relations and the realization of the practice of friendly interaction between state subjects.

Нагорнокарабахский конфликт (2020–2023): реалии и прогнозы

The article analyzes results of the events in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone from 2020 to 2023, as well as their reflection in works of political scientists. The study is based on analysis of open sources with expert assessments and judgments, as well as on works in international relations theory. Main conclusion is drawn about reasons that may cause inaccuracies in political forecasting. The factors that had a negative impact on the consistency of forecasts of development of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh are determined. Those are the following: obvious abstraction from the position of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, inattention to processes taking place within Azerbaijani society, emotional involvement of a part of expert community in conflict interaction, difficulties in accurate defining Armenia's goals regarding Nagorno-Karabakh during the mentioned period.

Beyond Westphalia-The Difficulties of the Three Principles of Realism

International actors are fundamental units of research in the field of international relations, with state actors being the primary focus. The political relationships between countries serve as the basis for current mainstream research in international relations theory. However, the author believes that with the evolution of the international system and the increasing complexity of the international community, the traditional Westphalian system and its derivative concept of absolute sovereignty have become outdated. This limits the effectiveness of the current paradigm used to describe objective reality and its ability to guide practical applications. As a result, it is necessary to redefine these propositions. In this paper, the author will use literature investigation and historical analysis methods to deconstruct the three mainstream views of the national center, rational countries, and single country perspectives. This will demonstrate that a variety of international actors and power centers have emerged in the field of international relations and are playing increasingly important roles. This highlights the need to move beyond the limitations of a single nation system towards a more nuanced understanding of international relations. Through a multi-center perspective and utilizing multidisciplinary research methods, including techniques from quantum mechanics, the author will work towards developing a more accurate theory based on the reality of the international relations system.

In Chase of Vanishing Poles: Gaps in Conceptualization of International Politics

The paper offers an overview of the academic and practical discussion on ‘polarity’ as a fundamental element of the system of international relations and IR theory. The history of the question shows that the abstract, speculative, and essentially reductionist concept of the ‘pole’ hit the taste of political leaders as an indicator of a country’s power potential and international status, and a pillar of the world order. An academic concept has eventually turned into an instrument of international politics. As a result, the current ‘polar’ discussion has got stuck, unable to expand the analytical framework beyond the concepts that emerged in a completely different historical era. Today, the discussion about ‘poles’ constantly leads the academic community away from studying the reality of world politics, shifting the focus to a plot that has little to do with the changes that form the fabric of international life. Hence it seems it is the time to close it.

THE ISLAMIC FACTOR IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

The article analyzes the growing influence of the religious factor as a historical phenomenon of the return of religion to the theory and practice of international relations. The main characteristics of the temporal and spatial dynamics of the influence of the religious factor on international relations both within the framework of universal laws and the specifics of Islam are determined, and the consequences of this influence are clarified. Both general trends (transnationalization, deterritorialization, decentralization of religions) and specific features of the influence of the Islamic factor are identified and characterized. In the context of the changing nature of international actors, it is determined that at the present stage, religious systems are emerging on the world stage in the form of a system of transnational relations between states, religious enclaves within the borders of other states, individual groups and transnational religious movements that are established across national borders, forming an additional transnational system of interactions.

Формирование коммуникационной парадигмы книговедения в научном творчестве М. Н. Куфаева

The second article in a series of publications devoted to the genesis and evolution of theoretical book studies in Russia examines some aspects of the formation of the communication paradigm of the St. Petersburg school of book studies, which is inextricably linked with the research activities of professor M. N. Kufaev. A multi-aspect analysis of one of his program works, "The Book in the Process of Communication", is presented; a number of areas of bibliological research in line with the communication paradigm outlined by the scientist are identified: the theory and history of international book relations, issues of authorial activity in interaction and interdependence with the reader and the reading environment, problems of reading activity as an individual and social phenomenon at the same time, book culture. The author’s conceptual model of the formation of socially shared meanings is proposed, based on a cyclical approach to understanding author and reader activity, presented in the monograph under study.

A postmodernist reading of the Epic Sci-Fi poetry, Adventures of Two captains

Among the works that consider political and social narratives, one can refer to the book "The Adventures of Two Captains," which also represents a kind of postmodern exploration. This work is intertwined with literary techniques, which is one of its prominent features, and serves as a bridge between science fiction stories, utopianism, and critical theories of international relations. However, it should be stated that the mentioned book aims at deconstructing modernist approaches to literature and the power structures that are used while defining global politics. The authors of this work, Elias Aghili and Paul John Amrod, while using epic storytelling intertwined with dystopian and utopian elements, have also used rich literary traditions from both Eastern and Western cultures in this direction. In this regard, this review analyzes the impact of the book on postmodernist discourse, exploring its noted literary techniques and broader thematic issues, especially its critique of power, identity, and narrative in terms of international relations.

LENIN COMO TEÓRICO DAS RELAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS

Lenin can be considered a theoretician of International Relations, since his ideas contained in books and articles, many of which are political interventions around and within the Second International, can be read together to think about a Marxist-Leninist theory of international politics. This is the purpose of this article: to understand Lenin as a theoretician of International Relations based on a systematization of his ideas. The article analyzes his reflections on capitalism, war and revolution and his classic work, Imperialism, superior phase of capitalism, in order to propose a Leninist theory of International Relations.

Interests of IGAD Member States in the South Sudan Peace Process, 2013- 2023

Three civil wars have been witnessed in South Sudan. The first Sudanese Civil war began in 1955 pitting troops from the Central government of Sudan and the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM) rebels. This war ended after the Addis Ababa Agreement of 1972. The second war began in 1983 and ended in 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between. A referendum in 2011 overwhelmingly voted for the independent state of South Sudan. Two years (2013) after the birth of the South Sudan nation a third civil war erupted. The civil war pitted former Vice-President Dr Riek Machar against the government of President Salva Kirr of South Sudan. The humanitarian crisis and abuse of human rights associated with the civil conflict prompted the international community through regional powers to intervene and restore stability in South Sudan. The war in South Sudan has persisted despite the efforts by IGAD and other players in the peace process. This study this study examines the interests of IGAD member states in the South Sudan peace process between 2013 and 2023. Anchored on the realism theory of international relations this study argued that interests of IGAD member states has tended to slow down the peace process in South Sudan between 2013 and 2023. This study 1takes the form of an explanatory research1design. Purposive and snow balling sampling techniques were used to identify 410 respondents for field interviews. The study purposively identified 385 South Sudanese refugees in Nairobi. A total of 25 other respondents who included; representatives of the warring factions in South Sudan residing in Kenya, IGAD officials, EAC officials and Diplomats from IGAD member states were also interviewed. This study noted that in as much as different players have significantly contributed to the peace process; interveners’ interests have tended to slow down the peace process in South Sudan.

Unmasking International Relations in the Times of War in Africa: Beyond Rhetoric, Reality and Trust

This paper unmasks the concept of international relations using the lenses of realist school of thought. Relations of nation states towards each other, and with international organisations, including sub national entities is what international relations (IR) is all about (Antunes and Camisao, 2018; Adams, 2003; Wendt, 1992; Axelrod and Keohane 1993). The significance of IR in the contemporary world, as it were in the past cannot be overemphasized. It seeks to comprehend the roots of war and the preservation of peace both stemming from the nature and exercise of power within the global system. To this effect, the discipline of international relations comprises of numerous theories, each attempting to explain the power relations and the resultant behaviour of nation states on the international scene. Of particular interest to this article is how the realism theory of IR enhances the prospects of cooperation within the international environment and the realists’ main obstacles to achieving cooperation in international development. As one of the many theories in the IR discourse, Realism claims to explain the reality of international politics. Realists believe that sovereign states are the principal actors on the international political system, having at their disposal justifiable actions or tools for the protection of their interests. Proponents of realism argue that states are unitary and rational actors of importance seeking to secure their survival through reliance on their own means even if it meant war (Glaser, 1994; Brown, 2007; Milner, 1992).Drawing from secondary sources of data and using a desk top review approach, this study found that realists come close to explaining the actual happenings on the IR scene i.e. the survival of the state at all costs, also called the ethics of responsibility rather than by moral principles as other theorists argue. Realism as a school of thought in the IR discourse has generated a significant volume of debate and criticisms igniting valuable insights and remains an important analytical tool for stakeholders in IR.

Testing International Relations theory with Process Tracing: A practical framework based on the New Liberalism

Resumo: Este trabalho tem como propósito introduzir e aprofundar a aplicação do método de Process Tracing (PT) na análise de estudos de caso como teste de teoria em Relações Internacionais (RI), focando especialmente em pesquisadores brasileiros. Inspirado pelo crescente uso e importância do PT, visa oferecer uma estrutura para sua utilização na modalidade de teste de teoria, auxiliando aqueles que buscam adaptar teorias de RI para avaliar casos específicos. Utilizando como exemplo a institucionalização da US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) nos Estados Unidos, o artigo se baseia na estruturação do método para sistematizar o teste da teoria do Novo Liberalismo de Moravcsik (1997). O texto apresenta o caso de forma estruturada, demonstrando como o PT pode ser aplicado em estudos centrados na teoria. Além disso, oferece um mecanismo causal teórico específico sobre o lobby religioso institucionalizado da USCIRF. Este trabalho não se limita a ser um estudo de caso único, mas sim um esforço metodológico para orientar pesquisadores interessados em operacionalizar teorias de RI usando PT como teste de teoria. Com isso, busca-se aprimorar o rigor e a clareza na pesquisa qualitativa em RI, contribuindo para a crescente utilização do PT entre os pesquisadores brasileiros interessados nessa área, promovendo avanços significativos na compreensão dos mecanismos causais em contextos políticos complexos.

Торгово-экономические и научно-технические связи США и СССР в годы разрядки

The topic of cooperation between the USSR and the USA in the economic, scientific and technical fields during the years of detente in bilateral relations (1969–1979) has been developed by American and European historians, political scientists, economists and experts in international relations theory for 50 years. This review describes the main stages of evolution of the foreign historiography on this problem. The authors consider the development of trade relations, technological exchanges and cooperation in the field of science as a coherent whole due to their “multilayered nature” and cumulative impact on the overall dynamics and final results of the Cold War. It is noted that from the very beginning, the formation of investigative issues was greatly influenced by theoretical works, as well as memoirs and diaries of American statesmen, Presidents, Secretaries of State, Assistants to the President for National Security Affairs, who were direct participants in the events. It is proved that in modern foreign studies, there is a tendency to belittle the significance of the experience of detente as a special model of relations between the East and the West. There is an attitude to the achievements of the exploratory programs implemented in those years as something situational and insignificant. Another conclusion concerns the difference in the emphasis of domestic and foreign authors regarding the choice of research issues. While the former tend to pay attention to the potential, implemented and missed opportunities of scientific and technical cooperation between the two superpowers during the period of relative thaw, the latter focus on studying the U.S. trade policy, but the transfer of technologies and high-tech products is considered in the context of discriminatory restrictions caused by the logic of the Cold War. While Russian authors, as a rule, emphasize the equal and mutually beneficial nature of cooperation in the scientific and technical sphere, American and European historians point to the USSR lagging behind in the development and introduction of new technologies into production by the mid‑1970s, a greater interest in cooperation and, as a result, a more vulnerable position in the negotiation and bargaining.

International Relations’ Nomological Machines: The Neo-Neo Synthesis’s Tale of Law-Like Explanations

Objective/context: This article introduces debates on Nancy Cartwright’s concept of nomological machines applied to international relations theory. What the neo-neo synthesis claims as the essence of the international system is a set of conditions imposed upon international phenomena for the latter to fit into the theories themselves. It argues that the law-like explanations tailored by neorealism and neoliberalism are by no means a representation of the world as it is, but rather a predication of the world as these theories want it to be. Methodology: It critically reviews the foundations of neo-neo theories, suggesting a philosophical methodology by reframing the ontological terms of neorealism and neoliberalism based on the concept of nomological machines. Conclusions: This article contends that neo-neo theories could benefit from a capacities-oriented approach, which offers a less categorical understanding of how explanations of international phenomena are tailored, allowing alternative principles to provide invaluable insights about the international system. Originality: This paper innovates by intersecting the ideas of nomological machines with the metatheoretical debate on international relations, thus enabling theoretical improvement.

Two’s Company, Three’s a Crowd: Tripolarity and War

International systems of three great powers, tripolar systems, remain an understudied topic. In this article, I make three claims about tripolarity. First, it is more warlike than either bipolarity or multipolarity. Second, the two weaker poles of a tripolar system usually ally against the most powerful one. Third, when a pole abruptly declines, the two others have a strong incentive to race to prey on it. To demonstrate this, I develop three cases of past tripolar systems rarely discussed: the Epigoni period during the third century B.C. (Eastern Mediterranean system), the period of the Three Kingdoms during the third century A.D. and the period of the late Northern and Southern Dynasties during the sixth century (East Asian system). This study is thus of importance not only for international relations theory but also for understanding current great power relations since today’s world also consists of three poles: China, Russia and the United States.

Эмоция и аффект в мировой политике

In the world (but not yet in Russia specifically) there is already an extensive and rapidly growing amount of literature on the role and place of emotions both in international relations (IR) and in the foreign policy of states. This gives grounds to talk about the “emotional turn” within the framework of IR as a research discipline. But it is also well known that emotions are studied not only by IR, but in psychology, in various areas of neuroscience and in sociology as well. This article deals with some ontological and epistemological issues, arising from the results of multidirectional efforts of many academics to conceptualize the international political role of emotions on the basis of the leading international relations theories. The immediate goal is the exploration in the chosen subject area of the methodological problem of the integration of social science knowledge with achievements from the field of natural sciences. It is proposed to pay particularly close attention in this sense to the paradigm of affective neuroscience. The phenomenon of emotion, in principle, does not fit well with categories, which until now the IR has been focused on. Methodological imperatives of objective research push for the exclusion of subjective emotional experience from the scope of consideration. Constructivists, in their turn, treat emotion as a cognitive belief rather than as a bodily state. But in the article, the emotion is represented as a phenomenon which is both mental and physical. This is a monist view, going back to Spinoza. The research leads to the conclusion that, although social constructivism has good potential for studying the emotions in IR, when intentionally ignoring the biological nature of emotions, social constructivists can weaken their own position in comparison with those academic opponents, who are committed to instrumental rationalism in their approach. Constructivists thus limit with no good reason their own agenda when studying emotions and hinder the development of a transdisciplinary approach to the study of emotions in IR in particular.

Why there is Now Non-Western International Relations Theory

Why there is Now Non-Western International Relations Theory