Invisible Borders: Economic Liberalization and National Identity

Various developments in the post–WWII global economy have led many scholars of international relations to contend that borders are eroding. My argument takes issue with this, suggesting that borders are not becoming increasingly meaningless; instead, some states are working to endow them with meaning in innovative ways. Specifically, I examine the trade disputes over culture industries during recent GATT and NAFTA talks to demonstrate that some states are shifting their attention from territorial borders to conceptual or invisible borders. Many governments support the removal of borders that serve as barriers to the movement of goods, services, capital, information, and, in some cases, people. Nevertheless, these same governments resist the increasing permeability of borders that provide the boundaries of political community.     

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.     

劳动力跨境流动和东亚货币合作

东亚各国和地区不同程度的美元化使传统意义上的本地货币定义变得不再准确,为了防止成为全球经济失衡的最大受害地区,东亚各国和地区之间展开货币合作是必然选择①。问题在于,货币合作如何与实体经济合作相匹配。《清迈协议》签订后,东亚货币合作需进一步深化,不能仅停留在初级     

The 'Nature' of Contiguous Borders: Ease of Interaction,Salience, and the Analysis of Crisis

This paper presents the dataset developed from an NSF-supported project on reconceptualizing borders through the use of geographical information systems (GIS). After presenting an overview of the 301 contiguous land borders which were remeasured in terms of ease of interaction (opportunity), and salience/importance (willingness), the dataset is used to revisit hypotheses dealing with territory and borders, specifically four hypotheses developed by Brecher and Wilkenfeld (1997) from their International Crisis Behavior (ICB) project. The results support the design and purpose of the GIS project of reconceptualizing borders, which breaks away from the dichotomous characterization of states as contiguous or non-contiguous in order to examine the "nature" of borders. Our results do not fit the expectations of the "standard" adversarial proximity conflict model, and demonstrate that the border reconceptualization presented here can be used to investigate a number of related questions in the study of international politics involving both cooperative processes as well as conflictual ones.     

Leaders Without Borders: Familiarity as a Moderator of Transnational Source Cue Effects

The role of source cue effects in transnational persuasion (in which a foreign actor attempts to persuade an audience in another jurisdiction) is largely unexplored in both the political communication and international relations literatures. This article investigates transnational source cue effects using two source cue experiments that test the persuasiveness of German chancellor Angela Merkel and UK prime minister David Cameron in a Canadian context. The experiments were embedded in an online survey administered to student participants at a Canadian university in January 2011. As might be expected, the foreign leaders exerted positive source cue effects among participants who held positive impressions of the leaders and backlash effects among those who held strongly negative impressions. These effects, however, were moderated by participants’ level of political awareness, with the largest effects observed among participants who had an intermediate level of awareness. It is argued that this nonlinear moderating effect can be attributed to the countervailing effects of attitude stability and source familiarity (both of which are associated with political awareness) on individuals’ susceptibility to source cue effects. Finally, cueing David Cameron had approximately equivalent source cue effects on participants’ attitudes towards government spending on foreign aid and welfare, suggesting that foreign leaders may be able to move opinion on domestic as well as on foreign policy issues. Overall, these results validate existing models of source cue effects in a transnational context and point to the scope and limitations of national leaders’ ability to engage in direct public diplomacy.

[Supplementary material is available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Political Communication for the following free supplemental resources: Appendix: Question Wordings for Survey Experiments; Table A1: Balance Tests for Afghanistan and Cameron Cue Experiments; and Table A2: Underlying Salience of Domestic and Foreign Policy Spending.]     

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.     

Power, Borders, Security, Wealth: Lessons of Violence and Desire from September 11

America's "war on terror" and Al Qaeda's "jihad" reflect mirror strategies of imperial politics. Each camp transnationalizes violence and insecurity in the name of national or communal security. Neoliberal globalization underpins this militarization of daily life. Its desire industries motivate and legitimate elite arguments (whether from "infidels" or "terrorists") that society must sacrifice for its hypermasculine leaders. Such violence and desire draw on colonial identities of Self vs. Other, patriotism vs. treason, hunter vs. prey, and masculinity vs. femininity that are played out on the bodies of ordinary men and women. We conclude with suggestions of a human security to displace the elite privilege that currently besets world politics.     

俄罗斯文化中的“和”、“同”、“一”思想

东西方文化存在“异”的一面,也存在“同”的一面,即“和”、“同”、“一”的思想。很多俄语词的词义本身就表现出“和”、“同”、“一”的思想,汉语也是这样。从中可以看出俄罗斯民族和中华民族追求的价值取向都离不开“和”、“同”、“一”的思想。     

“非洲工程”——“走出去”战略的典范

江苏省农垦集团公司 (简称江苏农垦 )从 1 990年起涉足非洲农业资源开发 ,同年底与中垦集团合资在赞比亚兴办了第一个农场———中赞友谊农场 ,又相继于 1 998年 6月、 1 999年 9月独资购买并经营喜洋洋农场和中华农场 ,在赞比亚拥有 2 0 0 0公顷土地的永久性产权。可喜的成绩十多年来 ,江苏农垦的“非洲工程”健康发展 ,取得了比较显著的经济和社会效益 ,受到中赞双方有关政府部门等多方面的一致好评。据不完全统计 ,江苏农垦“非洲工程”累计生产小麦、玉米和黄豆共 2 1 5万吨 ,上市鲜奶 75 0万公升 ,还有大量的肉类和蔬菜。其中 ,喜洋洋…     

从“替代种植”到“替代经济”——“金三角”地区发展旅游经济的可行性分析

"金三角"是世界上最神秘的区域之一,以鸦片的毒枭争霸闻名于世,吸引着全世界的目光.近年来,"金三角"各民族地方政权相继决定放弃种植鸦片,禁毒与发展"替代经济"遂成为今日"金三角"社会的主旋律.这个脱胎于原始社会,生产力发展极不平衡、生活方式极其落后的地区,一方面要摆脱毒品的阴影,另一方面要摆脱贫困和愚昧,探索包括"替代种植"、"替代经济"在内的新的经济发展途径.由于"金三角"地区对旅游、探险者有极强的吸引力,从发展思路来看,"金三角"地区应该以国际禁毒和经济社会转型为契机,把鸦片"金三角"打造成为旅游"金三角".     

Characteristics of the ＂Islamic State＂

The extreme organization that calls itself the ＂Islamic State＂ has alarmed the world with its rapid rise and grave damage while drawing sharp censure from numerous directions. In his speech on the strategy of dismantling the ＂Islamic State of Iraq and Syria,＂ American President Barak Obama＇ s called it ＂a terrorist organization, pure and simple.＂ 1 Rooted in Middle East turmoil, facilitated by the irresponsible policies of the great powers and nearby countries, the ＂Islamic State＂ （also known as ISIS or ISIL） stands out from among regional terrorist organizations in a number of vital characteristics. ISIS, disowned by the A1-Qaeda, nevertheless challenges it and seems to gain the upper hand. What lies behind its success are at least two powerful characteristics： its religio-political ambition to establish a recognizable country, and its ability to entice the zeal of Western jihadists.     

评"新欧洲"、"老欧洲"论

美国国防部长拉姆斯菲尔德在伊拉克战争爆发之际抛出了“新老欧洲”之说,把反对美国对伊战争的法、德等国称为“过时”的“老欧洲”,把支持美对伊开战的波兰、匈牙利、捷克等东欧国家称为代表欧洲未来的“新欧洲”。其意图是分化、分裂欧洲,以便分而治之。但欧洲联合和走一体化之路是历史潮流,美国的图谋难以得逞。     

"分裂"与"整合"--伊战后欧盟一体化形势评析

伊拉克战争导致了欧盟内部分裂 ,但恰恰是这一分裂从反面推动欧盟开始了新一轮“整合”。“分裂”与“整合”成为伊战后欧盟一体化形势的最大特点。在“整合”过程中 ,法德欲重建其在欧盟内的“主动权轴心” ;“双速欧洲”成为未来欧盟一体化的现实选择     

"大中东计划"背后的"石油美元"

自20世纪70年代初起,美国护持霸权的经济机制是"石油美元".然而冷战结束后,欧盟一体化进程加快,欧洲统一货币欧元于1999年诞生,并在欧盟多数国家启动,从而对美元的地位构成挑战.又由于欧盟与石油富集的中东国家有密切的经济、政治关系,中东反美国家,如伊拉克在欧元启动后不久就要求其石油买家以欧元作为偿付货币.因此,"石油美元"面临现实威胁.为消除这一威胁,美国拟采取军事手段,而九一一事件为美国采取军事行动提供了绝好的机会,反恐和推进民主是美国采取军事行动的借口,于是"大中东计划"得以推出.它在本质上是美国全面控制中东地区、以保护"石油美元"、维护霸权的计划.