Silencing the contestant. Legitimizing Crimea’s annexation by mimicking the West

ABSTRACT

This article analyses Russia’s endeavours in legitimising the annexation of Crimea in the eyes of the Western community. The paper argues that Russia’s strategy of “silencing” the international contestation has been focused on the use of the West’s “language” for the justification of contested actions. Starting from the assertion that the formulation of Russia’s foreign policy is determined by Western normative frameworks and by the West’s international behaviour, the article scrutinised Moscow’s official narrative after March 2014 by comparing it with the West’s arguments used in particular in the cases of NATO’s intervention in Yugoslavia and the recognition of Kosovo’s independence.     

The International Community and Bosnia-Herzegovina

The article discusses the most considerable challenges faced by Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) over the past few years and outlines how many of them have been addressed through partnership and cooperation between BiH and the international community. It draws lessons from this cooperation for the general conditions necessary for successful international intervention and engagement, comparing the interventions in BiH and Iraq. It argues that BiH has made substantive progress in reconciliation and reconstruction and that it is now a modern and peaceful state orientated towards the goal of Euro-Atlantic integration. The article assesses some of the remaining obstacles to progress, in particular the paradoxically problematic role of the Office of the High Representative in BiH.     

Genealogies of the colonial present: the rediscovery of the local in conflict management interventions in Mindanao,the Southern Philippines

This article argues that the current attention on indigenous institutions, and the ‘local’ more generally, in peace-building and conflict management bears similarities with colonial and post-colonial attempts at pacifying volatile borderlands. This will be illustrated through a historical case study of the Southern Philippine island of Mindanao, which has witnessed a recurring Muslim insurgency throughout different phases of its history. In an attempt to cope with these violent uprisings, both the American colonial authorities and the authoritarian Marcos regime, as well as a range of contemporary international NGOs, have endorsed traditional institutional avenues of informal mediation. The argument for the deployment of the local in state reconstruction and peace-building as propagated in current literature on hybrid peace should therefore be reframed as a reinvention of colonial governance techniques of indirect rule. It will hereby also be argued that the underlying rationale for this current deployment of local/traditional institutions of mediation and governance confirms and builds further upon a colonial framing of the non-Western other as incapable of modern, liberal democracy.     

Alliance Behaviour,the Absentee Liberator and the Influence of Soft Power: Post-communist State Positions over the Iraq War in 2003

Thirteen post-communist governments gave diplomatic support to the Anglo-American position on Iraq in 2003; many also gave military assistance to the war itself and most contributed to post-war operations. However ‘small states’ may be defined, none of these 13 actors can be considered a major power in international relations. This article assesses the reasons for their support of the United States. It first considers what material gains they expected and gained, and applies their support of the US against expectations of alliance behaviour. It then contrasts the behaviour of those Central and East European states with that of Belarus and of Serbia. The article then argues that an important explanation for post-communist state behaviour over Iraq comes from an expression of existential values that can be understood through the notion of ‘soft power’.     

The economic community of West African states,the defence of democracy in Sierra Leone and future prospects

The wave of democratization in the 1990s has brought considerable challenges and opportunities for post‐cold war Africa. One such challenge is the democratic intervention of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) under the aegis of the multilateral intervention force, ECOMOG, to restore a democratic government and constitutional order. The ECOWAS democratic intervention in the West African state of Sierra Leone can be located in a wider debate about international dimensions of democratization. In several respects, it also reflects the changing nature of international politics in the post‐cold war period particularly with regards to certain traditional norms of international society, namely non‐intervention and state sovereignty. The ECOWAS democratic efforts in Sierra Leone demonstrate that it is increasingly becoming acceptable for regional and international organisations to ‘defend’ democracy, albeit under the auspices of forcible as well as non‐forcible humanitarian intervention. However, these kinds of external intervention on behalf of democracy have in most cases led to its retrenchment. This article therefore critically assesses how the nature of domestic politics led to the suspension of democracy in Sierra Leone, the domestic and international implications of the ECOWAS defence of democracy there and the country's post‐conflict democratic prospects.     

Small states and compliance bargaining in the WTO: an analysis of the Antigua–US Gambling Services Case

In recent years, studies have challenged the conventional power-based literature to show that a deficiency in resources does not limit a small state's bargaining leverage in international negotiations. However, few studies examine small state influence during compliance bargaining, the post-agreement bargaining to ensure that all signatories comply with the terms of an agreement. Using an interview with a key advisor to the small twin-island state of Antigua and Barbuda during compliance bargaining with the United States (US), and World Trade Organization (WTO) documents, this article examines how a small state can successfully attain bargaining leverage and win against a behemoth state. In this case, Antigua successfully challenged the US ban on cross-border internet gambling and betting services. The article argues that the strategies and tactics that Antigua used within the WTO dispute settlement framework contributed to the country's bargaining leverage and enabled it to punch above its weight.     

France,Britain and the intervention in Libya: an integrated analysis

This article seeks to explain the decisions by Nicolas Sarkozy's France and David Cameron's Britain to intervene in the 2011 Libyan crisis. None of the three major theories of international relations—constructivism, defensive realism and liberalism—can explain on its own such intervention decisions as the Libya case. The article's novel analytical model proposes that each theory emphasizes factors and mechanisms that explain part of the decision-making process and that these factors interact with state behaviour in complex ways. Britain and France initially began to consider intervention because they felt that the emergent norm of the ‘responsibility to protect’ applied to the Libyan case and because they believed the massive flows of refugees fleeing the violence were a threat to their border security. Both countries believed military intervention could be successful at relatively low cost and that if they did not intervene the problem would not be solved. At that point, the Sarkozy and Cameron governments engaged in initial action that made them more likely to intervene by jeopardizing their future economic relations with the Gaddafi regime and making him more likely to threaten them with future terrorist attacks. Taking initial action also meant that French and British prestige would ultimately have suffered had they not intervened to achieve a satisfactory solution to the crisis. Paris and London viewed international and regional support as a critical prerequisite for intervention and they sought and attained it. Finally, the Sarkozy and Cameron governments were able to minimize any domestic political risk of intervening because they had public and/or opposition party support.     

Foreign Policy Restructuring: Egypt's Disengagement from the Arab–Israeli Conflict Revisited

This article first examines the relative potency of explanations of Egypt's disengagement from the Arab–Israeli conflict that have stressed Sadat's beliefs, class interests or US influence, and it then makes the case for a state–society-centred explanation. Much is written about a diversionary internal–external linkage when a state threatened by internal unrest resorts to international aggression. This article makes the case for a preservative linkage between domestic tensions and accommodationist external behaviour. It identifies the fiscal crisis and societal challenges as key factors behind the policy shift and examines state utilisation of the policy shift to reduce domestic threats. Foreign policy provided the means for easing strained state–society relations by generating resources to alleviate societal crisis and limit the politically costly domestic taxation. Though this did not necessitate making a specific decision (e.g. the visit to Jerusalem), it tipped the scales towards a particular policy option, in this case disengaging from the external conflict rather than maintaining the status quo.     

The Post‐Cold War Role of the Bundeswehr: A Product of Normative Influences

This article examines the post‐Cold War role of the Bundeswehr in the context of German unification and argues that this role is the product of two factors: united Germany's strategic culture and the institutionali‐sation of the norms of humanitarian intervention in German defence policy. This normative approach takes issue with the conventions of the realism to assert that norms, as standards of behaviour defined in terms of rights and obligations, have a legitimising function. While not disregarding the technical assumptions involved in shaping defence policy, the author argues that a normative approach to Bundeswehr involvement in out‐of‐area operations arises and has its content shaped by normative values supporting humanitarian intervention.     

Reconsidering the ontological foundations of international energy affairs: realist geopolitics,market liberalism and a politico-economic alternative

Accounts of international energy affairs often present a divergence between geopolitical/realist and liberal market-based approaches. This article suggests that this state of affairs reflects the (often implicit) legacies of realist and rationalist international thought in the study of energy affairs and the corresponding political and economic ontological hierarchies of analytical frameworks employed in different accounts of energy politics. Consequently, this article recommends a greater explicit attention to scientific ontological foundations in studies of energy relations and, in line with the calls of Keating et al. and Strange, suggests an approach based in the literature on I/GPE, which merges political and economic ontological axioms, as most apposite for the study of energy affairs. Building on this framework, and giving particular examples from the context of Eurasian energy politics, this article then outlines a number of politico-economic heuristic models (structural diversity, territorial non-coincidence, milieu-shaping and market-authority bargains) that are particularly useful concepts in helping to explain the intricate interactions of international energy relations.     

Ethics and Foreign Policy: Structured Debates for the International Studies Classroom

Debates about humanitarian intervention, foreign and defense policy priorities, and the ethics of the use of force have become highly politicized in the post-Cold War era. This article explores the value of structured classroom debates on ethical dimensions of international relations as active teaching and learning tools for introductory and advanced international studies courses. Specifically, this article presents design information for structured debates on the ethics of the use of military force, humanitarian interventions, and U.S. foreign policy toward international institutions such as the International Criminal Court (ICC). Building on the literature on active teaching and learning, the article describes the development of these exercises and assesses their effectiveness through ten years of classroom application.     

Acting small in a large state's world: Russia and the Baltic states

The interest in small states ebbs and flows as important international affairs include small states. Russia's actions and policies vis-à-vis Ukraine, and the resultant intensified apprehension among Russia's smaller neighbours, aim the proverbial microscope at the size and power discrepancies between states. Russia, by most metrics, is a large state and the Baltic states, by those same metrics, are small states. Small-state scholars expect large and small states to act differently. However, the case of Russia and the Baltic states indicates that large and small states do not, in fact, act all that different. This being the case, this article calls into question many of the assumptions made by small-state scholars about the difference between large- and small-state action and argues for changes within small-state studies as a subdiscipline of the larger international relations discipline.     

The British Nuclear Experience: The Role of Beliefs,Culture, and Status (Part Two)

Part One of this article, which appeared in the last edition of Diplomacy and Statecraft, argued that the origins and early development of British nuclear weapons was largely driven by the particular ideas and beliefs of a relatively small political, scientific, and military elite. It is also argued that these beliefs, which developed into a “deterrence state of mind” amongst the elite, derived in part from a traditional strategic culture that emphasised the importance of producing the most sophisticated weapons of the day to protect Britain's diplomatic and security interests in a largely anarchic international system. Part Two argues that these ideational factors, based on a “realist” perspective of international security held by Britain's political-military leadership, have remained of crucial importance through to the present day.     

Specifying "Interests": Japan's Claim to the Northern Territories and Its Implications for International Relations Theory

Theories of international relations commonly rely upon strong assumptions about state preferences, or derive them from ancillary theories that themselves make strong assumptions about the sources of state preferences. By means of a detailed explanation of interest-formation and interest-specification in a particular case (the Japanese interest in the recovery of the Northern Territories), supplemented by comparative discussion, this paper argues that national "interests" are idiosyncratic and best treated exogenously. It assesses the implications for international relations theory and addresses some common objections.     

Human Security and Constructivism

This article explores the concept of "human security" as an academic and fledgling policy movement that seeks to place the individual—or people collectively—as the referent of security. It does this against a background of evolving transnational norms relating to security and governance, and the development of scientific understanding that challenges orthodox conceptions of security. It suggests that human security is not a coherent or objective school of thought. Rather, there are different, and sometimes competing, conceptions of human security that may reflect different sociological/cultural and geostrategic orientations. The article argues that the emergence of the concept of human security—as a broad, multifaceted, and evolving conception of security—rreflects the impact of values and norms on international relations. It also embraces a range of alliances, actors, and agendas that have taken us beyond the traditional scope of international politics and diplomacy. As a demonstration of change in international relations, of evolving identities and interests, this is best explained with reference to "social constructivist" thought, in contradistinction with the structural realist mainstream of international relations. In a constructivist vein, the article suggests that empirical research is already building a case in support of human security thinking that is, slowly, being acknowledged by decision-makers, against the logic of realist determinism.     

Stability Under Late State Formation: the Case of Lebanon

The aim of this article is to explain variations in the stability of Lebanon. Against synchronic and domestic treatments of state stability in the developing world, this article historicises state stability, arguing that there is a time gap dividing old states, which structure the international system, and states in late formation. It argues that variation in the stability of Lebanon is a function of early state formation and the country's position in the state system. This study finds a causal relation between the intensity of regional conflict and level of stability in Lebanon. Historical asymmetrical differences among Lebanon's communities meant that responses to regional crises in Lebanon varied in accordance with the position of each actor in the domestic balance of power. These multiple responses have led to internal instability. The more intense the regional conflict, the more unstable Lebanon has tended to become, and vice versa.     

Boundaries beyond borders: Delineating democratic 'peoples' in a globalizing world

This article analyzes the result of attempting to enforce democracy in Haiti. The objective of the international intervention, as stated in United Nations Security Council Resolution 940, was the return of democracy. However, the process in Haiti after the intervention was riddled with problems. The article establishes the Haitian attitudes towards what happened and shows that the type of governance that has been put in place is not what they had expected. It argues that although the international community seems to consider the intervention a success, the objective of the United Nations Resolution has not been reached, because of the international community's unwillingness to consolidate the essential factors upon which to build a democratic society.     

Intervenors with Interests and Power

This article presents a framework for understanding the roles that interested and powerful intervenors play in resolving disputes. Called an intervention role grid, this framework can be used to analyze the dispute resolution functions that third parties can perform. It may also be used to shed light on the difficult choices that confront intervenors with interests and power. The article uses case material from five recent international conflicts to illustrate how the intervention role grid works.     

Global Intifadah? September 11th and the Struggle within Islam

Against the background of two dominant world order theories - the 'End of History' and the 'Clash of Civilisations' - this article argues that September 11th epitomised two interrelated patterns in world politics: first, the idiosyncrasies and perils of globalisation and second the struggle between different directions in contemporary 'Muslim' politics. The former challenges the traditional view that links globalisation solely to phenomena such as economic integration or the spread of liberal-democratic values, while the latter refers to intra-regional developments in the 'Muslim' world, questioning the characterisation of 'Islam' as a monolithic entity destined to challenge the security of the 'West'. Taken together, these two patterns defy traditional categories of international relations, touching on issues ranging from the role of the state to national security considerations.     

Jekyll or Hyde: what is statebuilding creating? Evidence from the ‘field’

As a response to the dynamics of state formation, statebuilding has not created model states in the last twenty years as was intended. Instead, the states that have emerged around the world are heavily contextually contingent. This is despite international attempts to shape them according to a common pattern, dominated by neoliberal models of statehood. This raises the question of what kind of hybrid states are actually forming as a result of the encounter between international statebuilding and local political dynamics? This article argues that international statebuilding aims to create neoliberal states and treats local political dynamics as dysfunctional. Yet from a local perspective the limitations of the statebuilding model are also apparent, as is the need for any locally legitimate state to be grounded in its context.