In Search of Monsters: Realism and Progress in International Relations Theory after September 11

Whereas the end of the Cold War sparked debates within and among paradigms in the field, the response to September 11 has been comparatively muted. Some observers have questioned the significance of September 11, while others have cast doubt on the ability of realism to account for an outcome that falls outside of its emphasis on great-power conflict. Realism must not only address outside critics but also overcome internal resistance in the face of these changes. This resistance entails reluctance by theorists to address a novel phenomenon, as well as axiomatic impediments that lie in the hard core of the realist research program. The mechanism of “monster-adjustment,” discussed by Imre Lakatos, is offered as a way in which realism can extend its scope beyond centralized territorial states. This process subjects the underspecified assumption of the necessity of unit isomorphism in international systems to increased scrutiny, offering a way to extend the explanatory capacity of realist frameworks. With realism released from these constraints, opportunities for productive engagements with other paradigms may be realized.     

"9.11"事件后的俄美关系

基于两国各自深层次的战略考虑,俄美关系以"9.11"事件为契机,突破冷战结束后长达10年的僵局,建立了全新的长远伙伴关系.但是两国在反恐怖方面的合作不可能消除双方在一系列重大问题上的原有的矛盾和分歧,俄美关系的发展不会是一帆风顺的.     

"9·11事件"与中美关系

"9·11"事件后,美国及其他国家许多学者就该事件对中美关系的影响纷纷发表看法,中国学者反而相对沉稳.本文首先对这一现象进行分析.在梳理目前发表的有关评论基础上,认为,"9·11"虽为改善中美关系提供了契机,但"反恐合作"难以成为中美之间的战略基础.理由是双方对"反恐合作"的期待不同,对涉及"恐怖主义"的一系列相关问题认知不尽一致.但同时认为,充分把握"联合反恐"这一难得契机增进互信,并以开放的心态看待美俄等大国关系的新发展,有助于逐步垒高中美之间的战略基石.     

"9.11"事件后的俄美关系

“9.1 1”事件后 ,俄美关系发生重大改变 ,由于双方互有需要 ,俄美接近已成为不可逆转的发展趋势。但是 ,俄美之间的利益对立和观点分歧难以弥合 ,远未成为伙伴和朋友。执行独立自主的全方位外交政策仍是俄罗斯对外战略的既定方针。     

International Relations Theory and Minimum Deterrence

ABSTRACT

India’s government under Narendra Modi represents a return to single party rule. This paper investigates whether and why single party governments in India differ in their extremity of foreign policies from coalition governments. It particularly focuses on how different forms of government influence the saliency, contestation, and enactment of national conceptions about India’s global role. First, I situate India within the academic debate regarding coalitional governments and foreign policy. I suggest that one reason why India challenges scholars‘ assumption is the missing link between partisan conceptions of India’s global role and their institutional representation. Second, I propose a role theoretical approach and argue that the process of self-identification, consisting of ego and anticipated alter expectations, conditions a state’s role set and extreme foreign policy. It is hypothesized that the nature of contestation of national role conceptions varies between factions and fractions because of the nature of India’s party system, as well as the relative significance of external others for India’s identity. Third, I examine instances of role-taking in the field of nuclearization and Sino-Indian relations. Findings suggest that contested role conceptions during single-party rule caused more extreme variances in international role-taking, while coalition governments proved to induce more complementary role-taking processes.     

"9·11"事件后俄美关系的发展趋势

2001年的"9·11"事件使世界格局受到强烈的冲击和震撼,给本来就错综复杂的当今国际关系又带来了许多不确定因素.俄罗斯根据突发形势和对西方的外交总体战略,并从自身利益需要出发,积极支持和配合美国打恐行动,使俄美关系骤然升温.但是,由于美国政府决策层对俄罗斯根深蒂固的不信任和俄美在地区性问题上各自利益的不可调和性,俄美关系在可预见的未来,不会有根本性变化.     

Risk Aversion in International Relations Theory

When international relations writers use the idea of risk aversion, they either leave it undefined or cite the economics conception, that the decision-maker has a concave utility function for the goal. However, in the international context the goal is typically not money or any other objectively measurable quantity, and in this case the concept of concavity is meaningless. This article gives two definitions of risk aversion that are non-metric in the sense that they do not require such a quantity. The first, comparative risk aversion , specifies the relative degree of aversion but does not specify a zero point. The second concept, multiattribute risk aversion , does the reverse, separating risk-averters from risk-seekers in an absolute sense without making comparisons within each group. The arguments imply significant revisions of work on historical case studies using prospect theory and Fearon's categorization of rationalist explanations for war. It indicates that countries might be unable to negotiate their way out of a war because certain kinds of disputes, especially those over symbols or religious places, often generate risk-seeking behavior.     

International Relations Theory and the Second Korean War

Ever since the first Korean war in 1950, scholars and policymakers have been predicting a second one, started by an invasion from the North. Whether seen as arising from preventive, preemptive, desperation, or simple aggressive motivations, the predominant perspective in the west sees North Korea as likely to instigate conflict. Yet for fifty years North Korea has not come close to starting a war. Why were so many scholars so consistently wrong about North Korea's intentions? Social scientists can learn as much from events that did not happen as from those that did. The case of North Korea provides a window with which to examine these theories of conflict initiation, and reveals how the assumptions underlying these theories can become mis-specified. Either scholars misunderstood the initial conditions, or they misunderstood the theory, and I show that scholars have made mistakes in both areas. Social science moves forward from clear statement of a theory, its causal logic, and its predictions. However, just as important is the rigorous assessment of a theory, especially if the predictions fail to materialize. North Korea never had the material capabilities to be a serious contender to the U.S.–ROK alliance, and it quickly fell further behind. The real question has not been whether North Korea would preempt as South Korea caught up, but instead why North Korea might fight as it fell further and further behind. The explanation for a half-century of stability and peace on the Korean peninsula is actually quite simple: deterrence works.     

"国际关系理论"辩识

对什么是"国际关系理论",人们存在着诸多争议,这些争议有些来源于对"国际关系"这一学科本身的定义,有些则来源于对什么是"理论"的分歧,本文拟从这两个方面着手,阐述对"国际关系理论"这一概念本身的看法.     

"9.11"事件对世界战略形势和中国安全环境影响

"9.11"事件宣告了全球化政治时代的来临,将对世界历史进程产生深远的影响."9.11"事件后,美国的扩张势头进一步加剧,这将使我国周边安全环境中的不确定因素明显增多,但也为我们提供了重大的战略机遇.     

9·11事件对美国和世界经济的影响

“9·11事件”对美国乃至全世界的影响是全方位的。本文旨在探讨这次恐怖袭击事件对美国经济、世界经济及我国经济构成的冲击和影响 ,并在此基础上 ,就美国经济、世界经济的发展前景谈些看法。美国经济雪上加霜　前景并不悲观恐怖袭击事件对美国经济的冲击是巨大的 ,其影响是深远的。但恐怖袭击对美国经济来说是外因 ,而弄清美国经济今后的走势只考虑外因是不够的 ,必须综合考虑各种因素。9·11事件发生以前美国经济已经放慢。导致经济滑坡的原因有三个 ,一是联储六次提息 ,使联邦基金利率上升了 1.75个百分点 ,加大了企业的融资成本 ,影响…     

超越两分法:女性主义国际关系理论的前途

女性主义国际关系理论为国际关系学的发展做出了重大贡献。遗憾的是,近二十年的发展依然没有使其摆脱国际关系学边缘的地位。本文从两分法的批判出发,探讨女性主义兴起的根源,由此阐述女性主义国际关系理论的议程、困境和重构之路。本文认为,女性主义者与传统理论学者之间不正常的争论及女性主义理论在经验论、立场论和方法论上的悖论是女性主义国际关系理论长期处于边缘的两大原因。女性主义者未能超越两分法逻辑,不得不寻求理论的重构之路。     

Prospect Theory, Rational Choice, and International Relations

A half-decade after the first systematic applications of prospect theory to international relations, scholars continue to debate its potential utility as a theoretical framework. Key questions include the validity of the experimental findings themselves, their relevance for real-world international behavior that involves high-stakes decisions by collective actors in interactive settings, and the conceptual status of prospect theory with respect to rational choice. In this essay I assess theoretical and methodological debates over these issues. I review work in social psychology and experimental economics and conclude that challenges to the external validity of prospect theory-based hypotheses for international behavior are much more serious than challenges to their internal validity. I emphasize the similarities between prospect theory and expected-utility theory, argue that hypotheses regarding loss aversion and the reflection effect are easily subsumed within the latter, and that evidence of framing effects and nonlinear responses to probabilities are more problematic for the theory. I conclude that priorities for future research include the construction of hypotheses on the framing of foreign policy decisions and research designs for testing them; the incorporation of framing, loss aversion, and the reflection effect into theories of collective and interactive decision making; and experimental research that is sensitive to the political and strategic context of foreign policy decision making.     

以世界体系理论与全球化理论解读国际体系转型

参照沃勒斯坦三种优势的观点,霸权国家优势的全面转移和重新聚集可被视为国际体系转型的经济标志,也可能是今后国际体系和平转型的标尺之一.目前美国仍然是处于中心区的唯一超级大国,三种优势总体上继续存在,但均有不同程度的削弱.霸权国家当前在经济上已经是一个多国融合体,中心与半边缘国家在经济上的分工已经高度结构化.与过去经济与地域分割的时代不同,今后不太可能再让一个国家独享所有的优势,全球化理论对冷战后、特别是"9·11"后的国际体系转型具有较典型的解释意义,因为全球性形成的挑战、危机和危险一定程度上已经超越了传统的国家间的安全威胁与地缘竞争战略的重要性.     

Foreign Policy Analysis: Actor-Specific Theory and the Ground of International Relations

Examining the history, conceptual breadth, and recent trends in the study of foreign policy analysis, it is clear that this subfield provides what may be the best conceptual connection to the empirical ground upon which all international relations (IR) theory is based. Foreign policy analysis is characterized by an actor-specific focus, based upon the argument that all that occurs between nations and across nations is grounded in human decision makers acting singly or in groups. FPA offers significant contributions to IR—theoretical, substantive, and methodological—and is situated at the intersection of all social science and policy fields as they relate to international affairs. A renewed emphasis on actor-specific theory will allow IR to more fully reclaim its ability to manifest human agency, with its attendant change, creativity, accountability, and meaning.