World Order Research Articles

Introduction of the Subject ‘Principles of Russian State System’ in the Russian Plekhanov University of Economics: First Results and Prospects of Enhancement

The article analyzed the initial experience of elaboration and introduction of a new subject of higher education, i. e. ‘Principles of Russian State System’ The authors assessed the role of the subject in developing new public relations based on traditional values of Russia, which requires mobilization of intellectual, organizational and other resources, including those in the system of education. The content of the subject based on civilization approach was presented and methodological approaches used for preparing and conducting classes were demonstrated. The authors analyzed specific features of carrying out such lessons in the Russian Plekhanov University of Economics, which allow us to focus attention on traditional values and principles of Russia being a state-civilization. It was shown that peoples of Russia for more than thousand years could create and maintain independently the state system, formulate models of social behavior and principles of world order meeting contemporary challenges.

New Nomos of the Earth? Perspectives of the Order in the Age of Chaos

The article “The New Nomos of the Earth? Perspectives of the Order in the age of chaos” by Jan Okoński presents the concept of Nomos and its interpretations against the background of a changing global order. The author presented an analysis of the Nomos as a symbol of justice (similar to such ideas as: ius, maat, and tao) and Carl Schmitt’s analysis of this term, which is important from the point of view of the philosophy of law. Nomos is word derived from ancient Greek, a concept that somehow unites the plane of factuality and the plane of validity of law. In the word Nomos, there is contained, a strange, paradoxical union of violence and justice. The Italian philosopher and researcher of the thought of C. Schmitt, Giorgio Agamben, has pointed out that Hobbes’s sovereign is the only one that remains in a state of nature, retaining his “ius contra omnes”, we may say, perhaps along similar lines to the states in the UN Security Council. These considerations are set against the background of the former China-centred system of international relations in Asia and the current attempts to transform the global order. Nomos is proving to be an ever-present concept that, although not as popular as other ideas from ancient Greece, casts clear light on issues of the validity of law in general and helps to make the evolution of the global order easier to understand. Through the prism of the concept of Nomos, it can be seen that the old world order, crystallised by the Europeans, can be marginalised by the change of the global power relations. This is not a new process, for it has already occurred in history. It is clear from the content of the article that law has appeared, since ancient times, to be paradoxically linked to violence and the possibility of initiating it.

Трансформация Концепции «Один пояс – один путь» (2013–2023 гг.): хронологический подход

The People’s Republic of China’s “One Belt – One Road” initiative has been rather fully analyzed in the research literature. However, until now, the full chronology of this Initiative has not been presented in Russian historiography. In the article, the authors analyze transformation of the “One Belt – One Road” Concept using a chronological approach. The article also uses a systematic approach, analysis of the current situation, and the method of situational analysis. The development of the Initiative, the regulatory framework, as well as the regular international Belt and Road forums held by China are examined. In addition, the article pays special attention to Russian-Chinese relations, since they become part of the implementation of the project. Special attention is paid to the challenges and promising areas of the Initiative. The authors come to the conclusion that the Concept can be considered as a global geopolitical project; it has sufficient potential for development in the Eurasian region, and can also become a part of a multipolar world order.

The erupting volcano: the role of the Ukraine frozen conflict and ongoing war in transforming international and European order

Purpose The European Union (EU) and Russia are considered to be trapped into security concerns in a form of spillover, in a zero sum perspective, considering each step of the other as directed against another. Such an approach seems to prevail, after attempts of engagements for decades after the Cold War. Rather history prevailed in informing perceptions and currently driving the behaviors toward each other, in other words in othering each other. Design/methodology/approach Discourse analysis Findings The move in Eastern Europe of both parties is perceived with suspicion from both sides, materialized through their policies, culminated in clash of interests and crash of policies between both parts, manifested by Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2014 and recently in 2022 in one side, and the EU response through massive, unprecedented sanctions against Russia. This has created a context that fosters not just keeping a status quo of clash and struggle for influence between them in the region, but also nourishes further securitization of their respective policies toward the Eastern Europe and beyond. In 2014 and more recently in 2022 Russian aggression in Ukraine, the EU and Russia appear to have the same image to each other as they had during the Cold War, or even beyond. Having this in mind, this paper will address those developments, with particular focus on attempts to avoid them, the failure to do so and how they are impacting the EU, Russia and global politics in a form of emerging new world (dis)order. Originality/value This paper is an original paper having a critical approach toward the current conflicts going on in Eastern Europe.

African Immigrants’ Experiences at the Ukraine Border Points During Russian Invasion: Meta-analysis of Racism during Global Crisis

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sparked the world order that has been socially constructed since World War II and brought racism's realities back to light in modern society. Coming right after the Covid-19 pandemic, the war has challenged western diplomacy as an avenue for resolving border disputes in the contemporary world. The sovereignty of nations has been tested by the war, with the EU security threatened. The war has led to the forced migration of Ukrainians and Ukraine residents. African immigrants who fled Ukraine at the start of the war faced inhumane challenges and violations of their human rights in their attempt to cross Ukraine's border points to safety, unlike their white counterparts. This paper analyses four Africans’ experiences in their attempt to cross the Ukraine border to safety using biographical method. Additionally, the paper reviews ten media footages of first-hand experiences by African immigrants at the Ukraine border points as people fled to safety between 24th February 2022 and 30th April 2022. The paper uses qualitative method to analyze the experiences and narratives of African immigrants from international media and deconstructs their experiences using the theory of race and ethnicity. The Africans' experiences are analyzed into typologies and deconstructed to illuminate the African immigrants’ experiences of historic, structural and systemic racism during global crisis. The objective of the interviews is to gather experiences and gather empirical evidence of racism experiences that took place at the Ukrainian border points. This paper highlights the conversation of human rights violations and social injustices against Africans in times of crisis and raises the questions of inequality and injustice treatment towards African immigrants during crisis in Europe.

Refusal to Negotiate: Britain’s Position and Impact on the World War in 1940

In 1940, amidst World War II, the United Kingdom, under Prime Minister Winston Churchill, decisively refused to negotiate with the Axis Powers. This article explores the strategic implications of this refusal, arguing that it prevented the legitimization of Germany’s aggressive policies and altered the war’s course. By analyzing the Versailles peace system’s failures, Churchill’s leadership, and the geopolitical shifts resulting from the United Kingdom’s stance, the article highlights how this decision shaped the postwar world order, influencing Europe’s geopolitical landscape and setting the stage for an Allied victory

Trauma in world politics: Memory dynamics between different victim groups

While the international arena is littered with events of war and atrocities, the memory of the Holocaust was institutionalized as the ultimate benchmark of human suffering within the liberal world order. Against the backdrop of such a global memory landscape, this article explores how different memories of trauma interact. Building on literature within international relations, sociology and social psychology, as well as survey data collected from a sample of Syrians, Palestinians and Israelis, its analysis explores how victims of political violence compare their suffering with that of others and why such comparisons slip easily into competition. The analysis found that individuals were competitive with their memories when they showed high levels of patriotic attachment and a real and perceived, yet unrecognized, sense of victimhood. This article thus offers insight into a key issue in peace and conflict studies: the links between traumatic memory, victimhood, international recognition and conflict.

Data as the new panacea: trends in global education reforms, 1970–2018

ABSTRACT This paper investigates changes in the promissory visions articulated in education reforms around the world. We use structural topic modeling to inductively analyze the content of 9,268 reforms from 215 countries and territories during the period 1970–2018 using the World Education Reform Database. Our findings reveal a decline in traditional management-focused reforms and a rise in reforms related to data and information. We also find an expanding commitment to educational access and inclusion, but reforms framed explicitly in ‘rights’ language diminish. We argue that the rise of data-centric reforms and the retreat from rights-based approaches may both reflect and contribute to a broader erosion of the liberal world order.

К вопросу о внешнеполитической деятельности буддистов СССР в контексте вероисповедной политики советского государства (1950–1970-е гг.)

Introduction. At present, when there is an intensification of cultural exchanges, political and economic contacts between Russia and Asian countries, it may be useful to study the experience of the history of relations between Buddhist organizations of different countries in international non-governmental organizations in the post-war decades. The purpose is to study some details of the international activities of the Buddhist clergy in the 1950s–1970s, namely: the features of interaction between Soviet state bodies and the Central Spiritual Administration of Buddhists and some aspects of the history of the participation of Soviet Buddhists in international non-governmental organizations. Materials. The main sources of the article were materials of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, as well as other archives of the country. A number of archival documents are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Conclusions. The institutionalization of Buddhism was carried out under the full control of the Soviet state, but at the same time it contributed to its development and spread, albeit in a limited form in various regions of the country. The direct foreign policy activity of Soviet Buddhists, in the conditions of the Cold War, was subordinated to the guidelines of the party, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the relevant competent departments. The Buddhists of the USSR were the agents of state policy in the international arena in the East. Since 1970, after the formation, on the initiative of the Soviet government, of the international organization “Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace”, Mongolia has become a key Buddhist diplomatic partner of the USSR. In the context of the formation of a “new world order,” people’s Buddhist diplomacy today can become one of the main actors in international relations.

Indigenous Internationalism and the Art of Recognition: A Soviet Trace on a Global Stage

ABSTRACT This article explores the contributions of Soviet writers to global discourses of Indigenous rights. The author focuses on the work of three writers, Yeremei Aipin (Khanty, b. 1948), Vladimir Sangi (Nivkh, b. 1935), and Yury Vella (Nenets, 1948–2013), as they entered into transnational Indigenous movements and navigated a rapidly changing political landscape in the final years of the Soviet Union. The author argues that they engaged in a complex “art of recognition,” working across genres and modalities in order to reckon with legacies of colonialism and usher in new visions of identity and political sovereignty. This approach highlights the Soviet Union as a locus for international congresses and solidarity movements, such as the Nevada-Semipalatinsk Antinuclear Movement, the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders, and the 1990 Sacred Run for Land and Life, led by American Indian Movement cofounder Dennis Banks. Ultimately, an Indigenous-centered approach to the end of the Cold War provides a counterbalance to prevailing narratives of this era, which cast the ascendance of a Western-dominated capitalist world order as an inevitable conclusion.

Eco-imperial Tensions: Decarbonization Strategies in Times of Geopolitical Upheaval

The neoliberal world order has given way to a geopolitical disorder, shaped by the climate crisis and increasing rivalries between dominant powers. This poses a challenge to the social sciences. Neither theories searching for the problem-solving potentials of ‘global governance’ nor critical notions of imperialism seem to be equipped to fully grasp the rapidly changing circumstances. Instead, we suggest to understand the recent upheavals as eco-imperial tensions. They result from the contradictions of what we have called the imperial mode of living, that is, resource- and emissions-intensive patterns of production and consumption, which produce enormous socioecological costs and externalize them in space and time. With the rise of China and other countries of the Global South, the imperial mode of living is generalized globally and threatened in its precondition, namely the unlimited access to nature and labor power on a world scale. This is intensified by the competition for the raw materials needed for decarbonizing the advanced capitalist economies.

Strategic principles for co-existence in a multinodal world

In realist international relations theory, world order is assumed to be a vertical structure ordered by relative power, with the hegemon, or the contest of hegemons, at its apex. Power is viewed as the ability to coerce, and security lies in the avoidance of defeat. But the proportional changes in the globalized economy of this century have created a new reality, one in which effective pursuit of one’s own national interest is more complex than compelling or submitting. Differences in relative power and capabilities still matter, and differences in situations create conflicts of interests. But the horizontal dimension of continuing interaction among autonomous actors is more important than the vertical dimension of unilateral imposition. Without hegemony, states have agency, but they face greater uncertainty. The diplomatic calculus of each state is to pursue its national interests, but a major component of this pursuit lies in reducing uncertainty. Strategy for a post-hegemonic multinodal world stresses the complex ecology of action, the importance of relationships, the utility of partnerships, the encouragement of common interests, and the problems of conducting limited conflicts. These are principles of strategic prudence relevant to the global matrix of asymmetric international relationships.

State and politics in the transitional era of globalization: Twisting and turning toward authoritarian and hybrid regimes

AbstractBeyond its discontented thesis, globalization has had a difficult time in the last few years, owing to the global financial crises of 2008–2009 when its vacuous premises and promises were widely contested for being an unfair deal. The recent rise of nationalist and populist movements across the West and the East, boosted by the COVID‐19 pandemic, now threatens its survival. However, globalization experts are largely divided in charting its future; while some predict the demise of the existing world order, others believe globalization will continue with some restructuring. By analyzing the global political dynamics and reviewing political and scholarly news and views, we argue that globalization is currently undergoing a transitional era with a new paradox—one characterized by the emergence of a multipolar world but with local identity and tradition‐based politics. The upshot is that the state with the border is re‐emerging alongside authoritarian and hybrid regimes.Related ArticlesKane, John, and Haig Patapan. 2010. “Recovering Justice: Political Legitimacy Reconsidered.” Politics & Policy 38(3): 589–610. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2010.00250.x.Quinn, Adam. 2007. “The Great Illusion: Chimeras of Isolationism and Realism in Post‐Iraq U.S. Foreign Policy.” Politics & Policy 35(3): 522–47. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2007.00071.x.Zaidi, Syed Muhammad Saad. 2021. “American Global Supremacy Under Threat? The Chinese Factor.” Politics & Policy 49(2): 502–28. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12402.

The Translational Turn and the Dual Pressures on Chinese Literary Studies

Abstract Whereas sinology, or the study of Chinese literature in English, has often been identifiable by a Chinese culturism, or belief in Chinese civilization as a coherent whole united by its writing system, this review article looks at five books that could be described as participating in a “translational turn” in Chinese literary studies. Yet even as they make powerful arguments against the fundamental unity and cohesiveness of a diachronic Chinese cultural-political identity in their translingual and translational approaches to scholarship, the books—Carla Nappi’s Translating Early Modern China (2021), Haun Saussy’s The Making of Barbarians (2022), Tze-Yin Teo’s If Babel Had A Form (2022), Yunte Huang’s Chinese Whispers (2022), and Nan Z. Da’s Intransitive Encounter (2018)—risk taking for granted the longevity of China’s participation in globalization and its economic integration with the United States. In light of current changes to the relationship between China, the US, and the world order, this review article reads these books while attempting to think through the gains and pitfalls of the translational turn in Chinese literary studies.

Reshaping the Multilateral Aid Regime from the Global South? Alternative Perspectives on Humanitarianism, Development and Peacebuilding from Latin America and the Caribbean

ABSTRACT In the context of rising contestations to the Liberal International Order (LIO), it is crucial to highlight the contribution of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region to international institutions and global governance, particularly considering its peripheral position in the world order. The Triple Nexus Approach (TPA), adopted in 2016, promotes a coordinated effort in providing humanitarian assistance and aid for development by integrating them with peace endeavours. The LAC region has provided political and conceptual contributions to each TPA component, providing alternative perspectives on multilateral governance in humanitarian action, development and peacebuilding, emphasising the pursuit of collective and context-specific outcomes for crisis prevention. Focusing on the period from the early 21st century to 2019, a time when the Triple Nexus theoretical structuring publications emerged, it is highlighted how contestations to the LIO and the changing world order have impacted global governance norms, creating opportunities for emerging and peripheral countries to shape post-liberal rules. This allows Global South countries to set self-determined development objectives and make a meaningful contribution to global rule-making.

American Global Pre-Eminence: The Development and Erosion of Systemic Leadership. By William R. Thompson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. 286p. $110.00 cloth, $32.99 paper. - Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders. By Ayşe Zarakol. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. 313p. $34.99 paper.

American Global Pre-Eminence: The Development and Erosion of Systemic Leadership. By William R. Thompson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. 286p. $110.00 cloth, $32.99 paper. - Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders. By Ayşe Zarakol. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. 313p. $34.99 paper.

“Fundamentals of Global Competition: Logistics, Technology and Polar Alliances in Past, Present and Future. Part 1”

The formation and functioning of various models of the world order has a deep and complex history that does not fit into the traditional chronologically consistent scheme, and these models themselves did not inherit each other, but were combined in varying degrees of harmony. The dynamics of international relations, at least in the medium term, will be determined by the trends observed over the past decades — such as inequality in the levels of economic development, the redistribution of shares of world wealth, the rivalry for global dominance between the United States, gradually losing its position as sole leader, China, Russia and other global players, and finally, the search for new tools balancing the global status quo. Expansion geopolitics will also remain the dominant trend in the short- to medium-term perspective. One of its striking manifestations is the Belt — Road Initiative, implemented by the PRC. Expansion geopolitics seems to get start most intensively in West Africa. The region, on the one hand, needs large infrastructure investments, on the other hand, — has a number of advantages that could create a production and logistics hub in it, the starting point of a project similar to the Chinese Belt — Road initiative.

A globalized symbolic environment ward by the States and dominated by organizations: enticing the nobility and influencing the class habitus

Purpose Through Bourdieusian sociology, this study aims to interpret a globalized symbolic environment ward by the States and dominated by organizations through the States’ Nobilities enticing and the Euro-American influences disseminated by the cultural circuit of capitalism in the inculcation and incorporation of a class habitus conniving with this logic of domination. Design/methodology/approach This study has developed a theoretical essay based on the contributions of Bourdieusian sociology to discuss and understand the following concepts and their respective relationships: symbolic environment, globalization, organizations, State, State Nobility, Euro-American influences, cultural circuit of capitalism and class habitus. Findings The arguments built throughout this theoretical essay recognized how class habitus on environment contributes to organizations establishing themselves as a space that consolidates and replicates the domination logic. As indicated, the State Nobility is an intermediary element between dominant organizations and the State, as dominated. Practical implications This theoretical essay signals that less harmful alliances between organizations, the State Nobility and the State could culminate in social, environmental and economic scenarios provided with more inclusion, diversity and preservation. Social implications This study presents an in-depth conceptual analysis to hold power structures responsible as direct and indirect drivers of environmental problems, with their different proportions and severity levels, affecting the planet. Originality/value This study proposes an alternative lens to debate and question how much the results presented by the contemporary world order compensate (if in any way) the damage that invades and deteriorate environmental assets.

Креативные взгляды на вызовы российскому бизнесу в условиях турбулентности мирового порядка

The article examines the issues of opening up opportunities for Russian business in the context of geopolitical turbulence in a historical perspective. Approaches to the assessment of the main indicators characterizing the world hegemony are considered. The trend of changes in the GDP of the most influential countries from the historical position of the world order, as well as the dynamics of changes in the quality of life of the population of successful modern countries, in order to find the causes of the turbulence of the world order and analyze modern events, is studied. The analysis of the economic situation for entrepreneurship in the Russian Federation and Belarus, based on official statistical data, is carried out. The actions of the public sector are analyzed and creative approaches and tools are proposed, the use of which will contribute to the development of business structures, which will serve as a basis for creating new jobs and organizing modern production processes. The provisions of Russia’s economic security in the new system of a multipolar world are formulated.

Between Koenji and Brooklyn: Tokyo, New York, and the Circulations of Experimental Musics in a Global World

Using a group of Japanese‐born experimental musicians who make their lives in Tokyo and New York as a case study, this article examines how new musical genres are created, shared, and mediated through layers of circulations, identities, and locations. The author argues that these musicians’ lives and music have a kind of “noisy” quality, complicating genre boundaries and identity binaries in their wake. Through ethnographic “thick descriptions” and the words of the musicians themselves, the author shows the web of musical genres, languages, geopolitical identities, and gender relations that combine to make up the texture of musical performances. This article is also thinking through and with a sea change in the study of Japanese music. In recent years, building on the work of scholars of Japanese cultural studies, ethnomusicologists have critiqued how monocultural and mono‐ethnic mythologies have influenced the study and production of Japanese music. Ethnomusicology and area studies are Cold War enterprises, designed to create research that would help maintain that world order, educate Americans as global leaders, and change hearts and minds in foreign lands, leading to a cultural conservatism that often led scholars to focus on “traditional” Japanese music. Recently, however, research on Japanese music has increasingly focused on popular and experimental musics and examines how Japanese contemporary identity is created and maintained through music. Thus this article gives readers a view of how US‐based Japanese music scholarship is moving away from such Cold War paradigms and contributes to this shift in studies of Japanese music and culture.