Political Science and International relations

Multiplicity claims to provide common ground for International Relations and, potentially, to appeal across the epistemological and theoretical spectra of the discipline. However, Multiplicity also challenges existing theories of the international, of international politics and, potentially, political theory more widely. Rosenberg’s conception of Multiplicity explicitly sought to break IR out of ‘the prison of political science’, to question the theoretical fundaments of the latter as well as the former discipline, and challenge the often-presumed hierarchy between them. Multiplicity therefore challenges IR scholars to identify and take possession of the ‘fact general to the social world’ that is the ‘deepest ontological premise’ of our discipline (and not of others). In doing so, multiplicity situates the international (a particular historical form of multiplicity) as the lens or heuristic through which the international can be used to explain or interpret various phenomena, rather than itself being the object to be interpreted or explained by or through those phenomena.

This Forum draws together scholars working in different ways and different settings to discuss how (and, indeed, whether) Multiplicity: 1) can become more deeply embedded in IR – does it indeed provide common ground? 2) helps IR scholars to widen the impact of our analyses beyond our disciplinary boundaries – and address the negative balance of ideational trade with cognate disciplines; and 3) has the potential to increase the impact of IR beyond academia – and what may need to be done to realise that potential? The Roundtable draws together scholars working in a variety of ways – ranging from political psychology, Constructivism and practice theory, critical theory, analysis of great power politics, Foreign Policy Analysis and Critical Security Studies – to explore what Multiplicity can do for and to (international) (political) (theory) as well as how it may affect the discipline of IR.

This paper examines why Putin is dangerous to Russia and Russian people in long run. It will examine key foreign and domestic policies of Putin since he came to power in 2000. Evidences will be based on events of history that unfolded aftermath the collapse of USSR and certain predictions based on current state of Russia as a country, both politically and economically. Furthermore, this paper will suggest a solution that would serve the interest of both Russia and her enemy led by USA.

The United Nations as a quintessential " universal " International Organisation, was established in 1945 to save succeeding generations from the scourge of another catastrophic world war, which till date, it has successfully precluded. However, the United Nations risk being an irrelevant body in the nearest future as it has failed to carry out a comprehensive reform of its obsolete structural organs, precisely, the Security Council that is the mandated guardian of international peace and security. That it might become more effective, legitimate, credible, representative, democratic, transparent, flexible and accountable as the executive organ of the United Nations, there is an urgent need to revamp the outdated Council in order to reflect the international reality of the 21 st century as well as deal with the new security challenges arising. This paper therefore revisits the discourse on the overhaul of the septuagenarian United Nations, with a focus on the enlargement, democratisation and, the working methods of the Security Council. My finding was that the long awaited reform of the archaic Security Council is not likely to happen anytime soon owing to the five permanent members lack of political alacrity, the impasse in the General Assembly and, the contradicting proposals on substantive Security Council reform. The research methodology for this study included the historical and analytical approaches as well as the qualitative method of data collection.

La guerra rusa contra Ucrania Explicaciones y consecuencias. Democracias contra autoritarismos y nueva guerra fría La brutal agresión rusa contra Ucrania ha cerrado el tiempo histórico que comenzó con el fin de la guerra fría y la desaparición de la Unión Soviética. El 24 de febrero de 2022 abrió un nuevo período en el que se reconfigurará el mundo con parámetros no previstos hasta el momento. Al final de este artículo se analizarán las consecuencias profundas en diversos planos que seguramente originen esta guerra con carácter duradero pero, previamente, es necesario estudiar los desarrollos, tanto en Rusia como en Ucrania, que han llevado a esta situación.

Foreign policy in practice is a reflection of a state and its citizens in an international arena. States communicate their position and stand on international matters through their foreign policy. Therefore in a highly interconnected world, states have a task to ensure that their actions internationally and decisions are in line with their domestic interests and objectives. However sometimes due to both domestic and international variables states will make decisions that do not necessarily reflect their national interests. The research has used both Realism and liberalism as the guiding theories given that these theories take into account the domestic politics as a projection of foreign policy though in contrasting views. The research used qualitative method in getting relevant data to inform the findings herein. Qualitative data is the most practical form in a topic such as this given that the research mostly relies on past decisions and actions. The research narrows down to Kenya-China relations. It investigates the role different political dispensations in Kenya and its relations with China. The research seeks to add to the existing knowledge in the field of foreign policy as well as bring out ways in which foreign policy formulation in Kenya and Africa as a whole can reflect national interests under different political dispensations.

The emotional dimensions of witnessing human hardship and suffering through images are key to ensuing humanitarianism.  Yet while images of suffering have historically evoked a range of ‘humanitarian emotions’, contemporary commentators lament that a ‘politics of pity’ now commonly fuels western humanitarian practices.  While this is often highlighted as a more recent phenomenon, emotions evoked in response to suffering have deeply historical origins.  Scholars speak, for instance, of the guilt, sympathy, ‘irresistible compassion’ and again pity, which so moved people in the 17-18th century to act and alleviate other’s pain.  This chapter therefore seeks to explore these historical linkages.  It examines the historical emergence of humanitarian emotions and sensibilities through tracing how early humanitarian representations bear out in those in the present day.  Analyzing early modern and contemporary media images of suffering, the chapter focuses on how the history of representing distant suffering has contributed the proliferation of a ‘politics of pity’ through which humanitarian actions are performed and practiced.  Exposing the historical and cultural contingency of such emotions, the chapter concludes by emphasizing how bodily feelings and affects hold immanent possibilities for political - and humanitarian - transformations.

This article offers a fresh critique of the work of political scientists and historians who have propagated the Eurocentric history of democracy. The paper argues that such work can be dissected and critiqued along several key lines: their reliance on a distinctly patriarchal discourse riddled with prejudices; the assertion that one can understand the history of democracy via the etymology of the word itself; and the deeply Eurocentric
roots of the study of democracy’s past embedded in the canon of Western political thought. The paper concludes by calling on contemporary political scientists and political historians concerned with the history of  democracy to be careful in re-iterating this deeply flawed history of democracy and to instead work towards a history of democracy that retrieves the silenced histories and the forgotten democratic moments that lay behind the roar of Western power.

After conquering large swaths of Syria and Iraq, the IS undertook an aggressive sectarian campaign in which they not only enacted horrific violence against the Shia people, but also damaged or destroyed several key Shia mosques and shrines. Drawing on Social Movement Theory (SMT), this article analyzes the response by various Shia nonstate actors—militia leaders, religious clergymen, populist preachers, and seminal poets. It argues that they used the IS threat to Shia holy sites to develop and deploy a mobilization frame that has come to be referred to as the “shrine protection narrative.” The article also documents the manifold consequences of the shrine protection narrative: it underpinned a mass recruitment drive that saw tens of thousands enlist; it legitimized foreign Shia militias to enter the conflicts in both Syria and Iraq; it justified the formation of entirely new militias who declared the centrality of shrine protection to their mandate; and it mobilized them to enact political violence. In doing so, this article extends existing studies of SMT to demonstrate that “sacred spaces”—and particularly the need to protect religious sites from specific threats—can serve as a powerful mobilization frame towards political violence.

Religion, which ideally intended to harmonise and unite societies is been manipulated to suit selfish political and economic interests. The politicians with the help of unscrupulous religious leaders inculcate in to the minds of uneducated masses a falsehood religious values thereby making them to act extraordinarily in the polity. As a result of this, religion becomes the most important tool of both domestic and foreign political manoeuvres in Nigeria.
The internal and external policy of Nigeria has been greatly influenced by religion since the country’s independence. Most of the national actions and inactions were in response to religious demand rather than the national interest: the membership into Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Introduction of Sharia law, the rejection of anti-gay marriage law and most recently the issues of coalition with Arab countries as a counter terrorism approach are typical issues that explained religion as a vital factor in Nigeria.
The policy of Nigeria has been on the pendulum swaging from national to religious interest, whichever way it goes, the bone of contention is either realization of stated objectives or preventing the emergence of religion’s source crisis.
For a preventive measure the nation must transform its educational, social and economic sector, in such a way that job will be created for the teeming population especially the youth, regulation of religious institutions is mandatory to curtailed semi and unskilled Imams and pastors from misleading the people. By so doing the country will be on its track, achieve its domestic and foreign policy objective without undue interferences by religion or whatsoever, hence harmonious society and an environment of sustainable development.

"Scientific work" is published every month throughout a year. It has both electronic (e-ISSN: 2708-986X) and print ISSN (ISSN - 2663 – 4619) ,  The journal has an impact factor value based on the International Citation Report. The journal is also indexed in International Scientific Indexing.

In this paper, the narrative of the emergence of the People " s Republic of China (PRC) as a global power began with Chairman Mao Zedong " s failed attempt to transform China into a modernised and industrialised State. By 1978, the pragmatic leader, Deng Xiaoping, came into power and reformed China " s closed economy. Ever since then, China for more than three decades has been experiencing an unprecedented economic growth rate of 9-10%. This " economic miracle " has not only made the Chinese State an economic powerhouse recently but also a country that is fast becoming a military power under the incumbent President, Xi Jinping. The South China Sea (SCS) is an approximately 3.5 square kilometres sea in the western region of the Pacific Ocean. This geostrategic sea " s waterways, geographical features and natural resources have for more than three decades been subjected to the overlapping sovereignty and jurisdiction claims of the heavyweight, China and the diminutive littoral States – Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei that surround the South China Sea. This paper therefore takes first and foremost, a critical look at the emergence of China as a global power and lastly whether it would be a peaceful rise or pose a threat to international order in the context of the South China Sea Disputes. The historical and analytical approaches were used to carry out this study as well as the qualitative method of data collection.

The status of ‘international law’ is examined critically. In the first section, the basis of (national) legislation is described. This consists of an inquiry into a credible meaning of ‘natural law’. It is focused on the question whether universal principles exist and, if so, of what kind. Section 2 deals with the issue of enforcement. National legislation invariably realizes this, but this is not obvious at the international level. Section 3 deals with human rights. It is discussed whether their presence points to the existence of ‘international law’. To this end, a possible reason for these rights to have developed is expounded.

"Scientific work" is published every month throughout a year. It has both electronic (e-ISSN: 2708-986X) and print ISSN (ISSN - 2663 – 4619) ,  The journal has an impact factor value based on the International Citation Report. The journal is also indexed in International Scientific Indexing.

This article offers an extra historical argument for preserving and restoring wooden churches and especially those with a trefoil plan. These fourteenth-century monuments, keeping some of the political messages not fully understood, such as the Bogdana church in Rădăuţi, Dragos Voda's church from Putna, are compared with the church in Oşesti, Vaslui County. In the case of the Oşesti church, the loss of historical sources led to local historical inadvertences.

While this article offers a reading of the film 'Pearl Harbor' in relation to the events of September 11, 2001, it also provides my preliminary queer reading of how al Qaeda operates through what I have gone on to argue is a queer logic of the and/or (in this paper referred to as the 'both/and' - from page 141).  I go on to elaborate this reading in 'Queer International Relations:  Sovereignty, Sexuality and the Will to Knowledge' (forthcoming 2016 with Oxford University Press)

The Legacy of Iraq critically reflects on the abject failure of the 2003 intervention to turn Iraq into a liberal democracy, underpinned by free-market capitalism, its citizens free to live in peace and prosperity. It argues that mistakes made by the coalition and the Iraqi political elite set a sequence of events in motion that have had devastating consequences for Iraq, the Middle East and for the rest of the world.

Today, as the nation faces perhaps its greatest challenge in the wake of the devastating advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and another US-led coalition undertakes renewed military action in Iraq, understanding the complex and difficult legacies of the 2003 war could not be more urgent. Ignoring the legacies of the Iraq war and denying their connection to contemporary events could means that vital lessons are ignored and the same mistakes made again.

Political Theology and International Law offers an account of the intellectual debates surrounding the term 'political theology' in academic literature concerning international law. Beneath these differences is a shared tradition, or genre, within the literature that reinforces particular styles of characterising and engaging predicaments in global politics. The text develops an argument toward another way of thinking about what political theology might offer international law scholarship - a politics of truth.

Crude oil remains an essential commodity that fuels the economy of countries the world over. On a high demand from time-to-time in the international oil market, countries endowed with the ‘black gold’ produce and export barrels of oil daily at a given price determined by the market forces of demand and supply. Nigeria, the largest oil producing country in Africa, maximum production capacity is 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd). Heavily dependent on the proceeds from the sales of her Bonny Light crude oil, it is in the best interest of the Nigerian State for oil prices to be high in the volatile international oil market. Hence, it became a full Member State of the cartel – Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1971. Over four decades later, Nigeria’s membership of OPEC became a topic for debate among erudite scholars, astute analysts and professionals in Nigeria’s oil industry following the plummet in oil prices from 2014 which adversely affected the country’s undiversified petro-dollar economy. This research paper weighs the cost and benefit of Nigeria’s membership of the oil cartel in order to ascertain whether Nigeria should remain a member or use the exit door out of OPEC. Theoretically, Realism was adopted for the study. Also used were the historical and comparative approaches with the qualitative method of secondary data collection.

This chapter seeks to re-interpret Iraqi politics after the US-led intervention of 2003 by examining the alternative discourses of democracy emanating from within Re-Colonial Iraq. It details the complex public sphere of the post-Saddam era and points to the inclusive nature of the positive developments that have occurred across the nation since 2003. The first part discusses the post-Saddam media landscape which has played a positive role in covering the nation’s difficult transition to democracy. The second part of this chapter documents and examines the Iraqi people’s exercise of their democratic right to protest and the influence these protests have had on the politics of the post-Saddam era. The chapter concludes that Iraqi citizens who play an active role in their own governance and participate in democratic mechanisms such as elections and mass demonstrations are helping to create a more robust democracy.

In Simulating Sovereignty Cynthia Weber presents a critical analysis of the concept of sovereignty. Examining the justifications for intervention offered by the Concert of Europe, President Wilson's Administration, and the Reagan-Bush administrations, she combines critical international relations theory and foreign policy discourses about intervention to accomplish two important goals. First, rather than redefining state sovereignty, she radically deconstructs it by questioning the historical foundations of sovereign authority. Secondly, the book provides a critique of representation generally, and of the representation of the sovereign state in particular. This book is thus an original and important contribution to the understanding of sovereignty, the state and intervention in international relations theory.

Why do self-representations of weakness pervade public discourse in self-identified great powers? Moreover, why do they intersect with self-representations of greatness? Do such narrative instability, inconsistency, and incoherence simply indicate that great powers are ontologically insecure? This article advances a theoretical explanation that is both embedded in and contributes to scholarship that theorizes ontological (in)security from a Lacanian perspective. The gist, ironically, is that great powers' quest for greatness is co-constituted with the narrative construction of weakness. The article then challenges the assumption in existing ontological security scholarship that states are generally self-reflexive and experience pride when ontologically secure but shame when ontologically insecure. Since great power narratives reflect persistent, exaggerated, and simultaneous feelings of shame and pride, it argues that narcissism helps better account for great power self-identification and ontological security-seeking. Drawing on psychological research on narcissism, the article develops four narrative forms-shame, pride, denial, and insult-through which self-representations of weakness and greatness, and feelings of shame and pride, can be mediated. Finally, using empirical illustrations from the United States and China, the article analyzes how and with what implications political leaders have narrated about each respective great power's weakness and greatness, with a focus on the period 2006-2020.

يهدف هذا المقال إلى دراسة مضامين الثورة الرقمية والمعلوماتية، وتأثير تطبيق تقنياتها على القطاع العسكري، كما أنه يحدد الأسباب الاستراتيجية التي جعلت الكثير من المفكرين يصفون التحولات التي فرضتها في الجيوش بالثورة في الشؤون العسكرية، ويناقش أيضا الآثار السلبية لهذا التوظيف أهمها ظهور أشكال، وفضاءات جديد للقتال حتمت على الدول تطوير استراتيجيات دفاع تحاكي مخرجات العصر الرقمي. لتخلص الدراسة بنتيجة مفادها: التحديث العسكري المدفوع بالتغير التكنولوجي الذي فرضته الثورة الرقمية أحدث تغيرا في شن الحروب، وبين أهمية المعلومات في زيادة الفاعلية القتالية، في المقابل خلقت تحديات جديدة تستوجب التعاون بين القطاع العسكري والمدني لمواجهتها.

The innovative contribution of the Open University module, International Relations: continuity and change in global politics (module code DD313 ) has been recognised with the 2016 BISA Teaching Excellence Prize. The core of the case for the module to be awarded the BISA teaching prize rested on its innovation in teaching with regard to: a ‘dilemma-led’ strategy for teaching issues and theory in International Relations (IR); the use of multi-media to support IR theory teaching; and development of student skills such as peer-to-peer work in a distance learning environment. In this paper we will concentrate on the first two of these areas which both aim to tackle the question of how to teach IR theory in an accessible and meaningful way that also avoids some of the pitfalls of traditional perspectives-led or theory-led teaching in IR.

Since Haiti’s founding, it has been met with challenges. Considered a fragile state, Haiti is ranked under “High Alert” at the 11th spot on the Fragile State Index (FSI),  with a score of 104.5 out of 120. This score highlights pertinent issues affecting Haiti’s stability and creates a unique focal point when addressing state-building and peacebuilding. This report addresses these challenges through a thorough analysis of the elements driving fragility.

This article argues that while significant strides have been made in national development efforts, in order to adequately foster peacebuilding and statebuilding, changes in the root causes of fragility need to be addressed and tendered equitably.  This article argues these root causes can be implicitly linked to Haiti’s colonial history and the nation’s geopolitical location.

Article first published online: 3 SEP 2015
DOI: 10.1111/isqu.12212

This article outlines two theoretical and methodological approaches that take a queer intellectual curiosity about figurations of “homosexuality” and “the homosexual” as their core. These offer ways to conduct international relations research on “the homosexual” and on international relations figurations more broadly, e.g. from “the woman” to “the human rights holder.” The first approach provides a method for analyzing figurations of “the homosexual” and sexualized orders of international relations that are inscribed in IR as either normal or perverse. The second approach offers instructions on how to read plural figures and plural logics that signify as normal and/or perverse (and which might be described as queer). Together, they propose techniques, devices and research questions to investigate singular and plural IR figurations –  including but not exclusively those of “the homosexual” – that map international phenomena as diverse as colonialism, human rights, and the formation of states and international communities in ways that exceed IR survey research techniques that, for example, incorporate “the homosexual” into IR research through a “sexuality variable.”

In his interview, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to Ukraine gives his view on the previously "unthinkable" war between Russia and Ukraine and lessons of that sad and destructive process. The interview has been done in April 2022.

http://www.ukrpolitic.com/ukrainian-policymaker-volume-10/
http://www.ukrpolitic.com/journals/2022/10/UP_vol_10.pdf
http://www.ukrpolitic.com/journals/2022/10/UP_vol_10_NguyenYakushik.pdf
https://doi.org/10.29202/up/10/11
http://www.ukrpolitic.com/10-11/

The modernization movement through education in Turkish society dates back to the late Ottoman period. The importance of education has continued in the early periods of the new Turkish Republic. Educational reforms in the second quarter of the 1900s and Dewey's visit paved the way for modernization, societal change, political socialization, and, hence, democratization in Turkey. This article exhibits the stages that Turkish society went through since the late Ottoman Empire period in the 18th century and touches upon how education transformed Turkey, especially in regards to political socialization and civic culture.

Observers view the expansion of China’s relationship with African countries not only from its perspective as a multifaceted endeavour but also from the nuances extant in the academic and non-academic professional circles. The factors underlying the relationship have created debates across diverse academic disciplines including trade and finance, development, Peacekeeping and global security, diplomacy as well as in the areas of geopolitics and technology transfer. These discussions and debates emerged after China’s aid and investments in Africa increased with incredible annual surges; thus
attracting global attention. Drawing on the background of those discussions, this study aims to contribute to the ongoing debate by producing the perceptions (pros and cons) of individuals unrelated to official voices and state policies with regard to China’s exploitations of African resources and the oft cited Chinese policy of ‘no strings’ attached.
Keywords: China-Africa relations, development, FDI, ‘no strings’, US, West

Introduction to Special issue of Citizenship Studies on ‘Design and Citizenship’ edited by Cynthia Weber; Published as Cynthia Weber (2010) ‘Introduction:  Design and Citizenship’, Citizenship Studies 14(1):1-16.

This article introduces design, citizenship and their relationships by contrasting two very different design projects on citizenship.  The first is the collaborative project Touching the State, which was carried out by the publically-funded UK Design Council in collaboration with the independent think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research in 2004.  The second is artist and designer Robert Ransick’s project Casa Segura/Safe House.  Bearing these two design projects in mind, the article suggests that if we want to better understand citizenship, we need to better understand how citizenship, citizens, and those who are not (fully) counted as citizens are designed, re-designed, or designated as beyond the scope of design by states, professional designers, activists, citizens and citizen groups, and non-citizen and non-citizenship groups, in all the richly varied ways design and citizenship interact.  The urgency in taking design seriously within the realm of citizenship studies is that design offers a new prism through which to address the political.  The article then lays out how the contributions to this special issue examine citizenship in relation to the political through this new prism of design.

In addressing the de-Baathification in post-2003 Iraq, this article outlines the efforts by Iraqi lawmakers to codify de-Baathification in Iraq’s new constitution of 2005 as well as in subsequent pieces of more detailed legislation. The article then goes on to study the actual implementation of these laws in relation to the Iraqi parliamentary elections of 2010 and 2014, as well as the local elections of 2013. Throughout the chapter, special emphasis is given to the considerable discrepancies between the principles enshrined in the formal de-Baathification legislation and the way those principles are applied in practice. Finally, this chapter concludes by suggesting that Iraq needs to openly and honestly deal with its Baathist past if it is ever to move beyond patterns of political
sectarianism, violence and autocracy.

Abstract: This study analyzes the role of religion in Orthodox countries, where religion plays an important role when it comes to national identity, focusing on Serbia and Montenegro. Apart from analyzing this specific connection, the paper addresses the politicization of religion by both the state and religious institutions during the turbulent events in Montenegro between 2019 and 2020. Critical discourse analysis and the Discourse-Historical Approach is used to analyze the potential but significant shift in the ethnoreligious and nationalist discourse of Serbian Orthodox Church officials. These methodological tools are used to observe the phenomenon of politicization of religion and frame the discourse of the two actors of this process, the Serbian state and the Serbian Orthodox Church. The paper concludes that the Serbian state has to “defend” the influential position of the Serbian Church due to their historical connection. By protecting the Church, the state is showing its dedication to the preservation of the Serbian national identity.

Looking at the contemporary Polish political sciences in a wider international perspective—and specifically analyzing their location within the global hierarchies of academic knowledge production—may not only shed new light on the field but will also provide interesting insight to workings of social sciences in peripheral context. The position of the Polish political science, as measured in terms of international rankings or indexes of citations, is rather low. Moreover, its dominant intellectual schools and most commonly used methodological approaches may be considered old fashioned from the perspective of leading Western centers of the discipline. Descriptive analysis and traditional institutionalism dominate, while more sophisticated behavioral approaches or new institutionalism are rare. On the other hand, the field as such may be seen as quite strong, especially given its visibility in the national media, its considerable institutional and human resources, or high numbers of students attracted each year. Moreover, it can be argued that the field has achieved considerable autonomy from the global political science system and has successfully endured post-Communist transformation, retaining most of its staff and institutional assets from the previous regime (which was not the case in most other central European countries). At the same time, one can find within it a smaller faction of internationally oriented scholars. They contest the dominant, locally oriented majority of the field and are well connected to global academic networks. In effect, an interesting duality within Polish political science may be observed and interpreted as a phenomenon typical for many peripheral countries, understood in terms of the world systems theory. Relying on Wallersteinian perspective on the global system of social sciences coupled with Bourdieusian field analysis allows for reconstruction of the genesis and underlying structures of the contemporary field of political sciences in Poland, which may be interpreted as a case of successful autonomy building of a peripheral field of social sciences.