Are the Popes Leaving Behind Just War and Embracing JustPeace?

Since the mid-nineteenth century a significant, though not yet complete, shift in both the politics and the teachings of popes regarding war and peace has occurred, in an increasingly pacifist direction. More specifically, the emphasis of the papal office has noticeably changed from endorsing violence and war toward embracing the essential coupling of peace and justice, holistic peacebuilding, and active nonviolence.

Moving beyond the tendency in academic literature to focus solely upon the Catholic Church’s teaching on just war, this essay demonstrates how the papacy went through a transformation in their attitudes to war and peace since the accession of Pius IX (r.1846–1878). Mapping developments from the mid-nineteenth century down to the time of this writing in March 2018, this essay demonstrates that while the contemporary popes have left intact certain aspects of the teaching of just war, they nonetheless lend a large measure of support to JustPeace outcomes, defined by the authors as combining peace and social justice in a mutually enhancing and creative tension.     

Russia–Kazakhstan Relations in the Early Post-Soviet Era: Explaining the Roots of Cooperation

Abstract

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan was faced with domestic conditions that made cooperation with Russia rational. Kazakhstan inherited a large ethnic Russian population and a severe economic depression. These conditions affected other countries emerging from the Soviet Union, but only Belarus matched Kazakhstan’s level of strategic cooperation with Russia. President Nursultan Nazarbaev’s dominance of Kazakhstan’s national security agenda offers a partial explanation for the cooperation, but we still need to ask what makes him different from the leaders of other post-Soviet countries that faced the same conditions. Kazakhstan’s pattern of historical development provides the key to understanding the cooperation. The timing of the country’s contact and experiences with the Russian-led empires led to a ‘dominant ally’ image of Russia that continues to decide the two countries’ relationship to the present day.     

Terrorism Watch Lists,Suspect Ranking and Decision-Making Biases

The large number of names on terrorism watch lists raises the problem of monitoring. Given the existing resource constraints and other logistical considerations, efficient and accurate ranking of individuals in terms of threat posed is of paramount importance. This process, however, may be impacted by reference points, diminishing sensitivity, loss aversion, and other aspects of the human decision-making process that introduce biases. This article explores the relevance of decision-making processes and biases to the specific task of ranking and monitoring individuals whose names have been placed on a terrorism watch list.     

From Take-off to Sustained Growth and Maturity – Reflections on a Half-Century of Rapid JDS Development

This paper reflects on salient aspects of the development of JDS over its first 50 years. The journal’s origins and its aspirations to become the major inter-disciplinary journal in development studies are described. The rapid growth in the number of papers submitted to the journal and in the volume of its published articles are documented, and reasons for the journal's success are suggested.     

‘Conflict Over Property’: Lodging in Times of Displacement,Poland 1944–1946, the Case of Zielona Góra

This article examines housing conflicts during times of displacement in World War II and its aftermath. It looks specifically at the property experiences of eastern Poles in the western Polish town of Zielona Góra after forced displacement from the Soviet Union. It explores the intricate relationship between property and population displacement. By examining a micro-historical process at a time when property relations were in flux, we can investigate how displaced people negotiated spaces for themselves within a complicated set of realities. The article also adds to work done on state–society relationships in immediate post-World War II Poland.     

Herbert Hoover,Anglo–American Relations and Republican Party Politics in the 1920s

Herbert Hoover is often portrayed as a business-centric relatively non-political historical figure. In particular during his time as Commerce Secretary in the administrations of Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, Hoover is often described as supporting a United States foreign policy that first and foremost served the needs of American corporations. This article attempts to recalibrate that picture by stressing Hoover’s political self-interest as a motivating factor in his policies. Far from being politically unconcerned, Hoover was a man desperate to become president of the United States. His disastrous campaign for the Republican nomination in 1920 made him doubly determined to use his power in the Republican cabinets to improve his chances for the nomination later. This can be seen in one of the most famous of Hoover’s foreign policy interventions, the Anglo-American rubber crisis. Far from serving the needs of American business, during this crisis Hoover was acting mostly from political self-interest. In particular attacking the British allowed him to reframe his image, which was seen as Anglophiliac in 1920. In the end it was a very successful rebranding, as Hoover was able to run for the presidency in 1928 from a position of strength when it came to foreign affairs.