NEPAD: Talking from the South,governing from the West

The formation of the New Partnership for African Development (NePAD) in 2001 at the African Union (AU) Summit in Lusaka, Zambia, marked the advent of what is regarded as a novel development strategy crafted by Africans for Africa. Rooted in former South African President thabo Mbeki’s call for an African renaissance, the initiative seeks to trigger the continent’s economic development by encouraging African states to explore the prevailing international economic order or globalisation. this article explores NePAD’s capacity to foster economic development in Africa, assesses the reasons for its establishment, reviews its mandate and examines institutional mechanisms for achieving its goals. the article takes issue with the ‘westernisation’ of the ‘discourse’ of Africa and calls for the revitalisation of NePAD’s strategy for sustainable African development.     

The German solidarity pact: A case study in the politics of the Unified Germany

The political process in the old Federal Republic was distinguished by all‐pervasive negotiations and an orientation towards consensus, as indicated by the concepts of ‘co‐operative federalism’, ‘co‐operative opposition’ and ‘neo‐corporatism’ frequently used to describe relations between the federation and the state governments, between the federal government and opposition, and between the federal government and organised economic interests. Some observers expected German unification to lead to fundamental changes in these traits. This study of the negotiations which took place over a ‘Solidarity Pact’ between September 1992 and March 1993 concludes that, far from the political process of the old Federal Republic having been transformed by unification, its distinguishing traits appear rather to have been reinforced. It argues that, whilst there will be no second Solidarity Pact, cooperation and compromise will remain more pervasive in the politics of the unified Germany than confrontation and polarisation.     

Issues in the accession of China to the WTO system

China’s chief interlocutors in the negotiations on its accession to the WTO system are the United States, Japan and the European Union. But many smaller countries, developed and developing, also have a stake in the outcome. Because the Uruguay Round negotiations were conducted as a single undertaking, requiring all the participants to be parties to the resulting agreements, the smaller WTO members expect China, Taiwan and other applicants for membership to abide by the club’s rules in much the same way expected of them. This China is prepared to do as a developing country. More is expected, though, of an emerging trading power, even if it is still coping with uncertainties in its transformation into a market economy.     

欧盟应对气候变化的全球治理:对外决策模式与行动动因

气候变化是当今最为重要的全球公共问题。欧盟在全球应对行动中是最具影响力的行为体之一。欧盟的气候决策模式决定了其气候外交行动的方式,并对全球气候行动进程具有重大影响。探讨欧盟气候行动的深层动因,有助于理解欧盟气候政策的机理和对外行动的逻辑。本文将从外交政策的视角研究欧盟的气候决策模式,从动机和外部因素两个方面解读促使欧盟致力于领导国际气候谈判的深层原因。     

Avoidance and appropriation in Bishkek: dealing with time,space and urbanity in Kyrgyzstan's capital

ABSTRACT

Much has changed since Frunze was renamed Bishkek in 1991 and became the capital of independent Kyrgyzstan. Though it was once considered to be among the ‘greenest’ and most ‘orderly’ cities of the Soviet Union, today many of its long-term residents complain about the new settlements (novostroiki) that have emerged during the last two decades. To Bishkek's urbanites, the recent arrival of migrants is not associated with an escape from rural poverty and a rightful struggle for civic rights, but indicates a massive cultural and aesthetic degradation of familiar urban life. In this article, beyond contesting narratives of cosmopolitan nostalgia vs. legitimate belonging, I investigate how urban practitioners in fact produce and deal with different spaces in the city. My ethnographic accounts not only identify social avoidance as an essential pulse of Bishkek's current rhythm, but also illustrate that after a period of post-rural socialization previously stigmatized migrants may manage to smoothly blend into urban spatial flows and lifestyles.     

Flying into unexpected turbulence: The German EU presidency in the environmental field

Many observers expected that the new Red‐Green coalition government would have an easy ride in the Environmental Council during its European Union (EU) presidency in early 1999. However, this was not the case, mainly due to Chancellor Schröder's decision to block the adoption of the so‐called end‐of‐life vehicles directive. It is argued that inexperience and lack of political judgement on EU matters have dented Germany's pro‐integrationist image and perception as an environmental leader state. However, it is also shown that the German presidency was nevertheless highly successful in terms of the number of agreements achieved.     

Encounters with Europe in an Era of Domestic and International Turmoil: Is Turkey a De-Europeanising Candidate Country?

Abstract

This article provides a novel conceptual framework to understand the impact of the European Union on Turkish politics and policies in the aftermath of the opening of accession negotiations in 2005. It argues that the post-2005 developments in Turkey not only attest to lesser and more limited Europeanisation, but also entail a process that is increasingly gaining momentum in the country and which is referred to as ‘de-Europeanisation’.     

Power Politics Behind the Transforming Geopolitics in East Asia

Current geopolitical dynamics in East Asia is generated by the US rebalancing and China’s counterbalancing. The US rebalancing has so far ended in an encircling of China, whereas China counteracts to extend into the seas and the lands as typified by the Belt and Road Initiative and assertive activities in the South China Sea. China under Xi Jinping’s leadership has set up a new guideline of ‘great power foreign policy’ (大国外交) to realize Xi Jinping’s ambitious vision of ‘China dream’. As delivered in the ‘New Model of Great Power Relations’, China under Xi Jinping’s leadership seeks clearly for ‘regional dominance’, while for ‘global balance’ with the USA. With rebalancing, however, the USA seeks to restore power balance in East Asia by adding up to military and economic resources already deployed there. By doing so, the USA aims to achieve its strategic goal of ‘regional balance’, while maintaining ‘global dominance’. These two distinct strategic goals, regional dominance and global balance for China and regional balance and global dominance for the USA, interact to result in currently transforming geopolitics in East Asia.     

Regional power South Africa: Co-operative hegemony constrained by historical legacy

This article argues that regional powers can be distinguished by four pivotal criteria: claim to leadership, power resources, employment of foreign policy instruments, and acceptance of leadership. Applying these criteria to the South African case, the crucial significance of institutional foreign policy instruments for the power over policy outcomes at the regional and global level is demonstrated. But although Pretoria is ready to pay the costs of co-operative hegemony (capacity building for regional institutions and peacekeeping for instance), the regional acceptance of South African leadership is constrained by its historical legacy. Additionally Pretoria's foreign policy is based on ideational resources such as its reputation as an advocate of democracy and human rights and its paradigmatic behaviour as a ‘good global citizen’ with the according legitimacy. The Mbeki presidency was more successful in converting these resources into discursive instruments of interest-assertion in global, than in regional bargains. In effect the regional power's reformist south-oriented multilateralism is challenging some of the guiding principles of the current international system.     

Chiquitano and the Multiple Meanings of Being Indigenous in Bolivia

To be ‘indigenous’ in Bolivia is not only a rights‐ and resource‐bearing identity, but the national MAS party has recently actively promoted the ‘indigenous’ as an inclusive national political project. This article seeks to shed further light on the different meanings Bolivians attach to ‘indigeneity’ by focusing on the Chiquitano people of the Bolivian lowlands. This reveals that while Chiquitano employ the term to advance their political project, some nevertheless simultaneously reject its power to categorise and subordinate Chiquitano. This highlights some of the paradoxes faced by those employing an indigenous political strategy, be it at the local or ‘more inclusive’ national level.     

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.     

美国对华战略规锁下的贸易冲突博弈路径选择

特朗普执政后,美国对华战略逐步由“接触”转向“规锁”,中美经贸关系也因此发展到了摩擦频现甚至是冲突对抗的新阶段。美国对华战略规锁本质上是要遏制中国在科技进步和国家实力等方面的崛起,以维护其霸权地位。贸易冲突作为美国对华战略规锁最直接的手段之一,在一定程度上反映了其国内利益集团与党派之间的斗争。特朗普政府为了获得国内政治支持,推出了严重扭曲的对华贸易政策。文章从美国对华战略规锁的视角,运用多重博弈论方法对中美贸易冲突进行了路径选择分析并认为,囚徒困境中“以牙还牙”策略下的博弈双方均实施损人损己的策略,无论采取“以牙还牙”、冷酷触发还是无限拖延,博弈双方的最优策略都是通过贸易谈判实现继续合作;双方只有通过有效谈判,逐步取消加征的贸易壁垒,才能达成协议并获得最大收益。基于博弈结果的情景分析与中美第一阶段经贸协议内容,文章为破解中美贸易冲突困境以及未来防范提供了战略参考和政策启示。     

The European Union in Sudan: A Missed Opportunity?

Abstract

International organisations active in Africa are often criticised for their ineffectiveness. So too is the European Union (EU), which is also accused of failing to assume a more prominent conflict management role in war-torn countries. This article examines the EU’s capacity and readiness to take on such a role in one such country, the former Republic of Sudan, home to Africa’s longest-running civil wars and the first ‘genocide’ of the 21st century. It begins by outlining the EU’s record in Darfur and the North–South Peace Process. Drawing upon 25 interviews and Hill’s ‘capabilities–expectations model’, it then questions whether the EU’s ‘capabilities’ (resources, instruments, unity) were ‘fit for purpose’ in Sudan’s hostile target setting. It concludes by identifying settings that have been more propitious for a conflict-related management function and by suggesting that the EU should better manage expectations about future security roles.     

‘Responsibility for Europe’: the EU policy of the German Social Democrats since unification

The following article analyses the European Union (EU) policy of the German Social Democrats (SPD) since German unity. Starting from the cross-party European consensus in the early 1990s SPD policy has altered significantly in response to major changes in the ‘policy context’ such as the party's rise from opposition to government, German unification and increasing European integration. Policy change in the SPD has been defined by two dynamics: greater ‘pragmatism’ among a new generation of party leaders that has allowed a ‘freer’ interpretation of German interests; and a gradual prioritisation of EU policy in the party elite that has seen it integrated into a multi-level programme for political governance. The article examines how these changes manifested themselves in SPD policy, focusing on European Economic and Monetary Union and the debate on ‘the future of Europe’.     

A Resurgent Presidency? Portuguese Semi-Presidentialism and the 2016 Elections

This article analyses the Portuguese presidential elections of January 2016, setting these within the backdrop of recent semi-presidential practice in Portugal. The election took place in the context of an apparent hollowing of the presidency, a pattern that potentially reflects the bailout that marked most of the second term of the outgoing president, Cavaco Silva. This pattern also helps explain the second-order nature of this presidential election. Despite potentially being an ‘open’ election – in that the incumbent had reached term limits – the election was characterised by low citizen mobilisation, low partisan involvement and low competitiveness. The initial two months of the newly elected president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, suggests he is seeking to invert this hollowing pattern by mobilising popular support behind the presidency.     

Africa and its Diaspora: The principal reciprocal benefits to be derived from the amended Constitutive Act of the African Union

Abstract

Under article 3(q) (Objectives) of the Protocol on Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union, we read the following: ‘invite and encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of our continent, in building the African Union (AU)’. According to the AU, ‘The African Diaspora are peoples of African descent and heritage outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and who remain committed to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union’. Not only is this posture entirely consistent with the African development agenda and Renaissance, but it is also congruent with the recent and first-ever AU African Diaspora Summit which was convened on Friday, 25 May 2012, at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg. This is so because the Summit provided us with an excellent opportunity to continue to reflect on, and engage with, issues relevant to the development of the continent and, by extension, its multilingual and globally dispersed Diaspora. In this public lecture, it is argued that the current Amendment to the Constitutive Act of the AU in which the African Diaspora is now considered the sixth Region of the AU – an Amendment which has not yet been ratified by the requisite number of African states and one which might still be in need of some degree of disambiguation – provides the framework within which some fundamental and reciprocal benefits can be derived from an ongoing interaction between Africa and its Diaspora – especially its Older or Historic Diaspora. In essence, it is my contention that the principal reciprocal benefits that can accrue from this interaction between Africa and its Diaspora might best be captured in the language of pan-Africanisation and re-Africanisation respectively.     

Without Sticks or Carrots: Brazilian Leadership in South America During the Cardoso Era, 1992–2003*

Throughout the Fernando Henrique Cardoso presidency Brazil actively pursued a South American leadership project. The distinctive and central feature of this policy was its attempt to operate without the coercion or explicit payoffs often associated with ‘leading’ in mainstream international relations literature. Instead, efforts were devoted to constructing an inclusive project that sought extended and unconscious cooperation from other states through a transfer of ‘ownership’ of the continental project. An examination of three cases – the 1994 Summit of the Americas, interregionalism and South American infrastructure integration – is used to demonstrate the techniques employed by Brazil as well as to highlight the limitations implicit in the Brazilian leadership strategy.     

The Politics of Negotiating with Gangs. The Case of El Salvador

This paper explores the dynamics of negotiations between the Salvadoran government and the street gangs, called maras. The paper argues that state negotiations with criminal groups can occur when organized crime is a significant part of the social and political order. This tacit order allows a great deal of coordination between and within criminal organizations and the focus of negotiations from the state's point of view is limited to the management of violence, not the dismantling of gangs' territorial control. This article draws on seventeen in‐depth interviews with middle‐level gang leaders, government officials, and participants of the truce negotiations from 2012 to 2016; it also relies on public information published by Salvadoran journalists and government sources about the truce.     

Coercive Diplomacy: Israel,Transjordan and the UN—a Triangular Drama Revisited

The Arab states suffered humiliating defeats at the hands of Israel during the first Arab–Israeli war. Immediately following the war, Israel made brilliant and shrewd use of diplomacy to achieve its goals at the negotiating table, much as it had previously used armed force. Israel refused to negotiate with a united Arab negotiation team, preferring to isolate the states, picking them off one after the other. The Israeli–Transjordanian talks differed radically from the other armistice negotiations. Here, two parallel tracks were followed. At Rhodes, the two countries negotiated openly under UN auspices, while in Jerusalem and at King Abdullah's palace in Transjordan, representatives of the two countries held secret bilateral talks. Israel masterfully used the context of these talks to maximise its gains, using military operations to create ‘facts on the ground’, combined with direct coercion in the shape of blackmail, while taking full advantage of international power structures and abusing the trust that King Abdullah had placed in personal relations. The UN Acting Mediator, Ralph Bunche, was aware of the secret back channel, where the clearest cases of coercion took place. Physically and mentally exhausted by the protracted negotiations, he allowed the secret talks to progress despite his dislike of the outcome. The British government, at the time the protector of Transjordan, was unable to assist its client for fear of falling out with the USA, while the US government, in many ways the protector of Israel, maintained an equally ‘hands off’ stance because the talks concerned only an armistice, not a peace treaty. Already at this early stage in their relations, the power asymmetry between Israel and the Arab states was the main reason the parties could not arrive at a peaceful, sustainable solution. This article reinvestigates this diplomacy by using a combination of US, Israeli, British and UN archives, as well as the almost untouched Ralph Bunche diary.     

The Japan-Soviet far east trade relationship: A case of the cautious buyer and the overconfident seller

Given Japan’s resource scarcity, the eastern Soviet Union’s wealth of natural resources and dire need for large infusions of investment capital and technology, and the close distance between the two, one would believe that trade between the two countries would be quite sizable. However, the converse is the case, with each country providing no more than 2 percent of the other’s foreign trade. To explain this phenomenon, it is necessary to explore the intrinsic and self-imposed obstacles to expanded Japanese-USSR trade. It turns out that both countries do not pursue trade for mutual advantage but rather seek an entirely different set of ulterior zero-sum motives. The article discusses what would appear to be a natural “fit” between the two countries’ needs and abilities, explores the extensive joint Siberian development projects of the 1960s and 1970s to explain the undesired side effects of Japanese-Soviet trade, details Japanese and Soviet business, government, and economist arguments for and against expanded economic relations, explains the maldevelopment of a resource-extractive versus commodity-producing eastern USSR as a product of climate, labor shortages, investment policies, and a Stalinist-planned system, outlines Japanese desires to accrue political advantages from its trade with the Soviet Union, and predicts the inability of Gorbachev’s economic reforms to truly expand Japanese-Soviet trade at a low cost to its larger geopolitical concerns. Although continuing private Japanese efforts are being made to work out joint venture deals with the USSR (thus belying the notion of a completely consensus-unified “Japan, Inc.”), they are still anomalies. Ultimately, if expanded trade ties are to occur (and indeed it is this article’s contention that they must for the USSR to survive as a superpower), then they must be made on Japan’s terms.