Search

This paper explores how China's assistance to countries in the Western Balkans during the pandemic boosted their reputation in the region, through the case studies of Serbia, Macedonia, and Albania. The COVID-19 crisis has tested EU's reputation of solidarity and partnership to the Western Balkans, with Balkan political leaders accusing the bloc of selfishness due to its decision in 2020 to restrict exports of medical equipment to candidate states and the perceived neglect of the region during the vaccine distribution in early 2021. Simultaniously, China sent planes containing tonnes of medical supplies, respirators, medical personnel, and later vaccines, that would be received with great pomp and live media coverage, in a powerful public diplomacy and vaccine diplomacy offensive. This paper argues that this helped improve public opinion and reshape narratives on China in the Western Balkans. Still, attitudes vary between states, with Serbians having the most favourable views on China as a foreign partner. On the other hand, while public perceptions on China have seen a positive shift in Macedonia and Albania, this has not translated in a change in their pro-EU stance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of how political leader personalities affect the foreign policy of their states is a long-standing query in foreign policy analysis, within which the use of leaders' speech, or verbal statements, to explain how leaders behave is a methodologically productive subfield. One of the more prominent and reliable methodologies used to assess leader personality through leader speech is Leader Trait Analysis (LTA), developed by Margaret Hermann. However, because LTA was developed using English language vocabulary and grammar, its accuracy using Russian language speeches to discern leader personality traits has relied on translation. Translation is both inefficient and may not accurately transfer the semantics of speech upon which LTA's results depend. Responding to this issue, this paper applies Mona Baker's translation studies criteria to qualitatively compare the semantic equivalence, or maintenance of a text's original meaning, between English translations used to create an LTA profile for Vladimir Putin and Putin's original Russian speeches. The research identifies the preponderance of grammatical differences between English and Russian in limiting how well English translations of Russian speech maintain semantic equivalence relevant to assessing leader personality. It is concluded that an accurate understanding of Russian leaders' personalities requires Russian language specific LTA profiling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the concept of science diplomacy in the context of Eurasian history with a particular focus on the period of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. The Mongol Empire held sway over much of Eurasia and thus participated in diplomatic activity within and outside of Mongol domains. Scientists and intellectuals routinely headed diplomatic embassies sent and received by the Mongol Empire. Diplomats were valued for their knowledge and skills and served as interlocutors and translators for the Mongol Khans. These scientist-diplomats were key figures in the court and were essential in facilitating exchanges, building connections and fostering relations. As polyglots and polymaths they were able to operate in a multi-cultural environment. They were part of the complex framework of the Mongol Empire that brought to bear a kind of Eurasian development model that relied on expertise, knowledge and resources that could be utilised across the empire. Set within this context, the paper describes the creation of a politico-science complex in Mongol Eurasia with a special emphasis on the relationship between the Mongol Khans and their partners, chief among them were scientists and intellectuals. The Mongol Empire as an empire built upon exchanges summarises how scientific exchanges were both a product of and a driver for diplomatic relations in this period. Thus, the historical connection between diplomacy and science in Eurasia is a necessary component in understanding the modern notion of science diplomacy beyond a European context and applied more globally both in terms of time and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eurovision Song Contest has long served as a platform for cultural diplomacy among its participants. This paper examines how Russia and Ukraine have approached cultural diplomacy in and around the Eurovision Song Contest in the wake of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Following an outline of pertinent events from 2014 to 2022, including the Song Contest and the respective countries' selected entries as well as the public discourse surrounding them, two distinct types of cultural diplomacy—culturalist versus neo-propagandist—are employed in a congruence analysis. The findings show that Russia employed a largely neo-propagandist approach to cultural diplomacy characterized by their projected image of peacefulness, innocence, and strength to alter their situational image. Ukraine has employed a mostly culturalist approach mainly focused on mutual recognition and the representation of national culture. The conscious instrumentalization of the platform to counter misconstrued perceptions of Ukraine shaped by the Kremlin's rhetoric also adds neo-propagandist elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientists and diplomats have significant differences in professional skills, activity time and work content, but they should work together. With the deepening impact of science and technology (S&T) on socio-economic development and international relations, S&T has become a crucial component of national strategies, particularly for diplomacy. There is a need for scientific evidence and advice, meaning that mastering more knowledge and skills in S&T would be helpful in negotiations. This paper analyses the ideas of S&T diplomacy, including a review of its 40-year history in China, its definition (with detailed connotations) and its characteristics. The paper focuses on the significant role of people-to-people communication in S&T, which may inform future work. Five suggestions are given to strengthen the strategic planning of S&T diplomacy: (1) A more clarified, strategic goal of future-oriented S&T diplomacy is required; (2) It is important to build a theoretical system for China to describe S&T diplomacy; (3) The creation of a global S&T cooperation map that adapts to the new type of international relations would be valuable; (4) Fairness and justice shall be maintained, while a reform of the global S&T governance system is promoted; (5) It is a must to adhere to bottom-line thinking and strengthen risk prediction and emergency responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an analysis of Russia's role and place in President Biden's U.S. foreign policy aims. Particularly, this paper explores clashing world order visions, issues pertaining to national sovereignty, post-Soviet space development, sanction policies, climate change issues, and global security. The following research reveals that the rivalry between the United States and Russia influences the system of international relations, because both parties promote substantially different concepts of the future world order. The Biden administration was unwilling to make the necessary concessions to accommodate Russia because 1) there is a huge gulf between the two country's world views that even makes negotiations between the two almost impossible, and 2) because it does not take Russia seriously and views it as a declining power. As a result, the two sides were unable to come to some kind of negotiated agreement that would have addressed Russia's concerns including the Ukraine issue. Instead, deterring Russia has become a priority for U.S. foreign policy in critical areas such as national sovereignty, the democratic development of post-Soviet countries, Russian-related human rights issues, and U.S. sanction policies against Russia. Comparing Trump's presidency to the Biden administration's first year in office, Biden has championed a more pragmatic narrative towards Russia. Most evidently, this is manifested in problems concerning universal global challenges such as strategic stability, cyber-security, and even aspects of climate change. Nevertheless, the possibility of concluding any serious negotiations between the parties on new world order parameters seems less realistic today than ever before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the special feature “Leaders, Crisis Behavior, and International Conflict.” Individual leaders play a central role in world politics. Yet, for the last several decades, international relations scholarship has downplayed or ignored leaders, focusing instead on system-wide variables and domestic political institutions. A new wave of research, however, has helped to reintroduce the leader-level back into models of international politics. The papers that constitute this special feature represent some of the cutting-edge work in this area. This introductory paper traces the evolution of research on leaders in international relations and provides a conceptual framework that highlights different approaches to the study of leaders. It also distills several key themes that emerge from the papers, in addition to offering directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the highs and lows of Russian-South Korean collaboration in science and technology (S&T) during the first 10 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries (1988–1998). S&T collaboration served as a path to improve diplomacy in the absence of prior interaction and offered an opportunity for both countries to collaborate in their pursuit of technological advancement and economic growth. However, the history of this collaboration has been largely forgotten. The paper investigates the reasons for the decline of Russian-South Korean S&T collaboration and identifies potential obstacles to establishing a lasting and stable bilateral partnership in the field of science and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the years of the Cold War, the opportunities for foreign scientific cooperation by Soviet scholars were limited. However, despite the impediments of the Soviet system, Central Asian science's cooperation with the outside world has continued. In virtue of being of Asian origin and Muslim and having profound knowledge and understanding of the language and civilizational processes of the East, Central Asian people had a special place in Soviet foreign policy. The Central Asians attracted the sympathy of the peoples of the East, which granted them access to their scientific and diplomatic connections. The paper examines how Central Asians used understanding of and ties to the East in diplomacy, for diplomacy, and with diplomacy. First, the paper unpacks the institutional and individual potential of Soviet Central Asian diplomacy and explains how it was used as a tool for Soviet strategy. The paper then examines Oriental studies as a knowledge basis that enabled improved and more in-depth Soviet diplomacy in the East given the pervasive and basic legacy of Oriental studies in studying the East. Further, Soviet involvement in UNESCO programmes in Asia provides insight into how Soviet policy used its soft power through international organisations. In conclusion, the author summarises how science diplomacy was used to further Soviet policy and evaluates the legacy of Soviet science diplomacy in light of recent developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the implications of urban violence in the U.S. for health and for Great Britain in the future. Recent experience with violent death in an American city is presented and compared with historical trends, with the experience in Great Britain and with concurrent environmental and social changes. A comparison of British and American mortality rates shows that over the years suicide rates have not been greatly different.

Since the 2004 accession to the European Union (EU), Poland, like many other post-communist countries, have gone through a significant process of convergence to the EU institutions, laws and processes. In this process, the European values, policies and institutions have become an important reference point for the legitimacy of major national system reforms. In education, there have been a significant number of reforms aligned with 'European standards' as integration with the EU was seen as a priority for Poland's national interest. This paper is interested in the changing policy discourses that have been defining and legitimising Poland's education policy objectives, with a particular attention given to the idea of 'quality education' and the role of education. In this way, it is also interested in the processes of Europeanisation and de-Europeanisation – turning away from 'EU-isation' of policies. The emerging picture from the analysis illustrates the tensions between the neoliberal and populist policy discourses pursued by a variety of Polish governments, including significant policy shifts under the government of the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) (Law and Justice) coalition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the independence of the Central Asian (CA) republics, Iran has tried to develop its relations with these sates, especially with Tajikistan. The development of bilateral relations between Iran and Tajikistan has been very important for both sides. But after nearly 30 years of political relations between Iran and Tajikistan, bilateral relations have not developed much and have faced numerous limitations. By adopting Rosenau's theory, the current study aims at investigating Iran's foreign policy (FP) toward Tajikistan and the factors influencing the bilateral relations between the two countries. The present paper argues that societal, governmental, idiosyncratic, and role variables, respectively, have hindered the development of bilateral relations between Iran and Tajikistan. Finally, systemic variables have had the least influence on Iran's relations with Tajikistan, and the results show that the U.S. and its sanctions have had insignificant effect on Iran–Tajikistan bilateral relations, and in terms of the systemic variables, Iran has faced more opposition from China than any other country in the development of relations with Tajikistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the data collected in Uganda, Nepal, and Ethiopia, the papers included in this supplement fill a critical gap in evidence regarding multisectoral National Nutrition Action Plans. The studies offer new data and new thinking on how and why governance, effective financial decentralization, and improved accountability all matter for nutrition actions in low-income countries. This introductory paper offers an overview of the current state of evidence and thinking on the multisectoral nutrition policy cycle, including how governance and financing support that process. It also explores the benefits of applying a systems lens to understand the dynamic, enabling processes of the policy cycle-from research to knowledge and ultimately action-and to provide more dynamic and accurate information for nutrition advocacy and evidence-based decision-making. It concludes with key findings from the 5 country-level studies included. Several important themes emerge: the egregious gap in human resources needed for effective nutrition actions in most low-income settings, the value of research on bottlenecks and successes, and the need for routine monitoring of national policies and plans to measure their effectiveness in achieving both their own stated goals and global sustainable development goals. Reviewing these studies together provides a path forward in building stronger, evidence-based multisectoral nutrition policies and supporting implementation of the nutrition activities included within them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Russian Federation has been for several years characterized as having both domestic resources and the corresponding desire to re-establish some of the influences in the international affairs, resembling the ones it used to have during the Soviet times. In this manner, it seeks to re-establish the status not only by military means, but by diplomatic tools as well, which are at the center of this research. To be more concrete, the purpose of this research paper is to map and explain Russian non-military strategies on the Arctic region. The main questions are, therefore, as follows: (a) What is the attitude of the Russian Federation toward the Arctic region? and (b) What are the factors that contribute to this attitude? As indicated by many, the states with political ambitions share conservatism mainly related to economics and relative suspicion toward the well-established multilateral institutions, while preferring bilateral relations or being establishing partners in emerging organizations. Apart from what has been mentioned above, this paper intends to develop such an argument and test it on the particular case of the Arctic region. It, in essence, argues that Russia prefers bilateral approach in case of negotiations over the issues of its core national interests and is inclined to multilateral options in case of soft issue areas. However, although Russian bilateral relations attract sufficient scholarly attention, its presence in multilateral institutions is still an under-researched area. This research paper aims at contributing to global discussion by providing an answer on what is Russian attitude in multilateral institutions and what factors contribute to this behavior. As for the hypothesis, it shall be tested on the empirical data from content analysis of official documents (press releases and governmental statements), provided by the online archive of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has made great strides in understanding how and why organizational actors use the past. So far, scholars have largely focused the level of analysis on the organization, without exploring the intertwined nature of historical claim-making with the organizational field or society at large. This article extends the status quo by conceptualizing the role of context for organizational uses-of-the-past. It identifies three key aspects of context that shape how history contributes to the social construction of reality: the existence of multiple audiences, the landscape of pre-existing historical narratives and the experience of social practices giving credibility to historical claims.By analysing the historical case of German business in colonial India, the paper makes three broader claims that could move research toward a more contextualized conception of the uses-of-the-past: (i) historical claims are validated in a continuous dialogue with multiple audiences; (ii) they revise previously existing narratives by critiquing or 'outpasting', i.e. invoking earlier origins; (iii) they often result in 'rhetorical frictions' that require continuous and skilful history revisions to mitigate emerging conflicts in their reception. By contextualizing the uses-of-the-past in this way, the paper moves beyond 'hypermuscular' organizational actors bending history to their will and foregrounds the situated nature of historical rhetoric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qualitative fieldwork research on sensitive topics sometimes requires that interviewees be granted confidentiality and anonymity. When qualitative researchers later publish their findings, they must ensure that any statements obtained during fieldwork interviews cannot be traced back to the interviewees. Given these protections to interviewees, the integrity of the published findings cannot usually be verified or replicated by third parties, and the scholarly community must trust the word of qualitative researchers when they publish their results. This trust is fundamentally abused, however, when researchers publish articles reporting qualitative fieldwork data that they never collected. Using only publicly available information, I argue that a 2017 article in an Elsevier foreign policy and international relations journal presents anonymised fieldwork interviews that could not have occurred as described. As an exercise in post-publication peer review (PPPR), this paper examines the evidence that calls into question the reliability of the putative fieldwork quotations. I show further that the 2017 article is not a unique case. The anonymity and confidentiality protections common in some areas of research create an ethical problem: the protections necessary for obtaining research data can be used as a cover to hide substandard research practices as well as research misconduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines some of the major ideational aspects of Timor-Leste's foreign policy orientation in the post-independence period. Drawing upon the constructivist accounts of state behaviour, the paper situates Timorese leaders' foreign policy decisions in the broader context of their search to position the fledging nation in the global political order. It argues that Timor-Leste's insecure state identity has shaped its leaders' foreign policy preferences in the post-independence period. This identity can be examined by separating it into two parts: the construction of spatial boundaries and the creation of a temporal "other". The former is evidenced by the leadership's rhetorical emphasis on the country's Portuguese heritage and their prioritisation of ASEAN membership, both of which are closely related to the consolidation of the young nation's political and cultural identity. The creation of a temporal other, as illustrated by the rise of political discourse emphasising sovereignty, reflects a wider transitional process that is embedded in the country's transformation from colony to independent state under international supervision as well as the state's transformation from "fragile" or "failing" to "stable". A detailed analysis of the basic aspects of Timor- Leste's insecurities as a constitutive element of its foreign policy becomes instrumental to understanding the country's nation-state-building experience since its separation from Indonesia in 1999, as it enters a new phase of socio- political structuring following the withdrawal of the international security presence in 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motives, instruments and effects of China's Africa policy have spurred a lively debate in European development policy circles. This paper assesses the "competitive pressure" that China's growing presence in Africa exerts on the European development policy regime. Drawing on interviews conducted in China, Ethiopia and Europe between 2008 and 2011, the paper analyses Ethiopia as a case study. Ethiopia has emerged as one of the most important countries in Chinese as well as European cooperation with Africa. Yet, Chinese and European policies toward Ethiopia differ greatly. The EU mainly engages Ethiopia as an aid recipient, whereas China has developed a comprehensive political and economic partnership with the East African state. China has thereby become an alternative partner to the Ethiopian government, a development that both sheds light on the gap between European rhetoric and policy practice and puts pressure on the EU to make more efforts to reform its development policy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the large-scale investments of both China and the EU in climate-change mitigation and renewable-energy promotion, the prevailing view on China-EU relations is one of conflict rather than cooperation. In order to evaluate the prospects of cooperation between China and the EU in these policy fields, empirical research has to go beyond simplistic narratives. This paper suggests a conceptual apparatus that will help researchers better understand the complexities of the real world. The relevant actors operate at different levels and in the public and private sectors. The main message of the paper is that combining the multilevel governance and value-chain approaches helps clarify the multiple relationships between these actors [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tertius iungens brokerage is unique within the dominant brokerage conceptualizations in sociology. While most brokerage research finds that brokers reap rewards from mediating relationships in ways that keep actors apart, iungens research finds that brokers can have an interest in joining previously disconnected actors and sustaining these relationships. This paper expands the explanatory potential of iungens brokerage by building a multidimensional theoretical framework that explains transnational connecting processes, generating insights beyond the traditional focus on network structures into the under-researched area of brokerage across institutions. The paper synthesizes streams of brokerage research that have developed in relative isolation from each other to elucidate how organizational brokers and their staffs create transnational structural and cognitive connections that draw actors together into intersectoral networks that cross two or more nationally organized regulatory regimes and cultural systems in order to cooperate on complex public good problems. The paper’s case study of public health cooperation on the United States–Mexico border advances the argument that iungens brokerage is necessary to counter the divisive effects that state institutions tend to exert on transnational networks over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has long been recognised that the actors involved in crafting and implementing China's foreign policy are not always in agreement. This paper argues that the prioritisation of commercial outreach over purely political objectives in Africa has led to a shift in influence from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). To that end, the paper examines the rising prominence of China Exim Bank's concessional loans as a foreign policy instrument in Africa along with the process through which they are negotiated and implemented. Using the case of Angola, this paper shows how despite formal institutional equality, the MOFCOM is playing a far more influ- ential role than the MFA is in defining the direction of China's foreign policy toward Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discuss the issue of regional integration and regional identity-building in Southeast Asia. The idea is to problematise the quest for a regional identity by relating the efforts of integration to the issues of multi-ethnicity, national identity-building and multicultural societies in times of globalisation. The article consists of three broad themes intending to capture the complexity of regional identity-building: regionalism and regional cooperation; tensions by diversity; and dilemmas of regional identity-building in multi-ethnic societies illustrated by Laos and Burma/Myanmar. This analysis is explorative in character and attempts to combine different bodies of literature in order to better understand some of the contradictory processes related to regional identity-building in Southeast Asia. A tentative conclusion is that without an accommodating, inclusive and pluralistic society, the creation of a common regional identity will remain an elitist political project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two decades after the 9/11 attacks, homegrown jihadist violence (HJV) in the West has almost disappeared, but the causes and conditions fomenting the phenomenon have not changed much. In this paper, I argue that, despite the security services' ability to physically destroy the structures and networks of HJV in separate national contexts, the spectre of HJV is haunting theWest as a transnational problem. Dealing effectively with this problem requires a comprehensive understanding of the root causes of HJV and its cross-level and transnational origins. This paper examines such causes through the lens of International Relations' levels of analysis, which allows us to categorize and explain those causes at individual, group, and international levels. The paper seeks to add new insight to the HJV literature and, at the same time, provide a pre-theoretical basis for a broader debate on the causes of this global security problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As street demonstrations remain unresolved in Hong Kong (HK) and continue into 2020, this paper assesses the protesters' demand for universal suffrage and governance reform in general. It recounts the path to the current stalemate on political rights for HK's liberal authoritarian regime and, using Freedom House data, traces the growing threat to civil liberties posed by Beijing's covert extra-legal activities. Finally, the paper enumerates the restraints that make direct military intervention unlikely, and suggests how the current demonstrations might end in the coming months. One innovation of this analysis is to add in the forgotten political variable of the Chinese Communist Party's leadership, especially the role of the 2012 transition from Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an index of globalization covering its three main dimensions: economic integration, social integration, and political integration. Using panel regression for the period 1970-2000 the paper analyzes whether globalization has influenced OECD countries' implicit tax rates on labor, consumption and capital. The results show that globalization did not decrease the leeway for independent economic policy. Globalization even increased implicit tax rates on capital, while tax rates on consumption and labor are unaffected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small stocks tend to reverse, whereas large stocks tend to trend over a one-month horizon, which explains the lack of short-term reversals in the Australian market as a whole. However, large stocks exhibit intra-industry reversals, in which industry winners underperform industry losers in the subsequent month, when controlling for price momentum. Conversely, once this intra-industry reversal is neutralised, large stocks display momentum behaviour, in which market winners outperform market losers. These conditional strategies generate positive, significant risk-adjusted returns on large stocks in Australia. This paper documents significant industry momentum, as winning industries outperform losing industries in the following month. This industry momentum effect dominates the intra-industry reversal. The paper also finds evidence that conditional reversals are driven by illiquidity and are inhibited by stock prices under-reacting to earnings announcements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Career diplomats have expertise. Why, then, do U.S. presidents appoint relative novices to key diplomatic posts? Conventional wisdom points to patronage. Yet this explanation overlooks the benefits of a diplomat's familiarity with political superiors. Inherent in delegated diplomacy is uncertainty over diplomats' ability to "deliver" on understandings reached at the negotiating table. Non-career diplomats often speak more credibly for political superiors, creating an incentive for foreign counterparts to engage in diplomacy. I theorize a tradeoff between familiarity and expertise to generate empirically testable prediction. Counterintuitively, I expect that presidents often sacrifice professional expertise to delegate important diplomatic assignments to relative amateurs, even accounting for the patronage value of the post. I find empirical support for the argument using a novel dataset on U.S. ambassadorial appointments from the Reagan through Trump administrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign policy scholars often assume that leaders pursue a national interest. However, states often spread their foreign policy authority thinly across bureaucracies and programs with overlapping or conflicting interests. This is especially pronounced in foreign aid, which serves a clear foreign policy purpose but is often mired in bureaucracy. Why is foreign aid often so fragmented? Focusing on the United States, I explain foreign aid fragmentation as a byproduct of domestic politics. When moderate legislators are ideologically diffuse, leadership must persuade them to support a foreign aid agenda by offering pet projects. This increases aid's fragmentation. In contrast, when moderates are relatively homogeneous, leaders can gather support through more traditional compromise, decreasing the need for fragmented pet projects. I test this theory using a mixed-methods approach, employing a novel agency-level dataset of US foreign aid appropriations and a case study of a 1992 act delivering aid to the former Soviet Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses convergence as a political issue stemming from the political coordination of the European Higher Education Area. From the perspective of cultural theory, this issue relies on the fact that the influence of ways of life are not evenly influential in the political coordination of the European Higher Education Area. Convening the results of previous studies on the progress of Bologna, this paper underlines how goal displacement is challenging convergence in the ambit of the broader European Union political project. Additionally, the paper concludes that education within the European Higher Education Area is being configured by the prominence of the individualist and the fatalist ways of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese economic activities in Africa have gained increased visibility in parallel to the recent acceleration of Sino-African relations. This paper, which is framed from a geographical perspective that is often absent or neglected in studies covering China-Africa, focuses on the spatial forms and dynamics. It depicts the way in which two contrasting Chinese economic entities - a state-owned company in Chad and privately owned commercial malls in Johannesburg, South Africa - engage with their respective host environments. While drawing on concepts of "liminality" as well as "heterotopias", I argue that the modalities of the Chinese footprint are characterised both by closure and interaction, creating a dynamic tension that produces its own set of unique practices. This ambivalence between enclave and active linkages with host societies is not only perceivable from a spatial point of view, but also emerges with regard to economic strategies. In the midst of a transitional period, along with a launching and a consolidating phase, the Chinese economic entities in both case studies show signs of change in terms of behaviour and territorial foothold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through analysis of the evolution of the Japanese, Chinese and South Korean narratives of the Silk Road, this paper argues that the content and the nature of these Silk Road strategies changed with time and the international environment. Thus, this paper claims that, the notion of the Silk Road has changed from a static concept of a historical trade route into a product of social construction of a number of powerful states – strategies that are constantly shaped, imagined and re-interpreted. In this sense, the Silk Road is not a foreign policy doctrine but rather a discursive strategy of engagement that largely exists in the realm of narration. This narration is also a matter of social construction that is subject to change depending on the international environment of the country (China, Japan, Korea, etc.) that produces such narratives, context of a receiving region, the alternative narratives that compete for wider international acceptance and the country's vision of “self” and the “other” in the international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK has traditionally played an ambivalent role in European security and defence policymaking. With Brexit, the EU loses one of its two serious military players. On the other hand, it has been liberated from the constraints imposed by London on the Common Security and Defence Policy, and this has created a new dynamism behind the defence project. There has been comparatively little commentary on the defence implications of Brexit, and the UK has been less than forthcoming in making concrete proposals for an ongoing UK-EU partnership. Both sides assert that they wish to maintain a strong cooperative relationship after Brexit, but the outlines of such an arrangement remain very unclear. This article suggests that the UK will have more to lose than the EU from any failure to reach agreement, and that UK ambivalence about links between the Common Security and Defence Policy and NATO will prove to be a major sticking point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Africa Spectrum is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The cognitive process of social categorization and perceived outgroup threat leads to the perception of the world as divided into intergroup conflict relations between enemy and friend groups--termed "friend-enemy divided thinking." This study proposes the concept of friend-enemy divided thinking from the perspective of intergroup conflict and examines how this concept affects (1) political attitudes toward international relations and (2) conspiracy beliefs, which are closely related to intergroup conflict. A survey was conducted in Japan (N= 735). The results showed that the stronger the friend-enemy divided thinking is, the stronger the conspiracy beliefs are. People with stronger friend-enemy divided thinking felt threatened by national defense and immigration and supported negative policies against international relations. Both conspiracy beliefs and negative political attitudes toward national defense and immigration in international relations were interpreted to be associated with the perception of a hostile intergroup conflict that is heightened by friend-enemy divided thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the Philippines’ evolving and changing grand strategies in confronting China’s maritime expansion in the South China Sea. From 2010 to 2016, under the Aquino administration, the Philippines challenged China’s extensive claim over the disputed waters by adopting a hard-balancing approach. In 2016, the succeeding Duterte administration pursued an appeasement policy; in 2018, it shifted to a limited hard balancing policy because of (a) continuing Chinese coercive actions against Armed Forces of the Philippines units in Philippines-occupied land features in the South China Sea and (b) China’s failure to deliver on its promised public investments in the country’s infrastructure building programme. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr initially adhered to his predecessor’s strategy of limited hard-balancing. Seeing no change in China’s stance on the maritime issue, he resorted to a hard-balancing policy. He has vigorously supported the steady modernisation of the Philippine military and strengthened the country’s defence ties with the United States and other like-minded security partners while maintaining cordial diplomatic and economic relations with China. This article argues that the Philippines’ evolving grand strategy has the following elements: (a) Admitting that China’s maritime expansion is the quintessential threat to Philippine national security; (b) pursuing a policy of maintaining the status quo in the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea; (c) acknowledging the urgency to shift the focus of the Philippine military from internal security to territorial defence; and (d) fostering its alliance with the United States and its security partnerships with other American allies and partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a less-powerful state threatened by a rising China in both security and economic domains irrespective of increasing economic cooperation and sharing a border and political affinity with China, Vietnam is expected to warmly welcome the United States (US) -led Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) The country, nonetheless, has remained low-key in responding to the IPS. The article argues that Hanoi is truly interested in a regional rules-based order promoted in the IPS, but it has proposed a hedging response to this strategy through cautious statements and limited engagement in into this strategy. Vietnam’s hedging response to the IPS is framed by its post-Doi Moi foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation, and diversification. The year 2023 marks a milestone in bilateral relations between the US and Vietnam as both states upgraded their diplomatic relations to comprehensive strategic partnership which is the highest level in Vietnamese diplomatic ranking. This may become a favourable catalyst for further cooperation between Washington and Hanoi under the IPS within the context of a rising China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the literature on small state foreign policy predicts that smaller states of the international community attempt to enlarge their influence by seeking a constructive status or proving their adherence to positive norms, the cases in which small states use a negative image to better their international position are almost completely neglected. The article aims to assess how the status of Visegrád countries in interstate society changed since their accession to the European Union in light of the generally negative perception of their governments' ideological background connected to different kinds of populism and nationalism. Using the GDELT Database, the number of government-level interactions initiated towards the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia was analysed in a European context between 2004 and 2020. The results of the inquiry showed a drastic decrease in the interactions initiated towards the four countries between 2004 and the mid-2010s with a slightly higher ratio of confrontative interactions than in the case of other small and middle-sized states. Data show that Hungary, governed by populist parties since 2010, witnessed the smallest drop in attention in the last decade. These results defy the expectations of the small state literature and suggest a more complicated relationship between international status and the image of small states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that since at least the mid 1980s, there has been an observable negative attitude among the people of Burma against the Chinese. Such sentiment is not just transient public opinion, but an attitude. The author measures it by studying contemporary cultural and media works as found in legally published expressions, so as to exclude any material rejected by the regime's censors. The causes of such sentiment are various: massive Chinese migration and purchases of real estate (especially in Upper Burma), Chinese money that is inflating the cost of everything, and cultural "intrusion." The sentiment extends to the military, as well: the article examines a dozen memoirs of former military generals and finds that Burma's generals do not trust the Chinese, a legacy of China's interference in Burma's civil war until the 1980s. The public outcry over the Myitsone dam issue, however, was the most significant expression of such sentiment since 1969, when anti-Chinese riots broke out in Burma. The relaxation of media restrictions under the new government has allowed this expression to gather steam and spread throughout the country, especially in private weekly journals that are becoming more outspoken and daring in pushing the boundaries of the state's restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between health and the economy is complex and hardly a matter of unidirectional cause and consequence. With health increasingly being understood as a stimulus for the economy, nutrition directly assumes the status of an economic identifier. This paper discusses the growing complexity of the global health field and tries to develop a new way of understanding the role of health and nutrition in the broader global agenda. The objective is to develop sensitive policies that can generate progress around the world. Such policies must be based on scientifically derived evidence. Initially, and with a nutritional perspective, the economic effects resulting from a healthy population are assessed. Next, the relationship between healthcare systems and economic performance is analyzed. We then describe the health transition in low- and middle-income countries. Finally, we discuss two national social policies (Oportunidades and Seguro Popular) developed in Mexico to confront its health and nutritional challenges as the keystone for economic development. The main conclusion of this paper is that globalization can turn policy knowledge into international public goods that can be used to address local problems. Such application, in turn, feeds back into the global pool of experience, thus generating a process of shared learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods used in a phenomenological study aimed at understanding students' perceptions of volunteer experiences from the viewpoint of their existential meanings. In Japan, as volunteer activities have just been recently introduced to youth education, it is necessary to verify the effect of the activity on the students. The authors present phenomenological reduction, which is a fundamental concept in phenomenology, as a health care research method to elucidate the essence of people's lived experiences. The 22 statements presented from volunteer students' group discussion after their practices were redescribed by phenomenological reduction, a method of valid interpretation based on their embodiment and desire. The phenomenological approach allows us to understand the essence of students' perceptions in terms of their purpose in life, which suggests that educators could inspire the students to realize existential growth by participating in volunteer activities through practical communications with others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there are a few national schemes for accreditation/certification of toxicologic pathologists (e.g., in Japan and the United Kingdom), a global recognition system for bench toxicologic pathologists is missing, as are universal standards defining their core competencies. This paper summarizes basic means regarding how proficiency in toxicologic pathology is acquired, provides an overview over examinations of interest to toxicologic pathologists, and emphasizes the value of practical experience in the field. The paper then discusses basic approaches to evaluate the proficiency of toxicologic pathologists and examines potential means to recognize qualified toxicologic pathologists. With progressive globalization, it is important that the toxicologic pathology community deepens the discussion regarding a global recognition mechanism for their discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, the left has increasingly embraced European integration as a bulwark to globalisation. However, the view that the EU provides the potential for realising a progressive social and economic policy is problematic, since its approach is antithetical to traditional democratic-socialist objectives. Thus, the left either has to redouble its efforts to realise a fundamental reform of the EU's institutions and policy framework, or consider nationally-orientated alternatives which inevitably question the nature of the UK-EU relationship. This paper outlines a number of these policy options and evaluates their potential benefits and costs from within a political-economy framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the authors outline the translation process involved in Macro International's evaluation of the Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Georgia. IVLP is a long-running program in which professionals and prospective leaders from around the world participate in funded short-term visits to the United States to learn first-hand professional practices and values of American society and democracy. The authors highlight the importance of attending to the theoretical issues in, discuss contextual factors inherent in, and outline specific phases of the translation process, and present the modified decentering translation technique adapted for the project. They describe the types of translation equivalencies that were addressed and present findings that attest to the quality of the translation. They underscore the importance of the translation process as a qualitative tool for the instrument development that maps the contexts of people's li es, documents emic-etic aspects of cross-cultural research, and fosters collaborations with all stakeholders of the research project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore whether efficiency gains obtained by developing countries participation in emission trading could offset the economic risks that would be incurred by taking on binding commitments when future emissions are uncertain. Such commitments would allow developing countries to participate in emissions trading, which has significantly lower transaction costs than the present Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). However, because future emissions cannot be known, commitments can become more costly for the developing countries than expected. Using a dynamic computable general equilibrium model, we analyse whether the efficiency gains obtained by participating in emissions trading can offset this risk. We find that the efficiency gains that can be obtained by developing countries might not be very large compared to the risks they incur. Developing countries might therefore have good reasons not to embrace binding commitments in order to participate in "cap and trade" emissions trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how internationalized ethnic conflicts, traditionally the most difficult form of conflict, can be managed and resolved. The case is made that mediation is particularly relevant in such contexts of intractable conflicts. The paper develops a framework of mediation and presents the significant features that may affect its outcome by examining an original data set on international mediation events. The findings from an analysis of 869 cases of mediation attempts in internationalized ethnic conflicts suggest that directive mediation strategies increase the probability of successful conflict management. Mediator experience also has a positive impact on successful management. Prolonged mediation and repeated efforts by the same mediator have a negative effect on the chances of a successful outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining China's policy towards Latin America from 1949 to the present day, this article uncovers a puzzle about China in Latin America: while the guiding doctrine of China's policy towards the region has never changed (i.e. "South–South Cooperation" on the basis of the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence"), there is a difference in terms of its policy goal between then and now (i.e. a very revisionist and politically focused goal until the late 1970s as compared to a less revisionist and economically focused one today). Based on the theory of systemic constructivism, this article demonstrates that the change of the interactions between China and other countries in our world (from isolation and confrontation to engagement and interdependence) has changed China's perception about the nature of the international system, as well as its identity and interests in the system, which in turn has changed its policy goal towards Latin America and the "Global South" in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]