Two-level games,issue politicization and the disarray of Taiwan’s cross-strait policy after the 2000 presidential election

This study aims to illuminate the interactive relationship between domestic politics and external policy in Taiwan’s mainland China policy after the 2000 presidential election. Following the logic of Putnam's two-level games, this paper demonstrates how the newly elected President Chen Shui-bian adopted an ambiguous and evasive approach as well as frequently shifted positions in his dealings with the mainland China issue due to the constraints of his pro-independence constituents and a vigilant, anti-independence Beijing. Employing Knopf's three-to-three games as well as Puchala’s issue politicization, it further shows how Taiwan's opposition parties—the KMT, the PFP, and the NP—as well as Chen's political rivals, took advantage of Chen’s inability to break the Strait impasse by initiating active engagement with Beijing in order to gain political advantages.     

Franco‐American relations: a historical–structural analysis

This article sketches a historical‐structural picture of Franco‐American relations from a French point of view. The historical approach is chosen because it allows understanding of how mutual visions and images develop. Franco‐American mutual images are traced from the time of French involvement in the birth of the US, through the period when France and the US were the first two grand republics with universalist claims. The difficult relationship between these two states with remarkably similar universalist self‐images is seen against a background of a rising US and declining France, with the fall of France in 1940 seen as a turning point. The Gaullist project of removing this humiliation marks the Franco‐American relationship, as compared with that of Britain (declined but undefeated), and a Germany reborn within the Euro‐Atlantic institutions after the cataclysm of 1945.     

基于义务的合作：角色理论与中美东亚安全互动

共同利益常被视为国际安全合作的重要基础,但鉴于中美之间的利益冲突众多,有必要把强调义务而非利益的、基于角色的合作模式作为补充的合作路径。在国际安全关系中,相关国家所应承担的角色及义务有其客观性,基于角色的合作能够为相关议题以及行为体间的合作提供一个相对客观、中性的规范指南与解决方案。朝鲜半岛核问题、南沙岛礁主权争端是东亚安全的两大挑战,中美在这两大问题上的角色互补,是两国基于角色推进良性安全互动的切入点。但出于维护地区霸权的利益考虑以及地区制约机制的缺乏,美国在这两个问题上的角色错位和义务失范趋势越来越明显:美国在朝核问题上逃避自己当事方的责任,本是南沙岛礁主权争端问题的第三方却试图选边站,使得东亚安全局势更加复杂,中美冲突的可能性增加。为此,有必要彰显规则意识,强调相关国家特别是美国在东亚安全议题上的角色义务,最终促使美国角色回归并与中国开展良性安全互动。     

南亚水环境治理困局及其化解

近年来,南亚国家围绕水环境治理取得了一系列进展,不仅加大了双边合作力度,而且为南亚地区进一步合作开发水资源夯实了基础。但由于各国发展阶段与经济实力差异等原因,在水环境治理方面面临短期方向不明、动力不足等难题。此外,南亚地区的水资源争夺严重伤害了国与国之间的感情,成为当前南亚地区关系紧张的催化剂,而国际社会参与南亚水环境治理开发,大国博弈又加剧了地区矛盾。当前,南亚国家在水环境治理合作的道路上可谓一波三折。南亚地区特殊的"历史记忆"导致彼此间命运共生理念认同难度大,"战略互信"的缺失又制约着国家层面友好关系的拓展。以"命运共同体"理念为指导,进而通过"共情"行动来积极推进南亚水环境治理合作,不仅有助于培育国家间感情,也有助于推进水环境治理综合机制建设乃至实现地区整合发展。同时,亚洲有关各方也应该抓住南亚社会经济整合转型的机遇,以参与水环境治理为契机,进一步通过"共情"实践推动南亚经济治理向着更加合理的多边合作态势发展,形成彼此间新形势下的相互依存关系,最终促进南亚地区的整合发展与地区繁荣。     

The Reciprocity Theory of Rights

This article provides an explanatory account of a central class of moral rights; their normative grounding, the conditions for their possession and forfeiture, and their moral stringency. It argues that interpersonal rights against harm and rights to assistance are best understood as arising from reciprocity relations between moral agents. The account has significant advantages compared with rivals such as the interest theory of rights. By explaining the differential enforceability of rights against harm and rights to assistance, the reciprocity theory helps to refute an argument made by Cecile Fabre that the poor may have a justification for engaging in war against the affluent to compel them to fulfil their duties of assistance to the poor.     

China＇s New Diplomatic Blueprint for South Asia

IN September, following his attendance at the 14th Meeting of the Council of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization （SCO） and his state visit to Tajikistan, Chinese President Xi Jinping began his tour of three South Asian countries： the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and India. It was President Xi＇s first visit to the region since he took office. The trip gave rise to significant improvements in mapping out China＇s new diplomatic blueprint on South Asia, expanding China＇s neighborhood diplomacy, and reshaping world geopolitics.     

Co-operation,Contestation and Complexity in Post-Conflict Security Sector Reform

ABSTRACT

Security Sector Reform (SSR) remains a key feature of peacebuilding interventions and is usually undertaken by a state alongside national and international partners. External actors engaged in SSR tend to follow a normative agenda that often has little regard for the context in post-conflict societies. Despite recurrent criticism, SSR practices of international organisations and bilateral donors often remain focused on state institutions, and often do not sufficiently attend to alternative providers of security or existing normative frameworks of security. This article provides a critical overview of existing research and introduces the special issue on ‘Co-operation, Contestation and Complexity in Post-Conflict Security Sector Reform’. We explore three aspects that add an important piece to the puzzle of what constitutes effective SSR. First, the variation of norm adoption, norm contestation and norm imposition in post-conflict countries that might explain the mixed results in terms of peacebuilding. Second, the multitude of different security actors within and beyond the state which often leads to multiple patterns of co-operation and contestation within reform programmes. And third, how both the multiplicity of and tension between norms and actors further complicate efforts to build peace or, as complexity theory would posit, influence the complex and non-linear social system that is the conflict-affected environment.     

后军人时代缅甸的“双头政治”及其外交影响

缅甸进入后军人时代后,国内呈现由军人集团和文官政府组成的"双头政治"权力格局,这种格局是前军人集团政治设计的结果,对现在缅甸的外交政策有很大影响。在外交政策的制定、落实和应对国际压力的过程中,"双头政治"的博弈因少数民族的政治参与而变得更加复杂,体现为军人、文官政府和少数民族的"三方博弈"。在缅北民族和解进程中,各方政治力量的博弈使得缅甸陷入既需要外部帮助斡旋而又让外部难以有效参与的困境。在中资大项目问题上,这些博弈导致缅甸对华政策出现"依赖"与"反依赖"纠葛,而中缅关系无法有效推进的局面。在若开罗兴亚人问题上,各方博弈更使缅甸陷入国际道义、政治与法律围攻的窘境。究其根本,缅甸仍停留在"求稳定"与"求发展"的初级阶段,而国内长期存在的政治认同分歧与族群割裂,使其在后军人时代可能进入另一个"乱局"。军人势力仍然强大、文官政权软弱、少数民族各自进行不同程度的国际动员,各方"自助"而"不得助"的客观形势,使得民盟政府初期良好的外交环境日益恶劣。因国内政治而不断引发外交危机,缅甸孜孜以求的独立自主、中立主义和韧性外交受到极大影响,缅甸的复兴梦与发展梦未有穷期。