Understanding Of International Relations Research Articles

Mexican women's neglected early International Relations contributions

Abstract This article addresses the underrepresentation of women from the global South in International Relations (IR) thinking. Gender disparities and academic global inequalities affect the quality of research in IR. The cases of three prominent women scholars—Minerva Morales, Olga Pellicer and Rosario Green, affiliated with one of the first academic departments of IR in Latin America, the Center for International Studies at El Colegio de México—are illustrative of how power and asymmetries can shape the circulation of ideas and limit our understanding of international relations. Despite their relevant contributions and successful careers, these scholars faced structural limitations to reaching an international audience and receiving the same status as their male peers. An examination of their publications shows that their inclusion helps us to improve our knowledge of the plural sources of IR debates. Consequently, they enlighten us on the persistent trends and challenges that still characterize the international insertion of Latin American countries, which have political consequences. Global asymmetries, research creativity, development and debt issues, domestic constraints in foreign policy and the imperative but difficult multilateral cooperation are their main areas of analysis that resonate in current world politics.

Reparations and Oil in the Cold War: British Perspectives on the Luxembourg Agreement of 1952

This article analyses the British perspectives on the Luxembourg Reparations Agreement between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany from 1952. Short-term economic interests were of central importance when it came to assessing the consequences of this deal for the United Kingdom. Her Majesty's Government welcomed West German reparations as a means of securing Israel's ability to pay for oil supplied by British companies, but at the same time saw them as a threat to its economic and political interests in the Middle East. British diplomats underestimated the long-term political value of the Luxembourg Agreement precisely because they read it verbatim. They recognized the reservations on both sides but did not expect that working relations between Israel and the Federal Republic would improve rapidly after the Agreement was ratified, limiting in turn the UK's political and economic room for manoeuvre in the region. By examining a hitherto little-noticed chapter of British foreign policy in the postwar years, the article foregrounds the commercial aspects of diplomacy in the early 1950s and contributes to a better understanding of international relations in the Cold War.

Introduction to special issue: New research on leaders and peace science

Research on political leaders has reshaped our understanding of international relations over the last 25 years. Much of the most influential contemporary research on leaders resides firmly in the peace science tradition, in terms of its substantive focus on interstate conflict processes and theoretical and methodological approaches to generating and empirically assessing expectations about politics. The articles in this special issue build upon this work to provide us with new insights into leaders’ influence on world politics.

Vernacular Geopolitics through Grand Strategy Video Games: Online Content on Ukraine in Europa Universalis IV as a Response to the Russo-Ukrainian War

Europa Universalis IV, (better known as EUIV), is a popular grand strategy PC game. Players choose a country to play as and start in the year 1444 with the option to plot new courses in history such as allowing players to form Ruthenia, the game’s version of Ukraine. In this article, I investigate how both Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian online content creators have been making content related to Ruthenia and Ukraine as a response to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. I highlight how this content allows creators and viewers to voice their opinions on the war, build a sense of solidarity with the Ukrainian military, debate issues related to the war, and raise money for Ukrainians in need. Through close readings of this content, I offer an analysis of how this community uses the game to build a "vernacular geopolitics" in which information about and understandings of international relations and conflicts develop in non-elite settings.

Policy on Maritime Border Disputes Between Indonesia and Australia: Stephen M. Walt’s Neorealism Perspective

Indonesia is a maritime country with an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covering an area of 7.81 million square kilometers. Consequently, Indonesia has numerous disputes with neighboring countries regarding maritime boundaries in the EEZ, particularly with Australia. Several incidents have strained the relationship between the two countries. For example, from December 2013 to January 2014, there were six instances of the Australian Navy unintentionally violating Indonesian waters during border operations. Other issues include illegal fishing, human trafficking, illegal transshipment, and, more recently, an Australian warship's breach of Indonesian waters on September 8, 2022. Maritime boundary disputes occur when two or more countries have overlapping claims in the same maritime territory. These disputes can be caused by differences in the interpretation of international law, conflicting economic interests, historical or cultural claims, or geopolitical tensions between the involved nations. Maritime boundary disputes can be resolved through negotiations, international arbitration, mediation, or legal processes. In this case, the neorealism theory, developed by Stephen M. Walt, provides an understanding of international relations, changes in power structures, conflicts, cooperation among nations, and the factors influencing foreign policies. By applying Stephen M. Walt's neorealism theory, this study analyzes the policy frameworks of Indonesia and Australia in managing their international relations and the factors that have led to the disputes between the two.

Iranski nuklearni sporazum kao odraz nesaglasnosti u transatlantskim odnosima tokom administracije Američkog predsednika Donalda Trampa

At the center of this work is the analysis of the consequences of implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (also known as - the Iran nuclear deal) on divergent foreign policy approaches as the main indicators of the mismatch in relations between the United States and the European Union during the administration of the 45th US President Donald Trump. While the US unilaterally withdrew from this agreement, EU member states remained in it. The United States and the European Union, on the one hand, and Iran, on the other, had completely different definitions of their own national security, insisting on their unilateral security, while failing to redefine the problem in the direction of mutual security. However, in addition, the US and EU member states, although both concerned about their own security due to the possible emergence of a nuclear-armed Iran, instead of a complementary approach to the issue had a mutually competing one. Using the case study method, as well as the analytical-deductive method and the content analysis method, the author explains the difference in this approach through the concept of the strategic culture of the US and the EU and concludes that they are a consequence of the different understanding of international relations, but also due to the different identity characters of these two actors. The main thesis of the paper is that the US administration of Donald Trump, with its more realistic and Hobbesian view of international relations, and a different understanding of the US national interest in the Middle East, adopted a different approach to curbing Iran's nuclear armament ambitions compared to the approach of the European Union, which is conditioned by a more liberal and Kantian nature of its view on international relations. With unilateral foreign policy actions, Trump's administration risked causing damage and shaking its own credibility in relations with the European Union. On the other hand, the European Union remains committed to multilateralism and the preservation of the Iran nuclear deal. The subject of this research is the direction of the foreign policy actions of the United States and the European Union, in the period from the unilateral withdrawal of Trump's cabinet from the Iran nuclear agreement on May 8th, 2018, until the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, a general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on January 3rd, 2020 in the Republic of Iraq. The current state and perspective of contemporary transatlantic political relations in the context of unilateral withdrawal will be taken into consideration. In accordance with its new foreign policy agenda and strategy, and more inclined to a realistic view of international relations, the Trump administration risked deeper conflicts and divergence with the European Union over regional security issues. Thus, there was a threat to limit the further deepening and strengthening of the transatlantic partnership with the leading member states of the European Union, especially with the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the government of the Republic of France. Additionally, the subject of research will be the patterns of behavior, embodied in speeches and foreign policy actions, which are consistent with the different approaches of the US and the EU to the problem of preventing the theocratic regime in Iran from developing its nuclear program. Accordingly, the focus will be on the period of the Trump administration, which, with its political will to break off with the legacy of the Obama administration, began to perceive Iran as a factor causing instability in the Middle East region. The Trump administration did not ratify the Iran nuclear agreement and continued to act under its obligations, solely because of the unfavorable benefits and a large number of shortcomings for the US. Thus, the paper will analyze whether the US administration of Donald Trump had a concrete foreign policy strategy in relations with the European Union and Iran. Also, the paper will try to answer the question of whether a unilateral or multilateral approach to regional security problems is more fruitful, taking into consideration the question of whether the unilateral approach of the only superpower in the world is more effective or, on the other hand, an international coalition of states is needed to suppress the Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Research on the Application of international Relations Network based on Text Mining

In the innovation and development of communication systems and information technology, information exchange and dissemination in various fields are becoming more and more convenient, which not only expands the depth of communication on a global scale, but also connects countries in the world closely together, forming a huge and complex network of international relations. In this context, researchers hope to analyze the network structure through the network method, clarify the influence of different relations on the international situation and the composition of hotspot events, and explore the development law of relations between different countries, so as to provide an effective basis for the construction and development of economic globalization. Therefore, based on the understanding of international relations in recent years, the network application research status quo, on the basis of using text mining methods to study international relations, fast in a complicated information system to obtain valuable content, finally in the large text to build international relations network, expand the practice research of data source, solve the problem of network information explosion. The final results show that the application of international relations network based on text mining has achieved good results.

Research on the Application of international Relations Network based on Text Mining

In the innovation and development of communication systems and information technology, information exchange and dissemination in various fields are becoming more and more convenient, which not only expands the depth of communication on a global scale, but also connects countries in the world closely together, forming a huge and complex network of international relations. In this context, researchers hope to analyze the network structure through the network method, clarify the influence of different relations on the international situation and the composition of hotspot events, and explore the development law of relations between different countries, so as to provide an effective basis for the construction and development of economic globalization. Therefore, based on the understanding of international relations in recent years, the network application research status quo, on the basis of using text mining methods to study international relations, fast in a complicated information system to obtain valuable content, finally in the large text to build international relations network, expand the practice research of data source, solve the problem of network information explosion. The final results show that the application of international relations network based on text mining has achieved good results.

Rethinking intelligence practices and processes: three sociological concepts for the study of intelligence

ABSTRACT Recently, a small but growing number of intelligence scholars has called for more methodological variety in the study of intelligence. In this article, we connect with the emerging discussion about the utility of sociological approaches and discuss three influential sociological concepts, namely ‘epistemic communities’, ‘transnational fields’ and ‘knowledge circulation’ for understanding international intelligence relations. We apply each concept to an empirical example from our research on German-Arab intelligence relations during the Cold War. The paper concludes that the concepts highlight the everyday life and social embeddedness of shared and transnational intelligence practices and processes.

The Arctic from the perspective of the English school of international relations: a novel research agenda

ABSTRACT This article adopts the theoretical lens of the English School of International Relations (IR) to outline a new Arctic research agenda. In contrast to the more mechanistic approaches used in North American IR, the English School draws from a wider range of scholarship including historical, legal, philosophical, and sociological thinking about international relations, especially around the concepts of ‘international system,’ ‘international society,’ and ‘world society.’ The article introduces the key concepts and debates within the English School, contemplates how insights from the Arctic could advance the development of the English School theory, and demonstrates how a rigorous application of the English School concepts could contribute to a better understanding of international relations in the Arctic.

Пастки ахісторицизму в осмисленні міжнародних відносин після закінчення холодної війни

The radical transformation of world politics has led to an active rethinking of practice and the theory of international relations. The situation is significantly complicated by the fact that historical parallels are most often used to justify or justify specific political decisions. Turning to the answers to History on the problems of modernity without proper methodological guidelines increases the risk of replacing the systematic reconceptualization of the nature of international relations with repeated "plastic surgery" of outdated theoretical approaches. The primary methodological source of substituting reconceptualization for "conceptual plastic surgery" is ahistoricism, the critical feature of which is the tendency to define and apply universal laws of historical development, unchanging characteristics of historical phenomena, whose nature depends little on the impact of specific historical circumstances. The purpose of the study is to reveal the essence and consequences of the influence of ahistoricism on the understanding of international relations after the end of the Cold War. Its achievement is expected through the implementation of three research objectives: assessment of the analytical potential of the method of historical analogy; consideration of the case of the concept of "new cold war" and substantiation of its ahistorical methodological origins; proposals for a theoretical alternative to ahistoricism in the study of the modern world order, which is based on the methodological principle of historicism. The autonomy of the two functions of the method of historical analogy (evidence and heuristic), the emphasis on the heuristic function, helps avoid the "trap of ahistoricism". Conclusions of the study: the effectiveness of the method of historical analogy in the study of international relations depends on a correct analysis of the nature of the compared phenomena and the whole set of factors influencing their behaviour and the state of the international system; the case of the "new cold war" is a convincing illustration of the "trap of historicism" in the understanding of international relations; analytical productivity of Cold War concepts is minimal, understanding modern world politics requires careful study of all dimensions of the historical context and social nature of the subjects, which requires updating methodological approaches.

Global Political Landscape In The Time Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: Realist, Liberal, And Constructivist Perspectives

The vast majority of international relations scholars interpret world politics in the era of Covid-19 pandemic in accordance with realism by emphasizing on conflicts and the tendency of states to pursue their national interests. However, contemporary global politics shows complexity that cannot be understood from single perspective. This article seeks to interpret world politics in the era of Covid-19 pandemic using eclecticism approach by incorporating realism, liberalism, and constructivism. This article argues that the lanscape of global politics in the era of Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by three different features; conflicts and the pursuit of national interests, international cooperations based on the mutual benefit, and solidarity to help others dealing with the impact of Covid-19 pandemic. This finding implies that understanding international relations requires interperspective collaboration instead of debates and maintaing theoretical exclusivism.

“Radio Free Sweden”: Satire, National Identity, and the Un-PC (Geo)Politics of Jonatan Spang

ABSTRACT Focusing on Danish comedian Jonatan Spang’s spoof of the Nordic drama The Bridge via his news parody series Close to the Truth, this article examines how satire simultaneously embodies and performs geopolitics. Through a close reading of Spang’s send-up of contemporary Swedish culture as “pc-totalitarianism”, we interrogate the comedian’s satirical intervention in bilateral cultural relations between Denmark and Sweden. Our approach begins with a critical assessment of Danish national identity vis-à-vis the Swedish “other”, followed by a brief history of Danish political satire, before shifting to an empirical analysis of Spang’s controversial Draman skit across four spatio-cultural scales of engagement. In the concluding section, we integrate the various flows of satirical stereotyping, national identity production (and contestation), and geopolitics embedded in Spang’s “humoristic Marshall Plan” for Sweden. Here, our goal is to provide a multi-tiered assessment of how comedy informs everyday understandings of International Relations (IR) between culturally-proximate nations.

Africa in the politics, ethics and justice system of an open borders world

Politics of globalization demands that all countries of the world should open their borders for free movement of goods and services in a competitive market economy. The emerging anti-migration laws in Europe, America, and Australia, portrays another picture. Proponents think, borders should be open because of the equal liberty of all,1 and the universality of human dignity and rights.2 Opponents argue for border restrictions on the basis of national sovereignty, national interests, and the right to self-determination of sovereign communities.3 The two camps believe that the subject of migration, the human person, is an individual, who is rational, autonomous, self-conscious and a self-propelling being. What divides them is the view that human beings have the right to exclude others from their properties and territories, hence supporting border restrictions. On the other hand, human beings have the social responsibilities to include others to share the properties and territories belonging to them, thus supporting open border policies. This paper hypothesizes that, for a better understanding of international relations, we must go beyond the individualistic understanding of the human person and the open borders discourse. African philosophy, which seems to offer a better alternative, opines that the human person is an individual and a socially corporate being that is intrinsically different from others, yet essentially related to others. This individual needs a conducive social and personal atmosphere to prosper, which can only be created in their own countries.

〈複雑適応系〉国際政治学の可能性 ――〈自己組織化〉と〈創発〉を組み込んだ国際関係理解へのパラダイム・シフトを求めて――

〈複雑適応系〉国際政治学の可能性 ――〈自己組織化〉と〈創発〉を組み込んだ国際関係理解へのパラダイム・シフトを求めて――

Doing Oral History with the Israeli Elite and the Question of Methodology in International Relations Research

ABSTRACTWhile there have been substantial methodological advances in the field of oral history since World War II, it remains an underutilized research method among historians of International Relations. Specifically, as this article will show, most historians of International Relations still choose principally to rely on archival research, while approaching oral history with great suspicion, finding it irrelevant to their work. Using Israel as a case study, I explore the ways in which the relationship between the country’s intelligence and defense institutions and its foreign policy has created a barrier to the incorporation of oral history as a research method for gathering empirical evidence to support a historical understanding of policy decisions. I argue that there is a clear utility to accessing the memories of the Israeli diplomatic/intelligence elites because they shed new light on actors, events, themes, and processes that characterize Israel’s foreign policy since 1948. Oral history, therefore, allows both for a more nuanced and broader interpretation of a history of International Relations and diplomacy. The insights gleaned from Israel’s particular case study could be further applied to other International Relations research settings, and so I also discuss not only the ways in which the methodology can impact our understanding of International Relations, but also the complexities of undertaking interviews with those whose words, if not chosen correctly, could influence current global international affairs.

Strateške studije u službi hegemonije - pogled na stratešku kulturu iz ugla druge generacije

This paper is dedicated to the second generation of so-called cultural strategists, whose contribution to the development of strategic culture and the study of strategy as a form of discourse is unjustly neglected, especially when it comes to the most prominent representative of the entire generation, Bradley Klein. According to the author of this paper, Klein's NEO-Gramscian approach to strategic studies remains the underused scientific potential, which could, in the future, contribute to a better understanding of international relations and international security. Therefore, the author aims to acquaint the reader with Klein's critical interpretation of strategic culture, seen as a discursive instrument of the hegemony of political and military elites, and to point out the importance of Klein's analysis of strategic discourse, which is intentionally marginalized by other theorists of this subdiscipline.

IMPACT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES ON MOTIVATION IN TOURISM

The accelerated dynamic development of information and communication technologies has led to significant changes in the functioning of the tourist sector and in the behavior of the tourists themselves. Modern technologies have imposed a new pace of operation of tourist subjects that with easier and closer access to end consumers and will offer a unique and new tourism product. Today tourists have the opportunity before the trip to get informed and get acquainted with distant and exotic tourist destinations, the way of reservation, travel, etc., which are of great interest. Internet technology has contributed to drastic changes in the notions of spatial distance and thus created a totally different mode of communication that is very different and superior to all that has ever been. With the development of new modern communications and technologies the interconnections between travel, the other economic sectors and society as a whole have become far more integrated. The tourism value is perceived by linking entities inside and outside the tourism sector in various combinations to create and exploit new opportunities. Tourists have a primary role in using social networking sites and mobile media in search of travel information and product purchases. In recent decades, the number of tourist trips has increased significantly as a result of the growing supply of tourist products and services. The important role of motivation in tourism is seen in the continuous increase in the number of tourist trips which on the other hand are very important for future development and places to visit. The added value to be extracted from tourism incentives driven by tourism motives lies in innovation, positioning, cultural links, international trade and exchange, social support, education, learning support for local communities, and so on. The application of social networks and technologies as smart phones have proven to be powerful tools in these efforts, as well as the desire to participate, the capacity to face challenges. Seeking new, unique experiences means trying new ways of living, eating and sleeping, discovering unfamiliar cultures or joining other people en masse at major events. This desire to gather, share intense experiences and learn creates the conditions for tourists to develop tolerance, cultural awareness and a better understanding of international relations.

SIGNIFICANCE OF AFGHANISTAN IN INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICY

Purpose of the study: The purpose of the study is to understand the importance of Afghanistan in India’s foreign policy. Being situated in the proximity of Pakistan and Central Asian countries, Afghanistan holds a strategic significance in India’s neighbourhood foreign policy. Since the earlier period of time, the geographic location has made Afghanistan involved in any development occurred in Central Asia and South Asia.
 Methodology: The study is interdisciplinary in nature. It is based on a comparative analysis of research methodology, comparing traditional and current relations between the nations. The study is empirical since it tries to explain the historical-cultural linkages of India and Afghanistan. The study also tries to investigate the obstacles furthering India’s relations with Afghanistan and beyond. The study involves both descriptive and qualitative analysis. The study is based on both primary and secondary sources. While books, articles and newspaper reports are secondary sources in the study, primary sources comprised of government sources like an annual report, other relevant reports of the Ministry of External Affairs, etc.
 Main Findings: India’s policy towards Afghanistan is the embodiment of the soft power approach with a long term goal. Energy security and regional security connected with internal security are the topmost priorities of New Delhi factoring the significance of Afghanistan in India’s neighbourhood foreign policy.
 Applications of this study: This study can be useful for understanding International relations covering areas of India-Afghanistan relations, the significance of Afghanistan in India’s foreign policy connecting with Central Asia and Iran.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: India’s strategic consideration factoring Afghanistan to connect Central Asia and Iran for energy security, regional and internal security.

Kvantinės sąmonės teorija tarptautiniuose santykiuose – tarp iliuzijos ir mokslo

[only abstract in English; full article, abstract in Lithuanian]
 Since the 19th century, social sciences have been dominated by positivist thinking, which is based on the Newtonian worldview and implies mechanistic, deterministic, materialistic and atomistic methodological tools for conducting researches. However, this Newtonian worldview can not explain the phenomenon of consciousness and thus leaves the scientists with the unresolved body-mind problem. The solution has been recently offered by quantum theory, which challenges the classical thinking by completely changing its ontology, or, to be more precise, which aims at unifying social and physical ontology and laying the ground for the minded matter. In one of the most recent and prominent scholarly books, written by A. Wendt and titled Quantum Mind and Social Science: Unifying Physical and Social Ontology, the author claims that consciousness is a quantum mechanical phenomena and that all of us are in fact a walking wave function. If that is true, then human society must also have quantum qualities. Even though A. Wendt offers a solution to one of the long-lasting questions of social science, he leaves us without any explanations of how the theory might impact the discipline of international relations.Therefore, this paper is focused on 3 questions: 1) How does quantum mind theory challenge positivist thinking in international relations? 2) How does it broaden/narrow our current understanding of international relations – namely, what is the relationship between quantum mind theory and other postpositivism theories? 3) How does quantum mind theory impact international relations? An analysis of the challenges posed to classical thinking and a comparison of the differences and similarities with critical theory, postmodernism and constructivism revealed that quantum mind theory is not yet a new social sciences paradigm or a valid independent theory, but that it could be used as a theoretical tool of postmodernism. The main reasons involve a lack of empirical researches, scholarly supporters and consistent epistemological logic. On the other hand, there are a variety of objects and discussions in international relations that can be analyzed using quantum mind theory: quantum entanglement through language, global society and the collective mind, terrorism and the impact it has on global conflicts and communication, quantum diplomacy and others. The implementation of quantum theory principles – quantum coherence, superposition, quantum entanglement, wave and particle duality and uncertainty – into researches of international relations provides scholars with the perspectives of explaining the changing nature of a global world, new unpredictable threats and global commu­nication.