Spatial hierarchy and/or contemporary geopolitics: what can and can't uneven and combined development explain?

This article reviews the current Marxist debate on imperialism through an examination of the concept of uneven and combined development. This has been used in two ways: first, to show that geopolitical competition between advanced capitalist states continues to be of primary importance in the international capitalist order; second, to show how global capital accumulation is an intrinsically uneven, unequal and cumulative process. The article argues that uneven and combined development is limited in its utility for explaining the former, but is of greater utility in the case of the latter. This is further briefly illustrated in the concluding section, which returns to a consideration of imperialism; first, through an examination of the rise of China and ‘decline’ of the United States in the context of the global economic crisis; and, second, through a demonstration of how a Marxist approach that accepts the primacy of cooperation between advanced capitalist states can still provide a critique of a liberal—and imperialist—international order.     

They are from within us: CVE brokerage in South-central Somalia

ABSTRACT

This article explores how societal actors in Somalia take part in a transnational politics of countering/preventing violent extremism (CVE/PVE) through a political sociological approach to militarisation. We argue that the transnational politics of CVE represents an extension of global militarism by some states, institutions, donors and brokers. CVE works to adapt global militarism and to reconfigure the global-local relationships that sustain it. We explore the roles and influence of local ‘CVE brokers’ in deradicalisation efforts in South-central Somalia. They inadvertently merge the counter-terrorism approach to Somali people, values and territory with non-military means. We show that their key practices – co-ordination, translation and alignment – advance, but also disrupt, alter and transform CVE policy objectives.     

United States Hegemony and Globalisation: What Role for Theories of Imperialism?

This article examines the return of the subject of imperialism to the social sciences since 2001, focusing in particular on Marxist and Marxist-related attempts to reconstruct an analysis of the US-led international order based on this concept. It does so by first examining attempts to update Marxist and Marxian work to understand contemporary globalisation, and then points to both the weaknesses of these approaches and international events that have undermined these theories. The paper then examines the return of imperialism in some detail. While the international order can still be described as imperialist, the article is sceptical of many accounts of the ‘new imperialism’. This is partly because the utility of classical theories was questionable in the pre-1914 era, and are even more so now. Theorising imperialism in turns of surplus capital or a spatial fix ignores the direction of capital flows, both before the First World War, and in the current era. Moreover, as Marxist and Marxian theories of globalisation point out, the current era is one of greater openness and international integration than the pre-1914 era, and there is far greater cooperation between the core capitalist states, as well as sovereign states in the developing world. Contemporary imperialism is characterised by US hegemony but also greater global interdependence, and US military domination does not guarantee its economic domination. At the same time however, US hegemony is closely related to neo-liberalism and, despite as much as because of US intentions, these same policies undermine the prospects for development in the ‘South’. In this respect, US attempts to ‘Americanise’ the world are undermined by US hegemony and the imperialism of free trade.     

Security and informality in Libya: militarisation without military?

ABSTRACT

The article interrogates the analytical purchase of the concept of militarism in the case of Libya, and its relationship to securitisation. While Libya is often associated with widely securitised threats to the international order, its military institutions have been viewed with suspicion and ambivalence across different phases of Libyan history, making of Libya an uneasy fit for standard categorisations of militarism. This prompts the question of whether and under what circumstances militarism can occur without and even against the military. Drawing on a historical-sociological analysis, the article shifts the focus to micropolitical dynamics and extra-institutional agency with a view to unpacking the complex entanglement of formal and informal armed actors in Libya’s hybrid security governance. The concepts of informalisation of militarism and militarisation of informality are used as analytical lenses to reconstruct the partial, failed, contested and hijacked attempts to build ‘modern’ military institutions in Libya. I suggest that the repertoire of militarism is not so much an end in itself, but a resource mobilised by local and international actors in a contentious field of state-building practices.     

African security and global militarism

ABSTRACT

This Special Issue asks: what is the current place of militarism in relation to security where Africa is concerned? It aims to contribute to emerging debates interested in critical inquiry of the relation between militarism and security, and to explore its diverse articulations in African settings. We advance an international political sociological (IPS) approach to militarism in order to explore militarised security politics as a field of contested practices and logics. We discuss why this approach enables us to uncover the interconnected historical patterns and power relations in which practices and logics of security and militarism become linked and grounded in simultaneously local and transnational African settings.     

Defensive development,combative contradictions: towards an international political sociology of global militarism in Africa

ABSTRACT

Drawing on international political sociology, this article shows how the merger of development and security has become part of the ideational architecture that facilitates a new ‘feel-good’ militarism in Africa. Contemporary international reform efforts are designed to restrain military power in the name of development, democracy and civilian oversight, but also to strengthen the coercive capacities of African security institutions and make them more efficient in the global fight against violent extremism. Such defensive development efforts have implications for the historically problematic relationship of the African state with modern forms of organised force, reconfiguring and recalibrating relations and dynamics between the state, military forces and external actors. The article concludes that defensive development is fraught with combative contradictions and risks becoming the handmaiden not only of increased militaristic violence, but also of oppression and the restriction of freedom and democracy.     

On Good Colonial Government: Lessons from the League of Nations

This article deals with the debate in the Permanent Mandate Commission (League of Nations), during the inter-war period about the best way to rule the dependant territories. It shows how a certain interpretation of the term “good colonial government” came to prevail through the idea of indirect rule, how this idea was seen as the best way to achieve a kind of democratic imperialism (similar to that looked for at the present time in Iraq by the Americans). It analyses the way the mandate system transformed the legitimacy of the colonial powers and the battle it triggered between France and Britain.     

Gunning for security governance in a resource-rich African state? Interrogating militarisation in a democratic Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This article examines the socio-historical factors that underpin the political sociology of militarism in Nigeria. In spite of subscribing to a democratic constitution and several regional mechanisms that advance democratic values, security governance in Nigeria has been marked by the increasing use of military force in responding to perceived threats posed by armed militias in the oil-rich Niger Delta. I argue that the securitisation of oil is fuels militarisation, facilitated by local, national and international actors. The turn to democratisation and changing conceptions of security have reinforced rather than reined in militarism, which results in a competitive and often violent politics between national, local and global security and military actors over access to and control of oil resources. These dynamics also result in dangerous socio-economic and political consequences for Niger Delta communities.     

World Cricket as a Postcolonial International Society: IR Meets the History of Sport

This article brings together the English School literature, postcolonial approaches to culture, the historical sociology of sport, and IR's own tentative engagement with sport to argue that world cricket constitutes a sui generis postcolonial international society in the sporting sector. The international society tradition within IR has been criticised for its failure to take sufficient note of the history of imperialism, and contributions from postcolonial scholarship can provide a necessary corrective here. However, the adoption of cricket in colonial societies involved a complex mixture of acceptance of and resistance to elements of British imperial culture, as has been documented in the work of some historical sociologists of sport and of philosophers of cricket such as C.L.R. James and Ashis Nandy. Contemporary world cricket is an arena in which the former imperial centre and a number of postcolonial states compete with each other within a framework of quasi-legal provisions (the Laws of Cricket), associated normative expectations (“The Spirit of Cricket”), and an international/transnational sporting organisation (the International Cricket Council). The concept of a geographically (but not regionally) limited, historically specific, and sectoral international society therefore still has some purchase here. This sphere is currently being shaped not by a clash between imperial values and postcolonial resistance, but by tension between the routinisation of international cricket and a shift of wealth and power within the game towards India. World cricket can be characterised as a sphere of non-violent sporting competition which may, perhaps, function as a source of international civility in relations between regions of the world influenced by British imperialism.     

Indigeneity,Ethnicity, and the State: Australia,Fiji, and New Zealand

This article draws on the politics of indigeneity to distinguish the claims of first occupancy from simple ethnic identity politics, illustrating that relative political marginalization in Australasia is not so much a function of minority status but of indigeneity itself. The politics of indigeneity's aim is to create political space for self-determination and a particular indigenous share in the sovereign authority of the nation-state itself. The Australasian states are compared with Fiji to demonstrate that the significance of historical constraints on political authority transcend the withdrawal of a colonial power and the restoration of collective indigenous majority population status.     

Reviving the Russian empire: the Crimean intervention through a neoclassical realist lens

Although many policy-makers and scholars maintain that international norms have altered the motivations underlying state behaviour, this article argues that states continue to pursue national self-interest, but in ways that remain understudied. While traditional realist assumptions explain a great deal of state behaviour, they have not been widely used to account for important alternative tools of state intervention, such as economic and normative strategies. Focusing on the case of Russia's 2014 intervention in Ukraine, this article offers insights into how, and under what circumstances, these tools are used to accomplish traditional state objectives. Guided by the tenets of neoclassical realism, the article argues that in the case of Russia, military force is no longer the sole, or even the primary, means used to accomplish traditional security goals. Such dynamics have significant theoretical and policy implications for contemporary international relations.     

British Diplomacy and the Telegraph in Nineteenth-Century China

Until the 1870s British officials in China often acted without the Foreign Office's official consent because they could only communicate with London via mail. In the 1870s telegraph lines connected China to Europe. The Chinese government initially opposed foreign telegraph lines arguing that they undermined Chinese authority. British diplomats in China were also wary of the telegraph because it allowed the Foreign Office to intervene more quickly. From the 1880s the telegraph was increasingly used as an instrument of imperialism in China. The Boxer Rebellion in 1900 showed how important the telegraph had become as means of communication.     

The Russian case for military intervention in Georgia: international law,norms and political calculation

Abstract

The Russian military intervention in Georgia in August 2008 has raised significant questions about Russian thinking and practice on the legitimate use of military force abroad, especially in relation to neighbour states. The arguments advanced by Russia to justify this campaign show how Russian interpretations of customary international law as well as norms related to the use of force have served as an instrument of state policy, rather than being rooted in any broader international consensus. The Russian discourse in this context about sovereignty, self-determination and the legitimacy of recognising South Ossetia and Abkhazia as states appears similarly to be strongly influenced by political self-interest and Russian views about its entitlement within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region. Among Russian claims, Moscow's commitment to support its ‘citizens’ abroad has been particularly controversial. This article examines these issues and also the possibility that, through its justifications for waging war against Georgia, Russia is more broadly contesting the interpretation of certain international norms, that it regards as essentially constructed by Western states. Some potential implications of these legal and normative arguments for future Russian policy in the CIS region, including Ukraine, are also examined.     

Anglobal governance?

The ‘Anglosphere’ refers to a grouping of English-speaking states, nations and societies united by the language, values and institutions associated with the historical experience of England/Britain. After being introduced in 1999–2000 at two conferences convened by the Hudson Institute, the idea of the Anglosphere has become increasingly popular with various Anglophiles and especially with Anglo-American conservatives and neoconservatives. After a brief inquiry into the broader conceptual and historical foundations of this neologism, this article considers some ways in which the Anglosphere relates to the research programme on global governance in the field of international relations (IR). Using ‘liberal imperialism’ as a theoretical starting point, the article evaluates the Anglosphere as a tool for promoting greater attention to the role of race and racism in the emergence of the structure and processes of contemporary global governance. For all its political, logical and other ambiguities, when approached as an arena of critical analysis, an Anglosphere perspective can indeed help us comprehend the development and general patterns of the racialized world order. For that reason alone, Anglobal governance should be worthy of study in IR.     

Palestinian Social Media and Lone-Wolf Attacks: Subculture,Legitimization, and Epidemic

ABSTRACT

This article examines the impact of social media on the wave of Palestinian lone-wolf attacks against Israelis from October 2015 through September 2016. My principal argument is that social media played an important role in shaping the identity, perceptions, and behavioral patterns of dozens of assailants, and was key in creating the dynamic that ultimately characterized both the spreading of the idea of lone-wolf attacks and its execution. Social media reflected reality on the ground while simultaneously nourishing, amplifying, and escalating the situation by providing a platform for the emergence of new sources of authority, including an online subculture with distinct codes and pseudo-ritual patterns to support assailants. Social media also contributed substantially to shaping the contagious character of the attacks, and their capacity to persist without direct organizational guidance, following a typical epidemiological dynamic of spread, containment, and preservation.     

Political transformation in Japan as a source of insight

Abstract

This article is based on the assumption that the Japanese political system is fully comparable with the systems of other major systems, and that its analysis may afford useful insights for the understanding of political systems more generally. Its focus is upon five successive transformations of the system since the late nineteenth century that, in sequence and taken together, have created the present system. These are: (1) the revolutionary changes of the Meiji period (1868–1912), leading to modernisation, militarism, and ultimate defeat in war; (2) occupation, democracy, economic resurgence and single-party dominance (1945–1990); (3) low growth, electoral reform and neo-liberalism (1991–2006); (4) Liberal Democratic Party decline and the opposition in power (2006–2012); and (5) authoritarian leadership with weak opposition (2012 onwards). The article concludes with a discussion of three issues: (1) ambiguous aspects of strong leadership; (2) the chronic weakness of Japanese political opposition and its implications for democracy; and (3) the significance of radical transformations for the understanding of a political system.     

Changes and continuities. Evolution of a Chinese family business (1876–2004)

Starting from the early nineteenth century, western colonial activities have opened up a large area of Southeast Asia for economic penetration. Chinese family business, with its extensive familial and cultural networks, has a niche in these frontier areas where economic and legal institutions were embryonic or ineffective. In Southeast Asia, Chinese extended families are often geographically dispersed. By spreading wealth across borders, these families have not only diversified their business risk, but also built up a mechanism to enforce business obligations cross borders. Contractual obligations in business could always be enforced by one’s familial and communal mechanisms without recourse to legal authority or institutions outside the communities. It helps to explain why the Overseas Chinese communities, over the centuries, have played an important part in the ties which China has forged with its neighbouring regions in Asia. By looking into the historical transformation of a traditional Chinese family business under five generations of patriarchal leadership, this article intends to examine the validity of the above thesis. Eu Yan Sang (EYS), a famous manufacturer and retailer of Chinese medicines over the past 120 years, is the focus of this study.     

Adventure in Malaya: Henri Fauconnier and French Orientalism

For the most part of the nineteenth century, the relation between romance and imperialism was symbiotic: imperial expansion provided new sites and material for literary romances. Nevertheless, as the rationalizing processes that eradicated adventure at home began reaching remote corners of the world, imperialism suddenly became the enemy of romance. This study attempts to reassess Henri Fauconnier's Malaisie (1930), a novel that was canonized at the time of its publication for its literary mission to re-evaluate colonial realities. To a certain extent Fauconnier's narrative does articulate a model of romance that exposed the absurdity and vanity of political engagement and the superiority of spiritual to imperial vocations. However, while Malaisie may have represented the Other space as testing ground for self-illumination and spiritual re-awakening my reading exposes the complexities and ambiguities that characterize literary geographies of adventure.     

This violence good,that violence bad: normative and state-centric discourses in British school textbooks

ABSTRACT

Under the statutory obligations of the Prevent strategy, British schools have greater responsibility to counter terrorism and extremism than ever before. However, research has yet to fully explore how schools tackle such a complex issue in the classroom. This research critically examines the discourses of terrorism and extremism found within British secondary school textbooks to deepen understanding of how terrorism and extremism are taught in schools. This article deploys a mode of critical discourse analysis to assess and critique the ways in which the political realms of terrorism and extremism are constructed. I argue that these discourses construct an ethical proximity between the text, the reader and the state, while rendering voiceless both the “terrorist” and the civilian living in states prioritised by British foreign policy. As such, this article argues that British school textbooks construct a normative perspective through which the violence of states is sanitised and normalised. It raises concern regarding the role of contemporary schooling in perpetuating a global politics of violent foreign policy.