International Opinion and World Politics: the Case of the INF Treaty

The INF Treaty, a turning-point in the nuclear arms race, was preceded by massive protests against nuclear armaments around the world, thus providing a test of the old belief that world opinion is crucial for peace and security. At issue is whether the treaty came about because of, regardless of or in spite of this international opinion. Three propositions about the relationship between international opinion-formation and foreign policymaking are thus outlined in the paper and are then applied to the INF case. It appears that anti-nuclear opinion was effective in part and counter-productive in part. A salient feature of the INF process was its unpredictability, which suggests several reasons why international opinion-formation is apt to lead to unexpected results.     

Yan,Xuetong. Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers

Journal of Chinese Political Science -     

The Politics of Coercive Federalism in the Bush Era

During the period of the Bush Presidency, the federal governmentproceeded to centralize and nationalize policy in major areasformerly controlled by states and localities. The extensionof federal goals and standards to such areas as education testing,sales tax collection, emergency management, infrastructure,and elections administration were among the areas of significantmandates and preemptions. The continuation of policy centralizationin areas under a conservative and unified political regime showshow strong and deep the roots are for centralizing policy actionsin our intergovernmental system.