Power In World Politics Research Articles

ГЛОБАЛЬНЫЕ ТРАНСФОРМАЦИИ: ДИАЛЕКТИКА ПРЕЕМСТВЕННОСТИ ДАЛЕКОГО ПРОШЛОГО И ОТРИЦАНИЯ НЕДАВНЕГО

Current global transformations are characterized not just by a complex change in the balance of power in world politics and economics, but also by at least a partial change in the architecture and organizational framework of political and economic relations at the global and regional levels. This is partly due to the fact that, due to objective and subjective reasons, it was not possible to launch the mechanism of “contractual” and evolutionary dismantling of geo-economic American-centricity, as a result of which these processes began to have not just a political, but a military-force character. The main question, however, is to what extent, within the current cycle of transformations at the global level, it will be possible to preserve those supra-spatial systems that, being fundamentally American-centric, ensured the American-centricity of the latest version of globalization as a whole. A curious dialectic of the development of current global transformations arises, saying that one of their most important features, if not the dominant ones, is a “rollback” to development paradigms characteristic of earlier historical (socio-historical and cultural-historical) eras, which actually means from a conceptual point of view, a break in the connection of not only cultural and political, but also economic modernity with postmodernity, which is now dominant in the world of the collective West. This predetermines the revolutionary nature of changes in the organization of political and economic relations, in particular the possibility of breaking existing relations of economic interdependence, as well as the fundamental impossibility of returning to the situation of the early 2020s, even if unfavorable for countries with anti-Western positions, especially Russia and China, the development of military-political processes.

Subversion, cyber operations, and reverse structural power in world politics

The Russian-sponsored influence campaign targeting the 2016 US Presidential Elections surprised policy-makers and scholars, highlighting a gap in theories of (cyber) power. Russia had used information technologies to project power, yet more subtly than prevailing militarized conceptions of cyber power predicted. Rather than causing damage and disruption, it turned sources of American power into vulnerabilities. Recent scholarship emphasizes this mechanism’s technological novelty. Instead, I argue this campaign demonstrated the importance of an undertheorized instrument of power: subversion. Integrating Intelligence scholarship and International Relations theory, this article develops an innovative theory of subversion as reverse structural power. Structural power shapes structures of interaction and the capacities of structural positions to the benefit of the holder of such power. Subversion reverses these benefits into harms. It exploits vulnerabilities in structures to secretly manipulate them, leveraging the capacities of structural positions to produce outcomes neither expected nor intended by the holders of structural power. Traditional subversion targets social structures, while cyber operations target sociotechnical structures: namely, Information Communications Technologies (ICTs) embedded in modern societies. The targeted structures differ, yet both rely on subversive techniques of exploitation that reverse structural power. Cyber operations are means of subversion. This theory helps explain two unresolved issues in cybersecurity: the capability–vulnerability paradox and the outsize role of non-state actors. Finally, I demonstrate the theory’s utility in a plausibility probe, examining the 2016 Election Interference Campaign. It shows this campaign did not use new “weapons,” but rather integrated traditional and sociotechnical means of subversion.

Economic Lawfare: The Logic and Dynamics of Using Law to Exercise Economic Power

AbstractUnprecedented economic interdependence and the extensive legalization of international commerce have created unique opportunities for states to exercise power in world politics. Yet, while international relations (IR) scholars have revealed much about how interdependence conditions the ability of states to leverage economic relationships to influence other actors, the equivalent role of law has received less systematic attention. This article explains the logic and dynamics that inform how, why, and under what conditions states may use law as a sword or shield in the realm of international commerce. Drawing upon the IR literature on economic statecraft and the international law literature on lawfare, the article conceptualizes “economic lawfare” and uses it to elucidate how law may shape the use of economic power. It outlines a typology of pathways through which economic lawfare can be employed and their associated opportunities and constraints, before presenting a simple model of key dynamics that shape their use. That model's plausibility is probed and the pathways are empirically illustrated in two case studies of recent episodes in which the Chinese government has sought to manipulate international commerce for strategic purposes. The article clarifies the distinction between legal and nonlegal instruments of economic statecraft, offers a theoretically explicit account of key mechanisms through which law may condition the use of economic power, and provides new conceptual foundations for emerging research on how institutions shape the ability of states to intervene in markets to achieve strategic objectives.

Bilateral relations between Peru and Russia in the 21st century: a Peruvian perspective

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Russia has tried to regain its status as a great power in world politics, leaving behind its ideological profile that characterized it during the Soviet era. Although it is true that Russian influence in Latin America is still far from reaching the levels of the United States, the European Union or China, Moscow has recently managed to increase its presence in the region. In turn, Peru aspires to position itself as an “emerging regional power”, with an important economic projection towards Asia-Pacific, although maintaining – for now – its strategic alignment with the West. After describing the main milestones of the historical relationship between Peru and Russia –as an empire, a Soviet republic and a post-Soviet republic –, this article seeks to identify the dynamics, as well as the main dimensions of the bilateral relationship in the 21st century. It concludes that, with the exception of the historical supply of Russian weapons to Peru, the links between the two states have been of a relatively low intensity, as a result of Peru’s international identity, convergent with theWest; a generally unfavorable and/or erroneous image of Russia among the country’s elites; as well as the economizing trend in its contemporary foreign policy.

A neo-feudal world order? Introduction to the symposium on Peter Hägel’s Billionaires in World Politics

ABSTRACT The central aim of Peter Hägel’s Billionaires in World Politics (BWP) is to challenge the assumption that private individuals lack agency and power in world politics – an assumption that is widely shared in the field of International Relations (IR). Hägel’s methodological strategy to achieve this aim is twofold. First, he concentrates on minutest biographical aspects of billionaires to lay bare the idiosyncrasy of their choices, and to falsify, thus, structuralist assumptions of how individual agency is undermined by factors such as class, roles, or fields. Second, Hägel engages in counter-factual reasoning to support the claim that these individual decisions end up having a real impact on public affairs abroad. This impact is difficult to overestimate given that, as Hägel reveals, billionaires have affected a whole array of political issues, including Brexit, climate change policy, democratic development in Eastern Europe, global health policy, the Israeli-Palestine conflict, and the war in Iraq. This introduction starts off by elaborating on the central scholarly contribution of BWP. Following that, this introduction explains why the insights that BWP provides suggest that we do not live in a neo-feudal order, despite the immense global economic inequality which billionaires’ wealth manifests.

Federico III d’Asburgo tra Venezia e la Corte Estense (Gennaio – Maggio 1452)

The article “Frederick III of Habsburg between Venice and the House of Este” aims at providing a brief insight into the political and diplomatic relations that served as the background to Frederick’s Romzug, thus focusing on the first steps of Frederick’s journey and on the relationship he was able to establish in northeast Italy with the Republic of Venice and the Este House in Ferrara. In fact, the first Italian states that the Habsburg emperor visited in 1452 after leaving Austria on his journey to Rome were the Serenissima and the territories under the supremacy of the Este House. Hence, this study sheds some light on the first part of the emperor’s journey in Lower Austria, Styria and Carinthia, where conflicts with the Austrian “Stande” were raging at that time, and mainly on the emperor’s stays at the House of Este (in January and May 1452) and his visit to Venice on the way back to Austria (in May 1452). The analysis of Frederick’s documents (Regesta Imperii) has shown that the emperor was able to establish long-lasting political and diplomatic relations with the most important Italian courts during his first journey to Rome. Not only do Frederick’s documents bear witness to the emperor’s “Vicariate policy”, but they also show how privileges were bestowed upon Italian princes: in order for the emperor to establish political relations, some were elevated to the knighthood, some were awarded the title of doctor and others were appointed as notaries. All these documents confirm that Frederick III actively tried to influence the politics of Italy and of the Italian courts in a manner not seen before then. Through intensive diplomatic activity, which was advanced during the Romzug, Frederick gradually managed to rebuild the role of the Habsburg Empire in Italy. In doing so, he paved the way for the House of Habsburg to become a world political power.

Iran’s Soft Power Tools in Kyrgyzstan

The article examines the use of “soft power” tools used by Iran in relation to Kyrgyzstan. The analysis of the evolving fundamental concepts of Iranian foreign policy in Central Asia allowed us to trace a shift in the Islamic Republic’s international priorities in the region. Objective logic prompted the Iranian leadership to move from “exporting the Islamic revolution” to the pragmatic model of pursuing its national interests. Iran has consecutively incorporated soft power tools into its foreign policy activities in Central Asia. Given the pressure from the sanctions imposed by the United States, Iran attaches particular importance to improving the effectiveness of its soft power in order to expand cooperation horizons with the outside world. By the end of the 20th century, Iran’s leadership had already laid the foundations of its cultural diplomacy in the region, which mainly served to promote influence through the export of cultural values. The Iranian approach to soft power in world politics is based on the principles of reciprocity between different civilizations and peaceful coexistence of all countries and peoples. Through the Persian language, philosophy, literature and poetry, Iran influences the population of the Central Asian region, mainly the peoples sharing certain features with the Turkic-speaking world. Iran’s cultural and educational activities in Kyrgyzstan have demonstrated noticeable dynamics: the spread of soft power of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Kyrgyzstan is carried out through cultural institutions and educational projects. Despite the fact that Kyrgyzstan is culturally more inclined towards the Turkic world, the experience shows that Iran’s cultural values also find support among the population of the republic.

Power and International Relations: a temporal view

International Relations scholars are certain about two facts: power is the defining concept of the discipline and there is no consensus about what that concept means. One explanation for this problematic state of the field is that most International Relations scholars freight their analyses of power with hidden assumptions about time. Temporality is an essential component of political analysis, as a burgeoning literature has begun to explore. This paper argues that there are two latent presumptions about time that fundamentally affect how scholars conceptualize power in world politics. First, scholars are rarely explicit in defining the temporal scope of their key causal processes. The longer the implicit temporal scope, the more expansive their definition and operationalization of power can be. Second, there is considerable variation of beliefs about the temporal returns to power: does exercising or accumulating power generate positive or negative feedback effects over time? Relying on canonical works in the field, this paper examines the hidden assumptions that different paradigms make about power and time. Illuminating these assumptions clarifies the root of cross-paradigmatic disagreements about international politics and suggests some interesting pathways for future theoretical and empirical work.

“The persistent myth of lost hegemony,” revisited: structural power as a complex network phenomenon

This article resuscitates the idea of structural power in world politics by linking it to modern complex network science, presents a theoretical framework for understanding how global structures develop and change, and empirically analyzes the prominence of leading states within global finance, trade, security, and knowledge networks. It argues that the “fitness plus preferential attachment” (FPA) model of complex network evolution provides a logical explanation for the durability of American influence even as some of its advantages in country-level capabilities has eroded, and it introduces a network methodology that is capable of empirically analyzing the organizational complexity that exists within and across domains in world politics. It argues that the rise of China and other emerging powers has been overstated in some ways, but that a redistribution of structural prominence is taking place, in some domains, as emerging markets increase their transnational connections; this has mostly come at the relative expense of Europe, however, rather than the United States.

Who Does Greenpeace India Represent?

Abstract The global governance literature is increasingly concerned with questions regarding the purpose of global governance and the sources of power in world politics. One strand of this debate centers on nongovernmental organizations and to what extent their role in global politics and policy processes is legitimate. This article uses Greenpeace India as an instructive case study to analyze the legitimacy problems facing international nongovernmental organizations (INGO s) campaigning on a global policy platform in the context of domestic politics. The article argues that the undertheorization of INGO s’ agency as global actors is likely to reproduce processes of structural delegitimation that maintain a discrepancy between two of their legitimacy constructs. This is exemplified in questions about their representativeness and restrictive regulatory frameworks that undermine their legality. This article proposes that developing a more nuanced empirical understanding of the endogenous and exogenous limits of INGO s’ power can help bridge the theoretical gap between their global and local agencies.

Promoting Governance Model Through International Higher Education: Examining International Student Mobility in China between 2003 and 2016

The number of international students studying for a degree program in China was approaching a quarter of a million in 2017, roughly ten times that in 2003. China, a developing country, has become one of the biggest destinations for international student mobility (ISM). Thus, how it has managed to achieve this within only one and a half decades, what it plans to do with such a success, and what that means for the world remain open for interpretation. This increase is an economical grow which demonstrates the country’s success in governance and generosity in international aid, while it is also a result of an internationalization policy of higher education which is viewed by central government as an arena for exercising soft power in world politics. It is difficult when trying to reach a persuasive conclusion without a comprehensive review of what happened in this period via a thorough examination of ISM data in a context of rapid policy change. This paper consists of four sections to identify the key driver(s) behind this sharp rise of student numbers from overseas. The first section is an introduction with a brief review of both theoretical and empirical aspects, followed by a short discussion on methodology. The second section is a review of key policy documents impacting on the development of ISM in modern China. The third section provides a general picture of ISM policy in China by analyzing official data. The final section reflects on the findings of the present study and concludes the paper.

International political authority: on the meaning and scope of justified hierarchy in international relations

Traditionally, states were widely believed to be the only institutions claiming political authority. More recently, though, a number of authors have argued that we find various instances of political authority on the international level. We discuss three prominent proposals for conceptualizing international authority: Michael Barnett and Martha Finnemore’s account of the authority of international bureaucracies, David Lake’s extension of ‘relational’ authority to the international realm, and Michael Zürn’s recent proposal for ‘reflexive’ authority. These authors provide a nuanced and empirically rich picture of hitherto mostly overlooked forms of power in world politics. Yet, we argue that in doing so they lose sight of the distinctly normative character of political authority relations: these relations are built on the explicit normative claim to the right to rule. When such a claim is considered to be justified, authority relations generate content-independent reasons for compliance. Thus understood, authority serves an important function, namely, to facilitate broadly accepted and normatively justified forms of hierarchical coordination. From a normative perspective, therefore, broadening the concept of authority to include various other forms of power deprives us of a critical yardstick against which international organizations should be evaluated. Moreover, it creates a distorted picture of the scope of international authority. Our world is shaped by highly problematic power relations. Yet, in order to meet current challenges of global governance, we need more, not less authority. To illustrate this argument we examine the case of the World Bank, an organization that exercises considerable power while explicitly avoiding any claim to political authority.

What Russia Can Teach Us about Power and Influence in World Politics

There is a striking opposition within the current discourse on Russia’s position in the world. On the one hand, there are well-known arguments about Russia’s “weak hand” (relatively small and stagnating economy, vulnerability to sanctions, technological backwardness, deteriorating demography, corruption, bad institutions, etc.). On the other hand, Russia is accused of “global revisionism”, attempts to reshape and undermine the liberal world order, and Western democracy itself. There seems to be a paradox: Russia with a perceived decline of major resources of national power, exercises dramatically increased international influence. This paradox of power and/or influence is further explored. This paper introduces a new complex Index of national power. On the basis of ratings of countries authors compare the dynamics of distribution of power in the world with a focus on Russia’s national power in world politics since 1995. The analysis brings evidence that the cumulative resources of Russia’s power in international affairs did not increase during the last two decades. However, Russia’s influence in world politics has significantly increased as demonstrated by assertive foreign policy in different parts of the world and its perception by the international political community and the public. Russia remains a major power in today’s world, although some of its power resources are stagnating or decreasing in comparison to the US and rising China. To compensate for weaknesses Russia is using both traditional and nontraditional capabilities of international influence.

Repertoires of statecraft: instruments and logics of power politics

Issues involving ‘statecraft’ lie at the heart of most major debates about world politics, yet scholars do not go far enough in analyzing how the processes of statecraft themselves can reshape the international system. We draw on the growing relational-processual literature in international relations theory to explore how different modes of statecraft can help create and refashion the structure of world politics. In particular, we argue that scholars should reconceive statecraft in terms of repertoires. An emphasis on repertoires sheds light on a number of issues, including how statecraft influences patterns of technological innovation, the construction of institutional and normative orders, and the pathways through which states mobilize power in world politics.

Offline: Public health and the fight against extremism

“Terrible beyond contemplation”, wrote a friend from New Zealand last week after the assaults on two mosques in Christchurch. Most politicians unreservedly condemned the March 15 attacks, examples of white nationalist terrorism that left 50 people dead and many injured. There have been notable exceptions to this worldwide revulsion, with some voices legitimising the hate speech of alleged perpetrator Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the 28-year-old Australian now charged with murder. Australian Queensland Senator Fraser Anning wrote about “the growing fear within our community, both in Australia and New Zealand, of the increasing Muslim presence”. While most responses to these terror strikes have appropriately emphasised solidarity among New Zealand's communities, one regrettably sees that what took place in Christchurch lay at the violent end of a spectrum of xenophobia that is now authorised and accepted in political discourse. No one concerned about protecting and strengthening peaceful and just societies can disclaim responsibility. The health professions have an important part to play in defeating the views that foster far-right hate speech and violence. As Ibrahim Abubakar and colleagues wrote in the UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health, published last December, “Racism and prejudice should be confronted with a zero tolerance approach…Health professionals' and organisations' awareness of racism and prejudice should be strengthened through regulatory and training bodies including accreditation, educational courses, and continuous professional development” (my italics). The task is therefore clear. But we have to do more. Far-right extremists have launched a war of words against diverse and inclusive societies. Dismissing, ignoring, or censoring those views is not an acceptable strategy. Tarrant posted his manifesto—The Great Replacement—minutes before the attacks in New Zealand took place. Although this document has been erased from the internet, his ideas are widespread and mainstream. On Amazon, you can buy Le Grand Remplacement by Renaud Camus. His book explains why the French people are being “replaced” by immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa. Camus has denounced the Christchurch attacks as “appalling”. But the normalisation of hatred against migrant communities is the foundation for the violence that took place in New Zealand. The health community has a powerful role in shifting political discourse away from ethnic-nationalism and towards an understanding of the value of multicultural societies. One book that helps to change the terms of this dialogue is Paul Morland's recently published The Human Tide: How Population Shaped the Modern World. Morland shows how demography has influenced shifts in political power. “The great flow of humanity” is an “overlooked or underplayed contribution to the course of history”. The demographic transitions we see today in nations “may be the most important explanatory factor in world history”. Although demography is not our destiny, Morland suggests that our futures are at least partly dependent on “the human tide”. What is the direction of that tide? It is that societies will be more grey (older), more green (using human ingenuity to create a greener planet), and less white. Morland quotes Cecil Rhodes, an ardent British imperialist: “I shall devote the rest of my life to God's purpose, and help Him to make the world English”. Rhodes' views were not only racist, but also demographically impossible. Global domination by the West was inevitably time limited. Sub-Saharan Africa is today “the final frontier” in the reshaping of world political power. “The biggest news story of the next forty years will be Africa's population growth.” We must embrace and celebrate “a much more fluid world in racial, ethnic, and national identity terms”. In his abhorrent manifesto, Tarrant writes, “If there is one thing I want you to remember from these writings, its [sic] that the birthrates must change.” The justification of all far-right extremist political parties is that white domination is under threat. Morland shows that these shifts in demography are not a threat. They are the predictable evolution of human populations. Health workers have a vital voice in leading public debate about the realities of these transitions and the importance of promulgating the idea of a common, not a divided, humanity. Health leaders must begin to offer a positive and internationalist vision for human societies. Our task is urgent.

The role of international authority in lake's hierarchical "scheme" of world politics

Although the agreement of different theoretical approaches regarding the role and importance of power in world politics can easily be reached, when it comes to its definition even elementary consensus is lacking. In this paper, we analyze theoretical interpretations of power given by David Lake, which in its conceptual scope and explanation of international order deviates from the established theoretical tracks in the field of IR. We focus on the concept of authority as a form of international power, which is one of the fundamental pillars of Lake's theory of hierarchy in international relations. Comparing the content of Lake's concept of authority with different theoretical interpretations of international power, primarily those that preceded it, we emphasized the theoretical advantages of Lake's interpretation of the structure of the international system. We conclude that Lake?s theory can be characterized as "non-canonical" rethinking of world politics to some extent. The relation of superiority and subordination, which does not rest on coercion, nor fear of force, but on voluntary consent, forms the backbone of Lake's theory, and at the same time represents its most recognizable and controversial part. Subjugation to the force is often read as a dark chapter of human history, a chapter that humanity seemingly scornfully closed after the rise and success of the anti-colonial movement in the second half of the twentieth century. In this context, Lake's study indicates that reality is something completely different. Former colonies still agree to a subordinate position in order to benefit from it, but today voluntarily. By analyzing his concept of authority and comparing it to other conceptions of power, we tried to explain Lake's view on world politics, and why his findings on authority, subordination, superiority and international hierarchies in the field of economics and security represent unavoidable theoretical destinations for every scholar interested in the study of contemporary international relations.

Brazil’s entrepreneurial power in world politics: The role of great powers and regional politics for successful entrepreneurship

In this paper, we apply the concept of entrepreneurial powers to analyze Brazil’s participation and influence in international crises. Following Ravenhill (this journal issue), we consider three dimensions of entrepreneurship: (a) the intention to convince others according to an actor’s interests; (b) the use of skilful politicians and bureaucracies to persuade partners; and (c) a proactive foreign policy that “sells” its position regarding the issues at stake. We argue that two other factors should be considered for a more encompassing view of entrepreneurial powers. First, the position of the involved great power on the crisis or in its negotiation. Second, that regional politics matter to entrepreneurial powers. We develop our argument using two case studies of success and failure respectively: the 1995 Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador mediated by Brazil, and the 2010 Iranian nuclear deal sponsored by Brazil and Turkey.

From Financial Crisis to a Crisis of Interpellation: Unpacking Ideology Production in the European Union and Clarifying How Its Failures Affect Foreign Affairs

ABSTRACTWe identify an ideology gap in the Marxist EU (European Union) literature, which we then set out to narrow by identifying and analysing core elements of the particularising EU version of the global ideology of feel-good and ethical capitalism through which the EU interpellates certain subaltern classes towards identifying with the deepening and widening of neoliberal governance. We then show, by means of discourse analysis, how ideological state apparatuses (ISAs) secure but also occasionally undermine the ideological bloc of dominant and dominated classes. We conclude by arguing that the ideological dimension of EU foreign policy is becoming increasingly important as the EU’s self-ascribed status as a uniquely normative power in world politics offers multiple opportunities for ISAs to obscure the reality of a materially increasingly polarised EU whose internal structure has acquired pronounced imperialist properties during the recent financial crisis. This does not harbour well for international order in Europe and beyond.

Revolution? What Revolution?

Revolution? What Revolution? Yongjin Zhang (bio) Wars and revolutions, Hannah Arendt once famously claimed, “determined the physiognomy of the twentieth century.” 1 For one thing, the two World Wars had devastating and destructive impacts on the historical development of the century. Think also of the systemic challenges to the international order presented by the Bolshevik Revolution and the Chinese Communist Revolution, which attempted to create and sustain different domestic political and economic orders founded on a rival socioeconomic system and ideology. Furthermore there was the 1952 Egyptian Revolution, the 1959 Cuban Revolution, and the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and one could also point to anticolonial revolutions that delegitimized imperialism and made the sovereign order global. China had its own share of wars and revolutions in the twentieth century. The modern transformation of the country is characteristically marked by the 1911 Republican Revolution, which ended its dynastic history and changed the Chinese body politic. It is also marked by the deadly contest between the Nationalist and Communist revolutions in what are often called the “revolutionary civil wars,” leading to the Communist victory and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Mao Zedong and his comrades continued to wage revolution after 1949, culminating in the disastrous Cultural Revolution of 1966–76. As a revolutionary power in the postwar international system, China actively promoted revolution worldwide, exporting it as one thrust of the country’s foreign policy. It was Deng Xiaoping who launched the “second revolution” through opening and reform in 1978, which changed the country from a revolutionary power to a reformist state. It is therefore only natural that fundamental changes in China in the twentieth century are often understood in terms of successive revolutions—or continuous revolution, as Mao would have it. By the same token, revolution, either as a critical perspective or as a descriptive, analytical, and normative term, has become deeply entrenched and practically indispensable in the study of Chinese history and politics. [End Page 154] Wittingly or not, Elizabeth Economy’s The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State largely follows this analytical mode in an attempt to make sense of China’s contemporary transformation under the leadership of Xi Jinping. “Deng’s ‘second revolution’ had drawn to a close,” Economy asserts, and “Xi Jinping’s ‘third revolution’ was underway” (p. 10). She judiciously selects six areas of Xi’s top reform priorities for critical examination. Chapters 2 to 7 each provide a captivating account of the transformation of China’s political institutions and processes that led to the dramatic centralization of authority. These are symbolized by the declaration of Xi as the core of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership, the intensified penetration of society by the party-state through the control of the internet and of the free flow of ideas and information, the reassertion of the party in the decision-making of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the expanded role of the SOEs in core sectors of the Chinese economy, the government’s drive to reinvent China as an innovative nation, the war on pollution, and finally China’s ambition under Xi to reassert itself as a great power in world politics through the exercise of its growing hard and soft power. Economy investigates these ongoing transformative changes in China not as a disinterested academic but as an acutely involved policy analyst concerned with understanding the “seeming inconsistencies and ambiguities of Chinese policy today” (p. x). Her study attempts “to assess the relative success or shortcomings of the Chinese leadership’s initiatives on their own merits” (p. xi). The analysis is punctuated by conversations with Chinese officials, interviews of think-tank analysts and civil-society activists, and discussions with Chinese scholars in Beijing, Shanghai, Dubai, and Washington, D.C. There are also encounters with Jack Ma at the Economic Club of New York and debates at New York University. Cutting through the maze of what she calls “fast-changing, contradictory and occasionally misleading information” (p. x) about the transformation of China that has arguably overloaded information circuits, Economy has carefully woven a rich tapestry that provides a big picture while also including telling and baroque details of China’s ongoing...

Strategic imperatives, status aspirations, or domestic interests? Explaining Russia’s nuclear weapons policy

What are the causes of Russia’s increasingly assertive nuclear weapons policy? This article offers a synthetic explanation combining strategic imperatives, status aspirations, and domestic political factors. In brief, it is argued that strategic imperatives go a long way toward explaining Russia’s nuclear force modernization. Russia seeks to upgrade its aging nuclear arsenal to maintain an assured second-strike capability. Status aspirations, in turn, can account for many nuclear exercises and maneuvers conducted by Russia. The aim is to promote Russia’s image as a great power in world politics. Finally, regime security considerations are the primary driver of Moscow’s abrasive nuclear rhetoric, which often caters to a domestic audience. The article unpacks these arguments, demonstrates their explanatory purchase, and discusses policy implications.