World Politics Research Articles

Multiple Modernities in Civilizational Perspective: An Assessment of the Global Civilization(s) Initiative

Abstract This paper starts from the supposition that civilization is an important concept for thinking about world order, and one that is increasingly coming back into play in world politics. It opens with a close look at the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI): what does it say, what does it imply, about what is it silent, and what are its policy contexts? It offers the theory of Uneven and Combined Development (UCD) as a way of looking at multiple modernities in terms of civilizational pluralism. This is followed by a historical unfolding of UCD since the early 19th century, showing how it has generated both single and multiple modernities cast in civilizational terms. The penultimate section focuses on the risks and opportunities that a world order of civilizational pluralism would create specifically for China. The conclusions summarize the main points of argument, and set out a more detailed global vision of what the GCI might aim to achieve if played well.

Foreign policy towards civilization megatrends in world politics

The aim of this article is to indicate and analyze three selected civilization and culture megatrends that can be observed in the contemporary global policy which are important not only to a state’s foreign policy, but also to identities of particular states. Such analyses are preceded by: firstly, an indication of continuity and change of a state’s foreign policy over centuries, and secondly, an attempt at defining megatrends and selecting a few key megatrends outside the civilization and culture area (such an area essentially refers to norms, values and ideas and accompanying social practices). The following research questions were posed: What is the continuity and changeability of foreign policy since the mid-17th century? What are megatrends? How selected megatrends affect and modify the international environment.

The US military policy toward China and Russia under the Biden administration

This article offers a comprehensive study of the policy of deterrence toward China and Russia in the military sphere under the Biden Administration. The US military policy toward China and Russia under the Biden Administration consists in increase regular pressure on Beijing and Moscow. The motivation for this policy is expressed in the following way: authoritarian China and Russia are posing a direct challenge not only to the values, interests, security and well-being of the United States, but also to the free, open, prosperous, and secure world order. According to the Biden administration's opinion only integrated deterrence through military and non-military methods and direct competition with China and Russia can maintain the US leadership in world politics. The methodological basis of the study includes analysis of the doctrinal documents which that regulate foreign and military policy of the US, the method of logical analysis and decision analysis. Despite the difference in ideological preferences and foreign policy attitudes between the Democrats and the Republicans, the foundations of the US military strategy toward China and Russia under Trump have passed into the strategic documents of the Biden administration. The main threats to the US and its allies are once again China and Russia. The US emphasizes that China and Russia are powerful nuclear powers which the US faces simultaneously for the first time in its history. China is rapidly developing its military potential and preparing for a military confrontation with the United States, which makes this country the most dangerous threat to the entire world in the very near future. Russia, which has a smaller range of capabilities compared to China, poses an acute military threat here and right now through special military operation, cyber-attacks, activities in gray zones and the deployment of the latest hypersonic missile systems.

Dimensions of Francis Fukuyama’s “The End of History” Vision in the Eastern Europe of the Post-Cold War: Reconsideration of Nationalism

Following the Second World War, the Cold War initiated a bipolar contest for superiority that would last for decades, and in this era the Soviet Union established communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Nationalism, which the Soviet Union tried to oppress but which played a role in the delegitimization of Soviet control, became an important topic of discussion between authorisation regimes and democratisation efforts in the world politics. During and after the Cold War period several thoughts were introduced about nationalism from different perspectives. Francis Fukuyama was among the important figures who thought about nationalism at that time. In his book “The End of History”, Fukuyama touched upon nationalism to explain the struggle for recognition and argued that nationalism is a form of recognition. In this context, this article first focuses on the historical timeline and nationalism in Eastern Europe in the Cold War era. Then, it examines the events that took place in Eastern Europe in the aftermath of the Cold War by concentrating on Fukuyama’s inferences about nationalism and seeks an answer to the reconsideration of nationalism.

International control in the field of anti-corruption:yesterday, today, tomorrow

The global processes of world politics in recent years have led to a shift in emphasis in the field of combating corruption at the interstate level away from the basic principles of international cooperation and, as a result, to the leveling of one of the directions of ensuring international security. The current situation can lead to the destabilization of the global economy, a decrease in the level of public confidence in the activities of public authorities, and often to social tension in society. These trends have become the subject of research by the authors of this work, and its purpose is to identify prospects for the development of international cooperation in the field of ensuring compliance with international treaties to minimize the impact of corruption on political, economic and social processes, opportunities and mechanisms for eliminating emerging contradictions in relations between states and political blocs, determining the place and role of the Russian Federation in these processes. Such studies have not been conducted to date. The paper examines paradoxical phenomena in international relations and recent attempts by political elites in a number of Western countries to destabilize the political situation, including by excluding Russia from the spheres of international cooperation, including those related to ensuring compliance with international law aimed at minimizing corruption manifestations. The role of the most powerful players in world politics, their experience in establishing international relations, as well as in developing national traditions of combating corruption, which led to conclusions about the need to consider the Russian Federation as the most likely initiator of the creation of an international organization to ensure compliance with anti-corruption legislation standards, was studied and evaluated.

Agentic misrecognition in world politics

The phenomenon of misrecognition has been analysed under various angles by philosophy, political theory, sociology and lately also by international relations (IR). In IR, (mis)recognition is mainly understood as either status denial (i.e. denial of legal state recognition), inflated honor pretentions (including positive self-images, mythical narratives of the past, Great Power projections and so on), or as a denial of vital conditions necessary for identity, individuality, and freedom. There has been much theoretical work on the problem of inclusion/exclusion or the insider/outsider problem in IR and various empirical studies have shown that misrecognition can contribute to international conflict, international inequalities, (neo)colonialism, masculine domination, and limit the overall rationality of decision-making. However, what has been generally overlooked is the question of agency, the ‘who’ that is seeking and/or entitled to be an object and subject of recognition and how such exclusions and related pathologies result from forms of misrecognition. This introduction to Agentic Misrecognition in World Politics engages with some of the problems related to the question of (mis)recognition and agency in IR, the patterns of excluded recognition, and the normative conditions that pertain to these processes of (mis)recognition. It closes with a summation of the research articles and forum contributions to this volume.

Characteristics of the new globalization and the new globalization politics of China

The article takes world politics and the new globalization as its research subject, and the object of study is the characteristics of the new globalization and China's development initiatives for the new globalization. With the spread of "counterglobalization" and the impact of the coronavirus epidemic in recent years, the new wave of counterglobalization is a tool for developed countries in Europe and the United States to maintain their hegemonic position. In the face of changes in the international economic and political landscape, China, as an agent of the international order, must respond and adjust all aspects of domestic and foreign policy. By advocating a community of human destiny and a new model of development, China offers solutions to other developing countries and gives new impetus to globalization, contributing to better global governance. The concept of "new globalization" has demonstrated its prospects and values; it is increasingly recognized by the countries of the world. "New Globalization" is not only a holistic global concept, but also a global ethic, thus demonstrating China's responsibility and moral sensibilities (moralism) in the new era.

Atypical jobs in psychology: An interview with former governor Dr. Ted Strickland.

This article outlines the career of former governor of Ohio, Dr. Theodore "Ted" Strickland, who was trained as a psychologist prior to entering the world of politics. He became increasingly interested in politics while practicing as a psychologist, specifically, in the ability and training of psychologists, which he believes grants them unique skills to guide public policy. As governor, Strickland was able to interact with a diverse group of individuals on the challenges encountered during his term and understand issues from different viewpoints due to his background in psychology. He also maintained the scientist-practitioner approach by keeping himself informed on current issues via publications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Briefing Idea of Geopolitics

Geopolitical diversity holds an undeniable allure, leading to the categorization of publications into four 'schools': neo-classical geopolitics, subversive geopolitics, non-geopolitics, and critical geopolitics, each exploring different dimensions of geopolitical dynamics. These schools distinguish themselves based on their proximity to the studied object (practical/applied or academic/reflective) and their stance toward the state system (focusing on states as principal actors or acknowledging other political actors and interests). Despite their differences, these studies collectively demonstrate a growing interest in geo-economics. Various thinkers, including Mackinder, Spykman, Collins, and Ratzel, have formulated these theories using terms like Heartland, Rimland, inland, outerland, enclave, and exclave. Notably, Bangladesh, as a developing country, is geopolitically strengthening its position in world politics.

Diplomacy in the context of escalating challenges and threats in world politics

The article reflects the most important factors determining the effectiveness of Russian diplomacy in the context of new challenges and threats associated with the development of processes of escalation of tension in the international situation. The relevance of the article is determined by Washington’s intensifi ed desire for dominance in the escalation of military and non-military methods of pressure on Moscow in order to achieve its stated geopolitical goals, the priority of which is inflicting strategic military defeat on Russia, fragmentation and destruction of our country.The novelty of the article lies in the author’s attempt to explore the vectors of development of the military-political situation in Ukraine in the direction of both vertical and horizontal escalation. Based on the analysis of the results obtained, the author substantiates the need for a signifi cant revision of the curricula of Russian universities in order to adapt them to the military-political realities of our time.

Small States in World Politics: Norwegian Interests and Foreign Policy Challenges in the Arctic

Small states are perceived to be subject to the will of great powers in the international system. Yet, small states – such as Norway – also have interests they pursue through various means. This article features an inventory of the Norwegian government’s main foreign policy and Arctic policy interests, and examines the rationale behind these interests from a domestic and an international perspective. The article highlights Norway’s challenges in the Arctic, including balancing between Russia and NATO, Norway’s bilateral relationship with the United States, dealing with China as an emerging Arctic stakeholder, and Norway’s ambivalent relationship with the European Union concerning the Arctic. The analysis draws on theorizing about small states in world politics and Putnam’s two-level game. The latter facilitates the examination of how the Norwegian government must reconcile domestic and international priorities simultaneously, and how the negotiation of foreign policy is conducted as a balancing act in national and international arenas.

War in Europe, but Still Low Tension in the High North? An Analysis of Norwegian Mitigation Strategies

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created the most precarious security situation in Europe, including the High North, since the Second World War. This article studies how Norway manages High North security dilemmas in the context of this ongoing war. Based on security dilemma theory, we direct our attention to a set of mitigation strategies and discuss the effectiveness of these. We build our arguments on Robert Jervis’ article “Cooperation under the Security Dilemma” in World Politics (1978), and his understanding that a security dilemma occurs when an increase in one state’s security leads to other states fearing for their own security, thus creating tension or conflict escalation. To limit such dilemmas, Norway has pursued a policy mix of both deterrence and reassurance measures. Our contribution to the research debate is the term mitigation-strategies, derived from security dilemma theory. First, we discuss people-to-people cooperation and analyse how this is a trust-building measure. Secondly, we explore how Norway approaches confidence and security building measures in the High North. Finally, we discuss the implications of letting the Arctic Council become an arena for security- and defence political coordination. Building upon insights from security dilemma theory, we demonstrate how Norway contributes to maintaining lower levels of tension in the High North.

In Search of Status: China and the USA in United Nations Speeches, 1970–2020

Abstract What is China’s status? The answer has major repercussions for China’s rights, responsibilities, and risk acceptance in international disputes. Although definitions of status are contested, there is broad agreement that it is socially constructed and relative to peer states, which makes measuring it difficult. We aim to address definitional and measurement problems by using text as data from United Nations General Debates speeches, 1970–2020. This allows one to see the language China uses to refer to itself, the language by which others refer to China, and how that compares to the USA. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find that China is not more status obsessed than its peer, is not more status obsessed over time, and is not gaining in status over time. The implications for world politics are complex but suggest that status will not be a primary cause of conflict in the foreseeable future.

Communities of Practice in World Politics: Advancing a Research Agenda

Abstract This special forum focuses on international communities of practice (CoP) as a concept and an object of inquiry in International Relations (IR). The Introduction discusses the concept’s origins and how it has entered the field of IR. It addresses why and how CoPs matter to IR scholars by looking at how structure, agency, processes, institutions, and knowledge manifest themselves in communities. This special forum’s main contributions are: (1) capturing the political and economic effects of shared knowledge creation and diffusion through practices; (2) identifying the sources of knowledge production and learning, as well as the normative and political contestation within and between CoPs; (3) studying the social processes that originate at the boundaries between CoPs; (4) examining how people and processes generate, transform, and communicate knowledge; and (5) exploring how CoPs cultivate global governance’s norms, values, and practices from the bottom up. The Introduction also helps distinguish CoP from other relational concepts in IR such as networks, fields, regimes, and epistemic or security communities. It ends by way of situating the contributions to the special forum and outlining a research agenda on CoPs in world politics.

MOTIVATION FOR EDUCATIONAL AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AS A FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANDRAGOGICAL SUBJECTIVITY OF UNDERGRADUATES

In the modern changing world, the goal that all universities set for themselves is to focus on the development of individual psychological qualities, cognitive skills, reasoning and needs to achieve success in the profession, social values of professional activity and internal motivation for it. Now, the quality of education, training of graduates in a higher education institution should allow to eliminate the discrepancy between the requirements of production and employers, the current changing society. This is due to the fact that undergraduates should have the opportunity to develop their subject qualities beyond professional skills in accordance with the chosen specialty.The integration of our country into the world political and economic space is a natural process of rapid response to the radical changes taking place. For the reform of education, it is important to update the principles of communication in the multi-level system of training specialists. Changes in the system of higher education should begin primarily with the training of specialists. Under the word training is not only the deepening of academic knowledge, but also the ability to apply the acquired knowledge in life. The use it is primarily associated with intrinsic motivation that is, with motivation and subjectivity. That is, such a system, which has been modernized, will be aimed at creating conditions and opportunities for the holistic development of a person, professional and social adaptation of an individual in society. Keywords: Personality, subject, undergraduate, motivation, training, skill, education, skills

Does Schooling Increase Political Belief Accuracy?

Citizens must hold accurate beliefs about politically relevant facts to preserve democratic representation, accountability and legislation. We theorize that, abstracting from one’s background, schooling per se does not trigger the epistemological sophistication that is necessary to get a grasp of the political world. In this article, we study whether schooling improves the accuracy of factual beliefs about the share of foreigners and unemployed, later in life. We derive an appealing metric of belief accuracy, matching survey respondents’ beliefs with the corresponding real-world datum at the time of the interview in their country, retrieving high levels of inaccuracy in both issues. More educated individuals display higher belief accuracy, most likely due to selection, rather than causality: compelling otherwise-dropouts to stay in school by extending compulsory education does not entail a significant effect on belief accuracy, in both issues. Taken together, cross-sectional and causal estimates suggest that education is necessary, but not sufficient, to contrast inaccurate beliefs.

Sexual Knowledge and Expertise in Europe's East: Transnational Exchanges

East Central Europe played a crucial role in shaping the development of sexual science from the 1870s onwards. The life-histories of influential and well-known figures such as Sigmund Freud (born in Freiberg/Příbor), Magnus Hirschfeld (born in Kolberg/Kolobrzeg) and Karl Maria Kertbeny (born in Vienna, based in Budapest) reveal the imperial interconnectedness of East Central Europe with what would become Western Europe. By 1932, when the World League for Sexual Reform held its congress in Brno (following previous meetings in Berlin, London, Vienna, and Copenhagen), the society had established branches across the region, including Poland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. In that same year, Poland decriminalised homosexual acts. Yet, East Central Europe is often neglected in the history of sexology and little is known about how sexual science in these regions shaped, and was shaped by, global networks of knowledge production. Indeed, despite recent attempts to demonstrate the ways in which sexual science was a truly global enterprise, East Central Europe remains to be fully incorporated into our mapping of the global networks of sexological dialogue and exchange.1 This is especially true of scholarship on the period after the Second World War. Historians have tended to misconstrue the transnational nature of sexual science in East Central Europe both before and after 1945. First, the contribution of East Central Europeans to European cultures of scientific exchanges has been obscured by the tendency of much historical writing to focus on a small number of key pioneers (Krafft-Ebing, Magnus Hirschfeld, Sigmund Freud and Havelock Ellis). Second, it is assumed that East Central European sexual science was largely cut off from international networks of knowledge exchange after the Second World War following the onset of the Cold War.2 Third, there are preconceived notions that communist authoritarian governments, having curtailed political freedoms and economic entrepreneurialism, must have also taken a repressive stance against sexual expression.3 Fourth, the dominance of 1989 as the fundamental caesura has encouraged a periodisation that fails to draw enough attention to the shifts in transnational patterns of knowledge exchange around sexual politics during the period 1945 to 1989 and fails to identify key continuities that link the sexual politics of the contemporary world with those of the communist period. None of these assumptions can withstand scrutiny, as the articles in this forum reveal. Building on a recent boost in scholarly interest in the sexual histories of the region,4 we present a collection of papers that each detail the transnational connections of local sexual experts in creating sexual knowledge both before and during state socialism.5

Comparative Analysis of Political Cultures in Present-Day World Politics. The Contribution of the Cognitive-Developmental Approach

Political sciences do not provide an appropriate theory of the human being required to understand different political cultures both in present societies as in that of the past history. The structural-genetic theory program has evidenced that humankind went from preoperational over concrete-operational to formal-operational stages, the latter one coming into being late in history. Even in the most advanced nations of today there was a continuous development of the formal-operational stage during the last generations, causing the establishment of higher stages of political consciousness, honing sensibility for human and liberty rights, and fostering a more civilized conduct both in domestic and international politics. Accordingly, political cultures in current developing and threshold nations manifest patterns of a less elaborated and rougher standard. It is maintained that political sciences must resort to the cognitive-developmental approach to be able to understand political institutions, political behavior, and political consciousness.

CELAC in International Relations of Latin America (2010-2023)

The purpose of the research paper is to highlight the formation, development, and results of CELAC’s activities, as well as to define its place in international relations at both the regional and global levels.
 The scientific novelty is in the comprehensive analysis of the place and role of the regional international organization CELAC, its failures, and successful initiatives. The authors analyze the formation of CELAC as a representative body in relations with key world political actors – China, the EU, and Russia.
 Conclusions. CELAC continues to be an important factor in international relations, especially in the context of the desire of Latin American and Caribbean countries to strengthen cooperation and coordination. The establishment of CELAC was one of the vivid manifestations of the ‘left turn’ with its state-nationalist bias and emphasized interest in solving pressing social problems in domestic politics by the state from the top-down and ensuring its independence from global actors, primarily the United States. CELAC is not a replacement for the cooperation and integration groups – Mercosur, CARICOM, ALCA, etc. The desire for CELAC to be an alternative body – especially to the OAS (The Organization of American States) – does not enjoy regional consensus and it would be difficult to achieve with the resources this body currently has at its disposal.
 Although in general, CELAC’s activities were ineffective (most of the region’s problems had not been solved, including poverty, corruption, crime, etc.), there were examples of successful implementation of its decisions in 2013-2018. In recent years, we have observed the intensification of CELAC’s international activities, aimed, first of all, at establishing mutually beneficial and partnership relations with the key actors of world politics and economy – the EU, the USA, and China. But Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine, its desire for self-isolation, the sanctions of the Western world, and the condemnation of aggression by the UN – all this pushes the Caribbean countries away from Russia, although it does not completely negate their cooperation.

Spectres of a dictatorship: Law's limit concepts in Lino Brocka's Orapronobis

This article reads Filipino director Lino Brocka's film Orapronobis (1989) as a commentary on the 1987 Philippine Constitution, a post-dictatorship document which the director helped draft as a member of the Philippine Constitutional Commission. Using a ‘law and film’ approach, the article argues that the film visualises law's limit concepts such as the state of exception, hostis generis humani, and constituent power. The film depicts the failure of words to control the political world that results in a dystopian constitutional order where human rights monsters and revolutionaries contend. Through an exploration of law's limit concepts, Brocka's Orapronobis represents the limits of Philippine constitutionalism.