Explaining the clash and accommodation of interests of major actors in the creation of the African Union

The rapid creation of the African Union (AU) has been describedas one of the most puzzling events in interstate co-operationin contemporary Africa. While studies published so far on thesubject express surprise at the AU's speedy creation, none makesany attempt to explain the clash of interests and ideas of thekey actors and how they were accommodated in order to createthe AU. This article attempts to fill this gap by exploringthe interests and ideas that drove the AU process. It arguesthat the introduction at the Algiers summit in 1999 of two separatereform packages that were meant to reform the OAU in line withthe foreign policy interests of Nigeria and South Africa setin motion the process that eventually led to the creation ofthe AU.     

Is Bipartisanship on National Security Beneficial? Australia's Politics of Defence and Security

One of the most widely‐endorsed norms in Australian politics is the requirement for bipartisanship in the management of defence and security policy. This norm is assumed to lead to good policy creation, foster political unity, and protect those who implement national policy (particularly the military). The paper argues that evidence for all three of these claims is overstated. In addition, the effects of the norm are often counter‐productive and even harmful to the conduct and management of Australian policy. The paper concludes by arguing that the norm of bipartisanship for Australian defence and security policy should be abandoned.     

中国古代分裂格局中的“统一性规范”——以宋、明两朝历史为例

本研究试图借鉴国际关系研究中对规范结构的关注,从社会学角度和体系层次来理解国家的战略行为。行为体间的规范结构在不同时期各有不同,因此,对战略文化的研究不能代替对"统一性规范"的研究。统一性规范兼具管制性与建构性效用,并使分裂格局中各分立政权进行"正统"身份的建构,使之保持争取国家统一的进攻性行为。基于以上视角,本文选取宋、明两朝的历史来验证统一性规范两种效用的存在。本研究对于解释当代中国的战略逻辑有一定意义,有助于澄清西方学界和政界对当代中国战略行为的误解,有利于我们论证当代中国与周边政权建立和平关系的可能性与必然性。     

The security culture of the ECOWAS: origins,development and the challenge of child trafficking

This article explores the relationship between the security culture of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and how it has responded to transnational challenges in West Africa. To do so, it provides an overview of how the ideas, norms and principles that constitute the embryonic security culture of ECOWAS have evolved historically. Against this backdrop the article focuses on how the regional organisation has dealt with a specific contemporary security challenge: child trafficking. The concluding part of the article seeks to explain ECOWAS's collective action on child trafficking with reference to the region's different threat perceptions and security priorities. This article argues that although the decisions and policies of ECOWAS on child trafficking are influenced by certain shared ideas, norms and principles, a breakdown of collective political will and continuing differences on the key security referents and appropriate approaches to the security of individuals have led ECOWAS member states to fail in effectively addressing this particular transnational security challenge.     

Multidimensional Threats and Military Engagement: The Case of the Italian Intervention in Libya

The military operation in Libya (2011) is a paradigmatic case regarding the growing interaction of new security challenges: regional instability, transnational organized crime and illegal immigration. The main aim of the paper is to answer the question: Why has Italy employed a specifically military instrument to tackle transnational and non-military threats? Through process tracing the research looks at the political debate over the decision-making process in the case of the Italian military engagement in Libya, emphasizing the role played by the strategic culture, international norms and domestic dynamics.     

African solutions to African problems? The AU,R2P and Côte d'Ivoire

The African continent is inextricably linked to the development of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) norm and the latter's ethical interpretation of the duties associated with state sovereignty. With the African Union (AU) having institutionalised R2P in its legal-institutional foundation of 2000, the stage seemed set for the new African Peace and Security Architecture to demonstrate the continent's ramped-up interventionist approach to security. One of the first cases that presented an opportunity to do so was the humanitarian crisis that erupted after the 2010 elections in Côte d'Ivoire. As the crisis unfolded, however, it became clear that the AU was not only unable to operationalise its institutionalised R2P mechanisms, but indeed reluctant to invoke R2P explicitly. This raises serious concerns about the AU's willingness to intervene in its member states when humanitarian atrocities are perpetrated by governments against their own people, and throws into serious doubt the AU's promise to provide ‘African solutions to African problems’.     

国际规范的国内化:国内结构的影响及传播机制

本文对当前规范研究中的一个重要议题——国际规范的国内化——进行了回顾和总结。文章首先介绍国际规范研究的学术历程,以及国际规范国内化研究产生的原因。其次,着重讨论影响国际规范国内化过程中最重要的干预因素——国内结构,包括国内制度、国内利益和规范匹配。最后,文章讨论了国际规范经由什么机制而传播到国内,并探讨了激励机制与社会化机制在规范传播中的作用和影响,以及后果性逻辑与适当性逻辑之间的转化关系。     

Transformation of African armies through emphasis on education rather than training during the post-conflict,reconstruction and development phase

It is a recognised universal norm that the role of senior military officers in the decision-making process of a country emerging from conflict, remains high. This is because the unease of the still-fragile, democratic civilian structures needs time and a peaceful environment to reclaim their political space and become assertive. The result of this skewed politico-military relationship has, however, shown that during this period of military policy dominance, decisions taken tend to be aggressive and concerned with the short term, and are generally uninformed by other prevailing worldviews. They are therefore detrimental to national security and stability. The most illustrative example has been during the Third Reich in Germany, when decisive decision-making by the German Reichswehr Officer Corps culminated in catastrophe for that country in 1918 and 1945. On the African continent, in the last decade, both the United Nations and the Africa Union have recognised that the role of the military in national affairs has reversed peaceful settlements, as a consequence of a lack of tolerance, conceptually remaining locked in the era of conflict. To reverse the trend, before 2005/6, the UN and AU embarked on intense debate and adopted policy recommendations designed to enhance peace building in the post-conflict phase. The result was the adoption of the UN 2005 Peace-building Commission and the AU’s 2006 Post Conflict and Reconstruction (PCRD). The purpose of this article is to raise awareness and advocate an emphasis on education, rather than training, for the Officers Corps and their armies on the continent. This should begin the peaceful transformation which has remained elusive since the end of the Cold War in the 1990s.     

Japan as an Active Agent for Global Norms: The Political Dynamism Behind the Acceptance and Promotion of “Human Security”

Japan has shaped a distinct human security policy based on evolving policy preferences of successive domestic political leaders and the gradual assimilation of external norms into its own foreign policy. Independent experts have played a particularly significant role in advising Japanese policy elites on how human security could be used by Japan to become an “intellectual leader” within the United Nations and other relevant institutions. This article explores those processes that occurred in the early phase of norm acceptance on the part of key Japanese policy actors and change agents in Japan from the late 1990s through 2003. It argues that human security has served as an effective approach for Japan to establish itself as a more independent foreign policy actor in contemporary international politics.     

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power,Prosperity and Poverty

This study addresses compliance and business practices at the local level subsequent to the international adoption of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme by states and the adoption of the voluntary System of Warranties by the diamond industry. This paper also explores the distance between norm creation, norm sustainability and norm expansion. Interests of various stakeholders led to the creation of international norms, and evidence supports widespread compliance at the state level. Data gathered at the local level of retailer suggests, however, that the regulatory system is not leading to the education of consumers that potentially transforms beliefs. Central to understanding the challenge of deepening and broadening new global norms is exploring the distance between compliance within the regulatory regime and the awareness or change of beliefs of stakeholders. Recommendations include steps to make the process of bringing diamonds to market transparent and available to public scrutiny.     

国际规范、团体认同与国内制度改革——以中国加入FATF为例

国际规范是国际社会中具有约束力的规则集合体。具有较高权威性的国际规范形成了规范团体。规范团体直接影响着国家的行动空间和行动效力。为了加入规范团体、获得成员资格,国家需要进行国内制度改革以达到规范团体的准入标准。面对国内利益集团等社会力量的各种利益诉求,政府需要为引入新的规范和理念、开展制度改革而进行国内动员,通过媒体的作用引导社会舆论,达成支持改革的共识。为了加入FATF,中国通过学习《40+9项建议》的规则,进行了全面的国内反洗钱制度改革。     

Norm dynamics and international organisations: South Africa in the African Union and International Criminal Court

Over the past two decades, South Africa has sought to perform several roles on the world stage, such as the economic dynamo of Southern Africa, a diplomatic heavyweight representing the African continent, and a norm leader on the world stage as a so-called ‘middle-power’. Although South Africa's evolution and rise as an important player in global affairs has generated a welcome body of critical scholarly literature, comparatively little analysis has been allocated to understanding how norm dynamics and the country's ever-evolving international identities have enabled it to construct and reconstruct its ‘interests’. Social constructivism is best suited for such an analysis because it can operationalise norms, commitments, identities, and interests, and it provides the epistemological tools to map the increasingly multilateral connections between global, regional, and domestic forums. By employing a rationalist approach to constructivism, this paper remedies the aforementioned gap in the literature by illustrating how South Africa constructs and reconstructs its identities and interests in relation to membership in international organisations (IOs). To that end, the paper examines the evolution of South Africa's participation in the African Union (especially ‘peacekeeping’ contributions) and the International Criminal Court. The paper concludes by assessing the theoretical implications and practical ramifications of the norm dynamics involved in South Africa's commitment to these two IOs.     

Cooperation is What India Makes of It – A Normative Inquiry into the Origins and Development of Regional Cooperation in South Asia and the Indian Ocean

Successful multilateral economic, political or security cooperation as best exemplified by organizations such as the EU or ASEAN invites the question why comparable organizations have never been established in South Asia and the Indian Ocean Rim, two geo-strategically important world regions. This article foregoes political-realist arguments and offers an alternative explanation for the failure of regional multilateralism in those two regions by using the social-constructivist framework of norm localization. This framework, based upon third-generation norm diffusion, provides a new analytical toolbox for analysing the general puzzle why one region may accept a particular norm while rejecting another. Arguing the case for the existence of a special South Asian regional variation of multilateralism which is termed ‘Panchsheel-multilateralism’, the article examines the process of the localization of the global norm regional multilateralism and analyses how this norm became institutionalized in the form of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). The main argument of the article is that the global norm of regional multilateralism has been localized into a principally Indian influenced model of multilateralism, based on the latter’s cognitive prior. Consequently, there has virtually never been room for any genuine multilateral cooperation, while tangible cooperative results are found in the bilateral domain only.     

Positioning Norm, Principle and Interest in Chinese Foreign Policy —— The Case of the Myanmar Issue

There are different driving forces behind Chinese foreign policy decision-making. Norms, principles, and interests and the subtle combinations of them, I argue in this paper, are the major driving forces on the input side, while the domestic situation of a specific country and international pressure undercut China’s policy deliberations. By contrast, the form of government of a specific country under discussion is not an important variable. In this paper, I use China’s policy toward Myanmar as a case study. The findings prove that the integration of norms, principle and practical interests has formed the powerful impetus that drives China’s policies toward Myanmar. Among these factors, the interests China has identified in general and stability on its “doorstep” in particular play a dominant role, while the norm of human security and the principle of non-interference are embedded in its policy deliberations.     

The dog that did not bark: the army and the emergency in India

In June 1975, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency rule, capping off a decade long process of the ‘deinstitutionalisation’ of the founding Congress party, increased social mobilisation, and political instability – factors generally considered conducive to military intervention in politics. Organisational factors encouraging military praetorianism, such as military involvement in internal security missions and the growth of ‘rival’ paramilitary institutions, accompanied this process of political decay. But the Indian military did not exploit this window of opportunity. This article offers an institutionalist explanation of the military’s political restraint based on two factors. First, institutionalised mechanisms of civilian control, forged during the critical juncture following independence, insulated the military from politics and the politicians from the military despite the weakening of the political system under which these were created. Second, military internalisation of the norm civilian supremacy, continually reinforced via professional socialisation processes, acted as an internal barrier to military role expansion.     

A Conceptual Analysis of the Six-Party Talks: Building Peace through Security Assurances

Abstract

Dissuading proliferators from developing nuclear weapons entails application of the global nonproliferation norm. Insomuch as proliferators' motivations to develop nuclear weapons are embedded in regional security concerns, security assurances taken for nuclear disarmament would include measures addressing these regional security concerns. Such measures are compatible with the need not to motivate other proliferators to develop nuclear weapons. The September 2005 Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks incorporated a pledge to build a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, which demonstrated the link between the regional undertakings and North Korea's denuclearization process. North Korea's nuclear test is no doubt a deviation from the document and the international community must retain collective sanctions. However, building a peace regime remains an effective means for defusing the nuclear standoff.     

Knowledge production on conflict early warning at the African Union

ABSTRACT

How does the African Union (AU) generate knowledge about on-going violent conflict as well as post-conflict situations? This article offers an analysis of the multiple sites and sources in the construction of conflict-related knowledge. It also reflects on the various institutional ways this knowledge is filtered into the activities of a wide range of AU actors, starting with the AU Commission, the AU Commission Chairperson and the Peace and Security Council. Emphasis is on the development of the Continental Early Warning System and some of its limitations, the latter partly related to the specific organisational culture of the African Union.     

Understanding Israel's Long Conflict in Lebanon: The Search for an Alternative Approach to Security During the Peace Process

The Arab‐Israeli peace process pointed to a resolution of the Middle East's most persistent conflict, as the Rabin and Peres governments developed a sensitivity to the Arab‐Israeli ‘security dilemma’, but by 1996 the process was deadlocked. Events stalled progress, but so did ingrained attitudes that continued to shape policy that was inconsistent with the peace process. The following article explains some of the Realist norms and values at the root of security thinking in Israel, and charts their inertia in Israeli policy during the peace process, focusing on its approach to Lebanon. The article gives an insight into why Rabin and his successors struggled to find an alternative policy towards Lebanon, and how this prolonged the Arab‐Israeli conflict. The efforts of the Netanyahu and Barak governments to find a solution to the policy problem of Lebanon are outlined.     

Rhetoric and Praxis: Nigeria’s Africa Diplomacy and the Shaping of the African Union

Although Nigeria has always promoted multilateral diplomacy in the African context, the civilian administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo made it a cardinal objective of its Africa policy. Through his foreign policy speeches, President Obasanjo emphasised the readiness of his administration to play a leading role in African continental organisation – the African Union (AU). Using data collected through the secondary and interview methods, and thematic analysis, this study analyses Obasanjo’s diplomatic outing in the AU. While there were some encumbrances (such as the failure on occasion to make wider consultations within the AU framework and the absence of a well coordinated inter-ministerial approach to project Nigeria’s leadership in the AU), the paper contends that the administration’s diplomacy in the AU was successful. This showed in the role the administration played in shaping the structures that currently define the existence of the organisation. The transmutation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to AU, the recalibration of its peace and security architecture, and the funding of the organisation benefited immensely from Nigeria’s diplomacy under President Obasanjo.     

A comparative analysis of regionalism in the Global South: The security and defence dimension of Unasur and the African Union

The aim of this article is to compare Unasur and the African Union with regard to their institutional structure, agenda and performance. Although some scholars have made comparative assessments of regional institutions in the same region or comparisons between regional projects worldwide and the European Union, there are still few academic contributions which develop a cross-regional comparison among regional initiatives from different regions of the Global South. By assessing the cases of Unasur and the African Union, and particularly Unasur’s Defence Council and the AU’s Peace and Security Council, taking into account their institutional structure, performance and limitations, and the role of regional leaders and exogenous actors in both cases, we have elaborated an analytical framework aiming to identify and explain the similarities and differences between two regional institutions outside Europe. Based on the contributions of comparative regionalism and the evaluation of Unasur and the AU, we conduct a comparative analysis of both regional organisations, giving specific attention to their security and defence agendas, moving forward the empirical and analytical agenda of comparative regionalism.