The Nature of Borders and International Conflict: Revisiting Hypotheses on Territory

This study examines the utility of moving beyond a simple "on–off" dichotomous view of contiguous land borders. For each of the 301 contiguous land borders between states in the international system, measures of ease of interaction, salience, and overall border "vitalness" have been developed using Geographical Information Systems technology. These variables are used to test two major extant lines of thought in international relations literature, as well as our proposed alternative, regarding the expected effect of the "nature" of borders on interstate behavior. We conclude not only that the "nature" of contiguous borders matters but also that the relationship between each of the three border measures and the likelihood of conflict is curvilinear concave—with both high ease of interaction and high salience related to lower levels of conflict, and the middle range of both variables related to higher levels of conflict.     

Contingent Borders, Ambiguous Ethics: Migrants in (International) Political Theory

The article engages a critical analysis of liberal theory in the context of transnational migration. Normative arguments provided by liberal-cosmopolitan and liberal-communitarian authors are contrasted. While sympathetic to such approaches, we argue that traditional liberal theory has attempted to downplay the contingency and resultant ambiguity of many of its moral precepts. Historically contingent borders underpin neat universal categories like "citizen" and "refugee," which fail to reflect the diverse and contested experiences of migration. But such ambiguities need not undermine liberal approaches. Indeed, a proper engagement with the problematic and uncertain realities of migration can provide a spur to a more thoroughgoing ethical praxis. We draw on the philosophical pragmatism of Richard Rorty to outline an approach to migration that remains open to the contingent construction of terms like "migrant,""refugee," and "asylum-seeker." By extending Rorty's concept of sentimental education, we provide an imaginative and politically challenging set of agendas for the ethics of migration.     

The Geography of the International System: The CShapes Dataset

Sceptics of globalization attribute the proliferation of light weapons to economic openness. Increasing globalization apparently weakens public authority, leading to social disarray, anomic violence, and general conditions that make handgun ownership and use more likely. Pro-globalists might argue contrarily that trade openness can raise the premium on peace as violence is bad for business. Moreover, greater interdependence allows the diffusion of anti-proliferation norms and facilitates cooperative behavior among trading partners for stemming the demand for and proliferation of small arms. Using a unique dataset on small arms imports, we find that greater openness to trade and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) lowers small arms imports per capita. A policy measure of economic freedom is associated with higher small arms imports, but this association seems to be explained entirely by the association between economic freedom and strong bureaucracies. States that are de facto more open to the global trading system are less likely to be inundated with these weapons, but richer, better-governed countries import more small arms. Global policy should pay closer attention to the seepage of these weapons from the relatively wealthy, who manufacture and buy them in larger quantities, to the poor, among whom the ‘problems’ associated with small arms are often manifested. Curbing those factors that encourage globalization, however, would be counterproductive to reducing the trade in small arms and light weapons.     

States and their international relations since 1816: introducing version 2 of the International System(s) Dataset (ISD)

ABSTRACT

We introduce version 2 of the International System(s) Dataset (ISD), a register of sovereign states across the 1816–2016 period that include numerous states that are missed in commonly used datasets like the Correlates of War (COW) Project. Whereas ISD version 1 identified 363 states between 1816 and 2011, version 2 identifies 482. This version also records valuable information on a range of corollary variables, including start dates, end dates, estimated population sizes, diplomatic relations with Europe, conflict episodes, the existence of borders, and the location of capital cities. This dataset makes an important contribution to the study of international relations. It provides a more accurate understanding of the development of the international system over the last two centuries, it moves beyond the Eurocentric bias that sits at the heart of existing quantitative IR scholarship, and it will enable scholars to pursue a range of research topics such as the historical importance of state borders and boundaries, the practices surrounding recognition, and the frequency and intensity of conflict across regions. In this article, we discuss the existing state system membership lists and show how the ISD addresses their shortcomings. We outline the key concept and operationalization of statehood that the ISD adopts. We detail the variables included in this version of the ISD, discuss the data collection process, and show temporal and spatial distributions that illustrate the uniqueness of the ISD. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of bringing the ISD into one of many potential research topics: the study of conflict.     

Sources of Transparency: Information Systems in International Regimes

Scholars and practitioners alike have stressed the important role of transparency in promoting international regime compliance and effectiveness. Yet many regimes fail to create high levels of transparency: governments and nongovernmental actors regularly fail to monitor or report on their own behavior, the behavior of other actors, or the state of the problem these regimes seek to resolve. If more transparency often, if not always, contributes to regime effectiveness, then identifying the sources of transparency becomes an important research task. Regime transparency depends upon both the demand for information and the supply of information. Specifically, regimes can seek "effectiveness-oriented" information to assess whether regime members are collectively achieving regime goals or "compliance-oriented" information to assess whether particular actors are individually fulfilling regime commitments. The incentives and capacities that relevant actors—whether governments, nongovernmental organizations, or corporate actors—have to provide such information depend on whether the regime's information system is structured around self-reporting, other-reporting, or problem-reporting. Although many of these factors are determined by characteristics of the actors involved or the structure of the problem, regimes can increase transparency by enhancing the incentives and capacity actors have to contribute to a particular regime's transparency.     

研究国际体系的全新视角——《世界历史中的国际体系：重塑国际关系学》评介

当代 ,全球化浪潮正使世界联为一体 ,任何国家都不可能忽视别国因素而独立行事。在此背景下 ,主流国际关系理论如新现实主义、新自由主义、世界体系论等从结构、相互依赖和体系的意义上来解释国际关系。新兴的建构主义、女性主义等理论也从各自不同的角度理解国际关系的不同层面。 2 0 0 0年 ,正在众多理论争鸣于学术界时 ,英国学派新一代学者威斯敏斯特大学国际关系学教授巴里·布赞和布里斯托尔大学政治学教授理查德·利特尔在其新著《世界历史中的国际体系 :重塑国际关系学》① (以下简称《重塑》)中 ,对主流国际关系理论发起挑战 ,为我…     

国际反腐斗争的新趋势

腐败已成世界性瘟疫,任何国家都难幸免。反对腐败的斗争已成世界各国的政治斗争。染指贪迹的政府官员和国家工作人员不胜枚举,给国家、民族带来直接和间接性的损失难以尽数。为了减少或消除政府腐败这一痼疾,上个世纪后20年以来,100多个国家不同程度地开展了反对腐败的斗争,反腐风暴席卷全球,几乎所有的民族都在探索祛除腐败的途径,并纷纷出台反腐良策。     

海湾地区国际关系研究的新作——读刘月琴的《冷战后海湾地区国际关系》

海湾地区是中东仅次于巴勒斯坦的热点地区，尤其在当前，美国意欲发动推翻萨达姆的新的海湾大战，这一地区更为举世瞩目。刘月琴研究员的新作《冷战后海湾地区国际关系》(社会科学文献出版社2002年版，36.3万字)，作为一部系统……     

试论中国外交新政的国际战略环境

国际金融危机以一种出乎意料的方式和速度,推动着中国迅速走向世界舞台中心.中国面临着一次特殊的大机遇和大挑战.新机遇意味着新环境,新角色意味着新担当.中国和平发展的国际战略环境总体得到优化,将迎来更快的上升期.就国际政治安全环境而言,危机开始使世界回归新现实的本质要求,世界格局发生了重大变化,各国开始变革,这与和平发展要求相一致.但是,世界的大变革大调整,也使国际战略环境步入不稳定期,西方对华加紧实施"两面下注"的战略,外部世界对中国迅猛崛起有疑虑、恐慌、排斥的复杂心态和"过激反应",尤其是国家安全挑战之多、影响之大、内外联动之紧密、周边地缘战略环境之恶化,为近年来所罕见.就国际经济环境而言,中国的经济成功在世界上被普遍认可,在危机中中国发挥了积极作用,也被各国寄予厚望,国际地位和作用显著上升,同时,危机将成为中国经济转型、升级的巨大动力,而危机引发的贸易和投资保护主义是对中国的最大威胁.就国际舆论环境而言,总体上对中国是不利的.国际涉华舆论主要被西方主流媒体所垄断,它们涉华报道的框架和议题至今未发生根本变化,而我们的正面引导力和影响力不足,缺乏足够有效的中外交流沟通,从而形成国际涉华舆论环境的结构性矛盾和巨大张力.在新的国际战略环境中,我们要善于从挑战中捕捉和运用特殊机遇,推行外交新政,实施新的外交布局,真正做到在政治上更有影响力、经济上更有竞争力、形象上更有亲和力、道义上更有感召力,以便为未来争取更多主动权.     

A New Perspective on ＂The German Ideology＂：The Cornerstone of Marxist International Studies

"The German Ideology" should be canonized as the cornerstone of Marxist international studies. In essence, "The German Ideology" is the masterpiece illuminating the basic theories of international studies at three levels-philosophically,historically and internationally.     

中印关系：一种新类型国际关系的战略选择

1917年的十月革命、1947年的杜鲁门主义以及1991年的苏联解体是世界现代史上三个重要的历史性时点。由此，它们把近100年的世界历史划分为了三个不同的历史阶段。它们分别可称为：冷战前期、冷战中期和冷战后期。而冷战后的国际关系也随之发生了许多重要的变化。其中新兴发展中大国的崛起是最重要的历史事件之一。中印关系就是其典型的代表。     

当前国际危机的新特征及其对国际关系的影响

国际危机是指国际间因若干方面矛盾激化而导致各种破坏正常国际关系的恶性事态发展。由于传统和非传统因素交织,当前国际危机带有扩展性强等一些新特征,对国际关系产生深刻影响。非传统国际危机愈益频发和突出,成为国际社会关注的一个新焦点。美国坚持旧安全观和冷战思维,坚持推行霸权主义和强权政治,是传统与非传统国际危机发生的主要根源。如何有效应对国际危机特别是呈上升之势的非传统国际危机,是国际社会面临的一个紧迫课题。     

现代国际责任制度新发展探析

国际责任是一项重要的国际法律制度，是促使国际法主体履行国际义务，维持国际秩序的根本保障。20世纪以来，特别是当二次世界大战后，随着国际实践的迅猛发展，现代国际法上的国际责任制度不断丰富和完善，在各个方面都有了较大的发展。     

"朝鲜核试爆的动因及国际影响"座谈摘要

10月9日朝鲜宣布核试验成功,消息一出,在全世界引起巨大反响。和平与发展研究中心于10月17日邀请了部分专家学者,就朝鲜核试验的动因与影响进行了座谈,现将发言节录如下。