National Self-interest Research Articles

The Russia–Ukraine War in Chinese Social Media: LLM Analysis Yields a Bias Toward Neutrality

This study is a cross-platform analysis of the discourses surrounding the Russia–Ukraine war in Chinese social media. Making use of both manual as well as automated classification of discussion about the war, we found most significantly the mass amplification of Russian state positions on Weibo and the reframing of the war as being in the Chinese national self-interest on Douyin. We situate what we call cross-national amplification as well as the national self among other notions that seek to capture the broad discursive power of the Chinese state including digital nationalism, soft propaganda, and playful patriotism. A second set of findings include some agreement between the manual and automated classification, albeit with the artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted platforms showing what we call a bias toward neutrality. We also emphasize the importance of a cross-platform analysis (rather than a single-platform analysis) when seeking to capture public sentiment on social media and the types of orchestrated, state discursive power on display.

The Courage to Be an Outsider

Abstract By disposition an outsider, Martin Buber had the requisite ‘civil courage’ to speak the truth as he saw it and thus the spiritual stamina to court the scorn of being marked an outsider, or worse. Accordingly, he called upon his fellow Zionists resolutely to reject the prevailing form of European nationalism and its self-righteous, self-centred pursuit of Realpolitik. The failure to eschew what Buber alarmingly called a ‘hypertrophic’ nationalism would perforce vitiate the very cure – the restoration of national dignity and spiritual renewal – that Zionism seeks to offer the ailing Jewish people. By adopting Realpolitik, a people can win the national rights for which it strove and yet fail to regain its spiritual health – because ‘nationalism, turned false, eats at its very marrow’. A nationalism of sacro egoismo – a political ethic that assumes that the pursuit of national self-interest is sacred and thus morally justified – spells not only spiritual evisceration but also political disaster.

National Egoism: Features and Patterns of Socially Dangerous Transformation

The paper scrutinizes the patterns and problems of the evolution of national egoism. The author highlights the impact of national egoism and its more dangerous forms (nationalism, racism, chauvinism) on the formation of extremist views and beliefs. The paper also explains interrelationship between ethnocorruption and national egoism, which represent effective tools of geopolitical influence. In this regard, the author points out the existence of a threat emanating from ethnic corruption and national egoism for the national security of the Russian Federation. The author also notes the importance and necessity of identifying criminological and social patterns affecting the emergence and development of national extremism in the Russian Federation. National egoism arises in a political and socio-economic formation where egoism is not condemned by the society or the state, where there are no ideas of internationalism, there is no common national ideology. Moreover, national egoism is a response, a protective reaction to various forms of discrimination on national grounds. Ethnocorruption features are similar to national egoism and they contribute to the transformation of national egoism into national extremism. Developing national egoism can transform into nationalism. Developing nationalism is able to transform into national extremism, etc.The paper also focuses on the main socio-economic and regulatory reasons, conditions and circumstances that influence the emergence and development of national egoism and ethnic corruption.An irrational manifestation of national egoism both in society and in various institutions of power is a criminogenic factor that affects negatively not only anti-corruption security, but also the strengthening of national unity, territorial integrity, inviolability of the foundations of the constitutional system, economic and national sovereignty of the Russian Federation.

International Health Cooperation in the Post-Pandemic Era: Possibilities for and Limitations of Middle Powers in International Cooperation

The COVID-19 pandemic has left international cooperation and liberalistic values in crisis. As liberalism’s downfall is widely discussed, international collaborations like the European Union are criticised for their inability to operate adequately during the pandemic. The four examples in this paper are middle power countries (South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore) in terms of economic scale and influence. The purpose of this study was to uncover possibilities for and limitations of these middle powers within international cooperative efforts during and after the pandemic. The unknown factor is the path the post-pandemic world will follow. Will nations focus on independent survival? Or will international cooperation shape the new world? Globalisation already seems to have progressed too far for the national egoism of the great powers to prevail. Even if face-to-face is replaced by virtual and offline meetings move online, the social nature of humans remains unchanged, and international cooperation remains valid. The four middle power countries in Asia, which are included among the most economically successful countries, are important to international society based on their relatively excellent quarantine performance. What is important in the diplomacy of middle power countries is not traditional security and hard power but the soft power of international law, human rights, health security, and international cooperation.

Between Ethnicity and Professionalism: Problem of Personnel in the Establishment of the Latvian Conservatory in 1919-1921

For the first time in the Russian-language historiography, there is examined the correlation of two approaches - ethnic and professional - in the formation of the teaching staff of the Latvian Conservatory in the first years of its existence (1919-1922). The research is based on materials of periodicals of that and later periods, letters from conservatory director Jazep Vitols, as well as documents of the Latvian Conservatory record stored in the conservatory fund in the Latvian State Archives and in the fund of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Latvia in the Latvian State Historical Archives. The article considers the tasks that the state and its leaders set for the conservatory, as well as the dominant principles of staffing. The author reveals a fundamental contradiction between the desire to make the conservatory in the Latvian style and the need to set and keep a high bar of the higher music school of the European level. The author comes to the conclusion that the political circumstances and national aspirations hindered the formation of the teaching staff of the conservatory on a strictly professional basis. In turn, the requirement to ensure a high quality of teaching forced the conservatory to resort to services of non-Latvian musicians and thereby limited the manifestations of Latvian national egoism. At the same time, in the post-revolutionary years it was Soviet Russia that served as the main source of staff for the Latvian Conservatory, both Latvian and foreign.

Great Britain and the Third Reich: From Pacification to Confrontation

The article presents the dynamics of Anglo-German relations in the 1930s, the distinguishing feature of which was the encouragement of the daring and aggressive initiatives of the Third Reich by Great Britain. Examining the political and diplomatic position of Great Britain, the author comes to the conclusion that it was dictated by the fact that through concessions and appeasement of Nazi political and diplomatic ambitions Hitler's foreign policy interests had to be redirected exclusively to the East, thereby securing the West from Nazi aggression. The British, based on anti-Soviet views, were guided solely by the categories of blind national egoism and opportunism; with the help of Nazi Germany, they sought to build a new world order without the USSR. In this political and diplomatic game that unfolded in the pre-war period Hitler outplayed the British. The article focuses on the transformation of the position of Nazi Germany towards Great Britain from anglophile to confrontational views, which was dictated by the understanding of the Nazi political elite that generous British concessions helped Hitler achieve tremendous diplomatic success, and therefore he no longer needed the "services" of the British. British political and diplomatic strategies of the 1930s were doomed to failure, and the result of this short-sighted policy was another world catastrophe, which could have been avoided by creating a collective security system initiated by the Soviet Union. The article analyzes the nature of political and diplomatic initiatives and maneuvers used by the British and Germans to achieve their foreign policy goals.

Viewpoint: vaccine inequity in the spotlight

Vaccine inequity has never before been in the public eye as it has been in the last months. The profound inequities in COVID-19 vaccine supply which have been allowed to...

Trumpism as an Alternative Look at the Great America

The article analyzes the phenomenon of “Trumpism,” which brought hopes for its renewal and expectation of changes into traditional American politics. “Trumpism” swung at the power of the Deep State and showed America that it is historically, mentally, culturally, and economically fragmented. The paternalism of American democrats toward a certain part of the country’s population, which Trump positions as “communism,” opposes the true America, which is personified by the states of the “rusty belt” and its working class. “Trumpism” sees the true rebirth of America in a policy of sound national egoism and in America’s focus on itself. For opponents of President Donald Trump, his return to power means another immersion of the ruling elite in the fight against many unknown things, when the political “behind the scenes” has already come out of the shadows and has shown its actual goals.

The Labour Government and Decolonisation in British West Africa (1945-51)

The present research paper attempts to examine the attitude of the Labour Government 1945-51 towards the process of decolonisation in British West Africa and whether the party, with its socialist agenda, was able to initiate any new course different from that of the capitalist, imperialist Conservatives. To inquire into this, the paper sheds light on the colonial policies adopted by the Labour Party before 1945 and after to show how far the Party’s actions once in office were consistent with its resolutions once in opposition. Previous historical research on British decolonisation dating back to the late 1950s presented the Party as playing a major role in unscrambling the empire and assigned it a positive role in Africa. However, the chief limitation of this historiographical genre is its lack of objectivity as it did not make use of primary sources. Relying on some archival sources and adopting an analytical approach, this study argues that the Labour government of 1945-51 did not mark a new move towards decolonisation in West Africa. Contrary to what has often been assumed, the Party’s approach to colonial questions was not different from that of the Conservative Party. Labour adhered to the political, economic, social and ideological constituents that defined the culture of imperialism. Its colonial policy was neither innovative nor did it involve any revolutionary break with the past official colonial policy. A major influential factor had been British national self-interest.

Vaccine alliance building blocks: a conjoint experiment on popular support for international COVID-19 cooperation formats

The design principles of institutions that visibly and significantly affect citizens’ lives are likely to be politically salient. Popular support for these principles is in turn crucial for institutional viability and effectiveness. Transboundary pandemics are a case in point. Understanding citizens’ preferences regarding the design of international alliances set up to mass-produce and distribute vaccines is likely to determine citizens’ subsequent cooperation with vaccination campaigns. This study explores Germans’ preferences for international COVID-19 vaccine alliance design principles. We conducted a conjoint experiment at a recurring cognitive moment in many pandemics’ cycles, between the initial outbreak and a more devastating but still-unknown second wave, when infection rates were very low, yet no policy solutions had been developed. We analyzed preferences regarding four building blocks: (1) alliance composition (size; EU-centrism), (2) alliance distribution rules (joining cost; vaccine allocation), (3) vaccine nationalism (cost per German household; coverage in Germany) and (4) vaccine producer confidence (origin; type). Distribution rules, political ideology and personal perceptions of pandemic threat matter little. But a larger alliance size and dominant EU-country composition increase alliance support. And vaccine nationalism is key: support increases with both lower costs and larger coverage for own-nation citizens. Moreover, support goes down for Chinese and American producers and increases for Swiss and especially own-nation producers. In sum, a realist and technocratic outlook is warranted at the cognitive stage in pandemic cycles when no solutions have been found, yet the worst already seems to be over, as national self-interest reigns supreme in popular attitudes.

India’s Quadrilateral conundrum

ABSTRACT India and China are two powers in Asia, having common borders but different sense of entitlements and vulnerabilities. China’s global profile has become much stronger than India’s. How India and China deal with each other will determine peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The challenge for New Delhi is to factor its national self-interest and security into dealings with a rising China. India is threatened by Chinese assertiveness, given its outstanding boundary disputes with China, Belt and Road Initiative, uncritical Chinese support for Pakistan and China’s increasing penetration into the Indian Ocean region. However, current Indian stance toward China is characterized by hedging, which has severe limitations dues to many structural constraints. The article argues that India should unhesitatingly increase its strategic engagement with America, Japan and Australia to strengthen the Quadrilateral. Despite some obvious differences, all four maritime democracies share a set of common strategic perceptions, which could deepen their security arrangements to manage China’s growing assertiveness.

Jan Hardy versus Likwidator. Comics als Medien der gesellschaftlichen Spaltung Polens

This article at the intersection of cultural studies of popular and memory culture deals with the genre of comics as an identity-forming (protest) medium and projection surface for the ideologised “culture war” between traditionalists and modernists in contemporary Poland. The analysis focuses on two historical comics that combine facts and imaginary and refer back to the Second World War, the communist period and the recent history of the Republic of Poland after 1989. The article juxtaposes two title heroes and their comic worlds, which represent opposite ends of the political spectrum and reveal the problem areas of Poland’s dividedness along the underlying canon of values and symbolic worlds: Jan Hardy, the national-conservative “cursed soldier”, and Likwidator, the relentless “anarcho-terrorist”. The characters and their adventures exemplify fundamental memory cultural, religious, nationalist and emancipatory discourses in Poland today. The focus of the analysis lies on the creation context and the (visual) language with its narrative-aesthetic intensifications, which illuminate Poland’s current state of conflict between national egoism and traditional “cultural patriotism” on the one hand and liberal value relativism with its progressive-emancipatory rhetoric on the other.

On education and upbringing: On the issue of global security

The article analyzes those ethical teachings of the humanities and works of art that can serve as a guide to the prevention of conflicts and the threat of self-destruction of the mankind. The author points out that teaching and presenting to society its fruits must be teleological. The purpose of studying these texts should be a theory of creating a planetary human community based on the principles of goodness and justice. It requires the creation of a new type of man. I.S. Ivanova presents the problems of education and upbringing in the form of three circles: the circle of education of the individual and society, the circle of education and upbringing, and the cultural and linguistic circle. As the most important teachings in philosophy and ethics for the prevention of conflicts and the threat of self-destruction of the mankind, the author singles out the golden rule of morality, the categorical imperative of I. Kant; the teachings of V.S. Solovyov on tolerance and debunking of national, state and personal egoism. In the field of fiction, it is proposed to pay more attention to the books by L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, and literature about the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet period. In the sphere of speech culture, it is crucial to teach to prevent conflicts using a system of taboos and euphemisms. The author proposes the idea of principles common to all humanities, necessary for the upbringing of a new type of man and the creation of theoretical principles for building a society of a new planetary human community.

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF THE FORMATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY AS AN URGENT PROBLEM IN MODERN PERIOD

The article examines the positive psychological issues of the formation of national self-awareness and thinking through instilling in the younger generation, the preservation of the historically established high national and moral values of each nation. One of the main psychological factors in the formation of national self-awareness among each young generation is the awareness of the psychological past of people, which means that knowledge of what moral and psychological qualities they possess and how their people are progressing, which is widely reflected in the article. Because it is impossible to direct future development without knowing the ethnogenesis and ethnopsychological past of the people. Margaret Mead notes that the past of the older generation is the future of the younger generation. First of all, the role of the ethnocultural environment of the family in the formation of national identity is great. The main national values are born in the family, formed and instilled in children by parents in the process of action and communication. In the national consciousness of the younger generation, the family is considered sacred and exalted, perceived as an example of a small state. In the life of every family lives its spirit, spirituality, reflecting the identity of the people, serving the formation of national identity, passed down from generation to generation. Folklore samples, works of classics, historical monuments are of particular importance in obtaining information on the history of the psychological development of the people and play a key role in the formation of national identity and national self-awareness of the younger generation. The formation of national identity is the basis for the active generation and self-realization of the young generation, taking into account the acquisition of certain knowledge about the ethno psychological past of the people. The national consciousness of cognition of the psychological past of its people actively influences the further development of the young generation in terms of national self-development, national self-improvement. A young man who understands himself, feels his national identity with soul and blood, respects his people, is now in the spirit of national identity. But in the younger generation, national consciousness is not a connection with the past, but the preservation of the beauty of their people, propaganda and inspiration of the generation and the world, growing in accordance with the ideology of the time, and the elimination of people's shortcomings. The article emphasizes that the development of national self-awareness should not lead to national egoism, national individualism. Because where there is national egoism, there are outward features that arise exclusively from nationalist tendencies and are not characteristic of other nations and peoples, as well as for the nation itself, which leads to national conflicts between nations and peoples. Keywords: young generation, personality, national self-awareness, people, development.

Is U.S.-China Climate Action Possible in an Era of Mistrust?

The world can't meet the challenge of climate change without aggressive action from both China and the United States, the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Together, they accounted for nearly 45% of total global carbon emissions in 2019, and any climate solution will benefit from their joint action. However, with U.S.-China relations at the lowest point in decades, competition rather than cooperation increasingly defines the relationship. Despite the friction, the U.S. and China could have a positive impact on climate change outside of a formal cooperation framework. Specifically, the evolving dynamics around climate action will increasingly foster conditions under which constructive competition can drive needed action by both as they pursue national self-interest. What’s more, some forms of cooperation will still be feasible, even if tensions remain high.

Dialectical Moralism, National Interest, and Foreign Policy: The Case of United States and Pakistan

US foreign policy throughout the history is replete with the moralistic rhetoric – pursuance of American moral principles embodied in the declaration of independence, constitution, and in the repeated doctrines of the American presidents. Yet the careful examination of its foreign policy reveals that it remained mostly amoral in nature, that is, devoid of any moral or immoral essence. It has mostly pursued the national self-interest which remained dynamic because of the changing geopolitical environment of the region and the world. Use of religion since Pakistan’s independence to align with it against godless communist Soviet Union, neglecting Pakistan’s nuclear program because of the greater national self-interest during 1980s, supporting military governments in Pakistan while being the biggest proponent of democracy in the world, use of drone warfare while violating the sovereignty and international law, are few of the amoralistic policies being pursued by the United States towards Pakistan. The study concludes that the United States have/will continue to use the moral rhetoric as a leverage to pressurise or entice Pakistan to do its bidding and in the case of failing, to utilise the same rhetoric as a tool to distance itself from Pakistan, when its national interests are served.

Complex Risks of COVID-19 Pandemic: Possible Metamorphization of National into Cosmopolitan Sustainable Development

The purpose of this article is to analyze the complex risks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and their nonlinear influence on sustainable development. In the context of this global pandemic, this article shows the limits of “thinking national” and argues that metamorphization of national to cosmopolitan sustainable development is possible on the basis of overcoming national egoism with cosmopolitan survival. The article builds on the “the theory of metamorphosis” proposed by U. Beck (2010). Phenomena are analyzed through the effects of the “arrow of time” (I. Prigogine) and “methodological cosmopolitanism”. The main results are as follows: The risks of COVID-19 have mixed effects on sustainable development. On the one hand, they undermine the traditional approaches towards social security and sustainability, but on the other hand, there is a chance of establishing cosmopolitan medical cooperation in the struggle against viruses by passing from national biopolitics and national structures of sustainable development to cosmopolitan (global concerted) counterparts. The conclusion is drawn that in order to realize this possibility, it is necessary to re-discover the existing visions of sustainable development while taking into consideration the common struggle of nations against epidemics.

City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism. By Abram C. Van Engen

City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism. By Abram C. Van Engen

The problematic ally: Italy, Britain and the Entente

ABSTRACT British statesmen and generals held Italy in low regard because of racial attitudes, ignorance of the conditions under which Italian soldiers fought, and a conviction that Italy should subordinate its interests to those of the United Kingdom. They placed unreasonable expectations on the Italian army and interpreted its failure to meet them as confirmation of British prejudices. British politicians viewed their Italian counterparts as ‘devious’ when they pursued national self-interest while those same British leaders put the interests of the British empire above those of the Entente. If Italian soldiers failed to press home an attack or hold a position, British generals accused them of defeatism, lack of fighting spirit or outright cowardice but did not level the same criticism at their own troops when they suffered reverses. Not until the summer of 1917 did a high-ranking British officer even tour the Italian front. British generals repeatedly dismissed Italian intelligence as alarmist only to have it proved correct. Throughout the war, the British treated Italy as a junior member rather than an equal partner in the alliance. This study reveals how prejudice, ignorance and arrogance shaped Anglo-Italian relations and adversely effected allied strategic planning.

Национальные и коллективные практики преодоления пандемии COVID-19 в Европе

The article deals with the national and collective pandemic responses at the early stage of the COVID‑19 spread in Europe. It is noted that the European Union was not ready for such a cataclysm, despite the history of the spread of serious infectious diseases and the presence of special services and road maps. The virus that began to circulate in Asia, was not initially perceived by the EU representatives as a real threat. Moreover, its leadership ignored the voices of some member states of the Union, focusing on solving other problems. In turn, the countries left without Brussels’ attention began to counteract the new Coronavirus independently, using the anti-crisis tools that were prescribed in the existing pandemic plans. The existence of such national programs determined the specificity of the measures taken in the very first days. The author identifies three models of the EU member states’ behavior. The first one was common for the states of the so-called “political core of the EU” which refused to adopt strict lockdown measures due to their unwillingness to weaken democracy, violate human rights and limit civil liberties. The second group, comprised mainly of the EU‑11 countries, imposed severe measures. The author sees the rationale for this step in the fact that local authorities doubted the capabilities of national health systems in passing a pandemic stress test. The third group includes states that have chosen the way of achieving herd immunity – the most controversial option of resistance to viral infection, that has not proven its effectiveness. The article demonstrates that the period of growing national egoism was followed by a stage of decisive measures by the central authorities of the EU. They were able to develop a suitable package of measures that took into consideration the interests of the most affected countries of the Union. The consolidation of the EU after a temporary weakening became possible due to the “reset” of the Franco-German tandem.